Shu Shu saw a four-year-old Shu Lingchen.
The backdrop looked like a hospital.
A tiny, little thing, he was being cradled in the arms of a kindergarten teacher, his eyes red and swollen as he wept hysterically, screaming at the top of his lungs, “Mommy! I want Mommy…”
His soft, heartbreakingly aggrieved wails caused passersby to stop and stare.
Someone sighed in a low, pitying voice, “Ah, what a tragedy. I heard this kid’s mother was stabbed to death. There’s no one else left in the family. Leaving behind such a young child… how is he supposed to survive on his own from now on?”
Shu Shu froze.
This was… after she died?
Before she could process it, the scene cut away.
“You can rest easy leaving the child with us. We will make sure he is well taken care of.”
Shu Shu watched as a young Shu Lingchen was handed over to a woman wearing reading glasses. The sign behind her read Lucky Children’s Orphanage. She smiled as she took the silent boy by the hand.
The woman looked like the director or principal of the place. Shu Shu studied her closely; her features were gentle and her expression was full of maternal kindness. She seemed like she would make a good director.
But soon, the scene changed.
Shu Shu heard Shu Lingchen crying again, but this time, it was accompanied by cries of pain.
“Auntie, please stop pinching me! I’ll be good, I’ll be good…”
A wooden door appeared in front of Shu Shu, the sounds echoing from inside. She lunged forward, violently throwing the door open, only to be met with a sight that made her heart drop.
Little Shu Lingchen was curled into a corner. A woman with a vicious, venomous expression glared down at him, her hands relentlessly twisting and pinching his tiny arms.
As she hit him, she cursed, “I told you to eat properly! Look at this food spilled everywhere! Do you have any idea how exhausting it is for me to clean up?! Did you come to this orphanage specifically to torture me?!”
A four-year-old child’s skin is soft and tender. In no time at all, his pale little arms were covered in horrific black-and-blue bruises.
Shu Shu’s eyes blazed with fury.
She had raised Shu Lingchen well. He had learned to feed himself early on, he cherished his food, and he had always eaten properly and neatly. There was no way he would leave food scattered all over the place.
Sure enough, she heard little Shu Lingchen trying to defend himself through his tears: “Auntie, it wasn’t me… I didn’t do it.”
But the woman didn’t care. It was pure, unadulterated venting, and her hands never stopped.
Shu Shu’s blood boiled to the absolute limit. She wanted nothing more than to tear through the dream, grab the woman, and beat her to a pulp. But she couldn’t break through. Trapped in a different dimension, she could only pace frantically, forced to watch the horror unfold with her own eyes.
Night fell.
Shu Lingchen’s tiny body lay curled up on the hard wooden slats of the orphanage bed. His sleep was restless, tears still pooling at the corners of his eyes. In a fragile, whimpering voice, he murmured, “…Mommy.”
It was as if that single word was the only thing that could offer him any shred of security.
Shu Shu desperately wanted to walk over, scoop her son into her arms, and comfort him. Shu Lingchen had always been so clingy with her; every single night, he used to grab his little pillow and beg her for a bedtime story, drifting off peacefully only to the sound of her voice.
Now, his mom was gone, and he was completely alone.
Shu Shu’s heart broke into pieces. She stood there, “guarding” her son by his bedside for the entire night.
To her immense relief, the scene shifted again.
She watched as the abusive woman was led away in handcuffs by the police, and Shu Lingchen was finally taken out of the orphanage.
He was brought back to Yujing Garden.
Before long, a professional agency matched him with a foster family—a wealthy young couple who were unable to have children of their own.
The moment they saw Shu Lingchen, they fell in love with him. They bent down, warmly trying to get him to talk.
At first, Shu Lingchen was incredibly guarded. He shrank back behind the property management staff, refusing to let them get close. But the young couple possessed endless patience. Over the next few weeks, they came to Yujing Garden every single day to visit him, cooking for him, playing with his toys, and organizing games.
The apartment was filled with laughter; the atmosphere was wonderful.
Slowly but surely, little Shu Lingchen began to accept their kindness.
Watching this, Shu Shu felt a wave of profound relief.
But just as she was looking forward to seeing her son move into a new home and start a new life, the vision cut yet again.
This time, Shu Lingchen had a dark, stony look on his face. He slapped away the hand of the young woman who was supposed to become his new mother and barked, “I hate you guys! I’m not going to your house! I won’t!”
His rejection was violent and absolute.
In the end, the foster arrangement fell through entirely.
Shu Shu’s mind spun with confusion. What could have possibly happened to make Shu Lingchen change so suddenly, turning so fiercely against that young couple?
But the dream gave her no answers. The vision remained frozen on that bitter moment, refusing to move forward.
Shu Shu snapped her eyes open.
The warm glow of the bedside lamp illuminated the bedroom. She realized she had just woken up from a nightmare.
It had been a very long time since she had experienced a dream so long and chaotic.
Exhaling a long breath, Shu Shu checked the time: 3:00 AM.
Feeling a bit parched, she threw back the covers, got out of bed, and went out to the living room to pour herself a glass of water. After drinking it down, she turned to head back to her room, but her footsteps faltered as she passed Shu Lingchen’s bedroom door.
Shu Shu could faintly hear a sound coming from inside.
It sounded a lot like… whimpering.
Shu Shu immediately knocked on the door. “Shu Lingchen?”
There was no answer.
She leaned closer to listen. She hadn’t misheard; it was definitely the sound of crying.
“Shu Lingchen? What’s wrong?”
Still nothing.
“Mom’s coming in.”
With that, Shu Shu pressed down on the door handle and pushed it open. “Shu Lingchen?”
She flicked on the light. As she walked in, she saw his blanket discarded on the floor. On the gray sheets, the teenager was drenched in sweat, his entire body curled into a tight ball as he muttered frantic, terrified words in his sleep: “Mom… save me…”
Shu Shu frowned. She rushed over, bending down to shake his shoulder gently. “Xiao Chen?”
The boy let out a heavy, ragged gasp and his eyes flew open.
For a split second, his gaze was completely blank. But as he focused on Shu Shu, his pupils dilated with sudden clarity. “…Mom?” he rasped, his voice thick and hoarse.
“Yeah.” Shu Shu looked at him. “Did you have a nightmare?”
Shu Lingchen blinked, looking around the room as his brain rebooted for a couple of seconds. Once he fully realized what was happening, he sat up awkwardly, his eyes darting around shiftily. “Oh, uh, yeah. I dreamed I was playing a game and we were literally about to destroy the enemy’s crystal, but then my teammates all threw and died. I was screaming at them on voice chat.”
He even managed to conjure up a highly offended, angry expression as he spoke.
Shu Shu: “…”
Shu Lingchen was absolutely not going to let his mom know he had been crying in his sleep. A seventeen-year-old grown man crying? If word got out, how was he supposed to maintain his reputation as the school’s badass?
The boy ran a hand through his damp, chaotic, multi-colored hair, presenting his sweaty face to Shu Shu as evidence. “See? I got so mad I broke into a sweat.”
Shu Shu pointed directly at the wet tear tracks on the corners of his eyes. “And then you cursed them out so hard you cried?”
Shu Lingchen: “…………”
He instinctively wiped at his eyes, stubbornly digging his heels in. “Yeah! It was my rank-up match in the dream! It was a big deal!”
Shu Shu raised an eyebrow and nodded, pretending to buy it. Seeing right through him but choosing not to call him out, she simply said, “I can’t sleep anyway. The sweet soup I made earlier should be perfectly chilled by now. Want some?”
To change the subject as fast as humanly possible, Shu Lingchen agreed instantly: “Hell yeah!”
Plus, to be fair, his mom’s sweet soup was absolute heaven.
Sansukini: Surprisingly, he still grew up pure and naive.