Everything Shen Youxi said was true, but Wen Sui’s face grew warm as she listened.
She instinctively looked toward Pei Yuli for help.
In the seat nearby, the man on the sofa was handsome and mature, his well-tailored suit accentuating his fine figure. The high-quality fabric of his shirt was crisp, revealing a slender wrist.
An expensive watch gleamed in the daylight, and with his upright posture, he looked composed and dignified.
At 26, Pei Yuli had an especially strong air of maturity about him. The greenness of his 19-year-old self was gone, and even his sharp brows and eyes carried an aggressive edge.
He was so different from back then.
Yet now, this Pei Yuli, so unlike his 19-year-old self, looked at her with the same gentle smile as always, handing her the water and smoothly coming to her rescue, just like old times:
“Your Youxi-ge has no filter. He’s talking nonsense—don’t listen to him.”
Their fingertips touched on the cup, carrying completely different body temperatures, meeting and parting in an instant.
The cup was placed in her hands. Wen Sui lowered her head to drink, feeling as if even the patch of skin he had touched was burning.
The girl’s thick, dark lashes fluttered again and again as the man’s voice sounded beside her, low and pleasant:
“Youxi, she’s only 19.”
“A child shouldn’t hear this kind of talk.”
“Fine, fine, you’ve got your own pace. I’ll shut up…”
Shen Youxi propped his chin on his hand:
“This world is truly amazing, Suisui. It’s like a dream.”
“Honestly, if it weren’t for that accident, everyone thought you and Yuli would have gotten married right after graduation. You might even have kids by now.”
Marriage, kids—he was just like when they were little, no filter at all.
Wen Sui’s face grew hot again, and she hurriedly changed the subject:
“By the way, Pei—”
The form of address caught in her throat. Wen Sui looked at that handsome face gazing at her attentively, her soft lips pressing together lightly.
So much had happened in such a short time that she didn’t know what to call Pei Yuli now.
Call him Pei Yuli?
When they were the same age, of course she could just call him by his name.
But now this CEO-version of Pei Yuli was far more mature than her. Calling him by his full name felt disrespectful.
Call him gege?
The chaotic scenes from last night flashed through her mind—even the word “gege” felt somehow ambiguous.
Wen Sui compromised and softly called out, “Yuli-ge.”
Shen Youxi clicked his tongue and was about to be a menace, mimicking her in a strange, drawn-out voice with a cutesy “Yuli-ge” of his own—
But the next second, the girl’s soft voice rang out, tinged with a certain curiosity:
“Where are my mom and dad? Do they not know I’m back yet?”
The teasing in Shen Youxi’s eyes froze for a moment, and he looked at Pei Yuli.
The man sitting beside the girl remained calm, his large, well-defined hand gently patting her head.
“I’ve already notified your uncle and aunt. They’re busy with work, so they probably won’t be able to get here until around noon.”
“But we still have a few tests to do. If everything’s fine, you can be discharged this morning.”
“Once you’re out, how about we all have a meal together with your uncle and aunt?”
“What do you feel like eating? French cuisine, Huaiyang cuisine, Sichuan food, or Japanese…”
The man’s low voice flowed on gently, swirling into the golden dust motes drifting through the sunlight by the window.
The girl with strikingly beautiful eyes smiled and nodded, giving an unsurprising answer.
Shen Youxi turned his face away, his silent expression turning somewhat grave.
Pei Yuli stroked the girl’s head, smiling as he nodded in agreement.
Seven years was a long time.
2,555 sunrises and moonsets—enough for the newest smartphone to become electronic waste, for rapidly developing cities to be torn down and rebuilt.
The wutong tree planted back then now towered over the eaves, dense ivy covered the old house’s courtyard, and the wish carved into the trunk before the college entrance exams had long been swallowed by the bark.
Time raced forward, pushing everyone along with it.
Only his Suisui had stayed behind, frozen at nineteen.
Forgotten, erased from society, left in place.
Pei Yuli said that her mom and dad’s relationship had been strained these past years, and they had separated for now.
The moment she pushed open the door to the private dining room, Wen Sui finally understood what he meant by “strained.”
Seven years had left few marks on her mother. She was poised and elegant, wearing a silk gown, playfully teasing the child in her arms.
Beside her sat a somewhat familiar face—her mother’s business partner, whom Wen Sui had met many times and called Uncle Zhang.
Hearing the sound, her mother turned, tenderness still lingering in her eyes, her expression excited yet faintly awkward:
“Suisui!”
The girl at the door’s lashes trembled. She had just managed to call out “Mom” and was about to rush over when the child in her mother’s arms pouted and tugged at her mother’s clothing.
“Mom, I want that!”
The excitement in her mother’s eyes froze abruptly. She fumbled to soothe the child, her gaze sweeping over Pei Yuli before landing on Wen Sui, her tone somewhat embarrassed.
“Haohao has been spoiled by me.”
“Suisui, I haven’t had the chance to introduce him yet—this is your little brother. He’s five years old now.”
The girl at the door’s lashes quivered. Sunlight fell on her face, and for an instant, her fair complexion turned ashen.
Her mother rubbed her hands together, awkward and nervous.
“Suisui, come sit down. Mom ordered the dishes—your favorites…”
In the delicate atmosphere, a large hand reached over and grasped Wen Sui’s fingers, then little by little, folded those slender fingers into his palm.
Pei Yuli’s palm was warm and dry.
A faint, cool woody fragrance drifted over, just like in countless years past when they’d never been apart, bringing a familiar sense of safety as he guided her to her seat.
The atmosphere in the room remained delicate. Her mother served her food, all her favorites, her tone even gentler than Wen Sui remembered.
The boy sitting beside her stared at her warily, with an inexplicable hostility.
Uncle Zhang smiled and made small talk, but his topics kept drifting toward Pei Yuli, with obvious flattery.
What should have been an ecstatic reunion was now steeped in unspeakable awkwardness.
Until two knocks sounded at the door, and her father walked in.
Her father was still refined and handsome, his figure well maintained. A plainly dressed young woman hung on his arm—only a few years older than Wen Sui, looking sweetly dependent.
Her father introduced her as his beloved.
He held forth proudly on art, not forgetting to intermittently express how much he’d missed his daughter. After a brief reminiscence, he carried on laughing and chatting.
Wen Sui’s lips twitched, but no matter what, she couldn’t smile.
Just the night before, she had been preparing for her final exams, with her childhood sweetheart by her side. In a little while, once Mom finished with work at the company, she would take her and Dad on a vacation abroad.
But in a single night, everything had turned upside down.
Seven years had slipped by just like that, without a sound.
Her childhood sweetheart had grown up; her parents divorced, remarried, and moved on.
Her connection to this world seemed to have been severed, cut apart, a piece of it simply discarded.
She had no home anymore.
Wen Sui lowered her eyes, hiding the gloom in their depths.
Beside her, the handsome man’s lips pressed into a tight line. His gaze settled on her, and he took her hand to bid farewell to both families.
Wen Sui’s parents seemed wary of something, not daring to make them stay any longer, only seeing them out with eager warmth.
In the corridor outside the private room, the daylight was bright. It was already June, and the temperature had risen. The glaring sunlight refracted off the glass, dazzling to the eyes.
The sunlight was too hot—it burned her eyes.
Wen Sui fought back her tears as the tall man pulled her into his embrace.
The grievance of being abandoned surged up in her heart, spilling out with her tears.
The slender girl’s shoulders trembled as she cried, the falling tears unceasing, soaking the man’s shirt.
The man’s long arms wrapped around her, undisguised heartache in his eyes. Little by little, he tightened his hold until she was completely cradled against his chest.
Broken sobs escaped from against his chest—suppressed, lost—as she hiccupped between cries:
“Pei Yuli, why?”
Pei Yuli stayed silent, his large hand stroking the girl’s hair, soothing her.
His little childhood sweetheart’s voice was small, full of grievance:
“Pei Yuli, I don’t have a home anymore…”
Pei Yuli’s heart ached. He steadied her shoulders, cupped her cheeks, and gently wiped away the tears beneath her eyes.
His little childhood sweetheart’s eyes were rimmed red, brimming with moisture.
Pei Yuli’s voice was low and dark as he held her face:
“How could you not have a home?”
“From the time you were little, your uncle and aunt were busy with their careers, and Suisui was entrusted to the Pei family. Wherever I am, you are.”
“We ate together, studied together, went to summer camp together, went to school and came home together, walked home hand in hand. We haven’t been apart since kindergarten, all the way through high school graduation—we were even in the same class. Our life paths overlapped completely…”
The girl cradled in his palms grew even redder around the eyes, tears threatening to spill again.
The man’s phoenix eyes half-lowered, his fingertip brushing gently across her cheek.
“From now on, wherever you are, I will be.”
“Wherever Suisui wants to be, that’s where we’ll make our home.”
The girl’s eyes were red, her voice soft, a little frustrated:
“But I don’t have any money… I forgot to ask for living expenses.”
The man’s focused gaze rested on her face, meeting her eyes.
His handsome features filled her vision, his beautifully lined phoenix eyes having shed the coldness of his youth, growing ever more piercing.
Rolling heat churned in those eyes, and in a daze, she saw the reflection of nineteen-year-old Pei Yuli.
Twenty-six-year-old Pei Yuli looked at her with nineteen-year-old eyes, his voice deep, every word clear:
“Wen Suisui has a childhood sweetheart who belongs to her alone.”
“Her childhood sweetheart spent seven years preparing everything for her.”
The girl’s black-and-white pupils dilated, turning a hazy light tea color in the sunlight.
Pei Yuli’s heart softened. Suppressing the urge to press a kiss to her forehead, he brushed her cheek lightly with his fingertip:
“You never need to worry about money, Wen Sui.”
“Pei Yuli is grateful for the chance to pay you. Whatever you want to do, wherever you want to go, even who you end up with in the future, what kind of life you choose…”
“It’s only right that I provide for you.”
“I long to give you everything—whatever you want.”