Jiang Tongyuan remained silent, just looking at Jiang Ran, waiting for her to continue speaking.

"In life, you never know whether tomorrow or an accident will come first."

"What happened back then was an accident. They couldn’t foresee it in advance and had no way to change things, which is very helpless."

"But we always have to accept what has already happened, don’t you think?"

"Being abducted back then, a little girl of a few years old, how she survived in the hands of human traffickers, you probably can’t imagine. Passed through so many places, and finally being sold to the Pei Family, that was probably the luckiest thing."

"The Pei Family bought her back as a child bride, but treated her like their own daughter. Throughout these years, except when in middle school when the family really couldn’t afford it, she didn’t suffer any grievances."

"Being alive now, being able to come to beishi well, is all because of luck."

"If she had been sold to another family back then, it’s possible she’d be a pile of bones by now. What talk would there be of family reunion? Of forgiveness, or lack thereof?"

"That night, no matter what she said to me, I could be indifferent. I’m a mother myself and can somewhat understand her feelings."

"But when she wanted to hit my mom, pointing her finger at my mom and saying those things, I naturally couldn’t endure it."

Jiang Ran finished saying all this in one breath, feeling much less burdened and stifled inside.

Some things truly need to be spoken out loud.

Always keeping it bottled up inside, with no one understanding, won’t do any good for oneself.

What she just said was not only what Jiang Ran herself wanted to express but also wanted to speak on behalf of the original character.

This is not a book, this is a world.

When the original character was abducted, she was still a pretty little girl.

Even though the author’s setting ensured she’d be sold to the Pei Family, on the journey from being abducted to being sold, how did she survive in the hands of the traffickers?

People can speak lightly about things they haven’t experienced.

Just because, in this world, there’s no true empathy.

Empathy might exist, but it’s not enough.

Only by taking out what you have experienced, laying it out vividly in front of others, will they slightly begin to understand.

After Jiang Ran finished speaking, Jiang Tongyuan just kept looking at her, speechless for a long time.

That expression was unmistakably one of shock.

It was unclear how much time had passed before Jiang Tongyuan blinked.

"So you..."

Before Jiang Tongyuan could finish, Jiang Ran continued, "I just hope everyone can live their own lives well and not disturb each other."

The past is already past, why be so persistent?

"They are well-known people in beishi, so they must have studied, right? Don’t they understand what it means that spilled water can’t be gathered up again, nor can a broken mirror be made whole?"

As she spoke up to this point, even though Jiang Ran’s tone hadn’t changed much originally, a touch of anger spilled into it.

"The past, I could treat it as bygone, it’s been so many years, I originally didn’t care anymore. But now, they insist on appearing in front of me over and over again, disgusting me, hurting my family, that I can’t tolerate anymore."

Jiang Ran had said everything so plainly, what else did Jiang Tongyuan not understand?

Jiang Ran’s intention was clear, everyone should mind their own business, living their individual lives without interfering with each other.