Li Wanran looked a little dazed.

Through the car window, she stared at the candy bar phone her son was holding up. The small screen showed a blurry image.

But even with the low resolution, Li Wanran recognized him instantly—

It was Li Chongming.

At this moment, Li Wanran wanted to say something, but when she opened her mouth, not a single word came out.

She was speechless.

Seeing that expression on his biological mother’s face, Liu Zhiyue hesitated a bit. After wrestling with it inside for a while, he still pulled back the hand that had been holding up the phone.

He put the phone back into his pocket.

“The truth is, your decision back then was wrong. That man isn’t as good as you thought he was...”

He began with that sentence, then clenched both fists tightly before slowly relaxing them again.

“He’s nothing compared to Dad. At the very least... my dad has never been unfaithful to you, not once, in all these years.”

“……”

His tone wasn’t exactly harsh.

But in Li Wanran’s ears, it hurt like a knife twisting in her heart.

Her son’s words brought back a flood of memories.

She remembered it clearly.

When she first got pregnant, Li Wanran hadn’t planned on keeping the baby.

Back then, her intention was to terminate the pregnancy.

When Liu Changqing found out, he panicked. Practically begged her to keep the baby that belonged to both of them…

Li Wanran was never a good mother.

After she gave birth to Liu Zhiyue, it was mostly Liu Changqing who took care of him during his early childhood.

In reality, it wasn’t until he got a bit older that she stopped being so repulsed by him.

Yes.

Even though he was her child, when she gave birth to Liu Zhiyue, Li Wanran was only nineteen years old.

She had barely become an adult herself—a young girl, really.

For a baby that came about because she hadn’t been careful, once he was born...

She didn’t really like him.

When he was first born, Liu Zhiyue wasn’t cute at all.

His whole face was wrinkled, looking just like a little old man.

Like… a little monkey.

Li Wanran couldn’t understand how someone with her looks could give birth to a baby like that.

But as he grew, his features filled out and he became chubby and fair-skinned.

The next time she saw him, she didn’t feel as repulsed anymore.

Now she stared at her son, who was much taller than she was.

His childhood face faded more and more from her memory.

The Liu Zhiyue standing in front of her now looked very different from the chubby little boy she remembered.

His features… were starting to resemble Liu Changqing’s more and more.

Pressing her lips together, Li Wanran shifted her gaze away from her son’s face and looked down at the ground.

After some hesitation, she finally said it out loud.

“I already know about that. And... I divorced him.”

“Divorced?”

Hearing his biological mother say that, Liu Zhiyue was clearly surprised—but only for a few seconds.

His expression quickly returned to calm.

That wasn’t hard to guess.

After knowing his mother for more than ten years, Liu Zhiyue understood her well enough.

If she found out that man—Li Chongming—had cheated, she would never choose to stay quiet.

The reason he had taken that photo of Li Chongming with another woman in the first place…

was to show it to her. To help her see who that man really was.

No matter how many mistakes she’d made, no matter how she had treated him before—

she was still his biological mother.

Even now, although Liu Zhiyue could easily call An Yuanyao “Mom” without feeling awkward,

deep down, the word still slipped off his tongue most naturally when he was talking about Li Wanran.

After all, over ten years of living together isn’t something that can be erased in a short time.

Was he disappointed in Li Wanran?

Absolutely.

When he learned it was she who had destroyed what used to be a happy family, he began feeling that disappointment.

And then everything she did afterward just made it worse.

She took all his father’s money.

Later, she even tried to take his little sister away…

She never seemed to stop and think about whether she had actually fulfilled her role as a mother.

She just kept doing whatever she thought was right, without ever considering how others felt.

Always so sure of herself, believing that everything she did was correct,

believing everyone should live according to her rules.

Believing...

Liu Zhiyue didn’t want to keep thinking.

He stared at his mother’s expressionless face.

And fell silent.

He figured he would probably never hear her admit she was wrong in this lifetime.

He turned around and faced away from Li Wanran.

Then he said quietly,

“We don’t live here anymore. If you came here hoping to see Xiazhi, you won’t find her…

Actually, I suggest you don’t see her.

She doesn’t like you anymore.”

After saying that, Liu Zhiyue had no idea what kind of expression his mother had behind him.

He had turned away deliberately—so he wouldn’t have to see her face.

He was afraid that if he did, he might act on impulse and forgive her.

After a long silence and still no response from Li Wanran, Liu Zhiyue spoke again.

“What’s done is done.

There’s no point trying to fix it...

Nothing can go back to the way it was.

I just hope you live the rest of your life happily.

Don’t keep muddling through like you used to.”

He lifted his head slightly.

His body felt stiff.

His instincts told him to turn around and look at his mother one last time,

but he suppressed that urge with force.

After a brief pause, he finally turned and walked toward the stairwell.

----------------------------------------

Li Wanran sat in the car.

Her eyes followed her son’s back until he disappeared into the stairwell.

In her mind, she kept replaying the last thing he had said:

“You shouldn’t listen to Grandma so much.”

Right now, that one sentence was all she could think about.

The truth was… she had asked her mother, Ye Rong, for advice on so many things.

It was her mother who encouraged her to pursue “true love.”

It was her mother who told her to bring Xiazhi back…

Now it seemed…

her mother’s decisions weren’t right.

As time passed, Li Wanran slowly came back to her senses.

Her gaze followed the building upward,

and when it landed on the floor where Liu Changqing’s old apartment was, she stopped.

They… didn’t live here anymore.

Not in this old house.

They had moved.

Liu Changqing and An Yuanyao,

along with her two children,

had moved into… a brand-new home.