Heartthrob, Your Image is Crumbling!

Chapter 313: You Are Not Inferior to Others

Jiang Xinyi wasn't planning on knitting a sweater for Zhou Yuwen; she simply wanted to see just how difficult knitting a sweater could actually be.So, in a rare departure from her routine, she didn't let Zhou Yuwen drop her off today and instead went to the shopping mall by herself to buy knitting needles and yarn.

After returning home, she didn't do anything else but lock herself in her room to fiddle with her new supplies.

When she watched the tutorial videos, she felt like she had mastered everything perfectly. Yet, why was it that when she actually tried to do it herself, even making a simple loop was incredibly difficult?

She busied herself for nearly an hour, but aside from tangling the yarn into a messy ball, she achieved absolutely nothing.

Liu Jing had clearly heard the commotion earlier, signaling that Jiang Xinyi was home. Yet, over an hour had passed without a single sound coming from her.

Liu Jing couldn't help but feel curious. 'Just what is my daughter busy with in her room?' she wondered.

So, Liu Jing walked up to Jiang Xinyi's door, only to find it slightly ajar. Inside, her daughter sat at her desk, looking extremely frustrated.

'Huh? What in the world is she doing?'

Liu Jing pushed the door open and quietly slipped inside to take a look.

"You are actually knitting a sweater?"

The sudden sound of her mother's voice from behind startled Jiang Xinyi. She couldn't help but exclaim in annoyance, "Mom! Can you knock next time you come in? I almost stabbed myself!"

Liu Jing let out a peal of giggles and replied, "How can you blame me? You're the one who left the door open. But I never would have dreamed that you'd be knitting a sweater! Who are you knitting this for?"

"Who told you that knitting is only for making sweaters? Can't I just do it for fun?" Jiang Xinyi muttered grumpily, clearly in a foul mood.

Seeing her daughter's reaction, Liu Jing found it secretly amusing. "You wouldn't happen to be knitting a sweater for Zhou Yuwen, would you?"

"No!" Jiang Xinyi's body stiffened for a moment before she denied it with absolute firmness.

"Oh?" A meaningful smile crept up the corner of the mouth of Liu Jing.

Jiang Xinyi felt completely defeated and couldn't help but utter speechlessly, "Mom! What exactly are you trying to say!"

"Haha, I really just didn't expect you to be knitting. What on earth triggered this?"

Liu Jing truly found it novel. Her precious daughter had been pampered at home for twenty-four years, never having to lift a finger for domestic chores, and now she was actually knitting?

Liu Jing admired Zhou Yuwen even more now, thinking to herself, 'Only Zhou Yuwen could manage to tame my daughter.'

However, Jiang Xinyi was clearly not as thrilled as Liu Jing. Seeing her mother tease her, she lowered her head dejectedly and murmured, "I'm afraid it's a case of unrequited feelings. I've done all these things, but in the end, I'll probably just end up being a laughingstock to others."

Hearing this, Liu Jing's smile faded.

She could hear the deep sadness in her daughter's voice, so she gently asked her what was wrong.

Jiang Xinyi shook her head and said it was nothing.

"I just feel... Mom, do you really think Zhou Yuwen and I can work out? He's eighteen, and I'm twenty-four. He's six years younger than me. Plus, he's so excellent, surrounded by girls who are younger and prettier than I am. Am I supposed to shamelessly chase after him like some older auntie? Mom, I... I just feel like it's completely unrealistic."

Growing up, this was the very first time Jiang Xinyi had ever felt so insecure.

Watching her daughter agonize over her insecurities, Liu Jing couldn't help but sigh.

She reasoned, "So what if you're six years older? Aren't your second aunt and second uncle eight years apart? And aren't they perfectly happy now?"

Jiang Xinyi was even more disdainful upon hearing this. She retorted, "She is just a sugar mommy keeping a toy boy. How could I ever be like her?"

"How is it any different?"

Liu Jing comforted her daughter, gently stroking her head. She advised that in all things, she should look at her own strengths instead of always focusing on her shortcomings.

"Those girls may indeed be prettier and younger than you."

"But do they have an open-minded and intelligent mother like yours?" Liu Jing asked with a smile.

Jiang Xinyi couldn't help but smile with a touch of disdain.

'What does this have to do with you?' she thought to herself.

However, what Liu Jing actually meant was that their family's businesses spanned across various industries in Jinling, and she and her husband only had this one precious daughter.

Zhou Yuwen was a smart man.

So what if she found a boy six years younger than her?

If she really wanted to, she could easily find someone ten years younger.

Hearing this, Jiang Xinyi felt so awkward that her teeth ached.

She exclaimed, "I'm only twenty-four this year! Ten years younger than me? A fourteen-year-old? Mom, please spare me. I don't want to be a mother ahead of schedule!"

"Besides, I like Zhou Yuwen, and it's certainly not because he's younger than me," Jiang Xinyi muttered defensively.

Liu Jing immediately pounced, "Are you saying you finally admit you like Zhou Yuwen?"

Jiang Xinyi was in no mood to joke around with Liu Jing. With Li Shiqi hovering around, Jiang Xinyi was able to see her own heart much more clearly. She simply liked Zhou Yuwen.

"Even though he's younger than me, I feel incredibly secure when I'm with him. It's a feeling I've never experienced before. It's the feeling of being protected,"

Jiang Xinyi murmured softly, hugging her knees as she curled up in her chair.

"The feeling of being protected?" Liu Jing echoed.

"Yeah. It's a feeling I've never had. When I'm with him, I don't need to think about anything. I can just honestly be a fool. Plus, there are always new and exciting things happening when I'm around him. I feel like even if I can't be with him romantically, I still want to be friends with him forever. But... when I see him with other girls, my heart aches. Mom, tell me, am I sick?"

After saying just those few sentences, Jiang Xinyi realized her cheeks were burning fiercely.

She touched her hot cheeks and looked at Liu Jing with visible distress.

Liu Jing looked at her with pure affection, gently stroking her burning cheeks, and chuckled. "Silly child, how is this an illness? You are in love."

"In love? Me?"

"Yes, you are lovesick. You're in love, and you have completely fallen for Zhou Yuwen!"

"I..."

Jiang Xinyi wanted to argue, but Liu Jing stopped her. Liu Jing told her not to compare her own weaknesses against the strengths of those other girls. Instead, she should focus on her own strengths and showcase them.

For example, she was highly intelligent and could greatly assist him in his career.

"Or, for instance, didn't Zhou Yuwen just buy a villa? You can get involved in helping him decorate it, right? Who knows, maybe it will even become your future marital home?"

Upon hearing Liu Jing's words, Jiang Xinyi's face flushed bright red. She opened her mouth to deny her mother's wild claims, but Liu Jing quickly pressed an index finger against her daughter's lips.

Liu Jing smiled and said, "I'm just talking about a possibility, so don't rush to deny it. Besides, you are my daughter. If you and Zhou Yuwen really end up together, how could I possibly let you live there?"

Liu Jing continued, "What I mean is, you need to use the resources that you possess—resources that others simply don't have—to better help Zhou Yuwen."

"Zhou Yuwen is a man destined for great things in his career. He knows exactly what kind of woman he needs," Liu Jing declared with supreme confidence.

She genuinely admired Zhou Yuwen, that was true. However, coming from such a prominent family, she naturally possessed the innate superiority complex of her social class. Just as she had mentioned before, if Zhou Yuwen and Jiang Xinyi were to get married, their children might very well take the surname Jiang.

However, Jiang Xinyi deeply disagreed with her mother's perspective.

Didn't that just mean using their wealth and status to pressure others into submission?

"How is that using status to pressure people? Even if it is, isn't this 'status' part of your strengths? Others couldn't have it even if they begged for it," Liu Jing argued.

Jiang Xinyi gave a pout and retorted, "You haven't changed one bit. When you tore You Changjin and me apart, you tried to use our status to crush him. Now that you want Zhou Yuwen and me together, you're doing the exact same thing."

Liu Jing scoffed, "You and that You Changjin were never going to work out anyway. I merely wanted to test him, and he was the one who showed his cowardice first. Yuwen, on the other hand, is excellent. I like him very much. If you two get together, you'll have someone to take care of you, and your father and I will finally be at ease."

"The problem is that it won't work out. Zhou Yuwen is not lacking money," Jiang Xinyi muttered.

"Money is not what he desires."

Liu Jing was extremely confident that she could help Zhou Yuwen, and that Zhou Yuwen would ultimately choose Jiang Xinyi.

However, Liu Jing's overwhelming confidence failed to transfer over to Jiang Xinyi.

Furthermore, Jiang Xinyi did not want her romance to be tainted by ulterior motives.

If Zhou Yuwen only chose her because of Liu Jing's influence, would she even be happy?

Liu Jing softened her tone, saying that she wasn't asking her to use her status to force his hand.

"I just want to cheer you on. Tell me honestly, you're twenty-four years old—when have you ever liked a boy as intensely as you do right now?"

"..." Jiang Xinyi fell silent. The truth was that Zhou Yuwen was the only boy whose presence left her heart stirred. If she really missed out on him, it would be a true pity.

Liu Jing continued to press her, "Did you give him the piano concert tickets I asked you to pass along?" "No."

"No? Why didn't you give them to him?" Liu Jing asked, thoroughly confused.

Jiang Xinyi also felt incredibly useless, unable to handle even such a trivial matter properly.

But she really had no other choice.

"I originally wanted to give them to him, but a high school classmate of his came over. Not only is she beautiful, but she's also incredibly crafty and specifically knitted a scarf for Zhou Yuwen. Then look at your daughter; I've been toiling away for so long, and I haven't knitted a single thing." Jiang Xinyi spread her hands out for her mother to see.

Her mother looked down at those delicate, soft, and slender hands, gently clasping them as she said, "These hands of yours were naturally not meant for knitting sweaters. Why on earth are you trying to compete with them over this?"

Jiang Xinyi grumbled, "We were all born and raised by our parents. What makes us so different?"

"You child, you're doing this intentionally, aren't you?"

"How am I doing it intentionally? I'm just telling the truth," Jiang Xinyi huffed.

Liu Jing felt helpless against her daughter's stubborn personality. At the end of the day, she was still too young.

She sighed and said, "Fine, I won't interfere anymore. Go ahead and knit your sweater. Give it to Yuwen once it's done, and we'll see if he actually likes it."

"I'm not knitting this sweater to give it to him. I just want to see how hard it is," Jiang Xinyi insisted, still refusing to admit the truth.

Liu Jing let out a soft snort.

She replied, "Who cares who you're knitting it for. Since you won't let me meddle, I'm going to sleep."

"Go ahead. I never wanted you to meddle in the first place."

Both mother and daughter were incredibly stubborn. Jiang Xinyi was actually feeling quite depressed over her knitting failures, but she simply refused to confide in her mother.

As for Liu Jing, even though she verbally claimed she wouldn't interfere, how could she truly just sit back and do nothing?

It was incredibly rare for her daughter to fall for a boy.

Moreover, she herself was extremely satisfied with this particular boy.

If he managed to slip away just because of her daughter's muddled and prideful personality, it would be an absolute tragedy.

As she left Jiang Xinyi's room, she glanced back at her daughter hunched over the desk, scratching her head in utter frustration over a pile of yarn balls. Liu Jing thought to herself, 'You silly girl. In the end, your mother is going to have to step in and handle this personally!'

And so, Liu Jing didn't say another word that day.

She simply left Jiang Xinyi to burn the midnight oil. Jiang Xinyi toiled away until past two in the morning, finally managing to make some sense out of the tangled mess of yarn. She did manage to knit a tiny patch, but it was crumpled, misshapen, and completely unrecognizable.

Ugh!

Knitting was so incredibly hard!

Jiang Xinyi surrendered.

Forget it. She might as well just humbly accept being a fool.

But then she thought about the scene of Zhou Yuwen and Li Shiqi laughing and chatting together earlier today.

It made Jiang Xinyi feel truly miserable.

Feeling utterly dazed, she eventually drifted off to sleep.

When she finally woke up the next morning, it was already past ten o'clock. Jiang Xinyi shrieked, demanding to know why her mother hadn't woken her up.

Liu Jing simply replied, "That's your own business. Why should I be the one to wake you?"

This left Jiang Xinyi feeling incredibly stifled. Without even having time to eat breakfast, she rushed out of the house in a hurry.

Liu Jing called out from behind, telling her to slow down.

"If you're really running late, just take Auntie Liu's grocery car!"

Though her mother had spoken, Jiang Xinyi completely ignored her and stormed out of the house on her own.

Jiang Xinyi had originally planned to secretly slip into the office while Zhou Yuwen wasn't around.

Even though Zhou Yuwen wouldn't actually punish her for being late.

Still, suffering Zhou Yuwen's ridiculing over it would be incredibly embarrassing!

Jiang Xinyi had almost succeeded.

However, she failed to notice that there was someone standing in the pantry. Upon seeing Jiang Xinyi, the person was overjoyed and immediately called out, "Xinyi!"

Jiang Xinyi flinched like a startled bird. Terrified, she slowly turned around inch by inch.

"You Changjin? Why are you here? You nearly scared me to death!" Jiang Xinyi said, completely speechless.

You Changjin stammered a reply. Caught off guard by her reaction, he looked rather awkward as he apologized, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

"Forget it, it's fine. Where is Zhou Yuwen? What are you doing here?" Jiang Xinyi asked, breathing a sigh of relief when she realized Zhou Yuwen wasn't around.

You Changjin explained that he had come over to hand-deliver Zhou Yuwen's scholarship application form.

"He went to the opposite office and told me to wait here for a moment," You Changjin lied smoothly.

In truth, what kind of counselor would personally deliver documents to a student?

At the end of the day, he just wanted an excuse to come over and catch a glimpse of Jiang Xinyi.

Since she hadn't shown up, he had just waited around for her.

Now that he finally saw her, only to be met with a frightened expression, You Changjin asked with concern, "Is the check-in system here really that strict?"

"Not really, but being late is still bad form," Jiang Xinyi replied, taking off her overcoat. Underneath, she wore a light matcha-green crewneck sweater paired with dark blue jeans.

You Changjin opened his mouth to speak, but it was as if Jiang Xinyi already knew what he was going to say. She cut him off directly, "I'm doing perfectly fine here. You don't need to put in a good word for me with Zhou Yuwen. Um, Changjin, the truth is that we've already broken up. With you constantly hovering like this, it actually makes me uncomfortable."

You Changjin's expression shifted. His gaze initially darted away in avoidance, but he quickly masked it with an awkward laugh and said, "Hey, it's just a passing remark for me. After all, I'm the one who introduced you here. I was worried you wouldn't be comfortable, but were too embarrassed to say it."

"That's definitely not the case."

After hanging up her coat, Jiang Xinyi returned to her workstation.

You Changjin desperately wanted to strike up a conversation with Jiang Xinyi, but he had absolutely no idea what to talk about.

Meanwhile, Jiang Xinyi was only interested in matters concerning Zhou Yuwen. "Zhou Yuwen is getting a scholarship this semester?"

"Yes, four students in our class qualify to apply for the scholarship this time. I figured I'd bring the application form over for Zhou Yuwen to take a look at," You Changjin said with a smile.

"Let me see it first," Jiang Xinyi demanded.

You Changjin naturally complied, handing the scholarship application form over to her.

Jiang Xinyi took a look and saw that it was for a first-class scholarship worth eight thousand yuan.

Jiang Xinyi scoffed and muttered that giving him this money was a complete waste.

"He'll probably just blow it all on one of his little girlfriends anyway."

Hearing this, You Changjin found it amusing and chuckled, "Well, that's his own business. I'm just here to have him fill out the form. Whether or not his application actually gets approved is entirely up to the higher-ups."

Right at that moment, Zhou Yuwen returned from the adjacent office.

Seeing You Changjin and Jiang Xinyi chatting together, he felt a bit perplexed. "Oh? Are you two rekindling your old romance?"

You Changjin was a thin-skinned young man. Hearing this, he gently chided Zhou Yuwen with a reproachful glance, but the corner of his mouth couldn't help but tick upward involuntarily. "Yuwen, you really are something else!"

"Zhou Yuwen, if you are not good with words, then just keep your mouth shut!" Jiang Xinyi, on the other hand, did not give Zhou Yuwen a pleasant look, shooting him a fierce glare instead.

Zhou Yuwen simply laughed and teased, "What's with that tone? You don't want to get back together with my teacher?"

"Zhou Yuwen," Jiang Xinyi's expression turned icy cold.

Sometimes, Zhou Yuwen truly lacked a sense of boundaries when making jokes. Making a joke like that to a girl would naturally make anyone angry.

Seeing that Jiang Xinyi was genuinely furious, You Changjin quickly stepped in to smooth things over. "Alright, alright. Yuwen, you're going a bit too far. Xinyi and I broke up a long time ago. How can you make jokes about us like that?"

Zhou Yuwen also noticed the sharp shift in Jiang Xinyi's demeanor and offered an apologetic smile. "Okay, okay. I won't make those kinds of jokes anymore. Sister Xinyi, give us a smile."

"Hmph!" Jiang Xinyi merely rolled her eyes at him in response.