Love in the Midst of Mistaken Identities

“Mom, please don’t interfere with this matter. Right now, I can’t tell you the reason why I’ve decided to divorce Li Manni.”

“I object.” Chu Jiang roared crazily before Song Wan could say a word. One could feel the hospital ceiling shook with his roar.

“Divorce. Fine. Go ahead.” Chu Jiang stomped around the waiting area. Potholes almost emerged on the ground from his heavy footsteps.

“If you go ahead with the divorce, what will happen to my grandchild? Tell me. What do you intend to do about my grandchild? Who will bear me another grandchild? Chu Lui, I’m warning you.” Chu Jiang approached his son with his index finger near enough to poke holes into Chu Lui’s forehead. In this world, the only person who could do that to Chu Lui without repercussions was his father, Chu Jiang.

“Dad, I’m getting a divorce.” Chu Lui merely repeated his words.

He would go through with the divorce.

He was not negotiating; he was stating a fact.

He would go through with the divorce, and that’s that.

“I disagree.” Chu Jiang almost reached out to slap his son’s face to make it look even. “Chu Lui, you can have your divorce, but don’t dream about calling me ‘Dad’ for as long as I’m alive. I disown you as my son. You treat both your marriages like a joke. You know damn well what you did to Xia Ruoxin. Why? Have you become addicted to it?”

He finished talking and made his point with a glare towards his son. Then, he pulled Song Wan’s hand and left in a huff.

“Ah Lui...” Song Wan wanted to hold on to her son. On the one hand, there was her husband and, on the other, her son. At the moment, her husband was too furious for reasoning. She must soothe his feathers, or else with both Chu Lui and his tempers, an epic fight was bound to happen.

Mrs. Li kept wiping her tears in the hospital. She was irate with Chu Lui, and yet her heart went out for her daughter.

“Manni... Manni...” she called her daughter’s name constantly, worried that something might happen to Li Manni and her unborn grandchild.

“Mom...” Li Manni regained consciousness, still dazed. She opened her eyes and saw her haggard mother sitting by her side.

“Manni, you are awake.” At last, she finally stopped fretting. She placed a hand on her daughter’s forehead and heaved a sigh of relief when she felt there was no fever. The doctor said that once Li Manni was awake, she would be fine. However, she must exercise caution with plenty of rest.

Li Manni’s hand went to her stomach. Her face remained pale.

“Mom, my baby...”

“Don’t worry. The baby is fine.” Mrs. Li consoled her daughter. “The doctor said your baby is fine, but you must be careful. In the future, don’t be so reckless.”

Until now, Li Manni was still concerned.

However, she wondered who she could go to with all her grievances as she repeated her mother’s words.

“Mom... Mom...” Li Manni held her mother and wailed, “Mom, tell me. Why is he treating me like this? Is it deserting my baby and me because of Xia Ruoxin? Mom, didn’t you say that you will deal with that woman? Mom, you have to help me. Help me, please?”

“Manni, calm down.” Mrs. Li was at her wit’s end, trying to console her daughter. “I will help you. I will definitely help you. She is just a woman without power and status. I will get her far away from you and won’t let her appear before Chu Lui and you again.”

“Mom, thank you.” Li Manni sniffed. At this moment, her mother was the only person she could trust.

“You are my daughter. No matter what happens to me, I will help you.”

Obviously, Mrs. Li had forgotten all about her traumatic experience and those humiliating photographs as she began to plot against Xia Ruoxin. She imagined the different ways to deal with Xia Ruoxin. That wretched thing was constantly wandering around her daughter and Chu Lui. Why wouldn’t she just die? If she died, there would be no one to ruin her daughter’s marriage.

“Mom, I’m feeling hungry.” Once Li Manni was done crying, she could feel her stomach rumbling as she ran her hand around it. Regardless of what happened, she must not starve herself.

“I will go and buy you something to eat right away.” Mrs. Li finally stopped her worrying when she heard that her daughter was hungry. She still remembered hunger so she should be fine.

“Don’t starve my little grandchild.” Mrs. Li treasured the baby in Li Manni’s stomach. Whether it was a boy or a girl, it didn’t matter. It would be born with a silver spoon in its mouth. The baby, being the third generation of an affluent family, would have everything.

That old man at home was too short-sighted. It was nothing if they lose the small family company. Whatever belonged to the Chu family would ultimately belong to the Lis in the future. All they needed was this maternal grandchild. Nothing else.

Mrs. Li wiped her face before she stood up and prepared to leave the ward. However, when she opened the door, she saw the somber-faced man standing directly outside. He looked at her with eerily calm eyes. She wondered how long he had been standing there and how much he had heard. The hospital’s soundproofing wasn’t that great. She and Li Manni hadn’t bothered to lower their voices when they were talking earlier. If he had stood there for long, he would have heard everything.

As it turned out, Chu Lui’s expression was unreadable. No matter how much Mrs. Li thought about it, she simply couldn’t figure out what he had overheard.

At first, Mrs. Li was still fuming. Perhaps, due to her guilty conscience, she merely snorted through her nose in indifference as she strutted out of the ward. She had serious doubts that Chu Lui would really go through with the divorce. Whatever it was, the Chu family had been expecting a grandchild for the past few years. Now that their wish had been granted finally, why would they throw the golden opportunity away when the long-awaited grandchild was within their grasp?

Thus, she decided not to take Chu Lui’s words seriously. All she could think of was what kind of delicious food she would buy for her daughter and the supplements she would get to make Li Manni better.

Li Manni laid eyes on Chu Lui. She turned her face away from him still upset with the heartless words he had said to her.

Chu Lui came closer and stood by her bedside. He neither spoke nor moved.

The corners of Li Manni’s lips twitched. Was he here to admit defeat or that he couldn’t bear to part with the baby? Hmph. Chu Lui was only human after all.

“Li Manni...” Suddenly, a gust of cold air brushed against her face. The frosty way he called her name caused her to go cold all over.

“Divorce.” Chu Lui’s lips parted slightly as he spat out the word. It sounded piercing.

“Divorce?” Li Manni sat up abruptly, but she felt the waves of pain in her stomach. She closed her eyes as she tried her best to calm down. Don’t be angry, or the baby would be in danger. The baby was her only bargaining chip left.

“Fine. We’ll get a divorce.” She wasn’t worried about falling out with Chu Lui. “After the divorce, I will have sole custody of the baby.” She clenched her hands tightly around the blanket covering her body. “The baby will have my last name. You won’t have any visitation rights. Even though my family had fallen into undesirable circumstances, we can still afford to raise a baby.”

Chu Lui was silent for a long time. The gloomy emptiness in his dark eyes was dense.