The events related to the Meng family have come to an end here, and Aunt Meng finally stopped calling me.

I heard she went to live in a courtyard for some time.

The last time I met Song Zhirang was at my art gallery.

I was chatting casually with Wang Wei at the time.

My assistant came in and said someone wanted to buy my painting at a high price, but wanted to chat with me first.

As I went out, I saw Song Zhirang standing in front of one of my paintings.

He turned to look at me when he heard footsteps, looking very strange. My impression of him had always been timid, nervous, not knowing where to put his hands and feet.

But when there were only the two of us, all that timid nervousness seemed to disappear, leaving only a kind of biting hatred towards me. He looked at me and asked, "Lu Wenzhou, are you making fun of me?"

I smiled and honestly said, "I have many things to do and many people to see every day. I don't have time to focus on someone I never cared about in the first place."

I calmly said, "You're overthinking it."

He looked at me, his tone full of despair for some reason, "Do you know, Meng Jinxia is preparing to divorce me. I heard her calling the divorce lawyer, I don’t know why, when you’re already about to get engaged, why would she want to divorce me?"

"Where did I go wrong? I'm just wrong in my background, I don't have a family like yours, such education. You all are laughing at me, thinking I can't measure up, but can you blame me for it?"

"I also want to become like you, to have a distinguished family background and be liked by everyone, but I don't have a family like yours. You're just better born than me. If we started on the same line, I wouldn't have ended up like this. If you were in my shoes, you wouldn't be where you are today."

"In the end, you're still relying on your family."

He was angry, questioning loudly, as if releasing all the grievances of these years against me.

Fortunately, there were no other people in the gallery at the moment.

I didn't want to pay attention to him, but he clearly had an attitude that he wouldn't leave without an answer. I guessed he had been holding these grievances for a long time, wanting to find a place to vent.

Even if it was to me.

I thought of him in the Meng family, bowing and scraping to please everyone, sighed, and said, "Song Zhirang, you're wrong. If I were you, I wouldn't have ended up where you are today."

"First, I remember your grades were good back then. If I were you, I wouldn't have stayed in the Meng family after graduating from university, relying on the Meng family for support. I would have used the connections and funds of the Meng family to start my own business."

"Second, you say your family is poor, without the education I have. If I were you, after marrying Meng Jinxia, I would have studied social etiquette, learned social manners, listened more and spoke less. Unfortunately, you've been married to Meng Jinxia for almost two years, and compared to seven years ago, I don't see any progress in you."

"Third, I wouldn't allow the whole family to live off the Meng family openly, be useless parasites. Your family members are your backing, your dignity. You are a man, your whole family is clinging to the Meng family, clinging to your wife like parasites. How do you expect the Meng family to respect you?"

It was a bit meddling to say such things. Why did I mention Song Zhirang? I couldn't say for sure, probably because of the timid and anxious Song Zhirang standing on the podium all those years ago, trying so hard to integrate into a new environment, trying so hard to carve out a path through study.

Later on, I didn't know what to say.

Song Zhirang's eyes lit up in my words, he said, "So... so if I do as you say now, is there still hope?"

He really was hopeless. All the vitality he had in the Meng family relied on Meng Jinxia's love. Now that even Meng Jinxia was about to give up on him, going back to do what he should have done two years ago was too late.

I looked at him with pity, considering it a good deed to give myself some credit, and advised him, "You said Meng Jinxia is already contacting a divorce lawyer. Song Zhirang, if I were you, I would take the initiative to propose divorce to Meng Jinxia at this point. You and Meng Jinxia have a prenuptial agreement, maybe Meng's family will feel guilty seeing you showing such understanding, and might compensate you more."

He shook his head, crying and laughing, looking at me, "No, Lu Wenzhou, Meng Jinxia and I still have hope, we still have hope." After saying that, he turned around in a daze and hurriedly left, probably going to make a final attempt.

Wang Wei came out from behind me and said, "I thought you disliked him."

I turned around, smiling at my childhood friend, "I never saw him as a competitor."

I just lamented his life. He saw Meng Jinxia as the biggest chip to change his destiny, he seized that opportunity to marry her, but he forgot, his biggest asset should have been persistently and continuously investing in himself.

Choices made continuously shape one's life. What is a person's fate? It is the result of the cumulative choices made at every step of life.

Song Zhirang blamed all his current troubles on his family. He was wrong. He ended up where he is now because at every step of his life choices, he got it wrong.