Sure enough, when she saw the two siblings walk in together, Yu Peiyan didn't say anything, only telling Cheng Zhili to go to bed early, otherwise her skin wouldn't look good tomorrow.

Cheng Zhili sometimes couldn't understand why her mother was so much stricter with her than with her brother. If she had been the one carrying the bag in just now, she was sure her mother would have asked questions and even inspected her.

"Don't think too much about it. Your good friends are here to celebrate your birthday. You should be happy." Cheng Zhibo helped her pull the scarf inside and ruffled her hair.

Cheng Zhili looked up at him: "Brother, won't you stop me from seeing Wenwen?"

"You can tell that the girl doesn't have any bad intentions in her eyes," Cheng Zhibo replied casually. In reality, he had deliberately investigated and found that the mother and daughter were just two very simple people who had no other purpose in approaching Zhili.

On the contrary, he even admired his sister's friend's mother, a single mother who had managed to amass such a large fortune from scratch, which was no easy feat.

He felt that his mother was too materialistic. She even considered his younger sister's family background when it came to choosing friends. His sister was so young, yet everything was arranged for her. What fun was there in life then?

To put it bluntly, if he were the younger sister, she would probably go crazy. She would have to learn everything and do everything perfectly. Her friends and even her future marriage would all be subject to her requirements, just like the Cheng family's puppet or an item that her mother would take out to show off.

However, he couldn't completely refute his parents, because there were too many examples of people in their circle being scammed by poor people. According to his mother's upbringing and planning, at least his younger sister could live a life of luxury and live under the spotlight for the rest of her life. However, to bear this spotlight, she would first need to develop a strong mentality.

"Go to sleep early, you'll be fourteen tomorrow, you'll be a big girl soon."

Sometimes Cheng Zhibo is quite proud. Who in the industry doesn't envy him for having a smart, beautiful, and outstanding younger sister?

Cheng Zhili closed the door and tried on the scarf that Wenwen had given her for a while, even matching it with several outfits. She felt that she would cherish this sentiment for a lifetime.

I touched the stone that Aunt Song gave me. I couldn't tell what it was made of. It looked a bit like jade, but the texture in my hand was wrong. I couldn't even find any information about it online.

But she really liked it, and it even had auspicious cloud patterns carved by Aunt Song herself. Aunt Song put so much thought into it; she felt her mood improved just wearing it.

The Cheng family held a grand birthday banquet for Cheng Zhili. Cheng Shizhang and Yu Peiyan wanted to let people in their circle and those above them know that the Cheng family had an outstanding daughter who was about to grow up.

Cheng Zhili was wearing a princess dress, and the small stone that Song Xia had given her yesterday had been replaced by a diamond necklace. Because Cheng Zhili is still young, the necklace was a design with small diamonds, which complemented her princess dress perfectly.

She maintained a perfectly timed smile throughout, never bending her back or neck, giving the guests a sense of being well-behaved, approachable, and elegant.

Adults naturally like her, but her peers dislike her, thinking she's pretentious.

In the wealthy circles of City C, there are few people of similar age who haven't heard of Cheng Zhili. Moreover, they often hear their parents say that they are not as good as her. Gradually, they can't like Cheng Zhili and even form cliques to exclude her.

"Is she even tired? That disgusting expression hasn't changed all day."

"She's not tired at all; she's eager to be in the spotlight."

"Don't you think she's like a commodity waiting to be sold? The Cheng family clearly wants her to climb to a higher social status, but she acts all high and mighty."

"That's right, everyone knows what her family is planning. I bet none of the rich people in City C are their targets."

"Ha, do they think they can even get close to Hong Kong and Beijing?"

"They specially invited the media to promote her and spread the news to those two places. Just wait, the topics surrounding her will only get bigger year by year."

"A perfectly good young lady like her is acting like one of those minor celebrities in the entertainment industry. It's really embarrassing."

"What does it matter if we lose face now, as long as we achieve our future goals?"

"Let's not talk about her anymore, it's pointless. We'll never be able to reach her level in the future."

"Well, she needs to be taken seriously first. Who knows what the future holds? You guys tell me, hahaha..."

These people had no reservations, and Cheng Zhili listened to almost the entire story. She wasn't particularly sad, since she wasn't friends with them to begin with.

Even the most open-minded person will overthink things if someone says that to them, especially since they weren't entirely wrong.

Her mother had expressed this idea to her a long time ago, forbidding her from dating too early and from associating with random boys. She emphasized that the family had put so much effort into her, and that she would definitely marry well in the future.

Sometimes, when Cheng Zhili thinks about these things, she feels lost. On the one hand, she feels that since she has enjoyed everything at home, she should listen to her parents. Surely her parents wouldn't harm her. But on the other hand, she feels that life shouldn't be like this. She is an independent person, so why can't she even have independent thoughts?

At times like this, she envied Wenwen. Aunt Song rarely restricted what Wenwen should or shouldn't do. Wenwen could even decide for herself what to learn and what to wear. Not to mention marriage and having children in the future, she could sense that Wenwen didn't have such thoughts yet. She was even more certain that Aunt Song wouldn't pressure Wenwen on such matters.

Unfortunately, not all parents are like Aunt Song, and their situations are different from Aunt Song's.

Why do I want to be friends with Wenwen? Perhaps it's because of Wenwen's purity and happiness, qualities that I don't possess. Being friends with Wenwen doesn't involve any interests or complicated matters.

Today is Wenwen's birthday, and she'll definitely be celebrating with Aunt Song. I wonder what it's like for them to celebrate a birthday at home.

There should be a cozy dinner. Wenwen said she wanted to set off fireworks, and Aunt Song will probably take Wenwen with her.

Just as Cheng Zhili had predicted, Song Xia drove Wenwen to the beach, bringing a car full of fireworks.

The weather was nice today, and fireworks were allowed on the beach. Many young people and children were playing with them, but when Wenwen took out hers, the others paled in comparison.

"Wow!" The children slowly gathered around the mother and son. Wenwen happily shared the fireworks with them. Fireworks are more fun when played with a lot of people!

Wenwen was still thinking about her best friend: "It's a pity that Zhili can't come. I'll make it up to her next time. Her family definitely won't allow her to play like this."

Song Xia wasn't surprised at all by Wenwen's heartache. Only a child who has received all the love knows how to love others!