Jiang Yan finished washing up and went to Jin Lan's bedroom. After entering, she breathed a sigh of relief. She checked her phone and saw a lot of missed calls and WeChat messages from her mother, still trying to convince her to give money to her sister.
Jiang Yan angrily turned off her phone, not wanting to see any more messages from her mother.
Jin Lan returned soon after. He lay down on the bed with his phone. Jiang Yan lay on the other side, pretending to sleep with her eyes closed. He looked at her amusingly, noticing how she held her breath. He put down his phone and pulled her over.
Jiang Yan's body stiffened further. She couldn't pretend anymore and quickly opened her eyes, nervously pushing him away. "I... I... I don't want to."
Jin Lan was amused by her reaction. "I know you're in a bad mood. I won't force you to do anything. Just sleep, don't be nervous."
"Okay," Jiang Yan said, feeling a bit awkward. She quickly closed her eyes. Jin Lan held her and gently patted her back, like he was coaxing a baby. Jiang Yan soon fell asleep.
The next day was New Year's Eve. Jin Lan got up early and made a simple breakfast. A message came on his phone. Yesterday, Jiang Yan had told him about his sister. He had someone investigate the siblings, Jiang Huan and Jiang Xu. The results showed that Jiang Huan was not attending school. She had dropped out of university two years ago and was now just asking her family for money and fooling around outside.
As for Jiang Xu, he was a good student, studying abroad diligently and even receiving a scholarship. He was currently researching a life science project and had achieved some success.
When Jiang Yan woke up, she felt a bit embarrassed. "I slept in."
"It's New Year's Eve today, and there's nothing to do. Why get up so early?" Jin Lan said with a smile, putting down his phone.
Jiang Yan helped serve breakfast. While they were eating, Jin Lan handed her his phone and said, "I think you should see this."
Jiang Yan took the phone curiously. Her expression turned grim when she saw the photos on it.
"So, she didn't study properly abroad all these years and has been scamming the family for money to fool around!" Jiang Yan gritted her teeth, glaring at the woman in the photos, who was wearing nothing but a piece of cloth, with countless hands touching her.
"Are your parents so easily fooled? They believe whatever she says?" Jin Lan was speechless. He was starting to understand how such a big problem could arise in the Jiang family. It seemed her parents were indeed quite gullible.
"What about my brother?" Jiang Yan immediately asked, afraid that Jiang Xu might also be a troublemaker like Jiang Huan.
"Your brother is doing well in school. His mentor values him highly and has him involved in a very important research project, so he's likely very busy, that's true," Jin Lan explained.
Hearing this, Jiang Yan finally breathed a sigh of relief. Thinking about how Jiang Huan had been deceiving her family all along, and how her mother had scolded her yesterday, she felt a suffocating pain in her chest.
"Don't worry, I'll handle this. You don't need to argue with your mother anymore," Jin Lan gestured to her.
"I don't want to argue with her. I just don't want to face her right now. Can you take me in for a while? I have nowhere to go." Jiang Yan truly didn't want to go back. The thought of her mother anxiously urging her for money made her feel miserable.
"You can stay as long as you want. Don't worry about your mother; I'll send some colleagues from the hospital to check on her." Jin Lan knew that despite her distress, she would still be worried about her mother.
"Thank you," Jiang Yan said, on the verge of tears. She really didn't want to go home and face her mother. They would surely argue, and if she told her mother about Jiang Huan's situation, her mother probably wouldn't believe her and would call her heartless.