I am chasing a rough man in the 80s
Chapter 972 Not Defined by Others

Chapter 972: Chapter 972 Not Defined by Others

Suizi and her husband stood firm against the pressure from her fourth uncle’s family and made a declaration on the spot.

If it were Chen Tong who had done it, they would never indulge him, but if the fire was not set by Chen Tong, they also asked those who indiscriminately smeared Chen Tong to apologize.

Including Chen Tong’s biological father, Chen He.

With the efforts of the crowd and the firefighters, the fire was finally put out.

Suizi let the firemen enter to inspect and, after a thorough investigation, determined that the point of origin was the electric blanket in the back room of her fourth uncle’s house.

"Chen Tong was injured at the pig farm trying to save me during the day. Could he possibly drag his injured body over, sneak into your courtyard, and painstakingly plug in your electric blanket?"

Suizi spoke at least twice as fast as usual, her thoughts even quicker than Yu Jingting’s.

She had just arrived at the scene and felt that it was highly unlikely that Chen Tong had started the fire.

Chen Tong was now covered in injuries, and since it was not particularly late, how much water would he have to have in his head to start a fire while under the close watch of others?

Suizi had some understanding of the child she had raised. Chen Tong was a type to act covertly rather than overtly. If he truly wanted to exact revenge, he would rather poison someone than set a fire.

"There wasn’t anyone in that room, so how could the electric blanket have been turned on?" her fourth uncle asked, puzzled.

Suddenly, the fourth aunt smacked her forehead.

"I washed my son’s thermal underwear and was afraid it wouldn’t dry, so I used the electric blanket to warm it up a bit..."

They lived in an area without separate electricity meters, so they were not reluctant to use electricity.

"What clothes are you drying with the electric blanket?!" The fourth uncle was so angry that he swung his hand at her.

Yu Jingting reacted incredibly quickly, pulling Suizi back a step while still managing to reach out and grab Chen Tong.

"I thought it was just a little damp, and warming it up a bit would dry it..." The fourth aunt began to cry loudly; she had forgotten about this.

It’s such negligence that leads to fire hazards.

The house was charred and smoke-blackened, years of savings gone up in smoke.

If it were an ordinary day, Suizi might have offered a few words of comfort, providing suggestions out of humanitarian concern, but today, as they accused her son without any evidence, she didn’t want to say a word.

Not kicking someone when they were down was already the greatest kindness she could show.

"Take the child and get in the car." Yu Jingting tightened his grip on Suizi’s arm; if he didn’t hold her back, Suizi might have begun to argue with the others.

He understood how Suizi felt at the moment. It was only because this couple had been too harsh on Chen Tong that she was this angry. Just now, if Yu Jingting hadn’t intervened, they would have already started beating Chen Tong.

At times like this, Jingting had to stay behind to deal with the aftermath.

In the car, Chen Tong silently handed over a handkerchief, and Suizi touched her face, only then realizing she had cried.

"It’s all my own fault," Chen Tong said, half in self-mockery, half in realization.

He had been crafty since he was young and hadn’t changed as an adult. If others misunderstood him, he had no right to complain; after all, he was never a good person to begin with.

"Why should it be your fault? You’ve done many wrong things, but this wasn’t one of them. No one has the right to wrong you like that!"

Suizi was now in full protective mode, feeling angry and heartbroken at the same time.

"Suizi, I must be honest with you. The goodness I showed you in the past, it was all an act. At first, I was truly afraid you would throw me out."

He didn’t want to live without a home, so he tried his best to behave.

Knowing she liked well-behaved children, he acted very obediently.

Wearing the mask for so long, he almost forgot he wasn’t a good person originally.

Although his time with Yu Jingting was brief, Chen Tong already saw clearly and understood what Suizi truly wanted.

He was most afraid of seeing her cry, but today he made her so upset.

"Forget about me, as if we never met. What you’ve done for me is already more than enough," Chen Tong said, feeling relieved.

The day he learned to love was also the day to let go.

"Chen Tong, I had too high expectations for you, and my demands were too great. You all are independent individuals. Since you came back to us, I always felt something was missing, and now I know what I was missing, I owe you an apology," Suizi said between sobs.

"You owe me... an apology?" Chen Tong looked at Suizi, puzzled.

Shouldn’t he be the one apologizing?

It was she who gave him a home and cultivated him with all her might, turning an orphan with no parents into a scientist coveted by many countries.

All he had was given by her, yet she said, forgive me?

"Yes, I once thought I was a good mother, but to you, I wasn’t good enough. I didn’t give you enough security, letting you live in unease. I shouldn’t have imposed my own ideas on you. Raising a child and then demanding he must become a certain type of person, how is that different from those who hurt you under the pretext of ’it’s for your own good’?"

"How can that be the same? You’ve never demanded anything of me, it was all my own choice!"

Suizi shook her head.

"Let me finish," she said.

When those people were bullying Chen Tong earlier, he stayed silent and did not explain.

A voice in Suizi’s heart was asking herself, why is this happening, where went wrong.

Now, she knew where the problem lay.

"Chen Tong, in the future, whatever career you choose is fine, as long as you don’t violate any laws in the criminal code I gave you. Jingting and I are willing to be your wings, support you wherever you want to fly. If you want to be a scientist, be one; if not, just stay by our side. Being just another screw in the masses is also good," she said.

Suizi wiped away her overflowing tears; she still had the propensity to cry just as in her past life, but her mindset was completely different now.

"You’ve changed; you never used to ask this of me."

She always taught him to be someone of use to society.

The educational resources she provided him far exceeded those of an average family, so he also had to be more outstanding than an average child.

"People change, influenced by their environment and those around them, there will always be different insights. Different people, different ages, different ideas. I used to be very obstinate, because ours wasn’t a complete family, and I couldn’t provide you with a father, I always held a grudge, determined to raise you to be as good as those from normal families," she said.

Suizi analyzed her previous life very seriously, something she had never discussed with Chen Tong.

"Just now, watching you being accused without fighting back, I suddenly understood; I wanted you to ’be worthy of others,’ but it seems I never told you that there should be another sentence after that."

Looking straight at Chen Tong, with tears streaming down, Suizi spoke the deepest blessing a mother could have for her child:

"Be worthy of others, but don’t let yourself down either. You shouldn’t be defined by anyone else. Whether you are good or bad, you are you. From now on, whatever decisions you make should no longer be influenced by me. You should live for yourself."

The missing words to her child were now made up for.

Chen Tong’s tears had already unknowingly covered his face.

All his fixations shattered to pieces.

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