“This matter… it’s a long story. It can’t be explained in just a sentence or two.”
“Then use three.”
…
So next—
From Shu Lingchen’s hesitant explanation, Shu Shu finally learned the whole story.
When Shu Shu died suddenly back then, they couldn’t contact any other relatives. Shu Lingchen strongly resisted going to a children’s welfare institution or foster family, so for a while the property management of the residential complex helped take care of him.
But that kind of care was only temporary.
Just as the management staff were worrying about what to do, a young nanny from another apartment in the same building volunteered.
“Anyway, after I finish work every day I have nothing to do. How troublesome could taking care of one child be? I’ll just treat it as doing a good deed.”
…
Shu Lingchen said, “Aunt Chu raised me. She’s a good person, but unfortunately she married the wrong man. Her husband gambled and ran away after owing money. Debt collectors came to the door and threatened Aunt Chu and Chu Chu to repay it.”
Shu Shu raised her hand.
“Wait. Who’s Chu Chu?”
“Chu Lian. Aunt Chu’s daughter.”
Shu Lingchen silently pointed at the Maotai selfie on the phone.
“I couldn’t stand seeing them living in fear every day, so I let them move into our house to avoid the debt collectors.”
At that time he was in sixth grade.
Shu Shu asked again, “Then why are you renting a place now?”
“In my second year of middle school, Aunt Chu suddenly said she and Chu Chu would move out. She said Chu Chu was a girl, and it wasn’t convenient to keep living in a boy’s house.”
“As a man, I couldn’t let a girl suffer. And Aunt Chu isn’t in good health either. I didn’t want her to keep moving around, so I took the initiative to move out.”
After hearing all that, Shu Shu slowly nodded.
“Oh~~ So in simple terms: a gambling father, a sickly mother, a broken girl, and you with your overflowing savior complex?”
Seeing that Shu Shu didn’t seem angry, Shu Lingchen let out a breath of relief and proudly said, as if expecting praise:
“Yes.”
Shu Shu immediately smacked him on the forehead.
“Yes my foot! Shu Lingchen, has cement filled your brain? Didn’t you realize those mother and daughter were just trying to occupy the house and deliberately found an excuse to drive you out?!”
“…How could that be? Aunt Chu and the others are only staying there temporarily.”
Temporarily.
What kind of temporary stay lasts six or seven years?!
Shu Shu opened all of Chu Lian’s selfies from the forum again and zoomed in on the upper-right corners for Shu Lingchen to see.
“Do you notice anything?”
If they were only temporarily staying there, how could she casually show off the homeowner’s things like that, as if they were her own?
But Shu Lingchen said, “They’re just selfies from a little girl. I’ve seen them all and even liked them. I didn’t notice any problem.”
Shu Shu took a deep breath and showed him the comments insulting him for being poor and trying to climb up to Chu Lian’s rich family.
Chu Lian was living in Shu Lingchen’s mansion and showing off everything in it, yet still stepping on him to build her own image.
Shu Lingchen snorted.
“A bunch of trash. I’m too lazy to argue with them.”
“…………”
Shu Shu fell completely silent and looked around the room.
“Mom, what are you looking for?”
“A rope,” Shu Shu said. “A rope that can let someone start life over after death—so I can strangle you, you little idiot!”
Shu Lingchen shrank back slightly.
“Maybe you misunderstood. I was the one who proposed moving out. Aunt Chu and the others never mentioned it…”
At this moment—
Shu Shu finally confirmed something.
Her son must have been fed ten tons of stupidity medicine by that nanny.
There was no communicating with an idiot.
So Shu Shu walked straight into the kitchen, picked up a kitchen knife, and headed toward the door.
“I’m going back to Yujing Garden right now to chop those two people to death!”
What a ridiculous world— the nanny’s daughter became a rich young lady while the real owner of the house became the poor one!
When Shu Lingchen heard that, he immediately stopped her.
“Calm down!”
“Move.”
“No. You can’t hurt Chu Chu and Aunt Chu!”
Shu Shu looked up and saw the nervousness and protectiveness in her son’s eyes.
—Her son liked Chu Lian.
But hadn’t he just been rejected earlier that afternoon?
Shu Shu suddenly felt something was off. She threw down the knife and grabbed Shu Lingchen’s phone again.
Sure enough, at the top of his pinned chats in WeChat was Chu Lian.
She opened the chat.
The latest messages were from after the confession earlier:
Shu Lingchen:
“Chu Chu, did you reject me because of that Shi Jin? Do you like him? [hurt emoji]”
Chu Lian:
“No, A Chen. It was just too sudden today and it scared me. I didn’t know how to react. I’m sorry for hurting you. Shi Jin is only my class monitor, nothing more. If you’re angry, I’ll never appear in front of you again. [crying emoji]”
Shu Lingchen clearly panicked.
“Chu Chu, don’t say that! How could I be angry at you? Today was my fault. I was too rash and didn’t consider your feelings!”
Chu Lian:
“A Chen, I’m not blaming you.”
Shu Shu was stunned.
Wait—she’s forgiving him?!
At that moment—
Chu Lian sent a new message: a screenshot of the forum.
She said:
“A Chen, someone posted about you on the forum. I explained things to everyone for you. [heart emoji]”
Hearing the notification, Shu Lingchen quickly took the phone back from Shu Shu.
He replied emotionally:
“Chu Chu, you’re so kind. [rose emoji]”
Shu Shu: “…………”
She was completely speechless.
So the real scammer—
was right here!
Shu Shu grabbed Shu Lingchen by the shoulders and shook him vigorously.
She muttered:
“Stupid demons and ghosts go away, stupid demons go away, leave my son’s body, leave my son’s body…”
Suddenly, from the corner of her eye, she noticed more than a dozen books on the desk in the “bedroom” Shu Lingchen had prepared for her.
Looking closer, they were books she used to read often.
Her eyes lit up and she immediately walked into the room.
“You brought these from Yujing Garden?”
Shu Lingchen, still dizzy from being shaken, nodded weakly.
“…Yes.”
He had kept them with him as a reminder because those were the books his mother always held in her hands.
Shu Shu searched through them.
“Do you have A Brief History of Time?”
“Huh?” Shu Lingchen scratched his head in confusion. “Why would I have time to pick up poop? Why are you asking me to pick up poop?”
“…………”
Shu Shu froze.
Ten full seconds of silence passed.
Then she raised her head.
“Shu Lingchen… please read some books!”
She felt like she urgently needed heart medication.
Fortunately, she found A Brief History of Time.
Inside one of the pages, she found what she had been looking for.
—A black card with golden edges.
She grabbed the card and headed for the door.
“Mom, where are you going now?”
Shu Shu replied expressionlessly.
“Oh, I suddenly realized that if I stay here I might die from anger again. So I’ve decided to travel back to the future first. Goodbye, son. Don’t miss your mother. I’ll become a star in the sky and watch over you forever.”
Then she slammed the door and left.
Shu Lingchen: “???”
…
Half an hour later—
Shu Shu lay comfortably on a chaise lounge in the presidential suite of a five-star hotel.
In her hand was the newest model smartphone she had just opened.
She launched an app she had downloaded.
A message appeared on the screen:
“Welcome back, esteemed Black Gold user.”
One of Shu Shu’s life principles—
Never put all eggs in one basket.
She had an account managed by a group of professional managers. The assets there were isolated from debts and not included in inheritance.
The account didn’t recognize people.
It only recognized the card and the service password.
After thirteen years, the money inside had multiplied many times.
Shu Shu had gone from a rich woman—
to an even richer one.
Although she had already eaten four mugwort rice cakes earlier, that didn’t stop her from enjoying a luxurious seafood midnight snack.
While eating Australian lobster, she thought:
Her son had become a love-struck fool and an illiterate. As the mother who had “left” early, she had to take a big part of the responsibility.
After all, he was still her child.
She couldn’t just abandon him.
She had to save him.
The phone beside her lit up.
Two new messages appeared: