Panicked, Shi Ying hurried to the door and pulled it open. The instant it swung wide, two handsome faces appeared before her.
Pei Yanchuan had assumed that at this hour Aunt Zhang still hadn’t arrived yet, so the one answering the door had to be Shang Chenyan. The moment the door opened, he immediately flashed a grin, revealing eight gleaming white teeth.
“Shang—” Pei Yanchuan’s smile froze on his face as his eyes suddenly widened.
“Hello, are you looking for President Shang?” Shi Ying asked politely. She didn’t recognize either of the two men.
Pei Yanchuan practically jumped backward several steps and hid behind the other man. “Is this a ghost?!”
Shi Ying: “……”
You’re the ghost.
Ji Huanzhou pushed up the gold-rimmed glasses on his nose. Even his usually expressionless face showed a crack of surprise. His lips moved slightly as he tested the waters.
“Shi Ying?”
Shi Ying blinked in surprise. “You know me?”
Ji Huanzhou’s glasses slipped down an inch.
Pei Yanchuan poked his head out from behind him. “What the hell… this is terrifying…”
The three of them stared at each other in stunned silence until Shang Chenyan walked over and pulled Shi Ying behind him.
“The housekeeper hasn’t arrived yet. Could you help me change Nian Nian’s clothes?”
Shi Ying nodded immediately and hurried off to the living room to carry Shang Nian upstairs, putting as much distance as possible between herself and those two lunatics.
Only after her figure disappeared around the staircase did Shang Chenyan turn and walk back inside.
“Come in.”
Pei Yanchuan charged in like an arrow released from a bow. “What’s going on? That was Shi Ying?”
Shang Chenyan sat down on the sofa. There was a faint smile hidden between his deep brows and eyes, and his voice carried a gentleness they had never heard before.
“Yes.”
“She’s back.”
The two men standing beside the sofa exchanged glances. Pei Yanchuan was never the patient type. He dropped onto the sofa and leaned closer.
“What do you mean she’s back? Where the hell has she been all these years? She disappeared out of nowhere five years ago, and now she suddenly comes back wanting to get back together with you? What was she doing during those five years? Does she even know you practically went insane looking for her?”
He paused, then blurted out another thought.
“She didn’t run off with someone else and then come crawling back to you now, did she?”
Shang Chenyan kicked him squarely in the shin. “If you can’t speak properly, then shut up.”
Ji Huanzhou was clearly much calmer. Behind his lenses, his gaze flickered slightly.
“She seems… not to recognize us anymore.”
He hadn’t missed the unfamiliar look in Shi Ying’s eyes earlier.
Shang Chenyan fell silent for several minutes before finally speaking.
“I don’t know how to explain it either, but she really did suddenly reappear.”
“And she doesn’t remember me anymore.”
Pei Yanchuan raked both hands through his messy hair in frustration. “What kind of situation even is this? Are you sure she’s really Shi Ying? What if she’s just someone who looks like her trying to impersonate your wife so she can steal your fortune?”
The nonstop noise tugged at Shang Chenyan’s nerves. He undid the top button of his shirt and leaned back against the sofa, his gaze unusually serious.
“She is Shi Ying.”
There was no way he could mistake her.
Ji Huanzhou said, “You spent far more time with Shi Ying than either of us did. If you’re certain it’s her, then I won’t say anything else.”
“Where’s Nian Nian? I came to examine her.”
Ji Huanzhou was both Shang Chenyan’s friend and Shang Nian’s psychologist. He had always been responsible for her therapy sessions.
Shang Chenyan shook his head. “That won’t be necessary for now.”
“She spoke yesterday.”
Ji Huanzhou’s expression instantly turned serious. “Shang Nian spoke? What did she say? I think you need to bring her to the hospital immediately. I need to run a thorough examination.”
Even Pei Yanchuan quieted down. He knew better than anyone how important Shang Nian was to Shang Chenyan.
Shang Chenyan paused briefly before saying,
“She called someone ‘Mom.’”
The living room instantly fell silent.
Pei Yanchuan suddenly remembered something from five years ago.
Back then, Shang Nian had only been a little over a month old. He and Ji Huanzhou had come over to visit her. Shang Chenyan had shamelessly dumped the baby on the two of them and taken Shi Ying—who had only recently finished her postpartum confinement—out with him.
That day, Jiangcheng welcomed its first snowfall of winter.
Everything outside was blanketed in white.
Pei Yanchuan had bundled little Shang Nian up like a rice dumpling and carried her to the window to watch the snow.
Tiny Shang Nian stretched out her pale little hands, patting the glass while giggling happily. She had been unbearably adorable.
After spending an entire day babysitting for Shang Chenyan, it was nearly dark and the man still hadn’t returned. Pei Yanchuan had just been about to call and curse him out when he suddenly saw a lost, hollow figure standing outside the house.
That day, Shang Chenyan had looked as though his soul had been ripped away.
Snow covered his shoulders and hair as he stood motionless in the storm, staring fixedly at the Shang Nian in Pei Yanchuan’s arms.
In the vast white world, he had looked like the only lonely shadow left behind.
Pei Yanchuan had no idea what had happened. He walked over and glanced behind Shang Chenyan several times.
“Where’s Shi Ying? Why didn’t she come back with you?”
Hearing that name, Shang Chenyan slowly lifted his head and looked at him blankly.
No one knew how much time passed before he finally let out a heavy breath.
“She’s gone.”
In Pei Yanchuan’s arms, little Shang Nian seemed to sense something too. She stopped smiling. Her exquisitely delicate little face suddenly scrunched up as thin cries gradually grew louder and louder.
Again and again.
Mixed with the sound of the wind and snow, it was heartbreaking enough to tear someone apart.
…
When Shi Ying came downstairs holding Shang Nian’s hand, she saw the three men sitting in the living room.
The man dressed casually, with peach blossom eyes and shoulder-length hair, flashed her a grin.
The other man, wearing gold-rimmed glasses and an impeccably tailored suit, also nodded politely toward her.
Shang Chenyan introduced them calmly.
“This is Pei Yanchuan, my friend. This is Ji Huanzhou, Nian Nian’s psychologist.”
Shi Ying let out an “oh.” “Hello.”
“Hello, hello!” Pei Yanchuan enthusiastically grabbed her hand and shook it several times. He truly couldn’t get used to Shi Ying being this polite. Back when the three of them had been classmates, she used to smack him in the head with her backpack the moment they met.
Shi Ying felt uncomfortable with his sudden enthusiasm and instinctively looked toward Shang Chenyan for help.
Shang Chenyan pulled Pei Yanchuan’s hand away and said gently to her, “I’ll take you home.”
“Okay.”
Shi Ying picked up the coat hanging on the rack, but before she could put it on, she suddenly felt resistance around her leg.
It was Shang Nian hugging her leg tightly.
The little girl tilted her head up, staring at her with grape-like black eyes.
Shi Ying crouched down and patted her head gently. “Big Sister will come play with you another day, okay?”
She genuinely liked Shang Nian too. There was a strange sense of closeness she couldn’t quite explain.
Shang Nian pouted, her eyes blinking rapidly before tears suddenly rolled down her cheeks.
Shi Ying panicked and hurriedly wiped away her tears.
“If Miss Shi is free on weekends, could you come spend some time with her?” Shang Chenyan asked. “She really likes you. If you’re willing, I’ll count it as overtime and pay you triple your hourly wage.”
Shi Ying opened her mouth, but faced with triple pay, she simply couldn’t force herself to refuse.
Shang Nian tugged at her hand, lightly tracing patterns against her palm.
Seeing her hesitate, Shang Chenyan added calmly,
“Five times?”
“Okay!” Shi Ying agreed immediately.
Playing with a child anyway—she had nothing to do on weekends. Besides, she could also use the opportunity to ask Shang Nian about Shang Yu’s whereabouts.
Killing two birds with one stone.
Shang Chenyan smiled faintly.
“Then I’ll pick you up this weekend.”