The Fallen, Stubborn Prince - Chapter 16
She couldn’t help imagining the scene — and the thought almost made her laugh.
“Please thank Uncle for me — and for Su Qian,” Fang Xian said softly. “Tell him I’ve accepted it.” She reached into her backpack, ready to take out her wallet. She couldn’t let herself owe anyone, not even for the registration fee.
But Ye Feng quickly stopped her.
“I didn’t come for the money,” he said. “Actually, my wife asked me to give you this admission ticket — and to ask you to think carefully about her proposal.”
His words made Fang Xian pause. Ye Feng wasn’t someone who spoke recklessly; if he came in person, something serious must have happened. Could it be Su Qian?
He sighed and explained, “Madam does have hopes for you, but she never wanted to force your decision. She’s long known that the young master was secretly trying to help your family pay off its debts — she chose to look the other way. But when she found out he’d gone to the casino, she was furious. She’s forbidden him from meddling in your affairs again and frozen all his accounts, to stop him from helping you.”
Even if the accounts were frozen, Su Qian would still find another way to earn money. Ye Feng didn’t need to say that out loud — she already knew.
“So what are you trying to say?” she asked quietly.
“If you truly don’t want to accept Madam’s suggestion, then tear up that admission ticket right in front of the young master,” Ye Feng said gravely. “Break his heart — and while you’re at it, persuade him to go home.”
“Xiao Lianzi, move it!”
At the construction site, a stocky middle-aged man wearing a yellow hard hat stamped with Safety First shouted across the noise. He wiped lime dust from his hands, poured water from a bottle, then used the rest to rinse off.
The young man under the blazing sun finally stirred. Dizzy from heat, he gathered his tools and walked over.
“Come on, kid. You can’t slack off if you want to be a real worker,” the foreman teased, handing him a bottle of water. “Drink up. You’ve earned it.”
Su Qian accepted it obediently, poured some on his face, and said, “Thanks, I’ll go get lunch now.”
He walked toward the meeting spot where lunch boxes were being distributed. The foreman trailed after him for a few steps before Su Qian turned and called out, “Brother, wait here. I’ll grab yours too.”
Watching the boy hurry off, the foreman couldn’t help thinking — how long had it been since he’d met a young man this polite and hardworking? He thought of his own son in high school and sighed. If only that kid were half as dependable as this one.
Su Qian came back carrying two bentos, handed one over, and sat down on a stone to eat.
“Xiao Lianzi, aren’t you supposed to be in school?” the foreman asked at last. “You don’t want to study anymore?” He’d been wondering for days but hadn’t had the heart to ask until now.
Just beyond the iron fence, someone else was also waiting for an answer.
The distance was too far; the wind carried only fragments of their voices. But Fang Xian caught a few words:
“I want to pay off the debt…
I still want to go to college…”
Her lips trembled.
She’d rejected him again and again — yet Su Qian kept hiding what he did for her.
Had she been wrong all along? If she had simply accepted his help, maybe he wouldn’t have ended up here, sweating under the sun.
Last time, when he went to the casino, she’d convinced herself he was straying down the wrong path and that she just needed to bring him back. But now?
She couldn’t claim it had nothing to do with her — Su Qian was suffering because of her.
She’d told herself she didn’t have to care, but seeing him bent under the heat, covered in dust and sweat, felt like a knife twisting in her chest.
She wanted to run in there, drag him out — just like she did that night at the casino. She couldn’t bear seeing him in a place that didn’t belong to him.
Even here, sitting on a slab of concrete eating his lunch, he looked out of place. His quiet manners, the calm way he ate — slow, neat, and proper — made him stand out among the rough laughter and clatter around him.
Fang Xian went to the Su family’s home later that day. Somehow, it felt easier to face Aunt Su than to face Su Qian’s exhaustion and embarrassment. Or maybe, to be honest, she simply didn’t have the courage to face him at all.
“Was this really necessary, Aunt Su?” she said sharply. “Does seeing Su Qian like that make you feel better?”
Her voice trembled with anger and pain. Surely, Cheng Yunyan — who loved her son more than life — couldn’t be at peace watching him suffer.
But instead of anger, Cheng Yunyan’s expression stayed calm. If anything, her eyes held a quiet, knowing look. She understood exactly why Fang Xian had come.
She could have easily forced Su Qian home — she had the power, the money, the connections. She could’ve even bought out the entire construction project he worked on. But she hadn’t. Instead, she sent Ye Feng to retrieve the admission ticket and guided Fang Xian to see Su Qian’s hardship with her own eyes.
Because Cheng Yunyan knew — once Fang Xian saw him suffering, her heart would break. And when that happened, she’d give in.
“Su Qian listens only to you,” Cheng Yunyan said mildly. “No matter how I call him, he won’t come back.”
So the responsibility fell on her shoulders.
Fang Xian’s anger flared. “He’s your son! Then take him back yourself! Don’t use me for your schemes. I see right through you, Aunt Su!”
Cheng Yunyan only smiled faintly, not denying a thing.
“Then you understand?” she asked quietly. “If you don’t give in, Su Qian never will.”
“Yes,” Fang Xian said bitterly. “I should’ve known. You’ve been playing this game far longer than I have.”
“You think you’ve done nothing,” Cheng Yunyan said, her voice cool, “but your silence forces my hand. Step by step, I’m simply helping you face what’s already there.”
Invisible hands seemed to push Fang Xian toward the edge — until she had no choice but to jump.
“Aunt Su,” Fang Xian said finally, “I’ll agree. I’ll stay with Su Qian — at least until he takes over the Su family business.”
Only then did Cheng Yunyan allow herself a small, victorious smile.
“But,” Fang Xian added, eyes flashing, “if you ever ask anything of me again — I’ll start charging by the piece.”
Cheng Yunyan froze. “What do you mean?”
“Aunt Su should think ahead,” Fang Xian said calmly. “The longer you keep me close to Su Qian, the more he’ll listen only to me. You know how stubborn he is.”
For the first time, Cheng Yunyan’s face darkened.
“Are you bargaining with me?”
“Just keeping things fair,” Fang Xian replied without flinching. “You’re calculating, Aunt Su — but I can calculate too.”
She paused, then added lightly, “But don’t worry. He’s still your son. If someday he sides with you again, I won’t stand in the way.”
Cheng Yunyan almost laughed in disbelief. What kind of wild girl had she provoked? A bold one, ready to strip her of control.
Anger rose in her chest, but so did a trace of guilt.
Back in Taipei, she’d sent Su Qian here to “recuperate,” but everyone knew it was an exile — a way to tell the world he’d been dismissed from inheriting the family business.
Su Qian wasn’t stupid. He knew his mother had distanced herself on purpose. That knowledge alone was wound enough.
Now she wanted to mend that bond — but could she?
She had underestimated Fang Xian. For all her plans, it was no longer clear who had truly won.
By the time Fang Xian returned to the construction site, the workday was ending.
She stood behind the barbed-wire fence, watching as workers lined up to collect their wages. Among them, she saw Su Qian — tall, dusty, and smiling faintly as he waited his turn.
And for the first time, she realized: no matter how far apart their worlds seemed, she could no longer pretend she didn’t care.