Chapter 29: Little Yuan Resigns

The sound of a key turning in the lock came from the entrance. Ruan Xingwen guessed it was Little Yuan and got up to go to the foyer. Sure enough, after the door opened, he saw Little Yuan with red-rimmed eyes, barely holding back tears in a pitiful manner. "What’s wrong with you? Is someone picking on you? Is it your aunt asking for money again?" Wang Xiaoyuan and Ruan Xingwen had similar experiences. Her parents also died early. When she was six, her mother got stomach cancer, and by the time it was discovered, it was already late-stage. Her father was unreliable, and faced with expensive medical bills, they had to choose to give up treatment. Two years after her mother’s passing, her father married a stepmother. The stepmother was also quite formidable, sharp-tongued and mean to her, yet always played the role of the dedicated wife and good mother in front of her father. She often withheld her allowance and the little girl was always skin and bones. She was timid and didn’t dare complain to her father, especially when shortly after, the stepmother became pregnant. They said when there’s a stepmother, there’s a stepfather, and it was true. Once her father had another baby, there was even less room for her in the household. The stepmother became more outrageous and didn’t hold back even in front of her father. It was only from chatting with neighbors that she learned it’s taboo to mistreat children while pregnant, as it could ruin the baby’s karma, leading the stepmother to restrain herself. Soon after, when she was ten, her father got into a car accident. The surgery would cost a lot, and her stepmother, upon hearing this, packed up and ran away overnight with money and a big belly. In the end, she had to beg her aunt’s family on her knees to help scrape together the medical costs. Yet this money didn’t last long. When her father learned the stepmother fled, he became even more despondent, drinking excessively. Less than a year after surgery, he died suddenly from a brain hemorrhage. That year, Wang Xiaoyuan had just turned eleven. Relatives helped arrange her father’s funeral and each expressed that the family was already struggling and couldn’t possibly take on another person. Ultimately, she was sent to an orphanage where she lived for a year. Nowadays, she often visits the orphanage. The kindly old director provided her with a sense of family she hadn’t felt since her mother’s passing. Originally, she and her father’s relatives had already lost contact, but somehow her aunt heard that adopting children brings government subsidies, so when Wang Xiaoyuan was twelve, she came to live at her aunt’s home. Upon reaching adulthood, Wang Xiaoyuan no longer lived at her aunt’s house, choosing to rent her own place. Having heard that being a celebrity assistant was lucrative, her aunt frequently called her, insisting she repay the medical expenses they covered back then. Wang Xiaoyuan was furious. Since turning eighteen, she’d been working while studying, saving every penny. After working as Ruan Xingwen’s assistant, her salary did increase significantly, and within a year, she’d saved enough and returned the money to them in person. Ruan Xingwen was aware of this. However, her aunt’s family slammed her with claims that it wasn’t enough and there was interest owed. Such blatant extortion left Wang Xiaoyuan helpless. They hadn’t kept any loan documents, and as it was her father’s blood sister, she could only tolerate the sporadic calls. She considered legal action but upon consulting a professional lawyer, was told such matters were tricky to resolve. Her aunt merely called occasionally without taking any real action. Wang Xiaoyuan was persistently troubled but had no recourse. But today, it wasn’t because of her aunt; she’d grown used to it, nothing to cry over. Little Yuan pursed her lips, her voice teary "Xingxing, am I the last one to know you terminated your contract?" This gave Ruan Xingwen a headache because Little Yuan indeed was the last one to know, which left him unable to refute. Weighing his tone and words, before he could speak, Little Yuan bypassed him straight to the sofa and sat down angrily. "I bet you don’t consider me a friend! If I hadn’t gone to the company today to deliver documents and heard from Xiao Li, I suppose you weren’t planning to tell me such a big deal, right?" Ruan Xingwen had no choice but to grin helplessly and defend himself "Little Yuan, Yuanyuan, Sister Yuan! I call you Sister Yuan! It really is my fault, I’m wrong, won’t you let me off easy?" Nearing the end, his voice even quivered; he really didn’t know how to coax a girl, let alone an angry one. "Pfft." Little Yuan couldn’t help but let out a laugh. She wasn’t genuinely angry, just feeling a bit concerned for Ruan Xingwen. Having been in the entertainment industry for over two years, he hadn’t gained fame, nor had he completed any works. It wasn’t merely bad luck; all sorts of reasons kept him from succeeding. The industry held too many gray rules, and Ruan Xingwen was straightforward, unwilling to compromise his principles. Not that such traits were bad, but rather people like him couldn’t survive in the industry without backing, especially strong backing, or unless blessed with luck to soar to fame. Time had proven that Ruan Xingwen neither had such backing nor that kind of luck. "Xingxing, I’ve resigned!" Originally seeing Wang Xiaoyuan’s smile, Ruan Xingwen was about to relax when her words made him tense up again. "Why?" It wasn’t that he thought the job was so amazing or irreplaceable, he just felt Wang Xiaoyuan really needed the money now, unlike him; she was a girl who needed some savings to fall back on, especially considering her troublesome aunt’s family. "I didn’t want to do it anymore, had the idea for a while. I was going to wait until your contract expired to quit, but you moved faster than I anticipated." Wang Xiaoyuan’s tone was light, even though her eyes remained red, she appeared truly happy now. "I hadn’t expected it either; if it weren’t for yesterday’s incident, I think I’d have stayed at Tianyu until the contract expired and was automatically terminated." Upon him mentioning yesterday’s incident, Wang Xiaoyuan was a bit excited "I heard from Xiao Li that you were especially imposing yesterday. Now it’s all over the company: that you confronted Producer Zhang, terminated your contract with boldness, and now all those young ladies at the front desk are falling for your courageousness." After speaking, she glanced at him, playfully covering her smile. "Listen, I did kick Producer Zhang once. Who told him to have sticky fingers and try to grab my hand? Could my temper tolerate that? Obviously not. So, I kicked him and sent him flying, pinning him to the table!" He even struck a kicking pose, trying to reenact the scene. Little Yuan knew Ruan Xingwen was trying to cheer her up, so she cooperatively executed a fake fall, landing on the sofa behind her. After causing a ruckus for a while, both felt much better. Ruan Xingwen contemplated for a moment and asked Wang Xiaoyuan what her plans were. Wang Xiaoyuan had already planned to resign, so she also had a plan for herself, "I’m not sure yet; my education isn’t high, just an associate degree. I want to further my studies, at least earn a college degree." Ruan Xingwen nodded, also sharing his aspirations "That sounds great. Eventually, I want to open a hostel. Though calling it a hostel isn’t exact; I’d like a place where I can keep small animals I love, plant fruit trees, and grow my favorite plants..."