An Ning and An Guoming didn’t make any promises to Liu Yiyi, but they did agree to give her a chance.

The current house needed repairs, or rather, many parts of it needed to be renovated.

After the renovations were done, Liu Yiyi could come and try out for the job. They would decide then whether or not she was a good fit.

Liu Yiyi was very content; this was already more than she could have hoped for.

She thanked them, but An Ning said it was nothing and told the mother and daughter she would give them time to find a new place. They could move out after they had bought their own house.

The mother and daughter were immensely grateful, and little Tangtang looked at An Ning with even greater admiration.

As An Ning was leaving, she quietly followed beside her and asked in a small voice how she could become as capable as her.

An Ning crouched down and told Tangtang very seriously, "From now on, eat plenty of food to get strong, run every day, and most importantly, study hard and read lots of books."

"I’ll remember, Sister Anning. I’ll do it."

Tangtang wasn’t aiming too high, nor did she pester An Ning to teach her anything specific. She decided she would first focus on doing everything Sister Anning had told her to do.

Watching Tangtang, An Ning could hardly hide the fondness in her eyes.

"You can do it. I believe in you."

Encouraged by An Ning, Tangtang felt even more motivated.

An Ning and An Guoming left and went to the train station.

They only planned to open one shop in Sanhe Town. As for the other storefronts, the two of them didn’t buy any.

There were plenty of people in business; there was no need to hoard all the resources.

One shouldn’t be greedy.

An Guoming went to buy the train tickets while An Ning waited outside, looking around.

’Yin Xuemei?’

She happened to spot Yin Xuemei, who was out running her stall. It looked like she was in some kind of trouble.

An Ning moved closer, but she didn’t do anything rash. Instead, she observed the situation.

Yin Xuemei was her own person; she had her own way of handling things.

At a stall selling tea eggs, Yin Xuemei, wearing a light blue apron and holding a kitchen cleaver, was calmly facing off against a couple.

The woman across from her was relentlessly clutching Yin Xuemei’s clothes, wailing at the surrounding crowd.

"This woman is no good! We’re her parents! For so many years, every time she came back, she’d claim she had no money. But look at her now! She’s out here running a tea egg stall by herself, making who knows how much money."

"And that’s not even the most disgusting part! She’s using our family’s tea egg recipe!"

"Yin Xuemei, you stole the family recipe! Give it back!"

"I won’t press the matter. Just compensate the family with five thousand yuan and return the recipe, and we’ll forgive you."

An Ning, observing from a distance, felt a wave of disgust.

’Are they really Yin Xuemei’s parents?’

An Ning couldn’t understand. How could such parents exist in this world?

’Aren’t all parents supposed to love their children?’

She continued to watch. At some point, An Guoming had returned and was now standing silently beside her.

Surrounded and being pointed at, Yin Xuemei’s face looked gentle and frail, but the resolve in her eyes only grew firmer.

"Let go. Then we’ll talk."

Yin Xuemei swung the cleaver in her hand straight toward her mother, scaring the woman into stumbling backward.

"Yin Xuemei, have you lost your mind?! I’m your mother! How dare you point a cleaver at me? Aren’t you afraid of being struck by lightning?!"

The woman’s shriek didn’t cause the slightest ripple in Yin Xuemei’s composure.

She was very calm.

She remembered what An Ning had told her: don’t let your enemies control your emotions.

Although the people across from her were her own parents, they had hurt her more deeply than any enemy.

"You weren’t afraid of being struck by lightning when you were selling off your daughter, so why should I be?"

"There are five children in the family, but I was the only one who had to go to the countryside at fourteen. Not only that, but I also had to figure out how to mail grain back to you."

"When my older brother got married, you wanted to sell off his younger sister to raise money for the betrothal gift."

"You wanted me to take the college entrance exam, but you wanted me to write my own sister’s name in the name field. If there really is a God in heaven, you would have been struck to ashes by now."

Yin Xuemei held the cleaver high, refusing to lower it.

"Don’t come up with such high-sounding excuses. For hundreds of years, the Yin Family has been nothing but manual laborers. Where would they get a tea egg recipe?"

"You want to swindle my recipe out of me, and you still want to put on such a righteous act."

"I dare to give it. Do you dare to take it?"

Yin Xuemei stared intently at the woman before her, as if waiting. As long as the woman said she wanted it, she would dare to give it.

But the woman hesitated.

A recipe was just words from Yin Xuemei’s mouth; it was impossible to tell if it was real or fake. Faced with this version of Yin Xuemei, they didn’t dare to take it.

Yin Xuemei’s posture completely infuriated her father, who had been silent all this time.

"Yin Xuemei, do you even acknowledge us as your parents anymore?"

"Do you ever want to come home again?"

The man who had not spoken finally opened his mouth. He didn’t shout, but asked two questions in a low, deep voice.

Yin Xuemei held the cleaver perfectly straight.

"I’m not willing to, I don’t want to, and I wouldn’t dare to."

Her triple refusal made the man’s face instantly darken.

He seemed to still care about his pride, so he pulled the woman beside him.

"Yin Xuemei, from now on, don’t ever come back."

For a moment, Yin Xuemei wanted to lower the cleaver in her hand, but she bit her lip until it bled and said, "Fine!"

That single word, "Fine," severed the ties of kinship.

Yin Xuemei’s mother was unwilling to leave. She was still thinking about the money Yin Xuemei had earned, wanting it for her son and other daughter.

She didn’t feel there was anything wrong with her favoritism. After all, even fingers on a hand are different lengths. With so many children in the family, why was this one always causing so much trouble?

Why were the other children never any trouble at all?

She never stopped to think that the other children only ever received, they never had to give anything. Why would they have any complaints?

Although Yin Xuemei’s mother was reluctant, the man was a prideful person. With the scene having reached this point, he didn’t want to stick around and become a laughingstock.

The two of them left, bickering as they went. Yin Xuemei’s arm trembled and shook uncontrollably.

She felt the world spin around her as all her strength drained away.

’I can’t faint!’

’I can’t faint!’

Yin Xuemei bit down hard on her lip, drawing blood. With the last shred of clarity in her mind, she repeatedly warned herself not to pass out.

"Lean on me!"

An Ning had arrived.

She came up behind Yin Xuemei and supported her.

"An Ning?"

"It’s me. Don’t worry, I’m here."

Yin Xuemei’s nose tingled and a tear fell from the corner of her eye. Her voice thick with emotion, she asked, "I didn’t embarrass you, did I?"

"No."

An Ning helped Yin Xuemei sit down. "Not at all. In fact, you made me proud."

"Yin Xuemei, you’ve graduated."

Yin Xuemei chuckled at An Ning’s words, and the feeling of dizziness began to fade.

At that moment, her heart was at peace.

After about ten minutes, Yin Xuemei had some water and finally recovered.

"An Ning, I’m fine now. I’ll pack up my stall and head back."

"Are you sure?"

"I’m sure."

Yin Xuemei answered with certainty, so An Ning didn’t press her further.

Respecting others was also a way of respecting oneself.

She watched Yin Xuemei pack up her things and give her a radiant smile—a smile of someone reborn from fire, both stunning and beautiful.

The evening glow added to the beauty of the scene, draping Yin Xuemei in a soft, gossamer veil.

An Ning watched Yin Xuemei leave, then turned to see a stunned An Guoming and said:

"Second Brother, shall we go?"

"So... where are we going?"