Chapter 35

When they left Maple Forest Leisure Centre, Jennie was gasping for breath from all that running.

Seeing Lisa who still refused to let go of her hand, Jennie pretended to cough, it was unknown whether it was due to shyness or the exercise that her face was bright red.

"What's wrong? Is something wrong with your throat? Miss Kim?" Lisa feigned ignorance as she asked.

Jennie glared at her, "My hand?!"

Lisa whose face wasn't the slightest bit red laughed, but she still let go of that white and tender hand. The feeling of holding it was great though, as she took the chance to explain, "Oh, sorry Miss Kim, I thought you didn't want to let go of my hand so I just let you hold it."

Jennie who already knew that bickering with this fella wouldn't end well, so she didn't bother arguing with her, and directly walked towards her car.

After the two of them got on the path back, Lisa turned to ensure that nobody had chased after them. She then sighed a breath of relief.

Jennie wore a rather playful smile, "So someone with thick skin also has people they're afraid of, are you worried that Jimin would chase after us?"

Lisa was truly worried of that man chasing after her. She awkwardly smiled, "Miss Kim is truly wise and intelligent, you managed to figure out such a profound problem."

"Relax, although he was born as a part of the underworld, in our circles he's famous for being modest and polite. There isn't a shred of a big family's young master's demeanor to be seen from him, he never uses force to make people comply."

"Hearing you say such a thing, he seems very kind......" Lisa mumbled.

Jennie stretched her hand out to tap on the volume rocker on the steering wheel, bringing the music volume to the minimum, then said, "Of course he can't possibly always be so kind, if he was truly so harmless, then everybody wouldn't be so fearful of him. I'm just saying that if you don't provoke him, and don't do anything that would harm his life, he would always treat you warmly, this sets him apart from his father."

"You've even met Park Si-hoo before?" Asked Lisa.

Jennie glanced at her like she was looking at a moron, "Of course. The Dongxing Group isn't some small enterprise, it isn't anything strange for us to see him during some public events. However, to be honest that old man truly doesn't look like a businessman, despite many years of laundering his image, every time I've see him I feel like he's shrouded in darkness, with a gloomy aura that makes one's heart fluster."

That goes without saying, how could he be the east region's underworld emperor otherwise? Lisa felt that it's rather normal for Park Si-hoo to be that way.

As she spoke to this point, Jennie maintained silence for a while, then said, "As a thanks for helping me today, I'll give you a chance to choose where we eat."

Once Lisa heard this, she celebrated the fact that she no longer needed to follow Jennie to weird places, she thought for a moment and said, "I want to eat hotpot!"

Jennie shot her a glance, "It isn't even winter time yet, why do you want to eat hotpot? The heat from it would cause acne."

"You said you'd let me choose? Okay, so what do you want to eat then?" Lisa asked in grief.

"We'll eat at a roadside stall."

"Again!? I thought you were giving me the chance to choose!?" Lisa bitterly smiled.

Jennie snorted, "Like you said, I gave you a chance, but not the right to choose, and I don't like the place you chose, now we'll go to a roadside stall!"

Lisa painfully shut her eyes. This woman was too unreasonable!

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Half an hour later, depressed Lisa sat across Jennie in CL's roadside stall; various Sichuan dishes were laid in front of them, and the bright red chilies looked spicy enough to kill Lisa just from looking at them.

Because it was still early, there weren't many people in the roadside stall, so it seemed rather deserted compared to the last time. The cool winds of autumn's beginning blew past, bringing with it a slight chill.

Jennie drank a mouthful of white spirit, then looked at Lisa who looked like a bullied child. In a displeased manner she said, "What kind of expression is that? I'm treating you to a meal yet you look like pooping."

Lisa wiped away the sweat on her forehead caused by the spiciness, "Unlike you who began eating spicy things since childhood, I rarely eat such spicy food overseas."

"Oh, I nearly forgot, this great scholar in front of me had studied abroad, a wild brat like me who was raised in a small mountain village can't compare." Jennie ridiculed.

Lisa couldn't be bothered to bicker with her. She suddenly thought of something, with a serious expression she asked, "By the way, how are you planning to deal with your stepfather? I previously didn't know the reason why you always looks so depressed this past few days, but now that I think about it, it must be because of that man right? If you need my help just ask, I'm very free and you know it."

Jennie's chopsticks froze, she looked up straight at Lisa, then asked, "You're paying a-attention to me?"

"Erm..." Lisa smiled embarrassedly, she couldn't possibly say that she had been secretly taking glances at her every time she walked past, could she? So she just said, "Our colleagues in the office all say that you've been in a bad mood, that's how I found out."

A little disappointment showed in Jennie's eyes, she softly said, "Do you remember the call I received last time we came here?"

"Yeah." Lisa also remembers that she was forcibly hugged that night!

"It was my mother, she told me that my stepfather wanted to look for a job in Zhong Hai, and my mother wanted me to help him." Jennie sneered, "Fact was he didn't come here to build a career, he had built up a pile of debts in our hometown, and if it wasn't for me paying off his debts, he'd already be beaten to death a long time ago... but his reputation was already so horrid there, so he decided to escape to Zhong Hai.

"You knew perfectly well that he was like this. Why did you allow him to come here?" Lisa curiously asked.

"Would you mind listening to a rather long story?" Jennie returned with another question

"Of course... as long as you won't bring me here again next time, then I'm willing to listen"

"Not possible."

"Erm..." Lisa posed a sad smile, "Alright, go on."

Jennie's lips formed the smile of a victor, then she dully began to narrate.

"I've told you before that my father died when I was thirteen right? After that, my mother remarried to my stepfather. He was one of the few men in the village who hadn't married. He was considerably young, and had always liked my mother, so my mother agreed to the marriage in the end. Actually, at that time he wasn't much of a gambler; although we were poor, we still had enough food and clothes."

"...... But a few months later, my mother fell sick due to her weak constitution and from working at the farm everyday, she was bedridden. At that time, I was just thirteen years old, after I went through elementary school in the village, I stayed at home and wasn't able to obtain a middle school education. Fact was we didn't even have a middle school in our area."

"During that time I wanted him to bring my mother to the closest little town to see a doctor, because I was afraid that after my father left me, my mother would leave me too. If that were the case, I would truly be an orphan. I was very afraid, and kept begging my stepfather... before that I had never called him daddy, but to urge him that time, I kept calling him 'daddy', 'daddy'......"

"But he suddenly changed, to the point where I didn't know him anymore, like he was a stranger... he didn't listen to a word I said. Other than asking for some herbal medicines from the village chief, and giving it to me to boil it for my mother, he didn't do a single thing......"

"Afterwards, a woman who was my neighbor told me that he was too poor, he didn't have the money, even if we went to the town's hospital, there was no way to let my mother see the doctor, and it was even more unlikely for us to be able to afford the medicine. He was so poor that he couldn't even afford to buy the ticket to take the bus to the town."

As she spoke till this point, Jennie's voice turned a little hoarse, her eyes reddened, then she poured herself a small cup of white spirit and downed it.

"Then your mother, she's......" Lisa didn't continue the question.

Jennie replied, "Afterwards my mother turned for the better. I don't know whether it was sympathy from the heavens, or the village chief uncle's herbal medicine being effective. However, after that sickness my mother seemed to become a lot older......"

"However, I was still very afraid then, I began to think, if mom turned sick again, and we still didn't have the money to bring her to see a doctor, what was going to happen? I didn't dare think more of it, I only had one thought at that time which was to make sure mom had enough money to go see a doctor......"

"So you came to Zhong Hai alone?" Lisa suddenly understood.

Jennie nodded, and mocked herself, "Do you find it absurd and foolish? A little girl who wasn't even fourteen yet, pretended to be very mature, yet she actually didn't know a thing. She just took the train to Zhong Hai, with a wish to earn enough money to let her mother see a doctor."

"You weren't silly, you were incredible. I'm very curious as to how you attained the money to buy a train ticket." Asked Lisa.

Jennie's dodged Lisa's gaze, hesitated for a moment and said, "I stole a person's wallet at the train station......" After she said that, she lowered her voice and asked, "Will you look down on me, and thought that I'm very shameless? Despite having done such a terrible thing, I'm still able to boldly say it out?"

I even robbed a bank before. Lisa thought, but she didn't say it of course, she just sincerely shook her head and said, "I won't. At least you're much more skillful than me, I've gone into the police station twice now."

Jennie finally laughed, then continued to say, "You may know a little about what happened after. When I came here alone, I looked for ways to self-study. I received help from CL and others who came from the village along with some help from the welfare agencies to get into middle school. After that, Jieun's grandma, who was Lee International's CEO at the time, came to my school to give a speech. She took fancy to me and provided me financial aid. From then on, I was able to raise my head in Zhong Hai. If it weren't for the previous CEO, there wouldn't be the Jennie Kim of today..... You should be able to understand why I became so angry when I found out a rogue like you married Jieun, right?"

Lisa understandingly nodded.

The greatest favor in the world was no other than providing help when one needs it most. Although Jennie seemed unperturbed about it, it obviously wasn't easy for her to come out from a remote mountain village without anybody to rely on, she was just a little girl who had nothing. She was provided education, brought into the high society, and even became one of the elites in Zhong Hai's business world. What Jieun's grandmother gave to Jennie definitely wasn't just monetary aid, perhaps she was even more of a spiritual pillar for Jennie to lean on. Of course, throughout that time the amount of effort Jennie put in had to be several times of others, the sweet, the sour, and the suffering involved, only she herself understood.

"Later on, I finally earned some money. I still remember the first time I sent my mother some money, my mother cried on the phone for a long time, but we were very happy...... My mother knew that I had grown up, and I knew I could finally take care of her......"

"However, that was also when my stepfather began to indulge himself in gambling. After he knew that I was able to earn a considerable amount every month, and that I had deep roots in Zhong Hai, he began rolling higher and higher. From what began as cents, turned to a few dollars, then he began betting tens and twenties, in the last two years, he was already gambling hundreds a time." Jennie depressingly said.

Lisa creased her brows, "Then why don't you let your mother divorce him? Wouldn't that be the end of it if you brought her here to live with you? With your income, you're perfectly capable of allowing the both of you to live well, why care about that gambling addict?"

Jennie made a sad smile and said, "In our eyes, he's a disgraceful gambling addict, and a useless and disgraceful stepfather...... but to my mother, he's a man who sheltered her during her most bitter period of life, a man who accompanied her for over ten years. No matter how bad he was, he hadn't done anything outrageous to my mother, and had always kept her company......"

"So for your mother, you kept helping him settle his gambling debts? And even let him come to Zhong Hai?" Lisa had already understood the crux of the matter, and felt sad, every family had its own problems. If she hadn't heard Jennie say it herself, who would've known that this incredibly bright and beautiful executive had such a dark past?

Jennie nodded, "What more can I do? I can't force my mother to divorce, my mother can't reject his imploring, and I can't reject my mother's request."

"Do you think your mother loves him?" Asked Lisa.

Jennie was stunned, then said, "If she doesn't love him, she wouldn't stay with him in that poor and secluded place. Despite knowing that her daughter had a house, a car and a career in this flourishing city, she still silently stayed with him, and stayed in that shabby house with a two hectares farmland."

"Why are you so sure about that? I'm guessing that perhaps your mother just doesn't want your career to be harmed by her coming here. After all, if others knew about your background, it may be damage your career."

"I don't care about that!" Jennie was a little agitated, she truly hadn't thought about this point before, hearing Lisa point it out for her, she suddenly turned a little sober, "Do you think there's really such a possibility? That my mother isn't staying because she loves him, but because she's worried about causing a negative impact on my career?"

Lisa thought for a moment, then made a strange smile, "If you want, we can check it out."

"Hmmm?" Jennie doubtfully looked at Lisa, but she instinctively trusted her, so she made a slight nod.

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