My Alleged Husband

Chapter 184: Chapter 167 Don’t Mention the Past!_1

Early in the morning, Old Master Zhang got up, went to check on Zhang Yichen’s room to see if he had woken up. But when he pushed the door open, he discovered the bed was already empty. He slowly walked downstairs, and as he reached the turning point of the staircase in the living room, he heard Zhang Yichen on the phone talking with someone. Judging by Yichen’s tone, it didn’t seem very friendly, so he realized that it was probably his parents calling again. He hid in a corner and secretly listened to his grandson’s conversation with his son, and his daughter-in-law. After hearing it all, he didn’t know whether to feel happy or sad.

What made him happy was that his daughter-in-law had realized that her decision from the past was a mistake, but what saddened him was that, even so, his grandson still refused to forgive his parents.

Zhang Yichen had just hung up the phone and was preparing to head upstairs when he saw his grandfather standing at the corner of the staircase. He was a bit shocked, wondering if his grandfather had heard the entire phone conversation. He gazed intently at his grandfather and softly asked, ”Grandpa, when did you come here? I was on the phone just now, did you stand here and hear everything?”

Old Master Zhang smiled and shook his head, saying, ”Child, you can actually choose to forget the past, because a person who always clings to past events will never be happy. Although you look very happy now, I know your heart isn’t joyful, because there is pressure inside, not knowing whether to forgive your parents or keep hating them. It’s for this reason that I can’t bear to see you like this. Listen to your grandpa, let go of the hatred towards your parents, respectfully and lovingly treat them well. Isn’t it nice that way? If you continue to hate your parents, knowing this will make them feel very distressed. To tell you the truth, I was surprised to hear all the things you said to your mom earlier, and even I couldn’t believe that those were the words of my own grandson. But I have to believe that they indeed came from you.”

”Grandpa, it was you who said, to become an economic emperor, one must be ruthless. Now that I have become ruthless, why are you advising me to let go of my ruthlessness? I admit, deep inside I really crave the love of my parents. But from the moment they abandoned me, I was done with them. You yourself said that you drove my parents out of the Zhang Family and would never allow them to set foot in our home again. Are you going back on your word, regretting your own decision? Grandpa, actually, everyone has a pain in their heart. For me, that pain is the abandonment by my parents. However, it’s this very pain that will fuel my future dominance, and will make me the economic emperor. Grandpa, I know there’s something you really want to ask me. You want to know what I felt in my heart when I spoke those words to my mom, right? I can tell you now, the moment I received the call from my mom, I experienced a moment of thrill, hearing my mom’s voice for the first time in ten years. I was delighted, but suddenly a voice in my head commanded, ’Don’t trust your mom, don’t trust her. She’s the one who abandoned you, who birthed you and didn’t want to nurture you, who made your life so difficult. You cannot forgive her.’ When this voice popped into my mind, my brain agreed, I can’t forgive my mom, I cannot forgive a mother who abandoned her own child for her freedom, such a mother, I’d rather not have!”

Old Master Zhang really didn’t know how to persuade his stubborn grandson anymore. He knew his grandson’s stubbornness was a result of his own spoiling and indulgence, which also bred such hatred, making him detest his own parents so much. He now began to wonder, if he hadn’t spoken those words to him back then, would he still harbor such hatred for his parents? Or, if he had told a small white lie to his grandson, claiming that his parents merely went abroad for work with no time to return, perhaps things wouldn’t have turned out this way. But in life, there are no what-ifs. Once something happens, it becomes a fact, impossible to change.

”Yichen, I actually believe that you understand many life principles without Grandpa having to tell you, that one should look forward and not always remain in the present. If one always remained in the now, would he ever grow? Do you think what Grandpa is saying is right?”

Zhang Yichen sneered, ”Grandpa, do you really think I’m still a three-year-old child? I am now ten years old, please don’t try to deceive me with words you’d use on a toddler. I have my own thoughts. You may think I’m only ten, but my thinking has already surpassed that of many twenty-somethings. However, I am not satisfied with just this. Since I have this incredible memory, this extraordinary wisdom, I must make those who abandoned me pay the price. Otherwise, I truly won’t feel at peace. I believe you wouldn’t want me to take the wrong path just because I can’t find peace, right?”

”Grandpa, I know in my heart that many things you did were for my sake. You don’t want that years later when I meet my mom and dad, we won’t recognize each other, even if we know each other, we can’t embrace. You know? To say it’s heartless would be an understatement, but every time I think about how my parents heartlessly abandoned me...”

”Child, since you understand all this, why do you still insist on acting this way? Your parents have already run into trouble, would it hurt to fly to Los Angeles to visit them, just for a bit? Why make it such a mess, causing your parents to be unable to peacefully recover, meanwhile weighing down your conscience?”

”Grandpa, who told you that I feel burdened? To tell you the truth, I feel incredibly light right now, not burdened at all. I think that my parents abandoning me was also a form of love. If it weren’t for their abandonment, I wouldn’t have worked so hard. If it weren’t for their leaving, how would you have subjected me to devilish training, molding me into an economic force? Thank you, Grandpa, for the hardships you’ve endured in raising me over the past ten years. Ten years from now, when I become an economic emperor, it will be time for me to repay you. I will ensure you live a life of abundance and joy. But by then, I hope you won’t talk to me about anything related to my parents anymore. I don’t want to hear it, I don’t want to know. For me, having you is enough. When I become the economic emperor, when I can marry the girl I love, when we have our own children, I’ll be happy. In fact, I don’t care anymore whether my parents come back. They’ve already missed ten years of my life, and I don’t mind if they miss the rest of my life too. With or without them, there’s no difference in my life. Grandpa, let’s not talk about these things anymore since they’re in the past. Let’s live happily without letting unrelated people affect our originally joyful lives. You know, what I care about now is only your opinion, I don’t care about what others think of me. So you don’t have to go out of your way to persuade me to forgive my parents!”

Old Master Zhang didn’t know what to say. He sighed deeply, and no one spoke...