Shen Yu had come straight from the office, dressed in a crisp, expensive-looking light gray suit.
Time had left no mark on his handsome, refined face. The look he gave Song Shuangxu was just as she remembered it.
Gentle. Steady.
Yet even though Shen Yu came to see her every year, a sudden sense of estrangement still rose in her.
When she didn’t get into the car for a long time, Shen Yu called to her. “Little Nine.”
The moment his deep, clear voice sounded, a wordless ache surged through Song Shuangxu’s nose.
She immediately lowered her eyes to the ground, bent to get into the car, and said, “Brother.”
The car moved smoothly through the evening rush-hour traffic. Inside, it was quiet.
Shen Yu crossed his legs and asked, “What time was your flight?”
“I landed a little after two.”
“Why didn’t you ask me to pick you up?”
“I didn’t want to interrupt your work,” Song Shuangxu said. “It’s easy to get a taxi at the airport.”
Shen Yu turned his gaze toward her from the other side, watching as she sat with her eyes lowered.
She used to be cheerful. The child he’d spoiled as she grew up had always liked and relied on him most, and she’d behaved without restraint around him.
Now she was very well-behaved.
But she was too well-behaved. There was no warmth in it, and even the way she sat seemed distant.
Ever since she’d been forced to go abroad, she hadn’t come back even for the Lunar New Year. Maybe she was being stubborn, or maybe she simply didn’t want to see anyone back home.
The last time Shen Yu had seen her was the year before, on her birthday. She’d had a high fever and was curled up alone in her apartment overseas, so he’d flown out to see her.
She had changed a great deal since the days when she used to follow him around.
The young girl’s awkwardness had vanished over their years apart, replaced by the fresh beauty of a woman just past girlhood.
Shen Yu lowered his eyes and watched her for a while before saying, “Little Nine has grown distant from her brother.”
“No, I just…”
I was afraid of causing you trouble—that would only prove she’d grown distant.
Song Shuangxu hurriedly made something up. “I wanted to surprise you.”
Surprises between adults had a fifty percent chance of turning into shocks.
When Song Shuangxu and Shen Yu got back to the Shen household, Shen Changyuan and his wife were already waiting.
As soon as she entered, Fu Yun delightedly pulled her over and looked her up and down, from every angle. One moment she said Shuangxu had grown taller; the next she said she hadn’t changed much at all and looked just the same as before.
“You talk to her on video every month. Of course you can’t tell the difference,” Shen Changyuan said, looking pleased. He asked Song Shuangxu, “Why didn’t you tell us you were coming back? We didn’t have time to prepare anything.”
“I only came back because something came up,” Song Shuangxu explained. “It was last-minute, and I didn’t get the chance to tell you.”
“Coming back so late—you must be starving,” Fu Yun said. “We made all your favorite dishes tonight. Mrs. Wang was over the moon when she heard you were coming home.”
The table was covered with the dishes Song Shuangxu had loved since childhood. A coral trout was set in front of her, and the black-bone chicken soup was rich and delicious.
Fu Yun kept putting food on her plate. Shen Changyuan asked her a few questions about life abroad, and when they talked about her work, the conversation inevitably turned to her plans now that she was back in the country.
“How much time off did you take?”
Song Shuangxu knew they were nearing a sore spot, but she didn’t want to lie.
She put down her chopsticks, raised her head, and said seriously, “I quit my job.”
As soon as she said it, the living room fell silent.
“You quit?” Fu Yun paused with her chopsticks in hand and looked at Shuangxu in surprise, then at Shen Yu. “You never mentioned it. Why so suddenly?”
Quitting her job overseas meant she might not be leaving Yancheng again this time.
The warm, cheerful atmosphere from a moment ago seemed like a finely crafted glass ornament: beautiful, but fragile.
“You left your job with the airline. Are you planning to build your career back home?”
Song Shuangxu didn’t answer. Instead, she asked, “Can I come back?”
Fu Yun hesitated. “You were doing so well overseas. Why do you suddenly want to come back?”
Why did she suddenly want to come back?
Partly because Shu Yang was ill. But the more important reason was that Shuangxu wanted to come home.
She knew, though, that this wasn’t the reason they wanted to hear.
Life overseas was good. It simply couldn’t outweigh what Yancheng meant to her.
The summers here were scorching hot, the winters long and cold. This was where she had grown up.
But no one here had been hoping she would come back.
Just then, Shen Yu, who hadn’t spoken, placed a plate of deboned fish in front of Shuangxu.
The fish was glistening and tender, arranged on a white porcelain plate. It landed on the table with a soft tap, breaking the uncomfortable silence.
“How is your Senior Sister doing?”
Shuangxu briefly told him about Shu Yang’s condition.
Shen Yu asked, “Do you need me to help?”
She shook her head. “They’ve settled on a chemotherapy plan, and she’s getting the best drugs. We’ll have to see how she responds to the treatment.”
Just like that, the subject changed.
After dinner, Fu Yun insisted that Shuangxu stay the night. She didn’t give her a chance to refuse, simply taking her by the hand and leading her upstairs.
“I had your room cleaned today. I haven’t touched any of your old things, so it’s just as it was. Look”—Fu Yun pointed proudly at the brand-new pink floral sheets—“I bought these especially for you. Do you like them?”
“Thank you, Godmother,” Shuangxu said again.
“Why do you keep thanking me? You don’t need to be so polite with me.”
Fu Yun paused, then held Shuangxu’s hand. “It’s good that you’re back. You were all alone so far away, in a place where you didn’t know anyone. If anything happened, there’d be no one to look after you. I couldn’t stop worrying. Last time your brother went to see you, he said you were so feverish you were barely lucid, lying at home by yourself without even anyone to bring you a glass of water. It broke my heart. I tossed and turned half the night and couldn’t sleep.”
Her eyes reddened as she spoke. Shuangxu quickly reassured her, “I’m fine. I’m a grown woman now. I can take care of myself.”
“You’re still a young girl, no matter how grown-up you are.” Fu Yun gently touched her cheek. “You’ve never been able to sleep on planes since you were little. You must be exhausted. Go take a hot shower and get to bed early.”
After Fu Yun went downstairs, Shuangxu slowly walked around the room by herself, running her fingertips over the desk and the bookshelf against the opposite wall.
She had lived in this room for ten years. Even the dust in the air smelled familiar.
After her shower, Shuangxu thought she’d go downstairs and tell Mrs. Wang to make some soup for Shu Yang. But when she reached the top of the stairs, she slowly stopped.
Through the gaps in the railing, she could see the living room. Shen Yu sat with his back to her, facing Shen Changyuan and his wife.
“Shen Yu, tell me honestly. Did you really not know Shuangxu was coming back this time?” Fu Yun asked. “Did you give your approval?”
Shen Yu sat with his legs crossed, his voice indifferent. “If she wants to come back, she can. She doesn’t need anyone’s permission.”
“Then tell me plainly: now that she’s back, what do you think?”
Shen Yu said, “When you and the Song Residence joined forces to send her away, you didn’t ask what I thought.”
“I did it for your sake,” Fu Yun said. “Those rumors back then were nearly enough to drown our family. If it hadn’t been for her…”
Shuangxu stood with her back against the wall, feeling a chill slowly seep into it.
Shen Yu cut her off in an even voice. “Some kid ran his mouth and made up rumors. Other people believed them, and you believed them too.”
Fu Yun fell silent.
Shen Changyuan patted her hand. “Let’s leave the past alone. She hasn’t been willing to come back for all these years. She must have thought we didn’t want her here, and it hurt her. If she wants to come back, let’s not send her away again.”
“If she wants to come back, this will always be her home.” Whatever else was true, Fu Yun’s love for her was genuine.
“But Shen Yu, Shuangxu isn’t a child anymore. Even real siblings need to keep their distance from each other in public, let alone the two of you.”
Shuangxu didn’t listen any further. She turned and went back to her room.