*******
~Song Family Residence~
In the sitting area of the Song family located in City H, almost the entire family were gathered as the family patriarch had called for a meeting.
All the children were present except for his grandchildren whose presence were not necessary when their parents would still relate the message to them
Old Mr. Song had 4 children in his prime with his late wife Mrs. Song who died just before any of her children could get married.
The four children the Songs had consisted of 3 boys and a girl, making Song Jujing the only female her parents had.
Being the last child and only daughter after 3 boys, she was pampered. And in this case, the heavy blow dealt on her by her father because of Zhang Renshu, had her wallowing in pain until she overcame it.
Currently, there were three grown up men in their fifties with their wives sitting in the sitting room.
Glancing at the head chair, the third son who was directly older than Song Jujing, Song Alex, the same member of the Song family that had come for Glint's launch party, looked between his two brothers to ask,
"Does any of you know why father would want to see us?"
The first son who was clearly older then the others replied, "You know he would never mention anything like that to us."
"There is no need to rush, father will be here soon." The second son added.
A few minutes later, the old patriarch of the Song family arrived with a walking stick in his hand.
Without sparing any of them a glance, he went to the head chair to sit down. It was only after he had settled down that he finally raised his head.
Sweeping his gaze past each of them to confirm that no one was missing, he got ready to address them.
Old Mr. Song who was currently in his eighties, looked a little older than his age. Back in the days, he used to be very handsome, and it was clear from his aging looks.
But the reason the man was looking a little older than his age was simply because he was stressed from work.
The final bellow had come as a result of the dissolvent of the marriage between his only daughter and Zhang Renshu.
Back then, his company had just recovered from a setback before another blow was given to him.
Unable to bear the shock of the company stocks plummeting, plus the danger of bankruptcy that was just an inch away from knocking on the company's door, he had a cardiac arrest and was hospitalised for almost a week.
And the first thing he did when he woke up was to disown his daughter while his sons ran around to make sure the company survived the bankruptcy.
At the end of the day, to save his company he sold some of his shares to get a good investor that would help withy funds, and banned any member of his Song family that was still interested in being one, from meeting Song Jujing without his permission.
With the news of Song Jujing's pregnancy and her fleeing from the country singing in his ears on a daily when listening to his news and reading the papers every morning, he forced himself to swallow the shame for the sake of the sake of his youth.
Yes, he had invested all his time, money and youth into building a solid company, so he couldn't watch and let it perish while he was still alive.
***
Presently, the old man looked like he was about to go somewhere far away.
"You are all here," he started while letting his gaze fall on the 6 people sitting at his right and his left side.
"I had something very important to talk about so I invited all of you today."
Letting out a deep breath, he took almost a minute before speaking again as his sons waited patiently for him.
"I have come to this stage in my life when I know that I am about to leave, but before then, I want to make sure that I do not leave any room for regrets."
Hearing him talking about his death, his daughters-in-law were uncomfortable, including his sons.
"Father, you still have a few more years ahead, there is no need to talk about your death." The second son stated with a little frown on his face.
Just like his brothers, he was upset with the topic.
Raising his hand to stop him from speaking, the old man said, "I do not need any sympathy message from anyone." Letting his gaze hover over them as he slowly put down his hand, he continued.
"And I wish that none of you will interrupt when I am still speaking. I do not have the energy to here for an hour."
Having made his stance clear, he waited to see any of them had any opinion before her went into the main deal for the meeting.
"I would like to rest in peace when I leave this world with no room for regrets therefore, I want to bring Jujing home."
As soon as that name was mentioned, silence ensued in the room.
All were in shock as none of them believed that the old man would want day do something like this given his determination where their sister was.
For over twenty years, he had been keeping his promise of disowning her.
Since he was able to overcome those number of years without bringing her home which was exactly the most difficult years, this time when is about to die, should even be the time when his mind shouldn't be moved since he was already used to not feeling his daughter's absence.
But look at him now, he was changing his mind which was so shocking.
What made him to change his mind?
'Jujing? He is finally going to bring her home?' Song Alex thought to himself.
He was still in shock so much that he couldn't speak. Just like his brothers, he wanted to know what got the man to change his mind so quickly.
As if knowing their thoughts, Old Mr. Song explained.
"I know what you are all thinking. What made me change my mind?" Managing a smile, he rubbed his hands together.
"If you truly understand this life, when you get to my age, you will know that holding a grudge is useless. It shortens your life span and makes you restless.
Now that I am about to leave, I want to do the right thing by trying to bring my daughter back as I still have a little time to right the wrong.
I don't need Jujing to forget what I did to her since the consequences of my actions were quite grave back then. I only want her to forgive and join you in sending me off."
Maybe it was because the Song family's patriarch was old as he had said, that must be the reason he was thinking a lot more differently.
He was not going to be self-centred and require that his daughter forgets all the struggles she went through to feed and succeed while carrying a child.
He would really be unrepentant of the sins of his anger of he wanted that from her.
Left for him, he wouldn't ask her to forgive him, but knowing that she wouldn't agree to send him off along with her brothers if she didn't forgive him, he needed her forgiveness.
"I am not doing this only because I want peace in the afterlife, but I also want to put the family that I disintegrated by myself, together before I leave."
Unity was important in every family and the more he saw of it from other families, the more he wanted to put things in order.
Did he regret his past actions? Of course he did.
If he did not, he wouldn't have taken this step.
He regretted the method he used in punishing Song Jujing. It was too harsh, but at that time he had been furious to the point that he no longer wanted to sight her.
It was only a few years after the company regained its stability that his anger started to slowly diminish.
If the time was rewind for him, he would have taken another measure to punish that stubborn daughter of his.
"Father, we are happy with your decision to bring Jujing back to the family, but there is a problem." The first son said with concern written all over his face. "I don't think she will ever want to step foot into this house again."
"Yes, father, it is true that Jujing wouldn't want to come back because her grudge against us is heavy." Song Alex added.
Having experienced his sister's treatment at her daughter's brand opening, he could tell that she didn't have any thoughts of wanting to get close to any of them.
Even though her brothers were not the ones that sent her away, as long as they didn't do anything to stop that decision from being made, they were as good as in the same boat with their old man.
This chapt𝒆r is updated by free(w)ebnovel(.)com