Su Susu stared at the wedding certificate stupidly. It’s red color, and the golden national emblem stared back at her mockingly. Under the national emblem was the words: “Marriage Certificate.”
She opened up the cover and saw the photo of Fang Qiong and Chen Fan.
This was their first official date, so both of them were dressed up for the occasion. Fang Qiong was wearing a slim peacoat and was wearing light makeup while Chen Fan was in a sports coat. In the picture, neither of them looked like nineteen-year-olds.
Su Susu fixed her gaze on Chen Fan’s face, and his smirk riled her up. She dug her nails deeper into the sofa. One piece of her nail fell off from her finger but she didn’t notice it at all.
“From now on, Chen Fan is my husband, your son in law. What you think does not matter, it is already done”
Fang Qiong’s words shocked her, making her feel like her world was swirling around her.
She fished out the cell phone with a shaky hand and dialed a number.
“Du… du… du…”
When the line finally connected, it was a sleepy voice of a man on the other end.
“What’s up, honey? Why are you call me so late?”
“Fang Mingde, I don’t care where you and who you are with, get back right now!” Su Susu shouted at the top of her lungs, and after she said that, she slammed the cell phone on the ground.
At the other end of the line was a middle-aged man with wide eyes and a set of dark and thick eyebrows. He rose from a king-size bed covered with a pink sheet. Beside him was a naked woman under the sheets. The woman was also awakened by the call and she sat up and stretched her arms to let out a yawn. Silky sheets slipped off of her bare skin and revealed a pair of large and full breasts
She was in her thirties had had a foxy and seductive face. Her brows bent down ever so slightly at the edge: a hook for the hearts of man. Her eyes were wide and glittering and her small pouty mouth seemed to invite a kiss constantly. Even a faint smile or a slight crinkle on her face looked alluring and tempting
However, Fang Mingde was not tempted. He rose from the bed and started to dress.
“What is going on Mingde? Is she calling you back to the house?” The woman propped her head with both palms and asked with slight rancor.
“Something must have happened at home. You will rest for now. I will visit you in a few days. ”
Fang Mingde moved quickly. Right after he had put on a shirt, he picked up a briefcase and dashed out.
Behind him, the woman gazed at his back with a hint of resentment.
She was only eighteen when she was hired by Fang Mingde to be his secretary, and she had been working for him for twenty years. She knew that regardless of how busy his work was, he would put down everything in his hand and return home as soon as his wife called him. She was nothing but a plaything to Fang Mingde, and there was only room for Su Susu in his heart.
Any woman who planned to steal the husband of Su Susu would eventually give up.
Fang Mingde got into his sports car and drove back. He had never heard so much fear in his wife’s voice. Fang Mingde was anxious to find out what had happened at home.
Su Susu was not a sensitive person and she could even stomach him keeping a couple of mistresses. After all, what kind of tycoon didn’t keep a few mistresses?
Fang Mingde pressed down on the gas pedal and ran through a few red lights. After he got home, he saw Su Susu was sitting on a sofa silently with a long face.
“Susu? What’s going on?”
Fang Mingde asked anxiously.
Su Susu didn’t speak a word. Instead, she pointed to a piece of paper on the table.
“What is it?” Fang Mingde was dumbfounded. He picked up the red document and realized that it was a marriage certificate.
“Did she finally get some evidence of me having an affair?”
Fang Mingde thought to himself incredulously. They had been spending time together for over twenty years and they knew each other very well. Despite his promiscuous activity outside of the family, he had always been a good father and a good husband.
He opened the cover and what he saw stunned him.
“Xiao Qiong?”
Fang Mingde shouted
He had recognized the two pictures on the certificate right away. One was her daughter, the apple of his eye, and the other was the son of his old friend Chen Gexin.
“Xiao Qiong and Chen Fan are married?”
The development had caught Fang Mingde off guard and he was so dumbfounded that he almost thought that it was a prank.
He looked up at his wife and saw a cold smile on Su Susu’s face.
“Yes, your lovely daughter did it. She dragged this little shit to the city hall and got married. None of us knew about it.”
“It. It..”
Fang Mingde was speechless.
Unlike Su Susu, he liked the boy, after all, Chen Fan’s father was his good friend and the two families had always been very close. Chen Fan had always called him Uncle Fang when he was young. But they seemed to have drifted apart ever since the Fangs moved to the Jin City.
“I remember now! You said Xiao Fan is here at Jin City University as well, and you said he visited us a few times while I was away.” Fang Mingde suddenly remembered something and continued. “He looks pretty good to me in the picture.”
“Wang Xiaoyun is the CEO of both Chens Group and Jin Xiu Group now, so it’s a good match. They knew each other ever since they were little so it’s just a matter of time anyways. But… they acted a little bit too quickly. Why didn’t they ask our opinion?”
“Fang Mingde, what the hell are you talking about?”
Su Susu slammed the coffee table hard and rounded her eyes in anger.
“Your daughter is only in the first-year of university, and she has already gotten married. What do you mean it’s just a matter of time? What are we going to do when they bring a child to us? What are you going to say then? Answer me!”
Fang Mingde managed a placatory smile and said: “This is Xiao Fan we are talking about. You and I have known him ever since he was just this little. We are friends with his parents as well. Have you seen how big Wang Xiaoyun’s Jin Xiu Group is? Her company is bound to catch up with ours. Plus, the Chen family is also doing better each day, why would you have to—”
“Humph! I don’t care! Wang Xiaoyun son has taken my daughter away from me, she needs to give me an answer.” Su Susu cut her husband short and said coldly.
“Can you imagine Xiao Qiong married to that good for nothing Chen Fan? He has been a bad student ever since elementary school. If not for the money his mother threw into the Chu Zhou City High School, he might not even have graduated! His mother had to buy his way into the Business School at the Jin City University, a third-tier colleague. What do you see in him what makes you think he is worthy of Xiao Qiong? What can he do for Xiao Qiong? He is a spoiled brat through and through, without his parents, he is nothing.”
After pondered on his wife’s words for a while, Fang Mingde wavered.
Although school grades didn’t mean anything to people of Chen Fan’s family background, it was a telltale sign of a person’s level of education and talent.
His daughter had been on the top three list ever since she was in elementary school. Her National University Entrance Exam score was top ten in the province and even Yan Jin University and Huaqin University invited her to attend school there. However, she didn’t accept the invitation because she wanted to stay in her hometown. She had been helping out in the company ever since she was in middle school and possessed excellent management skills. Let it be her ability, talent or look she was the cream of the crop even among the elite class of Jin City.
Fang Mingde didn’t think anyone in Jin City was worthy of his daughter, much less Chen Fan.
“On another note, why does Chen Fan look so familiar?”
Fang Mingde stared at the picture and felt something was off.
“You knew him ever since he was a kid, so of course he looks familiar.” Su Susu flung back at him.
“No… no… I have definitely seen this face in the last few months. His name is …. familiar … too familiar.” Fang Mingde shook his head as he paced back and forth as he searched in his mind for the name.
Su Susu was still on and on about Chen Fan. Fang Qiong could no longer hold back her anger, so she rushed downstairs in her pajamas. She said with a cold voice: “Mom, stop talking like that about my husband!”
“You think this piece of paper proves anything?” Su Susu’s temper flared again.
She pulled a hard face and said: “Fang Qiong, I always thought that you were a good kid, but I had never thought that you would get me on this one!”
Fang Qiong flung back hotly.
“Mom, I have done whatever you wanted me to do for twenty years. I will not let you interfere with my marriage. I like Xiao fan, and I wanted to stay with him forever and ever and ever!”
“Nonsense!” Su Susu cut her short and said: ‘I will call the city hall right now, and tell them to rescind the certificate.”
So saying, she pulled out a cell phone and started dialing.
As the deputy director of the local Tv station, she was extremely well connected inside Jin City. It wouldn’t be too hard for her to pull some strings and erase the marriage record.
“Mom!”
Fang Qiong shouted.
Tears already welled in her eyes and were about to pour out.
Her daughter’s desperate pleas finally made Su Susu waver.
She put down the phone and said: “Silly girl. I do this for you. You have a bright future ahead of you, why do you want to waste your life on that good for nothing brat? He is a spoiled piece of shit, and you are the future of this house and will achieve great things.”
“Plus, even if your dad and I agree to your marriage, what do you think your grandpa would think, and what about Great-Grandpa in Wu Zhou? You will turn all of us, including you into walking laughing stocks.”
Fang Qiong became increasingly disappointed after each word come out of Su Susu’s mouth.
She wanted to protest but lacked the words. Her mother was right, Chen Fan was an honest and decent person, but other than that, he really had nothing to brag about himself. He would pale in comparison with her other suitors such as Shen Junwen. However, Fang Qiong liked Chen Fan exactly because he was so simple and down to earth. She would never even began to imagine living with that double-face worm called Shen Junwen.
Chen Fan was genuine and true to himself and others, that was what really attracted her.
However, Su Susu’s concern was not unfounded either. The old man of the Su Family of Wu Zhou City had high hopes for Fang Qiong, and they would never allow her to get married to Chen Fan. Fang Qiong had thought of that already, and that was why she was in such a hurry to get married first. However, she finally realized that the marriage certificate was just a piece of paper and it meant nothing,
A smile surfaced on Su Susu’s face as she saw her daughter lower her head.
Even as she was about to call the City Hall again, Fang Mingde slapped his head and shouted: “Ah! I remember who he is now!”