Perhaps the thoughts contained too much information. She stood stunned for a long while, unable to react.
Her mind was a noisy, chaotic mess.
Seeing Jiang Yuyan standing before her, distracted and out of sorts, Jiang Jinran frowned slightly and said gently, "Mom, you don't look very well... Are you too tired? Why don't you go back to your bedroom and rest?"
Jiang Yuyan slowly came back to her senses.
Yet the turmoil in her heart remained, like ripples stirred up by a pebble, spreading endlessly across the lake of her heart.
She took a deep breath and forced herself to rally, but her fingertips would not stop trembling.
"I'm fine, Xiao Ran." She shook her head, putting on an air of nonchalance, a barely perceptible loneliness coloring her eyes.
Jiang Jinran had no idea why Jiang Yuyan had suddenly fallen into such low spirits...
She sighed silently.
[Ah, my poor beautiful mother... That scumbag dad still hasn't come back. Do you really think he's handling business overseas? His old flame, his white moonlight, is overseas too, and so is his illegitimate daughter. For all we know, he's enjoying a happy family reunion right now.]
Jiang Yuyan's face drained of color. As though she had turned into an ice sculpture in an instant, her entire body abruptly stiffened.
Her chest felt so clogged she could barely breathe.
"Mom, what's wrong?" Seeing Jiang Yuyan suddenly turn frighteningly pale, Jiang Jinran instinctively reached out to steady her.
Jiang Yuyan looked as though she were about to suffer a sudden medical episode. Jiang Jinran was a little worried, afraid her beautiful mother might faint right before her eyes.
Jiang Yuyan remained silent for a long while. As though Jiang Jinran's hand were a piece of driftwood that could save her life, she grasped it tightly in return.
Even now, she was still unwilling to believe it.
That man who had been gentle and considerate toward her for decades, without a single fault she could find, that man who had always cherished her and made her laugh-was he really, as her daughter had said...
That despicable?
She truly could not believe it.
But neither could she pretend nothing had happened.
Jiang Yuyan thought that, no matter what, she ought to verify it herself.
"Xiao Ran, get some rest." Having reached this thought, Jiang Yuyan had already made her decision. She forced the corners of her lips upward and gave her daughter a faint smile. "I really am feeling a little unwell. I need to go lie down in my room."
Jiang Jinran nodded understandingly. "Go on, then."
Jiang Yuyan released Jiang Jinran's hand, turned, and headed downstairs.
She reached the villa's main hall, where an elderly woman approached her, kindness showing at the wrinkled corners of her eyes. "Miss, you seem upset."
The elderly woman was the nanny who had been by Jiang Jinran's side throughout her childhood. Her name was Yu Lian.
To Jiang Yuyan, whose parents had died early, Yu Lian was like a second mother.
"Just now, Xiao Ran suddenly opened her door and came out."
Jiang Yuyan recounted it expressionlessly, her body somewhat rigid. She seemed still immersed in the shock from earlier, unable to regain her composure.
Yu Lian raised her eyebrows in surprise. "The young miss actually..."
Jiang Yuyan reached up and pinched between her brows. Rather than continuing, she changed the subject. "Auntie Yu, I'm afraid I'll need to go overseas again."
Yu Lian's eyes widened. "Didn't you only just get back?"
Jiang Yuyan lowered her eyes, a solemn gravity settling over her features. "There's something I need to verify."
After returning to her room, Jiang Jinran leisurely switched on her computer.
Thinking of her first meeting with Jiang Yuyan just now, she could not help sighing.
Her beautiful mother had actually treated the original owner very well, always caring for her quietly and pouring her heart and soul into her.
But the original owner treated everyone the same way, withdrawn and cold.
As time went on, Jiang Yuyan inevitably ended up deeply hurt and disheartened.
Later, the true heiress, Sang Ning, came knocking. Her lively, adorable nature healed Jiang Yuyan and finally let her experience a mother and daughter reaching toward each other.
So the original owner had not exactly been wronged when everyone eventually came to despise her.
She had brought it on herself.
Yet she refused to accept it and insisted on opposing the true heiress, piling more trouble onto the trouble she had already made and earning herself a death sentence.
What Jiang Jinran could not understand was-
The original owner had clearly come from a wealthy family and had no physical impairments, so why had she developed such a personality...?
What exactly had she experienced, and what secrets did she hold?
None of that had been mentioned in the book or appeared in her memories. Guessing out of thin air gave Jiang Jinran no leads.
But speaking of the original owner's father, that man who had married into the family-
He really was a major hidden threat.
No one could feel at ease knowing a complete scumbag, a ticking time bomb, was right beside them.
Should she expose all of this?
Perhaps she needed the right moment.
The computer finished starting up, and Jiang Jinran logged into Legend.
She had been rather busy these past few days and had not logged into the game.
The moment she logged in, word immediately reached the forums.
[Report! That bastard Sha Yu is finally online!]
[Sha Yu's risen from the dead.]
[I thought he'd quit the game.]
[I was worried Fatal had crushed him so badly last time that he'd lost heart and stopped playing.]
[Isn't losing to Fatal normal? If he can't take a little setback, why even play games?]
[Fatal happens to be online today too. Wonder if they'll run into each other.]
[I thought he'd been beaten into quitting. If he'd really quit, that would've been pathetic.]
Jiang Jinran entered ranked play out of habit and checked the opponents she had been matched against. Fatal was not among them.
Right now, all she wanted was a match against Fatal.
But even if she did not get matched with him, she could not just slack off.
Jiang Jinran diligently played several matches without encountering Fatal, but the stream showing her matches was exceptionally lively.
[Is it just me, or is Sha Yu's gameplay getting better and better?]
[Sha Yu's still cool. Too bad he can't beat Fatal.]
[Is losing to Fatal really that embarrassing? Winning and losing are temporary. Being cool is forever.]
[People are still hyping up Sha Yu? Before he fought Fatal, they praised him to the skies. Afterward, all his hype men shut up. LMAO.]
[Anyone with hands could pull off Sha Yu's moves. Hyping him up every day just shows you've never seen anything.]
[Anyone with hands? Fine, let's see you pull them off!]
[Sha Yu's only pretty good. If you want to see someone truly good, watch Fatal.]
Ever since Jiang Jinran's crushing defeat at Fatal's hands, opinions of her had become polarized.
The vast majority of players thought she was overhyped and nowhere near Fatal's level. Of course, she also had a group of gameplay fans who insisted that Jiang Jinran's skills were fucking amazing...
And so these two groups tore into each other over Sha Yu every day.
Jiang Jinran was entirely unaware of this.
After finishing several matches, she took a short break.
She ate some bear-shaped biscuits and drank some water, then clicked on Fatal's avatar with her mouse. The guy showed as online.
Yet she simply could not run into him.
Without encountering Jiang Qiche and fighting him again, Jiang Jinran had no way to win that bet.