"I haven't even spoken a word to her, so why is she acting so chummy? Does giving me a ride home count as helping me?
"A simple two yuan could have solved my problem, so why would I need anyone's help? Your so-called help is truly cheap!"
Gong Yuze choked on his words, feeling somewhat perplexed. Qingqing's return to the Yan family that day had been quite sudden, so she and Ning Yue hadn't actually exchanged any words. Given their circumstances, how could they possibly become genuine friends? Since that was the case, why did Qingqing deliberately approach Ning Yue?
Ning Yue looked at the two of them with a flat gaze, yet Gong Yuze and Yan Qingqing somehow managed to detect disdain and disgust in her eyes.
For some unknown reason, Gong Yuze's heart tightened. Standing in front of Ning Yue, he felt inexplicably guilty.
"Ning Yue, Qingqing didn't mean it that way," he said.
Too lazy to waste any more words on these two, Ning Yue cast a faint glance at Gong Yuze. Her Taohua eyes seemed to be filled with colored glaze—cold and aloof.
"Young Master Gong, Miss Yan, the next time you want to help someone, make sure you know what you're doing. Offering two yuan in charity—which the other person doesn't even need—hardly suits your status.
"Oh, right. I also need to thank Miss Yan for getting my parents fired. I'll be sure to remember this favor."
With that, Ning Yue turned around and walked away.
Her retreating figure looked somewhat thin, and she was still wearing the same school uniform she had on when she left the Yan family. However, Young Master Gong suddenly realized he had forgotten what Ning Yue used to look like. All he could remember was her straight back and the obvious disdain, contempt, and disgust in her tone when she spoke. Yes, disgust!
He had assumed this girl would be reluctant to give up the excellent opportunity to marry into the Gong family. He thought she would refuse to let go and pester him endlessly. However, she didn't—not at all! It was as if from the day the Yan Family members told her about her true identity, she had no intention of having anything to do with them anymore, including him, her former fiancé.
Having been mocked by Ning Yue today, Yan Qingqing was on the verge of shedding aggrieved tears. "She's talking nonsense! What does her parents getting fired have to do with me? Brother Gong, don't believe her words."
Gong Yuze found the situation a bit complicated.
The onlookers weren't entirely brainless, especially the classmates who knew about the real and fake heiress incident. It wasn't completely impossible for Yan Qingqing to have caused Ning Yue's parents to lose their jobs in order to get revenge on Ning Yue. However, weren't Ning Yue's parents also Yan Qingqing's adoptive parents? They had raised her for seventeen years, after all. Wasn't it a bit too ruthless of her to do something like this? In an instant, the way the surrounding classmates looked at Yan Qingqing changed slightly.
Noticing the gazes of the people around them, Gong Yuze took a deep breath. "Of course I don't believe her," he said. "Something probably happened to the Ning Family, and Ning Yue mistakenly thought it had something to do with you. That's why she acted like this. Alright, let's head back first. Your mother is still waiting for you."
With that, he escorted Yan Qingqing into the car, and the blue sports car quickly sped away, leaving a trail of dust in its wake.
After the two left, someone asked, "What's the relationship between that man and Yan Qingqing? They seem very close, but they don't look like siblings."
"I've seen Yan Qingqing's brother before. He came to pick up Ning Yue once," another replied. "As for this guy, I heard he's Ning Yue's former fiancé, but now he's engaged to Yan Qingqing."
Someone scoffed. Identities could be swapped back if they were wrong, but even fiancés could be swapped? And it was a seamless transition, too. How impressive.
After putting those two in their place, Ning Yue immediately tossed them to the back of her mind. When she returned home, Mr. Ning and Ning's mother were busy packing goods for shipping. Over the past month or so, their small online shop had been doing quite well. On Double Eleven alone, they had made over twenty thousand yuan in a single day. Overwhelmed with the workload, they even hired two helpers specifically to handle the shipping. A few days ago, they had been worried about not finding suitable jobs, but now those concerns were completely gone. Mr. Ning had also given up on the idea of returning to a regular office job. Although running his own shop was more tiring, he earned more money and had more freedom.
Upon arriving home, Ning Yue dropped her backpack and headed straight to the kitchen to prepare dinner. Whenever Mr. Ning and Ning's mother got busy, they didn't have time to cook. As long as she wasn't home, they would just make do with whatever was available—ordering takeout or simply eating a bowl of instant noodles each. Now that she was on vacation, she wanted to do as much as she could to help. Thus, when Mr. Ning and Ning's mother finally finished packing and sending off all the clothes, they walked into the house and were immediately greeted by the mouthwatering aroma of braised pork ribs.
"Yuanyuan? Why didn't you call for Mom when you came back? Since when do you know how to cook?" Ning's mother was utterly perplexed. Ning Yue had lived with the Yan family for seventeen years. As the eldest daughter of the Yan family, there was absolutely no need for her to cook. How did she know her way around a kitchen? Putting aside a wealthy background like the Yan family's, Qingqing had lived by her side for over a decade, and Ning's mother had never once made her cook. At most, Qingqing would tidy up her own room, but cooking was out of the question. After all, the time spent cooking could be used to complete another practice exam.
"It's not that hard; I learned just by watching," Ning Yue replied. "The taste might not be as good as yours, but at least it's fully cooked."
Ning Yue sighed inwardly. Of course she already knew how to cook. As a pitiful little thing whom neither father nor mother loved and no one cared for, she had to learn a bit of everything. If she hadn't learned to cook, she probably would have starved to death long ago.
Mr. Ning looked at the four dishes on the table: scrambled eggs with tomatoes, garlic stir-fried choy sum, braised pork ribs, and stir-fried green beans with meat. They were indeed ordinary home-cooked meals, but they didn't seem like something one could learn just by watching. Still, they all looked incredibly appetizing.
"Alright, hurry up and wash your hands. I want to taste my daughter's cooking," Mr. Ning urged. This was the first time he would be eating a meal personally cooked by his daughter.
The couple went to wash their hands and then sat down at the dining table. Ning's mother had a deeply moved expression on her face. In the past, there were times when she and her husband had been so busy they couldn't even catch their breath, yet Qingqing had never once taken the initiative to cook for them. Thinking of Qingqing, a trace of longing appeared on Ning's mother's face.
Seeing the change in her expression, Mr. Ning instantly knew what she was thinking. "I originally didn't want to say this, but I still have to remind you.
"The three of us are a family now. As for that child Qingqing, just pretend you never raised her."
Ning Yue's hand paused slightly as she held her chopsticks. Then, she picked up a piece of pork rib and placed it in Ning's mother's bowl.
Looking at the food in her bowl, Ning's mother then glanced at her biological daughter and sighed helplessly. "I raised her for seventeen years, after all. Even if I had raised a cat or a dog for that long, I would have grown attached to it. How could I possibly just cast her aside all at once?"
"Has she called you even once since she left our home? Just like those old clothes and belongings she left behind—even though they were the best things we could give her at the time—ever since she returned to the Yan family, we became trash that she looks down upon and wishes she could throw far away."
No, in the eyes of their adopted daughter, the two of them and this home of theirs were probably worse than trash, so why bother thinking about her?