Chapter 310 - Ten Years Later Too

"The rumors that had died down became alive again. That Guoting was just having fun with a wealthy woman. As soon as he started earning money, women came flocking to him, and so he didn't need to stay faithful to Zongying anymore. He could have as many women as he wanted."

"Bullshit! My Dad is not like that!" Shuang's chest heaved up and down, and her eyes slightly teared up, mixed with anger and sadness.

Jack Si didn't know why, but he slightly felt a tug in his chest seeing her like that. She was a strong woman, but now that strong woman was slightly shaking.

He poured a glass of water and offered it to her. 

"It's okay," he said in a gentle, soothing voice.

Shuang looked up at him, and he nodded.. She took a few sips and let out a breath.

Mr. Guo anxiously said, "I am sorry that you have to hear this, dear…"

"No, please don't be. I wanted to know this. It's not your fault," she quietly stared at him and asked, "Did you believe Dad?"

Mr. Guo was quiet for a beat. "Initially, I couldn't help but doubt him. The compromising position in which he was found with He Lijuan was difficult not to believe in. I did feel incredulous that he could do something like this. It seemed impossible. But the evidence was damning...But when I heard his side of the story, I believed him. I felt the desperation in his eyes and voice. I felt that he was telling the truth. He kept saying that he didn't sleep with her even if he was seen on the bed with her. He didn't make any excuses that he might have accidentally slept with her. He said with absolute certainty only one thing. That he didn't do it."

He put his teacup back on the table.

"But He Lijuan wasn't going back on her words either. She cried and sobbed that he had forgotten about it, but it did happen. Guoting tried to convince Zongying with his utmost sincerity that he was innocent. Even in college, he would desperately follow her everywhere to give him a chance to listen to him. But in front of that incriminating scene, she also couldn't bring herself to listen to him. Then the break-up happened in the worst possible way. Guoting was utterly humiliated by Zongying, and she broke up with him."

Silence.

He continued after taking a pause, "I genuinely tried to convince her to let him speak once. Maybe, we really misunderstood things. Guoting worked so hard to build his company just for her sake. He wanted to become a capable man to prove that he could take care of her, and she would be happy with him. He was so thrilled when he won the award and even more excited to see Zongying's reaction. That's why I always hesitated to believe it. Would such a man really cheat on his girlfriend?"

He sighed. "But Zongying was too heartbroken to hear anything. The sight of the man she loved sleeping with another woman was too much to bear for her."

Jack Si asked, "What did Uncle An do then?"

"He stopped following her."

Shuang was taken aback.

"Zongying broke up with him without giving him any chance to prove himself innocent. That hurt his pride and his feelings. He asked me if Zongying didn't believe him even a little bit that she couldn't hear him out just once? Was her trust in him that weak? He knew it was a difficult situation for her to handle too. But she shook him away and ended everything between them one-sidedly. He really loved her, but didn't she have even a little faith in that love? Her ignorance crushed his heart, and feeling disappointed and hurt, he accepted the break-up and left the college."

Shuang lowered his gaze. "I see…"

"He completed his last year from another college, and I never really saw him again. I tried to stop him, but I couldn't. He left just like that. However, we met a few years later coincidentally and exchanged numbers. Since then, we have kept in touch a bit."

Her heart ached for her father.

"But how did Han Zongying die because of him?"

"Because of him?" He was taken aback. "I don't know what you mean. I remember that day when Guoting told me that she committed suicide."

Shuang was stunned. "S-Suicide?"

"Yes."

"Did she commit suicide after the breakup?"

"Oh no, no. She went her own way after everything happened. I think it was around nine or ten years after the incident."

"How old was Dad when this happened?"

"Twenty. He did his last year in another college."

Shuang internally calculated.

Dad married Caihong's Mom when he was twenty-six. His wife got pregnant the next year, and Caihong was born the year after that. So she was around one and a half or two at that time when Han Zongying committed suicide...

Does that mean that they reunited somehow ten years later? And Dad did something that made her kill herself?

Ugh...this is confusing. I thought everything happened during college, but it seems that something happened ten years later too…

"Do you know why she killed herself?"

He shook his head. "I don't. Guoting didn't tell me. But he was in a horrible state at that time. I couldn't help but wonder if he knew the reason behind such a decision or if he was somehow involved in it. Please don't misunderstand me. I am not accusing Guoting of anything. But I felt that he knew more than he was letting me on to. Then five years later, he told me that he got married to your mother not to let Caihong deprive of motherly love. And he also wanted to wholeheartedly become your father too."

She smiled. "I know," she softly said. She stood and bowed. "Thank you so much for telling me this. Don't tell Dad that you told me about this…"

"Of course not," he chuckled. "It's our secret."

They stepped outside, and Shuang finally loosened her stiff shoulders.

She looked at Jack Si. "Told you that my parents' generation is complicated."

Jack Si smiled. "And so is yours. What are you going to do next?"

She stepped on her toes and then came down. "I guess the only option left is to meet He Lijuan now."