After the divorce, the crazy CEO knocked on his ex-wife's door every night.

However, this abrupt change made Shen Xuan feel extremely disgusted and wary. After all, the relationship between the two had already reached a freezing point, and any slight change could touch her sensitive nerves.

"I'm afraid that apart from your hostility towards me, we don't have any other topics worth discussing, do we?"

As he spoke, Shen Xuan had already put his hands deep into his pockets and stood tall, facing all the questioning gazes directed at him from the other side.

"Can you let me finish what I have to say?"

Kim Suk-young slowly raised her head, gazing at the other person with her eyes full of stories, while reaching out a hand as if to pull the person in front of her back.

But her fingers paused midway, eventually stiffening as she gripped the edge of the table.

Her eyes revealed a pleading and expectant emotion.

"Can you tell me where this pendant came from?"

She asked again, her tone revealing a clear mix of unease and anticipation.

She gently pressed her forehead, trying to dispel the surging emotions in her heart, and turned her head slightly away.

Her eyes narrowed into slits as she felt a surge of emotion.

“This is a keepsake from my late mother. You know how important it is to me. How could you think I would easily give away or lose something so precious? Even for your family, such ornaments might not be rare.”

"Your mother...has passed away?"

When those words were softly uttered by Jin Shuying, she felt a sudden shock, as if a heavy weight was pressing down on her chest, making it difficult to breathe.

Her eyes became extremely complicated, as if she had been deeply moved.

"So, may I ask, what was the cause of your mother's passing?"

Jin Shuying asked cautiously, afraid that her question would once again trigger painful memories for the woman in front of her.

"She died during childbirth and was not even able to leave the operating room."

These few words carried so much sadness and loss, leaving a heavy atmosphere in the air that lingered for a long time.

Clearly, this question touched a nerve with Shen Xuanchao, causing her expression to instantly change from indifference to extreme anger.

"Have you asked enough questions? If there's nothing else to say, I'm planning to leave."

If it weren't for the fact that this woman held something of paramount importance to her, she would never have wasted a single second on it.

Although she didn't understand why the other party treated her differently just because of such a small accessory, Shen Xuanchao actually had no interest in the matter at all.

After all, the impression that the mother and son had left on her was so terrible that every time she thought about it, she found it unbearable.

After a brief silence, Jin Shuying opened her handbag, took out a yellowed old photograph, handed it to Shen Xuan across from her, and asked, "Do you recognize the man in this photo?"

Shen Xuan cast a quick and wary glance at the old photograph, a small furrow involuntarily forming between her brows.

Although the photos have become blurry with the passage of time, she can still instantly recognize who the person depicted is. "Why do you have a photo of my father?"

She countered with a question laced with doubt.

She was particularly wary of this issue, since her nominal father had never truly cared about her upbringing since he had a relationship with Zhuang Yaoshu.

During those days, he never experienced either joy or hardship.

Shen Xuan's tone was icy. "He used to be considered my family, but now I no longer see him as one. Compared to the painful experiences of these past years, I'd rather forget this blood relation."

After saying this, Shen Xuan finished washing what she was holding and turned to leave without hesitation.

Jin Shuying, left sitting there at a loss, could only watch helplessly as her figure gradually blurred and eventually disappeared from sight.

Watching that solitary yet determined figure walk towards a taxi by the roadside and quickly drive away, Kim Suk-young was filled with doubt.

She couldn't understand why the usually calm Shen Xuan was so cold, not even giving her a chance to explain.

On the way back to the city, Lu Shuli, sitting in the back seat, asked the driver expressionlessly, "What's she doing here?"

After a moment of silence, the driver replied, "The Second Madam seems a bit off lately. She seems to be paying more attention to this Miss Shen. Something feels off about her."

"You're paying more attention now?"

He muttered something under his breath, his brow furrowed slightly, and his eyes sharpened before he closed the car window.

In Lu Shuli's memory, his mother had never been one to care much about such things. This sudden display of unusual interest made him feel that things might not be so simple.

Shen Xuan returned to the small courtyard.

When I opened the door, I saw Gao Jing lying lazily on the sofa with a face mask on and her phone in her hand, engrossed in playing with it.

Seeing someone enter, Gao Jing immediately jumped up from the sofa and greeted them with a big smile, "Sister Xuanxuan, you're back!"

She changed her shoes while shouting.

Shen Xuan nodded slightly and replied, "Hmm, why didn't you go help Dad with his work today?"

Although her tone was calm, a hint of fatigue was clearly detectable.

"I can't even understand it, so going there would only cause more trouble."

Gao Jing smiled and shook her head, trying to mask her helplessness with a lighthearted manner.

When Shen Xuan entered the house, she seemed to smell an unknown odor, and immediately felt a wave of discomfort in her stomach. She quickly covered her mouth with her hand and rushed into the bathroom as if she were running.

Gao Jing, who was enjoying her face mask treatment, suddenly felt something was off. She stopped what she was doing and listened for a moment to the sounds coming from the bathroom.

After confirming that there was movement, Gao Jing did not hesitate to lift the face mask off her face. Although there was still a sticky feeling on her face, this was obviously not the time to care about such details.

She quickly grabbed slippers from beside the bed, put them on, and hurried to the bathroom.

After Shen Xuan finally vomited up all the contents of her stomach, she casually tore off a few soft tissues to wipe the remaining vomit from the corners of her mouth. Only then did Gao Jing, who had been anxiously waiting outside the door, slowly exhale and ask in a cautious, almost trembling voice, "Sister Xuanxuan, are you feeling alright? Is something particularly uncomfortable? Should we call a doctor?"

Shen Xuan raised her tired eyes and saw her friend peeking through the door crack in the bathroom mirror. She forced a smile and replied, "I'm fine. I probably ate something wrong and threw it all up. I should feel much better now. Don't worry, I'll be fine on my own."