Su Ran was on the verge of collapse, but at this moment, she couldn’t do anything. She could only wipe away her tears and send a message to He Ju, even calling him “brother He Ju” as she threatened. “He Ju, are you sure you want to part ways with me?”

Su Ran waited for a long time, even until the car had returned to the Su family’s residence, but she still didn’t receive a reply from He Ju.

At this time, He Ju had fallen asleep the moment he finished replying to the message, without any burden on his mind.

Su Ran’s eyes were red as she stared at the screen for a long time. Finally, she typed out a line slowly: “Brother He Ju, as long as you reply to me now, I won’t pursue the days you’ve ignored me. Can we still get along like we used to?”

Su Ran waited in place for a long time, and the Su family’s maidservants looked at each other. Why hadn’t Miss Su come in yet? What was she waiting for out there?

Feeling wronged, Su Ran seemed to have a natural tendency to burst into tears. Whenever she felt wronged, she couldn’t help but cry.

Su Ran put down her phone and was about to step into the house when she saw her mother’s serious expression.

Shen Yan was really strict with Su Ran: “Come in!”

Su Ran was startled. Usually, the party wouldn’t end until the early hours of the morning, so why had her mother come back so soon?

Trembling with fear, Su Ran walked in. Shen Yan hadn’t even changed out of her evening gown and was sitting there waiting for Su Ran to approach.

Su Ran sat down cautiously beside Shen Yan, lowered her head, and called out softly, “Mom…”

Shen Yan sighed. She had intended to lecture her daughter again, but she also knew that Su Ran wouldn’t listen to her. So she just asked, “If you like He Ju so much, are you willing to marry him?”

In that instant, countless scenes flashed through Su Ran’s mind. There were images of He Ju dressing up as a clown to make her happy when they were young, scenes of He Ju taking her to and from school in junior high, and images of him showing up every time she had a nightmare, rain or shine. There was also the memory of the time she mentioned wanting to eat crab buns from Wang Ji, and He Ju would get up early, ride his bike for several blocks, and buy them for her…

These were all the memories that Su Ran had ignored for a long time. Now, as she recalled them, she still remembered clearly the time He Ju fell and injured his knee on the way to buy her crab buns.

And she, although she didn’t blame He Ju for not bringing her the buns that morning, only greeted him briefly. She didn’t do anything else.

She didn’t even go to the hospital to see He Ju.

Marry him? Would she be happy?

But Su Ran hesitated and didn’t speak.

Shen Yan also breathed a sigh of relief. “Ran Ran, it seems that you don’t need He Ju as much as you think.”

Su Ran instinctively tightened her grip on her phone. “No, Mom, I just haven’t made up my mind yet…”

Shen Yan said, “You’re wrong.”

“What?” Su Ran looked up at Shen Yan.

Shen Yan said, “If you really love someone, you can’t help but want to marry them. If it’s too late, you’ll be afraid that this person will no longer belong to you, and you’ll be eager to label this person as your own. But Ran Ran…”

“When I asked you just now, you hesitated, didn’t you?”

Su Ran felt ashamed and lowered her head.

“You’re afraid that being with He Ju will lower your quality of life, and you’ve been our little princess since you were young. No matter what, we’ve always given you the best. As the saying goes, it’s easy to go from frugality to luxury, but difficult to go from luxury to frugality. Ran Ran, I admit that compared to the vast majority of ordinary families, He Ju’s family is not considered difficult, but compared to our social class, he’s just a poor boy.”

Su Ran suddenly felt despondent. “But what if, in many years, He Ju can make a name for himself?”

Shen Yan shook her head. “It took three generations for the Su family to stand in the upper-middle class of City A. Ran Ran, what makes you think that He Ju alone can surpass the efforts of three generations of your ancestors?”

Su Ran couldn’t argue.

Shen Yan continued, “Besides, He Ju hasn’t replied to you in almost a month, right?”

Su Ran’s eyes welled up with tears again.

“That means, you’re not the girl he must marry. If that’s the case, why do you need to throw yourself at him?”

Su Ran felt extremely heartbroken.

She couldn’t convince herself to marry He Ju, but she also couldn’t bear to watch him fall in love with someone else.

Seeing He Ju take Liu Jia home, she seemed calm on the surface, but her heart was truly in pain.

She used to think that she would never lose He Ju, so she always felt confident. But now…

Su Ran’s panic had been amplified infinitely over the past month, and she couldn’t calm down anymore. That’s why she wanted to talk to Liu Jia about her feelings.

Su Ran fell silent for a long time, and finally just covered her face and said, “I understand, Mom. Don’t introduce me to any noble young men during this time. I want to be alone and quiet.”

After speaking, Su Ran picked up her bag and prepared to go upstairs.

Shen Yan also stood up. “If you want to be alone and quiet, then don’t go out during this time. Stay at home and next month, go to the company to learn how to manage the business with your father.”

Su Ran suddenly stopped in her tracks. She finally understood why Shen Yan had been waiting for her here so late.

Su Ran turned back in disbelief. “Mom? Are you trying to confine me?”

Shen Yan smiled. “This isn’t confinement, it’s giving you a period of calm. Su Ran, there’s been a lot of trouble outside recently, so you shouldn’t get involved.”

Su Ran knew that this matter wasn’t as simple as it seemed. “Mom, what do you mean by that?”Shen Yan finally darkened her expression: “The Qiu family, in less than a week’s time, has seen a significant drop in stock prices, shareholders are withdrawing their shares en masse, and the enterprises they partnered with are terminating contracts one after another. It’s hard not to wonder if the Qiu family has offended some important figure?”

Su Ran’s heart skipped a beat. The Qiu family’s power was on par with the Su family’s. How could it be that in less than a week… “But… what does this have to do with He Ju? He’s just a college student with no connections. Even if he had a conflict with Qiu Shaoze last time, He Ju definitely doesn’t have the power to take action against him…”

Su Ran was still worried that Qiu Shaoze might cause trouble for He Ju.

Shen Yan frowned: “Of course He Ju wouldn’t have that kind of power. Your dad is still looking into the specifics, but you, you can’t go looking for He Ju anymore.”

Su Ran wanted to say more, but Shen Yan couldn’t be bothered to continue and simply turned and left.

Su Ran could only suppress the doubts in her heart, yet she couldn’t help but wonder…

Could it be related to He Ju?

Su Ran hoped it was related to He Ju. That would prove that He Ju wasn’t a worthless person, and she could reassess him. Maybe then she wouldn’t be so resistant to being with him.

With a heart full of doubts, Su Ran could only return to her room.

In the past, it was always He Ju who suffered through sleepless nights. Now, as fate would have it, the person struggling to sleep was Su Ran.

She wanted to find something to remember He Ju by, but she hadn’t taken home a single thing from the many gifts He Ju had given her; they had all been offered to the trash bins outside.

As a result, she could only look at their past chat history for some comfort.