After the Early-Deceased White Moonlight of a Wealthy Family Returns (GL) - Chapter 2

The rain poured down, and the black Maybach drove smoothly on the mountain road. The water from the sky accumulated on the asphalt cement, was then rolled over by the tires, and splashed into small beads.

The rain was screaming, but the car interior was silent.

The driver sat upright, gripping the steering wheel very steadily. Aside from focusing on the road conditions, she dared not spare any attention for the situation in the back seat. This was why she had been able to work under Su Wu for so many years.

“Shhh—”

The sound of tissue paper rubbing against a grey packaging box cut a mark in the overly quiet air of the confined space.

“Wipe yourself.” Su Wu spoke first.

Shen You’an looked over, observing even more closely than before. She wasn’t doing it on purpose, but a pair of hands like that, once they caught her eye, always made one want to look again and again. The woman’s hands were slender and fair, her fingertips showing a pale, moist pink. The soft tissue was pinched between her fingers, the edges slightly drooping. Shen You’an hadn’t seen a pair of hands like this in a long time, and she couldn’t help but look at them for a few extra seconds.

She took the tissue: “Thank you, Sister Su.”

She bent over with the paper to wipe the water stains and mud marks on the car mat, traces that had only appeared after she got in the car.

Su Wu frowned slightly and reminded her in a cold voice: “Wipe yourself.”

Shen You’an’s apricot-shaped eyes widened slightly. After a moment, she nodded and then used the tissue to wipe her cheeks, hair, and clothes, which were thoroughly soaked.

Su Wu stared at her openly, able to clearly see the girl’s thinness even in the car’s dim lighting.

On the girl, nothing seemed to have changed, yet everything seemed different. Her hair was longer, but her clothes were the same. As she quietly lowered her head to wipe herself, her expression was extremely composed. Her large pupils were deeply black, and when she looked at people without speaking, she exuded a silent, ghostly aura that did not belong to this mortal world.

She was a living person. This was not an illusion. Su Wu was certain.

Watching the girl’s organized but hasty movements as she wiped the rain and mud stains from her body, Su Wu asked directly: “How did you end up there?”

That was a good question.

Shen You’an’s thoughts drifted for a moment. She wanted to ask that question herself. She carefully glanced at Su Wu out of the corner of her eye and confessed honestly: “Sister Su, actually, I don’t know either. I just blinked my eyes, and when I opened them again, I found myself here.”

Su Wu sat sideways, her hands tucked into the pockets of her trench coat, scrutinizing the slightly uneasy child in front of her: “Then what do you know?”

“Are you nervous? Afraid of what I might do?” Su Wu made a joke that wasn’t funny, leaving people speechless with its coldness. “Judging by the current situation, the one between us who is most likely to eat people is not me.”

Shen You’an’s eyes flickered for a moment, seizing the opportunity to observe the other person. Her eyes were still habitually cold, with upturned outer corners, looking like a curved knife when she didn’t smile.

A curved knife that had been sharpened for many years and was now unsheathed.

She couldn’t figure out the other party’s current situation, but given that the other party was the only person related to her past that she could currently access, Shen You’an chose her words carefully: “I only know that the last time I saw you was ten years ago. Sister Su, do you know what happened to my family? I just borrowed someone else’s phone to call my mother, but the number has been switched to someone else.”

Su Wu rested her hand on her right cheek, lightly tapping her fingers against the side of her face. When looking at Shen You’an, her eyes were so indifferent it was like she was looking at an object: “I don’t know. What else do you know?”

Although Su Wu only said the three words ‘I don’t know,’ Shen You’an felt a slight sense of security. If her mother or family had really met with an accident, Su Wu’s answer would definitely not have been these three words. ‘I don’t know’ also meant there was no danger.

Shen You’an secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

“Sister Su, let me tell you the truth, I really don’t remember much. I just remember that ten years ago, I was sketching here, oh, right. Your mother was sick, and I heard people say that the Medicine King Temple on Jiuying Mountain was especially effective, so I was thinking of going to pray for her on the way. The result was—”

Shen You’an’s words suddenly halted, her brows tightly furrowed, and her head felt like it had been hit, throbbing with pain.

“I don’t know how I ended up in another world, seriously, just like in that animated movie. And then, I came back again.”

This was the truth, but Shen You’an didn’t mention what world exactly. Since she had returned, why bring up the past? Since everything in her memory had been confirmed as real through Su Wu, there was no need for her to recall those unbearable times. She just wanted to return to the life she remembered, nothing more.

The headache was severe, and Shen You’an couldn’t help but raise her hand to pinch and press the painful area to relieve the symptoms.

The cuff of her sleeve slipped down due to the movement, revealing the half-face of a tattoo on her arm.

Su Wu’s gaze fell on it. Her hand reacted faster than her brain, and when she realized it, she was already gripping the girl’s left arm and lifting the sleeve.

On a field of white snow, a black butterfly had its wings scorched, and scorching flames abruptly rose from the skin, instantly burning into Su Wu’s eyes.

Shen You’an was confused: “Sister Su, what’s wrong?”

Su Wu’s voice was so soft, as if afraid to startle the butterfly on the snow-covered branch: “The tattoo is still there?”

Shen You’an glanced at it: “You mean this? Yes, it is. I don’t know what kind of pigment you used, but it’s very effective, it never faded.”

This tattoo was Shen You’an’s tattoo.

The butterfly covered a scar, and the flame was the design she proposed. Shen You’an drew the sketch herself and even showed it to her. Every stroke on this skin was personally poked in by her with a needle, bit by bit.

During her most desperate moments, Shen You’an would look back at this tattoo, recalling every detail of Su Wu giving her the tattoo. The way the woman lowered her head, the moment she held the tattoo needle with gloves on, and the way the needle, carrying the dye, broke through her skin, causing a slight, continuous, non-stop pain.

The pain was rooted in her memory, and she tried to use this method to desperately prove that her past memories were not her delusions.

In fact, she succeeded.

“You remember it too,” Shen You’an was delighted. “Sister Su, I don’t remember if I ever told you. Your technique is really good, it doesn’t look like a first time. Thank you for being willing to help me back then. By the way, my sister still doesn’t know about this, right?”

Su Wu shook her head.

The arc of Shen You’an’s lips deepened a bit: “Then thank you even more, Sister Su. It’s really nice to have you keep my secret.”

Su Wu’s gaze was long, sweeping over Shen You’an’s face, then back to her arm.

A tattoo artist remembers every single one of their works, especially since Su Wu had only left this one mark on another person.

She tattooed it herself; she was certain.

“Where have you been all these years?” Su Wu asked casually, her tone as if she were just asking a long-lost friend, nothing more.

Shen You’an answered vaguely: “I don’t know. I opened my eyes and I was there. Actually, it was similar to here. Anyway, there are people everywhere. Let’s not talk about it, let’s not talk about it. Instead, Sister Su, are you okay?”

Su Wu: “Why do you ask me that?”

Shen You’an: “Hmm, because you look a little nervous. Ah, it’s fine, you didn’t yank me hard enough to hurt. I’m just worried, I don’t know how you’ve been doing these past few years.”

Su Wu let go of her hand, tucked it into her pocket, and rubbed her fingertips, savoring the residual body temperature on them.

“I don’t know,” Su Wu said.

Shen You’an found this answer very strange: “How can you not know? Whether life is good or bad, whether you are happy?”

“I didn’t pay attention.” Su Wu lowered her eyes, looking at a small puddle of water that had stained the floor mat in the back seat. The floor mat was oblivious to it; nothing that lacked life could notice anything.

Shen You’an uttered a couple of “Ohs”: “Sister Su, are you usually too busy, only focusing on work? That’s not good either. Don’t be like my mom; back then, she was so overworked and didn’t eat properly, she developed all sorts of illnesses. Sister Su, you have to take good care of yourself! Health is the capital of revolution!”

She chattered on, like a little sparrow.

The driver was worried that CEO Su would be annoyed and tell her to get out of the car and abandon the girl in the heavy rain.

Who knew, Su Wu just said: “Mhm.”

“I won’t be like that in the future.”

Shen You’an’s eyes curved: “That’s good, Sister Su. I’ll supervise you. When I get home, I’ll contact you often too.”

Su Wu: “You want to go home?”

Shen You’an: “Sister Su, why do you say that? Of course, I have to go home. Where else would I go?”

Su Wu: “I still have two days to stay in Luoshui. My business isn’t finished.”

Shen You’an was very self-aware: “It’s fine, it’s fine! Sister Su! I can go back by myself! I just might have to trouble you to contact my family for me, and—” the little girl smiled ingratiatingly, turning her hoodie pocket inside out, revealing it was empty. “Sister Su, I’d like to borrow some money.”

“Shen You’an, what I mean is, you can only go with me.”

“Ah? Why?” Shen You’an didn’t understand. “Sister Su, are you worried about me? I’m already this old! I’ll be fine alone!”

Su Wu looked steadily at the other party, her eyes very deep, so deep that Shen You’an couldn’t read them.

She took out her phone, opened a screenshot of an online news report from her saved album, and handed it to Shen You’an. Shen You’an was puzzled: “What is it?”

She took it, and at first, she read it out loud. Later, her voice became increasingly hesitant: “Jiuying Mountain Rainy Night Tragedy, seventeen-year-old girl acts bravely but is shot, search for many days without results, suspected of… being murdered… and died…?”