"Are you trying to save him again?" Lu Qingyuan's voice came from beside him.
Yu Tang snapped out of his daze and smiled: "Did you figure it out?"
“If you didn’t like meddling in other people’s business, you wouldn’t be yourself.” Lu Qingyuan snorted, spreading his wings to block the two of them, and said, “But this time I won’t allow you to save him.”
“You created this space, which is already very harmful to your body and will accelerate the backlash. It’s not worth expending your energy to save him.”
"But Yang Qingzhou's will to survive is strongest at this moment. If we give him another push, he will definitely survive."
Isn't this the ending we wanted to see?
"It's what you want to see, not what I want to see," Lu Qingyuan said coldly.
But when she saw Yu Tang's slightly furrowed brow, she quickly changed her tune, saying, "Okay, okay, I was just teasing you."
"I told you not to save him, but I didn't say I wouldn't save him."
"I'm saying this to get you to stop now, and leave everything to me from now on." He tilted his head back, looking arrogant. "After all, I'm an angel, am I any better at saving people than a devil like you?"
"You..." Yu Tang looked at Lu Qingyuan, who immediately changed his tune and cowered the moment he frowned at her, and found him adorable no matter how she looked at him.
Taking advantage of the moment when the two were hidden by the snow-white wings, she lowered her head and gently kissed Lu Qingyuan, saying, "Then I'll thank you in advance on behalf of Yang Qingzhou."
Lu Qingyuan's eyes were red with suppressed anger. Looking at the alluring Yu Tang in front of him, he recalled the man in the illusion who was entangled by vines and had a lewd expression. His Adam's apple bobbed slightly. He leaned in and pressed his neck against Yu Tang's, and said in a hoarse voice.
"After all, it's a human life at stake; this little bit of thanks isn't enough."
"You wait until we get back, then we'll settle these scores one by one."
Yu Tang suddenly felt a soreness in his lower back.
She wondered if it would be too late to negotiate with Lu Qingyuan.
After Wang Shaojuan's memories finished playing, it was An Rong's turn.
Wang Shaojuan stayed inside the girl's body, watching her third-grade daughter sitting at her desk in the classroom, drawing in a notebook.
The girl probably doesn't have much talent for drawing, but you can vaguely tell they're from the same family.
She has her parents and herself.
The little girl sat on the swing, with her father and mother standing beside her, both smiling as they pushed her along.
The text below reads: Mom and Dad, can you please not be separated?
Dad, if Mom talks to you again, I'll speak up for her and protect you.
Mom, please stop scolding Dad, okay? Dad has already done a very good job. I have a classmate whose dad always beats him. But Dad has never hit me.
Mom and Dad, shall we go camping together again?
We went to feed the animals together, and then we made a fire by the river and had a barbecue.
Let's look at some beautiful flowers together.
Dad, carry me on your shoulders, I'll pick fruit from the tree for you, and we'll be the happiest family ever.
As she wrote, An Rong burst into tears.
Wet the paper.
The little girl quickly wiped the tears off the paper with her hand, then carefully folded the drawing and put it in her pocket.
In class, she listened attentively and worked diligently on her assignments.
After class, she stood outside the school gate waiting for Wang Shaojuan to pick her up, one hand in her pocket, clutching the drawing paper tightly.
Once in the car, she cautiously asked Wang Shaojuan, "Mom, will Dad be able to come home again?"
After hearing Wang Shaojuan's forced smile, An Rong loosened her grip on the paper, rubbed her fingers together, and without crying or making a fuss, simply obediently said to Wang Shaojuan, "Okay, Mom, I understand."
Wang Shaojuan broke through her defenses in an instant.
She always thought An Rong was emotionally dull and that such a young child wouldn't be hurt by her parents' divorce.
But the truth is, her daughter was just too sensible.
She saw everything, yet said nothing.
Because she knew that saying those words and showing that piece of paper would only make her mother angrier and herself more heartbroken.
The memory continues, and Wang Shaojuan watches An Rong carry her to find An Luguo, only to be met with a cold shoulder.
She sat by the roadside, hugging her knees and crying very sadly.
She broke the card in half and threw it in the trash, not taking it home.
At that moment, the girl thought to herself that she would never come looking for her father again.
She wants to stay with her mother forever.
After wiping away her tears, she practiced her smile in front of the mirror in the bathroom for a long time. When she got home, she told Wang Shaojuan that her eyes hurt because she was too tired from studying, and asked Wang Shaojuan to buy her some eye drops.
Wang Shaojuan was very busy at the time and didn't notice her emotions.
Seeing her daughter like this now, and hearing An Rong's heartfelt words.
Wang Shaojuan then realized that An Rong had always been the one enduring the pain and making concessions for her in this family.
Chapter 22
The villain was resurrected for the fifth time (22)
This kind of migration has been occurring between Wang Shaojuan and An Luguo ever since their divorce.
Wang Shaojuan is under a lot of work pressure, and that Peipei keeps causing trouble for her every few days.
This led her to bring her emotions home, and she couldn't help but mention to An Rong that An Luguo's son was better at studying than An Rong, and that An Rong should work harder so as not to be outdone by them.
She thought she was just saying it casually, and An Rong just took it as a casual remark.
She thought this wasn't anything provocative, just a parent's normal expectation of their child.
But she didn't know that for the sensitive An Rong, this was an invisible pressure.
Especially under immense academic pressure and with absolutely no interest in socializing, these words—whether sarcastic, expectant, or angry—slowly wove together a large net, tightly binding An Rong, tightening it more and more until the girl could hardly breathe.
On the day the report cards were handed out, Wang Shaojuan met with An Luguo and was publicly humiliated by Song Peipei.
An Luguo just watched from the sidelines, his eyes showing no intention of helping her whatsoever.
He even felt an urge to kick her a couple of times and stomp her into the mud, only then would he feel satisfied.
Feeling suffocated with emotion, and seeing An Rong's poor test results, Wang Shaojuan slapped her daughter.
At that moment, Wang Shaojuan heard An Rong's innermost thoughts.
Mom, is it really that important to you that much in terms of grades?
And in your eyes, am I always just a good-for-nothing who can't be helped?
Are you already tired of my clumsiness, and always feel that I can't compare to my father's child?
How long are you going to keep getting entangled with your father and that woman like this?
Mom, I'm so tired, please, please let me go...
It felt as if her heart had been cleaved in two by a knife, bleeding bright red blood. The pain made Wang Shaojuan pale, and tears streamed down her face.
She wanted to say: No, daughter, Mom didn't mean to say those things. You are the best child in Mom's eyes. I'm just used to your obedience.
I've gotten used to venting my emotions on you, used to putting pressure on you...
It was Mom who was wrong...
This strong and resilient woman watched her daughter grow increasingly depressed, yet she still forced a smile in front of her, watching her daughter hold the medical report, wanting to tell her something.
But she never took it seriously. She would say things like, "I've kept you so healthy, how could you possibly get this kind of disease? Don't use this as an excuse for not wanting to work hard."
Gradually, as she stopped listening to her, An Rong's condition began to worsen, and she tossed and turned in bed every day, unable to sleep.
The girl curled up in the blanket, hugging her head, and cried softly.
But upon hearing the noise at the door, she suppressed her sobs and turned her back to pretend to be asleep.
The daily pressure and insomnia gradually made her more and more negative and desperate.
This time, Wang Shaojuan truly understood An Rong's inner pain.
One by one, the ways to die flashed through my mind.
The intense urge to leave this world and escape everything around her startled Wang Shaojuan so much that she covered her mouth, her face filled with shock and helplessness.
She watched helplessly as An Rong, tormented by depression that she had ignored, stood atop the high, unfinished building.
Watching Yang Qingzhou rush to save An Rong, and seeing that kind young man say the words that rekindled her daughter's hope for life.
But then she watched as Yang Qingzhou collapsed and fell down the stairs, exhausted.
This time, even Wang Shaojuan herself couldn't help but call out "Yang Qingzhou's" name.
She shared in that despair and struggle with her daughter, and felt anger and disappointment towards her past self.
When the two of them awoke from each other's memories, they saw each other's tear-stained faces and trembling lips.
He shouted...
"mom……"
"Rongrong..."
The mother and daughter embraced, and almost simultaneously uttered the next three words: "I'm sorry..."
Both of them were stunned.
Wang Shaojuan hugged her daughter tightly, for the first time showing respect to those so-called parents and elders.
Parents completely abandoned their reserve and authority.
She could only choke out, "Daughter, I'm so sorry, I was wrong... so utterly wrong..."
“Mom won’t pressure you anymore. Mom won’t mention that family again. Their business is their business, and it has nothing to do with us.”
"Mom will never compare you to anyone else. You are the best in my heart. Even if you don't get into college, you will still be Mom's most outstanding daughter."
"And about Yang Qingzhou, I also want to apologize to you. I saw his mother hit you, and I wanted to take you away. I also want to apologize to that whole family. I always speak without thinking, saying whatever comes to mind, which hurt them... I only ask you..."