Chapter 503: Mother and Daughter in Conflict

Went up to the second floor.

Huang Zhaoyi hesitated at the hallway entrance, then squared her shoulders and sat down on the sofa.

She faced her mother and eldest sister across the coffee table.

After helping her mother calm her breathing for a moment, Huang Xuyang raised her head, gave a subtle glance, and asked in a solemn tone:

"Little sister, what exactly is your relationship with Li Heng? You're not really having an affair, are you? You're just saying this to upset Mom, right…?"

Clearly, while Li Heng and Huang Zhaoyi were downstairs, their mother had told the eldest daughter this infuriating remark.

Huang Xuyang had good reason to guess this.

She believed it was because their mother had entered the master bedroom without permission, violating Little Sister's private space.

That was why Little Sister had reacted so strongly and said those angry words.

Unexpectedly, Huang Zhaoyi said without expression: "We are indeed having an affair."

Upon hearing this, Huang Mu's blood surged, her hypertension spiked, and she nearly fainted.

Seeing her mother's face turn unnatural, pale and strained, Huang Xuyang hurried to comfort her:

"Mom, don't get angry—Little Sister is probably just joking."

Huang Mu acted as if she hadn't heard, her eyes narrowing as she fixed her gaze on her youngest daughter: "Say it again. Say it once more to me!"

Huang Zhaoyi had decided to clear everything up this time—to prevent future misunderstandings and to stop the family from harassing Li Heng later—so she said: "I didn't act rashly. I really am his mistress."

"Crash!"

"Crash! Crash!"

No sooner had Huang Zhaoyi finished speaking than Huang Mu's body trembled with rage, smashing three teacups off the coffee table in succession.

She rarely lost her temper like this—but her most beloved daughter kept uttering outrageous words, and it had truly pushed her to the brink!

The violent noise and flying shards of porcelain nearly hit her; Huang Zhaoyi instinctively flinched, then immediately resumed her calm, composed posture, sitting perfectly still.

Huang Xuyang stood up, first addressing her mother: "Mom, Little Sister is grown now—she acts according to her own principles.

Don't fly into such a rage; it's bad for your health. Let's hear what Little Sister has to say first."

As she spoke, Huang Xuyang picked up a broom and dustpan and began cleaning up the broken porcelain.

During this time, Huang Mu and her youngest daughter locked eyes.

One burned with fury, furious at her daughter's defiance.

The other sat with arms crossed, expression serene, one leg casually crossed over the other.

The shards from the three teacups were numerous and scattered everywhere—cleaning them was a meticulous task. Huang Xuyang spent considerable time finishing it.

After clearing everything away, she returned the broom and dustpan to their place, expecting her mother's anger to have cooled by now—only to turn and freeze in disbelief: her own mother sat there like a rooster ready to fight, her rage at maximum.

Yet Little Sister's casual demeanor surprised Huang Xuyang.

After glancing between the two for a moment, Huang Xuyang sat back down and broke the silence:

"Little Sister, has Li Heng broken up with his previous girlfriend?"

Huang Zhaoyi answered: "No."

Huang Xuyang asked: "So he's still stringing along Xiao Han in the countryside, and Chen Zijin in Beijing? He's stepping on two boats?"

Before Huang Zhaoyi fell for the writer Shiyue, the Huang family had already investigated Li Heng's background and knew he had long been entangled with Xiao Han and Chen Zijin.

That was why Huang Xuyang asked this question.

Huang Zhaoyi deliberately avoided her mother's murderous glare and nodded: "They're very close."

"They?"

Huang Xuyang paused, then pressed: "Do Xiao Han and Chen Zijin know about each other?"

Huang Zhaoyi replied: "They were middle school classmates. I heard they were extremely close back then—almost inseparable.

They also attended the same high school. They must know about each other."

Hearing this, Huang Xuyang and Huang Mu exchanged glances, both stunned.

They had never met Chen Zijin, but they had heard Xiao Han described by Xiao Liu Yue.

Xiao Liu Yue had said: "In terms of facial beauty alone, Xiao Han rivals any woman in the world. Overall, she's on par with your aunt."

In other words, Xiao Han could match Zhaoyi in beauty.

Even proud Xiao Liu Yue admitted she was inferior—after all, Huang Zhaoyi was universally recognized by both the Huang and Liu families as the most beautiful woman in three generations.

And yet, a woman as beautiful as Xiao Han was willingly sharing a man? How absurd.

How unbelievable?

Well, they were both women from powerful families—they'd seen plenty of dirty secrets behind closed doors. A man having multiple women wasn't unusual.

But those situations usually involved keeping the women separated, all pretending not to notice, avoiding confrontation.

Yet Li Heng, so young, effortlessly moving between two stunning beauties? That was rare.

What kind of talent did he have to charm women?

How could he make both Xiao Han and Chen Zijin willingly accept this?

Oh, she'd forgotten—there was also Little Sister right here, clearly hopelessly entangled.

Huang Xuyang couldn't help asking: "Does Li Heng perform magic? Does he use underhanded methods to bewitch both women?"

Huang Zhaoyi said: "He's talented and handsome—it's easy for him to attract several girls."

Huang Xuyang asked: "I just want to know—how do they manage to coexist peacefully?"

"Peaceful? Only on the surface. There'll be fights later." Huang Zhaoyi's expression was complex as she spoke.

Huang Xuyang didn't understand, but she sensed Little Sister didn't want to elaborate further. So she gently eased the tension before steering the conversation back to the matter at hand:

"Tell me and Mom—what exactly is going on between you and Li Heng?"

Huang Zhaoyi glanced subtly at her mother, fell silent, thinking about where to begin.

Where could she start without making the family develop a bad impression of Li Heng?

After waiting a while, Huang Mu grew impatient and cut straight to the point: "Have you slept with that Li Heng?"

Huang Zhaoyi snapped back: "Didn't you go into the bedroom?"

Huang Mu's tone sharpened: "I'm asking you."

Huang Zhaoyi replied succinctly: "Yes."

Huang Mu was determined today to get every detail clear, and in her rage, she no longer cared about appearances: "When did it start? How many times?"

Huang Zhaoyi said: "It started this April. From last night until noon today, there were seven times."

Hearing this absurd answer, Huang Xuyang was speechless.

Huang Mu shot to her feet, face livid, her voice trembling with rage: "Do you treat him like a stallion? Seven times in one night? Are you making this up?"

Huang Zhaoyi lowered her eyelids: "Didn't you go into the bedroom? Didn't you see the trash bin? All those tissues—could they be faked?"

Huang Mu could no longer contain herself; she slammed her right hand hard on the coffee table: "Talk to me properly!"

Huang Zhaoyi lifted her head, unflinching: "If you want me to speak properly to you, you must respect me—respect my privacy. Don't barge into my room."

In fact, Huang Zhaoyi was deliberately adopting this stance.

Today, her goal was to be dominant.

Because she knew—if she didn't stand firm, if she showed weakness, the pressure would fall on Li Heng.

But she was Huang family—her blood ran through Huang veins. No matter how much they fought, they wouldn't truly disown her.

But Li Heng was different—if things truly blew up and became irreparable, he might be crushed.

So, not for herself, but for Li Heng, she had to raise her voice, assert her position today.

Huang Mu widened her eyes, her voice rising: "I'm your mother—do you think I'd harm you? I raised you from infancy, fed you, cleaned you—what part of you haven't I seen? Now you talk to me about privacy?"

Seeing the mother-daughter tension escalate, Huang Xuyang rushed to mediate, placing both hands on her mother's shoulders and gently pressing her back onto the sofa.

Then she asked Little Sister: "You've slept with Li Heng—so does that mean he's your man?"

Huang Zhaoyi knew her elder sister's tactics well—she sensed the follow-up questions would come in a chain.

So she answered bluntly: "He is my man—but he's not my boyfriend."

Huang Mu's temper flared again: "What do you mean?!"

Huang Zhaoyi stood her ground: "I mean exactly what I said. He's my man—we have relations—but we won't marry."

Huang Mu's rage boiled over: "So he won't marry you? He's just using you?"

Huang Zhaoyi replied firmly: "He won't marry me."

Huang Mu's face hardened: "If he won't marry you, why let him sleep with you? Is the Huang family unable to support you?

Or are all the men in the world dead?"

Huang Zhaoyi replied without hesitation: "Whether men are dead or alive has nothing to do with me—I only recognize him."

Huang Mu shouted: "Is it just because he can give you seven times a night?"

Huang Zhaoyi leaned back against the sofa, eyes rolling upward toward the ceiling, refusing to answer.

Huang Xuyang was stunned by her mother's words—she knew her mother was truly enraged, probably for the first time in her sixty-plus years.

Huang Xuyang stood up and poured three fresh cups of tea—one for her mother, one for Little Sister, one for herself. After a pause, she asked: "Little Sister, you said it started in April.

But earlier this year, I remember Brother Liao said you were obsessed with Li Heng—you kept writing him letters, begging to meet him, and he kept refusing you.

How did things change so suddenly? How did you end up sleeping together so quickly?"

Hearing her eldest daughter ask the question she most wanted answered, Huang Mu forced herself to calm down, focusing intently. She too wanted to know what had happened.

This was the question Huang Zhaoyi least wanted to address.

Because it involved her illegitimate position.

It had left her inherently vulnerable before Li Heng—and for a long time, she had feared he would mention it, feared he might abandon her at any moment.

But she knew that no matter how shameful the matter, it could not be avoided—if she didn't untangle this source, she could never pass the family's scrutiny, no matter how tough she pretended to be.

Because the Huang family was a large clan, not just her own, and reputation sometimes mattered more than anything else.

If word got out that she was Li Heng's mistress, it would become a laughingstock.

She didn't care about being a mistress, but the Huang family would never not care.

Thinking of this, Huang Zhao Yi's mind conjured the figure of the instigator, Xiao Liu Yue.

There was no choice—she had to start from here.

After weighing the pros and cons, Huang Zhao Yi, who always placed Li Heng first, hesitated a moment before saying: "Big sister, do you remember what month Liu Yue went abroad?"

Huang Xu Qing had only one daughter and knew these details by heart—she remembered clearly: "Late April, specifically April 23rd."

After she spoke, Huang Zhao Yi didn't quite understand: "Is this connected to Liu Yue?"

Huang Zhao Yi, having made up her mind, nodded and began to explain slowly: "Liu Yue and Li Heng were classmates, and she was class monitor of Statistics Class Two. Because of that, they interacted frequently at school."

"After learning I was in love with Li Heng, and that he was the writer 'December,' she began plotting something…"

Huang Mu interrupted: "What kind of thing?"

Huang Zhao Yi glanced at her mother and chose her words carefully: "Drugging."

Huang Xu Qing gasped: "What? Drugging?"

Huang Zhao Yi, undisturbed, continued: "Liu Yue was going abroad to study, so she invited Li Heng to dinner under the pretense of seeing her off. In reality, she set a trap—she slipped a love potion into his drink…"

Then she recounted in full detail how Liu Yue drugged him, how she called to threaten her into going to Fuchun Xiaoyuan, how Liu Yue slipped away, and what happened between her and Li Heng in the car as she drove him home.

Of course, she only spoke of what she could say, leaving out everything she couldn't.

It sounded more absurd than any play—Huang Mu and Huang Xu Qing sat stunned, mouths wide enough to swallow an egg!

As long as Huang Zhao Yi spoke, the mother and daughter remained in shock.

Even after she finished, they were still dazed, caught in the grip of intense disbelief.

For a moment, the living room fell utterly silent—not even a pin could drop.

After a long pause, Huang Mu, the first to recover, frowned tightly: "So you took the blame for Liu Yue? If you hadn't gone, she planned to sleep with Li Heng herself?"

Huang Zhao Yi couldn't be certain, but she believed, given Xiao Liu Yue's nature, she was capable of such outrageous acts.

Clearly, Huang Mu and Huang Xu Qing also knew Liu Yue well enough to share Huang Zhao Yi's thoughts.

Huang Xu Qing drew a deep, angry breath: "This is madness! Absolute madness!

I thought she was reckless enough already, but to drug someone? Zhao Yi, you shouldn't have indulged her—you should've let her suffer a lesson from Li Heng!"

Huang Zhao Yi's expression was unreadable, her tone heavy: "Then you should've forced Liu Yue to marry Li Heng."

Huang Xu Qing blurted: "I'm not that unreasonable! Li Heng not reporting her to the police is already leniency—how could we possibly demand marriage…?"

Mid-sentence, Huang Xu Qing froze. Her mouth, opened in fury, slowly closed. Seconds later, she turned to look at her mother.

At that exact moment, Huang Mu turned to look at her too.

The mother and daughter stared at each other for a long moment. Then Huang Xu Qing sighed, smiling bitterly at her younger sister: "Zhao Yi, you've turned this trap on me."

The boomerang had hit her. Huang Xu Qing had nothing to say.

Huang Mu was growing impatient, but she suppressed her agitation and asked her younger daughter: "Which Fuchun Xiaoyuan?"

Huang Zhao Yi replied: "Hongkou."

Huang Mu asked: "When you rushed over, did you know what the consequences would be?"

Huang Zhao Yi answered vaguely: "Becoming his woman was something I often dreamed of at night."

Huang Mu clenched her right hand tightly, then slowly released it: "If you're so fond of him, and he's not married, why not consider marriage?"

After learning the truth, Huang Mu's tone had grown much quieter. Even if she was angry, she controlled it well, speaking as gently as possible.

Huang Zhao Yi sighed helplessly: "His heart isn't with me. He has someone else."

Huang Mu raised an eyebrow: "You can't handle two little girls?"

These two little girls referred to Xiao Han and Chen Zijin.

Huang Zhao Yi said: "I'm fourteen years older than him. When I'm fifty, he'll be thirty-six. What's the point of fighting it? Even if I could, what difference would it make?"

Faced with this undeniable truth, Huang Mu's lips moved, then moved again—many words rose to her tongue, only to be swallowed back down.

Yes—what good would winning do?

At fifty, she'd be old and faded!

While he, at thirty-six, would be in his prime—would he really spend his life with an old woman?

Even if Zhao Yi maintained herself well—she looked great—Li Heng wasn't an ordinary man. His talent and looks were exceptional. Countless outstanding women flocked to him. Why should he stay with an old woman?

Just because you got him through drugging?

Huang Mu was a woman too, a woman who had lived through it all. At that moment, her heart softened, and she felt a pang of pity for her younger daughter.

She knew better than anyone how stubborn and proud her daughter was, how she pursued love with lofty ideals—classic "better alone than with the wrong one."

But she was also the mistress of the Huang family, a mother—how could she not seek her daughter's happiness?

Huang Mu set aside the age issue, hesitated, then asked seriously: "If the family helped you, would there be any chance?"

Huang Xu Qing chimed in: "Mom, are you planning to use underhanded tactics?"

Huang Mu turned to look at her.

Huang Xu Qing shook her head: "I oppose it. It's not advisable. Li Heng's status as a writer and musician gives him enormous influence.

If he chose to destroy everything, it wouldn't just ruin your sister—it would hurt the Huang family badly."

Huang Mu didn't give a direct answer, only analyzed: "The bedroom had half a basket of tissues—even if it wasn't seven times in one night, four or five times is likely.

Underwear and stockings were torn beyond one piece—clearly, Li Heng still has strong interest in your sister.

There was also a photo frame.

Your sister and Li's family are in a photo together. He brought your sister home—he doesn't just want to play with her; he's genuinely attached."

"He's unmarried, Zhao Yi is unmarried—why can't they be together? Even if Zhao Yi is older, we can compensate him in other ways."

Hearing her mother say this, Huang Zhao Yi's face flushed for the first time—if she hadn't feared being chased down and interrogated, she would've fled immediately.

Huang Xu Qing was stunned. At first, she'd thought her sister was just trying to provoke their mother into losing composure—but now even she had reached the same conclusion?

Her gaze swept over her younger sister's figure, then Huang Xu Qing suddenly stood up and walked toward the master bedroom.

Huang Zhao Yi immediately followed.

But Huang Xu Qing had anticipated this—she quickened her pace and entered the master bedroom first.

As soon as she stepped inside, Huang Xu Qing instinctively glanced at the trash bin—and froze in shock.

Just as their mother said, the bin was overflowing—this wasn't one or two times, it was clearly many!

Seeing her sister staring fixedly at the trash bin, Huang Zhao Yi quietly bent down and bagged the trash, sealing it tightly.

Huang Xu Qing didn't stop her—only murmured curiously: "Really that powerful?"

Huang Zhao Yi was torn between laughter and tears, carrying the bag of trash out.

Watching her sister's tall, graceful back disappear, Huang Xu Qing couldn't help but think: Zhao Yi truly is a rare beauty—no wonder Li Heng, even after being drugged, still sought her out afterward.

After hiding the trash, the three women returned to the sofa.

They exchanged glances. Finally, Huang Mu broke the silence: "Zhao Yi, tell Mom honestly—is there any chance?"

Huang Zhao Yi shook her head, speaking from the heart: "Don't entertain delusions. I'll be blunt—if I hadn't been drugged, and hadn't slept with him, I wouldn't even consider this path.

I know better than anyone: without Xiao Liu Yue's drugging, I'd never have had a chance to get into his bed—even if I threw myself at him, it wouldn't have worked."

"The past year and more has proven it—no matter how I tried to contact him, pursue him, even waited outside Fudan University's gates, or asked Brother Liao to help me—he never responded."

"Little sister!" Huang Xu Qing couldn't bear to hear this—her heart ached, her chest felt suffocated.

But Huang Zhao Yi ignored her sister's heartfelt cry, her face expressionless, continuing:

"The reason I ended up in his bed, sharing a room with him, was because I took a shortcut.

In a way, I should thank Liu Yue—without her, I'd still be pining alone in some corner.

You don't understand Li Heng. You don't know his charm, or how devastating his appeal is to women.

Let me be clear: not only Xiao Han and Chen Zijin, but several other women just as beautiful, even more striking in looks and demeanor, and from families stronger than ours—all of them are deeply in love with him.

Among such powerful rivals, my being the first to sleep with him was pure luck.

If I'd tried to win him through normal courtship, I wouldn't have even gotten to meet him—he wouldn't have glanced my way."

At this point, Huang Zhao Yi took a sip of tea, glanced at her stunned mother and sister, then continued:

"If he truly wanted to indulge, he could have a different woman every day—none of them forced, none of them requiring his responsibility.

I've said all this because I hope you'll support me, see things from my perspective. I've come this far—it wasn't easy. I truly care for him.

I don't want to lose him over some marriage certificate."

Her words brought the romantic freedom of the literati vividly to life.

They left Huang Mu and Huang Xu Qing utterly speechless. They weren't naive—they'd seen too much to doubt Huang Zhao Yi.

The living room fell silent again.

After a long, drawn-out ten minutes, Huang Xu Qing finally remembered to ask: "Are there women prettier than Xiao Han?"

With nothing left to hide, Huang Zhao Yi answered: "Yes. Song Yu from Peking University, Zhou Shihe from Fudan."

Huang Xu Qing thought back: "I think I've heard those names. If I remember right, Liu Yue once mentioned Song Yu—briefly, but I still recall it clearly.

The other one… isn't Zhou Shihe the pianist who performed on the Spring Festival Gala?"

Huang Zhao Yi nodded: "That's her."

Seeing this, Huang Xu Qing and Huang Mu exchanged glances—and instantly lost their anger. They hadn't met Song Yu, so they couldn't judge.

But Zhou Shihe's fame had spread throughout Shanghai's streets and alleys.

She wasn't just Fudan's sole "Queen"—her fame had exploded after the Spring Festival Gala and her new pure music album, making her the ultimate fantasy for countless men.

No one else could outshine my younger sister—Huang Xuqing didn't believe it, but after meeting Zhou Shihe, she believed it now.

After spending a long time digesting the news, Huang's mother asked sharply, "Who comes from a deeply rooted family?"

Huang Zhaoyi said, "You've seen her too—the one who played the violin at the Spring Festival Gala, Yu Shuheng from the Yu family."

Yu Shuheng?

Huang's mother couldn't believe her ears: "Isn't she Li Heng's university professor? That's how they introduced her on the Gala. Has she also fallen?"

"She's his professor. Now do you understand the weight of that?"

Due to some past entanglements, Huang Zhaoyi harbored a slight dislike for Yu Shuheng, but she never spoke ill of others behind their backs, and stated fairly:

"Yu Shuheng hasn't just fallen—she's probably just as deep, if not deeper, than me. But she has the advantage of time, place, and circumstance—she's with him every day, and she's several years younger than me."

The mother and daughter understood her meaning.

Huang Xuqing asked, "So you mean Yu Shuheng, as Li Heng's professor, wants to marry him?"

Huang Zhaoyi replied, "It's as obvious as Sima Zhao's ambition—everyone knows."

Huang Xuqing was stunned, utterly speechless. Other women were one thing, but Zhou Shihe and now a university professor—Yu Shuheng—shattered her conservative moral views completely.

A university professor!

A brilliant, beautiful university professor actually wants to marry her own student? It was beyond belief!

If it were a male professor, it wouldn't be so shocking—there were plenty of such cases in real life.

But a female professor? It was an unprecedented scandal, unheard of in history!

And she's the Yu family's only daughter, their precious jewel!

How could anyone compete?

Huang's mother, older and more experienced, was less emotionally shaken than her eldest daughter, and asked:

"How far have Professor Yu and Li Heng gone? Are they dating?"

Huang Zhaoyi thought for a moment and said, "They're not openly dating—after all, they're still teacher and student. But what's happening behind the scenes? That's anyone's guess."

"Yu Shuheng has been to Li's home—not just the new place in Jingcheng, but also Li Heng's rural hometown in Xiangnan. Li's elders seem to have accepted her."

Upon hearing this, Huang's mother and Huang Xuqing both thought the same word in their minds: difficult.

Huang's mother refused to give up: "Aren't you the one who took photos with his family? Don't you have any advantage at all?"

Don't mention it—once she did, Huang Zhaoyi's eyes filled with bitterness. "I'm not like Yu Shuheng."

"I posed with Li's family as a Peking Opera lead actress. His parents only know me because they love watching Peking Opera. They don't know about my private relationship with Li Heng."

Huang Xuqing raised her voice several decibels: "They don't know you?"

Huang Zhaoyi turned her head, gazing at her own reflection with self-pity. "I'm his mistress. How could I possibly announce such a status openly?"

PS: Posted first, revised later.

Today I've already posted 10, 00 characters—how could I stop here? Dear masters, please cast your monthly votes—I beg you!

(Still more)

(End of chapter)