Live Stream: Overly Pampered Education Creates Three Superstars in One Family

Chu Shitian's rhetorical question, which bordered on robbery, struck Chu Nan like a hammer blow, leaving him speechless.

In the empty living room, Chu Nan opened his mouth, only to find that he had no idea how to refute it. Because, under a certain extremely utilitarian and power-worshipping value system, what Chu Shitian said was actually "right".

Chu Nan's mind involuntarily drifted back to his high school days. Back then, he was also forced by his family to climb up from a carefree mediocre student through sheer rote memorization and endless practice problems.

Those days were absolutely agonizing. Endless tutoring, severe sleep deprivation, and neurasthenia caused by excessive stress... all sorts of problems tormented him to the point of near collapse.

However, when the final exam report cards were handed out, and he saw his name prominently ranked among the top in the grade; when he took the report card home and received his parents' lavish praise; when he walked into the classroom, greeted by the teacher's admiring gaze and the undisguised envy of his classmates...

In that instant, Chu Nan felt that all the pain and torment he had endured before had been washed away by a tremendous sense of accomplishment and vanity. He felt that it had all been worthwhile.

Because the positive feedback of "being number one" is just too strong and too tempting.

Therefore, following this line of reasoning, deep down, Chu Nan also harbored a slight misunderstanding of Chu Qiuyue.

In his view, his sister has already "taken first place"! She successfully secured funding, saved the family business, and achieved a feat that even her father, a seasoned veteran, could not accomplish back then!

She now wields great power and is treated as an honored guest by everyone in the business community. Isn't this the best feedback?

Since she has already gained so much, why does she still act crazy, complaining and blaming others, as if all the pressure in the world is concentrated on her and she is about to explode?

Chu Nan wanted to refute his father's cold-bloodedness, but his own experiences left him stuck, unsure of how to begin.

Seeing his son's discomfitured expression, Chu Shitian snorted coldly, turned around, took out a bottle of fine red wine from the expensive constant-temperature wine cabinet, and slowly poured himself a glass.

"Why aren't you saying anything?" Chu Shitian swirled the scarlet liquid in his wine glass. "You probably don't really think it's a big deal, do you? There's no such thing as untold wealth without hard work. If we're really going to be serious, she shouldn't blame me; she should thank me! I pushed her a bit, which is how I unleashed her potential."

"...How can that be the same?!" Chu Nan finally managed to choke out a sentence, his face flushed red. "That's just an exam! Can an exam be compared to a person's entire life? Once the exam is over, you're free, but life is a constant torment!"

Chu Shitian took a sip of red wine, his eyes filled with disdain: "You were the one who used the exam as a metaphor first."

"You..." Chu Nan choked and took a step back. Looking at his father, who was always dressed in a suit and always put profit first, he suddenly felt a chill from the bottom of his heart.

"Dad, aren't you afraid my sister will hate you for the rest of her life?" Chu Nan's voice trembled slightly, tinged with disbelief. "She's on the verge of a mental breakdown. As her father, are you just going to stand by and watch her drive herself insane?"

Chu Shitian paused slightly in the hand holding the wine glass.

A long silence fell over the living room. Only the antique grandfather clock on the wall chimed monotonously.

After a long silence, Chu Shitian let out a long sigh. His well-maintained face revealed a rare hint of middle-aged weariness and worldly indifference.

"When you reach middle age, there are many things beyond your control." Chu Shitian's voice turned low. "Her marriage with Chen Chu has deteriorated to this point, and there's nothing anyone can do about it. Poverty makes everything difficult for couples; once there's a significant difference in status, isn't it normal for them to grow tired of each other and find each other unpleasant?"

Chu Shitian raised his eyelids, looked at Chu Nan, and asked in return, "You want me to interfere? What can I do? Can I bow my head and apologize to Chen Chu on her behalf? Or can I forcibly take that mentally ill girl back? That's her own life. Since she chose this path, she can only swallow the bitter pill herself."

Chu Nan opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

He fell completely silent for a moment.

Yes, what can they do? Besides giving money, it seems there's nothing else they can do. Family ties seem so pale and powerless at this moment.

……

Night was falling.

Chen Chu pushed open the door, carrying the sleeping Chen Xiayu in his arms, and walked in with heavy steps. A dim floor lamp was left on in the living room. Chen Ziran and Liu Yue were still awake and were sitting on the sofa waiting.

Chen Chu's face was extremely pale, his eyes were bloodshot, and he exuded a suffocatingly low pressure, looking extremely unhappy.

Chen Ziran immediately stood up from the sofa, instantly sensing the awkward atmosphere. He strode forward, glanced at his younger sister who was huddled in Chen Chu's arms, her brows furrowed, seemingly restless even in her sleep, and lowered his voice, gritting his teeth as he asked, "Dad, what happened? Didn't she say she was taking my sister shopping for clothes? Why did she bring her back looking like this?"

Chen Chu didn't change his shoes. He just stood in the entryway and remained silent for a while before saying in an extremely hoarse voice, "Your mother... she didn't take Nannan to the amusement park. She took Nannan to a psychological clinic and is even forcing her to be hospitalized for treatment."

"What?!"

Chen Ziran's eyes widened instantly, an uncontrollable rage shooting straight to the top of his head. He whirled around, grabbed his phone from the coffee table, his fingers trembling violently with anger: "That crazy woman! What is she trying to do?! Is she insane?! I'm calling her right now, I'm going to curse her to death!"

"Alright, put it back."

Chen Chu frowned, quietly stopping Chen Ziran's actions, and wearily waved his hand: "Forget it. What's the use of calling? I've already pointed my finger at her and cursed her. Cursing her now will only provoke her and drive her even crazier; it's pointless."

Chen Ziran gripped his phone tightly, his knuckles turning white from the force. He gritted his teeth, his chest heaving, and finally uttered a cold sentence: "Dad, from now on... absolutely, absolutely never let her see my sister again. She doesn't deserve to be a mother!"

Chen Chu glanced at Chen Ziran with his deep gaze, neither refuting nor agreeing, but silently tightening his arms around his daughter.

"Your sister seems a bit sleepy now, she keeps clinging to me," Chen Chu said in a low voice, walking past Chen Ziran. "I'll go to her room and coax her to sleep first, you guys should get some rest too."

After saying that, Chen Chu carried Chen Xiayu and walked straight into the bedroom, gently closing the door behind him.

The living room fell silent again, but the tense and oppressive atmosphere did not diminish in the slightest.

Chen Ziran slumped onto the sofa, covering his face with his hands. He was extremely unhappy, his anger and heartache intertwined, tormenting his nerves.

Sitting to the side, Liu Yue watched Chen Ziran's pained and agitated state and felt a little awkward. As an outsider, she shouldn't have said anything, but her traditional family values ​​started to kick in, and she couldn't help but want to act as a peacemaker.

In her simple understanding, no matter how outrageous or extreme the actions of parents in the world may be, they are unlikely to be inherently bad.

Moreover, in her view, Chu Qiuyue's actions, regardless of the circumstances, were all for the good of the child...

"What do you know?"

Chen Ziran abruptly lowered his hand, raised his head, and looked at Liu Yue with an extremely cold and speechless gaze, ruthlessly interrupting her words.

"Sister Liuyue, although I don't want to be so harsh, since you don't understand anything, don't use the guise of 'for our own good' to meddle in other people's family affairs!"

Chen Ziran's voice was filled with suppressed anger: "Do you think we don't want to treat Nannan's illness? We've tried everything before! When she first showed signs of autism, how many hospitals did her father take her to? How many psychologists did he see? But all those so-called interventions were completely useless! Every time we forcibly exposed her to an unfamiliar environment, facing those cold, indifferent doctors, it only worsened her fear and condition, with extremely poor results! That's why we decided to stop treatment and let time slowly help her recover!"

Liu Yue's face paled at Chen Ziran's words, but she still muttered under her breath, somewhat unwillingly, "But... we can't just avoid seeking medical help and give up on treatment altogether just because the illness can't be cured right away..."

Chen Ziran sneered and glanced at her with extreme impatience.

"Sister Liu Yue, do you know what you look like right now? So, it's easy for you to say such things when you're not in the same boat!" Chen Ziran's words were sharp and merciless, tearing away Liu Yue's hypocrisy. "You're just like those relatives in society who keep telling people 'You must study hard!' They just blindly say, 'No matter what, studying is always good,' but when you actually ask them, 'What's so good about it? How is it good?' they can't say anything."

Chen Ziran spread his hands, his tone sarcastic: "You ask him these questions, but he can't give you any coherent answers! They just mechanically repeat what others have said, then stand on their moral high ground and spout empty platitudes! It's completely impractical and can't solve any real problems!"

Liu Yue was rendered speechless by this extremely sharp criticism. She sat there awkwardly, her cheeks burning, her fingers nervously twisting together, completely at a loss for words. It was the first time she had ever seen Chen Ziran, who usually seemed so sunny and cheerful, speak with such cold and aggressive logic.

Seeing Liu Yue's uneasy expression and slightly red eyes, Chen Ziran took a deep breath.

He also realized that he had been a bit too emotional just now, and had inadvertently transferred his anger towards Chu Qiuyue to this bystander who actually had no ill intentions.

Chen Ziran leaned back on the sofa, her tone softening slightly, but her eyes remained firm: "Sister Liu Yue, I don't need her to be nice to us. Let me give you a simple example."

Chen Ziran stared at the ceiling for a moment, then said, "Thirty years ago, the price of a house in Shanghai's Huangpu District was about 1,000 yuan per square meter. But what about now? In Shanghai today, would you still want to buy a house for 1,000 yuan per square meter?"

Liu Yue paused, her face full of confusion, her train of thought completely unable to keep up with Chen Ziran's abrupt change: "Huh? What do you mean? So... you feel that the compensation your mother is giving you now isn't enough, that she's not good enough to you, and that it hasn't met your expectations?"

"No." Chen Ziran shook his head, turned to look directly into Liu Yue's eyes, and said, word by word, "What I mean is, the past is completely in the past."

Chen Ziran's voice was soft, yet it seemed to carry a thousand pounds: "The era when Shanghai's housing prices were a thousand yuan per square meter is gone forever! Similarly, the era when I, Chen Ziran, needed maternal love and would cry for my mother in the dead of night has long since died in that past winter!"

"Now, you can't buy a single brick in Shanghai with a thousand dollars; and now, Chu Qiuyue can forget about using her pitiful, belated 'motherly love' to buy my feelings, Chen Ziran!"

Liu Yue stared in shock at the young man before her.

"..."

She opened her mouth, but found herself completely unable to process this profound despair and clarity. She looked at Chen Ziran, struggling for a long time, before finally unable to hold back the question that had been nagging at her: "I still don't understand. What do you mean? Why are you being so resolute?"

Liu Yue lowered her head and began to speak her true feelings: "Actually... my relationship with my father isn't very good either. He used to be very controlling of me, we often argued, and sometimes we wouldn't speak to each other for a year or two. But I've never truly hated them. After all, they raised me with so much care..."

Liu Yue raised her head, her eyes filled with a traditional stubbornness: "I think that no matter how big a mistake the adults made, no matter how much they hurt you... your mother carried you for ten months and gave birth to you, that's blood ties. She is still your mother."

"She's also trying to get along with you; she's actually...quite pitiful."

After listening, Chen Ziran did not refute as agitatedly as before. He nodded very calmly, even indicating his agreement: "I have never refuted the fact that she is my mother. But, Sister Liu Yue, let's go back to the example we just discussed."

Chen Ziran held up a finger, his sharp eyes dissecting the hypocrisy of human nature: "Back then, the house price was 1,000 yuan per square meter. I begged her to buy it, but she thought I was a burden and turned away. Now, the price of this house has risen to 100,000 yuan per square meter. And now, she suddenly runs back, holding 3,000 yuan in her hand, and insists on stuffing it into your hands."

Chen Ziran's lips curled into a mocking smile: "Not only does she want to use this three thousand yuan to buy your house worth one hundred thousand, but she also wants to stand on her moral high ground and shamelessly say to you: 'Look, I gave you three thousand to compensate you, I let you get a great deal!' Sister Liu Yue, don't you think this behavior is extremely shameless?"

Liu Yue was so shocked by this powerful metaphor that she gasped.

"So..." Liu Yue swallowed, trying to understand Chen Ziran's logic, "Ultimately, you still think the price she's paying now isn't enough to make up for her mistakes back then?"

Chen Ziran thought for a moment and nodded frankly: "What you say is indeed the reason. However, Sister Liu Yue, you still haven't grasped the key point."

Chen Ziran picked up his phone and started scrolling through it nonchalantly.

"What I'm talking about isn't about money at all, or even whether she's good to us or not now. The point is, times have changed."

The boy's voice echoed in the quiet living room, carrying a heartbreaking sense of resolute relief.

"It's all in the past. I've grown up, my bones have healed on their own. I... don't need her anymore."