How could I not blame her?
I blamed Li Ping for being blind enough back then to fall for my weak, spineless father. I blamed her for the reckless pregnancy that brought me into this world without the means to raise me.
However, I now knew that her abandonment, her years of silence, and her apparent cold-heartedness were not her true intent. She had her reasons. She was coerced by my grandmother; she genuinely thought she was giving me a better life.
Should I not forgive her?
I said to Li Ping, “Let’s not mention the past anymore. Rest assured, even if I never become the ‘Grand Young Miss’ of the Zhou family, I will make sure you live a good life.”
I looked toward the west of the city, in the direction of the Zhou residence. I loathed them. I only hoped that everything my stepmother currently possessed, I could one day provide for Li Ping. Not just because she was my mother, but because perhaps humans always need to find their roots. My heart had been like floating duckweed; I never considered the Zhous my family. Now, Li Ping was my only kin. I would consider this a way of finding my own foundation.
Returning to the Jiang household, I made a request to Jiang Shitian: I wanted to learn how to do business.
Jiang Shitian looked at me with surprise. After all, Jiang Jun had just finished declaring he would never take over the family business and only cared about spending money. Jiang Shitian studied me intently.
“Are you certain you want to learn?” he asked. “Business is exhausting. It’s much more comfortable to remain a princess at home.”
I recalled what he told me at the commercial center—that in the Jiang family, I could be a happy princess. But I wasn’t a princess, and I wasn’t happy.
“I’m not afraid of hardship,” I told him firmly.
Ultimately, Jiang Shitian nodded in approval. He decided to teach me the ropes personally. After all, the Jiang empire needed an heir and a manager, and I was now a part of the family.
…
Since I began learning from Jiang Shitian, I became incredibly busy. I had no time for self-pity or for my personal vendetta with Jiang Jun.
Jiang Shitian taught me financial management and investment. He didn’t immediately hand over the Jiang industries; instead, he encouraged me to find a field that interested me. He even gave me a sum of seed capital. He told me that the first step to building a commercial empire was owning your own assets.
I chose jewelry.
Growing up, I watched my stepmother move heaven and earth to scavenge the world’s finest treasures for Zhou Qing. I was always dazzled by the endless stream of jewelry Qing wore. I used to watch with longing, then spend my time researching those pieces to understand them. Over time, even though I owned nothing, I accumulated a wealth of knowledge regarding global gemstones and designs.
However, I knew that knowledge alone wasn’t enough.
After I used Jiang Shitian’s seed capital to purchase my first set of jewelry, he began introducing me to his inner circle. Through him, I met friends in the jewelry industry, and through them, I gained access to rare, high-end pieces.
As I purchased several expensive sets in succession, my reputation for being a “spendthrift” began to spread through East City. Local media outlets caught wind of it and began targeting me, snapping photos whenever I appeared at a jewelry house.
Mianmian must have heard the rumors too. Her eyes red with envy, she appeared before me clinging to Jiang Jun’s arm. At the time, I was in a newly opened jewelry boutique purchasing a set.
I heard Mianmian’s dissatisfied voice: “Brother Jun, look, she’s buying jewelry again. The media was right; she’s absolutely vain. Look at that set in her hand—it’s so flashy, the mark of a nouveau riche. And she’s spending your family’s money. That money was supposed to be yours!”
She really knew how to strike where it hurt. Mianmian understood Jiang Jun perfectly; every word she spoke cut straight to his heart. Predictably, Jiang Jun’s brow furrowed in displeasure.
A few days ago—the day he pushed Li Ping—Jiang Jun had returned home because he felt a sense of crisis. He was terrified his status was at risk and that the Jiang fortune would no longer belong to him. He was likely following Yao Ye’s advice, thinking that if he humoured Jiang Shitian, the inheritance would remain secure. He hadn’t expected Li Ping’s visit to blow up in his face.
The atmosphere at home had been awkward since then. When Jiang Jun realized Jiang Shitian was actually placing his hopes on me, he became dismissive. He left home again, brazenly seeking out Mianmian. He was trying to prove a point: that without him, I was nothing.
He viewed me like my mother—an outsider. He believed that as long as we had no children, he had nothing to fear regarding the inheritance.
I took a deep breath, unwilling to have a confrontation in a public shop. My mind was focused entirely on business and profit; I had no patience for their games. If I didn’t take them seriously, they were nothing. I planned to pay and leave quietly. As a public figure, I had to be mindful of my image.
Unexpectedly, as I reached for my card to pay, Jiang Jun stepped in to stop me.
“You can’t buy this,” Jiang Jun said. “This set is clearly overpriced.”
I sneered. “This set is worth 100,000. That’s just one month of your allowance.”
The set was titled “Magnificence.” True to its name, it was crafted from solid gold—shimmering, bold, and grand. It was the kind of piece where “gaudy” meets “high art.” It wasn’t something an average person could appreciate.
I hadn’t chosen it because it was the most expensive; in this shop, it was actually mid-range. There were far more precious items in the store. However, this set was designed by a rising star named Luo Yang. It was his graduation masterpiece.
From my research, I knew Luo Yang was a student of the international master, Arthur King—the only Chinese student in his cohort. While Luo Yang’s work was already gaining fame abroad, he was virtually unknown domestically. I knew him because among the birthday gifts my stepmother bought for Zhou Qing, there was a brooch he had designed. Zhou Qing loved it and wore it constantly. But when my stepmother bought it, she only knew it was under a famous foreign brand; she had no idea who Luo Yang was.
I, however, had noticed the “LY” mark on the brooch and conducted an in-depth study. I had been following his career closely. I knew Luo Yang was a patriot who planned to return to China after graduation. He insisted on selling his graduation design domestically at cost, waiving the design fee just to find the right buyer.
Not long ago, through Jiang Shitian’s connections, I had already purchased a complete collection of Luo Yang’s pieces sold abroad. Now, after much searching, I had finally found this unique graduation piece in this new shop. I had come specifically for “Magnificence” because I believed in Luo Yang’s potential in the domestic market. I had no interest in anything else.
Jiang Jun continued to block me. “Even if it’s only 100,000, where did you get the money? The Jiang family doesn’t have extra cash for you to waste on these trinkets!”