She stared straight at Jiang Weiguo. "Good luck finding someone else to do your useless daughter's homework."
And then suddenly, another vision hit her.
[Zhao Lihua hears Rouran's words and immediately grabs her by the hair.]
[Jiang Rouyan cries, and Jiang Weiguo tries to force Rouran to take back the complaint.]
[Jiang Zemin offers her money if she agrees to give him a kiss.]
Rouran's nose wrinkled in disgust at that last vision.
Her adoptive brother was the worst of them all. He never missed a chance to make her skin crawl.
"Liu Rouran!" Zhao Lihua stomped her feet and stormed toward her. "How dare you insult my daughter!"
She didn't even refer to Jiang Rouyan as her sister anymore.
Zhao Lihua reached out to grab her hair, but Liu Rouran had already walked away.
The sudden lunge threw Zhao Lihua off balance, and she fell face-first to the floor with a loud thud.
"Rouran! Your mother just fell, and you won't even glance at her or offer to help?!"
The mask of politeness on Jiang Weiguo's face finally cracked, revealing the same rotten core as his wife.
"Mother!" Jiang Rouyan came running in, still sobbing, her cries echoing through the room. "LUXE said if I don't fix this by next week, they'll take back the invitation!"
Jiang Rouyan's cries mixed with Zhao Lihua's shouting, filling the entire house with chaos.
Jiang Weiguo's head began to pound. The noise, the shame, the mess, it was all too much.
"Rouran! Get back here!" he shouted, his temper snapping.
"Do you really think you can walk away from this house without a single penny? Your life would be nothing without the Jiang Family! What's so hard about letting your sister have what she wants?!"
Liu Rouran stopped at the doorway. Her hand tightened around the handle of her suitcase.
She slowly turned her head and looked back over her shoulder.
"Mr. Jiang." Her voice was calm but sharp. "Yes, you've helped me a lot over the years, but I've also helped your daughter avoid failure more times than I can count."
"We're even, so stop bringing up the money you spent on me."
Her tone turned cold. "Think of it as payment for all the years I let your daughter stand above me like I was nothing."
"Liu Rouran!" Jiang Weiguo roared. "You ungrateful brat!"
"I'm not ungrateful," Rouran replied. "I just don't say thank you to people who use me." Her eyes locked on his. "You didn't save me. You used me to fix your reputation after your affair nearly ruined you."
The truth was, Liu Rouran hadn't been rescued by this family.
She was the one who had rescued them.
Years ago, when Jiang Weiguo's cheating scandal hit the headlines, adopting a poor orphan girl had helped him paint himself as a good man.
A family man.
She had kept Jiang Rouyan from failing school, pushed her through year after year, even when Jiang Rouyan was lazy and couldn't understand the lessons.
And the list went on, so long that Liu Rouran had stopped trying to keep count.
"Every path leads somewhere," she said calmly. "And I've decided to take a different one. One far away from your family, so I don't end up walking into a field of thorns."
Or worse … drowned in that frozen lake.
She gave them a last, deep bow and said, "I hope we never cross paths again for as long as I live."
Jiang Weiguo opened his mouth to say something, but before he could speak, Liu Rouran stepped outside and shut the door behind her, blocking out all the noise from the house.
The sunlight stung her eyes, but she didn't mind.
It was the first time she had stepped outside since she got sick and the first time she left the Jiang house feeling free.
For years, she had been trapped, used, pushed around, drained like she was nothing but a tool.
But now? She was done with them.
"Rouran, so you're really leaving?"
She froze.
That voice. She knew it too well.
She sighed and turned around slowly.
Jiang Zemin leaned against the wall beside the door, smiling at her with that same smug, playful look he always wore.
Of all the people in the Jiang family, Liu Rouran hated Jiang Zemin the most.
He was the worst kind of man—entitled, disgusting, and always thinking he could touch her whenever he wanted.
He had cornered her more than once, pressured her to be his girlfriend, and looked at her like she was something he could own.
His reputation as a playboy was no secret in Jinghai City.
He flirted with every woman he met, but now he wanted her to be his obedient, pretty wife.
Not because he loved her, but because he thought she was weak.
Because he thought she needed the Jiang family to survive.
He wanted someone he could trap in his house while he played around with other women.
But Liu Rouran had never, not even once, considered him as an option.
She would rather live in poverty than marry a man like Jiang Zemin.
"I'm leaving," she said, staring him down with a flat expression.
Jiang Zemin straightened his back and walked toward Liu Rouran.
"I heard your family lives at the foot of a mountain," he said with a mocking smile.
"Rouran, doesn't that mean you'll be poor once you live with them? You'll probably be forced to work on a farm for the rest of your life."
His eyes lowered, slowly scanning her from head to toe. "How could I let someone as beautiful and gentle as you work in the fields? Just so you know, my offer still stands. If you want to marry me, you won't have to leave this house, even if Mother and Rouyan are against it."
"Thank you for the offer." Liu Rouran gave a small nod, the last bit of respect she could offer her so-called brother. "But I refuse."
Jiang Zemin scoffed. "You look so confident now. But once you taste what it's like to live in poverty, I know you'll come crawling back to me."
Rouran would rather work in a field until her fingers bled than ever run back to Jiang Zemin, begging him to marry her.
"I won't," she said calmly. "You don't need to worry about that."
She turned slightly. "Now, I'm leaving. I truly hope we never meet again, Jiang Zemin."
"Your family lives in Qingyuan," he said, voice colder. "I heard from Rouyan that you haven't received any pocket money in a week. So how are you going to get there? By taxi? Don't be ridiculous. It'll take you four days to get there by car."
He smiled playfully, stepping a little closer. "How about this, Rouran? I'll give you money for a plane ticket if you give me a kiss in return."
Liu Rouran paused and turned her head, meeting his eyes over her shoulder. "Go to hell, Jiang Zemin."
His face stiffened.
It was the first time Liu Rouran had ever said something that sharp to him.
Without another word, she walked away from the Jiang Family Residence.
She didn't look back, not even once.
Not even when Jiang Zemin shouted after her, calling her names like "ungrateful woman" or "bitch."
As she passed the security post near the gate, one of the guards gave her a respectful bow. "I hope you find a better life out there, Miss Liu," said Mr. Su, his voice warm and sincere.
Liu Rouran smiled and bowed deeply in return. "Thank you for taking care of me all these years, Mr. Su."
It was painfully ironic.
The only people who ever treated her like a real human being in that house weren't her so-called family, but the staff.
The ones who brought her food when she skipped meals.
The ones who comforted her when she was forced to give up something for Jiang Rouyan.
"Please take care of yourself too," Liu Rouran said softly, then finally walked away from that hellhole.
• • •
When she finished packing her things earlier, Liu Rouran had contacted the number her biological family gave to Jiang Zemin, letting them know she was planning to come to their home in Qingyuan.
She didn't expect a reply.
In truth, she didn't expect anyone to reply at all because if she showed up at their house, it would just mean one more mouth to feed and why would they want that?
However, to her surprise, someone replied within seconds, saying that someone would come pick her up.
Liu Rouran was confused.
How could her poor family, living in a remote mountain village, afford to hire someone to come get her?
Still, she didn't ask too many questions. She simply replied that she'd be waiting.
Now, standing by the gate of the Jiang Residence, suitcase in hand, she waited until a sleek black car slowly pulled up in front of her.
She blinked a few times in disbelief. The car looked far too expensive to be the ride her family had arranged.
At first, she thought it might belong to a neighbor.
But then, the car stopped right in front of her, and the driver immediately stepped out and opened the back door for her.
"Good afternoon, Young Miss Liu," the man said politely, bowing slightly. "I've been assigned to pick you up."
Before Rouran could even process what was happening, another man stepped out from the passenger seat, took her suitcase without a word, and carefully placed it in the trunk.
What ... what was this?
Why were they wearing suits? Why was everything so formal?
Her imagination started to spiral.
'What if someone tricked my family with a cheap transport service?'
'What if these people are pretending to be drivers but are actually taking me to some illegal hospital to sell my organs?!'
"Young Miss?" the driver asked again, noticing her hesitation. "Is the car not to your liking?"
Liu Rouran quickly shook her head. 'Maybe I've been watching too many crime dramas.'
She tried to calm herself down.
Maybe the car only looked luxurious on the outside.
She had heard from friends that some companies use fake luxury car bodies, but cheap engines inside.
What a shame, she thought. 'My family must've been tricked.'
"This … this is fine," Rouran said politely. "Thank you for coming to pick me up."
But as soon as she sat inside, she was confused all over again.
The seat was so soft and comfortable, it didn't feel cheap at all.
And then, something even stranger happened.
The car didn't head toward the main road. Instead, it drove across a wide, open field.
Just as she was about to ask where they were going, a helicopter suddenly appeared, descending from the sky like something out of a movie.
The driver stepped out, walked to her side, and opened the door once more. "Your next ride has arrived, Young Miss."
Liu Rouran's eyes went wide.
Were they seriously about to take her to some shady hospital to harvest her organs?!