Jiang Nan Fang found her words made sense.
In the past, fearing her children would suffer, she had tried her best to accumulate wealth and secure their futures.
Zhan Bei Jue, born with the inherent advantages of a wealthy family, had spoiled his children immensely. None of them truly understood the hardships of life, which was why they were prone to being overly dramatic.
Perhaps if she truly let them experience hardship, see the world, and face setbacks, they might become more grounded.
She suddenly recalled a public welfare project.
Over the years, she and Zhan Bei Jue had been involved in charity, sponsoring schools in remote mountainous areas across the country.
Chen Jiao Jiao's reminder had been a sudden moment of enlightenment.
Chen Dong Yang soon arrived at Chen Jiao Jiao's beauty salon.
Upon entering, he saw his sister and future mother-in-law lounging on beds, getting beauty treatments. Compared to his own frantic state, it was like two different worlds.
But who could he blame?
The situation had escalated to this point, and ultimately, it was all his own doing.
In truth, Chen Dong Yang was under considerable pressure. He couldn't lose his job, he couldn't lose Tian Tian, and he couldn't escape the moral condemnation. He was suffering more than Tian Tian.
However, he was a man, and he had to endure his pain.
A staff member offered him a chair, and Chen Dong Yang sat at the head of the beds, greeting them.
Jiang Nan Fang replied casually and then asked, "Did something happen to Tian Tian again? Why did she think of calling you this early?"
Chen Dong Yang didn't hide anything from them, explaining that Tian Tian wanted to break up with him.
Jiang Nan Fang was not one to indulge her children's faults.
"This stubborn girl, she's just had too easy a life and doesn't know how to cherish it. On your way here, your sister and I were discussing it. We need to let her go out and experience some hardship, to see the struggles of the world. Then she'll naturally come to her senses."
"I plan to arrange for her to teach in a remote mountainous area. Do you agree?"
Chen Dong Yang never would have imagined that, at such a critical time for his daughter's emotional state, her mother would want her to experience the hardships of life.
"Teach? Where?"
Jiang Nan Fang said calmly, "There are many places. Highlands, plains, mountains. It depends on where she wants to choose; there's no compulsion. But I certainly won't agree to your breakup."
"As her boyfriend, where do you think would be good?"
Chen Dong Yang felt that nowhere was good.
Tian Tian was delicate and pampered, having never endured hardship since childhood. Just hearing the names of those places sounded terribly backward.
He was afraid something might happen to her.
Yet, at the same time, he felt Jiang Nan Fang's words held some truth.
Constantly brooding at home and overthinking would lead to illness even if there was nothing wrong.
"Wherever she wants to go, I'll accompany her. Let her choose herself. I'll go back and discuss it with her now."
Jiang Nan Fang felt reassured by Chen Dong Yang, and the decision was happily made.
Chen Dong Yang bought some breakfast that Tian Tian liked and returned home. She had finally gotten up.
Her hair was disheveled, and she hadn't tidied herself. She held a cushion and sat on the balcony's hammock, staring into the distance.
He placed the breakfast on the coffee table and walked behind her.
"I thought carefully last night, and what you said has some truth to it. I agree to the breakup."
As soon as he said this, Tian Tian's swaying body stiffened noticeably.
Chen Dong Yang knew that, in her heart, she was reluctant.
But she was conflicted, unsure of what she should do.
Others had lost their happiness because of her, and she felt she didn't deserve happiness either.
Seeing her reaction, Chen Dong Yang's heart was filled with mixed emotions.
Suppressing the urge to hug her, he steadied his emotions and continued.
"But I have a condition."
Agreeing to the breakup, but then setting a condition?
Tian Tian paused for a few seconds and slowly turned to look at him.
Chen Dong Yang said, "I don't like the person you are now either. You're like a walking dead person, only seeking the satisfaction of punishing yourself, disregarding everyone else's feelings, utterly selfish."
"Your parents gave birth to you, raised you, and provided you with years of education, not for you to become a useless person in the future. You have to do something."
Hadn't Tian Tian realized she was like a useless person?
She wanted to do something to change herself, but her thoughts were always scattered. She couldn't even focus on watching TV, let alone engage in creative work.
Hearing this, she rubbed her hair in distress.
"To be honest, Chen Dong Yang, I don't know what else I can do. My brain is broken."
Chen Dong Yang knelt before her and said persuasively,
"It's not. Tian Tian, you might not be suited for creative work right now, but the knowledge you've accumulated is still there. There are still suitable positions for you."
Tian Tian seemed to see a glimmer of dawn, grasping a lifeline, and immediately asked him.
"What?"
"Teacher. Go teach in a place that lacks teachers. Follow me."
Chen Dong Yang took her slender, boneless wrist and led her back to the living room. He brought out a laptop and found a documentary for her to watch.
It was an old documentary, filmed by a reporter who ventured deep into the mountains of Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan, documenting a group of children struggling to get an education.
In the film, they had nothing to eat, nothing to drink, nothing to wear, and nowhere to live, yet their eyes still held a bright light. When they spoke, their words were filled with longing for the world outside the mountains.
As the film ended, Chen Dong Yang said.
"Instead of wasting your life meaninglessly like this every day, why don't you go and help them?"
"To put it nicely, it's helping them. To put it bluntly, it's mutual salvation, experiencing life. Are you willing?"
When she was in school, teachers had shown Tian Tian and her classmates similar documentaries to foster gratitude for their parents' efforts.
At that time, Tian Tian had conjured many fantasies in her mind.
When she entered society and had her own capabilities, she would do many things to help these people.
But once she entered society and became entangled in all sorts of messy affairs, her past noble ideas were forgotten.
To impart her thoughts to them?
Tian Tian couldn't help but doubt if she was still capable of doing so now.
"Why not?"
Chen Dong Yang persuaded her, "You are well-read, kind-hearted, have a sound moral compass, and are physically sound. You only need to teach them to read and write; what can't you do?"
"I have a set of data regarding the weak teaching force in remote mountainous areas. Once you see it, you'll know how capable you are."
"Furthermore, as long as you agree to go teach, I promise to disappear from your sight immediately."
It wasn't Chen Dong Yang's condition that moved Tian Tian, but rather that she truly realized from the bottom of her heart that she couldn't continue like this.
If she wasn't going to die, she needed to save herself.
She still had decades of life ahead of her. She couldn't live in a daze every day and worry her parents.
So, after a brief period of thought, Tian Tian agreed.
Chen Dong Yang felt relieved yet also a touch of sadness.
He didn't know if Tian Tian wanted to save the children or escape from him.
However, he patiently listed several locations for her to choose from for teaching.
Tian Tian liked highlands; she always felt that the vast, desolate mountains had a profound sense of history.
She also remembered being taken by her father to the distant Gansu province to chase after her mother when she was young.
Her mother had been so cool back then.
She had given birth to four children before she was thirty and had even led a team of men to build a business in the desert.
Suddenly, she felt a renewed sense of drive.