Jiang Yiran stood in her family's cramped living room, staring at her parents and younger brother as they made yet another demand. The familiar script played out like a bad drama—her mother with her exaggerated sighs, her father's disappointed frown, and her brother, Jiang Hao, looking put out as if the world owed him something.
"Yiran, you're the only one in this family with a stable income," her mother said, voice dripping with expectation. "Your brother is trying to start a business. Don't you want to support him?"
Yiran clenched her fists, the words barely sinking in before she realized what they were asking for.
They wanted her savings. Again.
She had spent years working tirelessly, sacrificing her own comfort, while Jiang Hao drifted from one failed venture to another. First, it was the gaming café that collapsed after three months. Then, the short-lived e-commerce business that ended in disaster. And now, another doomed plan?
Jiang Hao, lounging on the couch, rolled his eyes. "Come on, sis. It's not even that much money for you. You have a stable job. Meanwhile, I'm trying to do something big."
Yiran's fingers twitched. Not much money? That "not much" was what she had painstakingly saved for her future—her dream apartment, a life away from their suffocating demands.
Her father, silent for most of the conversation, finally spoke. "You should help your brother. Isn't that what family is for?"
Family. That word again.
For twenty-eight years, she had lived for this so-called family—paying off Jiang Hao's debts, covering household expenses when her parents were short on cash, and even sacrificing her dream job in branding for a more stable corporate role to support them.
But no matter what she did, it was never enough.
Today, something snapped inside her.
Yiran took a deep breath. Her voice was calm, but her words carried the weight of years of exhaustion. "No."
Three pairs of eyes turned to her in shock.
Her mother blinked. "What did you say?"
"I said no." Yiran exhaled, feeling the weight lift from her shoulders. "I won't give you my savings. I won't pay for Jiang Hao's business. I won't support this family anymore."
The room fell into stunned silence.
Her mother's face twisted in outrage. "Jiang Yiran, how can you be so heartless? After all we've done for you?"
Yiran let out a sharp laugh. "What exactly have you done for me? Besides treating me like an ATM?"
Jiang Hao scoffed. "Tsk, I knew it. Now that you're making money, you think you're better than us."
"No, I just finally understand that nothing I do will ever be enough for you." Yiran's voice was steady, resolute. "So I'm done."
She turned on her heel and walked out, ignoring their shouts behind her.
That night, for the first time in years, she slept soundly.