“Mother, I’ve talked to Yumin about this. It’s fine if we don’t manage the company. We can still get shares and earn profits off the dividends.”
Jian Yujie countered He Yan’s point of view. He tried to prove to her that things were not as bad as she thought.
“Don’t be so naive. Do you really think that we’ll still have a foothold in the Jian family if that were to happen?” He Yan wasn’t willing to listen to any of the things that Jian Yujie said.
“Mother, things are not that bad…”
“You think that I’m imagining things to be worse than they are?” He Yan began to laugh maniacally. Tears streamed down her face as she did so. She started to speak again:
“When I was eight years old, my father died at a construction site. However, the construction site refused to give us a single penny. My mother was watching the little money that we had dwindle away, day by day. We didn’t even know what the next month would be like. We were in danger of being evicted by the landlord.”
“Later, my mother married a divorced man. She had to bring me into her second marriage. Our days were a little better. However, whenever that man got drunk, he would hit us. Every day, I lived in fear. I was so cautious. I was so incredibly scared that I’d be beaten for doing something wrong. I didn’t want to end up on the streets.”
“I know that I didn’t come from a good family. As a result, I know that a lot of people still look down on me. Even after I married into the Jian family, I had to live and act cautiously. I was afraid of upsetting my in-laws. I was so scared of losing this family. And losing your father.”
“What am I doing all this for? I will tell you what I’m doing this for! I don’t want to feel like I’m constantly stepping on eggshells. I want to finally live for myself!”
He Yan cried out. Tears rapidly streamed down her face.
Jian Yujie stood there numbly. He didn’t know how to respond.
The sound of his mother crying felt like a sword stabbing him in the chest.
For the first time in his life, he felt as though he was going to break down.
He Yan continued to shout at Jian Yujie, “Go ahead! Show the video to your uncle! Wait for them to show it to Grandpa and Grandma Jian! And then watch them kick me out of the family!”
“They wouldn’t do that. They wouldn’t…” Jian Yujie replied. He shook his head vigorously to deny that such a thing would happen.
“Are you sure that they wouldn’t?”
Jian Yujie wasn’t sure.
Grandpa Jian’s biggest taboo was hurting family members and causing disharmony within the family.
And his mother’s actions had done exactly that.
“Mother, I won’t tell them I got the video from you. Mother, I’m begging you.” Jian Yujie held onto his mother’s arm and pleaded.
“Do you think that they’re stupid? If you hand in the video, wouldn’t they ask you where the video came from? How do you plan to fool them with a brain like yours?”
He Yan put a stop to all of Jian Yujie’s suggestions.
He was forced to choose between Jian Yiling and his mother.
However, how could he make such a decision?
One of them was his beloved sister!
And the other was his mother!
Although he had several disagreements with her, she was still the person who had raised him up!
Jian Yujie couldn’t handle it anymore. He crouched down and held his head in his hands before he started to cry.
He was devastated.
He couldn’t make a choice.
He didn’t understand why he was forced to make a choice.
He didn’t want to do anything bad to Yiling, however, he didn’t want to hurt his mother either!
He Yan came up to him and squatted down to hug her son, “Yujie, listen to your mother. Forget about what happened today. If you don’t disclose the video, nothing will happen. Jian Yiling won’t be hurt. She still has her grandma to protect her. However, your mother is different. I’ll be forced to divorce your father. I’ll be forced to leave the family. I’ll lose all of you. I’ll have nothing left.”
“Go! Leave me alone!” Jian Yujie’s voice was hoarse as he choked out those words.
“Okay, I won’t force you to make a decision. Think about it.”
He Yan knew that she shouldn’t keep pressing her son to make a decision.
He Yan left the room. She left Jian Yujie alone in the study.
Jian Yujie stayed in the study until midnight.
He numbly looked outside the window.
He saw the night sky. The moon. And the shadows of the trees.
He felt cold. So incredibly cold. It was a chill that he had never felt before.
