DTBS – Chapter 4
Chapter 4: Taking Responsibility
"You know what I mean, don't you? Your hand was shaking just now!" Tao Shizhou stared at the woman before him, saying heartbrokenly, "I'm telling you, your Grandfather here has proof. How could you do such an outrageous thing! I thought only men would..."
"Why can only men do it, and women can't?" Tao Qiuyun put down the teapot, looked at the old man opposite her, her expression serious, her voice sincere, "Grandfather, I have my own thoughts. I'm an adult, you shouldn't interfere in this kind of matter."
Hearing this, Old Master Tao's eyes trembled, clearly having taken a significant blow; Zhang Cheng's hand also shook twice, looking at Tao Qiuyun in disbelief; Brother Hu, the bodyguard, his lips twitched, unable to hold back, "Eldest Miss, how can you say such outrageous words with a righteous face!"
Tao Qiuyun looked at him, her eyes like lightning, then let out a light laugh and said, "Outrageous? This is outrageous? Then I have even more outrageous things to say."
Hearing this, Zhang Cheng covered his heart.
Qiuqiu, whom he had watched grow up, had become a scoundrel!
"Rebellious daughter!" Old Master Tao gripped his cane and stood up, taking a couple of breaths to calm himself down, and angrily said, "You shook off your bodyguards abroad and told me you needed your private space, was it just to do this kind of thing?! What exactly were you doing those few years..."
Tao Qiuyun's eyes slightly darkened. She didn't understand why such a secretive act would be known by the Old Master back home. She frowned and said, "Grandfather, who told you about this?"
"Do I need someone to tell me?" Old Master Tao tapped his cane, angered, "The parties involved have come knocking!"
"All?!"
Hearing this, Old Master Tao covered his chest and fell back onto the sofa. Zhang Cheng quickly rushed forward to help.
"Grandfather!" Tao Qiuyun stood up nervously.
"Don't touch me!" Tao Shizhou swatted her hand away, took a breath from the oxygen tank handed to him by Brother Hu, and said, "What do you mean 'all have come'? More than one woman?"
"How could it be just one woman? Are you underestimating your granddaughter's capabilities?" Tao Qiuyun's expression was confused. Her genuine reaction made Tao Shizhou's anger flare up.
The Old Master pointed at her, then handed his cane to Brother Hu, "Wu Hu! Hit her for me!"
"Old Master," Wu Hu held the cane, "I wouldn't dare."
"Useless!" Tao Shizhou glared at him, then looked at his granddaughter's face, which was like fine jade and gold. "Outwardly like jade and gold, but rotten inside! How did you end up like this! Tao Qiuyun! Run from this floor down to the underground parking lot! Clear your head! No taking the elevator, Wu Hu! You supervise her!"
"Okay! Old Master, I can do this."
"Grandfather, I hope you calm down," Tao Qiuyun said with a calm expression, "I know it might be hard to accept, but..."
"Get out!" Old Master Tao covered his chest, "If you say two more sentences, you'll anger me to death, get out—!"
Seeing the Old Master roar hoarsely in anger, Tao Qiuyun raised her hand to signal, "I will run the whole way."
With that, she quickly darted out the door, and Brother Hu quickly followed.
Zhang Cheng helped Tao Shizhou up, and while comforting him, walked towards the elevator.
Gossip always spreads the fastest and is the easiest to distort.
Thus, everyone at Chunjin Group knew: CEO Tao was chased by Old Master Tao, waving his cane, all the way from the 28th floor down to the underground parking lot.
The employees in the surveillance room: Seriously, CEO Tao ran 28 floors without even stopping.
By the time Old Master Tao and Zhang Cheng exited the elevator, Tao Qiuyun and Wu Hu were already waiting for them at the elevator entrance.
The woman in a sharp suit was leaning on a cane, her back straight and unyielding. The tall man standing behind her didn't steal her thunder; instead, he highlighted her imposing aura even more.
Seeing Tao Shizhou exit the elevator, Tao Qiuyun immediately stepped forward, "Grandfather, your cane."
"How come you're not even out of breath?" Old Master Tao asked curiously.
"I have good stamina, I know how to breathe," Tao Qiuyun explained with a smile.
"Right, otherwise, how could you exert yourself on so many women and even get them pregnant? The probability is already low. How many times a night must it have been? Those positions must be quite taxing on the waist, right?" Old Master Tao said sarcastically.
"What?" Tao Qiuyun was stunned. "What women? What pregnancy? Grandfather, what are you talking about?"
"What am I talking about?" Old Master Tao snatched the cane from the woman's hand and hit the concrete floor hard. "My great-granddaughter who's been living outside is already four and a half! And you're still pretending in front of me, huh!"
"Great-granddaughter?" Tao Qiuyun looked at Old Master Tao, surprised, "Zhuohua has a child?"
"Still blaming your younger brother? You admitted it just now when you were messing around with women, and now that they're pregnant, you don't dare admit it, huh!" Tao Shizhou glared at her angrily. "It's your daughter! What? You forgot that two women can also get pregnant, huh?"
"Grandfather, you must have misunderstood." Tao Qiuyun's face was full of seriousness.
"Misunderstood?" Old Master Tao shouted towards the Bentley with full force, "Where are they! Show Eldest Miss the evidence!"
"Eldest Miss!" Someone immediately handed two reports to Tao Qiuyun.
"What is this?" Tao Qiuyun took the two reports, opened them, and the mask of indifference on her face could no longer be maintained.
"Panicked? Regretting not taking precautions or medicine back then?" Rarely seeing his granddaughter look so flustered, Old Master Tao snorted and said, tilting his head back, "I'm telling you, Tao Qiuyun, no matter what, Qinqin is my great-granddaughter, she is the bloodline of my Tao family. You must bring her back to me. I don't care how many women you have outside, from today onwards, you must cut ties completely."
"I already said it's a misunderstanding, Grandfather." Tao Qiuyun looked at the two reports repeatedly, frowning, "Furthermore, she can't be my child. I haven't had relations with..."
"Black and white on paper! It's all written on the page!" Tao Shizhou looked at her, "Are you still going to argue?"
"Could it be a mistake?"
"Once is possible, but what about the second time?" Old Master Tao gripped his cane tightly and demanded, "Are you questioning our medical institution, questioning authoritative science!"
"But I've never..."
"Qiuqiu," Zhang Cheng interrupted her, raising his hand to signal her to calm down, "I know this might be hard to accept, but what I want to tell you is, that child has absolutely no impression of us. She even thinks she only has one mother. Do you know what this means?"
"It means all of this is a scam!" Tao Qiuyun's voice slightly rose, her expression completely clear, and she said seriously, "It's impossible for me to have a daughter, because I haven't had relations with anyone. This is definitely a setup."
"Setup my foot!" Tao Shizhou cursed angrily. "I'll ask you, what kind of setup could such a small child pull off? My great-granddaughter just accidentally got lost and went to the police station to wait for her mother! Someone just gave her a paternity test report to hand over to the police. I don't care what that person's motive is, I only know that my Tao family bloodline, your daughter Tao Qiuyun, is now living outside!"
"But I haven't had relations with a woman..."
"Eldest Miss," Wu Hu guessed, "Could you have been drunk? And had a one-night stand with her?"
"Nonsense!" Old Master Tao hit Wu Hu with his cane. "You believe her? If she was really drunk, could she still have relations with a woman? If she was truly drunk, she wouldn't have the ability at all!"
He turned to look at Tao Qiuyun, "I'm telling you, Tao Qiuyun, if you pretended to be drunk and tricked that girl into bed, you'd be a beast, you know that!"
"I didn't pretend to be drunk, no, I haven't had relations with a woman..." Tao Qiuyun opened her mouth, but when her peripheral vision fell upon the report in her hand, she closed it again, only feeling a wave of powerlessness wash over her. In front of the paternity test, she was speechless.
The woman's red lips were tightly pursed. Just as she was about to say something, her phone rang.
"Could it be one of your lovers calling you?" Now the way he looked at his granddaughter was off. "You're so busy every day, where do you find the time?"
"It's Secretary Zheng." The weary Tao Qiuyun showed him the phone screen.
She was truly wronged. After returning to the country, all her focus had been on work.
"Hello?" Tao Qiuyun answered the call.
"CEO Tao, are you alright? I heard Old Master Tao..."
"I'm fine," Tao Qiuyun interrupted her, "Have you confirmed with Mrs. Feng? I'll be a little late."
"What Mrs. Feng or Mrs. Ma," Old Master Tao said displeased, "You see other people's wives every day, but I haven't seen you go see your own wife! Later, come with me to the police station to see your daughter. I don't care what method you use, you must coax her back for me!"
As he spoke, thinking of his granddaughter's outrageous appearance just now, Tao Shizhou got even angrier. He tapped his cane and continued, "If the little one isn't willing, then go coax her mother for me. Anyway, it's the romantic debt you left behind! Even if you have to kneel, you must beg them to come back for me!"
"CEO Tao, what daughter?" Secretary Zheng's voice was full of doubt.
"It's nothing, wait for my news." Tao Qiuyun paused, then still said, "Let's postpone the afternoon's schedule first. I will personally go apologize later."
Hanging up the phone, Tao Qiuyun felt a bit of a headache. She reached up and rubbed her temples. "Grandfather, I think we should do another test. I still don't believe she's my daughter."
"Don't interrupt me. Did you hear what I just said?" Old Master Tao stared at her and said angrily, "You bullied that girl, you have to take responsibility. Maybe that girl didn't want you to know at all, otherwise, she wouldn't have waited so many years to come knocking."
"That's why it's strange, Grandfather," Tao Qiuyun held up the report in her hand, "Why specifically now? Don't you think it's too much of a coincidence?"
"I just think heaven has opened its eyes!" Tao Shizhou snorted. "If we waited until my great-granddaughter was a little older and she knew she had a scoundrel mother who abandoned her wife and daughter, she wouldn't acknowledge you! Now she's young, it's still not too late for you to sincerely repent."
"Eldest Miss," Wu Hu also advised her, "She really, really is your daughter. You'll know as soon as you see her."
Zhang Cheng walked forward and patted her shoulder, "Whatever misunderstanding there is, you can talk to that girl face-to-face. Your child is innocent."
"I'm warning you, don't do anything outrageous," Tao Shizhou looked at Tao Qiuyun with a stern expression, "I don't care what happened between you two back then. She worked so hard to carry the pregnancy. An unmarried girl getting pregnant! How much criticism she must have faced. Despite all that, she still gave birth to your child. For so many years, she never came to bother you. Even heaven couldn't stand it anymore, allowing us to know about her through such a coincidence. If you don't acknowledge her, isn't that too outrageous?
What? You think you can bully women just because you're a woman, huh? You think because the probability is small, you won't get pregnant, huh? Ah! Tao Qiuyun, I'm telling you, my Tao family cannot afford to lose face like this, and you cannot afford to lose face either! You are my granddaughter, Tao Shizhou's granddaughter. Today I'm saying this here and now, if you don't bring that mother and daughter back to me, you are an animal! My Tao family doesn't have a person like you!"
Hearing her grandfather speak in such a heavy tone for the first time, Tao Qiuyun's face was a little pale. She lowered her head, "Let me see her first."
"Hmph!" Tao Shizhou turned and got into the car. "To the police station."
The air inside the car was quiet.
Looking at the scenery receding outside the window, her usually composed expression was hard to maintain. A faint sadness appeared between her brows. She raised her hand and unbuttoned her collar, slowly letting out a stifled breath.
Why?
Why would she have a child?
Did I lose my memory?
Single for 28 years, and suddenly a daughter pops up, it's truly bizarre!
Comments
Post a Comment