Chapter 164: She always felt that no matter what she did, she was right

She was an English teacher at her father's school; Shen Li had seen that woman before. When she was in her second year of junior high, Shen Li forgot to bring her house keys and couldn't contact her mother or Shen Zhaozhao, so she could only go find her father.

He worked as a physics teacher at a private high school in Haishi; the various benefits and treatment were better than Haicheng Middle School, and it wasn't very far from the middle school Shen Li attended.

After the call was made, her father told her to wait in the office; he was still in a meeting, so Shen Li sat in her father's seat and did her homework for a while.

The physics teachers and the English teachers were in the same office.

Coincidentally, that time Shen Li was doing English problems, and she took the initiative to walk over and greet her, "You must be Lili, right?"

Shen Li raised her eyes and saw a very gentle woman with long, black, shiny hair draped over her shoulders, wearing a light-colored dress; her aura and those eyes were so soft, her smile quiet, looking like someone without a temper.

She nodded and responded: "Mm."

"I've heard him mention you, saying you're a girl with very good grades; he went to a meeting and will be done in another twenty minutes." Zhuang Wanyi happened to see her doing homework, "Are you doing English homework? I teach English too; if you have any problems you don't understand, you can come ask me."

It just so happened that Shen Li had a translation problem she didn't understand, so she pointed it out to her, "There's a translation problem I don't know."

"Let me see." Zhuang Wanyi bent over and stood beside her, accompanied by the pleasant, sweet perfume on her body, which seeped into her nose.

That time when her father finished the meeting and walked in from outside, Shen Li happened to see a strange expression flash across her father's face, his eyes a bit dark; the young her at the time couldn't understand what that subtle expression represented.

Until Shen Li walked out of the convenience store and heard that two-year-old little boy clearly call her father "Dad."

She finally understood.

Shen Wenqing bent down slightly, gently taking the little boy from a woman's arms, his tone carrying a gentleness Shen Li had never heard before: "Thank you for your hard work."

Zhuang Wanyi smiled and shook her head, her fingertips lightly brushing the top of the child's hair, her voice gentle: "It's okay, the child is very well-behaved, he just kept babbling about wanting to find you."

The warm scene of a "family of three" in front of her eyes was deeply imprinted in Shen Li's eyes.

On her father's face was a happiness and satisfaction she had never seen before; his brows and eyes were filled with smiles—that was the warmth belonging exclusively to another home, something she had never seen when she and her mother were together.

Shen Li: "Da... Dad..."

That weak, hoarse voice was very light, carried by the wind, and accurately reached Shen Wenqing's ears.

His body stiffened imperceptibly.

The originally soft brows and eyes instantly faded of warmth, stained with a trace of panic and astonishment, and he turned around slowly.

Zhuang Wanyi's gaze also fell on Shen Li.

Lanshan Bay Western Restaurant.

Shen Li faintly withdrew her gaze from outside the floor-to-ceiling window and looked at the woman and child sitting in that sedan; her lowered eyelashes trembled slightly.

The air was filled with a suffocating oppression.

Perhaps Shen Li didn't expect that she would encounter two bad things all at once on this day.

The first was that she broke her appointment and didn't see Xie Qin.

The second was that she had gained a younger brother for no reason.

It was somewhat absurd, making her unable to digest this matter for the time being.

There was no expression on Shen Li's face throughout; this discordant atmosphere also exceeded Shen Wenqing's expectations.

He thought it would trigger a series of arguments.

Clearly, they were father and daughter with blood ties, but sitting face-to-face at this moment, they were more like two "strangers" who just knew each other but weren't very familiar.

Both sides acted too calmly, too coldly.

After a long silence, Shen Li couldn't describe what emotion it was; she slowly raised her eyes, looked at the man in front of her, and spoke in a very light voice: "Does Mom... know about this?"

"She doesn't know." Mentioning her, Shen Wenqing's heart was filled with exhaustion, "I'm sorry, Ah Li, it's Dad who let you and your mother down."

Regarding Shen Li, Shen Wenqing couldn't face her; he was the one who cheated, he was the one who did the wrong thing, and he had let his child be hurt.

Making this home incomplete.

"Dad struggled, and tried... to maintain this marriage with your mother as much as possible."

"But she is too strong-willed and refuses to take a step back in anything; besides arguing every day, Dad doesn't know how to continue getting along with her."

He was also tired.

The warm light of the Western restaurant fell on Shen Wenqing's face, but it couldn't shine into the exhaustion in his eyes, and Shen Li's eye sockets turned red unknowingly, "Is it because Dad has his own child outside that you don't like me anymore, right?"

Shen Wenqing was stunned for a moment: "Ah Li, how can you say that! Dad... doesn't dislike you."

"You are also Dad's child; if Dad really didn't like you or care... I wouldn't have dragged it out with your mother for so many years."

"I also thought about confessing to your mother, not wanting to let such harm expand any further. But... you were too young then. Still in high school, Dad didn't want to affect your studies."

Shen Wenqing sighed deeply, the exhaustion in his eyes even greater, "Thinking that after you got into university, I would discuss the divorce with your mother. But I didn't expect there to be complications."

He and Yu Lizhen had argued over many subtle things.

She didn't understand consideration, didn't know how to put herself in others' shoes, was paranoid and stubborn; her strength was only one aspect.

Strict with Ah Li, but incomparably indulgent toward her own younger sister's child.

He saw all these scenes in his eyes; when it came to changing Zhaozhao's name and household registration, it wasn't that he hadn't made suggestions.

But she felt that all of this was what she should naturally do.

Later, when she made Ah Li give up her room to Zhaozhao, they had argued in private too.

But every time, he couldn't overcome her hardness.

Taking the savings of this family to subsidize her family, just to buy a wedding house for her younger brother. Such a big matter, she never discussed it with him either.

She always felt that no matter what she did, she was right.

He and her—Yu Lizhen was more like the arbitrary and autocratic head of the household.

There were too many, too many such things.

He was also tired and didn't want to argue anymore.

Afterward, whatever she did, Shen Wenqing didn't interfere anymore, and didn't manage the affairs of this home anymore.

Shen Wenqing knew that Ah Li had been wronged all these years; besides compensating her financially, he didn't know what else to do.

"Regarding the recommendation quota. When your mother made the decision to give it to Zhaozhao, we had an argument."

Shen Wenqing's tone carried self-reproach and helplessness: "It's Dad who couldn't change her decision, and even more so, didn't fulfill a father's responsibility."

His relationship with Yu Lizhen had long reached the point of no return, impossible to salvage.

Sooner or later, they would reach the point of divorce.

The mistake had already been made, impossible to salvage, so he simply chose to continue making the mistake.

Shen Li didn't ask any further, just slowly lowered her head, looking at her fingertips, and her heart was also a wasteland, as if a vine was tightly wrapped around her heart, making her unable to accept this result: "I know... Mom likes Shen Zhaozhao and doesn't like me. Now Dad also has his own child and will form a new family in the future."

"After you and Mom divorce, is it that you... both don't want me anymore?"