Ye Ning winked at Shu Yu. “Baby Yu, if my brother picks on you, just come find me.”
Si Yiheng, who had just reached the doorway, “...”
Ye Ning kept coaxing Shu Yu to come to her.
“I won’t run. Si Yiheng did bully me a little, but I can let him bully me. I won’t run away, Ning Ning.” Shu Yu spoke each word very seriously.
The suspicion that Si Yiheng hadn’t fully shaken off faded even more.
Why was she so unguarded with him? So good to him? So unwilling to leave him?
In the end, Si Yiheng didn’t come in to find Shu Yu; instead, he let them continue chatting.
Ye Ning blinked wildly and mouthed to Shu Yu, “My brother’s here?”
Shu Yu: “He isn’t, right?”
Ye Ning: “!!!”
Ye Ning: “Then why are you acting like such a lovesick fool?”
Shu Yu smiled awkwardly. The truth was, this was a critical period. If she said one wrong thing and Si Yiheng overheard, she could end up in a tough spot.
Rather than wait to land in trouble, it was better to fake being lovesick, utterly devoted and inseparable from Si Yiheng.
Shu Yu: “I’m being sincere, you know.”
Ye Ning felt something was off, but she also found Shu Yu incredibly cute. “So, is your sincerity for me real?”
Shu Yu raised her hand immediately. “Of course it’s real with you.”
Ye Ning: “If my brother and I both fell in the water, who would you save first?”
Shu Yu blinked. “I’d jump in and let you save me. I can’t swim.”
Ye Ning was charmed all over again. “If that’s how you put it, then my brother and I would be fighting to save you.”
Ye Ning thought Shu Yu was being extra clingy today, talking a lot like a chatty little cat.
So needy, as if she were telling Ye Ning everything she had been holding in for so long.
But Ye Ning loved it.
Sure enough, she had no resistance to her sweet Baby Yu.
Si Yiheng was so lucky, having such an adorable wife.
After wrapping up her chat with Ye Ning—a little farewell of sorts—Shu Yu also received the photos that Song Wenzhao had promised to show her.
One photo was a family portrait.
In it, a young, refined-looking man radiated both elegance and spirited confidence. The woman beside him was gracefully beautiful, looking at the child in the man’s arms with a radiant, happy glow. Even from just the photo, you could feel the tenderness in her gaze.
The child in the man’s arms had to be her, with a string of ornaments jangling around her neck and wrists.
A boy, maybe around ten, was holding her hand.
The moment Shu Yu saw the photo, she felt a strange mix of familiarity and unfamiliarity.
She gently touched each person in it with her fingertips.
The other photo seemed more recent—a testament that time never dims true beauty.
Her mother was still elegant and dignified, now even softer.
Her father had lost a bit of his youthful edge.
So this was her family.
If she hadn’t inexplicably ended up in another world, would they have loved her?
Shu Yu didn’t know, but at that moment, pieces of the blank memory inside her were finally filled by these photos.
She began to have fragments of memories about them.
Song Wenzhao: Baby Yu, when are you coming home with your big brother?
A Little Fish Swimming: Big Brother, I don’t want to go home yet.
Song Wenzhao: That’s okay. Your big brother will stay here with you.
A Little Fish Swimming: Big Brother, don’t you need to go back to work?
Song Wenzhao had been searching for her for so long—would staying here really be fine?
Song Wenzhao: Dad can handle the work. The legal retirement age is now sixty-three, and our dad isn’t sixty-three yet. He can keep working.
Shu Yu: “...”
The butler, watching nearby, looked at Song Wenzhao as if he were witnessing a model filial son. The master had long said he wanted to come see the young lady.
Too bad their young master wouldn’t go back to work.
A Little Fish Swimming: Big Brother, stop mistreating the middle-aged.
Song Wenzhao: I’m not mistreating our dad. He loves working—he’s a workaholic.
The butler: “...”
The young master was shameless again.
Shu Yu: “...”
So that’s how capitalists were—they actually liked working.
A Little Fish Swimming: Oh, so he likes working.
Song Wenzhao: Yes, but Mom likes Baby Yu, and I like Baby Yu too.
Shu Yu smiled.
A Little Fish Swimming: Cat nodding.jpg
Song Wenzhao felt his heart skip a beat. His little sister was so adorable.
A Little Fish Swimming: Big Brother, don’t always have a problem with Si Yiheng. He’s been very good to me. If I’m not around, could you take care of him for me?
Song Wenzhao read Shu Yu’s words twice.
He had thought that Shu Yu didn’t want to come home because she wanted to stay here with Si Yiheng.
But Shu Yu was now saying “if I’m not around.”
Having gotten to know Shu Yu’s personality a bit, Song Wenzhao figured she preferred staying within her comfort zone and wouldn’t suddenly want to leave.
If Shu Yu were going out to have fun, Si Yiheng would surely follow her.
That left only one possibility: Shu Yu was about to leave Si Yiheng.
Though Song Wenzhao didn’t know the reason, he would help Shu Yu with whatever she wanted to do.
Song Wenzhao: Okay, I’ll take care of Si Yiheng for you. Baby Yu, don’t worry about him.
Song Wenzhao: “Uncle Qin, let’s go wait for Baby Yu at Si Yiheng’s doorstep today.”
The butler was shocked. “Has the young lady agreed to come home?”
Song Wenzhao’s calm tone carried a trace of almost undetectable joy. “No.”
The butler was confused. “...Then what are you so happy about?”
Song Wenzhao didn’t explain. “Let’s go wait for Baby Yu.”
After giving Song Wenzhao those instructions, Shu Yu felt more at ease.
That way, after she left, Song Wenzhao and Si Yiheng wouldn’t be at odds with each other.
Her work was settled.
She’d chatted with Ning Ning a bit.
She’d seen her family photos.
She’d asked her big brother to take care of Si Yiheng.
One by one, everything was done. Shu Yu took a deep breath. “Iron Egg, tomorrow we take Little Orange and run.”
Shu Yu’s target was a small city she’d scouted long ago. It would take a plane, then a train, then a bus—hard enough for Si Yiheng to find her.
Iron Egg: [Okay!!!]
Once the mission was complete, Shu Yu would be free.
She could love or hate as she pleased, no longer bound to exist only for the plot, and certainly not doomed to vanish from this world forever.
When Shu Yu went to the study to find Si Yiheng, he was in a meeting.
Probably because of their “heart-to-heart” that night, Si Yiheng had started to feel some sense of security, and life was getting back on track.
Shu Yu sat across from Si Yiheng, propping her chin on her hand, watching him work intently.
Si Yiheng’s English was very precise—a standard London accent.
Deep, magnetic, and pleasant to listen to.
Si Yiheng noticed Shu Yu watching him and looked back. Their eyes met, and Shu Yu gave him a sweet smile.
Si Yiheng muted his microphone and said to Shu Yu, “Little Treasure, come here.”
“Let your brother hold you.”
Shu Yu walked over to Si Yiheng, sat on his lap, and wrapped her arms around him.
That was just how Si Yiheng was.
If Shu Yu so much as glanced at him, no matter how busy he was, he would always give her a hug.
Shu Yu didn’t say anything, just listened quietly as Si Yiheng finished his meeting.
At the very end of the session, she heard him say one word in English: “fiancée.”
Then Si Yiheng received a blessing from the other person, and responded as calmly as he could, “Thank you.”
Shu Yu: “…”
My dear lord, he really doesn’t listen at all.
I told you not to go around telling everyone you have a fiancée, as if it’s some kind of plague.
When they all ask you, “Where’s your fiancée?” you won’t be smiling then.
Stupid Si Yiheng.
Shu Yu wrapped his arms around Si Yiheng’s neck and kissed his thin lips.
A faint laugh escaped Si Yiheng’s lips—it was a sound that was especially captivating.
Si Yiheng took Shu Yu’s hand, undid his tie with one hand, and bound Shu Yu’s wrists with it, wrapping it around a few times before tying a loose but secure knot.
No matter how Shu Yu struggled, he couldn’t break free.
Si Yiheng bent down and kissed Shu Yu’s lips again.
“Sweetie, why so passionate today?” His cool, clear voice was calm and steady.
Looking at his own bound hands, Shu Yu: “…”
“I... I’m being passionate, can’t you just be a little polite about it?” Shu Yu’s eyes, glistening with moisture, obediently gazed at Si Yiheng.
A smile tugged at the corner of Si Yiheng’s lips. He rubbed Shu Yu’s pale, soft cheek with his thumb. “Doesn’t seem like it, baby.”
With that, Si Yiheng bent down and kissed Shu Yu’s cheek again.
He wasn’t a good man.
Once that line was crossed, he wanted to be with Shu Yu every single moment.
He wanted them to be pressed together always.
He wanted the distance between them to become a negative number.
Si Yiheng coaxed him in a low voice, “Sweetie, how about one more reward for your brother, okay?”
