The conflict between him and Lin Qingyu started over a trivial matter, yet neither was willing to back down first.
But their stubbornness gave others an opening. He mistakenly believed she had someone else in her heart, and in a drunken haze, he vengefully slept with another woman.
At first, he felt guilty and tried to hide it, but later, seeing how indifferent she seemed, he grew angry and stopped concealing it.
In the end, the other woman tried to force his hand. He wanted to see Lin Qingyu's reaction, but he never expected it to be so intense—she even tried to die along with their child.
He threatened to keep the child alive but mistreat it, and she relented.
Still, she went into premature labor.
Tragically, their child didn't survive.
Fearing Lin Qingyu would discover the loss and lose her will to live again, he had the other woman give birth to the child instead.
He didn't dare let Lin Qingyu raise the child, afraid she'd uncover the truth.
He only showed her videos of the child, telling her that on the child's eighteenth birthday, mother and child would be reunited.
He even fabricated a lie, claiming it was a rule of the Sheng family.
Lin Qingyu remained cold toward him, but at least she stopped trying to end her life.
The child turned eighteen and looked a lot like him.
Sheng Sinian felt relieved, thinking fate was on his side.
But the child had neither blood ties nor the bond of daily companionship with her. He assumed that over time, feelings would naturally develop.
So he pressured the child to respect his mother, never expecting the resentment simmering inside him.
When he was around, Sheng Mingyang could at least show Lin Qingyu some deference, but what about when he wasn't?
No wonder Qingyu had grown disheartened, abandoning both him and the child.
He told Sheng Mingyang the truth, and Sheng Mingyang felt as if struck by lightning, his entire body turning cold.
A chill from the inside out.
No wonder he could never feel close to Lin Qingyu.
Seeing the affection in her eyes now felt like a cruel joke.
"Now tell me, who told you all this?"
"Auntie Xiaofang."
"Who's Auntie Xiaofang?"
"The auntie who manages the garden at the old mansion." Sheng Mingyang pulled up a photo of Auntie Xiaofang.
Seeing the photo, Sheng Sinian suddenly erupted in rage: "Wasn't she sent abroad? Why is she at the old mansion?"
He stood up to leave, but then slumped back down, clutching his head, and told Sheng Mingyang the whole truth.
"Impossible, impossible!" Sheng Mingyang couldn't accept it.
He couldn't face this reality. He would rather believe Lin Qingyu didn't love him than admit he was just a tool his father used to appease her.
In this circle, everyone despised illegitimate children.
He had even publicly condemned them, never imagining he was one himself.
No, it couldn't be.
It couldn't be.
Sheng Sinian glared at him coldly: "Your greatest value was to please her, but I never expected you to harbor such resentment toward her. Your mother killed the child she and I had together—she deserved to die, but because she gave birth to you, I spared her life. I never thought she'd be so duplicitous, sneaking into the Sheng family's old mansion. And you, you ungrateful fool—if it weren't for fear that Qingyu might take her own life, I would never have let you see the light of day."
Sheng Mingyang's heart turned icy cold.
He couldn't believe that his father, who had always held such high expectations for him, would suddenly say such things.
He shook his head incessantly, but Sheng Sinian showed no mercy, directly throwing him out.