Chapter 7

Chapter 7

“Has he… taken over the Shen Family’s business?”

As we rushed toward the station, I recalled Shen Yezhou’s words and asked hesitantly.

“After the Young Master took over the company last year, Madam transferred half of the shares under her name to him.”

Chang Bin didn’t hide the truth, likely out of gratitude for my cooperation earlier.

“I see. Thank you.”

I took the initiative to end the conversation.

When I was with Shen Yezhou, he never kept secrets from me.

I knew his father had left him a 10% stake before he passed away, which he was eligible to inherit once he turned eighteen.

His mother held 30%, and now that she had given him half, it meant he held 25% of the shares.

He now held more power than his mother, giving him absolute authority within the company.

From now on, he would never be easily controlled by his mother again, I thought to myself.

I closed my eyes, wanting to take a short nap, but my mind was too restless to sleep.

My hand instinctively reached into my pocket for my phone.

I felt nothing.

Only then did I remember that my phone had finally reached the end of its life.

Perhaps noticing my small movement, Chang Bin suddenly spoke up.

“Regarding today’s events, I was only following orders. Please do not hold it against me, Miss Ning.”

“Do I even have the right to blame you?” I couldn’t help but snap back.

He looked straight ahead and didn’t say another word.

The car sped along the highway toward the neighboring city.

“Do you have any cash?” I asked before getting out.

Chang Bin took out his wallet and opened it. “How much do you need, Miss Ning?”

“Two hundred will do.” I pulled out two hundred-yuan bills. “Please help me with my luggage, Master Chang.”

He pushed the car door open and stepped out.

I tucked the new phone into the storage compartment in front of my seat, grabbed my bag, and got out of the car. Under Chang Bin’s “escort,” I made it all the way to the platform.

With this parting, the world was wide and the seas were vast; from now on, no one could dictate my life again.

High-speed rail to train, train to bus, bus to tractor, and tractor to motorcycle taxi…

After two nights and one day, I finally arrived at a small mountain village in the south.

This was my ancestral home, my mother’s hometown.

After my father passed away, she didn’t want to be surrounded by things that reminded her of him, so she quietly returned here.

Ye Cen had lost the last “tool” she had to restrain me, and her surveillance over me had been especially strict these past six months.

I had provoked her time and again just to successfully get her to “kick” me out of Beicheng.

Now, even if she held the information for my fake identity, she could forget about finding a single person in these vast, sprawling mountains.

To my surprise, when my mother learned of my plan to volunteer as a teacher, she suggested I stay in the school dormitory.

I managed to find the volunteer teacher I had contacted online and asked her to introduce me to the principal.

Fortunately, the principal was reasonable and cleared out a small one-story house for me to use as a dorm.

That night, it snowed in the mountains.

Because I wasn’t used to the hard wooden bed and the damp, cold climate, I came down with a high fever in the middle of the night.

In my delirious state, I somehow thought of Gu Xiao, and belatedly remembered the “request” he had insisted on when sending me off.

I sighed through my discomfort.

In the end, I had broken my word.

The illness came on fiercely, but fortunately, I had prepared some common medicine before coming, and it passed quickly.

Once I had partially adapted to the local dialect, I officially started my job.

I chose to teach English.

I spent my days educating children and my spare time helping my mother grow vegetables.

It could be considered a peaceful and contented life.

Every day, I faced simple villagers and children who were thirsty for knowledge.

They held infinite hope for the world outside the mountains, and I never tired of telling them about it.

Ever since people started asking if I was single, I had put away all my dresses and pretty clothes.

I went bare-faced, completely immersing myself in this land.

The internet was unstable in the mountains, but thankfully, electricity was convenient.

In the dead of night, when my longing found no solace, I would count the stars through the window.

The mountain nights were always quiet and lonely, as if they could carry everything, yet also as if they could hold nothing at all.

The bits of love and hate in my heart gradually became ethereal.

Volunteering as a teacher was my childhood dream, and a quiet life would be the main theme of the rest of my life.

I thought this was how I would spend my days forever.

I never expected that half a year later, I would see Shen Yezhou’s mother again.