Reborn: The Return of the Villainous Mr. Liu-Chapter 1201: Anchor

It was hard to meet Zhong Heng’s gaze. The past seemed like forever ago, yet it bled as if the wound had been cut afresh. She knew the disappointment would be huge. Zhong Heng loved his father, and his mother had betrayed her marriage. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"Mom, you...cannot be serious, right? Please tell me that you are lying."

His voice couldn’t come out as if a big boulder had stuck in his throat. He watched his mother’s gaze in despair. He wanted her to come forward and tell that everything was a lie - probably a pressure tactic from Zhong Sihan. But her silence only withered away any last hope there was remaining in his heart. It felt like his whole life was a lie.

His mother got widowed and he had become fatherless. All this time, the culprit was none other than Zhong Sihan, his evil, selfish uncle. He was the one who cornered his father and pushed him to the edge. But it turned out that his own wife had tipped him off the slippery slope? Everything was already dark and bleak for him and the only source of trust and comfort was his family. But to see that that one person had also left his side long ago...

Zhong Heng’s emotions were a mix of shock, anger, confusion all rampaging in his mind together. His wife was trying to shake him into senses, but his hard gaze was only fixed at Zhong Anrui.

"You..you betrayed Dad," he bit his lip, tears brimming his eyes which he didn’t bother to wipe away. "We were the only ones on his side who he could trust on. Yet..j-just because he lost his way a little, you...how could you, Mom! How could you betray Dad!"

"Heng, I-"

"A-and," he trembled, his breathing becoming messier, "Uncle? Of all people, you liked that man who was the sole reason for our misery all this time!"

"Heng, I know that Sihan might not have acted like an ideal brother, but the real people behind our misery were always the other shareholders who wanted to manipulate Yuhang. Their influence brought cracks in his relationship with everyone..." her wet eyes ached.

"So what Mom? So what! No matter what, his family was supposed to stay by his side! We were supposed to pull him out of that rut together, but you stepped back midway."

"No, Heng. That’s not true. I never sto-stopped supporting Yuhang-"

"Then how could you cheat on him!"

She froze. She already knew there were no excuses to be given for that. Though she cherished Yuhang, the momentary slip in her feelings, one misstep and they had lost him forever.

"Enough!" Zhong Sihan gnashed his jaw. "If you don’t understand a thing about marriage or relationships, then shut the fuck up."

Zhong Heng stared at him, stunned. "Are you seriously raising your voice against me? What right do you have! Oh. Or is it that you also liked Mom, so you are getting defensive of her?"

"I should slap the shit out of you! Defensive? I can never tolerate cheating. Anrui was my sister-in-law and I always saw her that way. She was Yuhang’s wife. There’s nothing more to it. And there’s no doubt about it that she let Yuhang down. She was supposed to be the anchor in his life, but she slipped. I despised her for even thinking something like that. I am her brother-in-law for God’s sake. I would never eye my own brother’s wife!"

His jaw clenched and Zhong Sihan’s expression worsened.

"But you must also understand, you fool, that it’s a marriage. Husband AND wife. Now I don’t know much about marriages being single myself, but I guess only one partner cannot keep tethering onto a relationship."

Zhong Sihan continued with a grim gaze. "I wanted Yuhang to be tougher because he was a family man now. Yet like a fool, he couldn’t judge people and let the wrong people influence him. If something happened to me tomorrow, and Yuhang was left in charge, then what would have happened? The business was doomed because of some people playing him like a convenient puppet. But I never thought he would completely abandon his family in the pursuit of defeating me.

He never understood it. There was no victory and defeat. Not between brothers. I just wanted him to shed his naivety and be a more responsible man who could take care of his family and business. He needed a sharp, cunning mind for that. But he became obsessed with becoming a better businessman so much that he forgot to be a husband and a father first. So I am not saying your mother didn’t disappoint us, but your father wasn’t such a rockstar either."

Zhong Sihan took a step toward him and scanned him up and down. Then sneered. "Good to see that you are living in a good marriage, but not everybody is like that. Your mother began to like someone else and that’s an emotional betrayal there. I don’t condone it, but question Yuhang too. What kind of a husband was he to Anrui? Or even to you? You were five or six years old when he did that. But do you even have any good memories of him spending any time with you? It was mostly only her. He was slipping away from the equation as fast as somebody falling off the cliff."

Zhong Heng’s lips pressed into a thin line.

"...You are suddenly defending the woman who plotted against you to go to prison?"

Zhong Sihan only stared at him. He held a long, distant gaze in his eyes. At this point, he was too tired to speak.

"If you are still implying some hidden feelings toward her, then I will slap the shit out of you right now. My decision to keep quiet has nothing to do with protecting her. It was purely about me and Yuhang. She doesn’t even come into the picture for the decision I made. But you won’t understand it."