Four days remain.

The next morning, when Xia Mengge woke up, she found herself alone. She didn’t pay it much mind and habitually reached into the drawer beside her to retrieve the jade bracelet she had carefully placed there the night before. But as her hand slipped inside, her expression suddenly changed.

“Where is my bracelet?” Xia Mengge shot up from the bed and yanked the drawer open—only to find it empty. Her mind went blank, her heart pounding to a halt.

Her hands trembled uncontrollably as she jumped out of bed and frantically searched everywhere for the bracelet. She had clearly put it in the drawer before going to sleep—how could it just disappear? Panic surged within her as she searched under the bed, on the outside cabinet, and even rifled through the trash bin, but all in vain. Tears welled up in her eyes. Desperate, she clutched the hands of nearby neighbors, pleading to know if anyone had seen her bracelet, but met with nothing but denial.

Just as she was about to break down completely, a childish voice suddenly rang out. “Aunt Yun Tang, the bracelet looks much better on you!”

Xia Mengge was stunned. By the time she gathered her thoughts, she had already rushed over to Li Yun Tang.

“How is my bracelet with you?” Li Yun Tang was taken aback and instinctively covered the bracelet on her wrist with her hand, stammering without a word.

It was Wei Ming who suddenly stormed up to Xia Mengge, shouting, “Why can’t it be on Aunt Yun Tang’s hand? Why are you so stingy? Aunt Yun Tang said she liked the bracelet yesterday, but you wouldn’t give it to her, so I helped by giving it to her.”

Suddenly understanding the situation, Xia Mengge’s face darkened. “Wei Ming, taking something without asking is stealing. Don’t you know that?”

Wei Ming’s expression shifted, but he stubbornly retorted, “It’s not stealing. I’m doing a good deed. It looks so much better on Aunt Yun Tang than on you!”

Li Yun Tang chuckled and deliberately waved the bracelet on her wrist. “Yes, Comrade Xia, since it suits me so well, why don’t you just give me the bracelet?”

“No! Give it back to me!”

“It’s just a jade bracelet. How about this—let me buy it from you?” She tossed a coin at Xia Mengge’s feet.

Xia Mengge felt a fury so intense she was about to explode. “I don’t want money. I only want the bracelet!” That bracelet was her life, her sole connection to her parents while she was here—a priceless treasure! Yet Li Yun Tang not only refused to return it but turned and ran toward her home.

“Li Yun Tang!” Xia Mengge’s mind went blank as she lunged forward, grabbing Li Yun Tang and snatching back her bracelet.

“Don’t bully Aunt Yun Tang!” Wei Ming shouted, rushing up to kick and bite Xia Mengge.

“Ah!” Despite the pain, Xia Mengge gritted her teeth and wrestled the bracelet from Li Yun Tang’s wrist.

Wei Ming, eyes burning with rage, bit Xia Mengge’s hand hard.

Seizing the moment when Xia Mengge’s hand weakened in pain, he snatched the bracelet and smashed it onto the ground. “If Aunt Yun Tang can’t have it, neither can you!”

With a sharp crack, the bracelet shattered on the hard cement floor, breaking into pieces—and with it, Xia Mengge’s heart shattered as well.

Tears streamed from her eyes as she sank to her knees, trying to gather the fragments but found herself powerless.

In a daze, she seemed to see her parents placing that bracelet on her wrist years ago.

She remembered how, over the years, whenever she longed for home, she would touch the bracelet with tears in her eyes, yearning for her family, for her mother and father.

But now, it was broken—smashed by her own son, whom she carried for ten months, all for another woman.

“What happened, Yun Tang?” Hearing the commotion, Wei Xunzhou hurried out and immediately noticed Li Yun Tang’s red, swollen wrist.

Li Yun Tang’s eyes instantly filled with tears. “Xunzhou…”

“Dad, it’s all mom’s fault. She wanted to give the bracelet to Aunt Yun Tang, but then didn’t want to and tried to take it back…” Wei Ming bit his own hand hard, crying as he tattled to Wei Xunzhou.

Xia Mengge looked up sharply at her son, only to find him glaring at her like an enemy. Her already shattered heart ached even more. “What nonsense are you spouting?!” She instinctively wanted to refute, but Wei Xunzhou interrupted.

“That’s enough. It’s just a bracelet. Do you have to be so petty?” Xia Mengge felt the world go dark before her eyes. Seven years. Seven long years she had endured every grievance.

She had endured Wei Xunzhou’s love for Li Yun Tang and Wei Ming’s favoritism toward her.

“Wei Xunzhou, Wei Ming!” she suddenly shouted their names, trying to vent her frustration.

But when she met the cold, indifferent eyes of both father and son, her anger instantly faded.

She stared at them for a long moment, then suddenly lost all strength.

Finally, with reddened eyes, she spoke slowly and clearly, “Four more days.”

With that, she stood and walked away.