After dropping off Shen Wanwan, Shao Yuye went to see Shao Hongyuan.
The servants opened the door for him. Xu Qingxin was wearing a pure white wool sweater and was setting the table.
Shao Hongyuan was sitting beside her, watching the news.
Hearing the noise, Xu Qingxin was the first to speak:
“Xiao Ye, you’re back.”
Shao Yuye let out a cold laugh as a greeting.
Over the years, Shao Hongyuan had already gotten used to his son reacting this way.
But that didn’t stop him from thinking Shao Yuye was being impolite. “Is that how you speak to your stepmother?”
Shao Yuye ignored him.
Shao Hongyuan added, “Go call your sister down for dinner.”
Shao Yuye turned and headed straight upstairs.
The third floor of the villa was empty and quiet.
A figure crept up the stairs sneakily.
After school, Shao Jia saw that it was still early, and for some reason, she had wandered up to the third floor.
This floor had always been her brother’s space, and there was one room in particular that had always been off-limits since they were kids.
She had been curious about what lay behind that door for a long time.
She had never opened it before, either because her brother was around or for various other reasons.
But now, that door felt like Pandora’s box to her, filled with irresistible temptation…
She looked around carefully, making sure no one was nearby, before tiptoeing toward that room.
The doorknob turned easily in her hand.
What met her eyes was an overwhelming sea of pink. The bed was pink, the nightstand was pink, the wardrobe was pink, even the photo frame on the nightstand was pink.
It was a warm and lovely princess room.
At the top of the headboard was a photo of a beautiful, unfamiliar woman hugging two children with radiant smiles.
A boy and a girl, both with exquisitely delicate features.
She recognized the boy—it was Shao Yuye.
As for the girl…
It was probably his sister, the owner of this room.
Shao Jia’s heart suddenly sank.
She vaguely remembered hearing her mother mention that Shao Yuye had a biological sister, who had been taken away by his biological mother after the divorce. There had been no news of her for years.
Uncontrollably, she stepped further into the room.
There was another photo on the desk.
It was a photo of Shao Yuye with that little girl.
Her hands trembled as she picked it up.
You could tell the girl had been loved dearly. She wore a beautiful princess dress, a white crown on her head, a sparkling wand in one hand, and her other hand was held by Shao Yuye.
The two of them were smiling so sweetly in the picture.
Shao Yuye had never smiled at Shao Jia like that.
Shao Jia felt a sting in her chest.
He only ever mocked her, called her a homewrecker’s child, told her to stay far away.
But what did her mother do wrong?
His mother and father were truly in love. They had even met earlier than Shao Yuye’s mother.
If not for the arranged marriage forced on her father for the sake of the family, her mother wouldn’t have suffered so much. In truth, they were the real victims…
“What are you doing?!”
A cold voice suddenly rang out behind her, laced with barely concealed anger.
Shao Jia jumped in fright.
The photo slipped through her trembling fingers and fluttered softly to the floor.
She turned around in a panic and met Shao Yuye’s furious gaze head-on.
“Brother…”
His face remained cold. He shoved past her without a word and bent down to pick up the photo.
“Get out.”
Shao Jia’s shoulder throbbed from the impact. She protested:
“Brother—”
Shao Yuye picked up the photo, treating it like a precious treasure. He carefully wiped both sides of it, his voice even colder than before.
“Don’t make me say it again.”
Shao Jia flinched in fear.
She shuffled a few steps toward the door, then suddenly paused.
“But people need to look forward. She’s been separated from you for so many years now. Clearly, you’ll never see her again. I’m your sister now… How long are you going to stay stuck in the past?!”
Shao Yuye thought : What bullshit. And what the hell are you to me?
If we go by that logic, Shao Hongyuan has several other illegitimate children out there. Am I supposed to go smile sweetly at each and every one of them and play the loving brother?
He stared at Shao Jia with icy eyes, his voice full of impatience.
“Get out of my sight!”
At the same time, when Shen Wanwan got home, the living room TV was playing the replay of <Extreme Challenge>, featuring the segment with her and Shao Yuye.
Her mother Shen Mingzhen and stepfather Shen Rong were cuddled up on the sofa, watching with great enjoyment, praising her in perfect sync.
“My daughter is just so good-looking.”
“Mhm, she got your genes 100%.”
“Wow, Wanwan actually managed to walk across the balance beam. That’s amazing.”
“Yes, she’s always been great.”
Shen Wanwan : “……”
They were family, sure, but her parents’ rose-colored glasses were thicker than a city wall.
After her mother’s divorce, she had changed both her surname and her name.
Later, her mother married her stepfather Shen Rong.
Over the years, Shen Rong had treated both her and her mother very well. For the sake of Shen Mingzhen’s health, he had never had another child. He treated Shen Wanwan like his own, and she saw him as her real father too.
On the show, there were many close-ups of Shao Yuye.
Yet Shen Mingzhen watched without a trace of recognition.
Shen Wanwan turned her face to the side and asked the little light orb beside her : “My Mom also lost her memory, right?”
{Yes.}
001 explained : {Only by forgetting him completely and never trying to find him all these years, can your mother fulfill the plot point where your brother needs to be healed by the female lead.}
Shen Wanwan’s expression darkened in an instant.
For now, she put aside those nonsensical plot. Covering her mouth, she gave a light cough to remind her parents to turn around.
Shen Mingzhen and Shen Rong turned around at the same time and, upon seeing her, both lit up with joy.
“Wanwan, you’re back!”
Shen Mingzhen fluttered over to her like a butterfly, hugged her arm, and said, “Was filming the variety show tiring? Oh my, my dear daughter’s lost weight! Mom’s heart hurts for you!”
After marrying Shen Rong, Shen Mingzhen had always been well protected by him.
Her nature was still like that of a young girl, pure and sweet.
Shen Wanwan smiled and greeted her stepfather, and the three of them sat down at the dining table together.
Shen Mingzhen enthusiastically pushed a dish of braised pork—cooked until it was meltingly tender—toward her. “Eat more, I made this especially for you.”
Aunt Jiang, standing to the side, smiled and said, “When Madam heard Miss was coming home today, she even went to the vegetable garden for a stroll. All the vegetables were freshly picked today.”
Shen Mingzhen had set up a greenhouse garden in the backyard. When she had free time, she tended it herself, and when she didn’t, Aunt Jiang helped out.
“That’s right, want a bowl of radish soup? This is the perfect time to drink it.”
As soon as Shen Mingzhen finished speaking, Shen Rong took the initiative to ladle out a bowl of soup and passed it to Shen Wanwan.
“Careful, it’s hot.”
During the meal, Shen Mingzhen asked with concern, “Xiao Xuan is off the variety show too, right? Should we invite him over for dinner tomorrow?”
Shen Wanwan replied unhurriedly, “No need. My engagement with Su Tingxuan needs to be called off.”
Shen Mingzhen was taken aback, then asked with concern:
“What happened? Did you two have a fight?”
“Mm.” Shen Wanwan replied seriously, “I don’t need a fiancé who’s thinking about someone else.”
That single sentence carried a huge amount of information, and Shen Mingzhen’s expression instantly darkened.
In her youth, she’d been a bit of a love-struck fool, falling for the bit of warmth her ex-husband Shao Hongyuan showed and mistakenly believing he was the man she could entrust her life to.
It wasn’t until she caught him cheating—and endured his emotional breakdown and angry rants—that she discovered he had a first love he had been entangled with, on and off, for over a decade.
That failed marriage taught her a hard lesson.
Marrying a scumbag who cares about someone else means the wife and children will be the biggest sacrifices.
Shen Rong’s expression was even colder than Shen Mingzhen’s. He put down his chopsticks and asked calmly:
“He actually said that?”
Shen Wanwan gave a faint “Mm.”
Shen Rong nodded. “Understood.”
Shao Yuye had just finished one of the most unpleasant dinners of his life.
Shao Jia had come downstairs in tears. Shao Hongyuan was furious, and as always, he couldn’t escape getting scolded too.
When things got so ugly that no one could smooth them over, Xu Qingxin finally pretended to step in and mediate: “Alright, alright, it’s my birthday today. Even if not for my sake, you two are father and son—what grudge can’t be resolved between father and son?”
“We haven’t taken a family photo in a long time. I suggest we take one together tonight!”
Shao Yuye sneered coldly and couldn’t be bothered to respond. He turned to leave.
But Shao Hongyuan pulled the same old trick again: “If you dare walk out of this house today! Forget about getting your sister’s room back!”
His steps halted in place. The look in his eyes as he stared at Shao Hongyuan grew colder.
“After all these years, this is the only thing you’ve got left to threaten me with.”
His sister was his biggest weakness.
Even though he was extremely unwilling, Shao Yuye still put on a face of irritation and went along with the photo.
He couldn’t stand staying with them a second longer. As soon as the photo was taken, he went straight upstairs.
He locked his door, threw himself heavily onto the soft bed, and stared at the ceiling, feeling as if a heavy stone was pressing on his chest.
Then suddenly, something occurred to him. He grabbed his phone, flipped over, and lay on his stomach, typing Shen Wanwan’s name into the search bar.
The information on Baidu1 and other platforms was very comprehensive.
Shen Wanwan and his sister shared the same birthdate, same birthplace…
As he kept reading, his heart started pounding wildly, as if it were about to leap out of his throat!
He also came across the dramas Shen Wanwan had acted in.
They were those kinds of low-budget web dramas with terrible viewership.
Honestly, her acting wasn’t great—but she was very beautiful.
The bullet comments were a mix of scorn and praise, jumping back and forth between [Please go improve your acting, I could act better with my feet] and [Ahhh, Shen Wanwan is so pretty, even if her acting’s bad, she’s still gorgeous!]
Watching those contradictory comments fly by, and looking at Shen Wanwan’s coquettish, proud little expressions on screen, Shao Yuye couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
Damn.
She’s kinda cute.
Just like when she was little!
Before he knew it, he had finished an entire episode.
Shao Yuye eagerly clicked on the second episode.
The gloom that had weighed on him all night unknowingly lifted, and his mood suddenly improved.
It wasn’t until midnight that he reluctantly put down his phone.
Even with the lights off, his mind remained wide awake.
Shao Yuye rested his hands behind his head, thoughts racing in the dark.
From what he now knew, his mother had remarried and brought his younger sister with her—to Shen Rong.
Shen Rong, huh.
He turned over again and grabbed his phone from the bedside table, beginning to search in the dark.
Real estate tycoon, CEO of a multinational corporation, and so on.
Blinded by all those flashy titles, Shao Yuye came to one conclusion—
They’d been living well all these years.
Shen Rong hadn’t let his mother suffer even the slightest bit more.
Among the pile of business articles, he managed to find a few scattered news pieces about their relationship. All of them said Shen Rong respected and cherished his wife, and that they had a beloved and outstanding daughter—Shen Wanwan.
Shao Yuye felt a trace of relief, but mingled with it was a faint sorrow.
The room he’d stubbornly preserved for so many years would never welcome its owner back.
But that also meant… soon, he wouldn’t have to come back to this disgusting house either.
As long as the DNA test confirmed Shen Wanwan was his sister…
If she was her, the little sister who was by his side, growing alongside him in their childhood…
Then he could finally leave this revolting house behind!
- Baidu is commonly known as Chinese version of Google, but I think here Shao Yuye is talking about Baidu Baike, a service under Baidu that’s similar to Wikipedia. ↩︎