Shu Yao’s indifferent, complicated gaze made Shen Zhongyue’s heart clench.
For a moment, he even wanted to ask her recklessly: If she hated him so much, why had she chosen him back then? If she truly didn’t like him, why had she been so passionate that night…?
The Shu Yao of that night and the Shu Yao afterward seemed so different in personality that they appeared to be two entirely different people.
That night, she had clearly praised him as formidable, called him a male demon, and even said she liked him and would abduct him home.
Leaving on the first day after their marriage had been his act of spite. He couldn’t understand why Shu Yao’s attitude had changed so drastically. Later, it turned out she really had received a mission.
After completing the mission and returning to the Military Region, he saw the letter his family had sent him three months earlier. It said that Shu Yao was two and a half months pregnant.
He had been so delighted that he couldn’t even be bothered to recover from his injuries. He excitedly requested leave, rushed back from the Military Region, and then went to the department store to buy a great many things, thinking she would like them.
Who could have known that their first meeting after marriage would discourage him once again? When Shu Yao saw him, she became so emotionally agitated that it affected the fetus, and she needed to stay in the hospital to protect the pregnancy.
After that, even on the day she gave birth, he didn’t dare show his face. He could only visit her while she was asleep and hold the child for a while.
Afterward came half a month ago, when dad was suddenly removed from office. He and Older Brother were also suspended from their positions in the Military Unit and ordered to return home. The matter of their forced relocation had been revealed by dad’s former superior, but it was almost certain; the notice would arrive soon.
What the people above were arguing about now was merely where to send them for their forced relocation.
“Shu Yao…”
“Wait a little longer.”
Shu Yao raised a hand and made a stop gesture.
No. However she thought about it, this was a terrible path.
Go with them into forced relocation? Impossible. She couldn’t endure that kind of hardship.
Take the child away? Leaving aside the fact that she didn’t know how to raise a child, what if she accidentally raised it to death? Even in this crazy era, the situation she would face while carrying the child of a capitalist roader was easy to imagine.
Return to the Shu Family? Shu Zhenzhong could accept that, but with the vicious Wen Xia hiding behind a benevolent face, she could forget about living in peace.
The Old Madam “Shu Yao” had taken this very path. She hadn’t wanted the child, and Shen Zhongyue had ultimately divorced her. After she returned to the Shu Family, the Shu mother and daughter constantly made things difficult for her, and she soon married someone else again.
She was indeed different in personality from the “Old Madam,” daring to fight with those people. But she didn’t want to stage a household power struggle in a period drama too. It was exhausting and brought no benefits.
The most self-serving solution was to divorce, take the money, and live alone.
Although the quality of life couldn’t compare with her real life, this was an era when even riding a bicycle was difficult—so why dream of a Maserati?
Ah! How long would this dream go on?
Did she have to live out the Old Madam’s entire life before it would end?
What had happened to her body in reality? The police should have taken her to the hospital, right? Given the current situation, had she become a vegetable?
Shu Yao’s head was about to explode. She flopped straight backward and stared at the ceiling, trying to think of a solution.
Stabbing herself was useless. Should she go stab an NPC instead? The NPCs were all gone, so the dream definitely couldn’t continue.
Shu Yao suddenly felt that she had discovered the truth. Just as she was about to sit up, her mind abruptly went dizzy.
Shen Zhongyue looked at the slender figure that refused to cooperate and had its back turned to him. He lowered his head to glance at his quietly sleeping son and gave a bitter smile.
Forget it. He wouldn’t force her. The Shen Family was already deeply mired in mud. Why drag her into it as well?
Shu Yao dreamed of what happened next to the Old Madam.
Without Shu Yao possessing her, the Old Madam chose to evade. Carrying the carefully simmered bone soup, she made a miserable exit and wandered alone down the street in a daze, not knowing what she was thinking.
When she passed the bridge she had to cross, she suddenly jumped from it.
“Damn it, my mammary glands are mammary glands too!”
“If you want to die, at least drag those few vile people down with you!”
“So what if you were deceived for your entire life? You’re only in your fifties, still young. Fix yourself up a little and you can find a second—no, a third youth.”
Shu Yao stomped her feet in anger. She genuinely couldn’t understand what kind of path this Old Madam had taken.
The scene shifted to a cemetery.
The Old Madam on the tombstone was still young. However, the name of the dutiful son engraved on the stone was Shen Huaiyu.
“Tsk. In the end, the one who buried you was actually the son you abandoned when he was little.”
“Yes. I didn’t expect it either.”
!
Shu Yao was startled by the voice that suddenly appeared beside her ear.
“You… Shu, Shu Yao?!”
She knew that she and the Old Madam had looked alike when they were young, but now it was like looking into a mirror. It was truly horrifying.
“Shu Yao” smiled at her.
“However, he isn’t my son. He’s your son.”
“What nonsense are you talking about? I’ve been single since birth. Where would I get a son?”
“Is that so? Wasn’t that night you?”
“What nigh—”
The sudden mosaic-like scene left Shu Yao speechless. This time, she saw the man’s face clearly.
“Don’t try to scare me. That was only a dream!”
“Old Madam, don’t try to push your responsibility onto me.”
“What the hell? This is seriously strange. Why can’t I escape from this dream?”
“Even now, you still think this is only a dream?”
“Shu Yao” sighed. The scene flipped again, and this time it became Shu Yao’s large flat.
However, everything inside seemed to be veiled in white gauze, creating an inexplicable desolation.
“Shu Yao, you’re dead.”
“Shu Yao” pointed at the black-and-white photograph on the wall.
“But you can go to my spacetime and live on in my place.”
“Impossible… I was only stabbed once. I’m not that weak!”
Shu Yao’s complexion turned deathly pale. Even “Shu Yao” felt sorry for her and was just about to offer comfort when the girl before her suddenly let out a series of anguished cries:
“Money! My money!”
“I haven’t even spent it all yet! How could I die first?”
“This isn’t real. It definitely isn’t real!”
Shu Yao instantly transformed into the female lead of a melodrama, covering her ears and reenacting the classic head-shaking scene.
“Shu Yao”: …
She didn’t want to speak anymore.
“I told you, you can live on in my body.”
“No. If the money is gone, what’s the point of me staying alive?”
Shu Yao absolutely refused. What kind of era was that? Why should she go suffer?
She might as well reincarnate early. If she had to be born, she would be born in the twenty-first century.
“Old Madam, you have to walk your own path. Don’t think about pushing it onto someone else.”
“Look, when you go back this time, it’s basically reincarnation. You’ll live another life while holding the script. It’ll be amazing.”
Even “Shu Yao,” who usually had an excellent temper, was becoming somewhat irritated.
“We’re actually the same person, just from parallel spacetime. You’re still a university student, yet you can’t even figure this out.”
“Do you think reincarnation is that easy? Who knows whether you’ll be born next in the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, or Qing dynasty, in prehistoric times, or in Africa or India?”
“You might even be that unlucky and become me, born in 1949. Let me tell you, my childhood was extremely hard. I went three days eating only nine meals—anyone who’s been hungry knows what I mean!”