After Shang Che left, the old lady looked at Li Li, who was sitting to one side with red eyes and saying nothing, her eyes full of heartache.
Motioning for the servant to push her closer, the old lady looked into Li Li's eyes. "Feeling wronged?"
Li Li sniffed, putting on a proud expression. "No."
Yet clearly, the shadows cast by her eyelashes across her face were full of stubbornness and grievance, as if she were right on the verge of tears.
Sitting in her wheelchair, Old Madam Li leaned forward, took her icy hand, and gently patted it. "Are you feeling wronged by the affairs of the Li Family, or by marrying Shang Che?"
She shouldn't have asked; the moment Old Madam Li spoke, tears spilled from Li Li's eyes.
They fell onto the hands tightly clasped by the grandmother and granddaughter, turning from instantly scalding to freezing cold.
Old Madam Li's pupils trembled slightly as she let out a very soft sigh. "When you smashed the Li Family to smithereens, didn't you anticipate this ending?"
"No matter what, Li Xiang's interests are tied to the Li Family. Even with the evidence right in front of them, they will still protect her."
Smashing the Li Family to smithereens was Li Li's act of rebellion and venting, for which she had foreseen the outcome from the very beginning.
"As for Shang Che..."
The old lady opened her mouth, as if she had a thousand things to say, but the words stuck in her throat, unspeakable.
In the end, she only said, "Shang Yang is not a good match."
"Remember what Grandma says: no matter when it is, keep a firm grip on power; nothing else matters."
When Li Li walked out of Old Madam Li's hospital room, she was clearly distracted.
Instead of returning, she went to find Old Madam Li's attending physician.
Inside the room, almost the moment Li Li stopped the old lady's attending physician, Shen Xiao brought the news to the old lady.
"Let her be." Old Madam Li was not surprised. "This matter can't be hidden any longer anyway."
"Shen Xiao." Old Madam Li looked at the capable assistant she had personally cultivated, a hint of entreaty appearing in her eyes for the very first time. "That girl has a hasty temper, and the Ji Family has protected her too well."
"Even though she's smart, she's also impulsive. Her own mother and brother are eyeing her like tigers, and her father doesn't care for her. If I can't hold on much longer, you must protect her."
Hearing these words from the old lady, Shen Xiao felt as heavy-hearted as if a massive boulder were pressing down on her.
Reluctant as she was, Shen Xiao knew Old Madam Li's condition better than anyone else—she was simply forcing herself to hold on now.
"Please rest assured, no matter what, I stand on the young lady's side."
"It's just..." Shen Xiao looked at Old Madam Li, hesitating to speak.
"Ask whatever you want to ask." Old Madam Li looked out the window at the dark, gathering clouds; it was likely going to rain again.
"Why were you so dead set against the young lady marrying into the Shang Family back then? You clearly already found an excuse to avoid the young lady's marriage to Shang Yang, so why did you suddenly make her marry Shang Che?"
In Shen Xiao's view, compared to Shang Che, Shang Yang was clearly the better choice.
Whether in character or ability, Shang Yang was top-tier in this circle.
When Li Li originally wanted to marry Shang Yang, the old lady had been unwilling. But because Li Li had a stubborn streak, the old lady had no choice, reluctantly agreeing and going to the Shang Family herself to negotiate the match.
Shen Xiao had thought the old lady had come around and decided to let Li Li marry Shang Yang, but she never expected that when Madam Li snatched the marriage with Shang Yang away, the old lady actually tacitly allowed it.
Old Madam Li held absolute authority in the Li Family; even hospitalized, as long as she wished it, no one could snatch away what belonged to Li Li.
Shen Xiao even suspected that the marriage had been hinted at by the old lady, which was why Madam Li and Patriarch Li dared to snatch it out in the open.
Regarding this, Old Madam Li did not deny it. "I indeed let them snatch it."
"Why?" Shen Xiao's heart shook, never expecting this from the old lady who had always loved Li Li the most.
"The Shang Family is not as simple as you see."
"Before the current Head of the Shang Family, the Shang Family had an elder son who was designated from childhood as a one-on-one cultivated heir. Before that, the Head of the Shang Family was merely an obscure second son."
"You're talking about the one who got addicted to drugs..."
The old lady made a silencing gesture and said, "I just didn't expect them to still have a child."
Still have a child?!
Yet... even Shen Xiao, who knew the various prominent families of Wucheng inside and out, had never heard of this.
Shen Xiao was startled. What kind of earth-shattering secret had she just heard!
Seeming to realize she had said too much, Old Madam Li nonchalantly skipped over the topic. "Did you manage to collect the samples I asked you to take?"
Recovering from her shock, Shen Xiao produced a tray of specimen containers. "They are all here."
The old lady looked over. Several transparent glass containers bore the names "Li Yongqian", "Li Siyou", "Li Xiang", and Madam Li "Xu Wen".
Closing her eyes slightly, the old lady's face was covered in exhaustion. Compared to when Li Li was here, she looked several years older in an instant.
Yet she waved her hand. "Send them for testing, exactly as I instructed."
Looking at these genetic samples, Shen Xiao's pupils tightened slightly.
She had been in the Li Family for decades, raised by Old Madam Li's own hands, and had witnessed all sorts of changes in the Li Family.
She never expected that one day Old Madam Li would suspect the children born from Madam Li's own belly.
Aside from Li Xiang the adopted daughter, Li Siyou and Li Li had both been born from Madam Li's womb right before her eyes.
At the same time, Shen Xiao knew with absolute clarity that Old Madam Li was not a suspicious person by nature. But if she suspected something, there was a nine-in-ten chance there really was a problem...
Nighttime in Wucheng at the start of summer brought frequent rain.
Within moments, a torrential downpour enshrouded the entire city.
When Li Li came out of the hospital, she was in a daze.
"I'm sorry, President Li, we did our best."
"Although the old lady is undergoing chemotherapy, she is too old and all her bodily functions are degenerating. I'm afraid it's a matter of this month or the next..."
Weren't they saying all her vitals were improving?
Thunder raged fiercely. Li Li looked at the hazy, fog-filled sky like a small, drowning beast struggling for air, her eyes full of bewilderment and helplessness.
"I don't like you. I'd rather I had never given birth to you."
"You are not my daughter, don't touch me, you disgust me!"
They say there is no mother in this world who does not love her child, but Madam Li had never shown a shred of affection toward Li Li.
People say memories before the age of three fade as one grows up, but Li Li was different.
Her childhood, coupled with every single curse from her biological mother and every hard-to-heal scar on her body, was branded deep into her soul like the shackles of a nightmare.
Li Li could not understand: they were both their mother's children, so why did her brother have his mother's love, endless new clothes, and countless toys?
While she could only be trapped in a dark room, crying until she passed out on countless cold, damp nights with no one caring.
She also envied the love and pride in her mother's eyes when looking at her brother, while only disgust remained when looking at her.
Through one despairing night after another, grandma arrived before the Grim Reaper did.