Jiang Ruolan had lost her thought once she heard the word 'illegitimate daughter'. She raised her head and looked at the probing look in Senior Zhou's eyes. Suddenly, she remembered her mother's name.

Zhou Qingling.

There can not be so many coincidences in this world. Jiang Ruolan didn't think much of her mother's surname, but when Senior Zhou asked this question, she had no choice but to think about it. Her eyes stared at Senior Zhou's face, which was as dignified as ever.

Jiang Ruolan's appearance was very similar to her mother's. She always looked at herself in the mirror and compared herself to her mother's photo when she was young. To hear Senior Zhou asked this question directly, it was as if he was sure who her mother was.

Jiang Ruolan pondered for a moment, then chuckled. "Senior Zhou, from your tone, you seem to know my mother?"

Seeing that she did not hide it lightly, Senior Zhou took out a small black and white photograph and pushed it in front of her. The photo looks like it belongs to a 14 or 15 year old girl, but it was a clear picture of her mother when she was a teenager.

"Is your mother her?" Senior Zhou did not beat around the bush.

Whether it was or not, Jiang Ruolan wouldn't admit it. She was still a little dazed by the old photo.

What kind of family, what kind of childhood did her mother had that caused her to fall in love with Jiang Guanyu and then commit suicide due to her emotional trauma? Was it because of a lack of love, or was it because she was too fragile?

"Miss Jiang?"

In a trace, Jiang Ruolan heard Senior Zhou call her. She came back to her senses and looked into Senior Zhou's eyes.

Jiang Ruolan let out a sigh, took the photo, and looked at it. She then smiled, "I wonder what Senior Zhou relationship with the person in the photo is? She really does look like me."

Senior Zhou was stunned. He didn't expect her to give such an ambiguous answer, "The girl in this photo and I are relatives. A relative that have not met each other for a long time." He answered politely. The word "relatives" was emphasized and was a bit deliberate.

Jiang Ruolan did not want to get involved in the complicated past and family. Vengeance between the older generations had nothing to do with her. Whether her mother, who committed suicide or Senior Zhou has blood ties or not, it all had nothing to do with her.

What she was sure was that both of them were hypocrites. To her, those were the things she did not want to look back on.

Jiang Ruolan was about to say something when the ringtone of her phone cut her. She answered the call and heard Xiong Ruogang say she needed to go home immediately because there was an emergency in her dorm.

"I will be there immediately." Jiang Ruolan hung up the phone and looked at Senior Zhou. "Senior Zhou, I'm sorry. My friend was waiting for me in the parking lot. Is there something else Senior Zhou wanted to ask me? Let's be direct."

Senior Zhou hesitated and looked at her indifferently. "Since there's something urgent, then Miss Jiang should go. We could talk again later." As he said that, he took back the picture. It seemed that he was quite displeased with her concealed attitude.

"Alright, I'll be leaving first." Jiang Ruolan immediately got up from her seat.

"Miss Jiang, I heard that the wedding between you and Zihao would take place in three days. I want to remind you." Suddenly, Senior Zhou opened his mouth indifferently.

Jiang Ruolan paused and looked at him.

"Zhou Shufen is my only granddaughter. I will unconditionally give up everything to fight for what she wants."

Jiang Ruolan only looked at him for a moment before she left without looking back.

When she returned home that night, Xian Zihao hadn't come back yet. Sister Yanmei was boiling some Chinese medicine for her. The faint fragrance of Chinese medicine wafted around the room.

Jiang Ruolan suddenly remembered the necklace she had forgotten to take this afternoon. She looked up at the sky and called Xian Zihao, asking him to retrieve it on his way home.

The phone rang for a long time, but no one answered. Just when she was about to hang up the phone, the call was finally connected. Jiang Ruolan was about to speak when she heard a woman's voice from the other end of the phone.

"Hello? Excuse me, but it's not convenient for Zihao to answer the phone right now. May I ask who this is?"

It was Zhou Shufen's voice.

Jiang Ruolan's grip on the phone tightened. There was a long silence.

If the woman who answered this call was Zhou Shufen, she should know that the person who was calling Xian Zihao was her. So why did Zhou Shufen ask?

"What can I do for you? I'll help you pass the message to him." Zhou Shufen said patiently.

Jiang Ruolan said nothing and slowly hung up the call. "Madam, the medicine is ready. You can drink it now." Sister Yanmei came out of the kitchen with a bowl of herbal medicine in her hand. She held it in front of her with a smile and said, "Please drink it. It shouldn't be too hot now."

Jiang Ruolan sat on the sofa and smiled at Yanmei. She took the bowl but did not drink it.

"What's wrong?" Sister Yanmei immediately asked when she noticed Jiang Ruolan only kept staring at the bowl. "Are you afraid of the bitter taste? These few days, you've been drinking it all. I want to add a little sugar, but you also say that it is not necessary. If it is still bitter, I will go and buy sugar now."

"No need, Sister Yanmei." Jiang Ruolan pursed her lips, "Go back to your work, I'll wash the bowl myself once I drink it."

Sister Yanmei nodded and immediately left her alone in the living room. Jiang Ruolan put her feet together on the sofa's edge and looked at her reflection in the bowl. She saw herself laughing and smiling helplessly.

Jiang Ruolan was the same as all the other women. When she had nothing to do at work, she liked to kill time with reading. She also liked to scold and resent those foolish, cowardly female characters in the novel. And now, in this chapter of her life, she suddenly felt powerless and felt like she was also the same as the female characters in the novel.

Life is just like a game of chess, it's just like a mystery to the onlookers.

Actually, she understood it from the beginning. She didn't have to wait until she lost everything to know that she had really lost. However, she just couldn't accept it.

It was all because of her greediness, her greed to embark herself in Xian Zihao's warmth. Jiang Ruolan really didn't know what she should do now.

To leave or keep fighting.

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***

I change our FL's mother's name.

If you noticed her name is the same as Jiang Ruolan's father, the only difference is on the surname.

My mistake for not realizing it sooner.. (￣▽￣)ノ