Chapter 5

Jiang Huaixu’s expression seemed frozen.

I only realized that just before I spoke, he had seemingly softened his demeanor.

His hand was extended in mid-air, as if wanting to comfort me.

But what was there to comfort me about?

To continue being an invisible person in the Jiang Family, as long as he still had a trace of affection for me?

I found it amusing.

So I ignored the coldness in his eyes.

The ringing of the phone broke our stalemate.

Jiang Huaixu answered, his voice instantly switching to one of extreme tenderness.

After hanging up, he picked up his coat and headed out, only having time to instruct, “Aunt Zhang, take her back to her room, don’t let her go anywhere.”

Aunt Zhang, following Jiang’s Mother’s orders, wouldn’t stop me.

She only slipped a few cans of her homemade beef sauce into my bag as I left.

“Miss An, take good care of yourself.”

Warmth filled my heart, and I thanked her hoarsely.

I hadn’t intended to bother Jiang Huaixu again.

But upon reaching the temporary lodging, I discovered my luggage was missing a fountain pen.

After asking around and agonizing for two nights, I finally called Jiang Huaixu.

The ringtone stretched particularly long in the night.

I hadn’t expected Jiang Huaixu to answer the call at a party, unsurprised, “Oh, Xiran thought that pen looked nice and took it, is there a problem?”

The noise on the other end was chaotic, someone couldn’t help but sneer, “What pen? Your little illiterate can even write? What new trick is this?”

Such words were unavoidable when I first arrived in Hai City.

Back then, I wasn’t afraid because Jiang Huaixu would fend them off for me.

Once, at a banquet, someone mocked my lowly origins, only to be thrown out by him, grabbing them by the collar.

But now-

“An Qin, why do you always cause me trouble?”

“If you insist on leaving, then don’t come to me for such matters.”

The call was abruptly ended.

The bitter taste had already spread across my heart; no one knew better than Jiang Huaixu the importance of that fountain pen to me.

My grades weren’t bad.

In that perpetually oppressive home, I never stopped yearning to get into a good university, to escape that hellhole.

Even when my father almost married me off to an old man for money, I never gave up.

My teacher didn’t give up on me either.

She gifted me that fountain pen, telling me, “An Qin, as long as you persist, I will always help you.”

It’s a pity I let her down.

At seventeen, I used that fountain pen to achieve outstanding results in that backward, impoverished place.

It was also that year that the Jiang Family’s enemies came after us, Jiang Huaixu pushed me aside, only to be gravely injured, his life hanging by a thread.

I sold that beautiful report card to pay for Jiang Huaixu’s medical expenses.

Back then, I only felt that family should never be the one hesitated over in any choice.

But only now do I realize it was all just my wishful thinking.

It’s okay, just a few days left.

These, I don’t want anymore.