Chapter 12: Dad and Mom

Early morning, Su Family.

Madam Su had recently developed a bit of an addiction to scrolling through videos. Sure enough, that morning she had not even eaten breakfast yet and was already on the couch scrolling through videos again.

Just then, a video of a beautiful woman playing a string instrument came up. The woman was elegant and graceful, and the music she played was melodious and pleasant.

But Madam Su stared at the woman in the video with an expression of shock. The video was not long, just a short clip of over ten seconds, but she had already replayed it several times.

“Old Su! Come here quickly!” Madam Su suddenly seemed to snap out of it, loudly calling for her husband.

Su Zong was a little impatient, expressing his disapproval of his wife’s habit of scrolling through videos every day even at the expense of breakfast.

“I’m coming, I’m coming. What is it this time? Some pretty clothes? Or a piece of jewelry?” Su Zong walked lazily, as if he had already guessed what kind of thing his wife had seen.

“What nonsense are you talking about? Come here and look at this! Isn’t this our daughter Sanxian?” Madam Su rolled her eyes, urging him with some urgency.

The moment he heard it might be Sanxian, Su Zong stopped dawdling. He quickly strode over and looked at the screen of his wife’s phone.

One look, and Su Zong was stunned. “This… this is Sanxian, isn’t it? Sanxian is better now?”

“Didn’t you say the other day… oh, forget it. Wasn’t Lin Shen here a few days ago because Sanxian was better? This is all your fault, Su Guoqiang, for insisting on not seeing him when he came!”

“This…” Su Guoqiang felt a little guilty. “But why didn’t Sanxian tell us herself? Never mind, let’s call Sanxian and ask her to come home for a meal. That brat Lin Shen will probably have to come too.”

The reason the Su Family had treated Lin Shen so coldly, even extending their anger to the three children, all stemmed from Su Sanxian’s madness.

Back then, Su Sanxian had been the Su Family’s only child. Being a daughter, she was pampered like a pearl in the palm of Su Guoqiang’s hand. When she suddenly announced she was in a relationship with Lin Shen, who had been kept completely out of the family’s sight until then, Su Guoqiang took an instant dislike to him.

Later, when Su Sanxian became pregnant, Guoqiang finally softened his attitude toward Lin Shen because of his daughter. But because it was already her third pregnancy, and a difficult labor on top of that, Sanxian had nearly died.

After being saved, Sanxian had fallen into a coma for five days. When she woke, she had lost her mind and become like a lunatic.

At that time, Guoqiang had been so furious and distraught that he fainted on the spot. When he awoke, the first thing he wanted was a divorce between the two, insisting that Sanxian return to the Su Family to recover. But Lin Shen had refused no matter what.

Ever since then, Guoqiang had always believed that Lin Shen and the three children were the culprits who had harmed his precious daughter and his wife’s beloved girl.

Because he had failed to take his daughter back from Lin Shen, and because he despised him but could not hurt him outright, Guoqiang’s dislike of Lin Shen had only deepened. He had even blocked all of Lin Shen’s contact information, and cooperation between the Su Corporation and the Lin Corporation had gradually ceased.

Lin Shen had not even been allowed to visit. The servants in the Su household, who had all watched Su Sanxian grow up, together with the old master and madam’s stance, had also refused to let him in or even speak to him.

Yet although there was no interaction with Lin Shen, they had not felt comfortable leaving their daughter in the Lin Family’s care, so Lin Shen had hired someone to visit the Lin Family every ten days to check on Su Sanxian and send photos and videos to the Su Family. The last visit had just taken place when Sanxian crossed over.

And now that Su Sanxian had recovered, less than ten days had passed since that last visit. Because Lin Shen had no way of contacting anyone from the Su Family, it directly resulted in Father Su and Mother Su only learning today that Su Sanxian had recovered.

⋆⁺₊⋆ ━━━━⊱༒︎ • ༒︎⊰━━━━ ⋆⁺₊⋆

Lin Family.

That morning, Su Sanxian had woken up unusually early and clear-headed, and was happily eating breakfast with the three little ones.

Unexpectedly, her phone suddenly rang.

On the screen, the two bold characters for “Dad” froze Su Sanxian in place.

So the original owner had parents after all? She had been narrow-minded. Because she had been an orphan in her past life, she had instinctively assumed she had none in this one.

“Mom, aren’t you going to answer the phone?” Erzai took a bite of his bun and looked at his mother, who had been staring at the phone screen, and asked curiously.

“Oh, oh, oh.” Erzai’s question seemed to snap Su Sanxian out of her daze. She quickly swiped the screen with her left hand to answer the call.

“Hello…” Before she could say anything, a loud voice came from the other end. “Honey! She picked up! Our daughter picked up the phone!”

No wonder Su Guoqiang sounded so thrilled—Su Sanxian’s phone had not been answered in four years.

“Uh…”

“Daughter, it’s Dad.” a man’s voice said, followed immediately by a woman’s voice cutting in. “Daughter, it’s Mom!”

The joyful voices calling her “Dad” and “Mom” softened Su Sanxian’s heart, filling her with a warmth she had not expected. She hadn’t even realized that a smile of pure joy had spread across her face.

“…Dad, Mom, this is Su Sanxian.”

“Daughter, when did you get better? Why didn’t you tell Dad and Mom when you got well? Why did you decide to enter a competition? Dad and Mom miss you so much… Old Su, stop asking so many questions and just tell her to come home. We’ll talk about everything face-to-face… Yes, yes, yes! Daughter, are you free today? Will you come home for lunch?”

Listening to the two of them chattering on the other end of the line, Su Sanxian couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m free. I’ll come home for lunch today!”

“Good, good, good! Mom will make your favorite braised spare ribs!”

While this side of the conversation was warm and cheerful, on the other side Lin Shen and The Three Cubs were exchanging uneasy looks.

After all, all four of them knew very well just how much the people on the other end of that phone call disliked them.

Hearing that Su Sanxian was going back to the Su Family for lunch, all four of them—including Lin Shen—were a little unsettled, afraid that Father Su and Mother Su would take Su Sanxian away.

Thinking about how The Three Cubs—and even himself—still had school later, their anxiety grew heavier.

We can’t go to school today!

That thought crossed the minds of all four father and sons simultaneously.

“I’ll get you guys excused from school today!”

“Dad, can you get us excused from school today?”

Father and sons spoke in unison.

Although their worries were not exactly the same, their solution was perfectly in sync.

Lin Shen was mainly worried that since Su Sanxian didn’t remember him right now, if there was any uncertainty, she might not soften and come back if the kids weren’t there. The Three Cubs, on the other hand, worried that if their dad went alone, he wouldn’t be able to bring Mom back.

“Yes!” they chorused again.

After hanging up, Su Sanxian looked at the four of them, who had clearly reached some kind of united decision, feeling a little dumbfounded.

What happened while she was on that call? Why were they all acting so serious?

The first strike came from sweet little Erzai. “Mom, can we come with you when you go to Grandma and Grandpa’s house today? Let us skip school just for today, please?”

“How can you ask for leave again? Not today. Next time, okay, my darlings?” Su Sanxian disapproved.

“But Mom, we’ve never been to Grandma and Grandpa’s house.” Sanzai, seeing his mom’s refusal, switched to a pitiful tone.

Never been there?

Su Sanxian suddenly realized she had overlooked something important. Father Su and Mother Su were completely new characters! The original novel hadn’t mentioned them at all, no matter what happened to the kids, they had never appeared.

She felt puzzled, deep in thought, when Dazai spoke up. “Mom, please take us with you. We can all go together and come back together.”

Still feeling that something was strange but unable to figure it out, and seeing how much the kids wanted to go, she nodded.

“Woohoo! Thanks, Mom!”