Rebirth: CEO's Sweetheart Reaches the Life Pinnacle!
Chapter 104 - 101: Questioning

Chapter 104: Chapter 101: Questioning

Li Si laughed coldly. If she was hurting like this, then no one would have it easy. "Li Guoqiang! My father is Li Guoqiang. My nickname is Tiantian. Do you remember now, Miss Tian?"

Tian Yaruo stared incredulously at Li Si, her ears catching only that unforgettable name she had held in her heart all her life. Her mind went blank, and when she thought of the news she had just heard, her heart suddenly ached.

Ye Duowei and Bai Shasha didn’t understand what was going on. How could just a name make both of them so emotional?

"Child, did you say your name is Tiantian? Your father is Li Guoqiang? I... I’m..." Tian Yaruo pointed at herself in agitation, her words stumbling over themselves. She tightly grabbed Li Si’s hand, her eyes filled with a yearning gaze as she looked at the girl’s face. She murmured several soundless words but still couldn’t bring herself to utter "Mom."

How could she be worthy of being this child’s mother? After so many years of neglect, the girl must hate her deeply, especially after the excessive words she had just spoken, which surely inflicted severe harm!

Li Si bit her lips tightly to suppress the long-awaited call she desperately wanted to cry out. She merely looked at her coldly and said, "My parents didn’t raise me properly, so I don’t watch what I say or do. Carelessly, overestimating myself, I tried to steal your Weiwei’s fiancé. Are you here to educate me on their behalf?"

Tian Yaruo shook her head as tears streamed down her face. She had thoroughly hurt this child. "No! Child, I misspoke earlier! Will you forgive me? Child, I didn’t know..."

"Aunt, what are you doing? You clearly told the truth just now, so why are you apologizing?" Ye Duowei angrily pulled her back. "Besides, why is someone from such a humble household behaving so aggressively? My aunt was stating the facts about you earlier, and the facts are still true!"

"What nonsense facts? Ye Duowei, cut the act with your fake innocent girl routine! Who are you trying to fool? You’re the only one who treats Yin Xian like a treasure! Do you think any woman would find him appealing? Come over here; let’s settle this one-on-one!" Bai Shasha obviously saw through everything—this crying woman must have an extraordinary relationship with Li Si. As she spoke, she forcefully pulled Ye Duowei away to give the two some space.

With the tension around her gone, Tian Yaruo looked at the environment around them. She pulled Li Si with equal determination and headed toward a corner ahead. "Child, let’s have a good talk!"

"Alright!" Li Si laughed coldly. She wanted a proper talk too, to ask some questions. After all these years of absence and neglect, now that she had shown up for the sake of her son’s health, did she feel guilty at all? Did she feel any remorse for failing them?

Not far ahead, there happened to be a café. The two of them found the most private seat inside and sat down.

Tian Yaruo, overwhelmed with emotion, reached out to touch her face, but Li Si turned her head aside, evading her touch. Her face revealed a mix of embarrassment and sorrow. "Child, you must hate me, right? I truly didn’t know earlier, or I wouldn’t have said such hurtful things!"

"It doesn’t matter! Whether I hate you or not, I still have to live, don’t I?" Li Si looked at her coldly. "Or is it that if I said I don’t hate you, you’d feel better about yourself?"

"Child, I suppose you already know—I am, I am your biological mother? Your father... is it really true that he’s passed away?" Tian Yaruo still found it hard to believe. It didn’t seem plausible. How could such a thing happen?

Li Si silently nodded. Tian Yaruo covered her mouth and began sobbing uncontrollably.

Li Si raised her head to stare at the café’s brown pendant lights, trying to swallow back her rising tears. Who was it that once said, when you feel sorrowful and want to cry, if you look up at a 45-degree angle, the tears won’t fall? It was a lie; the tears still flow, only in a different direction.

Dad, can you see this from heaven? This is the woman you loved dearly for your whole life, the woman you remained loyal to for your whole life. When she heard the news of your passing, she still felt heartbroken. Does that mean, perhaps, she still holds a place for you in her heart?

After a while, it seemed Tian Yaruo had cried to her heart’s content, or perhaps it was her lament for those who had passed. "I’m sorry to both of you! Child, how did your father pass away?"

"Last year, he went fishing at the Great River. He saw someone drowning and went to save them. In the end, neither of them came back..." Even though so much time had passed, she still dared not delve too deeply into the details.

"That’s just like Guoqiang, something he would do! Child, how have you lived all these years? Was your father... that woman, was she good to you?" Tian Yaruo timidly asked, her heart heavy with guilt for her selfishness.

"What woman? My father raised me all by himself. If I had known the truth earlier, I’d have insisted he find someone. Living alone is too lonely; why should he suffer such an isolated, pitiful existence?"

Li Si truly regretted it. How could she have been so clueless in the past? If she had grasped her father’s loneliness and solitude, wouldn’t finding someone to accompany him have made things better? She understood now why her father had never remarried—partly because of his love for Tian Yaruo and partly because of her, his daughter. He feared she might suffer under a stepmother’s care.

"Child, I’m sorry! I should have come for you sooner, but I had my own difficulties..." Tian Yaruo thought of her life, the Yan Family, and the sick Kesong. The sorrow overwhelmed her again.

Li Si lowered her gaze, unwilling to meet her guilty eyes. "Coming sooner wouldn’t have changed anything, would it? Some things can’t be undone, don’t you think?"

She couldn’t understand. Even in her past life, up until her death, Tian Yaruo had never appeared. Was it because Kesong hadn’t fallen ill? Or was it because they simply hadn’t found her?

"Child, please don’t be like this, alright? There’s so much you don’t know, things you can’t understand yet. You’re too young. By the way, why is your name Li Si? I clearly remember we named you something else back then... No, your given name should have been Li Siqiang, right?"

"Oh? Is that so? There’s so much I can’t understand, is that it? Then why don’t you explain it to me, so that I can understand? Tell me, what should my actual given name be?"

Li Si asked indifferently. Her so-called inability to understand might refer to her refusal to play along with their script, her refusal to altruistically donate her bone marrow, her rejection of the 300,000-yuan compensation, or her defiance that had led Miss Tian to force her before the department chair—she wasn’t sure.

"Back then, we named you Li Tianxin. Your nickname was Tiantian. Could it be? Li Si, Si..." Tian Yaruo broke into sobs again. "Guoqiang, how could you have been so foolish!"

"Li Tianxin? What does it matter what the name is? It’s just a label, nothing else! Actually, the only reason I’m willing to calmly sit here to talk to you now is because I have questions for you!"

Li Si suppressed her urge to loudly confront her, her tone steady but direct as she asked, "After all these years, you’ve ignored me and Dad completely. And now, you suddenly show up in North City. Is it because someone pretending to be from a charity foundation came to my grandmother’s house earlier? Is it because even though they spent 300,000 yuan bribing my relatives, they failed to convince me? Is it because now you’ve personally taken it upon yourself to persuade me to be a match for your precious son?" (To be continued. If you like this story, please visit Qidian.com to vote for it with recommendations and monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)

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