Shen Wanwan sat at the table, calmly poking at the lump of fried egg in front of her with her chopsticks.
The dining room was brightly lit, illuminating the room filled with silence.
Shao Yuye sat beside her with a stiff expression, both hands resting obediently on his knees.
Neither of them spoke. The room was deathly quiet. Shao Yuye had no doubt that if even a fly happened to buzz in at that moment, it would be suffocated to death by the oppressive silence.
In truth, he had regretted his words the moment they left his mouth.
What exactly had he been trying to compete over?
And what was he expecting Shen Wanwan to prove to him?
After a long while, Shen Wanwan finally picked up the golden-brown fried egg.
“Look.”
“Hm?”
Shao Yuye looked over as though facing a formidable enemy.
The egg was one he had just fried himself.
A moment later, Shen Wanwan said leisurely,
“Do you notice anything?”
Shao Yuye fell silent for a moment.
“You mean… that everything has two sides and should be viewed rationally? That although Shen Mingzhen abandoning me was awful, she had her own difficulties?”
Shen Wanwan shook her head.
He continued, “It’s true that both sides are precious and hard to choose between. Actually, it’s fine that she didn’t take me with her. I just can’t get over the fact that she lied to me. How could she lie to me?”
He wasn’t some unreasonable child.
Shen Wanwan dropped the egg back onto the plate and said flatly, “No. What I mean is that this side is burnt.”
The moment the words left her mouth, Shao Yuye visibly choked.
“…”
He stood up.
“I’ll go make another one.”
“Forget it.”
Shen Wanwan had only told him to cook something because she wanted him to calm down.
She waved a hand and pushed the plate toward him.
“I’m not hungry. You eat it yourself.
“I’m going to take a shower.”
Her tone was completely normal, no different from usual. It couldn’t even be called cold. After all, she was naturally rather aloof most of the time.
Looking at the plate of fried eggs in front of him, Shao Yuye felt as though he had a fishbone stuck in his throat.
He truly didn’t want his sister to bring up Shen Mingzhen.
Yet now that she understood him so well and deliberately avoided mentioning her, it felt as though countless tiny insects were gnawing at his heart.
He had won.
From every angle, by every measure…
He had won.
But at the same time, his heart had already become a field of ruins.
He silently poked at the fried egg, his emotions tangled beyond description.
He had seen Shen Mingzhen cry.
He had seen her regret and helplessness.
This was a scene he had longed to witness for years.
Inside him, it felt as though two little people were locked in an endless tug-of-war.
He wanted to see her, which was why he had fought desperately to climb higher and higher, to become known by more and more people, so that she could see just how outstanding the son she had abandoned had become.
Yet at the same time, he hated her.
He had replayed today’s reunion thousands upon thousands of times in his mind.
In those imagined scenarios, he berated her to his heart’s content, venting everything with immense satisfaction—
And Shen Mingzhen’s reaction had been exactly what he wanted.
She regretted it.
She suffered.
Yet Shao Yuye’s heart still hurt.
A thousand times.
Ten thousand times more than before.
After her shower, Shen Wanwan returned to her room to practice calligraphy.
Felt paper was spread across the desk. The fragrance of ink lingered in the air.
Holding the brush in one hand, she wrote at an unhurried pace.
To be honest, when her brother had asked whether she would choose him or their Mom, it was impossible for her not to feel at least a trace of anger.
When she was younger, she had occasionally wished that their Momhad not taken her away back then, so that she and her brother could have grown up together.
But that childish thought had quickly faded away.
She called her Mom to make sure Shen Mingzhen’s emotions had stabilized.
Shen Rong assured her that he would take good care of Shen Mingzhen.
When Shen Wanwan hung up, she let out a rare sigh.
She had always believed that sighing was merely an expression of helplessness in the face of circumstances one could not change.
001 comforted her softly:
{There really isn’t any way around this. In the original story, your Brother was always a character filled with pain. The heroine was initially attracted to his brokenness, but later, it was that same brokenness that made her choose someone else.
{Although the plot’s influence has weakened considerably now, that doesn’t mean it’s completely gone.}
The little light orb pressed itself gently against her cheek.
{Don’t be sad.}
Shen Wanwan shook her head.
“I’m not sad.”
At that moment, her phone rang.
It was Qi Luozhou.
She finished writing the character she was working on, answered the call, switched it to speakerphone, and continued writing with her brush.
Qi Luozhou’s voice was as clear and pleasant as ever—slightly deep, carrying a hint of laughter.
“What are you doing?”
“Practicing calligraphy,” Shen Wanwan replied calmly.
His voice remained mild.
“How elegant.”
Shen Wanwan raised an eyebrow.
“Do you need something?”
“Can’t I call you when there’s nothing in particular?”
He spoke with complete seriousness.
“After we’re married, we’ll be living together. I don’t want to end up in a marriage where my wife and I have nothing to talk about.”
After a while, Shen Wanwan finally spoke.
“Qi Luozhou, your parents have no intention of pressuring you into marriage.”
The man on the other end replied calmly, “Mm. I’ve already told you the reason.”
“Your excuse is very weak.”
There was a trace of aggressiveness in her tone, one she hadn’t even noticed herself.
The other side fell silent for a moment. She heard Qi Luozhou’s voice lose its smile.
“In a bad mood?”
Shen Wanwan’s pen paused in her hand. The perfectly formed stroke she had been writing immediately gained an unnecessary blemish.
Her long lashes lowered. Expressionless, she lightly flipped that page over.
“No.”
Outside the window stretched a hazy nightscape. Through the receiver, Shen Wanwan couldn’t help thinking of how he had looked on the roller coaster that day.
She set down her pen.
“I’m going to sleep.”
Before she hung up, she heard him say:
“If you’re unhappy, you can say it.”
A distant rumble of thunder seemed to sound outside the window.
Shen Wanwan paused briefly.
“Good night.”
She hung up.
A moment later, she received a money transfer from Qi Luozhou.
The move felt extremely familiar. She strongly suspected her Dad had taught him that trick.
But clearly, the enormous amount made the corners of her lips curve upward.
Money really could buy happiness.
She sent Qi Luozhou a blowing-kiss emoji in return.
Putting down her phone, Shen Wanwan walked next door and knocked on Shao Yuye’s bedroom door.
His room was completely dark. Only after hearing her knock did the lights come on, and the glow seeped through the gap beneath the door, causing Shen Wanwan to momentarily lose focus.
If Qi Luozhou could sense her displeasure, then her brother definitely could too.
He looked thick-skinned and carefree, but when it came to this sort of thing, he was extremely sensitive. Last time, when she hadn’t even been angry, he’d become so nervous that he posted on Weibo asking everyone for advice.
“What’s wrong?”
When Shao Yuye opened the door, he was smiling, as though everything that had happened earlier had already blown over. But Shen Wanwan could see the exhaustion in his eyes.
“Were you sleeping?”
“Not yet.”
“What were you doing?”
“Planning to play a couple of games before bed.”
Shao Yuye deliberately sounded casual.
“Want to join me?”
“Sure.”
Shen Wanwan said,
“But before that, how about we talk?”
Qi Luozhou’s words had indeed reminded her of something.
Simply pretending everything was fine could never heal deep wounds.
Some things might be better said out loud.
“Talk about what?”
Shao Yuye stepped aside, gesturing for her to come in.
Tilting her head slightly, she imitated his relaxed tone.
“How about we talk about… those years when you weren’t there?”
The fingers resting on the doorknob stiffened slightly.
“Okay.”
This was the first time Shen Wanwan had ever told anyone about what she had experienced.
“After Mom and I left all of you, she took me to live in the apartment complex where Xu Qingxin used to live. We stayed there for a while.”
Shao Yuye’s pupils contracted sharply.
To people accustomed to such things, it might have seemed ordinary, just something that happened in life.
But for her, it had been hell.
Going from luxury to hardship was difficult. At six years old, she didn’t really understand it; she only felt that her entire life had changed beyond recognition.
“She cried at home every day.”
Every day, Shen Wanwan watched her Mom cry.
Or cried together with her.
“The room was dark all the time, just like yours was a moment ago.
“She was only a little older than you are now. To marry Shao Hongyuan, she’d cut off contact with Grandpa and Grandma. After marriage, she’d stayed home and didn’t have many friends.”
Shen Mingzhen lacked independence.
She was the type of person who needed someone to lean on, like a parasitic vine.
So when she lost Shao Hongyuan, her entire world collapsed.
“Back then, I sometimes thought it would have been better if Mom hadn’t taken me away.”
Shao Yuye stared at her blankly. His heart ached so much he almost couldn’t bear it.
Agitated, he said, “How could she treat you like that…?”
Shen Wanwan raised a hand, signaling him to stop.
“I’m not trying to worsen the conflict between you and Mom.
“I’m just saying… I don’t think what you did was wrong.”
When people suffered pain beyond what they could bear, they instinctively resorted to extreme actions to protect themselves.
Her Mom had been like that back then.
And her Brother was the same now.
Shao Yuye froze completely.
Suddenly, his throat felt blocked. There were so many things he wanted to say, yet he didn’t know where to begin.
“I blamed Mom too.
“I accused her of hurting me. I said stupid things like it would be better if I didn’t have Mom… until my stepfather asked me one question.
“After saying all those accusations… did you actually feel better?”
There was no need to think about it.
The little person inside Shao Yuye’s heart had already answered: No.
For the first time, he seriously considered it.
What had he truly wanted behind those fierce accusations?
Did he want to see her cry?
Regret?
Suffer?
It didn’t seem so.
He only wanted her to hold him gently, the way she used to.
To comfort him.
As if… there weren’t such deep rifts between them.
As if they were still the happy family they once had been.
Overwhelmed by the sheer weight of the realization, Shao Yuye sat there speechless for a long time.