Chapter 145 - 144: Coming to Offer Condolences

Soon, the massive mourning hall was filled with people. Some had come to genuinely pay their respects, while others were simply here to see the Yang Family make a fool of themselves. Looking at their hypocritical faces, Yang Bingyu felt a surge of bitterness in her heart. If only her grandfather were still here, she thought, these people wouldn’t dare act so presumptuously.

Slowly walking up to Yang Tao and the others, Su Jun feigned a sorrowful expression and advised them in the tone of a caring elder. "Tao, Kui, my condolences. This is just fate. It was Zhennan’s unavoidable tribulation. Try not to be too heartbroken and look past it."

Standing to the side, Yang Bingyu couldn’t help but roll her eyes. Su Jun’s young wife had just given birth to a chubby, eight-pound baby boy. He was probably over the moon right now, itching to throw a massive banquet to announce it to the world. As for Yang Zhennan, he had been Su Jun’s lifelong rival. His passing was absolutely a good thing for the Su Family. There was no way he was genuinely here to mourn; it was all just a superficial act.

"Thank you for your concern, Uncle Su," Yang Tao said coolly. Lacking the energy to keep up appearances with Su Jun, he offered a brief word of thanks before turning away to speak with other guests.

Su Jun simply smiled and didn’t say anything else. He walked up to Yang Zhennan’s portrait, placed a flower in front of it, bowed, and walked out.

Su Xiaobai, however, remained standing in front of Yang Bingyu, his eyes full of schadenfreude. "Yang Bingyu, now that your grandfather is dead, I’m afraid your days in the Yang Family are going to be tough. Your biggest backer is gone. As an adopted daughter, you’ll probably be kicked out onto the streets.

"Tsk, tsk. I feel pity just thinking about it. If you really have nowhere to go when that happens, you can come find me.

"For the sake of us knowing each other since childhood, I wouldn’t mind lending you a hand."

Though Su Xiaobai spoke of helping, Yang Bingyu knew he definitely wasn’t that kind-hearted. Even if he did offer help, it would only be a disservice. Glaring at him, she replied coldly, "Don’t worry. Even if your position as the heir is snatched away by your little uncle, I still won’t be kicked out by the Yang Family.

"Rather than worrying about other people’s business here, you’d be better off thinking more about yourself."

Yang Bingyu’s words made Su Xiaobai’s face instantly darken as his eyes filled with rage. This woman was simply too arrogant!

Su Jun having a child in his old age had always been a sore point for Su Xiaobai, and on top of that, Su Jun’s young wife was constantly causing trouble behind the scenes. She had already coaxed five percent of the company’s shares out of Su Jun’s hands, which left Su Xiaobai extremely disgruntled. Before this "little uncle" came along, the entire Su Family belonged to him. But the moment the baby was born, everything silently began to change. Su Jun claimed that he wouldn’t let his youngest son affect Su Xiaobai’s position, but the scales in his heart had long since tipped toward his new boy. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have given five percent of the shares to his young wife.

"Yang Bingyu, just you wait," Su Xiaobai snarled. Having been thoroughly shut down, he glared at her viciously, dropped that threat, and stormed off.

Once most of the guests had left, Ye Xuan finally brought out a thermal lunchbox containing breakfast. "Bingyu, you haven’t eaten anything all morning. I made this breakfast for you. Have a little."

As he spoke, he opened the lunchbox. Inside was a stomach-nourishing pumpkin porridge and soup dumplings he had made by hand—Yang Bingyu’s favorite foods.

Seeing the breakfast, Yang Bingyu’s heart warmed, and her expression softened considerably. After bustling about all morning, she was indeed a bit hungry. She picked up a soup dumpling with her chopsticks and was just about to put it in her mouth, but the moment she caught a whiff of it, a wave of nausea washed over her. She hurriedly put down the chopsticks and sprinted toward the restroom.

Ye Xuan followed closely behind, waiting at the restroom door with a worried look on his face.

After a long while, Yang Bingyu emerged, her small face deathly pale.

"Bingyu, are you alright? Why did you suddenly throw up?" Ye Xuan stepped forward and supported her arm, asking with deep concern.

Yang Bingyu patted her chest to soothe her breathing and shook her head. "I’m fine. It’s probably just because I haven’t eaten anything this morning, so smelling greasy food upset my stomach."

This wasn’t the first time something like this had happened. Given how exhausted she had been lately, she didn’t think much of it.

"I’m sorry, I wasn’t being thoughtful enough. Have some pumpkin porridge to pad your stomach first. It’s almost noon, so we’ll have an early lunch in a bit," Ye Xuan said. He didn’t think much of it either; hearing her say she was fine, he genuinely believed it. He pushed the porridge in front of her and began feeding it to her with a small spoon.

Lin Aoxue, who had come to pay her respects, found the scene incredibly glaring. Back then, Ye Xuan used to treat her with that exact same gentleness. Thinking about it now felt unbelievably ironic.

She hadn’t intended to come, but Yang Zhennan had, after all, helped her in the past. After agonizing over it all morning, she had decided to show up and pay her respects. Who would have thought that the moment she walked into the hall, she would be greeted by such a heart-wrenching sight? She never should have come.

Holding back the pain in her heart, Lin Aoxue prepared to leave. But just as she turned around, she was stopped by Yang Tian’s voice.

"Miss Lin, what are you doing here?"

Yang Tian was a rather guileless child; seeing Lin Aoxue arrive, he had simply called out to her at the top of his lungs.

Ye Xuan’s hand froze as he was feeding Yang Bingyu, and he instinctively looked over in Lin Aoxue’s direction. Their eyes met across the room.

For a split second, panic flashed in Ye Xuan’s eyes, and he reflexively moved to put down his spoon. But he quickly recovered, withdrawing his gaze and shifting his attention back to Yang Bingyu, continuing to gently feed her the porridge.

Yang Bingyu had expected him to immediately drop what he was doing and run over to explain himself to Lin Aoxue. To her surprise, he acted as if nothing had happened, his expression completely placid. In the past, if he had treated her this way, her heart would have been as sweet as honey, and she would have been over the moon with joy. But now that she knew Ye Xuan was only distancing himself from Lin Aoxue in order to protect her, everything he did felt tainted.

"Aren’t you going to go over and say hello? You haven’t seen her in so many days—don’t you miss her?" Yang Bingyu dodged his spoonful of porridge and stared at him with cold indifference, her tone laced with sarcasm.

Ye Xuan furrowed his brows, knowing she was just throwing a tantrum. He set down the bowl and spoon, reaching out in helpless exasperation to rub her head. "Silly girl, if I went to find her, wouldn’t you feel awful? Don’t try to provoke me like this anymore."

His gentleness once again shattered the defenses Yang Bingyu had built up in her heart. Pouting slightly, a hint of grievance surfaced in her eyes. "Well, you’re the one choosing not to go to her. Don’t go blaming me for it later."

"Don’t worry, I definitely won’t blame you." Ye Xuan couldn’t help but smile at her adorable expression.

Lin Aoxue took in their entire interaction. It felt as though a massive, gaping hole had been torn in her heart, with a biting, bone-chilling wind relentlessly howling through it. It was so cold that her body began to tremble.