Chapter 4

Chapter 4

To be honest, I don’t remember much of the chaos from that night anymore.

The human body has a self-preservation mechanism; sometimes, when something is too painful, you gradually forget it.

In my life so far, I have only done that sort of thing with one person, and only once.

The name he called out in his haze was someone else’s.

Thinking back carefully, it seems that to this day, Jiang Cheng has only ever called me by my name once.

It was the day we first met, at the entrance of the train station. He looked me up and down and asked, “Lin Zhi?”

“That’s me.”

If only life remained as it was when we first met; what need would there be for the autumn wind to grieve over a discarded fan?

The campus was silent after school.

Jiang Cheng and I stood at the end of the corridor, with a backdrop of vibrant greenery behind us.

“Didn’t you want to talk to me privately?” Jiang Cheng asked. “Just say what’s on your mind.”

Since he had opened the floor, I saw no reason to hesitate. “What have you been telling Jiang Zilan these past few years?”

“What?”

“We’ve been divorced for four years.

“During these four years, I kept my promise. I never showed up, and I transferred child support to your card on time every month.

“A child’s memory is short-lived. Besides, Zilan didn’t even like me back then.

“If there wasn’t someone constantly whispering in his ear, it would be impossible for him to still remember me-let alone still have feelings for me.”

Jiang Cheng turned his head away, avoiding my gaze. “I didn’t say anything to him. It was his grandmother who kept reminding him.”

“Then why the school transfer?”

“He kept clamoring to come find you,” Jiang Cheng paused. “I couldn’t stop him.”

Of course. Jiang Zilan was the apple of the Jiang Family’s eye. Whatever he wanted, he had to get.

Even Jiang Cheng lacked any principles when it came to Jiang Zilan.

I lowered my eyelids, thinking quietly.

After a long while, I smiled. “It doesn’t matter. Once his expectations are shattered, he’ll naturally want to go back.”

I have never been a likable person.

Once Jiang Zilan spends enough time with me, he will realize that his memories have merely been romanticizing me.

In reality, I am still that same unlikable, annoying biological mother who only serves to lower his social status.

Chapter 9

After returning to my hometown, I opened a small restaurant to make a living.

Because I couldn’t handle everything alone, I limited the number of guests I served. Gradually, it actually became famous, hyped up by tourists into an ‘internet-famous’ shop.

At eighteen, Lin Zhi wanted to be a high-powered career woman earning millions a year, so she studied computer science, a field where money was easy to make.

At twenty-eight, Lin Zhi only wanted to look after this shop of less than a hundred square meters and live out the rest of her life in peace.

Ever since Jiang Zilan transferred here, a driver would drop him off at my shop every day after school.

He was a smart kid; he only showed his willful side on the first day we reunited.

Jiang Cheng rarely appeared. Most of the time, the person accompanying Jiang Zilan was the driver.

I didn’t know what the Jiang Family was thinking. If they valued Jiang Zilan so much, how could they feel safe leaving a child alone in this remote little town?

I didn’t drive him away.

He was the only blood relative I had left in this world.

I once stayed awake for three days and three nights to take care of him when he had a high fever.

I once cut my hands until they were covered in scars just to hand-make a toy he wanted.

I have to admit, humans are inherently self-interested. When I did those things for him, I didn’t expect anything in return. But after giving so much, only to receive his disdain, resentment, and hatred, I was inevitably a little hurt.

When he was very small, he was clingy.

I had to be there when he slept; I had to hold him when we went out.

I relied on his dependence on me to endure the countless cold shoulders and grievances I suffered while living with the Jiang Family.

But once he began to develop his own consciousness, learned to walk, and learned to say “no,” he gradually stopped liking me.

Because I would stop him from eating too much candy, and I would discipline him sternly when he was being willful…

Children don’t distinguish between right and wrong; they only knew that I was often a source of restriction, so naturally, he no longer wanted to be close to me.

It lasted until the day Jiang Cheng took him out for a trip. After coming home, Jiang Zilan said with total entitlement:

“I don’t want you to be my mommy anymore. I want Auntie Xia Zhi to be my mommy.

“You don’t deserve to be my mommy! Get out! This is my house!”