Chapter 89: Jiang Ning’s Past
Su Wanyuan incredulously raised her head to look at him.
She had confirmed it already—Gu Lanli did have feelings for her. As long as she showed a little weakness and beckoned him with a finger, he would come over.
Why was this so different from what she had imagined?
Su Wanyuan’s originally calm heart suddenly panicked; things were gradually slipping out of her control.
She forced a smile: “I’m not asking you for money, and I don’t mean it that way. I just… want to stay with you. Do you still remember the condition you mentioned to me before the Competitive Mathematics competition? I can tell you now…”
Gu Lanli raised his hand to interrupt her: “No need to tell me. I don’t want to know now. You used to always ask why I wouldn’t let you go, why I wouldn’t give you freedom. Because I like you, I can only express my love this way. The one in pain isn’t just you—me too. So Su Wanyuan, I’m letting go now, giving you freedom, and I’ll never interfere with you again. Perhaps our meeting was a mistake… If you hadn’t come to the Gu Family, my relationship with Jiang Ning wouldn’t have drifted so far apart.
Gu Lanli lowered his eyelashes, his heart aching sharply. Before meeting Su Wanyuan, he liked Jiang Ning, this cute and clingy neighbor sister, but he happened to meet her—self-reliant, aloof, and solitary.
She was a type different from the delicate Miss Jiang Ning, one that filled him with the desire to conquer.
Gu Lanli had taken the wrong path. If he turned back now, would Jiang Ning still wait for him?
Jiang Ning helped Xie Jingyan to the corridor entrance and then ditched him to walk away by herself.
Otherwise, if others saw, they might think she was the one who harmed him. The public opinion she had just turned around with great difficulty might not hold.
Jiang Ning thought as she walked with flying steps.
Xie Jingyan’s gaze was dark and brooding. Tsk, walking so fast—could he still eat her?
But when Xie Jingyan limped into the classroom, the whole class still turned their gazes toward Jiang Ning, their eyes as if they had found the culprit.
Jiang Ning: “…”
She actually read their minds!
This group thought she had found someone to beat Xie Jingyan again.
Black lines appeared at her temples, and for the first time, she began to explain: “He fell by himself. It has nothing to do with me!”
Everyone: “Eww~”
Jiang Ning: “…”
Ever since she transmigrated, she hadn’t done anything bad!
The male lead, who was supposed to get beaten every three days, had gone a month and a half without even one beating.
Jiang Ning looked at Xie Jingyan, signaling him to explain. She had been super well-behaved lately, okay?
Xie Jingyan obliged: “Everyone, don’t overthink it. I fell by myself. It has nothing to do with Jiang Ning.”
Everyone: “Sigh.”
Their eyes showed sympathy, and their gazes toward Jiang Ning carried even more condemnation.
Look at what she had driven him to. He was truly too pitiful.
They also wanted to speak up for Xie Jingyan, but they were afraid of revenge.
Jiang Ning: “…”
Xie Jingyan walked to his seat and slowly sat down: “I explained, but they don’t seem to believe it.”
Jiang Ning glared at him: “Then if one day you’re killed by your enemy, they’ll pin it on me too? Crazy.”
Xie Jingyan started taking out his textbook, his voice flat: “That’s because the public impression is that you’re very bad to me. If from today onward, you treat me a bit better to salvage it, then if I really have an accident, the police probably won’t come for you first.”
Jiang Ning: “…”
Treat him better.
She rolled her eyes at him and kept her distance: “Dream on. In this lifetime, I’ll only be good to my baby.”
Xie Jingyan looked at her with interest: “Who? Gu Lanli or that online relationship?”
Jiang Ning huffed lightly, setting herself up as a taken woman: “Of course it’s my online relationship.”
Xie Jingyan raised an eyebrow and analyzed for her: “The internet is full of scams. You don’t video call, you don’t meet in person—aren’t you afraid the other side is really a toad?”
Jiang Ning gave him a strange look.
Wait, how did he know she didn’t video call or meet in person?
Xie Jingyan noticed his slip and kept his expression calm: “Did I really guess right?”
Jiang Ning: “…”
He guessed pretty accurately too.
“Mind your own business whether I meet in person or not. Do you think I’m one of those shallow people? I don’t care what he looks like at all. People’s appearances are all the same, but souls are one in a million. He’s someone I really have feelings for.” Jiang Ning was just short of saying she would only marry her online relationship.
She made stuff up online, and she made stuff up in reality too. Heh heh, who could expose her?
Xie Jingyan chuckled lightly: “You’re really devoted. I hope you keep it up.”
“That’s a must! My baby is a gentle little angel. You can’t compare to him.”
Jiang Ning blurted it out. She sat in her seat, turning into a puddle of mud as she sprawled out.
Riding a bike all morning had really worn her out.
Just as she was about to fall asleep.
Someone next to her nudged her.
Jiang Ning was startled awake.
Then she saw Xie Jingyan take out the organized chemistry test papers: “You didn’t do your homework again. Third period is chemistry class, and the teacher will go over it. Write it now.”
Jiang Ning: “…”
She turned her head away and continued sprawling: “Not writing. Not doing this stuff.”
“Jiang Ning.”
“Calling my name won’t work. I need rest. Carrying you was so tiring. Don’t disturb my sleep.”
Xie Jingyan frowned as he looked at Jiang Ning’s back view.
You’d say she’s lazy, but when she’s interested, she’ll finish everything. You’d say she’s diligent, but sometimes she’s especially stubborn, insisting on resting enough and not letting herself get tired at all. So stubborn, she won’t listen no matter what.
Xie Jingyan couldn’t call her over, so he let her be.
He started studying by himself.
Jiang Ning rested her head on her hand and looked out the window.
This was the second floor, at the height of a tree, so she could see the thick trunk at a glance, and the leaves on the treetops slowly turning yellow, swaying in the breeze.
She really enjoyed this peaceful time. It was much better than in her original world when she was nearly forced to jump off a building.
No matter how skilled or capable she was, there were times she felt powerless. Otherwise, why call it social animal.
People living at the bottom of society lived worse than livestock.
So ever since coming to this world, she hadn’t done anything exhausting.
In her original world, when she was just born, her dad died and her mom remarried, abandoning her at a few months old to her grandmother. Grandmother raised her for six years, but due to overwork, she was diagnosed with terminal illness. The family’s only five thousand in savings was all given to six-year-old her.
Five thousand yuan wasn’t much or little, but Jiang Ning was only six then. A child that age didn’t understand the wickedness of people’s hearts. She was completely deceived by the aunt at the village head who promised to take care of her, and then that money was taken by the aunt’s husband to gamble away entirely, even owing a debt of a hundred thousand.
The aunt took her to the county town and handed her over to a human trafficker.
The human trafficker said a fool wanted a child bride and had chosen her.
Jiang Ning didn’t know what a child bride was back then; she only knew grandmother was gone, and she couldn’t even eat her fill.
At the new home, the fool liked to pull her hair. She got angry and slapped the fool, earning her a brutal beating. She nearly died that winter. At her young age, Jiang Ning finally understood that not everyone would indulge her like grandmother. She learned to submit.
These two chapters are a transition. I’m explaining Ning Ning’s past background.
