9. People and money, in the end, both seek the same thing.

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Just as Lu Tingyuan fed Su Yiyi the last bite of rice, he heard Ji Qingran calling him, and his hand holding the tissue paused mid-air.

“What is it?”

Ji Qingran looked at his slender, well-defined knuckles suspended in the air and recalled how, when he used to coax her back, it was with this same hand that he kindled her passion for him inch by inch.

Back then, he would say, “Ranran, the Ji family doesn’t want you, but I do. From now on, I’ll bring you home as my wife. I’ll be the only family you have in this world.”

She couldn’t understand why someone who could speak such sweet words could become so cold that every one of his actions left her utterly shattered.

Was it because she loved him?

Yes, she did. From the night he coaxed her to bed, kissed her tears, and promised, “I’ll treat you well for the rest of your life,” she had loved him deeply and truly.

Even now, she still loved him.

But what good did that do? He no longer loved her—not entirely, maybe there was still a sliver of affection, but it couldn’t compare to Su Yiyi’s pull on him.

So, even though her love remained undiminished, it couldn’t change the fact that they had already parted ways.

Life was just like that.

She wanted to receive familial love from the Ji family, but they refused to give it, no matter how much she begged.

She wanted to stay by Lu Tingyuan’s side, but he had grown tired; the more she clung, the further he pushed her away.

After all these years, she had learned one truth—

In the end, people had to face reality.

“I want to speak with you privately,” she said to Lu Tingyuan, word by word.

He was momentarily stunned, then nodded. “I’ll take Yiyi back first, then come to talk to you.”

Ji Qingran agreed, “I’ll wait for you.”

And so she waited—six hours in total.

Lu Tingyuan had been coming every day these past few days. Since he was handsome and generous, many nurses at the hospital paid attention to him, and soon some gossip reached Ji Qingran’s ears.

Su Yiyi complained of chest pain soon after returning to her ward, which terrified Lu Tingyuan. Doctors and nurses rushed in and conducted various examinations, administering several bottles of nutritional injections before Su Yiyi’s condition improved somewhat.

It wasn’t until late that Lu Tingyuan called Ji Qingran: “If there’s something to say, we can talk over the phone.”

Ji Qingran knew then he wouldn’t come. He wanted to stay by Su Yiyi’s side, fearing she might get anxious if she couldn’t see him.

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This was the outcome she had anticipated long ago, so she didn’t react strongly and said calmly, “You said before you’d compensate me.”

“What do you want?”

“Invest two million in Jiang Yao’s company and forgive Su Yiyi for causing my hospitalization.”

Lu Tingyuan hesitated and corrected her, “It wasn’t Yiyi’s fault, it was mine…”

“That doesn’t matter.”

At this point, Ji Qingran was too weary to argue who was to blame. “Either way, I was hurt because of you both. You give Jiang Yao two million as my equity in the company—that’s my compensation.”

Lu Tingyuan was silent for a moment, then with a hint of surprise said, “I thought you’d never ask me for money.”

Ji Qingran smiled, “I always have an eye for both money and people.”

“Alright. I’ll have my assistant transfer it tomorrow.”

“Thanks.”

Ji Qingran was about to hang up when Lu Tingyuan suddenly said, “Ranran, don’t blame Yiyi. She feels guilty and thinks it’s her fault you got hurt. Her health is poor; she can’t bear such grievances.”

Ji Qingran wanted to ask, Isn’t that true?

But as she opened her mouth, the image of Su Yiyi fussing over Lu Tingyuan feeding her suddenly appeared in her mind.

She felt suffocated, struggling like a drowning person for a while before forcing herself to say, “You don’t have to come see me anymore. I can take care of myself.”

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to see Lu Tingyuan, but to see him meant seeing Su Yiyi too. She didn’t want to invite misery, so she simply decided not to see him at all.

There was silence on the other end before the call was disconnected.

She didn’t know if he agreed.

The next day, Lu Tingyuan indeed did not come.

But Su Yiyi came.

The young girl wore a knee-length dress and sat on the sofa in the ward, her smooth legs swinging lightly.

She smiled sweetly at Ji Qingran, innocent and pure.

“Qingran, I heard you don’t want to see Senior Brother anymore. Do you not want to see him, or do you not want to see me? Do you really dislike me? But what can you do? Between you and me, Senior Brother obviously cares more about me.”

Su Yiyi was clearly there to provoke her, but Ji Qingran didn’t want to get angry. Her head hurt more whenever she was upset.

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But she couldn’t help feeling distressed; the sensation of drowning overwhelmed her again. She gripped the bedsheet tightly, unwilling to show weakness before a young girl.

Su Yiyi continued with a sly smile, “Actually, Qingran, you don’t love Senior Brother that much, do you? When you love someone, you care so deeply that you can’t stand to see them close to anyone else. But Qingran, when Senior Brother held me, you reacted so calmly—not jealous at all. I can’t do that. Just thinking yesterday that Senior Brother would be alone with you made me so upset I got sick. Luckily, in the end, he chose me.”

Ji Qingran, unsure of her own motives, replied, “Oh, really? Have you ever thought about how close Senior Brother and I grew over six years? If you care so much about him, and you knew all the things he never did with you but did many, many times with me, would you be even sicker?”

She felt she must be going mad to use her intimate past with Lu Tingyuan to hurt Su Yiyi like this.

But what else could she do? She just wanted to see Su Yiyi suffer. The thought of the young girl heartbroken over Lu Tingyuan and her past inexplicably made Ji Qingran happy.

She was never a good person.

Sure enough, Su Yiyi’s face turned extremely sour; her hands clenched into trembling fists on her lap.

Her voice was almost ferocious: “Qingran, have you ever thought that Senior Brother doesn’t love you at all? Back then, he only cared for you because he pitied you being cast out by the Ji family, just like wealthy people choose to do charity. Later, because you gave him your first time so early, he was too young and thought he had to be responsible for you, so he had no choice but to date you for so many years. Now that I’m here, he finally understands what it means to truly love someone.”

Ji Qingran bit her lip to keep her tears from falling.

She didn’t know Lu Tingyuan had told Su Yiyi all this. The past she couldn’t bear to recall, the experiences she tried to forget—he had shared them all with Su Yiyi.

He said he would protect her and never let her be hurt by the past again.

She believed him—wholeheartedly.

She never imagined he would strip her bare and hand her over to Su Yiyi to mock!

“Leave.”

Ji Qingran admitted defeat, utterly broken. “This is my ward, and I need to rest.”

Su Yiyi flashed a victorious smile.

She jumped down from the sofa, glanced at her wristwatch, and exclaimed dramatically, “Oh my, it’s really late. I’ll be going now. Rest well, Qingran.”

Her watch looked very familiar—the same style as the other one worn on Ji Qingran’s wrist.

“Wait.”