Ye Dong stared blankly at her, then suddenly gripped the window frame, becoming agitated and angry: "You wicked woman, it was you who stole my Zhaonan..."
"I'll rob your sister!" Ning Yuan interrupted Ye Dong with a foul curse.
She said impatiently, "Who brainwashed you? All you want is for someone to like you. Please, you're not a hundred-yuan bill. You can't expect everyone to like you. If they don't like you, they don't like you. Why do you care?"
Ye Dong glared at her angrily: "You don't understand anything..."
"As long as I understand that in this world, anyone can not love me or not like me, but I love myself and I like myself, that's enough!"
Ning Yuan interrupted her again rudely, saying matter-of-factly—
"The world is vast, but loving myself is the greatest thing. I will always love and deeply love myself!"
Everyone was stunned for a moment after hearing this.
How can someone make such... such strange remarks... such strangely overconfident self-confidence, taking humility for granted without knowing what it means.
So proudly she says she loves herself? That's so strange... but it seems... somewhat reasonable.
Who doesn't love themselves?
Even Ye Yuan was stunned.
Rong Zhaonan, however, looked at the petite figure beside him, a burning and deep light flashing in his dark eyes.
Ye Dong stared blankly at Ning Yuan, as if stunned by her words, or as if his mind couldn't process what she was saying.
Ning Yuan looked at Ye Dong and said, "You're seventeen years old now, not a child anymore. If no one likes you, no one will protect you, and a child without protection is more likely to die."
"But now you're all grown up and can protect yourself. If no one in this world likes you, then you should like yourself. That's what they mean by 'it's better to rely on yourself than on others!'"
She glanced at Ye Yuan and said, "Don't listen to some idiots who think that imitating others will make people like you. That's all self-serving and not good stuff!"
Ye Yuan's face flushed red and then turned green: "You..."
But when Rong Zhaonan's cold gaze swept over Ning Yuan's head, he immediately fell silent.
A whole host of strange words and ideas rushed into Ye Dong's ears and mind, leaving him completely bewildered and confused.
"I... have to like myself?"
It was strange, but it felt like a strange wind that suddenly blew in from somewhere, making her feel comfortable even in her painful and confused state of mind.
“That’s right. I’ve always firmly believed that it’s their loss if someone doesn’t like me!” Ning Yuan said decisively.
Ye Dong murmured to himself, "Is it possible to do it like this...?"
She couldn't help but look at Ye Yuan, and Rong Zhaonan...
Ning Yuan followed her gaze and suddenly slapped Rong Zhaonan on the back: "Of course, for example, this man. If he doesn't like me, it's his loss, and I don't care."
She paused, then said coolly, "Besides, if I didn't like him, I wouldn't have encountered so much bad luck!"
Ye Dong looked at her, puzzled: "What..."
Ning Yuan retorted without holding back: "Ever since I fell for him, I've either been kidnapped, almost crushed to death by a cement truck, threatened by the Xiang brothers, and now you and your brother are inexplicably causing me trouble. I'm so angry I could vomit blood. Tell me, what did I do to deserve this? Is it easy to have bad luck if you like this man? Tell me, am I unlucky or not?"
She originally wanted to slap Rong Zhaonan on the back of the head, but he was standing straight and tall, so the slap would most likely land on his aloof and delicate face.
That's what she likes most about him right now... Never mind!
Ye Dong's mouth gaped slightly as he listened, and he actually nodded blankly, "Ah, you're so unlucky..."
Ye Yuan's expression was strange: "..."
Has he taught Dongdong to be too... stupid, no, too naive? She seems to be swayed by whatever anyone says.
Or perhaps Ning Yuan is a born instigator, or as Rong Zhaonan said, a born shrewd businesswoman?
Whatever strange theories come out of her mouth, they are all inflammatory and can lead people astray.
But as long as she could get Dongdong down from the windowsill, she didn't care what she said.
Rong Zhaonan held back, took a deep breath, and kept his expressionless face.
He no longer cared; after all, what the curly-haired rabbit said was... the truth.
Ning Yuan looked at Ye Dong, raising an eyebrow in puzzlement: "So why do you have to like him? Do you want to try being as unlucky as me, to see how many lives you have?"
Ye Dong glanced at Rong Zhaonan instinctively, momentarily stunned: "I...I..."
“If you like someone, you’ll jump into a fire pit without hesitation. Why are you hesitating?” Ning Yuan coaxed patiently.
We can't just let Ye Dong jump.
"I..." Ye Dong looked at Rong Zhaonan, flustered and at a loss.
Ning Yuan said calmly, "So, you don't actually like him that much at all. If that's the case, then why are you sitting on the windowsill?"
Ye Dong froze again. She clung to the window frame, a look of confusion on her pale face: "Ah, I..."
Ning Yuan looked at the girl in front of her, a complex light flashing in her eyes.
Unlike Rong Zhaonan, who was neither loved by his father nor his mother, Ye Dong seemed to receive a lot of love, even indulgence and pampering, far exceeding the children of this generation in the compound.
However, none of that love and pampering was for her; it was all for her older sister, Ye Qiu.
If Ye Qiu were alive, things would be alright. No one is perfect; everyone has flaws and shortcomings. She's human, not a god.
For example, she has been criticized for suddenly breaking up with the eldest brother of the Xiang family without explanation, leading to various rumors flying around.
But she suddenly passed away, sacrificing herself in the earthquake while saving people. She died in the line of duty during the best years of her life, without having a chance to leave a single word.
In the hearts of everyone who knows Ye Qiu, they will only remember her kindness and goodness, and she will gradually become a perfect myth.
This isn't Ye Qiu's fault; she's pitiful too.
But because Ye Dong has the same face as Ye Qiu, the people and environment around her will constantly mention Ye Qiu.
In essence, Ye Dong and Rong Zhaonan are both "barren" in their love.
She was constantly being compared to others, living in her sister's shadow, and being intentionally or unintentionally molded into Ye Qiu's shadow. Ye Yuan even forbade her to have her own existence.
How can a "clay doll" that has not been properly raised have a sense of self, and understand what true liking is?
"Come down." Ning Yuan looked at Ye Dong, slowly walked over, and reached out her hand to her.
Ye Dong's mind was still buzzing, a jumble of ideas rushing through his head. He hesitated for a long time before finally reaching out to Ning Yuan.
But the next moment...
A tiny sound rang out as something cut through the air.
Ye Dong felt as if something had suddenly stabbed his arm from behind, and a sharp pain instantly followed.
She couldn't help but exclaim, "Ah!"
He instinctively covered his arm, then suddenly let go and fell backward, his body plummeting downwards.
The feeling of weightlessness made Ye Dong's eyes widen in terror: "Ahhh—"
At the same time, she suddenly saw Rong Zhaonan raise a gun to her forehead with a sharp and cold gaze, and fire without hesitation: "Bang!"
Ye Dong was instantly gripped by extreme fear and despair, desperately scratching at the air: "No...no...don't kill me, help!"
"What are you doing!" Ye Yuan rushed over with a hoarse voice, trying to push Rong Zhaonan away in anger and fear.
Ning Yuan didn't hold back and kicked him hard, sending him sprawling to the ground, yelling, "Get lost, don't get in my way!"
At the same time, Rong Zhaonan moved like a tiger released from its cage. The instant he fired, he nimbly leaped to the window, jumped out without hesitation, and issued a sharp command—
"02, pick them up!"
Several rappelling ropes had somehow fallen from mid-air.
At the critical moment, Rong Zhaonan grabbed the rope with one hand, pushed off the wall to accelerate his descent, and grabbed Ye Dong's arm with the other, forcefully throwing Ye Dong upwards in mid-air.
Chen Chen, who had somehow been strapped with a rappelling rope, leaped down from the rooftop and, with Rong Zhaonan's perfect coordination as if they had done this countless times before, caught Ye Dong and suspended him in mid-air.
"01, caught!" Chen Chen responded sharply, skillfully wrapping the rope around Ye Dong's body with one hand and gripping the wall with the other, quickly climbing up the wall.
Rong Zhaonan, however, was moving too fast and had to descend two more floors before finally stopping by kicking the wall with his dagger.
He hovered in mid-air, his cold gaze fixed on the building opposite, and took out a walkie-talkie: "03, target at two o'clock, fifth floor, I hit him in the shoulder, arrest him immediately, alive!"
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