My Alleged Husband

Chapter 508 - 487 Inner Reflection_1

Old Master Zhang knew that anything he did now would be wrong and came to realize that everything he had done was meaningless. All along, the everything had been nothing more than delusions of his own heart. Perhaps he was wrong from the start; weren’t all his decisions made with his relatives in mind? Yet, why was it that in the end, he always seemed to be the one to blame? It turned out that despite all his measures, his son did not truly want to leave him, but was contending with him in the way he wanted. He didn’t want his life to be orchestrated by anyone else—perhaps that was why he pushed everyone in his family away. Maybe that’s why Old Master Zhang was now alone at home, with his own flesh and blood reluctant to return to his side. Were his transgressions truly unforgivable? If he could be granted another chance by the heavens, he would never let his son leave him. He would certainly not arrange everything for his son as he had done before, nor would he manipulate his son’s life for a moment of selfish desire! Sometimes he really couldn’t understand why, despite his sacrifices, his son seemed to regard them as nothing. He was willing to give up everything for his biological son, even wanted to give him all his wealth, yet his son chose a woman over the entire estate. Could it be that to his son, all the wealth was less significant than a woman?

To Old Master Zhang, it was he himself who had put too much importance on his son’s life, thinking he could dominate his fate; this was something his son found difficult to accept. But did that mean he had to renounce the entire family wealth to share a life with this woman?

Perhaps Old Master Zhang never truly understood the magnitude of the power of love. If one truly loves another, he would forsake all for them, without hesitation. Perhaps he had never experienced such a profound love. It was only years later that Old Master Zhang discovered that he too should have had a love that cut to the bone, only then would his life feel complete. Why did his wife have to depart this world so early, unwilling to stay by his side a moment longer? Maybe she felt he was undeserving of her love, for he never had the right to it. All he ever did was selfish, always considering only himself. He now saw that everything was a result of his selfishness.

"Now I understand," said Old Master Zhang to Zhang Yichen. "I used to say that finding him was a mistake. Thank you for telling me these things, grandson. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have realized so soon whether what I was doing was right or wrong. I appreciate the words you’ve said to me; if you didn’t really care about me in your heart, you wouldn’t speak these heartfelt truths, right?"

Zhang Yichen was taken aback that Old Master Zhang did not blame him and even spoke such touching words; he was almost at a loss for words.

"Grandfather, what you’re saying..." Zhang Yichen faltered. "You’re my family. Of course, I hope you can stay by my side. That’s why I said those things to you. That you don’t blame me is already the greatest grace. I know what I have done, but I also hope you understand that my father left you, really just to stand up to you. He didn’t want every step of his life to be arranged by others; he didn’t want the life you had planned for him. He wanted to forge his own path, live the life he desired. Perhaps you never quite understood why my father was so determined to leave. He would rather roam the ends of the earth than stay at home. Perhaps for him, living in this house each day was a torment because he lacked freedom, couldn’t have the one thing he wanted—control over his own destiny. Anyone would find that hard to accept. If it were me, I would have made the same choice; I couldn’t bear the thought of my life being arranged by someone else. I have said that no one shall orchestrate my life, and I will not be swayed by others, not even fate itself, for I must take charge of my own life. Only then will my life not have been lived in vain. Everything I have done was to make clear to you all, whether the decisions I made were something I’d regret. Sometimes I really do wonder, if one day I truly can’t see this place again, would you feel anxious in your hearts for me, would you want to stay by my side forever? That’s when I realized that everyone thinks differently, makes different decisions, and experiences different things," Yichen continued, his tone reflective. "Just like how my father chose to leave to escape your control, he abandoned his own son. But now, he regrets, sometimes, that he shouldn’t have abandoned me, left this house. However, he’s grateful that he didn’t follow the fate you arranged for him and took his own path."

Only now did Old Master Zhang understand what he had missed over the years, realizing he was the true culprit that pushed his son away. If not for his selfishness, why wouldn’t his son willingly stay by his side to share familial joys? If it wasn’t for his desire to dictate his son’s life, he wouldn’t have ended up where he was. Yes, he had even once tried to match his son with a business rival of his. Now he saw how wrong those decisions had been. If not for his wishful thinking, the situation wouldn’t have escalated to where it stood. Who else could he blame but himself, blinded by lust for power and desire, unable to see anything else? If not for this, his loved ones would not have left him one by one, and he would not have fallen to his current predicament.