After running away from home and wandering around outside, Sheng Shiwen suddenly realized he didn’t have a single friend.

He had wandered aimlessly outside the residential compound, afraid his family would get anxious if they couldn’t find him.

So, after a quick spin outside, he rushed back, tormented the entire way by the painful realization that he had no friends.

But when he arrived, sounds of cheerful laughter drifted from his home. His parents hadn’t even bothered to look for him.

The jarring laughter made him recoil. He didn’t want to go home, no matter how cold and miserable the weather was outside.

He just wanted to escape this house, to flee the family that had once been so close and loving.

’He would run away to a place where no one could ever bother him and lick his wounds in peace.’

Sheng Shiwen was very unhappy with his parents’ behavior, but he was helpless. After all, it was his two sisters who had driven them to divorce.

But his parents only ever blamed Yueyue. They never found any fault with Gu Jiaojiao.

Just as he was seething with anger, he saw Dong Lili arrive at his house, looking cheerful and excited.

He knew what Dong Lili was about to face, but he didn’t stop her. A sick thrill coursed through him.

At the same time, he felt a faint sense of disappointment and sadness, but mostly, he felt anger and indignation.

He was desperate to know how Dong Lili would feel when she saw his older brother laughing with that other woman.

Would she feel the same way he once had, watching her flutter around his older brother like a social butterfly while he nursed his own secret heartbreak?

But his older brother had only ever seen Dong Lili as the little sister from next door. And that was only because she had helped Gu Jiaojiao when they were children.

If it weren’t for Gu Jiaojiao, Dong Lili wouldn’t have even been worthy of being his brother’s "little sister next door."

And yet, after so many years, his brother still chose Gu Jiaojiao’s friend without a second thought.

Gu Jiaojiao... that woman who seemed so bright and beautiful on the outside but was dark and ugly on the inside had torn their family apart.

That’s why Sheng Shiwen believed that anyone associated with Gu Jiaojiao couldn’t be a good person. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

If it weren’t for her, would his family have fallen apart like this?

But in the end, his parents still pushed all the blame onto Yueyue. It was outrageous.

Still, no matter what, they were his parents. That meant the only person he wanted revenge on was Gu Jiaojiao.

Over the years, his parents had never been the type to shower their children with affection.

But they had never missed a single month of allowance, and he and his brothers had always used their own money to buy candy for her.

They had treasured her like the apple of their eye. So when their biological sister returned, couldn’t she have shown even a little bit of gratitude?

But not only was she ungrateful, she insisted on competing with Yueyue for attention, and in the end, she drove Yueyue to have a mental breakdown.

And his parents did nothing. It wasn’t that they had ever mistreated him or his brothers.

Even today, they had tried to ask how he was feeling, but he was too stubborn to accept their concern.

Sheng Shiwen fumed, but his feet involuntarily followed Dong Lili all the way to the Sheng Family’s front gate.

He didn’t go in, however. Instead, he listened to the sounds from inside through a crack in the door.

When he saw Dong Lili run out looking utterly devastated, he quickly backed into a corner, unsure how to face her.

To his surprise, she didn’t go straight home. Instead, like him, she hid in a corner and began to cry.

So he walked up, patted her on the shoulder, and asked with feigned ignorance, "Lili, why are you crying?"

The sudden appearance of someone made Dong Lili shriek in fright, but he quickly clamped a hand over her mouth.

Sheng Shiwen said softly, "Lili, don’t scream. My brother and the others are eating. It’ll be bad if they find us. What’s wrong? Just tell me."

Tears streamed down Dong Lili’s cheeks as she sobbed, "Xiao Wen, I’m finished. My whole life is finished."

Sheng Shiwen asked in confusion, "What are you talking about? How are you finished? You seem fine. Are you sick?"

"Did you know your older brother got married? He didn’t marry me. He married Fu Guoguo."

"What? Are you serious?" Sheng Shiwen feigned a look of disbelief, but inwardly, he was ecstatic.

Seeing that he didn’t seem to believe her, Dong Lili cried even more heartbrokenly. "Xiao Wen, I’m finished, I’m really finished... What am I supposed to do?

Maybe I should have told your older brother that I wanted to marry him. If I had just told him sooner, maybe things wouldn’t have ended up like this..."

Seeing her cry so wretchedly, he frowned with a pang of pity, yet a smile touched his lips.

’This girl is such an idiot. You really think my older brother didn’t know you liked him?

Stop kidding yourself, Lili. Even if you had told him sooner, my older brother doesn’t like you. Why would he ever marry you?’