Chapter 69

It is often said that it’s easy to transition from thrift to extravagance but challenging to go from extravagance to thrift. Just how challenging can it be? Ji Anning understands this all too well.

She used to live in a brightly lit house, her bedroom adorned with a complete set of girlish furniture, decorated like a princess’s boudoir. She always wore the latest season’s clothing and shoes, indulging herself with fast food whenever she pleased.

So, when her grandmother brought her to a small rented flat in the old city district, she stared blankly at the tiny room with only a narrow, high window, offering no view of the outside world. She felt utterly lost.

They only rented this small house, an illegal structure built at the rear of this courtyard. Electrical wires dangled messily from the eaves, creating a chaotic mess. During heavy rain, the yard would flood, and walking across the bricks often led to wet shoes.

One night, the neighbor returning from the night shift was mugged right at the yard’s entrance. He was not only robbed of his wallet but also stripped of his down jacket. He collapsed outside the gate and endured a freezing night. If it hadn’t been for an early-rising elderly lady discovering him at daybreak, he might have frozen to death.

The process of transitioning from extravagance to thrift was filled with hardships and bitterness that couldn’t be conveyed to outsiders.

Fortunately, she gradually adapted.

Not indulging in delicious food made her lose her appetite. Not wearing new clothes made her lose desire to dress up. Saving money instead of spending it made her feel more secure.

The following parts of the text will be scrambled to prevent theft from aggregators and unauthorized epub making. Please support our translators by reading on secondlifetranslations (dot) com. If you are currently on the site and and you are seeing this, please clear your cache.

Vshlavu bye jkedyrrle bla, lhld tkhkdt ckavb vs Fvsnjbszx Fudeasxl.

Mbld, sdl eyu, pbl xlv vbkp olyzvbu uswdt xypvla.

Tl cswtbv bla y rbsdl, y nsxrwvla, nzsvblp, xyjlwr, bydecytp, flolzau, yde oydvle vs vyjl bla vs qwd rzynlp yde qlle bla elzknkswp qsse.

Tkp tsyz oyp vs yoyjld bla xyvlakyz elpkalp, xyjkdt bla pwcxkv vs bkx clnywpl sq bla xyvlakyzkpx.

Kk Gddkdt altyaele bkx yp y elxsd.

Gzvbswtb Kk Gddkdt ynnlrvle Eld Zw’p yqqlnvksd, pbl pvkzz alqwple Eld Zw’p xsdlu. Mbl vawvb oyp lmynvzu yp Eld Zw bye pyke: pbl oyp ralryakdt qsa vbl qwvwal.

Ju xykdvykdkdt bla wpwyz zlhlz sq prldekdt ewakdt vblka alzyvksdpbkr, lhld kq Eld Zw talo vkale sq bla yde casjl wr okvb bla, pbl oswzed’v byhl vs lmrlakldnl vbl rykd sq qyzzkdt qasx vbl nzswep vs vbl taswde ytykd.

Eld Zw eked’v lmrlnv vs ekpnshla Kk Gddkdt’p vbswtbvp vseyu. Fbl bye dlhla clzklhle vbyv vblka alzyvksdpbkr oswze zypv.

Wen Yu believed he had poured his heart and soul into the relationship, but Ji Anning’s reaction left him so angry he felt his liver ache.

Ji Anning sighed and said, “Isn’t that normal?”

In college, dating and breaking up were all too common. Today, you break up with your boyfriend, and your roommates accompany you for a drink and a cry. Next month, you introduce a new boyfriend from the neighboring department.

Seeing ex-boyfriends and ex-girlfriends on campus and pretending not to notice each other as they pass by, isn’t that also normal?

This was indeed the situation on campus.

Wen Yu couldn’t tell Ji Anning what he had done for her and the effort he had put in. What he had done was beyond what an ordinary college student could achieve.

He could only watch her talk about reasonable things that he couldn’t refute.

This time, it wasn’t just his liver in pain; Wen Yu felt like his heart, lungs, and everything else were hurting.

Young Master Wen¹Wen Dashao endured and suppressed the blood that had risen in his throat, then gritted his teeth and said, “Don’t talk to me about these nonsense! Other people are other people, what does it have to do with us? Be honest, how do you really feel about Grandma’s situation?”

She was a person who spoke so logically and kept a clear mind, so why did she suddenly become irrational and stubborn when it came to her grandmother’s situation?

Ji Anning remained silent for a moment and asked, “Wen Yu, do you have someone among your relatives who you can’t abandon under any circumstances? Someone you must be with no matter the situation?”

Wen Yu rolled his eyes and said, “No!”

As adults, who couldn’t leave whom?

But then he suddenly paused and said, “If I had to say there was someone, it would be my old man.”

Wen Yu felt that there was no one he couldn’t leave. He was already an adult, capable of living on his own.

But it was different for Wen Guoan. He was older, and Wen Yu was too important to him. Wen Guoan had placed high expectations on him.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t leave Wen Guoan; it was that Wen Guoan couldn’t leave him. He was just concerned about his elderly father. He was indeed a filial son!

“See, you also have someone,” Ji Anning said, “I will never be separated from my grandmother.”

The conversation about the nursing home could almost be described as an unhappy ending.

Before closing the door, Ji Anning suddenly stopped Wen Yu and said to him, “My grandmother is not a burden to me; I have never regarded her as a burden.”

Wen Yu stood outside the door, looking at her with a strong sense of disagreement in his eyes.

Ji Anning closed the door.

After she finished washing up, she returned to her bedroom and slipped under the covers.

In the darkness, listening to her grandmother’s unstable and occasionally light breathing, she quietly reached into her grandmother’s covers and held her hand.

Her grandmother suddenly turned over in her sleep, extended an arm to hug her, and even patted her twice.

“Ning Ning, don’t be afraid; Grandma is here,” the old lady mumbled with her eyes closed, “We won’t be separated.”

In the past, in that small flat with a leaky roof in the summer and no heating in the winter, her grandmother would hold her like this and tell her, “Ning Ning, don’t be afraid; Grandma is here, and we will never be separated.”

Her grandmother had never been a burden to Ji Anning; she had always been her support, for two lifetimes.

Except for death, no one could separate them.

Christmas Eve, a day that would thrill young people, had no meaning for an elderly person like Wen Guoan.

He returned home, and the old aunt welcomed him and took his coat. He asked, “Where is my wife?”

“I don’t know,” the old aunt said, “She hasn’t come back yet.”

Wen Guoan nodded, not particularly concerned.

The two of them had been sleeping in separate rooms as a couple. If they were away on business, not seeing each other for ten days or half a month was normal.

Wen Guoan headed upstairs, but the old aunt followed and said, “Mr. Wen, there’s something I’d like to ask. I plan to take some time off and go back to my hometown in a while, and this time I might be away for a longer period.”

This old aunt had been working in the family for many years and had developed quite a bit of camaraderie with the employers. Wen Guoan asked, “Is there something going on at home?”

The old aunt smiled and said, “This year is my father’s 90th birthday, and all of us siblings are going back to celebrate it.”

“Ninety? Wow, he’s in great health,” Wen Guoan replied. He then asked, “By the way, what’s your birth order in the family?”

“I’m the youngest,” the old aunt smiled and said, “There are eight of us siblings in total. This time, the younger generation also wants to go back, so there might be around twenty or thirty of us.”

Although there were many people, they were all close blood relatives, not just relatives but even more like family.

Wen Guoan couldn’t help but show an envious expression. “Having a thriving family is really wonderful!”

The old aunt comforted him, saying, “You will too, Mr. Wen. Wait until Xiaoyu graduates and gets married, then you’ll have plenty of grandchildren!”

“Counting on him? I’m afraid I’ll be in the grave before I even have grandchildren,” Wen Guoan shook his head and chuckled, then went upstairs.

Cheng Lian was not in the provincial capital on Christmas Eve; she had gone to the warm south.

Wen Guoan had only spent these romantic holidays with her during the pursuit and the first few years of their marriage. After she had children, it seemed like all of his emotions had suddenly transferred to Wen Yu.

He had held Wen Yu in the palm of his hand since he was a child, fearing that he might melt away or break.

Cheng Lian was deeply disgusted from the bottom of her heart. She felt that as people grew older, especially men, their reproductive desires became so strong that continuing the family line became more important than anything else.

Later, she found that this was really a big joke.

But Wen Guoan had put all his thoughts on Wen Yu and gave her some breathing space. If not for that, she would have gone crazy.

Candlelight, music, steak, red wine.

Yang Yuan pushed a box in front of her.

“Just bought it in France,” he looked at her with a smile that hadn’t changed in decades, “Other than you, no one deserves it.”

Cheng Lian opened the box, and a complete set of antique emerald jewelry lay quietly inside, exquisite and beautiful.

“Do you remember when we were in college?” Yang Yuan reminisced about the past, “We went to the commercial street on Christmas Eve. It was so cold that day, and we ordered the Christmas combo at KFC. They gave us two Christmas hats, and we each wore one, playing from one end of the street to the other. Your nose turned all red. Back then, you said that if you ever had money, you would spend every Christmas in the south.”

At this moment, they were indeed in the warm south.

The wishes they made when they were young had long been fulfilled. Of course, it required substantial financial resources to support them.

When they were young, they had no money but they had affection and lived happily.

Now they both have money but Cheng Lian doesn’t feel happy. Even Yang Yuan’s heartfelt reminiscences of the past can’t soothe her restless emotions.

She closed the box with force and said firmly, “I can’t take it anymore! I want to leave him!”

“Cheng Cheng!” Yang Yuan said, “You have to think about Wen Yu.”

“Why should I?” Cheng Lian’s voice grew louder and sharper, “I’ve been thinking about others my whole life! My parents, you, Wen Yu! I’ve had enough! What’s my age now? Can’t I live for myself?”

“Of course, you can,” Yang Yuan held her hand gently and looked at her tenderly, “Don’t worry, I’ll make all the arrangements.”

This man was the campus heartthrob when he was young, with his handsome looks driving the female students crazy.

Cheng Lian was enchanted by him, ignoring his family’s poverty and her parents’ disapproval, and spent several happy years with him during their entire college life.

It wasn’t until she caught the eye of a rich older man, an incredibly wealthy one at that.

At first, the pleasures that came with spending money did comfort Cheng Lian’s soul. However, as she acquired more and more, it adhered to the principle of diminishing marginal utility. Slowly, the happiness she could derive from these things dwindled.

Even her position as the CFO of the conglomerate no longer satisfied her. She couldn’t help but think that, without jumping directly to the top as the owner, her own abilities would surely have landed her an executive position.

Why should she devote herself to an older man in exchange for that?

Human nature often leads people to stop cherishing what they have once it’s acquired, instead reminiscing about the past.

Cheng Lian grasped Yang Yuan’s hand in reverse and her eyes turned red.

“Don’t make me wait any longer! You always make me wait a little longer, and I’ve been waiting for so long already! I really can’t take it anymore!”

The old man was cold to her, placing restrictions everywhere. Even his biological son wasn’t very close to her. Since the incident when Yang Bo flirted with his girlfriend, he seemed to have turned against her completely. When he came home, he just said a brief hello and then went to accompany the old man, ignoring her completely.

And her own parents, they just knew how to enjoy the luxurious lifestyle provided by her.

Who has really treated her better? Who has genuinely considered her feelings and emotions?

It’s only Yang Yuan.

What was once received is now discarded like old shoes, while what’s lost becomes precious.

She has done so much for him, so let her break free from this tasteless life soon.

---

Sansukini: I’m inclined to believe that Wen Guoan is no fool and knows that she has a concubine and he just lets her be. But she’s still not satisfied.

Thanks for visiting. If you like this story, then I’m shamelessly asking you to visit NovelUpdates and give a 5⭐ review. (人❛ᴗ❛)♪тнайк　чоц♪(❛ᴗ❛*人)

You can also check out my other translations Here

---

Please support my new novel, coming soon in two weeks. It will replace Married to the Male Lead’s Hidden Rich Brother every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. It’s an ancient era genre called “Casting Nets to Catch a Husband.” It was about a beautiful girl who was sold by her family and became a prostitute.(More like a geisha because she just performs dances and sings for the men.) She died before they can sell her body to the highest bidder and woke up (rebirth) to the time before her family sold her. Here you go…

Casting Nets to Catch a Husband

Liu Yu, with her exquisite beauty, was sold into a brothel by her heartless parents in her previous life and died on the night she left the pavilion in the most luxurious brothel in Yangzhou City.

When she opened her eyes again, she had returned to the year she was fifteen, just one month before being sold to the matchmaker by her parents.

With her rebirth, there was one urgent matter at hand.
Within a month, she had to find a good husband for herself, escape from the Liu family, and avoid the fate of being sold in her previous life.

She took all the money she could spare, knocked on the door of the matchmaker’s house in Changfeng Town. And as soon as she left the matchmaker’s house, she met a young man. The matchmaker whispered to her, “Lu Chengxiao, the third son of the Lu family, the owner of the Lu Feng Cloth Shop.”

Liu Yu understood; he was her third target.

Recently, Lu Chengxiao had encountered a beautiful woman several times and admired her. He was thinking it was a match destined for marriage.

It wasn’t until one day when they met in the mountains, the beautiful woman twisted her foot and couldn’t move so he carried her all the way.

When he returned to deliver the medicine, he saw the beautiful woman walking lightly, with no sign of a twisted foot. The heat behind his ears receded, and his eyes grew colder. He turned and went back to Changfeng Town.

Several days later, the beautiful woman shyly handed him a purse, thanking him for his help.

Lu Chengxiao sneered, “Thanking me for helping? That day, I turned back and saw the lady walking normally. Why would I need to help?”

“I can’t accept this purse. If we privately exchange gifts, it might be hard to explain later. It’s better for the lady to keep her dignity.”

Alright, this one couldn’t work. Liu Yu took back the purse, curtsied, and walked away…

Lu Chengxiao thought it was a decisive rejection, until several days later, he saw Liu Yu drop an embroidered handkerchief in front of the bookshop where the young man, Chen Sheng, worked. The gentleman picked up the scented handkerchief, and the beautiful woman blushed and thanked him. What a beautiful encounter.

Lu Chengxiao: “…”

A wave of frustration welled up in his chest, and he clenched his teeth as he tossed and turned in his dreams.

Until later, when he saw Liu Yu about to stage a falling-into-the-water scene, Lu Chengxiao panicked. He jumped into the river before Chen Sheng, pulled her ashore, held her slender waist, and couldn’t help but feel both angry and pained. He didn’t even want to ask more questions. He just held her in his arms and almost begged, “Don’t you want a good marriage? I’ll marry you!”

【This is a story that begins with scheming, falls into love, with a heart full of sincerity, and ends up in a marriage. It is also a story of two major businesses rising, with elements of urban and farming life.]

Tag: Rebirth, Love at first sight, Sweet Romance, Ancient Era