Far away in Mingzhu City.

Jiangg Ruxue sat in her office, stunned. By the time she came to her senses, the call had already been disconnected.

“She… How dare she?”

Jiangg Ruxue put down her phone, her face a mask of disbelief.

Ever since they were little, Jiangg Yao had never so much as shouted at her, let alone had the courage to talk back. Often, a single glance was enough to send Yaoyao backing against a wall, head lowered and trembling in fear.

Unlike Yaoyao, Ningning had always only been obedient on the surface. In truth, Jiangg Ruxue wasn’t sure if she could ever fully control her eldest daughter.

Whenever she’d scolded Ningning in the past, she could clearly see an unyielding resilience in her eyes. It was obvious that no matter how much she was reprimanded, Ningning always had her own thoughts.

But this time.

Jiangg Ruxue’s perception was completely upended.

Facing such fierce resistance for the first time, she was lost in shock for a long while.

‘Just what on earth happened?!’

…

“Yaoyao? Are you…”

“Sis, I’m fine… I’m okay.”

Jiangg Yao’s face was pale, her lips drained of color. She repeated herself in a murmur, finally managing to suppress the trembling inside her.

However, her hands were still shaking.

Jiangg Ning watched her younger sister with a complicated expression. She never imagined her sister could be so brave.

That shout just now had been so explosive!

‘I don’t know if Mom was stunned, but as her older sister, I sure was…’

Jiangg Yao’s gaze was lost and unfocused for a moment. Then, as if remembering something, she suddenly gripped her sister’s hand tightly.

“We can’t go back to Mingzhu City, at least not now! Sis, you can’t give in to Mom. I can’t stand living that kind of life at home for even one more day!”

“Yaoyao…”

“Promise me! Sister, we’ve finally managed to get the life we have now. Why do we have to go back and be controlled by her again?”

Seeing the pleading look in her sister’s eyes, Jiangg Ning’s heart ached for her.

‘It seems being so strictly controlled as a child really left some deep emotional scars on her.’

Jiangg Ning knew her mother’s personality well. She was a mercurial woman—gentle and tender one moment, then cold and scolding the next.

Being around her was absolute torture.

It was no different from hell.

“I know, Yaoyao. Don’t be afraid. If Mom calls again, I’ll handle it.”

She soothed Yaoyao.

At the same time, she blamed herself for her earlier hesitation.

‘My sister is absolutely right. We’re this old now, can’t we make our own decisions? I’ve thought through my resignation very clearly. This is my life.’

‘Why must it be dictated by someone else?’

‘Even if that person is my own mother.’

‘It’s still not okay!’

After she managed to calm her sister down, Jiangg Ning took out her phone. She chose her words carefully as she typed out a message explaining her recent thoughts, her sister’s condition, and their plans for the future before sending it.

Her tone was sincere.

At the end, she added that Jiangg Yao had just been in a bad mood and hoped her mother wouldn’t mind.

After doing all this,

Jiangg Ning lifted her head and gazed out the window, lost in thought.

In truth, ever since she’d decided to resign, she knew she might have to face Jiangg Ruxue’s questioning, but she made the decision anyway.

‘Because in this world, many things can’t be achieved with words alone.’

‘At the time, I believed my sister was already in a relationship with Chen Yuan. I felt I shouldn’t interact with him anymore. To ensure my sister’s happiness, I naturally needed to take action to put her at ease.’

‘Now, since I also have the right to pursue my own happiness…’

‘…I have to take action as well.’

The university didn’t allow teachers to date students. She was willing to give up her job for Chen Yuan.

‘This wasn’t some love-crazed decision.’

‘It was a sensible trade-off.’

Besides, Yaoyao had done so much. In comparison, she felt she should also make some sacrifices. Only then would she have an equal right to chase happiness.

As for what to do after resigning,

Jiangg Ning had many ideas.

First, she had a large sum of money, so she didn’t have to worry about living expenses for now. She planned to try her hand at business.

Previously, Ms. Qin had always wanted to go into business with her.

However, she wasn’t particularly interested in those beauty-related projects.

Jiangg Ning had never mentioned it, but she actually had a great talent for business. Jiangg Ruxue knew this clearly, which was why she had deliberately prevented her eldest daughter from studying anything similar.

Her motives for doing so were unclear.

So, Jiangg Ning chose her second interest, philosophy.

…

The story of her business talent started with a small detail from long ago, back when Jiangg Ning hadn’t yet gone abroad. She once went to Jiangg Ruxue’s office to drop something off and happened to find the secretary busy with the company’s new project proposal.

At first, she just waited there.

Then the secretary struck up a conversation with her, saying a few friendly words.

The secretary suddenly mentioned the busy work she was dealing with and complained a bit. After hearing her out, Jiangg Ning offered some of her own insights.

The other woman was blown away.

When Jiangg Ruxue arrived, the secretary immediately told her that Jiangg Ning might have a talent for this sort of thing.

At the time, Jiangg Ruxue just stared at her for a long while and asked a few more questions.

And that was the end of it.

In any case, in all these years, she had never suggested that Jiangg Ning get involved with the company, as if she were deliberately keeping her family and career separate.

…

Now that her dream of being a university professor was fulfilled,

Jiangg Ning felt she had gained a lot, and she wanted to try new things and experience a different kind of life.

‘Maybe I could intern at a larger company and systematically learn about business and things like that.’

Of course, these were all plans to tackle after they returned from their trip.

It came back to the same thing: you have to make your own decisions in life. Children are not extensions of their parents’ lives; they are completely separate individuals.

Jiangg Ning and Jiangg Yao now understood this more clearly than ever.

On this trip, they had tasted freedom, experienced the joy and sweetness of being with Chen Yuan, and realized that life could be lived this way.

When they thought back to the darkness of their past,

the contrast…

…made their former experiences seem all the more unbearable.

Once you taste freedom, no one wants to go back to being a caged bird.

In the spacious and bright living room, Jiangg Ning and Jiangg Yao looked at each other, their feelings complex. Their eyes met.

An image of the same person flashed through both their minds at the same time.

Only,

at this very moment, that person was standing nervously downstairs from their apartment building, holding gifts.

…

“Which building number did you guys say you lived in again?”

They had definitely told him on the phone, but Chen Yuan had been checking out at the supermarket at the time and couldn’t quite remember now.

He had no choice but to call back and ask again.

“You’re here?” On the other end of the line, Ke Bing’s voice was full of pleasant surprise and sounded eager. “How about this, I’ll come get you. Just wait for me at the entrance.”

“No need, just tell me the building number.”

“Yuan, why be so polite with me? You just wait… I’m coming down right now.”

“Alright.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep