17. She didn’t long for those who didn’t want her.

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Ji Qingran sat dazedly on the sofa for a long time, crying for just as long. Her throat parched from weeping, she stood up to get some water. On the coffee table sat a cup she had bought; without much thought, she picked it up. Only when she held it did she notice it was somewhat heavy. Looking inside, she found unfinished fruit juice still remaining.

Her newly purchased cup had been used by someone else.

Lu Tingyuan was fastidious and never shared cups with anyone. His cup was neatly placed on the coffee table.

The only person who could have drunk juice from her cup was Su Yiyi.

In truth, it wasn’t just the cup. This apartment, which Ji Qingran had believed would be her marital home, was now filled everywhere with traces of another woman’s life.

Ji Qingran stared at the cup, her chest rising and falling in unrest.

The cup wasn’t expensive, adorned with a small cat that resembled the stray kitten she had cared for in her childhood.

Back then, shortly after she was taken back by the Ji family, Chen Yuru worried that Ji Wanrou wouldn’t accept her and had arranged for her room to be beside the servants’ quarters on the first floor. She was even instructed to avoid Ji Wanrou at home to prevent her from seeing her and feeling pained over her status as a supposed illegitimate child.

No one in the Ji household knew her. Her biological parents only cared about Ji Wanrou’s feelings. The servants followed suit and were not warm toward her. She spent her days confined in the cramped servants’ room with no one to talk to. So when a stray cat jumped onto her window, she instinctively shared her food with it. While the kitten ate, she spoke to it, confessing her reluctance to return to the Ji family, her disdain for Ji Wanrou, and her resentment against Ji Huali and Chen Yuru—things she dared not say in front of the Ji family.

Later, a servant saw her feeding the stray cat. That very day, Ji Wanrou was hospitalized due to severe coughing. After a series of tests, she was diagnosed with a cat hair allergy.

Chen Yuru panicked and mobilized all the servants to drive away stray cats near the villa. Since then, Ji Qingran never saw her little cat again.

At that time, she didn’t understand why the Ji family, so vast and wealthy, could not tolerate a small stray cat.

Many years later, she finally realized the Ji family could not tolerate her.

They clearly disliked her but, bound by blood ties, forcibly took her from her foster parents, making her live each day carefully reading the room and growing up in constant caution.

As a child, she had no choice, just like that stray cat had no right to stay.

Years later, living abroad, she once caught sight of a cup like this one and was immediately drawn to the small cat on it.

Though she had long forgotten the exact appearance of the cat she cared for, she remembered it was an orange kitten, small and soft, with a faint voice when it called and affectionate enough to nuzzle her palm when full.

Perhaps it didn’t exactly resemble the cat on the cup, but she stubbornly believed it did.

She bought the cup, carefully wrapped it, and sent it back home, repeatedly telling Lu Tingyuan to keep it safe.

She said this was her cup. When she moved in, she would drink water from it every day, watching the little cat on the cup as if her kitten were still by her side.

But now, the cup she cherished and dared not use had been used by Su Yiyi.

That was the final straw that broke her. Everything she endured tonight—the Ji family, Lu Weian, and... Lu Tingyuan.

A tide of grievance and anger surged within her, wave after wave, threatening to engulf her.

“Ridiculous.”

Ji Qingran suddenly laughed.

Then, she loosened her grip—

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“Bang!”

The cup shattered into pieces, fragments scattered across the floor, the little cat’s image torn apart.

She stared at the broken porcelain with the cat’s image, tears quickly blurring her vision.

Her little cat was gone again.

Always like this—whenever she tried to hold something tight, she ended up losing it.

Heaven truly enjoyed tormenting her.

She stood amidst the shards in the living room for a moment, the anger inside her surging like a broken dam.

Suddenly, she rose, eyes reddened, and dashed into the bedroom.

The bedside floor lamp was her choice; Lu Tingyuan liked to read by leaning against the bed. She cared about his eyesight and had painstakingly selected this lamp.

She pushed the lamp over; the lampshade shattered, and the bulb broke into pieces.

She opened the wardrobe. Inside, clothes hung mixed together—some gifts from Lu Tingyuan to her, others for Su Yiyi—no clear boundary between them.

“Bastard! Lu Tingyuan, you’re a bastard!”

She pulled out her clothes and threw them on the floor, one by one, all of them—she didn’t want any!

What else was there?

What else in this apartment belonged to her?

She had to find it all and destroy it!

Leave nothing behind!

Because this was no longer the marital home she had hoped for, but Su Yiyi’s territory.

Just as the Ji household was no longer her home but Ji Wanrou’s.

They didn’t want her, so she didn’t care anymore!

When Lu Tingyuan returned with Su Yiyi, he saw the room in chaos.

Shattered porcelain scattered on the floor, clothes strewn everywhere...

And Ji Qingran’s tears.

She stood in this ruin, swaying, her eyes vacant, like a little beast cornered and desperate.

Hearing the door, she looked their way, a faint smile appearing on her face: “You’re back.”

“Ah—Senior Brother—”

Su Yiyi was clearly frightened by the scene. She clutched her chest in pain, unable to speak.

Lu Tingyuan’s face turned pale as he looked at her.

“Yiyi.”

Su Yiyi tried to respond but could only open her mouth helplessly, gasping for breath.

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She was having an attack.

Scared by Ji Qingran.

“You’d better give me a reasonable explanation.”

Lu Tingyuan shot Ji Qingran a displeased glance, then carried Su Yiyi out of the room.

No need to ask—he was taking Su Yiyi to the hospital.

Ji Qingran watched his retreating figure and laughed bitterly. Tears slipped uncontrollably down her cheeks.

She looked around at the mess she had made.

Satisfied?

A little.

But her heart still felt blocked, even breathing hurt.

After a moment’s thought, she transferred five hundred yuan to Lu Tingyuan, with the note “cleaning fee.”

She closed the door and left.

Leaving behind a place no longer hers.

She was not homeless; in this city, at least Jiang Yao could take her in.

When Jiang Yao arrived to pick her up, she saw Ji Qingran crouching by the gate of the community, arms wrapped around her knees, head buried, trying her best to curl into a tiny ball.

So pitiful it hurt.

“Ranran.”

Jiang Yao got out and pulled her up, opening her arms to give a big hug.

She didn’t ask anything, only said, “Let’s go home.”

Ji Qingran nodded obediently and got in the car, silent all the way.

Only when Jiang Yao brought her back to her rented room did she blankly say, “The Ji family came looking for me today.”

Jiang Yao was stunned, then carefully asked, “So you...”

“I told them it’s over, that I have nothing to do with them anymore, and they shouldn’t come looking for me again.”

Ji Qingran said calmly, “However, since they want to protect Ji Wanrou’s image publicly, they probably won’t give up on me easily. They’ll likely come to the company in the coming days.”

She looked at Jiang Yao apologetically. “Sorry for causing you trouble.”

Jiang Yao smiled, “The company belongs to the two of us. What trouble?”

Ji Qingran’s intuition was right. The next day, Chen Yuru came looking for her.

Not alone, but accompanied by a young man.