"Hypocritical."
Clearly, he cares about his mother, yet he pretends to be indifferent, adorably mischievous.
Yu Minglang muttered to himself in a voice only he could hear, his usually emotionless eyes curved slightly.
"Lang, what did you say?" Yu Minglang's secretary, Qiao Zhen, was puzzled.
Yu Minglang finally moved the scope away from Zhou Zhiruo's lookalike, using his most professional expertise to inspect the surroundings and decisively gave the order.
"The planning department at three o'clock is in chaos. We'll focus on criticizing this in tomorrow's meeting!"
"Yes!" Qiao Zhen, like everyone else in the company, was a die-hard fan of Yu Minglang, the prodigy boss, totally obedient to him.
The young boss, versatile and never missing a beat, is a true jack-of-all-trades.
Before officially getting back to work, Yu Minglang took one last look at the Zhou Zhiruo lookalike who had just washed her hands.
Resuming his stern expression, Yu Minglang once again became the most outstanding prodigy boss in the company.
Qian walked home with her mother, carrying items bought from a ten-yuan shop.
All the way, Jia Xiufang nagged, like all menopausal women, finding a point to obsess over and rambling endlessly.
"It's just a college entrance exam failure, isn't it? You can work or help run the family shop. Why must you marry someone? And buying those three-for-ten-yuan basins, wait until your in-laws bully you..."
Qian listened all the way, her ears almost growing calluses.
This kind of motherly love in the form of nagging from a Chinese menopausal woman can really drive anyone insane!
"Did I really fail the college entrance exam?" A gleam flashed in Qian's eyes as she sharply observed her mother, trying to detect any clues from her reaction.
This year, after not receiving an admission notice and being informed by her homeroom teacher of her failure, she was heartbroken and agreed to her father's arrangement to meet Ni Jianren for matchmaking.
For Qian, who always excelled academically, failing the exam was unexpected and a huge blow.
However, she never would have imagined that Ni Jianren was a man unresponsive to women; no, he wasn't even worthy of being called a man!
He was a natural homosexual, marrying a woman merely to appease his family, and Qian was just a scapegoat!
After marriage, he never shared a bed with Qian and would frequently hit her. Qian wanted a divorce but was prevented by her father.
The scumbag's family was wealthy, and Qian's bumbling brother was a troublemaker. To extract money from the scumbag, her father wouldn't allow the divorce. Initially, Qian considered her family her support.
But when she accidentally learned her college entrance exam results were excellent, and her father bribed the homeroom teacher to hide her admission notice, unwilling to support her education, Qian was devastated.
The reason for hiding her admission letter was laughable—because he thought it too expensive to educate a daughter and wanted to save money for his son!
Upon learning the truth, Qian despairingly went to the river with the intention of ending her life, but a kind-hearted person saved her. After learning about her situation, the person left her some money, which she used to sue Ni Jianren for divorce, retake the entrance exams, and successfully attend college. Later, that kind-hearted person remitted money to her multiple times.
Later, Qian worked hard to support her studies, rising all the way to earning a doctorate, trying to find that kind-hearted person but was never able to.
Upon her rebirth, when she brought up the college entrance exam again, it was to test whether her mother was involved in hiding the admission notice.
Upon hearing Qian ask about this, Jia Xiufang's earlier nagging and criticizing expression turned heavy instantly.
"Qian'er, I know you don't like hearing this, but if you didn't pass, you just didn't. It's been more than ten days. Since you found out you didn't pass, you've said nothing. I was just afraid you'd do something rash. I didn't go to school, but look how well I've lived?"
Qian continued to observe her reaction, "And if I could have passed, would you support me?"
"Of course! If you could get in, I'd sell everything to support you. When you wanted to attend high school, I fought with your dad to secure it for you. He just wanted you to attend a vocational school and quickly earn money, but I figured you were so smart as a child. Attending college would bring me pride, but who knew you..."
She almost said this critical-moment-mess-up girl but swallowed back the words, fearing to hurt the child's self-esteem. The girl is really sensitive.
This reaction doesn't seem to be an act. Qian seriously pondered. Could it be that her mother really wasn't involved in hiding the admission notice?
In her previous life, after becoming successful, she almost severed all ties with her maternal family, retaliating fiercely, holding the hidden admission letter against them for half a lifetime.
Before her mother died, she had grabbed Qian's hand, crying that she really didn't know about the letter being hidden. At that time, Qian didn't believe it.
But seeing her mother's reaction now, she was somewhat swayed.
Since she was reborn, she would definitely find the admission letter first, then find a way to gather tuition fees to attend school.
As for her mother... Qian looked at Jia Xiufang, still prattling away, and murmured to herself.
"I hope you don't betray the trust I place in you."
In her past life, that scumbag Ni Jianren kidnapped her daughter, leading her to jump from a building. Qian planned for three years to destroy the scumbag from every angle.
Not only did she send him to prison to get constantly assaulted, but when the scumbag fell into depression, she appeared as a therapist to provide "psychological counseling," ultimately using psychological suggestion to successfully drive the scumbag to mental breakdown and suicide.
That was her forte as the villainous female boss, but for her mother, she had resorted to the direct violence she despised, lowering her own standards.
"What are you mumbling about? Wait a moment, there's someone selling melons by the roadside. I'll buy a couple; your brother loves them." Jia Xiufang headed towards the melon stall.
The slight hesitation in Qian's eyes turned cold instantly.
Heh, always about her brother. Just because he likes to eat, doesn't mean she doesn't? Every day, it's about her brother this or that. Did anyone ever consider she had things she liked too?
In her parents' eyes, no matter how hard she worked, she could never compare to even a finger of her brother, even to the point her right to attend college was taken away by her brother.
What to expect from these parents anyway? She should remain ruthless, devoid of emotion.
"The melons here are expensive; let's go there instead." Qian dragged Jia Xiufang away.
In her past life, her mother bought melons just like this, leading to events that left her utterly disappointed, so now, she wanted to start changing her fate!
Yet, Qian was unaware that by dragging Jia Xiufang away, her life's trajectory was dramatically altered on the very first day of her rebirth.