Mother Qi sighed and offered a gentle smile. "How do you know it won't work if you don't try?" she said, encouraging her daughter. But her words only made Qi Jianyi's expression tighten further.
"Mom…" Qi Jianyi murmured softly.
"I don't want to take that risk." She shook her head slightly, her voice firm. "I have a life here in this world—my own business, my family. I can't just throw all of that away," she said, refusing the idea outright.
Qi Jianyi had truly come to believe that her path and Song Chengfeng's were no longer meant to cross. That truth, she had already accepted long ago.
And now, she needed to make her mother accept it too.
"I've made peace with what we had, and I know this is my present—where my future is meant to be," she continued, her lips lifting in a sad, resigned smile.
"You stubborn child!" Mother Qi slapped her daughter lightly on the back and grumbled.
