"Aunt, look I brought your favorite food."
Yong entered a dark room and saw a frail woman seated at the window side. Roulan was staring outside the window, humming a tune to herself.
Yong smiled and placed the plate before her. "Aunt."
Roulan didn’t respond. She was lost in her own trance with a dazed smile on her lips. She was chuckling to herself as if reminiscing the past.
"Aunt, you must be hungry, right?"
Roulan frowned at her and harrumphed, jerking her head to the other side, displeased by Yong’s disturbance.
Yong let out a sigh.
"Let do it."
A dainty hand was placed on her shoulder and Yong watched Si Yu sit down beside them. She threw a stern look at Roulan.
"This is not done, Roulan. You must eat sothing or you will fall sick."
"No!" Roulan exclaid her vehent disagreent.
"Fine. Don’t eat if you don’t want to, but do you want Yuming to see you like this?"
She froze.
"Your daughter cares about you so much. It’s because you are so adamant that she ran away from ho. She couldn’t see her mother so weak and stubborn."
Roulan lowered her head, pressing her lips.
"Now if Yuming cos tomorrow, what should we tell her? She will think that we didn’t take care of you. She will be so disappointed with us. Do you want her to leave us again?"
Roulan clenched the window curtain, tears brimming her eyes. She pulled the plate towards her, albeit with a hint of displeasure and forced herself to eat.
Si Yu felt satisfied. "Good good. Don’t give trouble to Yong."
"Thanks, Aunt," Yong said tiredly.
"Aish, how many tis should I tell you to call Mom? It feels so distant."
She smiled. "Sobody will feel jealous."
"Who is that sobody you are talking about?"
A figure slowly approached them from the shadows. The young man’s eyes watched them with a smile with his hands at his back.
"Shilin!" Si Yu bead.
Shilin knelt beside her where she imdiately squeezed him into her tight hug.
"You are finally here!"
"Finally? I was there at the martial arts festival, Mom."
She frowned. "That was the only ti you showed your face, otherwise I don’t get to see you nowadays. What keeps you so busy?"
He smiled. "I told you I’m doing my internship. dicine is an exhausting field. But it’s a surprise to see you sober. What changed?"
"You speak like I’m wasted for the entire day."
Shilin only silently stared at her.
"W-Well, I wasn’t just in the mood today."
"I see."
Si Yu glanced at Roulan and then scooted closer to her son’s side.
"Shilin," she whispered, "Did you find anything about Yuming?"
Shilin didn’t respond and so did Yong.
Si Yu’s shoulders dropped in response. "I see..."
"It’s complicated, Mom."
She blinked her eyes, puzzled. Then a small gasp escaped. "Complicated...? Do you an you know sothing? Do you know where she is?"
"Yes."
"Th-Then why not bring her back? You know Roulan is..."
"She cannot return to Huayuan anymore," his gaze hardened.
Her eyes widened. "Why not? Look, if this is about her running away, then-"
Shilin shook his head. "It’s sothing else entirely and it cannot be overlooked. It’s impossible to overlook it."
"I-I don’t understand..."
Shilin held her hands. "You will, one day. For now, she is safe. That’s all you need to know."
Si Yu felt stumped. "Shilin. Roulan has been waiting for her for a long ti now..."
He pressed his lips. "Aunt Roulan...has been waiting for Aunt Nuwa, Mom. Long Sicong’s long tornt over the years left her...unstable to even think about her own daughter anymore. She just knows that sis Yuming exists. She is in her mory, that’s all."
Tears welled in Si Yu’s eyes. The painful past still felt fresh in her mind.
"Nuwa..."
Shilin gently wiped her eyes. "Don’t worry, Mom. It will soon be over."
"Over...?"
"Yes. Everybody who ever hurt us will pay a hundred fold," he firmly gripped her hands in his. "I promise."
Si Yu watched him in silence, a distant face from the past coinciding with his. Her trembling hand reached out to touch his face with a smile.
"I know you will."
Shilin kissed her forehead.
"You stay here with Aunt. Yong and I have sothing to talk about."
They quietly closed the door behind them. Shilin stood in front of the balcony, watching the night unfold in Huayuan.
"Ahhh..." Shilin scratched his chin, bored. "Sis Yuming is really such a handful. If she wanted to disappear, then she should have done so completely."
Yong’s back leaned against one pillar as she said, "Is she still at the lab?"
"Under observation," he yawned. "I won’t allow her to go outside the lab anyway. Anyway, she is the least of our worries. That cult leader will be at the ceremony too, right?"
"Of course."
Shilin stared at the fluorescent red and orange lights of the street market down below.
"This will finally co to an end," his black eyes frozen like ice. "It all started with Aunt Nuwa’s disappearance. It will end with her too. Did you see the news today?"
"The Zhuo family lost a major foreign deal. Yeah, I did. Must have been a major setback for them. It will damage their political standing. This could be the straw to the cal’s back. Their family had been weakening over the years."
Shilin murmured sothing which Yong couldn’t hear. "What?"
He turned toward her with a smile. "Nothing. The engagent ceremony will be fun. You keep your eyes on your prey, don’t forget."
Yong’s gaze darkened. "I hate your creepy smile."
"Creepy? Many won fall for it at college, you know? I think it does have its charm," He blinked.
She sneered. "It won’t work for the person who you want it to work for, you know? Poor Huayuan’s great leader. You feel like soone lost in the desert."
"I will drag you into the sa desert as if you don’t stop talking."
"Oooo did it stab that much?" Her brows arched. "Interesting to know your pain point. I will make sure to keep stabbing it, don’t worry."
"You will never find a man with such poisonous tongue."
Yong paused.
Poisonous...Huh...
"What?"
"Well, who knows? Maybe there is a man out there in the world who actually loves poisons," she smiled.
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