Su Meng covered half of her face and stood rooted to the spot. Even Su Kanghui and Su Na were a little surprised.

Qian Shuangyue's behavior was indeed a bit extreme.

The afterglow of summer sprinkled on Su Meng's face, yet it failed to infuse her with any sense of vitality. It only accentuated her already desolate demeanor.

"You stole Su Na's ring!"

A mere affirmation sentence could often wield more hurtful impact than a mere question.

Aunty didn't even bother to listen to Su Meng's defense before hastily concluding that she had stolen the ring.

Biting her lip, Su Meng struggled to maintain composure. She briskly approached Su Na's room, retrieved the ring from the windowsill, and delicately set it down on the table.

She seemed to be more accustomed to not resisting than being afraid.

"The ring is here."

At noon, after Su Na gave the ring to her, Su Meng stopped by home on her way back to school and put Su Na's ring back on the windowsill of Su Na's room.

She had thought that if she lost the ring, Su Na would make trouble for her, but she had never expected that Su Na would use it to frame her.

Before the three of them could react, Su Meng had already lowered her head and returned to the attic.

"Look at what you've done!"

Su Kanghui irritably lit a cigarette and accused Qian Shuangyue.

Qian Shuangyue looked up and peeked at the attic. After driving Su Na, who was in a daze, back to the room, she hurriedly dragged Su Kanghui into the room.

"What are you doing? Being a nervous wreck every day!"

Su Kanghui shook off Qian Shuangyue's hand in disgust, and Qian Shuangyue was unable to retaliate in time. Seeing that there was no one outside the room, she quickly locked the door and closed the curtains.

"To tell you the truth, there's a thief in our house!"

"A thief? What has been stolen?"

"No, we didn't lose anything. However, this is the reason we should be concerned!"

Su Kanghui was confused.

"A few days ago, the cabinet door in this room was opened! I was thinking that the 3,000 yuan in the cabinet was gone. However, in the end, the money was not lost, and the account book was tampered!"

"What?"

Su Kanghui was so scared that he jumped up from his chair. He knew the importance of the account book at home better than anyone else.

"Do you mean the account book that documented the gambling debt?"

"Sure!"

Su Kanghui felt his legs grow weak, and the chair beneath him emitted a worn-out creak, its grating sound tormenting his heart.

"Do you think that Su Nian found the account book?"

Qian Shuangyue pushed Su Kanghui, indicating that he should respond.

Su Kanghui was repeatedly bothered by the lingering tobacco floating in front of him. Annoyed, he scattered the smoke and then ruthlessly extinguished the cigarette.

The wooden bed in the attic creaked, no longer eliciting joy from its occupants. After breaking three charcoal pencils, Su Meng finally turned around and covered her head to get into bed.

She wanted to cry, but she fought back tears, engaging in an internal battle of conflicting emotions.

"Ding-dong"

Her phone rang. Su Meng subconsciously reached for her phone. A message popped up on her phone, showing that Jiang Ning had received the red packet.

Lost in a daze, she fixed her gaze upon her phone, with Jiang Ning's words resonating in her mind, "You have a good temper, don't you?"

The collapsing emotions are like a prisoner finding an exit, and tears instantly burst forth.

"What are you crying for? Stop crying!"

Su Meng was as flustered as a child. She frantically pulled out tissues and pressed down on her tear gland. Su Meng couldn't stop crying, so she tightly sealed her tear gland with wide tape again and again. It wasn't until she calmed down and stopped crying that she stopped her action.

The tape stuck to her skin, blocking Su Meng's vision, and the intense pain brought her back to reality.

What was I doing... I must be crazy...

Su Meng realized that something was wrong with her. She hurriedly wanted to tear off the tape around her eyes, but she was completely clueless.

The sound of slow footsteps came from the wooden stairs leading to the attic, which made Su Meng, who was already in a panic, even more nervous.

In a moment of desperation, she tore off the tape and got under the quilt.

[Knock knock knock.]

There was a knock at the door, and Su Meng pretended to be calm as she said,

"I'm already asleep, aunty."

After a long time, Su Kanghui's voice came from outside the door.

"Mengmeng, I've discussed this matter with your aunty. We think you've grown up and it's time for you to to embark on your own independent exploration. It wasn't easy for us to raise you for more than ten years. You should learn to be grateful. You should find a house and move out as soon as possible these days!"

In a daze, Su Meng pushed the quilt away from her head and caught a glimpse of a stack of red paper money crammed into the door crevice.

"Clop-clop."

Su Meng's aunty rushed up to the attic, pulled out the money from the crevice in the door, and exclaimed, "When did you hoard such a substantial sum of money without my knowledge!"

"It's just one thousand yuan..."

"Just one thousand yuan? She is perfectly capable of working!"

As their voices grew fainter and fainter, Su Meng gradually folded her body as if to ease the uneasiness in her heart.

Wasn't this what she wanted? Why was she not happy despite her decision to distance herself from her uncle and aunty, work independently, and live independently?

At four o'clock in the morning, Su Meng was awakened by her hunger. She was slightly perplexed and uncertain. She pondered whether she should go to the market to buy groceries and prepare a meal this morning.

Su Meng looked at the old yellow suitcase resting serenely on the worn wooden plank. If she left this place, where would she go?

She casually browsed through her WeChat friends list, and the three-word name of a familiar stranger caught her attention.

Zhou Shaoyang.

Without realizing it, she instinctively pressed the call button. After hearing a series of beeps, Su Meng suddenly recalled that it was already well past four o'clock in the morning. At this hour, he should still be in the midst of his slumber...

Just as she was about to end the call, the indolent and soft voice of Zhou Shaoyang emanated from the opposite end of the line.

"Hello? Who is it?"

How long had it been since she heard Zhou Shaoyang's voice? Was it a year ago, or three years ago? She couldn't remember. Nowadays the connection between the two seemed to depend only on the mailing of paintings at regular intervals.

Even so, when Su Meng heard Zhou Shaoyang's voice, her heart skipped a beat, leaving her momentarily speechless.

"I..."

"Shaoyang, who's on the call?"

A pleasant female voice came from the other end of the line. In an instant, Su Meng seemed to have outlined her bright and charming appearance in her mind.

Before she could react, Su Meng swiftly tapped her thumb on the screen and terminated the call.

Su Meng was like a deflated balloon, sitting on the edge of the bed.

She still remembered what Zhou Shaoyang had said back then.

[I'll help you realize your dream, Su Meng.]

Had her dream been realized now? Or did she fail to realize her dream? Su Meng didn't dare to think too much about it, let alone ask. She was worried that pursuing the root of the matter might permanently sever her bond with Zhou Shaoyang.

Su Meng always listened to his words and mailed her works to him on time every month. It had been five years since she started doing this.

Su Meng shook her head and pulled herself together. She stopped thinking about these elusive things.

Instead, she put the old suitcase on the bike and pushed the bike away with difficulty.