“M-Me?” Shi Ying stood there awkwardly with the child in her arms, tilting her head up slightly to look at him. “Wouldn’t that be inappropriate…?”
“Where’s her mother? Maybe her mother should come pick her up. I heard her call for her mommy just now.”
“What did you say?”
Shang Chenyan’s expression changed instantly.
Startled by his reaction, Shi Ying stammered, “I-I mean… her mother should come get her. Maybe she misses her mom…”
Shang Chenyan looked at Shang Nian, who was tightly hugging Shi Ying’s neck, then slowly took a deep breath.
“She can’t speak.”
Shi Ying froze.
“Her mother…” Shang Chenyan looked at her, grief so deep in his eyes that she could not understand it. “She’s no longer with us. She left us a long time ago.”
Shi Ying secretly pinched herself to stop her shocked expression from showing too obviously.
Such a massive piece of gossip—she wouldn’t get fired tomorrow just because she stepped into the office with her left foot first, right?
Awkward silence filled the air.
After a while, Shi Ying finally spoke again.
“Then President Shang, you should take her home yourself. It’s getting late, and I should head home too.”
She tried returning Shang Nian to him, but before she could let go, the little girl whimpered anxiously and tightened her tiny arms around Shi Ying.
The child’s face turned red. Perhaps because she couldn’t speak, her small mouth opened soundlessly while tears instantly filled her obsidian-like eyes.
Shi Ying’s heart melted under that pitiful gaze.
She was way too adorable, like a living doll.
“Shang Nian, let go.” Shang Chenyan’s voice lowered.
Shang Nian ignored him and simply blinked at Shi Ying with watery eyes.
One big and one small remained locked in a stalemate right there in the middle of the street.
The father and daughter were both ridiculously attractive, and several passersby had already secretly taken out their phones to snap photos.
“President Shang… how about I walk her home?” Shi Ying finally surrendered to Shang Nian’s pitiful expression.
The moment those words left her mouth, Shang Chenyan felt as though even his soul was trembling.
She was going home with him.
Madness surged violently within him, yet his voice remained calm and steady.
“Thank you for the trouble. The time you spend will be counted as overtime by Secretary Jiang.”
“Thank you, President Shang!”
Shi Ying had not expected the big boss to be so understanding, and her face immediately brightened with delight.
She adjusted the child in her arms and bounced her slightly.
“Your name is Shang Nian?”
Shang Nian nodded. Tears still hung in her eyes and slid down her cheeks with Shi Ying’s movements, making her look unbearably pitiful.
Shi Ying quickly wiped them away for her.
“Alright, alright, don’t cry anymore. Big Sister will take you home.”
Big Sister?
Shang Chenyan frowned.
He was extremely dissatisfied with that title. It made them sound like they belonged to different generations.
Very soon, the driver brought the car over and stopped by the roadside.
Shang Chenyan gentlemanly opened the car door, allowing Shi Ying and Shang Nian to get in first.
He raised a hand above her head to shield her. After work, Shi Ying had let down her ponytail, and a few soft little strands of hair swayed in the wind, brushing lightly across his palm.
A tingling sensation instantly spread through his entire body.
Shang Chenyan’s Adam’s apple rolled unconsciously.
After Shi Ying settled inside, he closed the door and walked around to enter from the other side.
The car interior was enclosed and quiet. The driver remained silent, leaving only the sound of Shang Nian sniffing softly.
Even after getting into the car, she still refused to let go of Shi Ying and curled herself tightly into her embrace.
“Shang Nian, sit properly.” Shang Chenyan finally spoke.
Shi Ying hurriedly smoothed things over.
“It’s okay, it’s okay. She’s very light.”
“How old is she?”
“Five.”
Shi Ying lowered her head to look at Shang Nian again.
Five years old already? She looked so tiny.
Feeling Shi Ying’s gaze, Shang Nian looked up at her too, her reddened nose still twitching slightly from crying.
Shi Ying took out a tissue and gently wiped her face. At the same time, curiosity rose in her heart.
Why couldn’t she speak?
Someone as rich as Shang Chenyan should have searched the entire world for doctors if his daughter was sick, shouldn’t he?
As if hearing her thoughts, the man beside her explained on his own initiative.
“Her mother left not long after giving birth to her. Shang Nian doesn’t have any physical problems… she just refuses to speak.”
Shi Ying frowned slightly.
So it was psychological.
“Why… did her mother leave?”
The moment she asked, Shang Chenyan’s gaze darkened like a freezing abyss with no visible bottom.
“I don’t know.”
His voice was low and lost.
“She suddenly stopped wanting me.”
The inside of the car was dim. The glow of the setting sun filtered through the windows, illuminating the sharp contours of his side profile—deep eyes, a high nose bridge, thin lips—yet carrying a cold sense of distance that kept others far away.
Someone like Shang Chenyan had actually been abandoned too?
Shi Ying didn’t dare stare too long. She only wished she could pull out her phone and type ten thousand words immediately. All the gossip she had swallowed was killing her.
Half an hour later, the black Maybach drove into a quiet, tree-lined road.
The area was surrounded by greenery, far removed from the city’s noise.
“President Shang, we’ve arrived.”
Passing a central fountain, the Maybach stopped in front of a white-themed villa.
Shi Ying opened the car door, and the first thing she saw was the meticulously maintained garden.
She let out a tiny gasp of amazement.
Whether in the real world or this virtual one, she had never seen such a luxurious mansion before.
Holding Shang Nian, Shi Ying stepped out of the car as the grand gates slowly opened.
“Go inside.” Shang Chenyan appeared beside her at some point and gently took Shang Nian from her arms. “Your arms must be tired from carrying her. Come in and sit for a while.”
Perhaps because she heard the word “tired,” Shang Nian obediently loosened her grip this time.
Shi Ying couldn’t stop herself from glancing around everywhere.
Even in the middle of winter, the garden was filled with blooming flowers, many varieties she didn’t even recognize.
She was so focused on looking around that she completely failed to notice Shang Chenyan walking beside her.
The glow of the sunset stretched their shadows long across the ground.
Three shadows pressed closely together.
The moment they entered the living room, Shi Ying was stunned all over again.
The villa interior featured soaring vaulted ceilings. Light streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, blending beautifully with the evening sunset. The enormous living room used a sunken-floor design, simple yet elegant rather than plain.
It looked exactly like the English manors she had seen in books.
Shang Nian obediently changed into indoor slippers by herself, then grabbed Shi Ying’s hand and tried pulling her further inside.
Shi Ying turned back to glance at Shang Chenyan, only to see him smiling faintly.
“She wants to bring you to her room.”
It was the first time Shi Ying had seen Shang Chenyan smile.
When he smiled, much of the coldness between his brows faded away. The small mole at the corner of his eye seemed to flicker softly beneath the lights.
“Then… I’ll go take a look?”
Shang Chenyan nodded.
“Go ahead.”
Before Shi Ying could say anything else, Shang Nian was already tugging her upstairs with hurried little footsteps.
Shang Nian’s room was the very definition of a princess room.
Everything was pink and adorable, filled with stuffed animals and dolls.
Shi Ying’s eyes lit up instantly.
No one knew that she loved princess rooms too!
Shang Nian released her hand and ran over to the windowsill, rummaging out a small sketchbook.
Shi Ying leaned closer.
“What did Shang Nian draw?”
Shang Nian opened to one page and pointed at it.
Shi Ying immediately exclaimed in exaggerated surprise, “A little rabbit? Shang Nian draws so well!”
Shang Nian held the sketchbook out toward her.
“For me?”
Shang Nian nodded.
Shi Ying accepted it and flipped through the pages. The drawings were filled with imaginative, whimsical things.
She vaguely remembered reading somewhere that children with autism often had very rich inner worlds.
Maybe Shang Nian was the same.
Because she couldn’t speak, she used painting to express her thoughts instead.
Shi Ying closed the sketchbook and hugged it to her chest.
“Then I’ll carefully keep this at home. This is the debut work of a future little artist. Once our Shang Nian becomes a famous painter someday, this will be incredibly valuable.”
Shang Nian shyly buried herself in Shi Ying’s embrace.