“M-me?” Shi Ying stood there holding the child, looking up at him with difficulty. “That… doesn’t seem appropriate…”
“Where’s her mother? Let her mother come pick her up. I just heard her call ‘Mom.’”
“What did you say?” Shang Chenyuan’s expression changed abruptly.
Startled, Shi Ying stammered, “I mean… let her mother come. She might miss her…”
Shang Chenyuan looked at Shang Nian, who was clinging tightly to Shi Ying’s neck, and took a deep breath. “She can’t speak.”
Shi Ying froze.
“Her mother… isn’t with us.” He looked at her, sorrow in his eyes that she couldn’t understand. “She’s been gone for a long time.”
Shi Ying secretly pinched herself to keep from showing too much shock.
Such huge gossip—would she get fired tomorrow just for stepping into the office with her left foot first?
The air turned awkward. After a moment of silence, Shi Ying said, “Then you should take her home, President Shang. It’s getting late, and I should head back too.”
She tried to hand Shang Nian over, but before she could let go, the child whimpered and clung even tighter.
Her small face flushed red. Unable to speak, her lips moved soundlessly, and her big, obsidian-like eyes quickly filled with tears.
Shi Ying’s heart melted at the sight. She was just too adorable, like a doll.
“Shang Nian, let go,” Shang Chenyuan said in a low voice.
Shang Nian didn’t listen, only blinking up at Shi Ying.
One big, one small—stuck in a stalemate in the middle of the street.
Their striking looks had already drawn attention, and passersby were quietly taking photos.
“President Shang… how about I take her home?” Shi Ying finally gave in to her pitiful gaze.
The moment she said it, Shang Chenyuan felt as if even his soul trembled.
She was going home with him.
Inside, madness surged wildly, yet his voice remained calm. “Thank you for your trouble. The time you spend will be counted as overtime.”
“Thank you, President Shang!” Shi Ying didn’t expect him to be so reasonable and immediately smiled brightly.
She adjusted the child in her arms. “Your name is Shang Nian?”
Shang Nian nodded. Tears slipped down her cheeks as she moved, looking especially pitiful.
Shi Ying quickly wiped them away. “Don’t cry, don’t cry. Big sister will take you home.”
“Big sister?”
Shang Chenyuan frowned slightly.
He didn’t like that term—it made it sound like they were from different generations.
Soon, the driver pulled up and stopped by the roadside.
Shang Chenyuan opened the car door like a gentleman, letting Shi Ying get in first with the child.
He raised his hand above her head. After work, she had let her ponytail down, and a few stray strands swayed in the wind, lightly brushing against his palm.
A tingling sensation spread through his body, and his Adam’s apple moved unconsciously.
Once she was seated, he closed the door and went around to the other side to get in.
The car was quiet. The driver said nothing. Only the faint sound of Shang Nian sniffing could be heard.
Even in the car, she clung to Shi Ying, curling up in her arms.
“Shang Nian, sit properly,” Shang Chenyuan said.
“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Shi Ying quickly smoothed things over. “She’s very light.”
“How old is she?”
“Five.”
Shi Ying looked down at Shang Nian. Five years old? She looked so small.
Feeling her gaze, Shang Nian looked up at her too, her nose red and runny.
Shi Ying wiped it gently with a tissue. She couldn’t help but wonder why the child couldn’t speak. With someone as wealthy as Shang Chenyuan, shouldn’t he have found doctors everywhere to treat her?
As if reading her thoughts, the man explained, “Her mother left shortly after she was born. Nian Nian has no physical issues, but she just refuses to speak.”
Shi Ying frowned slightly. So it was psychological.
“Then… why did her mother leave?”
At her question, Shang Chenyuan’s eyes darkened, like a bottomless cold abyss.
“I don’t know.” His voice was low and distant. “She just… abandoned me.”
The car interior was dim. The setting sun cast a glow on his sharply defined profile—deep eyes, high nose, thin lips—yet there was an air of distant coldness around him.
Someone like him… got abandoned?
Shi Ying didn’t dare look too long. She almost wished she could pull out her phone and type ten thousand words—this gossip was too overwhelming.
Half an hour later, the black Maybach drove into a quiet, tree-lined road, far from the city’s noise.
“President Shang, we’ve arrived.”
Passing a central fountain, the car stopped in front of a white-toned villa. As Shi Ying opened the door, she was greeted by a beautifully maintained garden.
Holding Shang Nian, she stepped out as the gate slowly opened.
She let out a small “wow.” Whether in the real world or this virtual one, she had never seen such a luxurious home.
“Come in.” Shang Chenyuan appeared beside her at some point, taking Shang Nian from her arms. “You must be tired from holding her. Come inside and sit.”
Perhaps hearing the word “tired,” Shang Nian obediently let go this time.
Shi Ying couldn’t help looking around. Even in winter, the garden was full of flowers—many kinds she didn’t even recognize.
She was so absorbed in looking that she didn’t notice Shang Chenyuan walking beside her.
The sunset stretched their shadows long behind them, the three figures overlapping closely together.
Inside the living room, Shi Ying was stunned once again.
The villa had high, arched ceilings. Light streamed in through the floor-to-ceiling windows, blending with the sunset. The spacious living room had a sunken design, simple yet elegant.
It looked like something from an English manor she had seen in books.
Shang Nian changed her shoes obediently, then grabbed Shi Ying’s hand, trying to pull her inside.
Shi Ying glanced back at Shang Chenyuan, who smiled lightly. “She wants to take you to her room.”
It was the first time she had seen him smile.
When he smiled, the coldness in his features softened, and the small mole at the corner of his eye seemed to glow under the light.
“Then I’ll go take a look?”
He nodded. “Go ahead.”
Before she could say anything else, Shang Nian excitedly pulled her upstairs.
Her room was a typical princess-style room, filled with soft pink tones, plush toys, and dolls everywhere.
Shi Ying’s eyes lit up instantly.
No one knew—she liked princess rooms too!
Shang Nian let go of her hand and ran to the window, pulling out a small sketchbook. Shi Ying leaned closer. “What did Nian Nian draw?”
Shang Nian opened a page and pointed at it.
Shi Ying reacted enthusiastically, “A little rabbit? Nian Nian draws so well!”
Shang Nian handed the sketchbook to her.
“For me?”
She nodded.
Shi Ying flipped through it. The drawings were imaginative and whimsical. She remembered reading somewhere that children who couldn’t speak often had rich inner worlds.
Maybe Shang Nian was like that—expressing herself through drawings.
Closing the sketchbook, Shi Ying hugged it. “Then I’ll take this home and keep it safe. This is the debut work of a future great artist. When our Nian Nian becomes famous one day, this will be very valuable.”
Shang Nian shyly buried herself in her arms.