Ruan Lingyu asked softly, "Xiaonan helped you, yet you’ve disrupted his life. How do you see any difference between this and repaying kindness with ingratitude?"
Shen Mianmian pursed her lips and remained silent.
"Mianmian, I know Xining has already spoken with you once, and you might find her words unreliable, but I can assure you, if you agree to stop contacting Xiaonan, I can step in to sponsor your tuition and living expenses until you graduate. If you find a job in Beijing that you like afterward, I can also recommend you for it—just as long as you break off contact with Xiaonan. What do you think?"
"Auntie Ruan, even before I appeared, Brother He didn’t like Miss Cheng, did he?" Shen Mianmian’s lips curled into a sneer. "Why do you think that by breaking off my ties with Brother He, they would end up together?"
"You’re right, even if you break off contact with Xiaonan, he might not necessarily be willing to marry Xining," Ruan Lingyu seemed to recall something, her expression pained, "But I have always treated Xining as my own daughter and can’t bear to see her heartbroken. She has already promised me, if you and Xiaonan break off contact, she will give up on him if he still hasn’t married her in two years."
Hearing this, Shen Mianmian suddenly laughed, "Auntie Ruan, do you really believe that?"
How could she easily give up on someone she has liked since they were young?
"Xining is a proud and arrogant child. She cannot accept being surpassed by someone she deems beneath her, someone taking what’s hers." In other words, if the person He Nan married was comparable to Cheng Xining, Cheng Xining might not be so distressed.
"Just like mother and son, both of you talk the same way," Shen Mianmian scoffed.
"Has Yiqian come to see you?" Ruan Lingyu caught the implication in Shen Mianmian’s words and felt even more convinced that what she was doing was right, "Mianmian, you’re very clever. You should know that breaking off contact with Xiaonan now is most beneficial for you. I know you’re an orphan and that’s quite pitiable, but because you’re an orphan, you and Xiaonan are simply not a match. No matter how much you cling to him, he won’t marry you. Xiaonan is a sensible kid; he knows what’s important."
Thinking of something else, she continued, "Actually, one reason Xiaonan has never had a girlfriend and is unwilling to date Xining is something I’ve never spoken about. When they were little, our families verbally agreed to a marriage between our two children. Xiaonan has always liked Mianmian a lot. When everyone teased them about it, Xiaonan never objected. Perhaps he still remembers Mianmian, and that might be why he’s good to you... maybe because he thinks of Mianmian."
"Auntie Ruan, there’s no need to constantly remind me I’m an orphan," Shen Mianmian cut her off, her expression colder than before. "Although I don’t know why my birth family abandoned me, I don’t consider myself pitiable. I don’t believe that being without parents makes me any less of a person. Don’t forget that your daughter is still missing, and haven’t you thought that maybe she’s also suffering? Maybe the people raising her aren’t treating her well, or perhaps she’s encountered someone like you."
Ordinarily, Shen Mianmian truly didn’t feel any pity for herself for being picked up, nor was she afraid of others bringing it up.
But to be used as an excuse twice in one day to get her to leave Brother He, she didn’t know why, but she suddenly felt heartache and aggrieved.