What if you remain interested all along?

Wu Wenyue was silent for a moment, then sighed softly, "Actually, I’m a bit puzzled. He’s gone so far, yet you still won’t give up, Sister Xuan. What exactly do you like about him?"

"Yeah," Xu Manning couldn’t help but urge, "You’ve only known Peifeng for a few months. Even if you’ve had a few Shared Dreams and gone through some things in them... you don’t have to focus on just this one tree. Besides, Sister Xuan, you’re so outstanding; you can certainly find someone more suitable and loyal."

Huang Tianxuan’s chopsticks paused, and she gazed at the two with emphasis in her tone, "Please, dating a handsome guy who can have Shared Dreams with me and talk in my mind is super cool, okay?!"

"You all can’t bear to give up, yet you shamelessly go together to meet his parents, but turn around to persuade me to give up? Why don’t you give up yourselves?"

"..."

The two had complex expressions. Huang Tianxuan chuckled, "How about this, I’ll give each of you thirty million, would you break up with him then?"

It’s actually reached this point of throwing money at people?!!

"Keep your thirty million!"

At this point, everything laid bare, the scene fell silent. Xu Manning picked up her chopsticks to eat some meat, but her movements were slow, lost in thought.

Wu Wenyue took a sip of beer, her eyes flickering, thinking, is it just thirty million? If that scoundrel were to find a super rich woman in the future, would someone throw three hundred million to make Manning and me leave? With three hundred million in hand, it might be worth considering not marrying the scoundrel, just maintaining a secret emotional connection. That seems nice too...

"I don’t know if you remember, but in the dream, I talked to you about my family and my childhood experiences."

Huang Tianxuan, eating while seeming to talk to herself, said, "My family is both my pride and the source of my pain and oppression. Since I was about seven or eight, I could sense the completely different attitude of my parents and relatives towards me compared to my two brothers."

"My eldest brother brought them the joy of first-time parenthood, and my youngest brother, being the youngest, naturally received their favoritism. Only I, the middle child and a girl, didn’t bring them much surprise and received the least attention during my childhood, which was understandable. But I was dissatisfied at the time; I worked hard in my studies, hoping to get my parents’ attention that way."

"But I wasn’t smart enough. Even with hard work, and using some illegal substances, my achievements never reached a surprising level. They seemed indifferent to my small progress and continued having high expectations for the sons who would inevitably inherit their businesses."

Huang Tianxuan let out a long breath, looked up, and smiled, "Even when I got into a decent university and declared my intent to join the family business in the future, they didn’t view me any differently. My dad even had the idea of having more outstanding sons with other young women outside when he had a later burst of energy..."

"Huh?"

Wu Wenyue and Xu Manning were silently taken aback, the latter more captivated by this melodramatic story, tentatively asking, "Did your uncle have a love child outside?"

Huang Tianxuan shook her head with a smile, "My mom discovered it in time and paid that woman a sum to have the pregnancy terminated. The situation was a complete mess..."

"Cheers."

Wu Wenyue decisively raised her glass to toast with Huang Tianxuan.

Xu Manning followed suit, "Count me in!"

The three girls swallowed this bitter yet sweet liquid, Miss Xu asked, "And then?"

Getting hooked on the story?

Huang Tianxuan pondered for a moment before speaking again, "Then my parents and other elders began introducing potential matches to me. I was in my senior year at the time. I don’t know if you experienced this, Manning, but this is how my family is... They hoped I would find someone of similar social standing, ideally beneficial to the family business, so the matches they introduced had family conditions similar to mine."

"However, given the lessons from my family’s past and what I’ve heard and seen, I had no fondness for these people, nor did I ever hope to find some real Prince Charming, so after just two meetings, I strongly resisted..."

Huang Tianxuan tilted her head slightly, as if reminiscing, and laughed, "My parents were very disappointed, thinking I was disobedient. I said I was too busy with my studies for romance. They said they wanted to see me get married and have children soon. I said I could at most promise not to commit suicide."

"That scared them." Huang Tianxuan picked up some slices of fatty beef with her chopsticks and smiled knowingly at the two girls engrossed in the story: "So they stopped introducing potential matches and instead began introducing psychological counselors. In fact, at that time, I really had some psychological issues. Preparing for grad school was one thing; another was the long-term neglect by my parents and their practically nonexistent yet forced marriage, which caused both them and us children great pain."

"Yes, indeed."

Xu Manning nodded as if she truly understood, having set aside other concerns to focus intently on Huang Tianxuan’s storytelling...

"Then what happened?"

"Then?" Huang Tianxuan pursed her lips, "Then I just studied while also undergoing counseling. It was effective but not much; the suicidal thoughts lessened, but I still couldn’t discern whether I needed a hug, to drink ten bottles of soda, to see a psychologist, to sleep for six months, or to be hit by a car."

Seeing the girls trying to suppress their laughter, Huang Tianxuan also laughed, "That state lasted about a semester, until I read Li Peifeng’s novel. After confirming my graduate scores, I gradually started to get better."