Moreover, the young master had a reasonable excuse for breaking the jade bracelet. The lady was sitting in front of the dressing table, touching up her makeup, as the son-in-law was about to return. Every day at this time, she would meticulously adorn herself. The young master had drawn a picture, and with Miss Yun Ya not at home and no one to share it with, he ran to show the lady, hoping to share his artwork with her. In the drawing, with childlike strokes, he depicted a family of five. Simple, yet it exuded warmth and happiness. He looked at Ji Lanyi with anticipation, expecting her to praise him, but he was mistaken. Not everyone in this world was like Yaya; no one had the patience to humor him. Ji Lanyi glanced at the drawing, her lips curling in scorn, and she grabbed the picture and tore it to shreds in an instant. The pieces fluttered down scattered everywhere. "What is this supposed to be?" The little boy bit his lip as tears streamed down his face, yet he pursed his lips, not making a sound, looking extremely wronged yet painfully heart-wrenching. Seeing him cry made Ji Lanyi even more furious, "You still have the face to cry? Hold it in." He couldn’t hear, though. He had only just begun to learn lip-reading and couldn’t make out what Ji Lanyi was saying. He could only see her lips moving, her beautiful face showing a hint of anger, and in her pretty eyes danced a flame of anger and disappointment. Yaya said that their mother was always in a bad mood because of their father, and that’s why she would lash out at them. So he thought, his mother must also be suffering greatly. He should be more understanding of her. With that in mind, he wanted to go over and give her a hug because every time he was sad, Yaya would hug him. He thought if he hugged his mom, she wouldn’t be sad anymore. But the woman pushed him away with her hand: "Get lost." He saw the word "get" spill from her lips, coated in lipstick. His body was about to topple to the ground, and he instinctively reached for the desk to steady himself. He was saved from falling, but this caused the jade bracelet, which Ji Lanyi had intended to wear and had placed on the dressing table, to accidentally brush onto the floor. In an instant, it shattered into pieces. He saw the pained and shocked expression in Ji Lanyi’s eyes. He just stood there like a child who had done something wrong. Sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean to, he repeated over and over in his heart, but all that came out when he tried to speak was, "Ah ah ah ah...." This display completely infuriated Ji Lanyi. She came up and slapped him across the face, causing his tender little cheek to swell up immediately. It hurt, not only physically, but also emotionally. He had overly sensitive tear ducts, and tears came just as easily as pearls falling off a string. Ji Die immediately ran over to hug Yun Miao: "It’s just a bracelet, the young master didn’t do it on purpose. Miss, please forgive him this time." "Just a bracelet? You make it sound so trivial. Do you know the history of this bracelet? It was given to me by Brother Shen. Selling you wouldn’t even cover its cost." Ji Die was speechless. Whenever the son-in-law was involved, the lady would lose control, especially with this bracelet being a token of their engagement, a family heirloom from the son-in-law’s family. It was understandable that the lady was upset. "But the young master didn’t do it on purpose...." Ji Die tried to plead in his favor but shut up the moment Ji Lanyi’s cold gaze swept over her. "Not done on purpose? I think he did it intentionally. This child is simply here to make claims. I despise the sight of his face, this act of innocence. Who’s he trying to fool?" With that, she dragged Yun Miao away by his collar. At that moment, the sky was overcast, looking like rain would fall any minute. Ji Lanyi made him kneel in the courtyard: "Kneel for me, and don’t stand up until you recognize your fault." As she spoke, large raindrops began to fall, accompanied by flashes of lightning and the rumble of thunder. The little boy knelt there, no longer distinguishing between tears or rain on his face. At that moment, he wondered, why was his mother not like other mothers, her gaze towards him always so cold and disdainful, as if he were a repulsive stone in a latrine. Was it his congenital disability that caused such anger and disappointment in her? Or was it that no matter what he became, she would never like him? He knelt for a long time, until his knees were numb, until the quiet world began to present hallucinations... rumble rumble rumble... So cold, so cold, Yaya, you were wrong, mother... she never loved us, she despised us... In the last moments before he passed out, that beautiful and proud woman was his final impression of a mother in the world.