Being able to give birth to a daughter like Yu Shanshan made Jiang Xiufang's own striking appearance easily imaginable. Combined with the comfortable life she enjoyed after marriage and her professional career, her poise was exceptionally refined.
Yet at this moment, that usually calm and elegant face was clouded with gloom.
With her backpack slung over her shoulders, Yu Shanshan nonchalantly glanced toward the doorway. Sure enough, it was wide open.
She had a very bad feeling about this. She was supposed to leave for Yanjing soon to take the art examinations, which started early in the morning. Fearing she wouldn't make it in time, she had planned to head over a day early. Since money was rather tight, she had picked a hotel that was both cheap and close by.
Knowing she was prone to being scatterbrained, she had deliberately gathered her ID card and everything else together last night.
She was completely done for.
She had forgotten to hide them!
Without even thinking, she knew Jiang Xiufang must have found them while tidying the room...
She didn't dare think about it any further.
"Mom, I'm hungry."
Yu Shanshan put on an air of nonchalance, though inside she was panicking fiercely.
"You still have the nerve to eat?"
Jiang Xiufang sat on the sofa with her arms crossed. With only one daughter, and a husband who utterly spoiled her like a daddy's girl, the child had grown up quite headstrong.
Her daughter had been adorable since childhood, and Jiang Xiufang had once tried to encourage her down an artistic path, like the piano or violin. But she would never allow her daughter to study acting!
The entertainment industry was like a cesspool; did anyone really expect to emerge from the mud unsullied?
Goodness only knows how furious she had been upon discovering those things. Knowing her mother would never consent, the girl had deliberately kept it a secret from her until now!
After uncovering her daughter's secret, she had given Teacher Yang a call, and speaking with him had only added fuel to her ire.
"Fine, I won't eat then."
Yu Shanshan headed toward her bedroom. Upon walking inside and taking a look, she found that everything she had packed the night before was indeed gone.
Yu Shanshan tapped her own little head and muttered under her breath, "Yu Shanshan, oh Yu Shanshan, you really do have a pig's brain."
Seeing her daughter's antics, a fleeting trace of amusement flashed across Jiang Xiufang's eyes. The little wretch was a master at pushing her luck; she absolutely could not show a single crack in her resolve.
"Mom, where are the things from my desk?"
Yu Shanshan sat down on the sofa. Without those items, she wouldn't be able to go take the art exams. It was all her own fault for being so careless.
She had originally intended to ask the school for leave and tell a white lie to her family. If she managed to get accepted, that would be for the best—by then, a fait accompli would be established, making it easier to talk to her mother.
If she failed to get in, she would just pretend nothing ever happened. But the trouble was that everything had gotten stuck right at this critical juncture.
"I put them away."
Jiang Xiufang looked at her daughter. Did the little wretch really think she could muddle her way through at a time like this?
"Then please keep them safe for me; I'll need them for the college entrance exams later."
Yu Shanshan knew that clutching at straws right now was foolish, but she still wanted to give it a try.
"We've reached this point, and you're still trying to keep things from me?"
Jiang Xiufang was so angry she laughed.
"Mom, I didn't mean to~"
Yu Shanshan grabbed her mother's arm and immediately started acting spoiled.
"If I hadn't cleaned your room, you might have actually pulled it off."
Jiang Xiufang yanked her arm free and said crossly, "That makes it sound like I'm up to no good..." Yu Shanshan muttered quietly.
"Whether it's good or bad, I'm not going to argue. I'll just say this: absolutely not!"
There was not the slightest room for negotiation in Jiang Xiufang's tone.
"On what grounds?"
Yu Shanshan's delicate eyebrows immediately shot up.
"On the grounds that I'm your mother!"
Seeing her daughter looking ready to bristle, Jiang Xiufang's temper flared up as well.
"I'm not denying that, but you can't just crush my dreams..."
Yu Shanshan was still somewhat intimidated; she had been afraid of Jiang Xiufang ever since she was a little girl.
"Dreams? Only things that can be achieved are called dreams. What you have is sheer delusion."
Jiang Xiufang didn't even deign to look at her daughter. Sure, the girl was quite pretty, but in a place like the entertainment industry, the prettier you were, the more dangerous it became.
The girl might have a bit of cleverness, but so what?
Environments could change a person!
"If you won't let me try, how do you know I can't achieve it?"
Yu Shanshan bit her lower lip. She might not have cared if anyone else said such things, but hearing it from Jiang Xiufang still stung a little.
"Then let me ask you, out of all the things you've wanted to do since you were a child, has there been a single one you actually saw through to the end?"
Putting it this way might deal a blow to her daughter's confidence, but Jiang Xiufang could no longer afford to care. She couldn't just stand by and watch her daughter step into a quagmire.
"Piano, violin, painting... weren't those all things you forced me to learn? And now you're lecturing me."
Yu Shanshan's nose twitched with a lingering sense of grievance. They forced her to learn things she disliked, yet utterly thwarted the one thing she genuinely loved.
Her studies weren't great, and she had no other strong suits. Perhaps her mother was right, but she wanted to try just once. As Lin Yi had said, so what if she didn't pass?
At least she would have tried her best.
"I will not agree to this."
Jiang Xiufang took a deep breath. She knew this was somewhat cruel, but this was her stance. As a mother, she had to take responsibility for her daughter's future.
"Are you even my real mom?"
Lately, the pressure of the art examinations had pushed Yu Shanshan to the verge of suffocation. Seeing her mother remain so resolute, she began to lose her composure.
Tears swirled in her eyes as Yu Shanshan fought hard to keep them from falling.
"Shanshan, Mom is doing this for your own good."
Seeing her daughter like this, Jiang Xiufang felt a twinge of reluctance in her heart.
"For my good, for my good! Your idea of being good for me is forcing me to do things I hate. It's been like that ever since I was little."
Yu Shanshan's emotions ran high, and she found herself missing Old Yu. If Old Yu were here, he would definitely support her.
"Believe what you want. Without your ID card, let's see how you plan to get to Yanjing."
Jiang Xiufang was getting carried away by her own anger too. Hadn't she poured so much thought and money into this precisely for her daughter's future?
"If I'm not going, then I'm not going! Are you happy now?"
Fuming, Yu Shanshan turned and bolted out the door.
Jiang Xiufang's lips parted; she wanted to call her daughter back, but ultimately held her tongue.
After running out of the house, Yu Shanshan had no idea where to go. Before long, hunger set in.
She thought about finding somewhere to grab a bite, but when she patted her pockets, she realized she hadn't brought her phone.
Yu Shanshan knew that if she went back now, her mother certainly wouldn't relent. She simply began wandering aimlessly down the street.
The very last rays of twilight were about to fade completely. Yu Shanshan rubbed her stomach—she really was getting hungry.
The cramp-coaching center Lin Yi attended seemed to be not far from here?
Whenever she got hungry at school, she would look for Lin Yi. It had almost become a habit. Should she go look for Lin Yi now that she was locked out?
Yu Shanshan chose the latter without a moment's hesitation. The art exams were in two days; she had to make her mother see her determination!
Your daughter is wandering the streets without her phone—just imagine how terrifying that is!
Ten minutes later, Yu Shanshan realized just how foolish this decision was. Lin Yi had told her where the tutoring center was, but she had forgotten it. All she could do was squat downstairs and wait for a hare to crash into the stump.
The tutoring center let out at nine-thirty. As soon as Lin Yi walked downstairs, he spotted Yu Shanshan.
Yu Shanshan was still a bit intimidated, so she simply squatted right beneath a streetlamp.
"Why are you here?"
Lin Yi walked up to Yu Shanshan, looking rather surprised.
"..."
Yu Shanshan didn't say a word; she just gazed up at him with a pitiful look.