Chapter 294: Liang banquet (7)

Liang Xiao Dan didn’t understand what Huo Xiao Fan was talking about. What about this best friend, Zhilan, and what about using Chen Jianyu?

Liang Shin frowned. “What are you talking about?”

Nana glanced at Jinhai. Jianyu, who was silently listening to everything, spoke.

“Even though she left Nana at the orphanage, the story didn’t quite end there. One big misunderstanding led her to plot against Nana through Serena and me.”

“What misunderstanding?”

The twins nervously glanced at each other. After all, Yu Tengfei was their biological father. What if the Liang family hated them?

It was difficult for Nana to tell that phase of her life. That night when Yu Tengfei attacked her still sent a shiver across her spine. Her hands were shivering a little. Jinhai pressed his palms to assure her.

Jianyu understood Nana’s dilemma. He looked at the Liang family, who were questioningly staring back at him.

“Well…”

He told everything that happened from the beginning since Yu Tengfei committed suicide and how Xiao Fan blamed Nana for his death and how she used Serena and himself to ruin her life.

Liang Xiao Dan was about to collapse, but Liang Shin held her. She looked at Nana with tears in her eyes. She rushed towards her and tightly hugged her in her embrace.

Her adoptive father almost raped nana!?

Nana tremblingly hugged her back as she sobbed in her arms. No matter how much time passed, the memory still remained fresh in her mind.

Liang Zou and Liang Shin were so furious that they wished to bring that man out of his grave and torture the hell out of him. Those were the same emotions that Jinhai felt when he learned Nana’s past in the graveyard.

She was only ten years old! How could any father do that to his daughter!?

They felt utterly disgusted and horrified. They couldn’t imagine what Nana must have gone through. That must have traumatized her!

Not only Huo Xiao Fan misunderstood her, but even Yu Ichika insulted and threw her out of the house. Nobody stood by Nana’s side.

Liang Xiao Dan cried, “My daughter…We are so sorry…We couldn’t be there for you…You suffered so much..”

Nana shook her head. “It is not your fault. You knew nothing about it.”

Liang Xiao Dan gritted her teeth as she looked at her sister. No doubt that she felt terrible for her.

First, she dealt with the heartbreak of unrequited love, then she fell in love again, but she lost her baby, and as if that wasn’t enough, she was cheated on by a married man. Her second love also turned out to be a failure.

“Xiao Fan. I agree that you have suffered a lot. Liang Zou was very wrong. We can never compensate for your loss, and we understand that you may never want to forgive us. But you are equally wrong to take revenge on Nana when she was the victim! How could you think that Nana was behind Yu Tengfei’s death when he almost raped her! How could you be so blind in his love!?”

Huo Xiao Fan said nothing.

“You too, Shen. You should have made her understand that her revenge was unjustified. Instead, you supported her. You must have had known all the truth, yet you let my daughter suffer.”

Huo Shen also couldn’t retort. He may be right in helping her that night, but he was definitely wrong in helping Huo Xiao Fan take revenge on Nana.

Huo Xiao Fan quietly said, “Yes, Xiao Dan. That is one of the things for which I came here tonight…I was wrong with what I did, and that was only why I came here to clear everything. But I don’t feel guilty, and I never will for taking Nana from you.”

She glanced at Huo Shen. The other reason was just to get a glimpse of him and see how he was doing.

Liang Zou roared. “How could you hurt my daughter like that!? All these years, you used your daughter to fool mine?”

She sneered. “You of all people hold no right to tell me. At least be thankful to God that I couldn’t be that cruel to kill Nana after how my daughter died right in front of my eyes.”

Liang Zou froze. He glared at her, but he couldn’t say anything.

His daughter dead? He couldn’t even imagine that scenario.

Huo Xiao Fan shifted her gaze at Jianyu and said, “I’m pleading this to you as well. Please give Zhilan a chance to repent. She…. really loves you. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have gotten in a relationship with you. That was not in my plan.”

Jianyu quietly stared at her. Indeed he admitted that what happened with her in the hospital was terrible, and there cannot be any more sadness deeper and painful than losing her child. But…

Jianyu said, “Maybe not before, but if she truly loved Nana and me, then she should have stopped. Right now, she is an adult, not a child or a teenager who doesn’t understand anything. She knew Nana trusted her so much. She knew how badly I was hurt and broken after Suyin left me. Even then, she brought Suyin back in my life.”

Huo Xiao Fan said, “I know. Call me selfish for defending her, but like I said, she only did everything to gain my love. That is the part of the reason why Liwei hates me so much because I couldn’t become a better mother.”

Huo Liwei said nothing.

Huo Xiao Fan didn’t want to, but she couldn’t stop from her tears flowing out. “I was already broken apart from my daughter’s death. I knew I shouldn’t have let that affect my love for Zhilan, but every time I looked at her, I felt the void of my second daughter. Her presence always reminded me of the absence of that other girl who should have been there with us.”

She looked at Liang Zou with utter hatred and resentment.

“The more we crave for love and the more we don’t get it, the more we cling onto it. You never had to fight for your mother’s love, so perhaps you don’t understand the desperation,” she felt guilty, “only Liwei and Zhilan can understand how it feels to be ignored by your own mother.”

Jianyu stared at her. Huo Liwei was perplexed.

Huo Xiao Fan looked at Nana and faintly smiled. “But you can understand it, right, Nana? Because even after Yu Ichika wrongfully accused you and kicked you out, you couldn’t hate her either. You couldn’t abandon her, so all these years, you took care of her in the hospital because you still wanted her to love you.”

Nana couldn’t deny that. Even though Yu Ichika treated her so badly, she still yearned for her love.

“You should have resented her, but you couldn’t. Zhilan should have also hated me for leaving her alone, but she couldn’t do it either. Both of you, in your own ways, desperately tried to hold onto their mother’s love even though you both knew that it was the mother’s fault in the first place.”

“I clung onto to my dead daughter and Yu Tengfei. Zhilan clung onto me. Nana clung onto Yu Ichika, and…” she looked at Jianyu.

“Even you too, Chen Jianyu. You also clung to Tang Suyin even when you were dating Nana. Even you couldn’t let go of her. That’s why that night, you only saw Suyin’s terrible condition, but the thought of your girlfriend lying in that shed didn’t even cross your mind. That is also why that you let her go in the hospital because you couldn’t bear to punish that woman who you loved so madly for all these years.”

Jianyu widened his eyes as every word of hers struck him hard.

“Twice, you broke Nana’s trust, but even then, Nana forgave you so…” she felt a lump in her throat, “why can’t my daughter get one chance?”

She bowed in front of Chen Liling and Chen Guiren. “I truly apologize for hurting your son. Like I said, please put all the blame on me. You can also punish me as much as you want, but please…don’t be harsh on Zhilan. Even if it’s late, this is the least I could do for her now.”

Chen Liling and Chen Guiren silently exchanged glances.

Huo Shen felt as if somebody tightly squeezed his heart, seeing Huo Xiao Fan bowing and pleading for Serena.

He walked towards her and stood by her side. She was startled as he suddenly came near her.

Huo Shen too bowed. “I apologize, Nana and Chen Jianyu. Please put all the blame on me. Yes, I should have stopped Xiao Fan, but I didn’t. The fault lies with me. Xiao Fan wouldn’t have done all that if I had told her the truth. But I couldn’t shatter her hope that her second love was a betrayal.”

Huo Xiao Fan’s gaze blurred with tears.

“Please don’t leave Zhilan alone, especially now when she is pregnant. Because I had lived those days when I was all alone during my pregnancy. I know how terrifying and depressing it feels. Please….”

But Jianyu’s gaze held complicated emotions. He clenched his fingers into his fist and left without saying a word.