At noon, the dark clouds in the sky dispersed, and warm sunlight poured through the window into the room.
After playing until she was tired, Shang Nian fell asleep in Tsing Ying’s arms. Her small hand was tightly holding Tsing Ying’s finger. Tsing Ying tried to pull it away, but Shang Nian frowned slightly and immediately grabbed her again.
She sighed and could only let her finger be held like that.
Tsing Ying gently stroked her soft hair, still finding everything unbelievable.
You know, in her real world, she avoided children like the plague. During holidays, when relatives brought their noisy kids over, they would cry, shout, and make a mess everywhere—she always ended up with a headache.
But with Shang Nian, she felt an inexplicable closeness. Seeing her happy made her happy too.
Maybe it was because Shang Nian was well-behaved and polite, and Shang Chenyan had raised her well, so she liked her.
It seemed she didn’t hate children—she just hated annoying brats.
Tsing Ying yawned. The room had thick, soft carpeting, warm and cozy, making her sleepy too.
When Shang Chenyan entered, what he saw was the two of them lying on the carpet—Tsing Ying leaning against the sofa, Shang Nian sleeping on her lap.
This scene was something he had imagined countless times in the dead of night.
In the first year after she disappeared, Shang Chenyan felt like he had lost the whole world.
He searched endlessly across the world, only to come up empty-handed each time. Whenever he returned in disappointment, he would lock himself in his study and drown himself in alcohol.
Until Pei Yanchuan burst in holding Shang Nian, pulled open the curtains without care, and shoved the baby into his arms.
Little Shang Nian had very big, round eyes—just like hers.
He held her like a warm little ball of flesh, and for the first time in a long while, Shang Chenyan felt human warmth and life again.
Pei Yanchuan pointed at him and cursed that if he couldn’t be a father, he would find another one for Shang Nian.
Shang Chenyan stiffly held the child. When their eyes met, she seemed to smell the alcohol on him and started to cry.
He instinctively bounced her gently and coaxed her in a hoarse voice.
This was their child. She carried Tsing Ying’s blood. Just thinking about it made his heart tremble with an indescribable bond.
Until the moon hung high, he still couldn’t bear to put that little bundle down.
In the second year after she disappeared, Shang Chenyan felt as if the world was slowly erasing her existence.
The first time he felt it was at a university reunion.
He had always been alone in school, with only Pei Yanchuan and Ji Huanzhou as friends. Tsing Ying was the light that broke into his dark life.
Because of her, he went to those meaningless reunions.
At the event, someone pulled out an old graduation photo and joked about how everyone had changed.
Until someone pointed at a girl in the picture and frowned.
“Who is this?”
Others leaned in and scratched their heads in confusion.
“Wait… why can’t I remember?”
Shang Chenyan quietly looked at the girl in the photo and finally said the first sentence of the night:
“That’s Tsing Ying.”
“Oh!” everyone suddenly remembered. “Right, right, it’s Tsing Ying!”
“How did I forget? Was she someone with little presence in class?”
Shang Chenyan wanted to say—no, she wasn’t. She was very bright. She was like a little sun, always smiling at everyone.
Later, he asked her university roommates and clubmates. Their memories of her were all vague—extremely vague.
Even later, when he mentioned her with Ji Huanzhou, there was a moment when Ji Huanzhou looked confused, as if he could no longer remember who she was.
One day, Shang Chenyan sat at his desk staring at a group photo by the table, and froze for a long time.
“Yingying…”
In the empty study, he called her name in panic, but only silence answered him.
“Qing Ying… Qing Ying…”
He began calling her name over and over again, covering his walls with their photos, obsessively looking at them again and again.
He constantly tried to dig through every memory of them, talking about her every day with Ji Huanzhou and Pei Yanchuan, until Pei Yanchuan called him insane.
He was terrified of forgetting her.
Soft fabric rustled in the room. Tsing Ying was only half asleep. After struggling for a while, she finally opened her eyes.
The first thing she saw was Shang Chenyan’s face right in front of her.
His warm breath brushed her ear.
Tsing Ying startled and pushed him away immediately.
Shang Chenyan showed no embarrassment or guilt. He lowered his voice and chuckled:
“The floor is cold. I wanted to carry Nian Nian to the bed.”
Tsing Ying looked down at the child in her arms and silently scolded herself for being self-absorbed—she had almost thought he was going to kiss her.
Shang Chenyan bent down and picked up Shang Nian, then turned to her:
“Need help standing?”
“No, I can get up myself.” Tsing Ying’s legs were a little numb. She stood up holding the sofa. “Mr. Shang, it’s almost two o’clock, and Nian Nian is asleep. I’ll head home now.”
Shang Chenyan’s hand tightened slightly at his side.
“Not staying for dinner?”
“No… I still have things to do.”
He smiled faintly and didn’t insist.
“Alright. I’ll have the driver send you.”
His polite and distant attitude made her quietly relieved. She preferred her boss to stay cold and distant.
Shang Chenyan went downstairs first. When Tsing Ying followed, she suddenly remembered the underwear she had left in the guest room. She paused.
After confirming he had gone, she quickly slipped into the room to find it.
She searched the bathroom, the cabinets—nothing.
She even knelt down and looked under the bed.
“Wh-what are you looking for?”
A sudden voice startled her. She jerked up and hit her head against his hand.
He had blocked the bed so she wouldn’t hit it.
“Are you okay, Mr. Shang?” she asked nervously.
“I’m fine. What are you looking for?”
Her ears turned red as she whispered:
“I left something behind when I stayed here… I wanted to find it.”
“Did you find it?”
She shook her head.
“Want me to help? Maybe Aunt Zhang put it somewhere.”
“No! It’s fine! It’s not important…”
Shang Chenyan nodded.
“Alright. The driver is already downstairs.”
After she left, the smile on Shang Chenyan’s face disappeared completely.
Yingying… she seems to be avoiding me today.
Since he helped treat her wound, she had been subtly avoiding him.
Did he do something wrong? Why is she avoiding him?