“Shu Yao” let out a breath, then continued:
“That body of mine is four years younger than the one you have now. It’s definitely stronger than your body, which stays up late every day, so you’re not losing out either.”
“Although Shen Huaiyu wasn’t carried and born by you, you did participate in the manufacturing process. You got a filial son for free, so you’re the one getting the bargain.”
Following this line of thought, Shu Yao thought, Hey, that actually makes some sense. Mainly, she had been scared by the thought of being reincarnated in Africa.
It was 1968 now. If she endured ten years, the era of reform and opening up would arrive. By then, she would still be under thirty. With her outlook several decades ahead of the 1970s and 1980s, perhaps she could even become the richest person around.
“There’s also Shen Zhongyue. He…”
“Shu Yao” paused, then waved her hand:
“Forget it, let’s not talk about him. Whether you want this man or not is up to you; if you don’t, then forget it. Apart from helping you give birth to a child, nothing else has anything to do with me. I’m not getting involved in your affairs.”
“Oh, it looks like you really don’t like him.”
Shu Yao looked gossip-hungry.
“The intellectuals I like aren’t military men like him.”
“Oh, like that pretty boy Hu Guozhang?”
“You know, with a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, and twenty or thirty years younger, he’d be a refined scoundrel.”
“Shu Yao’s” expression suddenly turned ugly, resentment mixed with sorrow.
“No way. You still like him even now?”
Shu Yao found it unbelievable,
“I never thought the me from a parallel world would actually be blinded by love. She’s beyond saving—truly beyond saving.”
“Shu Yao” sighed,
“Actually, Shen Zhongyue is pretty good. At the very least, he’s better than Hu Guozhang. I mean in terms of character.”
“When the Shu mother and daughter schemed against me, and you accidentally exchanged souls with me, I woke up the next day already cleaned up. Aside from feeling unwell, I really didn’t know what had happened.”
“It wasn’t until Grandfather flew into a rage that I found out…”
“Shen Zhongyue took the blame. I truly thought it had been his fault.”
“So that’s why you hated him, and hated Shen Huaiyu too.”
“Yes, I hated them.”
“No one would like a rapist and his child.”
“Then why didn’t you get rid of the child? Why did you give birth to him?”
“How could it have been that easy?”
“Shu Yao” smiled bitterly,
“At that time, childbirth was encouraged. For a first child, unless there were problems with the fetus or the mother, the policy did not allow an abortion. I was timid, and I didn’t dare use external means to end the pregnancy, so I could only let it drag on. Ten months of pregnancy really passed quickly.”
Shu Yao could more or less understand. Back then, she had only been eighteen. Even at twenty-three, she would tremble just going to the hospital to have a tooth pulled.
“So when I learned that the Shen Family had undergone The Shen Family’s Relocation, I was practically eager to divorce Shen Zhongyue. At that time, it was the only legitimate method of divorce—one the public could understand and even praise.”
Shu Yao realized in horror that the person before her was rapidly aging,
“You…”
“Ah, time’s almost up.”
“Shu Yao” touched her own face,
then suddenly sprang up and kicked Shu Yao out.
The Old Madam in her fifties was remarkably nimble, and her words still echoed in Shu Yao’s ears:
“You owe this debt yourself, so go repay it yourself!”
What debt? What did she owe?!
She was innocent too, okay?!
Shu Yao woke up, but not because she had been kicked awake. She had been frightened awake.
The sun had already set, and she was the only one left in the room.
Shu Yao sat up, wrapped in the cool quilt, cold sweat pouring from her body. When she thought of the young man she had seen in her dream, covered from head to toe in blood, her heart still clenched with fear.
After handling “Shu Yao’s” funeral arrangements, Shen Huaiyu went to the Hu family and brutally murdered the hu father and son and Zhou Huiru.
Shu Yao had been forced to watch the entire process. She felt the heat of the splattered blood and heard the father and son wail and howl their apologies and repentance under Shen Huaiyu’s threats.
But she wasn’t “Shu Yao,” and didn’t feel any satisfaction at all. Looking at Shen Huaiyu’s deranged expression, she felt only fear and heartache.
The people of the Shen Family truly were good-natured. Even though “Shu Yao” had abandoned the child, they had never spoken ill of her in front of Shen Huaiyu.
But precisely because of that, throughout the long years of forced relocation, Shen Huaiyu’s longing for his mother grew stronger and stronger.
Even later, after “Shu Yao” clearly expressed her dislike of him and told him not to disturb her life, Shen Huaiyu never gave up trying to approach his mother.
His craving for maternal love had already become a deep obsession.
This obsession grew even deeper after Shen Zhongheng and Shen Zhongyue passed away.
He no longer dared appear before “Shu Yao,” yet kept watch over her constantly, like a gloomy stalker spying on the happiness of that “family of three.”
But that happiness was false. Shen Huaiyu had long known that the hu father and son were in contact with Zhou Huiru, yet his first reaction had been delight. Perhaps this time, his mother would return to his side.
But he had never expected “Shu Yao” to die.
So he killed every culprit, including himself.
Although she did not want to accept the “debt” the Old Madam had mentioned, she could not deny that Shen Huaiyu’s existence was indeed inseparable from her.
That night, Shen Zhongyue should have been trying to push her away, but she had clung to him with all her strength.
Was part of the ill-fated relationship between “Shu Yao” and the Shen Family also her fault?
Putting herself in the situation, she might have been even more heartless than “Shu Yao.”
Damn, she had cursed her too soon. Earlier, she had even called the Old Madam a woman who abandoned her husband and son.
God, what on earth was going on?!
Shu Yao let out a pained groan, slapped herself, and lay back down.
The money—her money!
It was gone. All of it was gone.
The door was quietly pushed open from outside. Shen Zhongyue entered, holding a baby in one arm and a baby bottle in the other.
Shu Yao turned her head and met his gaze. Then she raised her arm and crooked her finger.
That attitude was no different from the way she used to call Sha Ha.
Shen Zhongyue frowned, unsure what she was up to, but still came to stand beside the bed.
Shu Yao scrambled up, shifted farther inside, then patted the edge of the bed:
“Put him down.”
Come on, let her take a close look at her dear eldest son.
Shen Huaiyu was clearly awake. His chubby legs kicked continuously, never stopping.
Shen Zhongyue somehow understood what Shu Yao meant. After hesitating for a moment, he carefully placed the child on the bed.
The instant Shen Huaiyu saw his mother, his little mouth split into a grin. He stuck out his tiny tongue repeatedly, blowing bubbles as he babbled nonstop.
Shu Yao leaned closer and stared at him in confusion. She genuinely could not understand how someone this small could already look so much like a person.
What were other children like at this age?
Oh, she didn’t know. She had never seen any. But Sha Ha had only been a little over two months old when she brought him home, and he could run, bark, wreck the house, eat by himself, and urinate in a designated spot.
This little thing seemed to know only how to grin foolishly.
Shu Yao bent her finger and poked his chubby cheek. The Little Brat laughed even more happily.
After Shen Zhongyue placed his son on the bed, he began to regret it. Every muscle in his body tensed.
That was, until he saw Shu Yao bend over and stare at the child’s face as if examining some novel object. Then, avoiding the child with her fingernail, she tapped his cheek with her index finger’s knuckle. Then she tapped it again…
Shen Zhongyue: …
We know you two aren’t familiar as mother and son, but there’s no need to be this unfamiliar.