The moment those words fell, the living room fell completely silent.
Yu Xiuqi stared at Yu Zhiwan in shock, his face filled with disbelief.
Even Yu Changde was too stunned to continue his anger.
Even Yu Xiangxiang covered her mouth in surprise.
After saying what she needed to say, Yu Zhiwan went back to her room to pack her things.
Her room was actually a storage room on the second floor. It was small and completely undecorated.
This was the room the Yu family had given her, and she had lived there for years.
Yu Zhiwan didn’t own much, so she quickly packed everything into a suitcase and dragged it downstairs.
Yu Xiangxiang hurried over and grabbed her arm, tears immediately streaming down her face.
“Sister, this is your home. How can you leave? If anyone should leave, it should be me… It’s all because of me that you and Mom, Dad, and our brothers have fallen out…”
“Sister, hurry and apologize to Dad. Just tell him you were throwing a tantrum. Dad will definitely forgive you!”
Seeing Yu Xiangxiang lower herself like this, Yu Shaoze immediately felt sorry for her and rushed over.
“Xiangxiang, don’t lower yourself like that. She’s not worth it!”
But when he saw Yu Zhiwan pulling her suitcase, Yu Shaoze’s feelings became complicated.
No matter what, Yu Zhiwan was still his biological younger sister.
“Yu Zhiwan, are you really leaving?” Yu Shaoze asked with a frown.
Yu Zhiwan remained expressionless.
“Did you go deaf at such a young age, or do you simply not understand human language? I already made myself perfectly clear.”
Yu Shaoze was speechless.
Yu Zhiwan had always spoken to him gently and tried her best to please him. When had she ever spoken to him like this?
Yu Changde roared furiously.
“No one is allowed to stop her! Let her go! I, Yu Changde, don’t have a daughter like this! And once she leaves, she’d better not come crawling back!”
Come crawling back?
Yu Zhiwan almost laughed at the absurdity.
“This home, and all of you so-called family members, only make me sick.”
“I will never come back to the Yu family!”
With that, she pulled her suitcase and walked straight out without looking back.
Her back was straight and proud, her departure filled with absolute determination.
Yu Shaoze clenched his fists.
When he turned and saw the dazed expression on Tao Shuqin’s face, he gritted his teeth and reassured her.
“Mom, don’t worry. No matter what happened before, Yu Zhiwan was always the one who lowered her head and apologized first. This time will be no different!”
“Let her suffer a little outside. Then she’ll realize how good she had it at home. She’ll come crawling back on her own within a week! Big Brother, don’t you agree?”
Yu Xiuqi watched Yu Zhiwan’s retreating figure, his expression complicated, but he still nodded.
“That’s right. She’ll come back on her own.”
Yu Xiangxiang chased after Yu Zhiwan for a couple of steps before Yu Changde called her back.
She stopped and looked at Yu Zhiwan’s back.
You really look like a stray dog that’s been driven out of its home, Sister.
Believe it or not, I don’t actually want you to leave right now.
Are you really giving up just like that?
What a pity.
Your family and your fiancé… they’re all mine now.
Yu Zhiwan dragged her suitcase away from the Yu family home.
The weather was gloomy, the sky covered in dark clouds as though rain could fall at any moment.
But there wasn’t the slightest trace of sadness or confusion in Yu Zhiwan’s heart.
The thorn that had been lodged deep in her heart had finally been pulled out.
From now on, she would never again have to endure the pain and suffering inflicted by the people who were supposed to be her closest family.
Even if leaving the Yu family meant having nowhere to go, she would never return to her adoptive parents.
She had taken a year off school to care for Yu Xiangxiang, so she was a year behind her peers. She had only just started her senior year of university.
Yu Zhiwan planned to return to school and apply for a dormitory room.
She had just reached the road ahead when a discreet yet luxurious black car suddenly pulled up beside her.
The rear window rolled down, revealing the man’s devastatingly handsome profile.
Yu Zhiwan froze slightly.
Xie Jingmo?
Why do I keep running into him?
The moment Xie Jingmo arrived, he had noticed Yu Zhiwan pulling a suitcase.
He immediately told Tang Yi to stop the car.
He opened the door, stepped out, and walked toward her.
“Why are you carrying a suitcase?”
Xie Jingmo glanced toward the Yu family residence in the distance before looking back at Yu Zhiwan.
His voice suddenly turned dark and cold.
“They bullied you again?”
Yu Zhiwan’s eyelashes trembled slightly, and she froze for a moment.
Not long after she had first returned to the Yu family, she had overheard the servants secretly gossiping.
“Even though the biological daughter is back, it seems like the eldest and second young masters don’t like their biological sister. They only like Miss Xiangxiang. If you ask me, the biological daughter must have done something wrong. Otherwise, why would the two young masters dislike her so much?”
When her university acceptance letter had been torn up, she had gone to ask an older student at the admissions office for advice.
The first thing he had asked her was,
“Did you do something to make your parents angry? Is that why they tore up your acceptance letter?”
Even Gu Chengfeng had told her shortly after they started dating,
“The Yu family favors Yu Xiangxiang instead of you. You must have done something wrong. Maybe you should look at yourself and figure out what you need to change.”
But now, when Xie Jingmo saw her carrying a suitcase, he didn’t ask unnecessary questions.
His first words weren’t criticism.
He didn’t blame her for what had happened either.
Instead, he asked,
“Did they bully you?”
Yu Zhiwan’s fingers tightened around the suitcase handle.
Her heart tightened as well.
It felt like being hurt and suddenly having someone comfort her.
She looked up at the man in front of her, her eyes inexplicably burning.
“I’ve cut ties with the Yu family. From now on, I have nothing to do with them anymore. That’s why I’m packing my things and leaving the Yu family home.”
Xie Jingmo was stunned for a moment.
Then his brows lifted slightly, and he sincerely said,
“Then congratulations.”
Congratulations on having the courage to make such a brave decision.
Yu Zhiwan’s heart softened.
“Thank you.”
She hadn’t expected it.
She and Xie Jingmo weren’t close, yet the first person to congratulate her had turned out to be him.
Thinking back, when Yu Changde had torn up her university acceptance letter, she had received a message on her phone offering to help her leave the Yu family.
At the time, she had also considered leaving.
But after Tao Shuqin comforted her, she had softened and decided to stay, turning down the offer.
She had no idea who had sent that message.
Perhaps it had been sent to the wrong person.
Perhaps it had simply been a prank.
Yu Zhiwan glanced at Xie Jingmo, then at Tang Yi, who had just gotten out of the driver’s seat.
She was a little curious about why Xie Jingmo was here.
As if he had seen through her question, the man casually said,
“I’m here to discuss the marriage.”
Yu Zhiwan nodded.
“I see. Yu Changde and Tao Shuqin are both at home, and Yu Xiangxiang is there too. You can go inside.”
Xie Jingmo looked at her indifferent, completely uninvolved expression.
The tip of his tongue pressed lightly against the roof of his mouth.
His flirtatious eyes narrowed slightly.
Three seconds later, he leisurely corrected her.
“Perhaps I wasn’t clear enough, Miss Yu Zhiwan.”
“I’m here to discuss the marriage between you and me.”
Yu Zhiwan froze.
She nearly choked on her own saliva.
“Me?”
The man tilted his head slightly. His thin lips curved into a lazy smile, his tone leisurely and composed.
“You broke up with Gu Chengfeng, didn’t you?”
“So I shouldn’t count as the other man anymore, right?”
“Of course, even if I did, it wouldn’t really matter.”
Tang Yi, standing nearby: “…!!!”
Oh my God.
President Xie is actually willing to be the other man?!
Yu Zhiwan: “…”
What other man?
Yu Zhiwan pressed her lips together.
“But the Yu family already said that Yu Xiangxiang would be the one to fulfill the engagement with the Xie family.”
Xie Jingmo raised an eyebrow, his tone arrogant and domineering.
“I’m choosing my own wife. When did they get the right to interfere?”
As he spoke, Xie Jingmo leaned slightly closer to Yu Zhiwan.
His dark, deep-set eyes stared straight into hers. There was something irresistibly captivating about his gaze, enough to make anyone lose themselves in it.
“Yu Zhiwan.”
“The engagement my grandfather arranged with Old Master Yu has always been with the Yu family’s biological daughter.”
“In other words…”
“My fiancée has always been you.”
“And it will only ever be you.”