Chuzheng pushed through the crowd to stand in front of him. Sang Yu slightly lifted his eyes, his gaze falling on her: "Congratulations on your graduation."

Sang Yu handed her a bouquet.

The bouquet was made of roses, their vivid red color seemed to pierce one’s vision, and their fragrant scent hit the senses.

Chuzheng didn’t take it: "So?"

Sang Yu said softly: "Does the young lady mind having another boyfriend?"

Chuzheng took the flowers and, under the gaze of countless people, kissed him directly.

"I don’t mind."

Sang Yu, not quite used to being kissed in front of so many people, gently pushed her back: "Let’s leave here first."

"To the studio?"

"..." Sang Yu took a deep breath: "Let’s go eat and celebrate your graduation."

"..."

-

Bai Dongai watched Chuzheng and Sang Yu leave, a deep worry etched on his face.

"Dongge, your desk mate left with someone," someone patted Bai Dongai on the shoulder: "Aren’t you going after her?"

"A daughter grows up and must marry. What can I do?" Bai Dongai clicked his tongue and, seeing the sympathetic looks from the crowd, his expression changed: "What are you thinking about?"

A certain classmate weakly said: "Dongge, don’t you like her?"

"Who said I like her?" Bai Dongai said, perplexed.

Crowd: "..."

Isn’t that so?

Weren’t you close, coming and going together, even desk mates? Could there be no special feelings?

Bai Dongai rolled his eyes at them: "You think too much, I’m leaving."

Bai Dongai waved at them and walked off in another direction.

It wasn’t until he walked far away that Bai Dongai stopped and glanced in the direction where Chuzheng and Sang Yu had left. After a moment, he turned away and left without looking back.

-

Chuzheng and Sang Yu parted ways and went home. As she pulled out her keys, the door opened.

A scruffy man smelling of alcohol stumbled out, showing a mouthful of yellow teeth when he saw Chuzheng: "Oh, Xiao Chu is back."

The man didn’t linger, he just staggered away.

Chuzheng opened the door and looked inside the room; Mother Lu was not there. Father Lu sat on the sofa smoking.

Seeing Chuzheng return, he quickly put out his cigarette.

Chuzheng: "What was he here for?"

Father Lu knew Chuzheng had run into Little Uncle Lu, looking troubled: "Your uncle said he was short of money..."

"You know why he’s short, and you still lend him money?" She dealt with her uncle’s family, and now the younger one—a bunch of vampires.

It’s better to get rid of them!

"When your grandma was alive, she adored him since he was little. He came crying and shouting..." The blood ties there made Father Lu easily soften towards such people.

"He borrows money to gamble, there’s no chance he won’t gamble, so this hole can’t be filled. If you want to see our family ruined, keep lending him money. After all, it’s not him who will lose everything."

Chuzheng didn’t say much more, just this, and then carried her backpack into her room.

Father Lu smoked outside the whole night.

Later, Little Uncle Lu came again, Chuzheng stayed in her room and heard that Father Lu ended up giving money.

But Little Uncle Lu didn’t seem too happy when he left, loudly complaining about ’ignoring family ties’ and such.

After that incident, Little Uncle Lu never came back again.

Compared to her uncle’s family, Little Uncle Lu was relatively decent; he only asked for money in the past. When her family was in trouble, he kept his distance, but he never did anything as wicked as her uncle’s family.

So when Little Uncle Lu didn’t return, Chuzheng couldn’t be bothered with him.

During summer vacation, Chuzheng heard that her uncle’s family was planning to transfer Lu Qian to another school. Lu Qian didn’t give a reason, just insisted on transferring.

In her aunt’s eyes, the original owner of this girl was a waste of money, but hers was a cherished treasure, so when Lu Qian made a fuss, she was sure she’d get her way.

Chuzheng learned that the original uncle wanted to raise money to open a shop; that was the plan then. No one knew how he convinced Father Lu to sign it.

Now, since her uncle’s family couldn’t fool Father Lu, they could only mortgage their own house.

Chuzheng pointed them to an easy loan. Her uncle, hearing he could borrow more and with lower interest than he had found on his own, immediately agreed.

Of course, her uncle wasn’t that easily convinced, but Chuzheng got someone familiar with her uncle to introduce them. When a recommendation comes from someone they know, most people are at ease, and her uncle was no exception.

Their family had schemed against Father Lu and Mother Lu back then, so now it was time they experienced it themselves.

You walk the road you choose.

Before school started again, Chuzheng asked Father Lu and Mother Lu: "Do you want to move to another city?"

"Move to another city?" Father Lu was surprised: "Here..."

"Some things need to be completely discarded to truly enjoy life." Chuzheng said: "With your abilities, no matter where you go, people would compete to hire you."

Father Lu now held a high position, and his abilities were unquestioned. If he had any intention of switching jobs, many companies would come to him, so there wasn’t a concern about finding work. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Mother Lu was quite eager.

Although there were no ties with her uncle’s family anymore, she still worried they might come by.

With Father Lu’s temperament, that family could easily cause a scene, and who knows what might happen...

Father Lu thought it over: "I’ll consider it."

As it was just the beginning of summer vacation, there was still time. Chuzheng didn’t rush him and let Father Lu think it over slowly.

The original owner only knew how to throw tantrums, never pointing a way out for Father Lu. Now, Chuzheng directly provided a choice. As a father who cherished his daughter, with Mother Lu by his side longing for a change, Father Lu’s decision was clear.

Mother Lu had once opted to go with the original owner for schooling, likely because she couldn’t stand those people anymore.

Unexpectedly, they couldn’t avoid it all in the end...

Once Father Lu decided, he acted promptly, first reporting to his company here and then contacting people to find a job.

Someone with skills would be wanted anywhere, so Father Lu secured a job in just three days.

Afterwards, he went there to settle in first, while Mother Lu was at home, packing.

"Xiao Chu, are you taking all these clothes with you?" Mother Lu asked as she looked at the wardrobe full of dresses while packing for Chuzheng.

"Mm."

After all, they are your daughter’s belongings.

"Why did you buy so many..." Mother Lu said as she looked for boxes: "I haven’t seen you wear them lately, what, don’t you like them anymore?"

"I don’t feel like wearing them."

Chuzheng chatted noncommittally with Mother Lu, who quickly packed up the clothes.

Chuzheng didn’t do much, and even if she offered, Mother Lu wouldn’t let her help.

"Xiao Chu, come see, what is this?"

Mother Lu’s voice came from the doorway.

Chuzheng shuffled over in her slippers: "What is it?"

Mother Lu pointed at the shoe cabinet outside the door.

In this building, every household kept a shoe cabinet or rack outside. When Mother Lu opened the cabinet to clean out the shoes, she found a black cloth pouch inside.

Whether the pattern on it was embroidered or painted, it was sinister-looking and unsettling.