Chà Chà Novel

Right now, the public’s anger was directed at Imperial Capital News. Shang Jianli was occasionally dragged into it, but no one dared carelessly criticize the Shang family behind him.

When trouble arose, Shang Cheng hadn’t even asked for his side of the story. He had immediately believed someone else.

For more than twenty years, had Shang Cheng regarded him as a son, or as a marble statue, flawless from every conceivable angle?

The anger Shang Cheng had barely suppressed flared again.

He felt that his authority as a father was being challenged.

He slammed the dining table so hard it shook. The cold water in the glass sloshed from side to side, nearly spilling.

The stark overhead light made both their faces look cold. The older man was stern and furious; the younger one seemed utterly indifferent.

“The damage to the Shang family happens gradually. And how can you even ask me that? Whether I’ve treated you as my son?”

Shang Cheng gave a short, scornful laugh.

“What have I ever denied you? Is this how you repay me?”

Shang Jianli steadied the glass before the water could spill.

He drained what remained, then spoke unhurriedly.

“Father, I’m a person. I have thoughts of my own”

“When you gave me those things, did you ever ask my opinion? Did I actually want them?”

Shang Jianli didn’t believe he needed a prestigious family or the attention of countless people.

He trusted his own exceptional abilities to build a career for himself.

But from the moment he was born, he had been bound to the Shang family.

Whatever he did afterward, outsiders always connected him to them.

Shang Cheng’s excessive need for control demanded perfection in everything, while the family’s rules kept him tightly restrained.

In middle school, Shang Jianli had wanted a pet bird.

Shang Cheng refused, telling him to want things that would help him achieve something.

A bird? A fragile creature requiring constant care. Nothing but a waste of time.

After rejecting that wish, Shang Cheng came back the next day to ask what he wanted.

Shang Jianli no longer knew what he was allowed to want.

In the end, he said there was nothing in particular.

Anything would do.

Satisfied, Shang Cheng nodded and decided to order him a piano.

From then on, piano lessons consumed yet another portion of Shang Jianli’s already limited free time.

With his hypocrisy exposed, Shang Cheng’s eyes turned icy.

“Shang Jianli! Don’t be ungrateful”

As though remembering something, he sneered.

“When you said you wanted to marry Ji Shileng, didn’t I agree?”

Mr. Chang and Chu Wan accounted for a third of the reason Shang Cheng had come today. Another third was that, as his father, he knew Shang Jianli all too well.

He had raised his son the same way his own father had raised him, only more harshly.

The Shang family were all cold and indifferent to the bone. Shang Cheng saw nothing wrong with that.

How could anyone climb higher if they let romantic attachments get in the way?

Shang Jianli was obsessive and extreme. Once he cared about something, he clung to it relentlessly. Even if both sides were destroyed, he would never let go.

As a child, his teachers praised his diligence and perseverance. As he grew older, he remained the school’s “perfect” top student.

His temperament, family background, abilities, and striking looks all ensured that he would become someone countless others had to look up to.

But with age, the flaws in his character had gradually emerged.

Back then, he had been able to “give up” Ji Shileng for power and family.

Now, to “win back” Ji Shileng, he was willing to offer everything with both hands and let him destroy it all.

Whatever Shang Jianli cared about became the only thing he cared about.

Years ago, Shang Cheng had been pleased that his son was even colder and more ruthless than he was.

Was it coming back to haunt him now?

“You agreed?”

Shang Jianli scoffed. His deep, still eyes blinked once, turbulent emotions stirring beneath the surface.

“You agreed to let me marry him only after setting your conditions”

The condition was that Shang Jianli had to take the Shang family to new heights.

His feelings for Ji Shileng had been real. That was why he had gone to plead with Shang Cheng.

It was the first time he had ever begged anyone.

Bitterness rose in his chest. Shang Jianli closed his eyes, hiding their exhaustion.

Looking back, he had no idea what he had been doing all these years.

“He’s just Ji Shileng. How long are you going to keep deluding yourself?”

The sneer never left Shang Cheng’s lips.

“And now Qin Si is involved. Do you think you stand a chance?”

He knew exactly what to say to hurt his son.

He was doing it deliberately. He wanted Shang Jianli to understand that trying to win him back was pointless.

The people around them watched with complicated expressions. Shang Jianli resumed his usual indifference and even pulled out a chair, settling into it without hurry.

“It depends on what you do”

His voice was like a stagnant pool deep in the snowy mountains.

“I know what I’m doing”

Shang Cheng’s chest tightened with anger. The young man leaned against the chair, eyes lowered, lips pale, legs crossed.

Even surrounded by so many people, his presence lost none of its force.

“If you knew what you were doing, you wouldn’t have come home after staying up all night! Your superiors have already spoken to me. If you don’t rein yourself in, you clearly don’t want to keep your position!”

The final third of the reason Shang Cheng had come was simple: those above him had “kindly” offered a few words of warning.

“Why do you care what they say?”

“Honestly, what kind of person couldn’t you find? Why do you insist on clinging to Ji Shileng?”

Looking at his son, Shang Cheng felt, for the first time, that he was a stranger.

The Shang family produced either faithless men or heartless ones. How had Shang Jianli turned out so devoted?

“What is it about Ji Shileng that you can’t forget?”

Shang Jianli remained silent for a long time. Without his voice, even the air in the living room seemed to fall still.

At last, he answered softly.

“I don’t know”

As though certain of that answer, he raised his head and repeated it.

“I don’t know”

Perhaps people were always drawn like moths to a flame toward what they couldn’t have.

The Shang family was rotten from top to bottom.

During the first two years of Shang Jianli and Ji Shileng’s marriage, everyone in the family had waited to watch it fall apart.

They had never expected that, after being together through high school and university, then spending three years married, Shang Jianli still wouldn’t have tired of him.

It was simply unbelievable.

“No one else should have to pay for your actions. Shang Jianli, you’re an admiral. I don’t need to remind you how much responsibility rests on your shoulders”

Shang Cheng’s voice was cold.

“If it comes to that, find some young man and have him surgically altered to look like Ji Shileng”

Shang Jianli was the most gifted child of his generation in the Shang family.

Following the path his family had laid out, he had successfully entered politics and risen to the rank of admiral.

Then he ought to create value and benefits for the Empire and the Shang family.

Ji Shileng was just one man. Who did he think he was? Being allowed to contribute to the Empire and the Shang family was already more honor than he deserved.