Xu Tingyu glanced at the earnest Qi Shifeng but said nothing.
She had long passed the age of being swayed by sweet words.
However, Qi Shifeng's changes during this period were obvious to all.
She believed that he was truly repentant, but she just couldn't go back to the way things used to be.
So she still avoided Qi Shifeng's feelings.
She just turned to Youyou and said, "Youyou, do you want to take a break? After we get off the plane, Mom will take you to eat beef noodles, okay?"
Youyou was partial to noodles. After playing outside for a week, she missed the beef noodles in Kyoto very much.
Youyou obediently responded, "Okay, thank you, Mom."
After saying that, she covered herself with a small blanket and closed her eyes to rest.
Only then did Xu Tingyu turn to look at Qi Shifeng. "Don't be so childish."
These actions were not what President Qi should do.
Qi Shifeng was not annoyed by her avoidance. Instead, he leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.
"My wife says I'm childish, so I must be truly childish."
Xu Tingyu was helpless against his rascal-like behavior. She could only glare at him and let him hold her hand as she began to rest.
In the Kyoto Sanatorium, Zhang Qiu called Secretary Qian.
She was much more straightforward with Secretary Qian. She directly said that she wanted to put Xu Tingyu's property under her own name.
Otherwise, by the time Xu Tingyu was once again taken advantage of by the Qi family, she might not even be able to afford her own medical expenses.
At first, Secretary Qian didn't want to talk to her much. He thought she was having another episode and even comforted her a few words.
"Now Tingyu is different from before. She has her own opinions and can manage her own property well. Don't worry about it."
"The best help you can give her now is to take good care of your own health so that she has no worries."
But Zhang Qiu wouldn't listen. She insisted on getting the money and asked Secretary Qian to persuade Xu Tingyu.
"I know she trusts you very much. She even specially invited you for this comeback performance. Even I, her mother, wasn't invited."
"If you go and talk to her, she will definitely agree. I'm doing this for her own good, so that she won't be cheated out of everything."
This time, Secretary Qian flatly refused her request.
Not only did he refuse, but he also lectured her.
"You are Tingyu's mother, her only relative in this world. You shouldn't scheme against her like this."
"She suffered so much abroad before founding her own company. How could you have the heart to put it under your own name?"
Secretary Qian had always respected her and Xu Jianmin.
After the Xu family went bankrupt, he had been busy running around and had helped Zhang Qiu a lot.
This was the first time he had been so strict with Zhang Qiu.
Naturally, Zhang Qiu couldn't take it.
"Secretary Qian, do you look down on me now? Don't forget how much favor you owe to our Xu family."
"If it weren't for the salary from our Xu family, could you have bought a house and settled down in Kyoto? You might not even have been able to marry a wife."
"Now that our Xu family is bankrupt, even you want to ride on my head."
She couldn't stand being lectured by others. No matter whether what others said was the truth or not, she would think that they were trying to lord it over her.
Since the Xu family went bankrupt, she seemed to have awakened an excessive "self - esteem" and would often say that others looked down on her.
But she seemed to forget that one's self - esteem should be maintained by oneself, not just by demanding from others.
"Mrs. Xu, it's meaningless for you to say these angry words now, because you know I don't mean that."
"I just feel sorry for Tingyu. You have no idea what kind of life she has been living these years. She almost lost her life in order to earn money."
Secretary Qian was really at his wit's end. He directly told Zhang Qiu about how Xu Tingyu had lived in a slum abroad and had been ostracized.
"At that time, she even had trouble getting enough to eat. But in order to transfer you out of the mental hospital as soon as possible, she worked hard to earn money every day."
"Once, she encountered a gunfight on the street and almost got shot. After that, she had nightmares for a long time."
"However, she didn't tell anyone. Being discriminated against and ostracized, she just worked harder to make herself irreplaceable."
"For the sake of money, she desperately seized every opportunity she could, gritted her teeth, and walked forward with blood and tears."
"With great difficulty, she has achieved all this today, but you just want to take it all with just a few words. How could you have the nerve?"
Secretary Qian learned about these things two years after Xu Tingyu went abroad.
At first, when Xu Tingyu went abroad, she cut off contact with everyone.
The old master Qi had been monitoring her, probably for fear that she couldn't bear it and would run back to the country.
Later, seeing that Xu Tingyu had been "obedient" and "well - behaved", he slightly relaxed the monitoring.
So after Xu Tingyu finally got in touch with Secretary Qian, Secretary Qian immediately flew abroad.
But the two didn't meet that time.
Xu Tingyu was temporarily sent to another place for a closed - door training.
But Secretary Qian stayed at her place for a few days and heard everything about her from others.
He felt extremely heart - broken at that time.
He secretly paid her one - year rent and bought her a lot of things before leaving.
But after Xu Tingyu came back, she still insisted on transferring the money to him.
Her exact words were, "Uncle Qian, actually I'm not that poor now. I just want to save some money. And you are retired now and need money."
Secretary Qian's wife had never worked and was not in good health, so the family was not in a particularly good financial situation.
How could she have the heart to use Secretary Qian's money?
Secretary Qian couldn't persuade her, so he finally had to accept the money.
Even an outsider like him felt so sorry for Xu Tingyu, but Zhang Qiu, her mother, had never asked how Xu Tingyu was doing abroad.
During the four years that Xu Tingyu was abroad, Zhang Qiu seemed to act as if she was dead.
Now that she was back, all Zhang Qiu wanted was her money.
After hearing Secretary Qian's words, Zhang Qiu was silent for a moment, but then anger overtook everything.
"Her hardships weren't caused by me. It was her own fault that she couldn't be a good daughter - in - law of the Qi family and was forced into that situation."
"If she had captured Qi Shifeng's heart back then and been more obedient and sensible, how could the Qi family have stood by when our Xu family went bankrupt?"
"Now that she has money, Qi Shifeng has come back to find her. She has no backbone at all."
"I'm just helping her safeguard this money. How am I being bad to her?"
Actually, Zhang Qiu might not necessarily hate Qi Shifeng that much, nor did she really think that Xu Tingyu would be unhappy with Qi Shifeng.
Secretary Qian obviously saw this too and mercilessly exposed her.
"All you've said still comes from your own selfishness. In the end, you just can't stand to see her happy."
"Because in your heart, since Xu Jia is gone, Tingyu has no right to be happy."