"I'll give you three minutes. Say whatever you have to say quickly. I won't ever see you again after this."
Just three minutes?
Mrs. Gao looked at her tall, handsome son, feeling both nervous and excited. For a moment, she didn't know where to begin.
Her hand trembled as she reached out to grasp his, but Hu Jiasheng dodged her.
She couldn't help but cry out in sorrow, almost collapsing onto the ground.
"I know you hate me, hate me to death. Abandoning you from birth, but I want to tell you today, it wasn't intentional!"
"Asheng, I never thought of giving you up. I was helpless. Do you know that giving you up almost cost me half my life?"
Hu Jiasheng didn't know.
She couldn't empathize with his past. It sounded like someone else's story, so distant.
"Do you know why you're called Hu Jiasheng? You took my surname. I never regretted giving birth to you. In fact, I felt proud to have you."
"Your name was my choice, and it was the only condition I exchanged with your grandfather, for you to take my surname and use the name I chose. As long as he agreed, I promised never to appear in Nancheng again."
"I truly didn't mean to. I didn't know your father's identity."
"When he approached me, he was just an ordinary person swept away by love. We fell in love ordinarily, dated ordinarily. Who knew we would offend so many people?"
"I don't know what you've heard from them all these years that makes you not even want to look at me now. But I want to tell you, I am your mother, your biological mother, the only person in this world who shares blood with you, the only one willing to live for you, die for you, and give her heart and soul to you. Asheng, you shouldn't hate me."
It all came back to the same points.
Hu Jiasheng impatiently raised his hand and glanced at his watch.
"I already know everything you've said. There's no need to repeat it. My time is running out. If you have anything else to say, hurry up."
Mrs. Gao looked at his utterly cold expression and shook her head in disbelief.
"How could you be like this, Asheng? Back then, I saved money desperately. I saved and saved. When I found out where you lived, I traveled abroad for the first time in my life, just to hide outside your door and secretly watch you."
"Every year on your birthday, I went to secretly see you. I even saw your first girlfriend, saw you when you were sick, saw you when you graduated, saw you on your first day at work, saw you when you first returned to the country..."
"I love you so much. I truly love you. I can say that the only belief that has kept me alive until now is you. Everything I've done is for you. How can you be so cold to me?"
Hu Jiasheng turned his head.
"You love me? Everything you've done is for me? That's what you think, isn't it?"
"What is love? Giving me lots and lots of money and eradicating everyone in the Zhan family except me, is that loving me?"
"May I ask, did Zhan Beijue offend you? Did his sister offend you? Did my grandfather offend you? Did you attack them, wanting to kill them, all because of your love for me?"
As she spoke of these things, Mrs. Gao suddenly calmed down.
Her tears stopped flowing, and her expression was no longer mournful.
She wiped her tears, stood up straight, and looked at Hu Jiasheng with an unyielding posture.
"Isn't that true? I met your father first, and you were born first. The old man knew perfectly well that everything happened before your father's marriage. Our relationship was legitimate, yet he insisted on separating us."
"It doesn't matter that I didn't marry into the Zhan family. I'm an outsider, after all. But you..."
"He made Zhan Beijue the sole heir, so what are you? You're also of the Zhan family bloodline. Zhan Beijue is known to everyone in the country, but you?"
"Look at your social status now, and then look at his. Look at the assets under your name, and then look at his. Asheng, don't you think you should fight for it?"
"I knew it."
Hu Jiasheng smiled faintly, his smile devoid of warmth.
"I knew you would measure and speculate about me with your own standards. For you, what constitutes satisfaction?"
"Stealing someone else's fiancé, knowing they were about to get married, and insisting on having his child, is that fighting for what's right?"
"The reason Zhan Beijue has everything he has today is because his mother fought for it with half her life. You should know better than I do how much influence his maternal grandparents had on the Zhan Corporation back then."
"After my father passed away, who managed the company? Who expanded it into Zhan Corporation? You should know that too."
"Why shouldn't Zhan Beijue deserve everything he has today? That's a kingdom passed down to him by his ancestors. I think it's very fitting and most suitable."
"Why should I compete with him? What do I have? Besides a surname, an irresponsible, selfish father, and a mother with no backing who shamelessly got involved with a married man, what else do I have to compare with them?"
"I was personally raised by my grandfather and received the same treatment as Zhan Beijue, even sharing the family fortune with him. It's already shameless enough. And you're telling me I should fight for more. Do you want everyone else to die so that I'm the only one left with the surname Zhan for you to be satisfied?"
Mrs. Gao looked at Hu Jiasheng incredulously, shaking her head repeatedly.
"Who has brainwashed you, you foolish child? Who told you such nonsense?"
"How could they possibly be so kind to you? This is just a tactic to make you give up the struggle!"
"I'm telling you, your father never loved Zhan Beijue's mother. The only person he loved was me back then! If your grandfather hadn't broken us up, we would have gotten married, and the Zhan family would have only had you!"
"With your father's capabilities, he could have also developed the company and made it flourish. Everything in the Zhan family would have belonged to you alone. Zhang Beijue wouldn't even have been born into this world! Do you understand?"
Hu Jiasheng was truly speechless at her warped perspective.
He shook his head, no longer wanting to converse with her.
The saying "when two people cannot agree, half a word is too much" perfectly described their current situation.
"Alright, Madam, you've said what you needed to say. I believe you feel much better. Whether you believe it or not is my business, you can't force me. I need to leave, please move aside."
Mrs. Gao didn't let him go, blocking his way.
"I have one last question for you. What is your relationship with Tang Nannan?"
Honestly, when Zhan Beijue said yesterday that Tang Nannan's accident was related to Mrs. Gao, he was quite surprised.
He hadn't expected her to meddle so much.
They were complete strangers. Would she interfere in his romantic relationships?
Now it seemed Zhan Beijue was right.
She really thought too highly of herself.
"What is my relationship with her? Does that have anything to do with you?"
Mrs. Gao retorted righteously.
"If you two are just ordinary friends, it has nothing to do with me. But if she is your girlfriend, or even if you marry her in the future, then it concerns me."