Shu Yu had always been cherished by her mom, dad, and Song Wenzhao.
Occasionally, Shu Yu would see her dad, Song Xuyan, following her mom around like a big dog with a tail, complaining to her.
Saying that at work he was being picked on by those old men in the company again.
Her dad was really good at crying, tears streaming down pat pat pat, always tricking her mom into giving him kiss after kiss.
Shu Yu caught sight of her dad’s wildly curling lips.
So bad.
That bad dad was fooling her innocent mom.
Song Xuyan was crying in front of Ms. Ji Fei again.
Ms. Ji Fei pinched Shu Yu’s cheek. “You’re a dad now, no more crying.”
“Even Little Treasure is just as much of a little crybaby as you.”
Shu Yu pursed her lips, looking as if she might cry herself because of her mom’s word “crybaby.”
Ji Fei: “...”
The big one cries, and the little one cries too.
Ji Fei handed Shu Yu to Song Xuyan, letting him hold her to distract him.
Unexpectedly, Song Xuyan held Shu Yu and cried. “Little Treasure, Dad doesn’t want to go to work.”
Shu Yu tilted her porcelain-white little face, beautiful eyes brimming with tears. “Dad, Treash, want shweet.”
Song Xuyan looked at his own beautiful baby and thought to himself, So this is what it looks like when my wife sees me cry.
No wonder Ji Fei always kissed him and doted on him.
Yep, his wife was definitely a looks junkie.
Song Xuyan secretly glanced at Ji Fei, made sure she wasn’t watching him and Shu Yu, then sneaked a candy to Shu Yu.
This life continued until Shu Yu was a little over two years old. After Ji Fei finished bathing Shu Yu and drying her hair, she put Shu Yu in the playroom to play games.
While Ji Fei left to get Shu Yu’s little blanket,
Shu Yu played and played, and in one instant, without any warning, Shu Yu disappeared.
Shu Yu: “?”
Tiedan: “?”
The scenery shifted, and Shu Yu, clutching her little bunny, appeared in a rundown little building.
The unfamiliar environment made Shu Yu instinctively hide.
She hid for a whole day and night, but her mom, dad, and brother never came looking for her. Shu Yu kept crying.
Suddenly, Shu Yu heard two people talking.
“What do we do? The second young miss is gone. If the madam and master find out, we’ll...”
“Don’t panic. The madam and master don’t like the second young miss. They’ve never taken to her since she was born. The madam probably won’t even remember her until the year-end family gathering.”
“That damn girl must be hiding. Look again.”
Shu Yu’s heart grew cold. She recognized those two voices.
They were the two aunties who used to take care of her.
A pair of eyes appeared at the edge of the bed, staring right at her.
Shu Yu was so scared by those pitch-black eyes that her body trembled.
The two aunties pulled Shu Yu out from under the bed. “Who are you? Why are you here?”
Shu Yu hugged her bunny, too afraid to speak.
Shu Yu heard the two aunties say that her “father and mother”—because when she was born, her father’s company lost an order, and her mother had a difficult labor—had a fortune teller read her fate.
The fortune told that Shu Yu was fated to harm her family by just being near them, and she had to be raised outside until she was five before she could come home.
Because they couldn’t find “Shu Yu,” the two aunties, afraid of the consequences, made her become Shu Yu.
At first, she would shake her head and say she wasn’t, but afterward, she was starved, beaten, and brainwashed.
The light in her eyes slowly wore away.
Little by little, she even came to believe that she was that unloved second daughter of the Shu family—slow, dull, and disliked by everyone.
When she returned to the Shu family at the age of five, her mother was momentarily stunned by her beauty.
But soon, because of her disagreeable personality, her mother grew to dislike her.
Her older sister and younger brother rejected her, this sudden intruder into their lives.
They would always play tricks on her and laugh at her misfortune.
Seeing all this again, Shu Yu no longer felt sad.
Because she knew—these were not her real parents.
In another time and space, her real parents and brother were waiting for her to come home.
The memory of her five-year-old self ended.
When Shu Yu opened her eyes again, she was back on that day, sitting dizzily on the sofa, waiting for Si Yiheng to come home.
The day of their first kiss.
She looked at that bottle of wine—the one her mom had brewed on the day she was born.
She hadn’t missed it.
Suddenly, the sound of the door opening came from the entrance. Shu Yu didn’t hesitate; she ran toward Si Yiheng.
She threw herself into his arms, and Si Yiheng caught her steady as always.
“Who bullied you?” Si Yiheng asked.
Shu Yu wanted to say—so many, so many people had bullied her.
They’d bullied her for not belonging to that world. They’d bullied her for being too young to fight back. They’d bullied her for wanting just a little bit of love.
She was so wronged.
But Si Yiheng was pitiful too.
She still remembered the bruises on his wrists. She remembered how uneasy and awkward he looked when they first met.
He held her and comforted her, stroking her hair. She said, “You bullied me.”
Si Yiheng obediently confessed his guilt. Together, they drank the wine her mom had brewed on the day she was born.
Si Yiheng wanted to kiss her.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him first.
“Baby Yu, can I kiss you?”
“Mm… Gege, kiss me.”
“Good baby, open your mouth.”
“So obedient.”
“Baby, call me Gege, okay?”
“Sweetheart.”
“Sweetie.”
“Baby Yu—are you Gege’s baby?”
Si Yiheng’s clear voice, slightly husky, rang in Shu Yu’s ears. His voice was all she could hear.
She was Song Wenyu—the most beloved daughter of Ji Fei and Song Xuyan.
She was Song Wenzhao’s little sister.
She was Si Yiheng’s baby.
Daylight broke through the night. Shu Yu finally opened her eyes.
She got up, pushed open the door, and the sunlight spilled over her, wrapping around her body—thin as paper.
She reached out her pale hand to cup the scorching sunlight. The scent of osmanthus rushed into her lungs, washing away all the grievances and bitterness inside her.
Shu Yu’s eyelashes trembled.
She had truly returned to this world.
---
Butler Qin was about to burst into tears. “Young Master, the young lady has been running a fever for three days and nights straight. She hasn’t taken a drop of water or a single bite of food.”
“The family doctor has no solution either.”
“The young lady is truly heartbroken.”
Love is the most moving thing—but also the most hurtful.
When feelings are good, one gives their whole heart, sincere and without regret.
When feelings shatter, it’s like peeling flesh from bone—so painful that one only hates having ever loved.
“Could you send Si Yiheng over here? Maybe if the young lady hears his voice, she’ll wake up.”
Song Wenzhao listened, his heart aching.
Was her love really that deep? To the point of torturing herself like this?
Now he wanted nothing more than to drag Si Yiheng over to her.
But Shu Yu had made it very clear—she didn’t want Si Yiheng to find her.
Given how much Shu Yu loved Si Yiheng, for her to make such a request, there had to be a reason she had to do it.
Song Wenzhao said, “Si Jingwen should be arriving soon. I’m on my way too.”
Just as Song Wenzhao and Butler Qin were fuming with anxiety, pacing like ants on a hot pan—
Suddenly, they heard Shu Yu’s gentle voice.
“Uncle Qin, Zhaozhao.”
Butler Qin turned around and saw Shu Yu standing behind him, looking frail. He almost burst into tears.
Song Wenzhao on the other end of the phone wasn't faring much better.
“Miss.”
“Little Treasure.”
His Little Treasure—his younger sister—had remembered him.
On the video call, Song Wenzhao's tears fell.
Butler Qin brought Shu Yu a small wool blanket, draping it over her, and let her sip her porridge in the sunlight.
Shu Yu smiled. “Uncle Qin, you don’t need to fuss. I’m already better.”
Butler Qin still couldn’t believe it. Just a few days ago, the young lady had only called him “Uncle Qin” in a polite, distant way, without any of this warmth.
She must have remembered things from before after that fever.
But how could a two-year-old child retain such memories?
As Butler Qin was lost in thought, a knock came at the courtyard gate.
