Chapter 30: He Does Not Deserve to Be Treated This Way by You

My name came up at a truly inopportune moment.

Jiang Yue was still lingering in the bittersweet afterglow of her separation from Cheng Jun, and hearing my name the second she walked through the door shattered her mood. The expression on her face, which had been quite pleasant just a moment ago, instantly dimmed.

"Everything is fine, so why bring him up?"

Jiang Zi, however, was dead serious. "Sister, just let me finish."

"Fine, go ahead," Jiang Yue said, looking distracted.

"It’s like this: didn't you go to the police station this afternoon? Well, I had nothing to do, so I went to the orphanage where Chu Jianghe used to stay. And guess what?"

"What were you doing there?" Jiang Yue frowned.

"That’s not the point. The point is the last part—guess what?"

Jiang Yue had no interest in hearing about me. With a blank face, she said, "I’m not playing guessing games. I have no interest in his affairs. Just say it."

Jiang Zi pouted and said, "Everyone in that orphanage—and I mean everyone—knew him."

"So what? He grew up there. Is it a problem that they know him?"

"Yes, but they didn't just know him; they held him in such high regard!"

"And," Jiang Zi paused, "after the director found out my connection to him, he even took me to see Chu Jianghe’s old room."

Jiang Yue didn't respond, turning her gaze toward the television screen as if she weren't listening at all.

Jiang Zi continued anyway: "Sister, let me show you the photos. This is the room I took pictures of."

As she spoke, Jiang Zi pulled out her phone and opened the photo album.

"Look, Sister, the walls are covered in certificates of merit!"

"And all sorts of trophies. He won them all participating in various activities, and I checked specifically—every single one was for first place."

"This Chu Jianghe... you really couldn't tell just by looking at him! If this isn't a genius, what is?"

Listening to Jiang Zi’s vivid description from the sidelines, I felt a mix of irony and sorrow. What was the point of learning all this now, after I was already dead, when no one had bothered to understand me while I was alive?

Jiang Yue finally shifted her gaze to glance at the photos, but she remained silent. That woman—her heart was truly harder than stone and darker than ink.

Jiang Zi went on, "Besides that, the director told me Chu Jianghe was a kind person who was always involved in charity work. Before he died, he even submitted an application to a 'Project Hope' primary school. I even called to verify it; he was planning to go there to volunteer as a teacher."

Jiang Yue finally couldn't help but snap, "Why are you going around investigating these things for no reason?"

"I was just bored, and I realized I didn't seem to know him at all, so I decided to ask around."

"You really have too much time on your hands. Wouldn't it be better to spend that time with Mom and Dad?"

Jiang Zi shrugged. "I spend time with them, too. But Sister, don't you really want to know any of this? After all, Chu Jianghe was good to us all these years, wasn't he?"

"Wait, Jiang Zi, what do you mean by that?" Jiang Yue suddenly grew angry.

Jiang Zi’s expression turned cold. "I don't mean anything by it. I just think you're so heartless, Sister."

"Even if you didn't like Chu Jianghe, if you had raised a cat or a dog for this many years, you would have developed some feelings, wouldn't you?"

"Sister, you really have disappointed me."

Jiang Zi became more agitated as she spoke. "Yes, I used to despise Chu Jianghe too, always looking for ways to make his life miserable."

"But back then, I didn't know what his situation was. I just thought, if we treated him like that and he still endured it—even willing to be a live-in son-in-law—it must have been because of our family's money."

"That’s why I targeted him at every turn, trying to drive him away."

"But now I know he wasn't that kind of person at all!"

"He had dreams, he had faith, he had a heart of gold, and he was so talented. He didn't deserve to be treated the way you treated him!"

Listening to Jiang Zi’s heartfelt words, I was deeply moved. Regardless of how she had treated me, the fact that she could voice my own inner thoughts proved that she wasn't entirely beyond redemption.

But what did it matter?

You can never wake someone who is pretending to be asleep.

Whether it was Jiang Zi or Jiang Yue, whether they were repenting or filled with regret, I would never forgive them, because my heart had already died.

Love that comes too late is cheap. And, of course, there was no "later" for us anyway.

After Jiang Zi finished, I expected Jiang Yue to retort. But to my surprise, she didn't say a word, and her expression grew strangely complicated.

Jiang Zi didn't continue either. She stood up and said, "Forget it. Your business is none of my concern. I'm going back to Mom and Dad's."

After Jiang Zi left, Jiang Yue sat alone in the living room. The television was still playing, but her mind was clearly elsewhere.

I couldn't tell what she was thinking. Perhaps she felt that Jiang Zi was right. Or perhaps she was just annoyed that I had been brought up.

After sitting on the sofa for a while, she acted as if nothing had happened, went to wash up, applied a face mask, and lay down in bed, closing her eyes to rest.

A moment later, my soul drifted before Cheng Jun. It seemed I was bound to them; I had no choice in the matter.

Cheng Jun was at a bar, surrounded by women, having the time of his life. Beside him was another man around his age, who didn't look like much of a decent character either.

"Mr. Cheng, was that phone call I made this afternoon reliable? What did that Jiang woman think? Did she give you the money?"

Cheng Jun said proudly, "The 12 million has already arrived in my account."

The guy chuckled, "So, Mr. Cheng, what about my share?"

"Don't worry, your share is already prepared."

"Then many thanks, Mr. Cheng."

As Cheng Jun stroked the pale thigh of the woman beside him, he asked, "By the way, you mentioned earlier that your company was planning to secure that project in France. How much do you know about that?"

"Mr. Cheng, I really don't know much about it. You might not know this, but the head of our department is a good-for-nothing. His brother is in charge of that project; it’s a miracle if he even shows up at the office."

Cheng Jun laughed. "So he's even more useless than I am?"

"Naturally. He’s just a spoiled rich kid. If it weren't for his family's money, he’d be nothing."

Cheng Jun gave a sinister laugh. "You hate him so much—did he steal your woman or something?"

The guy said indignantly, "Pretty much. I’d always liked a colleague at the office, and as soon as he arrived, he stole her away. I even caught them at it in the office once..."

"Hahaha!" Cheng Jun laughed heartily. "Then I must meet this boss of yours. Maybe I could even become friends with him."

"What’s his name?" Cheng Jun asked.

"Chu Jianghe."

"What did you say?!"