The door to Xia Qingtian's bedroom was knocked. Aunt Liu entered with a hesitant expression.
"Qingtian, pardon the interruption." Aunt Liu still felt a bit reserved in front of Xia Qingtian.
"Go ahead," Xia Qingtian said, closing the web page and looking at Aunt Liu.
"Your father, I don't know what's gotten into him. He locked himself in the study as soon as he got back and didn't eat dinner. I just walked past the study and thought I heard him arguing on the phone with the directors..." Aunt Liu said, wringing her hands. "Could you possibly trouble yourself to go see him? Regardless, he needs to eat something."
Upon hearing Aunt Liu's words, Xia Qingtian remembered that the Xia Corporation was still in a mess. She immediately agreed.
When she reached the study door, she indeed heard Xia's father arguing with someone. The argument seemed to be about Xia Qingtian managing the resort.
After Xia's father hung up the phone, Xia Qingtian knocked and entered.
"Dad..." Seeing her father like this, Xia Qingtian felt a pang of sympathy. After a moment of hesitation, she said, "How about we put the management rights aside for now? After all, the resort project has just begun, and it'll take at least next year or the year after to complete. I'm still young, and it's normal for the directors to feel uneasy."
"It's not just this one issue." Xia's father knew clearly that their ideas were incompatible, and this was merely a trigger. "Don't worry, I will definitely..."
"Dad." Seeing her father's attitude, Xia Qingtian finally made up her mind and interrupted him. "I don't want to manage any resort."
"What?" Xia's father was taken aback by Xia Qingtian's words. Before he could react, Xia Qingtian delivered another blow.
"I... I still prefer singing." Xia Qingtian mustered her courage and said, "Actually, I've always been singing... just... in another way. I..."
"Get out!" Xia's father interrupted Xia Qingtian, his face dark and grim. "Go back to your room!"
"Dad!" Xia Qingtian looked at her father, a sense of powerlessness overwhelming her. It was as if she had returned to the countless times she argued with her father about her dreams in her previous life. She remembered the despair and frustration when she discovered her father had colluded with her teacher to change her college entrance examination志愿. "Can't you trust me a little? Can't you support me!"
"Can't you trust me? I'm your father! Would I harm you?" Xia's father looked at Xia Qingtian with a heart-wrenching pain that bordered on despair. "You've been lying to me all this time, haven't you?"
"I didn't lie to you, I just..." Xia Qingtian couldn't find better words and could only throw the ball back to her father. "You changed my college entrance examination志愿 first! You don't trust me at all! You changed my志愿, and you even recruited a live-in son-in-law. Look at the kind of person you recruited. You always think you can protect everyone, but you can't!"
"You can't even protect yourself! You can't protect me! And you certainly can't protect my mother! My mother, she..."
Xia Qingtian almost blurted out something about her deceased mother. She stopped abruptly, biting her lower lip, her hands clenched into fists by her sides, preventing herself from saying something wrong.
When Xia Qingtian mentioned his deceased wife, Xia's father felt a sharp pain in his heart, his voice trembling. "Go back to your room! From today on, you are not allowed to leave the Xia family home until you have thought things through!"
"I'm an adult now, you can't treat me like this! You have no right!" Xia Qingtian's heart turned cold upon hearing her father's words.
In her previous life, she had been imprisoned by Song Junhan until her death. In this life, no one would be able to trap her!
"As long as you eat my food and use my things, I have that right!" Xia's father glared at her.
"Fine, very good." Xia Qingtian looked directly into her father's eyes, nodded, and turned to leave.
Running back to her room, Xia Qingtian only packed a few clothes before picking up her suitcase and heading straight out.
"Qingtian, what are you doing! What's wrong?" Aunt Liu was in the kitchen warming up dinner for Xia's father. When she came out, she saw Xia Qingtian looking like she was running away from home. She immediately reached out to stop her. "Lao Xia! Come out quickly! Try to persuade Qingtian!"
"Let her go!" Xia's father stood at the study door with a cold face. "If she leaves, don't ever come back!"
Hearing her father's words, Xia Qingtian's expression darkened further. She left the Xia family without looking back.
"Lao Xia!" Aunt Liu stomped her feet anxiously. "What happened! The child is gone!"
"Let her go. Tomorrow, I'll have my secretary cancel her credit card. She'll come back when she can't buy any more new bags,哼!" Xia's father snorted, returned to his study, and slammed the door shut forcefully.
"This..." In the living room, only Aunt Liu was left, anxiously pacing.
Dragging her suitcase through the dark night, Xia Qingtian was seething.
The unresolved issues from her previous life had, in this life, become the catalyst for a major argument between them.
While Xia Qingtian was angry with her father, she also regretted being so careless as to mention her deceased mother in front of him. Her mother's death had nothing to do with her father; it was an accident.
Yet, it was also Xia's father's deepest hidden pain.
People are often like this; once reason is governed by anger, the words spoken become poisoned knives, intent on striking the most vulnerable spots.
If it were her past self, she might have said even more hurtful things tonight.
Just then, Xia Qingtian's phone rang. On the other end was Wen Ning, who had previously told Xia Qingtian she would give her time to consider.
"How have you considered it?" Wen Ning asked.
"I've considered it. Send it over." Xia Qingtian suddenly remembered something and asked, "By the way, when we signed the contract, it stated that my signing level includes a furnished apartment ready for immediate move-in, right?"
"Yes, why?" Wen Ning asked.
"No reason, it's just... I've run away from home now, the bag is packed, can I move in right away?" Xia Qingtian asked.
Wen Ning: "..."
When Li Mengxiao came to pick up Xia Qingtian, Xia Qingtian was sitting on her suitcase, playing with her phone.
Upon seeing Li Mengxiao, Xia Qingtian gave her a big smile. "Xiaoxiao, Sister Ning asked you to pick me up?"
"Yes, why did you run away from home for no reason? It's late at night, what if you encounter danger?" Li Mengxiao's heart had been hanging in suspense for Xia Qingtian. Seeing her now, her heart settled, but she couldn't help but act like a mother hen, chattering all the way down to the apartment building.
Feeling her way in the dark, Li Mengxiao escorted Xia Qingtian into the apartment. "You'll have to make do for now, some daily necessities are not yet in place. I'll prepare them and bring them to you tomorrow morning."
Having a place to live was good enough. Xia Qingtian didn't have high demands at the moment.