Shen Jiyuan left the banquet in a thoroughly wretched state.
The stomachache wasn’t a lie—when the mental pressure became too great, stomach pain was a common occurrence.
His face was pale as paper. As he leaned against the fountain, his body swayed unsteadily, frightening Shen Shu so badly that the little boy was almost in tears. The child darted off, and soon returned with someone; Shen Jiyuan was helped back to the lounge.
After taking his medication and resting for a little over ten minutes, Shen Jiyuan’s brows were still tightly furrowed. The chaotic mess in his mind finally affected his body—his heart raced, he felt flustered, sweat beaded on his forehead. Shen Shu clutched his hand tightly, looking up at him with worry in his eyes.
“It’s okay, don’t worry about Daddy,” Shen Jiyuan said, still forcing himself to comfort Shen Shu even in this state. Gritting his teeth, he turned to the assistant and said, “Go bring the car around.”
In the end, Shen Jiyuan never reappeared at the banquet. He was sent straight to the hospital.
But he didn’t stay there long.
After two hours on an IV drip, Shen Jiyuan refused the hospital’s arrangement of a private room and left H City overnight.
After three years, just hearing about the existence of “Mommy” from Shen Shu’s mouth was enough to stimulate him to this extent.
On the highway at night, Shen Jiyuan sat in the car. The lights outside the window flashed past, occasionally illuminating his handsome, expressionless face beneath a black coat. Under the silver-rimmed glasses, his lashes were lowered, shadowing his dark eyes.
Shen Shu sat on the other side, cautiously watching his expression. Shen Jiyuan’s hand rested subconsciously on his abdomen; his stomach still seemed uncomfortable. From time to time, a flash of pain crossed his face, and the aura around him kept everyone at a distance.
Sensing the child’s worried gaze, Shen Jiyuan came back to himself and patted the boy’s head.
A child’s hair was fine and soft, like a little bird’s feathers—jet black and glossy. Shen Jiyuan gently stroked it twice, and the invisible pressure in his heart eased considerably, the indescribable gloom lightening a little.
In the beginning, he had also sent people to look for and investigate that woman. Waking up from a drunken stupor to find himself in that state, the room empty with only himself left behind, and that woman having even left a note that could almost be called mocking—wasn’t it natural for him to be angry?
Back then, he had imagined countless scenes of finding that woman again. He would definitely throw that “eat well” note in her face and demand to know how she’d dared to do such a thing to him, make her regret it—
During that period, he relied on hundreds, even thousands, of imagined reunions to relieve the regret and pressure brought by that one night.
Until he discovered that he was pregnant.
Shock and terror overtook him. Something so utterly against common sense had happened to him; Shen Jiyuan was plunged into despair. His future became bleak, the investigation yielded nothing, and he even wondered if he’d encountered something supernatural.
After giving birth, Shen Jiyuan forbade anyone from mentioning Shen Shu’s mother and had long since given up looking for her.
By today, Shen Jiyuan even felt a faint fear that that woman might reappear.
Whether she was human or something else, he had finally stepped out of the shadows. Please, don’t come back to shatter the peaceful life he and his child had built—
Hearing that woman mentioned from Shen Shu’s mouth tonight, he fled in instinctive panic, taking his child and returning to A City overnight.
If this were the past, his pride would never have allowed him to be so miserable—but now he had a weakness.
“You look a lot like your daddy.”
Shen Jiyuan pressed hard against his abdomen. His stomach twisted in waves of pain, one after another, his fingers digging deep into his palm.
What exactly did those words mean?
She had recognized Shen Shu, remembered him, and even knew that Shen Shu was his child.
Then… did she know that Shen Shu was her child too?
Shen Jiyuan took off his glasses, propping his forehead with a weary hand, closing his eyes. Worried about him, Shen Shu leaned over, his small body pressed tightly against him.
Running away was fine. When he had gone abroad to give birth back then, he had already tasted the depths of humiliation. From the moment he met that woman, his flawless life had begun to crack.
Tonight’s banquet…
Shen Jiyuan tightened his grip on the child’s tiny hand, drawing a bit of courage from the warmth in his palm.
Shen Shu said he had seen “Mommy.” That meant the woman must have been among the invited guests. Everyone attending the banquet tonight was a person of status—finding her identity with a little investigation shouldn’t be difficult.
As long as she was truly human, surveillance footage, invitation lists—there would always be a way to trace her.
Shen Jiyuan still wanted to find out the identity of the person from that night, but now it wasn’t for revenge—it was to stay far away.
In this lifetime, he didn’t want to set foot in H City again with Shen Shu.
“Investigate me?”
At the top floor of a hotel in downtown H City, Shi Qing stood before the floor-to-ceiling windows, wiping her jet-black, waterfall-like long hair as she answered the phone.
Her gaze drifted aimlessly over the sea of lights outside the window as she spoke lightly.
“Don’t let him find out.”
With the power she held now, Shen Jiyuan having someone look into her didn’t go unnoticed for long.
She had merely shown herself briefly, and Shen Jiyuan had already fallen into disarray—fleeing H City overnight, and now even sending people to investigate her.
That panicked, frightened was so adorable it even inspired a bit of fondness.
Shi Qing sighed inwardly. After hanging up the phone, a faint, ambiguous smile still lingered at the corners of her lips.
She had no intention of revealing her identity ahead of time. After three years, a reunion naturally deserved to be a little surprise for Shen Jiyuan.
One week later.
Shi Qing arrived in A City. The next day, she attended business talks related to cooperation with the Shen Group. After the meeting, she proposed visiting one of the Shen Group’s subsidiaries. Surrounded by several assistants and subordinates, she stood at the center of the crowd, led forward by Shen Group employees.
The long corridor was flooded with sunlight streaming through the windows, the view bright and spacious. With a turn of the head, one could see rows of desks—employees seated in the work area, all bent over their tasks.
Though it was only a subsidiary, it was impressive enough.
If everything followed the storyline exactly, she should be sitting here typing on a keyboard—perhaps right by this window—
The Shen Group employee leading the way stopped in confusion, truly unsure what was so interesting about the office area that this important partner from H City had suddenly abandoned her casual air and paused to look around with keen interest.
Not long after, a middle-aged man in a suit, his figure slightly plump, jogged over from the office area. Bowing and nodding as he came before them, he said, “…I’m the marketing department manager.”
Why had Chairman Sheng from headquarters, Chairman Wang… all shown up at this moment? And the woman walking at the very front—though he didn’t recognize her, judging by everyone else’s demeanor, he could tell she was the person with the highest status present.
Just ten or so minutes earlier, he had received a notice that the Shen Group’s crown prince, Shen Jiyuan, would soon be coming to the subsidiary for an inspection. He was already at his wits’ end—now, out of nowhere, some mysterious big shot had appeared as well. It was enough to drive a person…
Wait. These two groups weren’t going to run into each other, were they?
The general manager pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his shiny forehead. As he forced a smile, the corner of his eye caught the elevator doors at the end of the corridor sliding open, a large crowd spilling out.
A lemming-like scream went off in his head.
They really had run into each other—
Shen Jiyuan hadn’t been resting well lately.
After returning from H City, he had gone straight into the hospital. Due to prolonged overwork and stomach problems triggered by emotional stress, he had been properly hospitalized for a full week, leaving his child in the care of family.
During his hospitalization, the investigation results arrived—nothing had been found.
Faced with such results, Shen Jiyuan felt a sense of “as expected.” Nothing could be found, still nothing at all, just like three years ago.
But now, he could no longer simply be frightened and afraid—because he was already a child’s father.
Let it be this way. The most he could do was never set foot in H City again and comfort himself with the belief that nothing else would happen.
The moment he was discharged, Shen Jiyuan immediately arranged work for himself—after several meetings, he went to inspect a subsidiary.
The enclosed space of the subsidiary’s elevator was a bit small. Shen Jiyuan’s heart was beating a little fast; he figured it was probably because of fatigue.
His subordinates didn’t notice his discomfort. He had always cared deeply about his image—he couldn’t tolerate even the slightest wrinkle in his clothes, and he was even less willing to let subordinates glimpse his emotions.
The higher the elevator went, the more he felt a faint, growing sense of unease.
But surrounded by subordinates, Shen Jiyuan didn’t want to show anything out of the ordinary in public. He could only force himself to stay calm, his face expressionless.
Until the elevator doors opened.
“Ding—”
He would later regret it countless times—why, at that moment, when his intuition gave him one last chance, hadn’t he seized it and escaped?
Within his field of vision were bright floor tiles and a wide corridor. After leaving the elevator, the oppressive feeling seemed to ease a little. He slowly let out a breath, composed himself, and looked ahead. There was the office area; at the end of his gaze were potted plants against the wall, and a dense crowd of people.
Someone—he didn’t know who—had also gathered here, which was clearly unreasonable during work hours.
Shen Jiyuan was slightly nearsighted. He frowned faintly and looked more closely.
Surrounded by the crowd seemed to be… the woman who had appeared countless times in his dreams?
She wore a white shirt with a suit jacket draped over her shoulders, her back to him. Her dark hair fell like a waterfall, her figure tall and slender.
Even in a crowd, she was the most eye-catching one—
With just a back view, Shen Jiyuan recognized her. His heart raced, dizziness swept over him, and he instinctively retreated back into the elevator, lifting his hand to press the close-door button.
A subordinate beside him asked in confusion, “President Shen?”
At that very moment, Shi Qing turned around.
Those pitch-black eyes pierced through the crowd and met his gaze once more. She fixed her eyes on him, staring intently.
Even among the crowd, even with subordinates around him, Shen Jiyuan’s fingertips began to tremble uncontrollably.
That look—
In a daze, he was transported back three years, to that night when he was twenty-four.
Pinned down by this woman on cold bedsheets, eyes blurred with tears, he had lifted his gaze and seen, backlit, those dark, heavy eyes.