Cheng Su barely slept the whole night. Her dreams were bizarre and fragmented—one moment it was Chiang Qing’s tragic, screaming face, the next it was Qi Taiguo’s dying, breathless figure, making her feel terribly distressed.
Just dreams, right?
Watching the sky outside the window slowly grow pale, she sat hugging the quilt for a long time before finally getting out of bed, walking out of the room, boiling water, and making herself a cup of hot tea.
Cradling the teacup, she walked out onto the balcony and watched the eastern sky shift from dark blue to light, then gradually to white. Her thoughts, along with the scalding tea sliding into her stomach, slowly cleared.
She had no time to mope or wallow, and she couldn’t afford to let her mind run wild. With Qi Taiguo gone, she still had her parents to look after, and Xiao Qi. Her son was so young; he needed her too.
So she had to put another layer of armor on herself, so that while Qi Taiguo was gone, she could protect herself and her son, not giving anyone a chance to take advantage.
The sun rose slowly in the east, gentle morning light spilling over the earth. Bathed in the dawn, Cheng Su took a deep breath, turned back inside, and went to make breakfast for the family.
After breakfast, she had to go to school to take her graduation photo, and then head to the restaurant and the factory to deal with business matters.
Qi Xiaoqi was going to tag along with Cheng Su to the school.
Cheng Su had thought she might be too busy with the photo shoot to keep an eye on him, so she hadn’t wanted to bring him, but Mother Cheng said she and Father Cheng would go too.
"If Xiao Qi wants to go, take him. In the future our Xiao Qi will go to college too, become a university student," Mother Cheng said.
Qi Xiaoqi, taking advantage of being young and not able to leave his mother’s side, joined the meeting as well. Hearing Cheng Su’s battle plan, he couldn’t help doing some quick mental math, and the conclusion he came to left him a bit stunned.
Her strategy was basically like reaping a white wolf with bare hands—one flip of the hand and she’d make at least a twenty-five percent margin. It was... pretty impressive!
Qi Xiaoqi quietly glanced at his own mother, a hint of admiration flashing in his eyes. His mom really did have a knack for business; she was damn good at it.
The meeting dragged on quite a while, so Cheng Su couldn’t make it to the factory. She took Qi Xiaoqi home instead, answering his questions along the way, making sure to keep other people out of earshot—otherwise, if anyone heard them, they’d look at the two of them like monsters!
Back home, mother and son saw a stranger sitting on the sofa, and couldn’t help exchanging a look.

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