11: Chapter 11 The Downtrodden Princess (2) 11: Chapter 11 The Downtrodden Princess (2) She had not expected to be fired from the company before she could even resign!
Not having to work with Yu Zexiao did bring some relief.
She hung up the phone and turned to head into the bathroom.
In the middle of the night, she had no time to deal with Yu Zexiao, preferring instead to take a bath and relax.
Under the clear cascade of water, her pale body bore shocking, crisscrossing marks of blue and purple, silently recounting the frenzy of the previous night.
It was somewhat amusing to her that she had escaped from her home after much difficulty, just to avoid plunging into an insubstantial arranged marriage devoid of affection.
Yet, within a month of returning to the country, she had ended up in bed with a man from the entertainment industry.
A month ago, outside her stepfather’s study, she overheard a conversation between him and her mother.
She was shocked to learn that her stepfather wanted to trade her marriage and future happiness for a partnership with a stranger to support their family business’s plan to break into the United States market in the following fiscal year.
Jian Anning’s parents were both Chinese immigrants who had moved to Canada early in life.
Shortly after she was born, her parents divorced due to irreconcilable differences, and she lived with her father.
Her father’s family was fairly wealthy, and in order to take better care of her, he never remarried, while her grandparents doted on her.
Even without a mother’s love, Anning’s childhood was still quite pleasant.
That was until the car accident when she was sixteen, which took the lives of her father and grandparents, leaving her the sole survivor.
Being a minor, she was ultimately taken back by her mother, Jian Panying.
Jian Panying had remarried, and her stepfather’s family was one of Toronto’s prestigious families.
In addition to the eldest son born to his previous wife, Jian Panying had another daughter.
Including Anning, there were three children in the family.
The nominal brother was domineering and always treated her poorly, while her half-sister, from the same mother, was habitually spoiled.
The stepfather was not particularly bad to her, nor particularly good, and although her mother wanted to treat her well, there were many years of estrangement, and she had a new beloved daughter.
It could be said that Anning never fit in with her stepfather’s family; she felt like an invisible person, always sensing the distance of living under someone else’s roof.
After starting university, she finally fell for a well-mannered senior.
Just when she mustered up the courage to confess to him, she found out that he was together with her own sister…
She admitted that the incident had a significant impact on her, causing her to be downcast for a long time, until three years ago…
Although she lived in Canada, where the culture is more liberal, she was raised by her grandparents and father from a young age and attended a school for Chinese expatriates, receiving the most traditional education.
As a result, she possessed both the cheerful and free-spirited nature of Westerners, yet did not indulge in their unrestrained ways.
Even after moving to her stepfather’s home, these deeply rooted beliefs and resolve did not change.
Nevertheless, she absolutely could not accept a marriage forced upon her.
Especially since she knew her parents’ marriage tragedy stemmed from an arranged marriage.
Two strangers without any feelings for each other living together altogether.
When her mother met her wealthier and kinder stepfather, she heartlessly abandoned both Anning and her father, leading to their current predicament.