Chapter 57: Threatening with One’s Life

Hearing Su Tianming’s words, every member of the Su family present was consumed with worry.

The Su family’s medicinal herb warehouse was on fire?

The Su family’s fortune was built on the medicinal herb business; one could say that this trade was the lifeblood of all their enterprises. At the end of each quarter, the Su family would invest the vast majority of their assets to purchase a sufficient stockpile of herbs, preparing for the sales of the next quarter.

Now the warehouse had caught fire—how could the family not be anxious?

Old Madam Su was the first to ask, “Tianming, what happened? Is it true, is our medicinal herb warehouse really on fire?”

“How big is the fire? Is it serious?”

“What exactly is going on?”

Everyone started asking questions at once, overwhelming Su Tianming so much that he couldn’t answer any of them.

He said anxiously, “Grandmother, uncles, aunts, please don’t panic. Let me check on the situation and I’ll inform you as soon as I know more.”

With that, Su Tianming hurried out the door.

The other Su family members had no mind to remain quarreling here; all of them followed Su Tianming out of the villa, quickly leaving the premises.

Within half a minute, only Jiang Hao and Su Qingli remained in the villa’s grand hall.

Even Su Qingli’s father, Su Bingming, and her mother, Zhang Liping, had left.

Jiang Hao glanced at Su Qingli a couple of times, then turned away, ignoring her as he went to the window for some fresh air.

He had just lost his composure, shouting in anger, and now his whole body felt feverish; he needed to cool off.

“Jiang Hao…” Su Qingli followed him helplessly. She had barely spoken two words before Jiang Hao cut her off without a hint of courtesy.

“Aren’t you leaving? Aren’t you worried about your family’s warehouse?” Jiang Hao said coldly.

Su Qingli sighed. “Everyone else is already there. My presence or absence won’t change anything. Besides, I need to talk to you.”

“Then get on with it. Don’t waste my time,” Jiang Hao replied impatiently.

If this had been before, Jiang Hao would never have spoken to Su Qingli like this. When they were in college, the two of them were inseparable, more loving than most couples, and they never so much as quarreled.

Even after their marriage, even when Jiang Hao married into the Su family and suffered daily humiliation and cold shoulders, his feelings for Su Qingli hadn’t changed.

To him, Su Qingli was his first love, the woman who had graduated university and married him.

But Su Qingli had tricked him into the hospital, where he was nearly killed by that beast Wang Jun’an. After that, Jiang Hao lost all hope in Su Qingli.

The deeper the love, the deeper the hate.

Once he had cherished and valued Su Qingli more than anything; now, he despised her all the more!

In Jiang Hao’s eyes, Su Qingli was nothing but a thorough traitor.

His words cut so deeply that Su Qingli could no longer hold back her tears. Like water running from a faucet left open, they streamed down her delicate cheeks, smudging her light makeup.

“Can’t you trust me just a little? I’ve told you everything! It was my mother and Wang Jun’an who conspired to take your kidney. I truly didn’t know anything about it beforehand! If I had known, I never would have let them do that to you!” Su Qingli sobbed, her shoulders trembling with each breath.

Jiang Hao looked back at her coldly, then said in a harsh tone, “Just because you say you didn’t know, I should believe you? Can you prove it? If you can’t prove your innocence, how could I ever trust you? Am I supposed to forgive you just because you shed a few tears?”

“Su Qingli, you must think your tears are invaluable, worth more than gold!”

“You may have shed a few tears, but I almost lost my life!”

Jiang Hao’s words pierced Su Qingli’s heart.

With a thud, Su Qingli fell to her knees before Jiang Hao. “What do you want me to do to prove it? Do I have to die before your eyes before you’ll trust me?”

“So now you’re threatening me with your life? Su Qingli, when did you become so manipulative? Have you watched too many palace dramas and lost your mind?” Jiang Hao sneered, kicking Su Qingli away.

It was the first time Jiang Hao had ever laid a hand on her.

Looking at Su Qingli lying on the ground, Jiang Hao felt a pang of regret and pain in his heart—but it lasted only a second. The feeling faded quickly.

Su Qingli, on the other hand, looked at Jiang Hao in disbelief. She could not fathom that the man who once cherished her so deeply could treat her like this.

“Fine! I’ll go! I’ll disappear from your sight, is that what you want?” she cried, sobbing uncontrollably. She struggled to her feet and staggered out.

At the threshold, she slipped and fell again.

Her cries grew louder, her tears flowing even more fiercely.

Watching her pitiful, disheveled figure, Jiang Hao felt an urge to run after her, but he took a deep breath and forced himself to turn away.

At the Su Family Traditional Medicine Company, a raging fire was devouring everything in its path, spreading through eight warehouses, each about a hundred square meters in size.

Tons upon tons of medicinal herbs crackled and burned in the inferno.

Pungent, acrid smoke billowed everywhere, mixing together into an overwhelming stench.

People scattered around the warehouses, covering their noses and mouths, fleeing the choking fumes—many were coughing violently, some even weeping from the sting.

These were not ordinary wooden goods, but medicinal herbs.

Even regular timber fires produced unpleasant smoke; how much worse with so many varieties of herbs burning all at once!

“Oh heaven! Why?! Why is this happening?!” Old Madam Su threw aside her cane and collapsed to her knees, wailing in grief.

The fire had consumed over ninety percent of the Su family’s medicinal stock.

This meant the family would suffer losses in the hundreds of millions, and face the embarrassment of having no stock to sell next quarter.

Their business partners—herb shops reliant on their supply—might sever their contracts and seek out other suppliers.

If that happened, the Su family’s losses would not end with the herbs destroyed in the blaze.

“Hurry, put out the fire! What are you all standing around for?”

“Are you just here for a free meal? Get in there and fight the fire!”

The Su family members who had rushed over shouted at the company staff, ordering them to extinguish the flames.

But the fire was so intense—who among them would risk their lives for a few thousand a month?

“There’s nothing left… it’s all over…” Su Tianming murmured, unaware that the fire had even singed the hair at his brow as he stared at the conflagration before him.