Two days later, Jian Jinci submitted the design draft and received the remaining payment of five thousand yuan, bringing the total income from this design project to exactly ten thousand yuan.
She transferred five thousand to Jian Xu for his living expenses, but he didn’t accept it and returned the money.
Jian Xu: 【I don’t need the money. Keep it.】
Jian Jinci sighed, her fingers quickly tapping on the screen before hitting send: 【Take it. Don’t make me come to your school and beat you up.】
Jian Xu: 【Jian Jinci, did you get a dog outside?】
Jian Jinci: 【】
For some reason, the first person that came to mind when Jian Xu mentioned “dog” was Pei Yanzhou.
Jian Xu: 【You were cheated on.】
It didn’t surprise her at all that Jian Xu knew about her being cheated on, given Yan Xi’s big mouth.
Jian Jinci: 【It’s true I was cheated on, but where would I get a dog outside?】
During the time after being cheated on, she had only interacted with one man, Pei Yanzhou, but she hadn’t told anyone about it. Even Yan Xi didn’t know, so there was no way Jian Xu, who was at school, could have found out.
Jian Xu: 【Just saying. Jian Jinci, you have poor judgment and a talent for attracting scumbags. Stay away from men.】
“……”
What did that mean!?
Poor judgment? Talent for attracting scumbags?
Did this kid even remember she was his older sister?
Jian Jinci: 【Jian Xu! You’re asking for it!】
The message was sent with a red exclamation mark—he had blocked her again.
Jian Xu hadn’t accepted the money and had directly blocked her.
Jian Jinci stubbornly sent another message: 【At least take the money first.】
Still a red exclamation mark. She was already used to it. She and Jian Xu often blocked each other over disagreements.
Usually, when Jian Xu blocked her, it was either because he didn’t want to accept her money or because he found her too naggy.
Rebellious teenager, no respect for his elders.
At noon, she made a simple lunch. After eating, she checked the part-time job platform to see if there were any opportunities. After completing a big project, she hadn’t received any new orders recently.
Just as she opened her laptop, the doorbell rang. She placed the laptop on the coffee table and went to the door, peeking through the peephole to see who it was—it was the landlady.
Seeing it was the landlady, Jian Jinci opened the door.
The landlady was a middle-aged woman in her forties who had always been easy to talk to. Sometimes, when Jian Jinci couldn’t pay the rent on time, the landlady wouldn’t pressure her and would give her extra time.
Jian Jinci greeted her with a smile: “Auntie, is there something you need today?”
The landlady looked at her, her eyes filled with hesitation: “Xiao Ci…”
Jian Jinci: “Auntie, go ahead.”
“The apartment… I can’t rent it to you anymore… Please leave by noon tomorrow.” The landlady added, “Since I’m breaking the contract, I’ll refund you three months’ rent.”
Jian Jinci’s eyes darkened slightly: “Did someone come to see you?”
The landlady nodded reluctantly, and Jian Jinci understood. It wasn’t that the landlady wanted to kick her out—someone was trying to push her into a corner.
She smiled: “I understand, Auntie. There’s no need to refund the rent. Thank you for taking care of me all this time.”
“I’ll move out by noon tomorrow.”
The landlady apologized several more times before leaving.
Jian Jinci looked at the apartment she had lived in for two years, feeling reluctant to leave. Since leaving the Jian family at eighteen, this had been the place she had lived in the longest.
She wouldn’t dwell on her emotions for too long. Soon, she picked up her laptop, searched for a few rental listings on the housing platform, and after deciding on a target, changed her clothes and headed out.
In three hours, she visited three places, three landlords, all unwilling to rent to her upon seeing her identity information when signing the contract.
Jian Jinci had already guessed—it was undoubtedly the work of her so-called good father, stepmother, and stepsister.
Unable to find a place, Jian Jinci didn’t bother searching elsewhere and went straight home.
Because she clearly knew that continuing the search would be futile.
After returning, she curled up on the sofa for a while before getting up to pack her things. It seemed she really was going to end up sleeping on the streets.
As she packed her clothes into the suitcase, she noticed a black box tucked in the corner of the wardrobe.
She picked up the box and placed it on the bed. Just as she was wondering which bridge in the city she’d sleep under, she opened the box to find a key lying inside.
Jian Jinci picked up the key, her eyes lighting up.
Her thoughts drifted back to when she was eight years old.
A thirteen-year-old boy had pressed the key into her hand, saying, “If you ever have nowhere to go, this will be your home.”
The “home” he referred to was in the suburban villa area—his family’s old house. But later, the boy left, not for a distant place, but from this world. Now, the villa was likely an overgrown, abandoned yard.
Over the years, she had gone once a year to clean up, pulling weeds in the yard. She hadn’t gone yet this year.
Looking at the key in her hand, she curved her lips into a faint smile and whispered softly, “Little Uncle, are you doing well in the other world? Have you met Mom and Dad?”
The next day, Jian Jinci dragged two suitcases to the entrance of her neighborhood, hailed a taxi, and headed to the old villa area in the suburbs.
Standing at the villa gate with her suitcases, she noticed that the once rusty black wrought-iron gate was now brand new.
This was an old villa area. In the past, those who lived here were either wealthy or influential. Nowadays, most residents had moved away, and hardly anyone came here anymore.
So, what was going on with this gate?
She took out the key, opened the gate, and stepped inside. What she saw left her stunned. The yard, which should have been overgrown with weeds, was now clean and tidy, without a single weed in sight.
She unlocked the front door and walked into the entryway. Looking at the table there, she found not a speck of dust, as if it had been cleaned recently.
She passed through the living room, kitchen, bathroom, bedrooms, guest rooms, and study—none showed any trace of dust. It looked as though someone had been living here, yet she saw no one.
It couldn’t be burglars either, as there was nothing valuable inside.
Though puzzled, she didn’t dwell on it too much. After all, having a place to stay was better than sleeping under a bridge.
She cleaned the house once more. The decor was over a decade old. Her gaze fell on a family photo on the coffee table.
The people in the photo smiled gently. A man in a suit gazed affectionately at the woman beside him, while standing in the middle was a serious-looking boy, his young features already carrying a cool, detached air.
A smile touched her lips. After a moment, she placed the family photo back on the coffee table.
She carried her suitcase to a guest room on the second floor, planning to stay here for a while.
The more some people wanted her to suffer, the more determined she was to live well and prove them wrong.
However, her biological father truly was a failure. She had once thought Jian Senran simply didn’t like girls, but she never imagined he didn’t care for his son either.
Jian Xu, to avoid causing her trouble, had always been obedient and well-behaved since childhood. Yet, even so, Jian Senran paid him no mind, allowing that mother and daughter pair to bully him freely.
Everyone criticized Jian Xu as an illegitimate child, unfit for public recognition, yet no one condemned Jian Senran for his lack of self-restraint. The one who truly deserved universal condemnation was Jian Senran himself.
If one could choose their parents, who would willingly accept such a scoundrel—who abandoned his wife and child—as a father?