"Thank you, you made me who I am."
Su Yanxi used considerable force; two pats on the shoulder were enough to make Qi Xiang'an, who was barely holding on, kneel down.
“Achievement…” Qi Xiang’an continued with a bitter smile, “Fate really plays tricks on people. So everything I did to target you was actually ‘achieving’ you?”
"Su Yanxi, the relationship between you and me is probably a unique kind of ill-fated one."
"What do you mean by 'fate'?" Su Yanxi frowned. He had already finished speaking, but Qi Xiang'an still held back. "If you hadn't targeted me, there might have been nothing between us."
"I still don't understand why you harbor such malice towards me?"
"Don't you understand?"
Qi Xiang'an laughed so hard he almost choked, swallowed hard, and tried to catch his breath.
"Does this count as me winning a small point? You even brought that woman here, I thought you would at least have guessed it. But look what happened? Ha, it turns out you still don't understand."
Qi Xiang'an's description of "that woman" made Su Yanxi feel very uncomfortable: "No matter what, she is still your mother. When you were eleven or twelve years old, you left home without saying a word. Did you ever think about how worried she was about you?"
"For fifteen whole years, she has been searching for your whereabouts!"
Several years ago, when Qi Xiang'an first made his mark in the entertainment industry, the woman had a premonition: this person was likely her son who had been away from home for many years.
Her eyebrows, eyes, expression, temperament, and the blood ties between mother and child all told her that Qi Xiang'an was the child she had lost for many years. She lived a life of poverty while using her meager resources to investigate Qi Xiang'an.
Unfortunately, her abilities were limited; she couldn't find out the whole story, nor could she wait for the opportunity to meet Qi Xiang'an. In her lonely later years, she couldn't even afford a ticket to an entertainment gala.
"If my subordinate hadn't found her, she'd still be trying to save up to buy a front-row seat at the grand event—"
"Shut up!" Qi Xiang'an interrupted Su Yanxi with shame. "So what if it's been fifteen years? In these fifteen years, I've been trying very hard to forget her and forget my past!"
Qi Xiang'an staggered back several steps until his calf bumped into the octagonal chair. He raised his trembling right hand and pointed at Su Yanxi with his index finger.
"To you, I am a perennial second-place alumnus who has never crossed paths with you, who has always been a stepping stone for you, a low-level competitor who has never been taken seriously by you, and a colleague in the same circle with whom you have only a casual relationship. You don't know or understand me at all."
"But to me, you are the shadow that has loomed over me since I was a child."
"From the moment I became aware and conscious, not a day has passed without me envying and loathing you!"
Qi Xiang'an, whose original name was Ji Xiangxian, was from a small village outside the administrative center of Nanyang City.
His family was relatively well-off; they owned several acres of land and a self-built house. His mother was a housewife who occasionally worked in the fields; his father was a truck driver, and in those days when logistics were underdeveloped and driver's licenses were extremely valuable, a long-distance trip could earn him a considerable amount of money.
While not particularly wealthy overall, it is certainly among the top-tier in the village.
Back then, the happiest and most joyful times for Xiao Jixiang were when the three of them ate dinner together and watched TV. The only thing that made him unhappy was that his father always wanted to grab the TV and switch off the cartoon channel to the local news.
On a local television news report, Nanxiang City Mayor Su Aimin said: We must vigorously improve basic teaching facilities and promote educational reform; we must ensure that every child in Nanxiang City can study well and read good books.
Xiao Ji didn't understand what the mayor meant. He only remembered the child who was holding the mayor's hand, a child about the same age as him. The child was really cute and beautiful.
She is even cuter and prettier than Ji Xiangxian, who was always praised for being cute by her teachers in elementary school.
He silently noted down the child's name that flashed by: Su Yanxi.
"My elementary school years... well, I guess they were pretty happy. I don't remember exactly, but it seems like they were happy. I thought the happiness would continue, but who would have thought that in fifth grade? Or sixth grade? Anyway, it was one of those years when my dad got into a car accident."
"He was driving while fatigued, hit and killed someone, abandoned his truck, and fled the scene. As for what happened after that... you probably know a little about it, right?"
After the car accident, Ji Xiangxian's father never returned home, but the police and the deceased's family wouldn't let the Ji family off the hook. Every few days, people would come to the house to cause trouble or demand debts.
Unable to bear this kind of life, and being in his rebellious phase, Ji Xiangxian ran away from home in a fit of anger.
With his meager savings, Ji Xiangxian traveled further and further, eventually arriving at Huxin District, the administrative center of Nanyang City.
He knew this was the mayor's office area, the place where the beautiful child on TV lived. It was a prosperous area, far better than any small village. It was also in this lakeside district that Ji Xiangxian met the man who would change the course of his life.
His "adoptive father" was the notorious corrupt official Ji Fucheng.
“Because I was pretty, did well in school, and happened to share the same surname as him—both surnamed Ji. Ji Fucheng thought I was a promising talent, so he took me home and adopted me.” Qi Xiang’an said with a smile, “He was a habitual embezzler who continued to embezzle after being promoted and transferred. I don’t know if he had planned to use me as a tool to transfer assets, or if he had other evil intentions towards me, but in any case, he treated me very well.”
"With his help, I underwent a magnificent transformation."
Chapter 106
"And when I learned that he had been your father's subordinate, I was incredibly excited."
As Qi Xiang'an spoke, he looked Su Yanxi up and down.
"I think I've finally beaten that pretty kid."
After listening, Su Yanxi remained silent for a long time. Once he had collected his thoughts, he said, "So your malice towards me is without reason, just because of a fleeting glimpse on the news, you became jealous of me?"
"Not really," Qi Xiang'an shrugged. "If that accident hadn't torn my family apart, I definitely wouldn't be jealous of you. But it was precisely because the accident happened that I'm jealous of you."
"Wasn't my misfortune caused by your incompetent former mayor father?"
Qi Xiang'an glared angrily at Su Yanxi.
Su Yanxi wasn't angry and let him look at her openly: "Even now, you still can't reflect on yourself."
"Do you know why the calligraphy inscription says 'Ask yourself'? It's something I prepared especially for you. I hope that at least one day, for one moment, you can learn to 'ask yourself'."
“I don’t need to ask myself that question.” Qi Xiang’an shook his head, spreading his hands as he walked in circles around the chandelier.
His unsteady, staggering gait made him look like a mentally unstable patient.
“I did nothing wrong. I am innocent and blameless.”
"Abandoning your mother, hiding your old identity, cooperating with a big tiger to transfer assets, and now enjoying the public funds that were transferred out, comfortably enjoying the cheers and screams of fans in the center of the entertainment industry—isn't all of this your fault?"
"If it wasn't your fault, did someone force you to do it?"
Qi Xiang'an looked up at the chandelier, swaying gently without saying a word.
"Since that's the case, I'll tell you a little bit of the truth too," Su Yanxi sighed.
Su Yanxi deeply understood the saying today: "Every pitiful person has something hateful about them."
"As you know, Dad was framed and falsely accused. The reason he was framed was because he vigorously promoted education reform in Nanxiang City."
With special funds allocated for education from above, Mayor Su dutifully used them for educational development. He wanted to build schools, renovate teaching buildings, find ways to bring in good teachers to rural areas with poor educational levels, and strive to balance the unequal educational resources between urban and rural areas.
Mayor Su vigorously cracked down on bribery in education and the embezzlement of education funds by public officials. These reforms, in turn, directly targeted the lifeline of certain habitual corrupt officials.
"Local officials in townships and villages have misappropriated special education funds, causing educational resources in remote villages and towns to lag behind. Your parents have to work tirelessly to earn money and more money in order to send you to a better school in the city. Once they have earned enough, they will use their connections to change your school."
"So the root cause of your father's fatigued driving and hit-and-run lies with those corrupt officials!"
Su Yanxi endured it all night and finally raised her voice.
"If it weren't for those corrupt officials, the educational resources in the villages and towns would have caught up, and your parents wouldn't have had to work so hard and risk their lives to earn that money by asking for favors—and there wouldn't have been any deaths, causing your family to be torn apart!"
When she got to the point, Su Yanxi pulled out a stack of documents from her handbag, flung them forward, and sent snowflakes flying everywhere.
"Your 'adoptive father' is one of the culprits who ruined your family! For so many years, you have been helping the person who harmed you, and you—!"
"You're still so smug."
Qi Xiang stopped his unsteady steps and stared wide-eyed in disbelief as he sorted out the logic of Su Yanxi's words.
"Is this a lie?" This conversation has lasted for so long, and he has stubbornly refused to show any weakness, even expressing his bitterness with a smile.
But at this moment, he helplessly knelt down in front of Su Yanxi, grabbing the hem of his mortal enemy's clothes and asking urgently.
"This can't be true, right? Dad... he really drove while fatigued because he was trying to raise money for me to transfer schools?"
“You can ask your mother,” Su Yanxi said, pointing to the screen behind Qi Xiang’an. “She’s just outside that door. Once you ask her, you’ll know you’re a complete and utterly hopeless person—”
"An absolute idiot."
At seven o'clock, two vehicles with white license plates belonging to the procuratorate arrived outside Daoxiang Private Kitchen.
Mother Ji's cries were deafening, releasing all the grievances she had accumulated over the past fifteen years. While thanking Zong hope and his subordinates for helping to find her son, she repeatedly begged the people at the procuratorate to take good care of her son and help him reform.
Her son, however, refused to meet or speak with her at all.
"Sigh, it's so painful to hear..."
Sitting in his Rolls-Royce, Bie Yunzong rubbed his temples, gesturing to his wife to close the car door quickly.
"That guy surnamed Qi, he's a real scoundrel! He dared to abandon his mother and run away when he was only eleven years old!"
"He's about to go in, and he still won't see or talk to his mother? If he doesn't talk now, he'll have to be quick and make every second count when he's in jail!"
Having calmed down somewhat, Su Yanxi gently patted her husband's back and soothed him, comforting him, "He's probably ashamed. He's too ashamed to face his mother, so he resolutely refuses to see her."
"Judging from his final act of kneeling down to apologize to me, he must have learned to examine his conscience."
"Ugh, this is so upsetting." Bie Yunzong irritably ruffled his hair and touched his wife's hand, saying, "Let's try to find Aunt Ji a stable job, shall we? Qi Xiang'an is no good, but his mother is truly pitiful."
"Mm." Su Yanxi nodded readily and pinched the dog's cheek. "That's a good idea, honey, I support you."
As the two were talking, Lin Xiaohai rushed over and reported to Su Yanxi, "Young Madam, Young Madam, Qi Xiang'an has something to say to you and wants you to come over!"
"Weren't you finished talking?" Bie Yunzong worriedly grabbed his wife, not wanting her to leave. "Don't go. What if it's another conspiracy?"
Chapter 107
"It's alright." Su Yanxi gently withdrew her hand and gave Bie Yunzong a reassuring kiss. "He's been taken into custody by the prosecutor's office, what kind of schemes could he possibly be up to?"
"Don't be afraid, there are police officers here. Wait for me a moment, I'll be right back."
Su Yanxi arrived at the police car where Qi Xiang'an was sitting, and with the police's permission, sat in the back seat—side by side with Qi Xiang'an.
The car door next to Qi Xiang'an was closed, while the car door next to Su Yanxi was open. Although it wasn't a completely enclosed space, it was enough for the two of them to have some private conversations.
"How does it feel to wear silver handcuffs?" Su Yanxi glanced at him out of the corner of her eye.
"It's alright, it's cool and refreshing, but not as painful as I imagined," Qi Xiang'an replied. "Compared to the handcuffs, kneeling down and crying in front of you just now was more humiliating and caused me more pain."
Su Yanxi clicked her tongue: "I thought I cared about my reputation enough, but I didn't expect you to be even worse than me? At a time like this, you're still worried about your pride?"
“Of course. You are my mortal enemy, and you will never know how much I want to beat you and defeat you.” Qi Xiang’an sighed. “But as it turns out, you are indeed the better one.”
Su Yanxi said helplessly, "Now is not a good time to compare ourselves."
"Why not?" A sly glint suddenly flashed in Qi Xiang'an's dull eyes. "I have another trick up my sleeve, enough to get at least one more point from you. Want to hear it?"
"...You called me here just to compete with me in this?" Su Yanxi cooperated and said, "Go ahead, I'm listening."
"What I'm telling you is, don't be too smug or proud of being someone else's wife. There's a reason why I didn't expect you to marry Young Master Bie."
Qi Xiang'an smiled mysteriously.