"It is obvious that you've been seduced by this vixen; why else would you treat us so cruelly‽ Father, you have disappointed us! Since you have decided to turn your back on us for the sake of a stranger, then, you've lost the respect that we reserved for you. Father, you've forced us so!"
"That's right, Grandfather, we're deeply disappointed in you. How can you abandon us, your family, for a stranger? Grandfather, do you have any idea how heartbroken we are over this? How can you treat us like this…" Tong Yan started weeping again; she was so distraught that her voice was breaking. Shen Ru quickly took out a handkerchief to help her daughter.
Their performance was swaying the crowd to their side. They felt Elder Shen had crossed the line. He shouldn't have treated them so unfairly simply because of something they couldn't control. He must be a very cruel person for dismissing their decades of relationship just like that.
None of them really understood Elder Shen's perspective. His daughter was stolen away by the Lin family and sent out to fend for herself since she was a baby. She might not even be alive, so how could he face Tong Yan and Shen Ru so easily?
Even so, he didn't take any action against Shen Ru for teaming up with the Lin family to plot against them earlier. He just wanted to find his daughter and distance himself from his nemesis' children, at least temporarily. Was that so wrong?
He had loved them for years, but did that mean he was required to love them forever? Did he owe them that much? Hadn't he given enough? Was he a sinner simply because he stopped being nice to them?
What kind of logic was this? Why did the Shen family, as the biggest victim in all of this, still have to suffer such accusations and recrimination?
Fine, outsiders might not understand how he felt, but were Shen Ru and Tong Yan clueless to his pain?
They knew the agony that the Shen family was going through, but they would never empathize with the family since they would only put themselves first. If they understood him, they wouldn't have pressured him to reaccept them again and again.
They never wanted to make up for the mistakes that they had made; they just wanted to minimize the damage coming their way. Of course, he wasn't naïve enough to believe their claim that they couldn't bear to part from the Shen family. Elder Shen had raised them, so he knew the thing that they really couldn't part with were the benefits that the Shen family could give them.
When they were still part of the Shen family, he had decided to overlook this character flaw, and even now, he accepted their hatred towards him with a shrug of his shoulder, but why must they slander him so maliciously? This went to show the level of appreciation and respect they really had for him.
If they still had a conscience, they wouldn't have come up with the accusation as indecent as suggesting he was physically and romantically involved with Xinghe. Just what kind of human being would suggest something like that?
The realization of their ugly side truly chilled Elder Shen to his core. He lamented the years of affection he had lavished on them. He had given them the whole world, and this was how they repaid him?
He had raised two wolves to bite him in the behind!
No, they were worse than wolves. Even wolves would cultivate loyalty towards the person who had defended them, loved them, and fed them for years.