Xu Fang said nothing.

In July, rain comes suddenly. The originally clear sky suddenly becomes cloudy and heavy rain follows.

The house was dark. The lightning outside shone through the glass window and flashed across the gloomy faces of the mother and daughter.

"Yes, I admit that I didn't do well in the past. I borrowed money and I was vain. Now I have to bear the consequences of my mistakes. Liu Zili used the money borrowing to force me to date him. When I disagreed, he spread rumors everywhere to ruin my reputation. I let you down, and I have to take it for not caring about me. I don't blame you. But I don't understand, as a parent, after knowing this, shouldn't you ask for clarification? Instead of just listening to what outsiders say, right?"

"If you want me to believe you, then you have to do something that makes me believe." Xu Fang didn't think she was wrong, but her attitude was not as intense as before.

Ji Ling was silent for a while. "This morning you suspected that I stole something from your room, and now you think I'm having an affair with another man. Whenever something goes wrong, you immediately blame me. To be honest, my previous bad behavior and willfulness are inseparable from your attitude."

Xu Fang exploded, "From what you said, is it my responsibility that you are like this now?"

Ji Ling admitted without hesitation, "Yes."

"Ji Ling, don't think that just because you were lucky enough to get into college, you can reason with me here. Tell me what you have done over the years."

"I apologized for my past ignorance many times. Why do you keep harping on the past? Even criminals have the opportunity to repent. In your heart, I don't even have the opportunity to repent? Do you hate me so much?"

Xu Fang was stumped by the question.

If it were in the past, Xu Fang would have had a lot of words to scold, but when facing her eldest daughter's calm gaze, she actually felt a little guilty.

"Even you think what I said is right, right? These days I have been thinking that if you don't like me, I won't get close to you. I will just wait until I pass the college entrance examination and leave home. I won't come back during the holidays and won't bother you."

"Okay, who are you trying to scare by saying these words? If you want to run away from home, leave now and never come back." Xu Fang's toughness made it impossible for her to bow her head in front of her daughter, even if she was wrong. Besides, she didn't think she was wrong. It was obviously this girl who caused such a big disaster, but she still accused her family of not caring about her. "You think you are not wrong, right? Okay, you have to pay back the money you borrowed. Your family won't give you a penny."

"Go away, go away. Aren't you blaming me for not caring about you? Then don't get in my way."

Xu Fang blurted out a bunch of words and waved his hand to chase the man away.

Ji Ling said, "Don't worry, I won't ask my family for a penny."

If you don't agree, there's no need to talk too much.

Xu Fang didn't like the original owner's eldest daughter, and Ji Ling found that it was useless even if she tried to ease the relationship.

In this case, they should just be well off. After all, they are not her biological parents. She just needs to fulfill the responsibilities that the original owner should have.

Back in the back room, Ji Ling found a pen and paper and started writing down what she had seen on TV in her previous life as she thought about how to make handmade soap. Halfway through writing, she heard someone knocking on the door.

She closed the book, wondering what Ji Ke wanted to talk to her about, but she still called him in.

Ji Ke tiptoed in and immediately closed the door after entering. He carefully approached Ji Ling and put the things in his hand into hers. "Sister, this is the money I saved. You can use it first and pay me back when you have money in the future."

It's not about giving, it's about borrowing.

Ji Ling knew that Ji Ke said this not because he was petty, but because the original owner had a strong sense of self-esteem and would never bow her head to accept money from her sister whom she had always disliked.

Ji Ling didn't look at the amount of money and stuffed it back into Ji Ke's hand. "I said I won't use the money from home, so you can keep it."

Seeing that Ji Ke wanted to say more, she said, "If mom knew, she would point at me and scold me for stealing your money."

The man stood there and didn't leave, and Ji Ling didn't chase him away. She could see that Ji Ke had something to say.

After a moment of silence, Ji Kesi finally made up his mind, raised his head and looked at her steadily, "Sister, I know you don't like me, and you are even more unhappy about me talking about you. After the college entrance examination, Ting Wan came to my grandfather's house to play. She said that Aunt Chen mentioned Chen Jingming's marriage, saying that she wanted to find him a city girl who had gone to college and had a formal job."

Chen Jingming? Ji Ling stared at Ji Ke. Thinking of her own money, she seemed to be getting closer to the answer.

Ji Ke's scalp was numb from Ji Ling's stare, and he began to stutter, "Sister, please stop buying gifts for Chen Jingming. You are still young, and giving him gifts puts you in a difficult position. Besides, he cannot decide his own marriage."

The truth is out.

No wonder she kept asking to go to the city. She originally wanted to go there for the man.

Ji Ling was very rational. She asked, "Do you know what I gave him?"

Ji Ke blinked.

Ji Ling nodded.

Ji Ke thought for a moment and said, "It should be a Hero pen. I heard from Ting Wan that his elder brother treasures it very much, and she can't even take a look at it."

The current price of a Hero pen is about four or five hundred yuan, which is a good deal.

If the other party cherishes it very much, then it is not just the original owner's wishful thinking?

Ji Ling immediately denied this speculation. If the other party really cared about the original owner, she should know the original owner's conditions. She could not afford a Hero brand pen.

Chen Jingming accepted it as a matter of course and treated it as a treasure. It can only be said that he loved the pen, not the original owner.

"Sister, in fact, if you really like each other, you can wait until you graduate from college. If you are admitted to Peking University now, you will definitely have a good job in the future. Aunt Chen will not object then." Before Ji Ke could say something, the door was violently pushed open from the outside.

Xu Fang was standing outside the door with a gloomy face. She didn't know how much of what Ji Ke said she heard, but from her expression she knew the truth.

"Ji Ling, how could I give birth to such a shameless daughter like you? If I had known you would be like this, I would have strangled you to death the moment you were born." Xu Fang gritted her teeth and said, "Xiao Ke, come out. If you stay with this kind of person for too long, you will be corrupted."

"Mom." Ji Ke's face turned pale, and he looked at Ji Ling in panic, "Sister, I didn't mean it."

"Come out, don't pay attention to her. I feel sick if I look at her any longer." Seeing that her little daughter didn't come out, Xu Fang simply rushed in to pull her out. As she walked out, she said, "You are so young, but you shamelessly like men. Are you going to force me to death? Do you want everyone in the Education Institute to stab me in the back?"

The Institute of Education was the residential compound where the Xu family lived in Taipei City.

Ji Ling sat on the edge of the kang, unmoved.

She was thinking whether she should go to Taipei City to get the pen back and sell it. It would fetch at least 300 yuan, right? That would pay off most of her debt.

As for Xu Fang's crazy talk, Ji Ling didn't care at all and just treated it as what she said.

(End of this chapter)