Qiu Yingying is reborn and bound to a learning system.

Watching Fan Shengmei stagger away, Qiu Yingying felt a pang of anxiety in her heart. She quickly said goodbye to Andy and the others, grabbed her bag, and chased after her.

Fan Shengmei was long gone from the stairwell. Qiu Yingying chased her all the way to the entrance of the residential area, only to see a taxi speed away from the roadside, its red taillights quickly disappearing into the night. She stood there, panting, staring in the direction the taxi had vanished, feeling a deep emptiness in her heart.

She knew that Fan Shengmei was truly heartbroken.

Inside the taxi, Fan Shengmei leaned back in the seat, gazing at the neon lights rushing past the window, her eyes welling up with tears. She raised her hand to wipe her face, trying to suppress the moisture, but the moment her fingertips touched the corner of her eye, tears rolled down her cheeks first.

She took out her phone, intending to call Wang Baichuan, but her finger hovered over the screen, unable to press the button. Forget it, why let him make a fool of himself?

Just then, her phone rang. The word "Mom" flashing on the screen was like a death knell. Fan Shengmei trembled and hesitated for a full half minute before swiping to answer.

"Hello, Mom." Her voice was terribly hoarse.

The voice on the other end of the phone was shrill and urgent, piercing the eardrums: "Shengmei! You have to think of something! Your brother beat someone up again yesterday! They're blocking our door demanding money, asking for 50,000! They said they'd call the police and have your brother arrested if we didn't give them the money!"

Fan Shengmei's hands clenched tightly, her knuckles turning white, her voice trembling: "Hitting someone again? Didn't I already tell him to work properly at the security company I introduced him to, to follow the rules and not cause trouble?"

"He didn't do it on purpose!" her mother yelled on the other end of the phone, "That person insulted him first! Shengmei, you have to save your brother! What will happen to Leilei if he goes to jail? Won't your sister-in-law divorce him? Where will the entire Fan family's reputation be?"

"What can I do?" Fan Shengmei raised her voice, her tone filled with despair. "Didn't I just pay him 20,000 yuan in compensation for his last trouble? I just got my salary this month, and I haven't even paid the rent yet!"

"How can your meager salary be enough?" her mother said matter-of-factly. "You're a white-collar worker in a big city like Shanghai. What is 50,000 yuan to you? You paid the down payment for your brother's house and helped with the mortgage payments. Now that he's in trouble, who will help him if you don't? You're his sister; if you don't support your brother, who will?"

These words were like an ice-cold knife, piercing straight into Fan Shengmei's heart. Holding her phone, her fingertips were icy cold, and tears welled up unexpectedly, splashing onto the back of her hand, hot and bitter.

"What's so special about it?" She suddenly laughed, a laugh laced with self-mockery. "Even if I earn 12,000 a month, plus 2,000 in performance bonuses, it seems like a lot. But I have to pay 3,000 in rent, send 3,000 home to support my family, pay 2,000 in my brother's mortgage, and support my brother, sister-in-law, and Lei Lei's living expenses! And what about me? I can't even afford a single genuine piece of clothing, and I get publicly humiliated for owning a knock-off bag!"

Her voice grew increasingly choked with emotion, until she was almost sobbing uncontrollably: "I'm over thirty! I've struggled in Shanghai for so many years, and I have no house, no car, no savings. I'm living like a money-making machine! What am I doing this for?!"

The person on the other end of the phone was still grumbling incessantly, repeating the same argument over and over again: "You're the younger sister, you have to help." Fan Shengmei abruptly hung up the phone, threw it aside, and, unable to hold back any longer, covered her mouth and burst into tears.

She was sobbing uncontrollably, her shoulders shaking, tears streaming down her face like a broken string of pearls. Her carefully drawn eyeliner had smudged, making her look utterly disheveled. Her tearful appearance even caught the attention of the taxi driver in the front seat, who couldn't help but glance at her in the rearview mirror a couple more times before finally sighing and turning the music down a bit.

"Driver, please drive faster, we need to get to XX Company," Fan Shengmei said, her voice choked with sobs and thick with nasal congestion. "I need to go to work overtime."

Only at work can she temporarily forget these unpleasant things. At least, working overtime can earn her a little overtime pay, allowing her to barely catch her breath in this huge city.

The wind blew in through the window, stinging her cheeks, but she didn't want to close it at all. Let the wind blow, let it blow away the weariness and grievances that were suffocating her.