Ihy families, arranged marriages are on, and men having mistresses outside is nothing unusual. As long as the "main fg" at home remains standing, those women outside be kept however they please.

  As a mother, she wouldn’t interfere too much.

  Today was meant to be an official promise to Su Yumian.

  However, the se of gratitude and appreciation that Shu Yuqin had imagined did not appear. Instead, she was met with a cold ugh.

  Su Yumian: “Ms. Shu, you should save your charity for someone else. I ’t accept it. Also, Jiang Yihuai and I have already broken up. From now on, if we meet agai’s just be strangers.”

  In the past, for Jiang Yihuai, she had endured Shu Yuqin’s attitude without pint.

  Shu Yuqin had looked down on her for not having a high degree, no study-abroad experience, and no career after graduation. In short, she wasn’t worthy of her precious son.

  Before, Su Yumian might have tried to wihis future mother-in-w. But now? She didn’t even want Jiang Yihuai anymore, so why should she care about his mother?

  And now, this woman dared to dan front of her? No way she was tolerating that.

  “Oh, by the way, Ms. Shu, here’s a suggestion for you.”

  Shu Yuqin: “?”

  Su Yumian smiled slightly. “Try not to speak so harshly iure—because it makes you more likely to get hit.”

  “Oh, and a monkey wearing clothes is still just a dressed-up monkey. Learn a little.”

  With that, she turned gracefully and walked into the library.

  Shu Yuqin stood frozen in pce, eyes wide with shock. “What did she just say?! She—she actually dared to talk to me like that?! Who does she think she is?! Does she still want to marry into the Jiang family?!”

  Jiang Qiting, whose arm had been grabbed and shaken wildly by her mother, finally snapped out of her stuate and murmured, “Mom, did Su Yumian just say… she broke up with my brother?”

  “Hah, do you believe that?”

  “True. She’s broken up with my brother so many times, but it never actually happened.”

  After all, everyone khat Su Yumian loved Jiang Yihuai like crazy, like a loyal dog that couldn’t be chased away.

  Jiang Qiting looked away. “Mom, don’t fet, we still have something important today. You o e with me to visit the school administrators…”

  Looking at the time, if they didn’t leave now, they’d be te.

  Shu Yuqin took a deep breath, suppressing the anger in her chest. “Let’s go. Su Yumian is nothing. She’s not worth deying my daughter’s business!”

  —

  The B Uy library was a, with a vast colle of books, earning it the niame "The O of Knowledge."

  Su Yumian wandered around twice before finding a seat, vely he bioinformatics se.

  Perfect for easy access to refereerials.

  Her gaze swept across the top shelf, and uedly, she saw Shao Wenbai’s name. Curious, she pulled out the book. The cover featured the vast, boundless universe—just like the feeling Shao Wenbai gave her—deep, expansive, calm, and silent.

  It was a research journal, mostly discussing the structure and dynamics of protein molecules, a crossover study between biology and physics.

  The first page tained a handwritten introdu: "All things are interected, and knowledge has no boundaries."

  Only a true genius could talk about interdisciplinary research with such fidence.

  Without realizing it, half the day had passed, and she had nearly finished reading the book. Although she majored in bioinformatics, she was also quite good at physics.

  At 1 p.m., she closed the book, retur to its inal spot, took a deep breath—and finally realized she was hungry. Leaving the library, she decided to grab something to eat before ing back to study.

  Halfway through her meal, Shao Yuwei called—

  "Weiwei, what’s up?"

  "Are you home?"

  "No, I’m at the library." Su Yumian took a sip of water. "Something wrong?"

  "Yesterday, that scumbag Jiang Yihuai came looking for you!"

  Shao Yuwei was still fuming about it.

  "He asked where you were! Like hell I’d tell him. You haven’t run into him, right?"

  She had finally shaken off that trash—there was no way she was letting Yumian fall bato that fire pit.

  Su Yumian shook her head. "No."

  "Good." Shao Weiwei breathed a sigh of relief. "By the way, are you free tonight? I need a favor..."

  —

  After visiting the school administrators, everythi smoothly. Jiang Qiting’s mohtened, finally shaking off the frustration from earlier with Ouyang Wenqiu.

  "e on, Mom, get in the car."

  Shu Yuqin frowned, gng ba the dire of the library before withdrawing her gaze. "You go ahead. I have something else to do."

  She then called for another driver t a car. Jiang Qiting assumed her mother was going to some dies' gathering and didn’t think much of it.

  Little did she know that after getting in the car, Shu Yuqin gave a direct o to Yihuai’s pany."

  —

  Jiang Yihuai had just finished a meeting when he saw his mother st in, looking furious.

  His scalp tingled. "Mom, why are you here?"

  "What, I ’t e?"

  "That’s not what I meant." He rubbed his nose.

  Shu Yuqin snorted and sat straight down on the sofa. "If you ’t handle a woman, I don’t mind stepping in to help."

  Jiang Yihuai: "?"

  "Look at Su Yumian’s attitude. This is all because of you spoiling her!"

  His pupils narrowed slightly. "Su Yumian? What happeo her?"

  "You’re actually asking me? I just ran into her at B Uy’s library. I only said a couple of things to her, and she snapped! She called me harsh and even insulted me for being uneducated! Hah! What a low-css upbringing—no manners at all!"

  Jiang Yihuai frowned. "You saw her at the library?"

  "Yes! Instead of staying home cooking and ing, she’s out there pretending to be cultured, thinking that’ll make me respect her? What a joke!"

  "She even said she already broke up with you. That from now on, if she sees me, we should be strangers! Is that any way to talk to an elder? Does she still think she marry into our family?!"

  Jiang Yihuai’s gaze darkened.

  Suddenly—

  Shu Yuqin asked, "Did you really break up?"

  Almost instinctively, he replied, "How could we?"

  "Hah! I k! A girl like her, finally catg a golden ticket—there’s no way she’d let go so easily!"

  "Now that you know, you better put her in her pce when you get home!"

  Shu Yuqi ranting, making Jiang Yihuai more and more irritated.

  "Mom," he interrupted, "enough. I have another meeting soon. I’ll have someone send you home."

  "But I haven’t finished—"

  Notig her son’s increasingly cold expression, Shu Yuqin wisely shut her mouth.

  "Fine, I’ll leave for now. But you better not let her off easy! Womeo be disciplined properly to be obedient!"

  "Mm."

  After sending his mother away, Jiang Yihuai loosened his tie a out a deep breath.

  Looking at the suhrough the floor-to-ceiling window, he didn’t feel like going back to the vil. Remembering that Shi Muxi’s birthday was in a few days, he messaged g Zhou to ask fift suggestions.

  g Zhou replied instantly: "Women love jewelry. Just get a neckce or bracelet or something."

  Jiang Yihuai: "I don’t know how to pick. e with me."

  g Zhou: "???"

  Since when did being single make him an expert in pig gifts?

  The two met at SKP iy ter.

  —

  Ihe jewelry store—

  "Sir, what are you looking for?" The saleswoman smiled politely.

  Jiang Yihuai: "A gift for my girlfriend."

  "This heart-shaped neckce is subtle yet romantic—perfect for young women—"

  g Zhou wasn’t ied and looked around instead. The sed, he excimed excitedly "Yumian?!"

  Jiang Yihuai's froze for two seds before he casually turned his head away.

  Shao Yuwei had a business baonight and couldn’t leave the office, so she asked Su Yumian to pick up a jewelry set from the store for her. She hadn’t expected to run into them here.

  She smiled at g Zhou. “g-zi.”

  “Long time no see. Have you been busy tely?” His gaze flickered briefly in Jiang Yihuai’s dire. “Since we ran into each other, why don’t we grab a meal together?”