Chapter 49: Unable to Hold Back

“Aunt? Aunt? Are you still there?”

Wang Ziyue was speaking enthusiastically and didn’t notice someone approaching from behind.

She turned to head back inside when she suddenly bumped into Wang Ziyang, who stood with his arms crossed.

“Big Brother… what a coincidence.”

“Not a coincidence. I came looking for you on purpose.”

Dinner had just been prepared, yet his little sister had vanished. 

Wang Ziyang searched the entire upstairs before spotting her hiding in a corner of the garden from the balcony.

He glanced at the phone in her hand; the screen was still lit.

“Who are you talking to? Dinner’s ready. Come inside first.”

Wang Ziyang pretended not to know. Wang Ziyue played along and followed him in, whispering as she walked, “Aunt, let’s talk next time. Bye.”

There’s going to be a next time… The corner of Wang Ziyang’s mouth twitched. 

His sister had been scolded by the girl’s mother that very afternoon, and now, that same evening, she was already calling the girl’s house.

Should he call it bold and meticulous, or utterly shameless?

After graduating, she had parachuted straight into the company’s management layer, drawing criticism from all sides. 

Yet she eventually silenced the board with her ever-rising performance.

Now, that calm, self-possessed, mature, and elegant sister seemed to have shed her outer shell—

Watching the current Wang Ziyue, Wang Ziyang felt the image of his sister overlapping with the one in his memories.

Yes… this had always been her true personality.

“Bro?”

Wang Ziyue slid the glass door open and saw Wang Ziyang standing there in a daze, still staring at her.

“You’re kind of creeping me out, staring at me like that…”

“That’s how you talk to your brother?”

Wang Ziyang raised his hand as if to knock her on the head, but he forcibly stopped himself mid-motion.

“What, you still want to hit me like you did when I was in school?”

Exactly—she was no longer the little girl from her school days.

“And you know full well you’re an adult now.” 

Wang Ziyang’s tone carried a touch of melancholy, as if he were reminiscing… or perhaps feeling…

Guilty?

Wang Ziyue looked at her older brother in astonishment. 

The brother who had just been about to knock her head was now speaking to her with guilt in his heart.

“You’ve shouldered too much. It’s my fault for being a bad brother.” 

Wang Ziyang’s face flushed slightly as he said this.

Speaking from the heart to his own sister always felt strangely awkward.

Sure enough, a playful glint appeared in Wang Ziyue’s eyes. 

She responded with an odd expression, “Big Brother, are you trying to play the emotional card now to persuade me to give up? That won’t work.”

“I’m not talking about that… Ziyue, sometimes your brother wonders if I’ve ruined you.”

Wang Ziyue didn’t reply. 

She flicked her hair and stepped through the glass door. 

Just when Wang Ziyang thought she wouldn’t answer, she suddenly turned back, her expression serious.

“Bro, every choice I’ve made has been true to my heart.”

Her amber eyes shone brightly.

It reminded Wang Ziyang of a very, very long time ago, when he went to pick her up from school—the teenage girl with a backpack waiting at the gate—

“Wang Ziyang! Why are you so slow!”

“No manners at all… it was only a little wait, wasn’t it?”

The two bickered noisily all the way to the car, leaving nothing behind but a trail of laughter on the ground.

“Xiao Cheng, come eat.” Jiang Xiaoyue carried out the freshly reheated greens.

Having the call abruptly ended left Jiang Xiaoyue with nowhere to vent her anger, so she took it out on the chicken breast she was cooking tonight.

Each loving knife cut turned the chicken into chunks that were stir-fried with green and red chilies into double-pepper chicken, now lying on the dining table.

Jiang Cheng came out of her room to help her mom set the table.

Both of them only filled their rice bowls halfway.

“Try it. How’s the taste?”

“Mmm, really good!” 

Jiang Cheng took a bite. 

She couldn’t actually taste much, but she still gave her mom a big smile.

“Don’t think about anything else while eating. Just fill your stomach first.” 

Jiang Xiaoyue added another piece to her daughter’s bowl, seeing right through what was on her mind.

After Jiang Cheng swallowed it, she finally couldn’t hold back and asked, “Mom, what exactly did you and Big Sis mean by that guarantee letter…”

“I’ll naturally explain that to you later. Be good and eat for now.”

Jiang Xiaoyue put down her chopsticks and rubbed her daughter’s head.

Jiang Cheng pouted but obediently shoveled rice into her mouth as told.

Neither mother nor daughter ate much that evening.

Jiang Xiaoyue covered the remaining large plate of chicken with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge.

When she turned around, her daughter was sitting on the sofa, staring longingly.

“If you missed Mom this much every day, how wonderful that would be~”

Jiang Xiaoyue sat down with a cup of cold boiled water. 

She couldn’t handle spice well, and her throat was burning a little.

“But I do miss you every day! It’s just that we see each other every day, so that missing turns into real actions.” 

Jiang Cheng knelt halfway on the sofa to massage her mom’s shoulders.

Even though her daughter’s intentions were blatantly obvious, Jiang Xiaoyue still enjoyed it.

“Exactly. When you see someone every day, of course you don’t miss them as much. But someone you can’t see every day—don’t you think about them more?”

Jiang Cheng pressed her lips together. 

From the afternoon conversation until now, she had more or less sorted out her feelings.

“It’s not as exaggerated as you’re making it sound…”

“So there is some, then.” 

Jiang Xiaoyue realized she had somehow picked up Wang Ziyue’s way of steering conversations.

Her feelings were complicated.

“I admit… before, I did kind of sense… Big Sis’s, um… her thoughts.”

“Just a tiny bit?”

“I really don’t know~” 

Jiang Cheng turned her face away; the cherry-pink on her earlobes was quietly blooming.

“Then Mom won’t ask about that. Mom will ask you this: what do you think? Now that you know, what are your feelings?”

“Mom, actually I…”

“Tell Mom. No matter what you’re thinking, you can say it to Mom.”

“I’m actually a little scared.”

“Scared? Did she do something to you?” Jiang Xiaoyue’s eyes widened, only to receive an unexpected answer.

“It’s not what you think… I just… don’t know how to face her.”

Jiang Cheng clutched the throw pillow in her hands, hesitating.

“This ‘don’t know how to face her’—can Mom take it to mean that right now you don’t want Wang Ziyue to like you?”

“Mom, no matter what I think, I can’t control someone else’s feelings, right…”

Jiang Xiaoyue lightly scraped her daughter’s nose.

Though Jiang Cheng was still wavering, her inclination was already quite clear.

“What about you? Do you like her? This isn’t the first time Mom has asked you this.”

But never before had it been this direct.

“I told you before that I just want to study hard… and that’s still the same now.”

Jiang Xiaoyue let out a breath of relief, but her heart still couldn’t fully relax.

Her daughter’s refusal to answer directly only confirmed her suspicions. Pressing further would be pointless.

“This afternoon Mom talked with Wang Ziyue. Can you guess what it was about?”

Jiang Cheng nodded.

“Wang Ziyue likes you. As you said, Mom can’t control her thoughts. But putting restrictions on her actions—that, Mom can manage. That guarantee letter means Mom wants her to keep a proper distance from you. If she wants to meet you privately, she needs both my permission and yours.”

Jiang Cheng blinked, neither agreeing nor objecting.

“Mom didn’t discuss it with you beforehand, so Mom apologizes for that. But this is something Mom absolutely had to do.”

Jiang Xiaoyue patted the back of her daughter’s hand, speaking earnestly.

“You’re about to become an adult yourself. At this age, developing feelings for someone close to you is perfectly normal… But Mom hopes you’ll think carefully about the difference between liking and closeness, between love and being moved.”

“Mhm…”

“Mom said the same thing to Wang Ziyue. Liking someone can grow into a romantic relationship, but once lovers take the next step, it’s no longer just about defending love with love alone. Sometimes love needs to be placed in the right vessel.”

“You don’t have to overthink it. Your view of love will form gradually as you grow. All Mom can do is guide you.”

In the end, Jiang Xiaoyue didn’t directly order her daughter to sever the tender sprout between her and Wang Ziyue. 

She wanted her daughter to figure it out on her own.

Jiang Cheng’s life would ultimately be a series of choices she made herself. 

All Jiang Xiaoyue could do was watch closely and be a guiding light when her daughter felt lost.

Even so… thinking about that little yellow-haired rascal still made her furious—