When a President's canary wants to leave, it's either because the President has grown tired of her, leaving no room for her by his side, or because the canary has a new soul and no longer wants the job.
Aunt Li, the maid who had taken care of President Jiang since he was a child, clearly didn't understand this principle.
The fair, plump, kind, and gentle woman found the evening's events very sudden.
She never would have imagined that in the time it took her to warm a cup of milk for Miss Ni, the beautiful young woman had been replaced by a clear-headed and pragmatic soul.
And this new Miss Ni possessed a decisiveness that was beyond imagination.
After recognizing her reality, she immediately seized the opportunity to make a clean break and sever all ties with the past.
In just two short hours, she had signed a contract to buy a new home, arranged for it to be cleaned, and hired a moving company to pack her personal belongings onto a truck. She was ready to leave with them at any moment!
Such efficiency!
These were the time-management skills she had honed over a decade of struggling in the entertainment industry. Others used them to chase women; she used them to get things done.
Tsk, and it was exceptionally effective!
'I have to say, there are no evil skills in this world, only evil hearts.'
Ni Bingyan stood at the gate. In her left hand, she carried a small leather case full of jewelry. On her right arm, she wore a limited-edition Burberry bag containing her important documents. She looked back, her eyes red, at Aunt Li, who had anxiously followed her, wanting to say something but not knowing how to begin.
Aunt Li had been with the Jiang Family for over thirty years. She had raised Jiang Sheng, and after he moved out of the old family residence as an adult, she had followed him here to Xishui Bay to continue looking after him. In Jiang Sheng's heart, she held a very special place.
The original owner of this body had been with him for three years. Thanks to his protection, her agency hadn't dared to exploit her, and he had shielded her from both overt and covert attacks from her peers. She didn't want a nasty fallout right after the breakup.
'In the future, I don't expect him to keep protecting me, but at least he shouldn't turn around and make trouble for me.'
'So, before leaving, I have to put on a convincing performance.'
"Aunt Li, thank you for taking care of me all these years. You're a good person. You'll surely be blessed in your old age!"
She raised her hand as if to wipe away tears, but then stubbornly lifted her head, blinking rapidly to force them back.
Her voice choked with sobs. "You can't force matters of the heart. I'm letting myself go, and I'm letting him go. From now on, we'll go our separate ways. I wish him eternal happiness!"
Aunt Li was on the verge of tears herself!
Her face, round and pale like a ball of dough, crinkled. Her large, watery eyes filled with pity. She stepped forward and grabbed Ni Bingyan's hand, trying to stop her from leaving.
"What on earth happened? Everything was fine just a moment ago!
"Look! I warmed up some milk for you. If you drink it, you definitely won't have trouble sleeping tonight!
"The comforter was just aired out in the sun today, and the duvet cover is brand new. Didn't you say you found the pattern interesting?
"And! The soup simmering in the pot! The Young Master will definitely drink some when he gets back!
"He... he can't live without you..."
She rambled on and on, but Ni Bingyan didn't interrupt, merely choking back sobs, looking too heartbroken to speak.
'Honestly, her words were such a tired old script that I had no desire to play along. Only the original owner, poisoned by love, would have been trapped here by them, toiling away like a beast of burden until every last bit of hope was ground into the dregs of despair.'
'With the original owner's abilities, even if she couldn't have been fabulously wealthy, she could have lived a very comfortable life. Jiang Sheng never made her any promises. It was always Aunt Li, dropping lines here and there like, "The Young Master values Miss Ni the most," or "The Young Master truly can't live without Miss Ni," or "The Young Master has never been this considerate to any other young lady"...'
'Dredging up those memories from my mind is just nauseating!'
'But the original owner was so naive she treated this smiling tiger like a living Bodhisattva.'
After a long moment, she managed to suppress the disgust in her heart. Hiccupping through her tears, she pushed Aunt Li's hand away and walked out with her case.
"I have to go now, the movers are still waiting for me. The sooner we finish, the sooner they can go home and rest. Once my emotions have settled down a bit, I'll arrange to meet with President Jiang and say a proper goodbye."
Since she'd put it that way, and seeing the movers on the truck with their ears pricked up, Aunt Li didn't want her employer's affairs to become gossip. She could only pat Ni Bingyan's back and raise her voice to advise her:
"Call me when you're settled! You silly child, it's the middle of the night. Even if a young couple is having a fight, you shouldn't be so rash."
Spoken this way, anyone who overheard would understand it was a way for everyone to save face.
Ni Bingyan sneered internally. 'A young couple?'
'What kind of "young couple" were she and Jiang Sheng?'
'There was no proper, formal wedding!'
'She never wore a wedding dress for him!'
'She never wore a wedding ring from him!'
'She never received a marriage certificate with him!'
'She never paid respects to the elders and ancestors with him!'
'She'd never even attended a single public event with him!'
'In his social circles, a person like her simply didn't exist!'
'If she went out and claimed to be President Jiang's girlfriend, she couldn't even say it with any confidence. How could they be called a "young couple"?'
'The ancients were more refined. They called the legal wife the "primary wife," and a mistress kept in a separate home but presented publicly as a spouse was called a "secondary wife." She, however, didn't even qualify as a secondary wife.'
'It wasn't because Jiang Sheng was unmarried and had no official girlfriend.'
'It was because out in public, she and Jiang Sheng were two completely unrelated people!'
'She was just his dirty little secret! A momentary novelty!'
'In the original owner's heart, all those years of wholehearted devotion were for love. But in Jiang Sheng's heart?'
'Perhaps it was just about enjoying the gentle affection of a beautiful woman, a secret, private pleasure. At most, people would just say he was young and enjoyed novelty; they wouldn't even criticize his character.'
'For the rich, this kind of situation was all too common.'
'He would never feel that this relationship was some unforgettable, soul-deep love, nor would he think this woman could have any real impact on his life.'
'They were from two different worlds to begin with. They were never a match!'
'Even if she became an award-winning actress one day, an artist respected by the public, in the eyes of a great family with generations of wealth, they still wouldn't be a match.'
'Let alone her current situation... it was better not to even mention it!'
'Oh, you beautiful girls who don't work hard enough, who aren't outstanding enough! Even if you get lucky and meet an exceptional man, what do you have to hold onto him?'
'Your youthful beauty?'
'And after you've caught him, what will you use to keep him by your side for the long haul?'
'Does becoming his girlfriend mean you've achieved your goal?'
'What about after you marry him? Will you be satisfied?'
'Will having his child give you a sense of security?'
'When your youth and beauty have faded, will you willingly make way for other young girls?'
'Women often know how to appreciate a man's good qualities at every stage of his life: the vibrant energy of his callow youth, the ambitious drive of his young adulthood, the refined elegance he settles into in middle age, the depth of character in his later years...'
'But men, for the most part, will always love young, beautiful women.'
'If you used your beauty to get ahead back then, don't blame others for using their own beauty as a weapon to push you out later.'
'Because the man you chose is just that shallow, and he always will be.'
'Relying on beauty alone without cultivating your own inner self won't just lead to ruin in love; you won't get far on any path in life.'
'This isn't to say that girls should have low self-esteem. Rather, they need to be clear-headed enough to know what they can actually control.'
'Tragedies born from unequal matches are a tale as old as time.'
'It has little to do with whether the man is outstanding or not. Even if he's a worthless fool, just by virtue of being born into such a nest of wealth, his weight on the scales of love and marriage is simply heavier.'
'It's unfair, but that's what his ancestors earned for him. It's not worth being jealous or indignant about.'
'If you have what it takes, then work hard, so that your own children can have a little more confidence and backing when it's their turn to marry.'
This realization made Ni Bingyan even more clear-headed than she had been in her previous life.
She wiped away the tears she had squeezed out for her performance and said calmly to the movers, "Let's go. The sky will be light soon."
Dawn was breaking, and her life, too, would gradually brighten now that she was setting out on a different path.
'Living well through your own abilities is the only thing that's truly good!'
Aunt Li didn't understand the complex mix of emotions in Ni Bingyan's heart. She was only thinking of the child she had watched grow up, a boy who had loved fine food and beautiful women since he was young. Yet this was the first time he had ever brought a beautiful young lady home, and she had stayed for three years without him ever mentioning he was tired of her.
'If she just leaves like this, won't the Young Master have a hard time adjusting?'
In the old servant's heart, she knew this young lady was indeed not a match for her young master. But she longed for someone like Miss Ni to love her young master with all her heart.
'To be able to date such a wonderful girl before getting married, what a beautiful thing that is!'
As for the wild ambitions that had sprouted in the original owner's heart after being deceived by her, or the question of how she should conduct herself after Jiang Sheng married a girl from a family of equal standing, Aunt Li couldn't care less!
'A common girl from a humble background gets to have a sweet romance with someone as outstanding as my young master thanks to her pretty face, and she even gets assets that a normal person could never obtain in a lifetime of work. What more is there to be dissatisfied about?'
'When she's in her thirties, she can find an honest man to marry. It won't delay her from having children and living her life at all.'
She hurried after her, calling out with earnest concern through the truck's window:
"The truck is too cramped, Miss Ni! Why don't you take the car? You're used to driving it. It's much more convenient and comfortable!"
'It was a luxury car, so no one could say it wasn't comfortable. The problem was, the house was in my name, but the car wasn't!'
'If I drive it away, am I supposed to drive it back later?'
'I'm not crazy!'
'Back in the day, I drove a cheap van to film sets for ten years. Now, buying a car for a couple hundred thousand yuan, wouldn't that be wonderful?'
'No matter how long you drive someone else's car, it's never your own.'
Acting on the thought, Ni Bingyan put on a sorrowful face and waved goodbye to Aunt Li while simultaneously pulling out her phone and quickly searching for a car dealership's