After the Early-Deceased White Moonlight of a Wealthy Family Returns (GL) - Chapter 26

In the most prosperous commercial district of Chens City, Meng Dongdong led Shen You’an into the D.M Jewelry Store.

“Pick whatever you want,” Meng Dongdong whispered mysteriously in Shen You’an’s ear. “I’m in charge; I’ll give you a ‘bone-breaking’ discount.”

Shen You’an didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

A client advisor stepped forward to inquire, and hearing that they wanted to look at pearls, rounded the counter to open the storage cases.

“We primarily have Akoya, Australian White, and Tahitian pearls. If you would like to select other categories, such as freshwater or conch pearls, we can also arrange for stock to be transferred for you.”

The advisor, wearing gloves, introduced them from left to right: “The appearance of these pearls varies, and the prices change accordingly. I wonder which kind you are looking for? If you are unsure how to choose, you can tell me the intended use and information about the wearer, and I can make a recommendation for you.”

D.M’s pearls were of excellent quality; every single one was perfectly round with outstanding luster, especially under the customized counter lighting where they sparkled brilliantly.

Before coming, Shen You’an had thought about picking Australian White pearls. She had always felt that the silky luster of Australian Whites suited Su Wu perfectly. However, as she scanned the tray brought out by the advisor, a streak of black in the bottom left corner immediately caught her attention.

“I want this one.”

Shen You’an pointed her finger toward it.

“You have a good eye, miss,” the advisor praised. “This batch of Tahitian black pearls is of excellent quality; whether in terms of surface smoothness or luster, they are top-tier.”

“Would you like to purchase a single pearl, or are you interested in our jewelry customization services?”

The advisor pulled out a small booklet filled with images of pearls combined with other gems, gold, and silver.

Shen You’an thought for a moment: “Excuse me, can I draw the design sketch myself?”

The advisor couldn’t decide for a moment and looked behind her. Meng Dongdong nodded, affectionately taking Shen You’an’s arm: “Xiao An, you can draw?”

“Roughly,” Shen You’an said, not entirely sure herself. “I haven’t drawn in a long time; I’m out of practice.”

Meng Dongdong came up with an idea: “How about this—we go sit in the lounge. See if you have the feel for it now; if so, you can try practicing a sketch. If you draw it and don’t like it, we can pick a finished product.”

Shen You’an thought this was a good idea.

Actually, she already had a vague prototype in her mind of what to draw; it would be good to try and get it down on paper now.

Shen You’an followed Meng Dongdong toward the lounge. After a few steps, she heard a female voice ask provocatively: “They are going to the lounge too?”

Shen You’an stopped and looked to the side.

It was a young girl, no more than fifteen or sixteen by the look of her face, but her makeup and outfit were very mature.

Meng Dongdong whispered in Shen You’an’s ear: “My God, did my makeup look like that before?”

Shen You’an let out a soft laugh and replied: “It seems you’ve had an epiphany.”

Meng Dongdong let out a silent scream, wishing she could bury herself in the floor: “It didn’t look like that when I looked in the mirror!”

Shen You’an patted her shoulder.

The young girl, carrying a small brand-name bag, threw a disdainful look over, sweeping past Meng Dongdong before landing on Shen You’an.

“Didn’t I say? When I’m here, there shouldn’t be anyone else in the lounge.”

“But Miss Zhu…”

“Drive them away,” the young girl said. “Also, what were they just picking? Bring them all over for me to see.”

Meng Dongdong let out a cold laugh.

Who did she think she was, acting like a spoiled heiress in front of her?

“No,” she spoke up. “We cannot accommodate customers like you. Sister Liu, see her out.”

The client manager, Sister Liu, stood by the side, feeling a massive headache coming on.

Miss Zhu, having been slighted like this for the first time, tilted her chin extremely high, attempting to look down on them with her nostrils: “What! You’ve all gone mad!”

“What’s happening, what’s happening.” The commotion drew someone over. It was a man with dyed yellow hair and permed curls, dressed in streetwear, with sneaker soles thicker than his skin: “Baby, what’s wrong?”

Shen You’an had never met this person, but felt he looked familiar at first glance.

As soon as he arrived, Meng Dongdong acted like an ox, huffing through her nose with a loud snort.

“Sister Liu! Tell them to leave!”

Shen You’an was now able to expertly judge Meng Dongdong’s mood.

“Is this another person you hate?”

Meng Dongdong shot her a sideways look: “What do you mean ‘another’! You make it sound like I hate everyone everywhere!”

“That’s Shen Run’s son, Shen Yanchen,” Meng Dongdong said with utter disdain. “Just as annoying as his dad; I want to punch him the moment I see him.”

Shen You’an coughed lightly, turned to pick up the jewelry booklet on the table, and opened it, pretending to read while actually shielding her face.

After Shen Yanchen finished comforting his dramatic little girlfriend, he looked up and immediately recognized Meng Dongdong’s face.

“I wondered who it was,” Shen Yanchen said casually. “Meng Zhouxi, why are you everywhere?”

“I was going to say the same,” Meng Dongdong shot back sharply. “Some people are like flies, haunting the place all day long.”

Shen Yanchen: “You—”

He gritted his teeth, clenched his fist, and said: “Forget it, I don’t hit women. You’re lucky today.”

Meng Dongdong’s eye-roll nearly flew to the sky: “I wonder who’s really lucky.”

She grabbed Shen You’an’s shoulder, standing on tiptoe to hug her, looking like a triumphant little brat who had found a backer: “Let me introduce my An-jie; she can take out ten of you with one punch.”

After Meng Dongdong finished showing off, she noticed her An-jie was still hiding her face with the booklet.

Meng Dongdong: “…?”

Meng Dongdong whispered to Shen You’an: “You’an, what’s wrong?”

Shen You’an said seriously: “Keep a low profile. A true master doesn’t show their face. That matter is supposed to be kept secret, Meng Dongdong, shh—”

Meng Dongdong gave a couple of “ohs.”

Across from them, Shen Yanchen laughed: “One punch for ten of me? Even Musk can’t brag as well as you.”

“Where’s the clerk? Pack up everything my girlfriend wanted; I’m paying by card,” Shen Yanchen said imperiously.

Sister Liu, the client manager, was in an extremely difficult position: “I’m sorry, some of the items Miss Zhu just asked for have already been reserved.”

“You said ‘reserved,’ so the money hasn’t been paid yet, right?” Shen Yanchen said dismissively. “How about this, I’ll pay double; sell them to me.”

“Mr. Shen, I’m afraid that’s not quite right.”

“What’s wrong with it? You won’t even make money when it’s given to you; do you even know how to do business?”

Meng Dongdong: “Whether my family knows how to do business is none of your business. Hurry up and get lost.”

Shen Yanchen’s eyes went wide: “Meng Dongdong, what do you mean—”

Meng Dongdong raised her chin: “Can’t understand Chinese? D.M belongs to my family; I wouldn’t even sell to a dog, let alone you. I told you to get lost.”

Shen Yanchen suddenly turned red with rage. Looking to the side, his dear girlfriend was watching him with a face full of doubt. The teenager, his head full of “chuunibyou” elements, couldn’t hold back and stepped forward to grab Meng Dongdong’s collar. Shen You’an stepped forward without hesitation, rolled the booklet in her hand into a tube, and whack—slapped it onto Shen Yanchen’s wrist, making him hiss in pain.

He glared over, but met a pair of eyes so dark they were silent.

Strangely, he felt like he had seen those eyes somewhere before.

While Shen Yanchen was dazed, Meng Dongdong seized the opening, raised her hand, and pushed him away: “You stinking idiot, who do you think you’re hitting! Do you even know whose territory you’re in!”

Seeing that Meng Dongdong was about to move forward again, Shen You’an hooked her collar with one hand and pulled her back, shaking her head at her.

Meng Dongdong was a bit indignant: “You’an, he’s bad, he started it.”

Shen You’an said: “I know.”

“Dongdong, this is your family’s shop.”

Shen You’an guided Meng Dongdong to look around: “Making a scene isn’t good; you still have to do business in the future.”

Meng Dongdong pouted, knowing Shen You’an made a lot of sense, but she still felt unsatisfied in her heart.

She cursed a couple more times: “Shen Yanchen? A piece of work like him… I think the Shen family could be squandered away even without Sister Su Wu having to lift a finger.”

On the other side, as Shen Yanchen hissed in pain from being hit by the booklet, his proud little girlfriend couldn’t stand the scene and turned to leave. Shen Yanchen chased after her, not forgetting to say in a “Big Bad Wolf” tone as he went: “Meng Dongdong, you wait for me, I’ll be back!”

He glared back resentfully; when his gaze passed Shen You’an, he was instinctively afraid at first, but then forced himself to stare back.

He really was asking for a beating.

Shen You’an thought.

Her uncle really didn’t know how to raise a kid.

Shen Yanchen was ten or so years younger than her; they hadn’t met many times before she died. She didn’t expect him to grow up into this kind of thing.

Shen You’an surreptitiously picked up a small candy prepared for guests from a tray on the jewelry store table and flicked it from her fingertip like a pebble.

“Ouch!” Shen Yanchen clutched his butt and let out a pained cry: “Who hit me! Who hit me!!”

The candy flew too fast; amidst the coming and going of people, few noticed.

Meng Dongdong didn’t see anything clearly; she only saw the retreating Shen Yanchen suddenly suffer, first freezing in shock, then gloating: “God has eyes; retribution came quickly, didn’t it?”

Shen You’an gave an “mhm” and thought silently: An older sister educating a younger brother—it’s only right.

In these ten years, too much had changed in the Shen family.

She was vaguely worried, not knowing if her mother was truly living well in the Shen family.

These past few days, she had also privately consulted Sister Tang Lin, who worked in the psychology field.

Tang Lin said: “Based on my experience, Aunt Shen’s condition looks like a dissociative memory phenomenon following a major trauma. Generally speaking, it’s a self-defense mechanism against trauma; the brain chooses to lose memory out of an instinct for survival and protection. But this process is an unconscious psychological one for the patient herself…”

“Normally, we would adopt supportive therapy or trauma-focused therapy, helping and guiding the patient to face traumatic memories in a safe environment.”

“Will it be very painful?”

“Of course,” Tang Lin said. “I’ve handled similar cases before; sometimes I feel like an executioner, constantly reminding the patient that their loved one died at a certain moment.”

“This process will be very painful, but I have always believed that only a resilient person who can accept real pain can better face life. Of course, I cannot make choices for the patient. I can only help those who are willing to walk toward me of their own accord.”

“Aunt Shen’s situation is very complex—this complexity refers not just to her medical condition, but also to her environment.”

Shen You’an understood what Tang Lin meant.

She was afraid that after walking toward her mother, the old knife would not yet be pulled out, and the “time bomb” on her body would tear apart and crush those around her.

How much longer could an outlier like her survive?

To make her mother, who had finally awakened from the nightmare of her daughter’s death, fall into another desperate dreamscape.

Walking up to Shen Zhiyu and telling her: Hello, your daughter who died ten years ago is alive.

And then telling her: Oh, sorry, she’s now a monster that eats people and might go completely crazy any day.

Of course, Shen You’an couldn’t let Shen Zhiyu know her current state. She also knew that without the inhibitors from the research institute, she didn’t have many normal days left to live. When the irreversible day arrived, the only thing she could do was disappear—a death-like disappearance.

How absurd.

Tang Lin was right; being able to face reality is of course best.

Provided that reality is still within the current range of human cognition.

So she felt that if her mother could live happily in a dream, it might be another choice for her.

However—

Shen You’an looked in the direction where Shen Yanchen had disappeared.

If people like him, and the person who raised him, stayed by her mother’s side…

She could not rest easy no matter what.

“An-jie, what are you thinking?” Meng Dongdong had now completely changed her tune, giving Shen You’an an honorific title.

“Nothing.” She smiled at Meng Dongdong, followed her into the VIP lounge, and began drawing the design sketch on the spot.

Shen You’an thought she would hesitate and make many corrections once she started writing, but in fact, as soon as she got the pen and thought of Su Wu, the lines flowed naturally from the tip.

It was a bracelet, with a Tahitian black pearl as the centerpiece, surrounded by winding lines, with silver selected as the support; the whole piece exuded a grand yet deep beauty. The continuous, intersecting lines looked like a small silver snake; Shen You’an could even imagine what the bracelet would look like on Su Wu’s wrist.

Cold, yet secretly emitting an alluring light.

“Wow—” Meng Dongdong stared from the side: “An-jie, you really can draw!”

“I want one too, I want one too!!”

Shen You’an had already intended to repay Meng Dongdong for her help these past days and nodded: “What kind do you want?”

Meng Dongdong pinched her chin in thought: “Hmm… something pretty, something flashy… ah! I know! I heard my sister say last time that a batch of new pink diamonds came in. Let’s go look at those! Then you can see if you have any inspiration!”

Meng Dongdong liked the pink diamonds at first sight, but the price exceeded her budget. Orangey Pink wasn’t pure; buying a slightly larger one would drain Meng Dongdong’s small treasury. With a GIA certificate on top, the price would double.

“Is this pricing really reasonable?” Meng Dongdong questioned her life. “Sister Liu, tell me honestly, are my parents’ business dealings truly honest for all?”

Sister Liu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry: “Little miss, how can you say that. If you like it, why not just call the master and madam.”

Meng Dongdong didn’t dare.

Her grades had been unstable lately, and her parents’ love for her was unstable as well. Moreover, she had already asked for much before, requesting coming-of-age jewelry from them; she didn’t have the face to ask again now.

But the diamond before her was really so cute and pretty; if paired with the sketch You’an drew…

Meng Dongdong’s heart was itching with desire. Her eyes darted around, and she decided to plead with someone else.

When Meng Xi and Su Wu came to pick up the two young ones, they were immediately swamped by Meng Dongdong the moment they entered the shop.

Seeing Su Wu made Shen You’an think of her dream from last night; she was very flustered and didn’t dare look her in the eye.

“Sister.” Meng Dongdong held up her “paw.” “Look, do you see anything?”

Meng Xi: “You have a manicure. Reported; doesn’t your teacher care?”

Meng Dongdong was furious: “Those are press-ons! I take them off for school!”

“No, no! Look again! Look carefully!”

“…Didn’t trim the cuticles?”

“Meng Xi!”

Meng Xi shrugged: “Tell me, what do you actually want.”

Meng Dongdong giggled: “Sister, my dear sister, I’ve seen the new pink diamonds in the shop. Can you spare a few from that batch of Orangey Pink? You’an is drawing a design for me! Please, please, just treat it as my coming-of-age gift.”

“Still thinking about pink diamonds,” Meng Xi replied with a sharp tongue. “Then don’t ask for OP; ask for Argyle directly.”

Meng Dongdong: “Oh, do you think I don’t want to? Last time Mom and Dad brought back that Argyle Fancy Vivid—the final price for 2 carats was sixty million. The people who had them bid on it are truly crazy… even if I got into Harvard, they wouldn’t buy that for me.”

Meng Xi surreptitiously glanced at the woman beside her, raised an eyebrow, and smiled at Meng Dongdong: “At least you have self-knowledge. Forget about Harvard, forget about Argyle, and forget about this OP too.”

“Sister!!!!”

She was undeterred, hugging Meng Xi’s arm and acting spoiled: “Sister, my good sister, sister, sister, sister—”

Meng Xi was pestered to death, but then remembered she truly hadn’t prepared a coming-of-age gift for the girl, so she asked: “You said it—if I buy it today, it counts as the gift.”

“Of course!” Meng Dongdong’s eyes lit up. “And I promise to pass the IELTS!”

“Go pick them out,” Meng Xi said. “I really don’t know what’s wrong with you; it’s all just taking from the left hand to give to the right, yet you insist on picking from your own shop.”

“Since we’re already here, should You’an choose some too? Treat it as a meeting gift from me.”

Meng Dongdong let out a “wah-hoo”: “Good, good, good. Come on, An-jie, let’s go pick out some big ones.”

It would be a waste not to spend her sister’s money!

Besides, how was this just moving money from one pocket to another? The accounts had to be balanced eventually, and she didn’t have the treasury to balance them.

Shen You’an was a bit awkward and looked up at Su Wu.

Su Wu nodded slightly. Meng Dongdong cheered and pulled Shen You’an into the inner room to choose.

Meng Xi teased: “CEO Su really knows how to manage her ‘sister’.”

Su Wu raised her eyelids and swept a glance at her: “How is the matter I asked you to investigate?”

Meng Xi’s expression turned serious: “Tian’ai is fine today.”

Taking a look inside, Meng Xi pulled Su Wu outside the shop to get the milk tea she bought earlier, telling Su Wu on the way: “Aunt Shen’s consultation process was very standard; nothing unusual could be seen. Old Su, you know, this thing you asked me to do is a bit against professional ethics.”

“That’s why I asked you to go and not Tang Lin. You just graduated with a psychology degree; you’re not in the business,” Su Wu said, head down, looking at the fringe of her scarf with her hands in her trench coat pockets. “My intuition tells me Tian’ai isn’t simple.”

“How many years have you been watching Tian’ai?” Meng Xi said earnestly to Su Wu, taking the bag from the clerk. “When has there ever been even a tiny bit of gain? I’ve also checked the doctor who consults Aunt Shen; everything is normal.”

“After a gap of two or three years, Aunt Shen went to Tian’ai, and just recently, she happened to meet You’an,” Su Wu’s gaze was sharp. “Meng Xi, I don’t believe there’s no connection. There’s a problem here; I have this intuition.”

“Alright.” Meng Xi had to admit Su Wu’s intuition was very powerful. Every time, her intuition allowed her to rise with the wind. Looking at all the previous opportunities, Su Wu had always been standing in the wind. Meng Xi sighed, “I’ll continue to help watch.”

“But how did you know Aunt Shen would go to Tian’ai today?”

Su Wu smiled without speaking.

Meng Xi: “Holy crap, you even have spies in the Shen family?!”

“Just drawing two salaries, that’s all,” Su Wu said.

Meng Xi: “…Classic you, sister.”

“Speaking of which, did you and Xiao An have a falling out? Why was her reaction so strange when she saw you today?”

Su Wu: “You’re overthinking.”

Though she said so, the fingertips that suddenly tightened in her trench coat pocket betrayed her concern.

Shen You’an was avoiding her; Su Wu was certain.

From seeing the watch data this morning showing the girl had woken up, yet Shen You’an had delayed coming out of the bedroom, Su Wu had guessed.

But why?

Was it because of those words last night?

Su Wu pursed her lips, lowering her eyes to hide her thoughts.

Inside the D.M shop’s inner room, while picking diamonds, Meng Dongdong spoke to Shen You’an: “An-jie, you can’t be like this.”

“Huh?” Shen You’an was confused.

“I’ve heard about your situation from my sister…”

Shen You’an was startled.

Meng Dongdong said with a look of disappointment: “You came to the country all alone and are living at Sister Su Wu’s house. If you need something or something happens, what do you rely on? You rely on her! Hugging the ‘thigh,’ do you understand? Deep sisterly bond, do you understand? As a sister, An-jie, you can’t be one like this!”