Chapter 5
Chapter 5
The car drove further and further into the outskirts.
It wasn’t until I saw the familiar courtyard that I realized with a start that Chang Bin had driven me to the Shen Family residence.
“Madam wants to say goodbye to Miss Ning in person.”
Chang Bin parked the car and politely opened the door for me.
“Is that really necessary?” I remained motionless.
I could count the number of times I had been here on one hand, but every single visit had been unforgettable.
I didn’t want anything more to do with this place.
“I am only following orders,” he said, looking straight at me. “I hope Miss Ning won’t make things difficult for me.”
I sat in the car, locked in a stalemate with him.
The biting wind quickly dissipated the car’s warmth, leaving me shivering.
“The Young Master hasn’t lived here for a long time,” he added after a long silence.
Only then did I step out of the car.
I was led deep into the house, eventually finding Ye Cen sitting in the drawing room watching financial news.
Despite being nearly fifty, her skin remained fair and delicate.
Under the radiant glow of the crystal chandelier, she almost seemed to shimmer.
“This is your ID card. Chang Bin will escort you to the station.”
Once I was seated across from her, she turned down the volume on the television and handed me an ID card.
©The girl in the photo bore a slight resemblance to me.
“Madam Shen has certainly gone to great lengths to cover my tracks.”
I let out a cold laugh. “Where are my actual documents? When will you return them to me?”
“After Xiao Zhou is married to Miss Jiang.”
She pushed a new phone toward me. “Until then, I expect Miss Ning to know her place.”
I understood her meaning instantly: she was confiscating my phone.
My throat suddenly felt tight.
It wasn’t enough to withhold my household registry and my ID card; now she wanted to sever all my connections too?
“And if I refuse?”
Through my clothes, I gripped the phone in my pocket tightly.
Shen Yezhou had given me this phone five years ago; it was a matching set with his.
After all these years, it had started to lag and crash.
But because it held so many memories, I couldn’t bear to replace it. I usually worried if it even got a tiny scratch…
“I don’t want anyone else coveting the husband I’ve chosen for my daughter-in-law.”
She pushed the phone toward me again. “Miss Ning, don’t force me to use more aggressive measures.”
With a single sentence, she had made the relationships and her stance crystal clear.
Knowing there was no way out, I painfully pulled out my phone and placed it on the table.
“Xiao Chang, take care of it,” she gestured.
Chang Bin picked up the phone, pulled out the tray, snapped the SIM card, and then bent the phone itself in half with his bare hands.
I watched helplessly as the phone became a mangled piece of junk.
“Thank you for your cooperation, Miss Ning,” Ye Cen nodded with satisfaction.
“If you’re thanking me for being submissive and obedient these past three years, I’ll accept it,” I said.
My gaze flickered over the scrap metal. “But if you’re thanking me for my inability to fight back today, don’t bother.”
“Life is long, and Miss Ning is still young. You must learn to look forward.”
She tilted her chin and instructed Chang Bin, “It’s getting late. Take Miss Ning to the station.”
“Yes,” Chang Bin replied.
I stood up in silence and walked out with my head down.
Chang Bin hurried a few steps forward and pressed the new phone into my hand.
I took it numbly.
“Ning Yu-”
Just as Chang Bin was about to open the drawing room door, Ye Cen spoke again.
I turned back like a marionette.
“Live well. No one wants to compete with a dead person.”
She stood there with her arms crossed, exuding an air of absolute authority.
I laughed in spite of myself.
All these years, she had guarded against me like I was a thief.
She even destroyed my phone before I left to prevent any further entanglements between me and Shen Yezhou.
But a man as proud as Shen Yezhou… after being hurt by me time and time again, how could he ever look back?
The most ridiculous part was that after doing so many appalling things, she could still hypocritically wish me a long life…
“Understood.”
I responded coldly and walked past Chang Bin to open the door.
The moment the door swung open, I froze in my tracks.
Shen Yezhou was standing right outside.
His back was straight, his breathing calm.
But those dark, deep eyes were burning with a faint, flickering fire.