TVCEO Chapter 54.2

“Say that again!” Zhuang Yun seemed furious, slamming her hand on the table and shouting coldly.

Lin Qiao stood up abruptly: “I did make a mistake. I shouldn’t have come back.”

Seeing her about to leave, Father Lin hurriedly stopped her.

“What are you doing? It’s already dark. Where are you going instead of staying home? I’ve told you so many times before not to go out at night, but you never listen. You’ve already learned your lesson once, don’t you think you haven’t learned your lesson?”

Lin Qiao could hardly believe these words came from her closest relatives.

“So you think the reason I was hurt was because I went out at night? Are you also thinking that out of so many people at the dinner party, he must have done something wrong to drug me?”

Father Lin didn’t deny her words, and even emphasized: “If you went back to school early after work and didn’t attend those messy parties, how could this kind of thing happen to you?”

Lin Qiao suddenly felt that this world was simply absurd and ironic, and her last bit of illusion about them was shattered. She coldly pulled his arm away, went to her room to get her backpack, and walked straight out.

Father Lin tried to pull her back again, but Lin Ji stopped him, pleading, “Mom and Dad, please say less!”

After saying this, he left Lin Qiao with the words, “Be careful.”

Although the early spring evening breeze was not as bitterly cold as in winter, it still felt cool on the skin, just like Lin Qiao’s mood at this moment.

She could ignore it if others bullied her, misunderstood her, or treated her coldly, but why, why did even her closest relatives treat her like this?

Lin Qiao sat on the rushing subway at the tail end of the evening rush hour.

A primary school student who was late getting out of school was being led by her family member. On the subway, she couldn’t help but be questioned by her parents about her test scores at school that day. After hearing that the test scores were mediocre, the parents immediately started nagging, and the primary school student’s originally good mood obviously dropped.

This is a scene almost everyone has encountered in their childhood. All adults say they’re doing it for the child’s good, because they love them. All children say their parents don’t love them at all, but only as obedient puppets. So what is love in the eyes of adults, and what do children truly feel?

“Su Zhengxing, I don’t understand, I really don’t understand.”

Lin Qiao lowered her head helplessly.

Although the connection between him and Lin Qiao was almost nonexistent—he could only hear her voice and could no longer feel her thoughts and emotions—even so, their long-standing tacit understanding allowed Su Zhengxing to immediately understand what she meant.

“Because love is always conditional.”

His voice was calm, tinged with the indifference that came with his own experience.

“Just as there is no hatred without a cause in this world, there is also no love without a cause in this world. Parents can love their children because of blood ties, but they can also abandon them for the sake of livelihood; children can depend on their parents because of what they receive, but they can also betray them for profit. In the end, so-called love is actually an exchange.”

Everyone longs for understanding and acceptance, yet few are truly able to consider others. Vastly different life experiences shape each individual, and every choice they make bears their own mark.

Whether parents or children, they are all independent individuals. It’s good if they can reconcile, but if they can’t, letting go might be a relief for both of them.

“Never lose yourself in the process of craving the love of others.”

This last sentence—it was unclear whether he was saying it to Lin Qiao or to himself.

 

 

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