Ning Shu knew that Xia Xiaoman had joined the workforce. The entire family of three was relying on Xia Xiaoman to feed them. Meanwhile, not only did Chu Xiaoran do nothing but drink, he’d even hit people when he was drunk. Despite that, Xia Xiaoman still felt no resentment towards him, nor any regret.

  Ning Shu was dumbfounded. Her entire view of the world was updated once again. How much endurance must Xia Xiaoman have to accept days like this? Despite this situation, she still treated Chu Xiaoran like he was a treasure.

  This was clearly the late stages of Stockholm syndrome, she was already beyond saving.

  It felt like Xia Xiaoman was the type that, even if Chu Xiaoran raped her mom and f*cked her dad without even letting their Chihuahua off, she’d still be able to stay with Chu Xiaoran for a happy end.

  Did Xu Wenlang treat Xia Xiaoman well? He did, he treated her really well. However, Xia Xiaoman couldn’t feel the heart-pounding sensation of love. On the contrary, Chu Xiaoran constantly hurt her, but she actually felt that this was love. There was definitely an issue with this girl’s concept of love.

  There wasn’t even the most basic concepts of respect or protectiveness, how could this count as love? The moment Chu Xiaoran behaved slightly better, Xia Xiaoman would back down. Xia Xiaoman was always in the weaker position, and it was even by her own choice.

  Ning Shu just had people continue to keep an eye on them. She had no plans to get involved with them. She’d just watch from above as these two struggled to survive at the bottom of society.

  In the original storyline, after all that traumatizing, they were able to have a happy end together. That was because they had money to support their happiness. Now that they no longer had that capital to tolerate them tormenting each other, they’d just have to get tormented by life.

  Whenever Ning Shu had free time, she’d fight some lawsuits in court. She also took some time to walk around and relax while occasionally catching up with what was going in between Chu Xiaoran and Xia Xiaoman.

  It seemed that not only was Chu Xiaoran addicted to alcohol, he had even gotten addicted to gambling. He wanted to get rich through gambling, and every time he’d take all the money in the house. That money was the milk powder money that Xia Xiaoman had worked hard to earn for the child.

  At the beginning, Chu Xiaoran felt a bit guilty about stealing the money and would say to Xia Xiaoman, I’ll definitely win a lot of money. I just don’t want to see you working so hard, and such blah.

  Xia Xiaoman didn’t say anything and just increased the amount of work she did.

  Was Xia Xiaoman not tired?

  She was very tired, but whenever she recalled that there was someone by her side that she could rely on, she felt strong even if she was tired. However, if she was by herself, there was no way she could’ve held up.

  Xia Xiaoman was someone who was very scared of being alone. She didn’t have independent thoughts, so Chu Xiaoran was her mental support. No matter how unbearable Chu Xiaoran was right now, Xia Xiaoman was still scared that Chu Xiaoran would leave her.

  Chu Xiaoran didn’t look after the family, didn’t look after the child, and was obsessed with gambling. He wanted to win a lot of money by gambling in order to get back to his past state.

  However, gambling has always been a bottomless hole. No matter how much money you throw in, you never won back much. After losing, Chu Xiaoran would just go back home to get money, then head right back to the casino to continue gambling.

  He became very irascible and would often demand money from Xia Xiaoman. If Xia Xiaoman didn’t give him money, he’d beat Xia Xiaoman like she was his enemy and yell that she should just sell herself.

  Xia Xiaoman was very hurt. The fact that Chu Xiaoran wanted her to sell herself, that he wanted her to become a prostitute deeply hurt her, but the moment she argued back, Chu Xiaoran would violently beat her.

  Xia Xiaoman often got new injuries before her old ones even healed, but she still endured everything silently because now, even a single sentence of objection would bring on a crazed beating from Chu Xiaoran.

  Chu Xiaoran who didn’t have money and prestige to dress him up was now even trashier than before. His trashy personality used to be concealed by his money and his looks, so back then, his willfulness was taken to be normal.

  As of now, Xia Xiaoman had no way of handling the rent anymore, so they had to move to the type of small house that only cost around three hundred a month. However, there was only one room. Everything—eating, drinking, shitting—all had to be done in one room.

  The surrounding rooms were all rented out to migrant workers who always left early and returned late.

  “Boss, there’s a woman called Xia Xiaoman at the door looking for you?” Ning Shu was looking through documents when the secretary walked over.

  Ning Shu lifted her brows. Why was Xia Xiaoman looking for her? They hadn’t interacted since Chu Xiaoran went to jail. As of now, it’s been almost two years.

  Ning Shu walked to the window and saw that Xia Xiaoman was standing at the entrance in very plain clothing. She was extremely skinny, to the point that it was a shocking sight.

  Ning Shu felt like something was pressing on her heart. There was a strange feeling. This was probably the original host’s feelings.