"Who did you give it to?" the man asked casually.

"He's a foreigner. I sold two of my works before, and one of them was collected by his uncle. He said he admired my work very much, so I gave him the painting I had just done."

“…”

Since Ji Zhinan said so, Gu Yibei naturally had nothing to say.

"Yibei." Ji Zhinan suddenly spoke.

"Um?"

"Walk with me along the beach."

She held his hand tightly, her beautiful eyes shining brightly, which made Gu Yibei's heart soften suddenly and he couldn't bear to refuse.

"Okay." He nodded.

Ji Zhinan suddenly smiled beautifully and walked shoulder to shoulder with him on the beach.

It is almost evening now. The sun is setting and is reflected on the sea. The sea water is dyed golden by the sunset, which is another kind of beauty.

Ji Zhinan was walking while staring at the sea and suddenly spoke.

"Although I have painted the sea, I have never actually seen it before. Today is the first time."

Gu Yibei lowered his eyes and looked at her without saying a word, quietly becoming her most loyal listener.

Ji Zhinan had a smile on his face, his eyes were a little dazed, as if he was recalling something.

I gradually discovered that there was a hint of bitterness in her smile.

"You may not know that I wasn't like this before."

In her previous life, Ji Zhinan was not as wise, calm and ruthless as she is now. She was quiet and gentle.

A very typical good girl, she has no temper and is so good that she barely even feels like she exists.

Perhaps because of this, she didn't know how to resist Ji Zhixia's bullying and Mrs. Ji's sarcasm.

"I still remember when I was in middle school, Mrs. Ji wanted to send me to a private school, the kind where I could only go home once a year."

"Grandpa disagreed at the time, but Madam Ji and Ji Pengfei said sending me to a private school was for my own good. They said private schools were better than public schools in terms of teaching quality and other aspects. The teachers there were very responsible, and they would provide a good learning environment while also fostering my independence. They went to great lengths to show that they were doing this for my own good."

"They all said so, and Grandpa couldn't find any reason to refute it. The only thing he disagreed with was coming home only once a year. Later, it was changed to once a month, and Grandpa reluctantly agreed."

"At that time, I was naive and gullible enough to really think that they were doing it for my own good. It was not until now that I recalled those things that I realized that they were just trying to fool Grandpa and find a legitimate reason to kick me out of the Ji family temporarily."

"Mrs. Ji threw me into a private school for no other reason than that private schools are more strict with me and I only come home once a year, unlike ordinary schools where I go home every day. They just don't want to see me."

Ji Zhinan grinned sarcastically, as if she was telling someone else's story, calmly and nonchalantly, and she didn't feel the heartache at all.

Perhaps because she no longer cared, she felt no emotion when she talked about the past.

"What happened next?" Gu Yibei asked.

Ji Zhinan paused and continued, "I remember one time when I came back from school, Ji Zhixia came to me, a rare opportunity, and boasted to me that Ji Pengfei and Madam Ji had taken her to the beach. The three of them had left footprints on the beach, caught crabs, and built sand piles. Ji Pengfei even carried her on his back and walked around on the beach."