Everyone Regrets It After My Death - Chapter 6

Chapter 6: You Don’t Deserve It

After Su Renhua left, Su Mingran decided he had to start looking for someone to adopt Little Huang.

He had considered this when he first found the dog, but he couldn’t bear to let him go. Now, he realized that keeping the dog in this house was a mistake. He opened the window, and Little Huang leaped in, sitting obediently for a pat. However, at the slightest noise outside, the dog’s ears perked up, his eyes turning sharp and wary.

It was time to find him a safe home.

…

The next day, for the family banquet, Su Renhua brought Qi Xinghe back from the hospital. The house immediately became lively.

Qi Xinghe complained incessantly to Yan Qian about the hospital’s poor environment, claiming the bad food and uncomfortable bed had made him lose weight. Yan Qian, heartbroken, stroked his cheek and ordered the kitchen to prepare tonics.

Behind their backs, Su Minmin bared her teeth and mimicked his tone in a whisper. “Mommy, I’m starving to death~ Gag.”

“Su Minmin,” Yan Qian called.

Su Minmin instantly smoothed her expression into a mask of obedience. “Yes, Mother. What do you need?”

Before Yan Qian could speak, Qi Xinghe chimed in. “Sister, those headphones in your room are pretty. Let me play with them.”

Those headphones were a limited edition Su Minmin had waited three months for. She hadn’t even used them once. She wracked her brain for an excuse. Qi Xinghe had a habit of taking her things and only returning them once he had ruined or grown bored of them.

Years ago, she had cried to her parents about it. Yan Qian told her to go cry outside so she wouldn’t wake Xinghe; Su Renhua just kicked her out of the room. Eventually, she learned that anything Xinghe wanted, he got. She hated him, but she only dared to curse him in private.

“Xinghe, those are pink. They don’t suit a boy,” Su Minmin said with a strained smile. “How about I buy you the same model in black?”

Qi Xinghe snuggled into Yan Qian’s arms. “Why can’t boys use pink?” He smirked, his eyes glinting with malice. “By the way, Sister, I saw you with an older man the other day. Are you…”

Su Minmin was a minor celebrity, a second-tier actress with a history of scandals. She was currently “fishing” for the CEO of a major corporation. He was old, but he was wealthy. If she married him, her status in the Su family would rise. She hadn’t told anyone, and she certainly didn’t want Qi Xinghe blabbing about it.

“Oh, that was just a business associate!” Su Minmin shot a quick glance at Yan Qian, but her mother wasn’t even listening. Realizing she needed to shut Xinghe up, she sighed. “Since you want them so much, I’ll go get them.”

A moment later, she reluctantly handed over the headphones. They were encrusted with expensive diamonds. “Just… be careful with the diamonds on the casing…”

Snap.

Qi Xinghe pried one of the diamonds off with his fingernail. “What?” he asked provocatively.

Su Minmin dug her manicured nails into her own thigh, her face a mask of forced calm. “N-nothing.”

…

The guests arrived in the afternoon—all prominent socialites from high-society circles.

“Mr. Su, you’ve raised such wonderful children. And to adopt a boy and raise him as your own… you truly have a heart of gold.”

“Oh, we’re just normal parents,” Su Renhua replied smoothly. “Our youngest needed a companion, and since Xinghe was the same age, it felt right.”

To the world, Su Renhua was a successful man with a submissive wife, a son running the company, a famous daughter, and two young sons. A picture-perfect family.

As the guests settled in the hall, Su Renhua signaled Su Mingran to the piano. There was a grand piano in the center of the room that Su Mingran had never been allowed to touch—it was “reserved” for Qi Xinghe.

Today was the first time Su Mingran sat before it. As he tested the keys to tune them, Su Renhua hissed at him, “Stop fiddling. Haven’t you ever seen a piano? Just play!”

Su Mingran ignored him, stretching his right hand. The connection between his pinky and ring finger was weak and painful. He had used his left hand at the cafe yesterday, but now he had to use both.

“What should I play?” Su Mingran asked.

“That… Ka-something piece.”

“$Canon$?”

“Yes, that’s it.”

Su Mingran didn’t say another word. He let the low, steady notes of the intro fill the room. Su Renhua stood back, slightly stunned, but Su Mingran was already lost in the music.

This was the piece he had practiced most. His old music teacher had begged him to apply to a conservatory, recognizing his genius. But Su Mingran had no money for a piano, and the Su family would never have allowed it. He had spent his college years auditing classes with the permission of a sympathetic dean.

As the final notes faded, Su Mingran’s right hand throbbed with a dull ache. He brushed the keys one last time and walked away.

The hall erupted in applause.

“Mr. Su, your son is incredible! What grade is he?”

“That was so fluid. Even I, who knows nothing of art, found it beautiful!”

The praise exceeded Su Renhua’s expectations. He had only wanted Su Mingran to play to act as a mediocre warm-up for Qi Xinghe. Embarrassed by his “unfavored” son’s success, he quickly pushed Qi Xinghe forward.

“That was just my third son—he’s only average. My fourth son is the real prodigy.”

Qi Xinghe, annoyed at being pulled away from his new toy, sat down and played a far less impressive set. As the guests shifted their hollow compliments to the “prodigy,” Su Renhua followed Su Mingran into the kitchen corridor.

“Su Mingran! Get over here!”

Su Mingran turned. “Yes?”

“Where did you learn to play like that? Who taught you?” Su Renhua demanded. He had expected Su Mingran to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star like a schoolboy, not a masterful rendition of $Canon$.

Yan Qian and Su Mo, who were nearby, also approached. The three of them loomed over him like interrogators.

“A teacher taught me,” Su Mingran said casually.

“A teacher? What teacher would waste time on you?” Su Renhua’s anger flared. “Did you sneak around behind my back and steal lessons from Xinghe’s tutors? Just to embarrass him today?”

“I’m telling you, you will never be better than Xinghe. No matter what schemes you play, you’ll never measure up!”

Su Mingran found it absurd. In their minds, he couldn’t simply be talented; he had to be a thief. “Oh. And then?”

“You still have the nerve to talk back? What else have you been doing behind our backs?”

Su Renhua couldn’t accept it. He had decided that all resources went to Qi Xinghe. If Su Mingran was better at something, it destroyed the logic of his favoritism. He had to crush Su Mingran to justify his own choices.

Su Mingran looked at his father, his mother, and his brother. Suddenly, he wanted to ask the question he’d held in for years.

“There’s something I’ve wanted to ask all of you.”

“Speak.”

“Why do you like Qi Xinghe so much? You treat him better than you treat even my eldest brother. Is he your biological son, and am I the one you picked up from the trash?”

The question hit a nerve. Su Renhua’s face went dark with guilt. Even Su Mo looked at his father, curious for the answer. In this house, Xinghe was loved more than the heir himself.

“I…” Su Renhua stammered, unable to find an answer.

That was when Yan Qian spoke up, her voice like ice.

“Because you don’t deserve it.”

She looked at her biological son with pure indifference. “Su Mingran, you should reflect on yourself. Why does everyone in the Su family love Xinghe and not you? If everyone loves him and no one loves you, the problem is clearly with you.”

She repeated it, emphasizing every word: “You do not deserve to be loved by anyone.”