"But hear me out, Jie. If you feel right about your feeling, then you shouldn\'t be scared about anything else, okay?"

"Wow, Shi Qiang… you\'ve grown up," I praised her. In which she responded with a squint.

"Of course, I\'m an adult already, Jie. In fact, I do factually, I have more experience in love than you. It\'s just a shame that my last boyfriend was a slag that doesn\'t want me to visit his apartment every night."

"Pretty sure that\'s because he keeps complaining to me that you are eating his food supplies in his fridge almost every night that he lost his monthly food stock in just a week."

"Tch, tch, of course, that\'s because he can\'t provide me! How could he let her girlfriend starve every night?" Shi Qiang defended herself.

…

"I\'m pretty sure no man would allow you to get close to their fridge.. Even I already want to set up a chain and lock for my fridge because of you…" I kept imagining Shi Qiang and her eating habit. Shi Qiang had a monstrous appetite. I bet she could open a Mukbang channel and would still look thin while eating a literal giant sized cake or something.

"Hmph, what\'s the use of telling me about my habit? Ying Jie, you should focus on yourself and your love problem first!" Shi Qiang looked annoyed as I kept mentioning how she was like that fridge-sucking leech that will devour everything.

"Yes, yes, I just don\'t expect you to grow up so much," I continued. I\'ve always seen her as my little sister that I took care of and pamper. So it was a surprise that Qiang could give me actual good advice.

Shi Qiang nodded satisfiedly and got up from the chair to give me a glass of water. I drank it and watched her silently ordered food for our lunch, "What do you want for lunch?"

"Eh? You don\'t need to order me lunch. I think my boss will leave soon."

"Jie, trust me, Mr. Feng is a very serious man when negotiating. He is not an easy one to deal with. This will take at least two hours. So we should eat first."

I sighed. Of course, I know Shi Qiang will focus on her belly first. But I hadn\'t had breakfast either. Thus I put on my order and waited for the food delivery.

We were chatting about random stuff for a while until I felt it was a bit surprising that my curious little sister didn\'t ask more about Yang Menghuo or Meng Bao.

"You really won\'t ask me more about Yang Menghuo?" I asked.

"No, Jie. The thing is, I don\'t want to burden you more about your love affair. Unless you actively searching for me for advice from me," Shi Qiang said. "I think, rather than that, we should talk about the real urgent condition. How about what happened in our home?" Shi Qiang brushed the topic.

"Meili is entering the third year of senior high soon, and we haven\'t even prepared her education money for university," Shi Qiang said, mentioning our youngest sister, who had turned sixteen and would enter the third grade of senior high next year. She said that she wanted to follow us to the city for her study. I had no objection at all, but I didn\'t want her to work too much while studying. I didn\'t want her to work part-time until she was tired to the bone since I knew university was hard even though I never entered university.

At least, from Shi Qiang\'s struggle back then, studying in university looked tiring and hard enough. Even I forbid Shi Qiang to take too many part-time during her university years.

"Hm… that\'s hard…" I said while pondering about what to do next. The problem was, I already spent almost all my saving to fund Shi Yanyue, my little cousin\'s education at university and also helped Shi Qiang to finish her study too before she got a job before.

I could save some more, of course. I just didn\'t know if it would be enough for Meili\'s university admission later on.

"Jie, I think… if we combine our saving, we can definitely save enough for Meili," Shi Qiang suggested. I darted my eyes immediately and shook my head.

"No, no, you save your own money. Qiang, I know that you have worked hard for your job, and you\'ve studied hard in university as well. You need to enjoy life!" I told her, but Shi Qiang didn\'t seem to agree with me.

"I know, but that doesn\'t mean I have no responsibility for Meili. She is also my little sister," Shi Qiang said. "Jie, you\'ve worked hard enough to help our studies. Don\'t push yourself too hard. You should enjoy life as well."

"Aish, I enjoy life when I see you guys succeed ah! Why are you so serious? I\'m so happy when I see you and attend your graduation from university! The same with Yanyue! My family is my precious. As long as you guys have a happy life, I will also be happy!"

"But that\'s not how you enjoy life, Jie," Shi Qiang sighed. "You should go and enjoy your world, maybe find a boyfriend,  or travel around. You\'ve sacrificed too much for our family. You can even continue to study in university if you want."

"… I will think about that one."

Honestly, our parents were very traditional village people. They didn\'t think that women should have high education because, in the end, they would get married and became a housewife. But for me, who had to stop studying after finishing high school, I dreamed of getting into university.

But time passed, and I switched jobs from a cleaning service, waiter, secretary assistant. I got lucky as Mr. Yang Zhuhuo said that she needed a secretary that could handle so many things without complaining. I was so desperate to help Shi Qiang\'s university admission back then, so I worked extra hard, and Mr. Yang Zhuhuo recognized my perseverance.

If I couldn\'t get into university, then at least my little sisters should all be university graduates!

After I successfully made Shi Qiang a university graduate, my parents started helping and selling some of our family sheep and livestock for Yanyue and Meili\'s education. Yanyue had just graduated and was trying to find a job, so our last mission was Meili.

Meili was smarter than Qiang and me, but it was too difficult for her to get a scholarship since we were from quite a remote village. She said she\'d just roll in a random university in the city, even though her intelligence was well qualified to enter Beijing University at least.

The admission wasn\'t cheap, so I had to find another way to get more money.

"Are you sure that you want to help me? You know that mom and dad also need their medication, right? They need weekly medical check-up nowadays, especially dad. He has been getting ill after working too hard when we were just kids."

"Don\'t worry, Jie. I will find a way. Besides, my boss is a lot more generous than yours," Shi Qiang said with a chuckle.

"Aish, my boss, is old and stingy. Why can\'t I get a handsome and young one? Maybe I can start an office romance!" I joked, and we laughed heartily together.

"What are you saying, Jie? You will have your Yang Menghuo to replace Mr. Yang Zhuhuo, right? So in the end, you will experience that office romance like in a novel and movie!"

"Aiya, I doubt I can survive employee cut when that happens! Why would a young man like Menghuo keeping me, an older secretary, when there are plenty of young and promising women out there?"

"Well, maybe because he likes you?" Shi Qiang said nonchalantly, which made me appalled at how easy it sounded for her.

Shi Qiang chuckled at my reaction and continued, "I bet a thousand Yuan that Yang Menghuo will keep you as his secretary, in fact, a private secretary. Get rid of another male lead that would hinder your love, and then try to find a good time to propose!"

"Aish, Shi Qiang! You\'re reading too much novel!" I rolled my eyes. "I mean, I still don\'t know his true nature. I refuse to believe that he is just a sweet bao bun that wants to hog all my attention, Mengmeng style."

"Especially since he has so many admirers around, I doubt that he actually meant the word he said when he confessed to have fallen in love with me," I sighed. "I\'ve seen too many slag men trying to approach you, Yanyue, and Meili. I can\'t just believe them so easily. Besides, he is handsome, crazy rich, and has a great family background."

"And because of that, he doesn\'t deserve you?" Shi Qiang asked.

"No, I don\'t deserve him. I know my place, Qiang," I said.

"Nah, Ying Jie, I think it\'s just your insecurity showing right now."