In the end, Sang Ning took everyone back to her newly rented apartment.
She had originally planned to get them a hotel room temporarily, but Hu Zhi refused to let Sang Ning waste money. Her job hadn’t fully stabilized yet, so there was no need to spend unnecessarily.
After dropping them off, Li Juezhou didn’t linger too long. He helped move the luggage and then quickly left.
Sang Ning suddenly felt a bit guilty toward Li Juezhou; her boyfriend seemed like nothing more than a utility man. She decided she should treat him better in the future.
The apartment Sang Ning rented was initially a studio, just big enough for her. However, having to squeeze in four people now made it feel quite cramped.
She had thought Hu Zhi and the others might feel uncomfortable, but Sang Chuan was rolling around on the floor mattress like an excited puppy.
"Sis, you’ve made it big, huh? Even renting such a luxurious apartment now." Sang Chuan marveled shamelessly, as if he’d never seen such things before. "This mattress is so soft, I’ve never slept on anything this comfortable before."
"This apartment is rented, and it’s just a floor mattress—there’s nothing to exaggerate about," Sang Ning said with a facepalm. Sang Chuan had lived through hard times for so long that he was easily satisfied.
Sang Youming kicked Sang Chuan: "Move over, kid. Once your old man makes some money, I’ll buy you and your sister each a big house. Look at how pathetic you are now."
Sang Chuan rolled to the side, resting his hands behind his head, and gave Sang Youming a skeptical look: "Dad, I’m not trying to pour cold water on you, but relying on you to buy big houses for me and Sis would probably take ten generations."
"Hmph, then just you wait!" Sang Youming lay down in the space Sang Chuan scooted over, refusing to argue with him any further.
Some things, when said too many times, turn into empty promises.
The living room space was entirely handed over to Sang Chuan and Sang Youming for their floor beds, while Hu Zhi followed Sang Ning to the bedroom.
During the earlier variety show tapings, Sang Ning had developed some rapport with the Sang Family members, but after the show ended, she hadn’t really spent much quality time with them.
Sharing a bed with Hu Zhi now, Sang Ning found it somewhat uncomfortable.
Even though the bed in the bedroom was quite large, Sang Ning still tried her best to scoot toward the edge, leaving Hu Zhi as much room as possible.
After turning off the lights, neither spoke. In the darkness, the only sound was their faint breathing.
Sang Ning felt increasingly awkward and decided to just pretend she was already asleep.
She had her back to Hu Zhi, and as she lay there, she sensed movement behind her as someone slowly edged closer.
Since she was pretending to sleep, Sang Ning decided to carry on with her act, keeping her eyes shut.
When Hu Zhi drew nearer and was almost touching her, Sang Ning couldn’t help it anymore and was about to turn over. But Hu Zhi suddenly wrapped her arms around her from behind, gently patting her shoulder.
"Xiao Ning, you’ve been working so hard lately. Facing all those rumors online alone—that’s on us as your parents. We should’ve come back with you earlier, so when things got tough, you’d at least have two shoulders to lean on."
Hu Zhi’s voice was soft and tender, matching the gentleness of her gesture.
"Mom—" Sang Ning called out to Hu Zhi softly. She wanted to say that she wasn’t as fragile as they might think, that she was actually doing fine, but the words stopped right at the tip of her tongue and were swallowed back down.
Forget it—saying that now would just ruin the moment.
Through the closeness of her back to Hu Zhi, Sang Ning could feel her mother’s heartbeat. Suddenly, she felt like she’d shrunk into a small infant being cradled in her mother’s arms.
Something collapsed in a hidden corner of Sang Ning’s heart, opening up room for the Sang Family. Maybe she wasn’t as strong as she’d imagined, capable of living on her own through sheer will alone.
"Xiao Ning, your mom and dad are not particularly capable people. We can’t offer you much in the way of help—the best we can do is stay by your side and face things with you. If only you’d stayed with the Chu Family back then, things might’ve been better for you." In the darkness, Hu Zhi sighed deeply.
At that moment, Sang Ning suddenly turned over, curling up against Hu Zhi in a childlike posture. She wasn’t sure if Hu Zhi could see her in the pitch-black room.
Nonetheless, she opened her eyes wide and stared at Hu Zhi, her gaze earnest and sincere: "Mom, from now on, you will always be my only family."
Having uttered such sentimental and cheesy words, Sang Ning felt a bit embarrassed and decided to play dead by closing her eyes.
In the darkness, the corners of Hu Zhi’s lips lifted slightly into an expression of relief and joy.
Like soothing a baby to sleep, Hu Zhi hummed a melody, gently patting Sang Ning’s shoulder over and over.
Sang Ning felt comfortable and reassured, as though sinking into a soft cloud that enveloped her entirely—a profound sense of safety washing over her.
Just before falling into deep sleep, Sang Ning thought that before she could afford a proper big house, she should at least rent another place big enough for her whole family.
Fortunately, aside from Duan Wenhu actively responding to that Weibo post, there were no other sensational news developments that night. Sang Ning managed to have a relatively peaceful evening.
Early the next morning, Sang Ning immediately contacted a real estate agency to rent a three-bedroom apartment.
Sang Ning moved quickly, giving Hu Zhi and the others no time to react. By the time they realized what was happening, movers were already stationed at the door, ready to help.
As for the Sang Family’s old house, she’d go back later to pack their belongings, leave it as-is, and keep it as a relic for memory’s sake—it wasn’t sellable anyway.
Sang Ning herself didn’t have much to move; the movers only needed to handle the large items.
Before noon, Sang Ning had completed a "special-forces" style relocation.
The new apartment Sang Ning rented was a rooftop unit with a terrace, conveniently allowing Sang Youming to mess around with his carpentry projects.
The apartment seemed perfect, as long as you didn’t consider the price. Sang Ning was already calculating that when she had enough money, she’d buy this place outright.
After paying the rent for the new apartment, Sang Ning officially entered a "living on crumbs" phase. At that moment, a wave of anxiety struck her.
If Qingyue and Duan Wenhu really managed to tarnish her reputation to the point of losing clients, how would she earn money?
But a whole day went by, and aside from Duan Wenhu’s lengthy and melodramatic Weibo post, there seemed to be no further action.
Judging from the reactions so far, netizens hadn’t entirely bought into Duan Wenhu’s narrative.
Even Chu Tian’s inexplicable phone call yesterday had led to nothing—everything still seemed salvageable.
Until the afternoon, when a shocking piece of news suddenly dominated the headlines on all major news and entertainment platforms, and the negative public opinion against Sang Ning erupted in full force.