"Jiang Xiaoning, don't be afraid, I will always be with you, we are all the same."

One of us has no parents, the other has no father. We are born insignificant, yet we struggle against our insignificance. We grow up eating ordinary grains, so don't be afraid of the ordinary.

But Zhuang Yan, we are really different. We are not from the same world. I never thought that one day I would be so far away from you, as if no matter how hard I try, I can never catch up.

...

Over the years she's known Zhuang Yan, he's mostly been the one taking care of her. When she's in a bad mood, he takes her to amusement parks, aquariums to see dolphins, and restaurants.

All she could give him was a bowl of congee with preserved egg and lean pork that she had made herself.

Like two stray cats huddling together for warmth in winter, one day one of them is adopted, while the other continues to wander alone by the garbage.

The stark contrast made Jiang Ning feel inferior and timid. She even thought despicably, why is Zhuang Yan a rich man? Why can't he be an unlucky guy like her?

Human nature is extremely contradictory; on the one hand, we hope that the other person is doing well, and on the other hand, we hope that the other person is not doing too well.

She wanted to drag Zhuang Yan into the mud and make him like her, but she also felt that a spirited young man like him should hang in the sky as pure and flawless as the moon.

Whenever Jiang Ning had a bad thought, she would slap herself in despair and berate herself, "Zhuang Yan is the best person to you, why do you think the worst of him?"

Later, she opened a blue book, and inside was written this sentence.

Back then, I didn't understand how contradictory human nature was. I didn't know how much pretense was in sincerity, how much baseness was in nobility, or how much kindness was in evil. Now I fully understand that stinginess and generosity, resentment and kindness, hatred and love can coexist in the same heart.

...

Her mother found out about her daughter's relationship with Zhuang Yan. She didn't object to it. She had watched Zhuang Yan grow up and knew his character very well. She felt at ease entrusting her daughter to him.

After learning about Zhuang Yan's family situation, her mother remained silent for a long time before frowning and saying to her, "Ningning, unequal love is not a happy relationship. If you really love Zhuang Yan and can't live without him, then you have to work hard to improve yourself and try to be equal to him. Otherwise, you will be controlled by him and lose yourself, which will not end well."

She clearly understood the vast gap between herself and Zhuang Yan. Sooner or later, Zhuang Yan would return to inherit his family's wealth, which amounted to billions. The difference in wealth was so great that she could never reach that level even if she worked hard for several lifetimes.

If they had known about Zhuang Yan's family situation from the beginning, perhaps they wouldn't have ended up together.

Zhuang Yan learned what happened later. When she went to work a summer job, she joined a film crew and was unexpectedly spotted by the director. After being introduced by various parties, she met her current agent and signed with an agency.

She entered the industry by accident and gradually grew to love acting. When filling out her college application, her agent advised her to apply to University A, saying it would be helpful for her future career and make scheduling easier.

She listened.

But she didn't tell Zhuang Yan.

18-year-old Jiang Ning hadn't experienced much, lived a life of inferiority and timidity, wanted everything but dared not fight for anything, curled up in her shell like a snail.

She wanted to earn money to pay off her debts, to give her mother a better life, to narrow the gap between herself and Zhuang Yan, to be on equal footing with the Zhuang family, to gain the approval of his family, and to be able to stand by his side.

She set out with the goal of a "good outcome," but she went astray from the start and has been drifting further and further away from her initial objective ever since.

The time spent waiting for the acceptance letter was like a death row inmate receiving a reprieve. Escaping wouldn't solve the fundamental problem; the bullet aimed at her temple would eventually fire and kill her.

She signed a ten-year contract, during which she must strictly obey the company's arrangements, including cooperating with the male actor to create a romantic pairing for her first film.

Jiang Ning spoke at length, her voice hoarse: "I went to look for you later, but by then you were already dating Xia Wan."

Zhuang Yan listened quietly across from him, his face expressionless, as if he were listening to someone else's story. He even poured himself a cup of tea midway through.

When he heard Jiang Ning stop, he put down his teacup. The sound of it hitting the table was very soft, but for some reason, it made his heart pound.

More and more people came to the restaurant to eat, and the noise was deafening, but Jiang Ning felt as if there was a deathly silence.

She heard Zhuang Yan say that.

"After all this, are you trying to say that you entered the entertainment industry because of me? Why didn't you tell me when you changed your college application? Were you worried that I would stop you, or that I would give up my first choice and go to another city with you for you?"

Applying to Rongda University was something Zhuang Yan had decided on since he was a child. It had a major he liked, and most importantly, it was close to home, so he could go home to see his grandmother anytime on weekends. So even if Jiang Ning told him that, he would not change his application to go to another place, nor would he stop her from applying. People have mouths, so they should clear up any misunderstandings.

Jiang Ning's pupils contracted, and her eyes turned even redder. She tried to compose herself and explain, "Xiao Yan, I was too young back then. I thought too much and ignored your feelings. I thought that as long as I became famous and rich as an actress, I could shorten the gap between us..."

"You think...you think, who do you think you are!" Zhuang Yan interrupted her emphatically. "You don't understand why we broke up at all. You kept it from me and made the decision with a self-righteous sense of what was best for me, denying my thoughts. In other words, you denied me as a person. You think my thoughts are unimportant."

"Now that you're a famous actress and rich, you think the gap between us has narrowed and that I'll happily reconcile with you if you come back to me? Jiang Ning, you're being far too unrealistic."

"Love is not about comparison or weighing; love is not about comparison or weighing."

There is a type of person who uses a self-destructive method to create the illusion of infatuation, so that they can stand on the moral high ground of emotions and gain a distorted sense of satisfaction and security.

Just like when Zhuang Yan once said that Xia Wan wanted to eat the wontons he made, he got up in the middle of the night to make wontons and then braved the wind and snow to deliver them to her company the next day. But for her, a bowl of wontons was just a bowl of wontons, and it couldn't possibly contain the deep affection you wanted to put into it.

Therefore, the true essence of love lies in mutual attraction and shared values, rather than in pursuing self-gratification.

He had already grasped this principle, but Jiang Ning clearly did not.

Zhuang Yan had nothing to say about the past, but Jiang Ning shouldn't have placed the burden of her becoming an actress on his shoulders; it was too heavy a load for him to bear.

"Jiang Ning, do you know what I was going through when you broke up with me back then?"