"Ze, Zexiao." It took her a long time to open her mouth, and the moment she spoke, Yu Zexiao was sure it was her. And there was something at her feet, looked like a present, just placed there in an ordinary shopping bag. She paused for a moment before saying, "This is just a little something from me."

Then her head couldn’t help but lean to look behind him. "Where’s Anning?"

As she spoke, Jian Anning had already changed her clothes and was coming down the stairs. She was still going down when she looked up and almost missed a step, nearly tumbling down the staircase!

"Careful!" Yu Zexiao was startled too and immediately turned around. Jian Anning clutched the handrail and only just managed to steady herself. She stared down at Jian Panying standing below, as if in disbelief, blinked, and after a long hesitation finally called out, "Mom?"

The moment Jian Panying heard her call her that, her whole face lit up with a bit of joy. When she smiled, the crow’s feet at the corners of her eyes looked even more obvious, but this smile lacked the falsehood of the past; there was actually a hint of warmth in it. "Anning."

Now Jian Anning was certain: the woman in front of her was definitely her mother! It was just that—less than two years had passed. She clearly remembered that when the Cheng Family went under, there was still some money at home, and she had always been sending her pension on time. She had even calculated it; it was enough for her and Cheng Juye to maintain a basic standard of living—so how had she ended up like this?

"Mom, how did you..."

Hearing the shock in her voice, how could Jian Panying not know what Jian Anning was surprised about? In fact, every night when she looked in the mirror, even she herself found her own appearance a bit frightening.

The money Jian Anning gave her really wasn’t little, but later she divorced Cheng Juye, then went to live in Austria, and she still had to send money to Cheng Tingting in prison. How could there be any money left?

Although now she was no longer who she used to be. After being crushed at the very bottom, she had learned to keep a low profile, learned that she had to save a little.

When had she started falling to this point? Sometimes she too would think about her past, think about Jian Anning—and Ma Xinyu.

When she was young, like all women, she liked listening to sweet talk, liked the little romantic gestures men created for her. Because of that, she didn’t really like the reserved, introverted Ma Xinyu, and instead was drawn to Cheng Juye, who could say sweet things and knew how to please her. Besides, in terms of family background, Cheng Juye was better off than Ma Xinyu back then. So she didn’t hesitate at all to get a divorce and marry Cheng Juye, even though she knew he already had a son.

But looking back now, later Ma Xinyu relied on his own abilities to grow the company step by step, and very quickly gained a foothold in Canada. Even though Ma Xinyu wasn’t good at saying nice things, she later learned—there was another woman in his heart. But in the two years they were married, he had actually treated her very well.

Even when they had just arrived in Vancouver and his career wasn’t going smoothly, he had never once, like Cheng Juye, taken his bad mood out on them with drinking and violence.

And this daughter of hers was just like her father. She looked gentle and reserved, not as dazzling and attention-grabbing as Cheng Tingting. But in reality, her heart was very kind and upward-looking.

It’s just that most people are only attracted at first glance to that kind of arrogant, flamboyant air. This kind of deep, restrained temperament is something you can’t feel at the beginning.