After the Early-Deceased White Moonlight of a Wealthy Family Returns (GL) - Chapter 34

The children and the adults were both on the cruise, but their gathering locations were completely different. To give the children ample freedom, the adults kept their activities on the 15th floor and above.

Shen Yanchen held the color card the host had printed for him after he finished selecting his color. He perfunctorily tucked the card into his pocket and stepped into the elevator, his mind still fixated on the eyes he had just seen.

He found a quiet, deserted corner to make a call.

Shen Run picked up slowly. Judging by the sounds on the other end, there was the clatter of gambling chips.

“What is it?” Shen Run asked.

“Dad, are you busy?”

“Just say it.”

Shen Yanchen bit his lip and asked tentatively, “Dad, that sister of mine… the one who left ten years ago. Did she look a lot like Auntie and Sister Huaijin?”

The phone went silent for a moment.

“Why are you suddenly interested in this?”

“I was just asking,” Shen Yanchen said. “I suddenly realized that she’s been gone for so many years, and I haven’t really seen any photos of her.”

“What’s the point of looking at someone who isn’t around anymore?” Shen Run’s tone became slightly impatient. “Is there anything else?”

Shen Yanchen poked the inside of his cheek with his tongue. Hearing his father’s mood, he said “no” and hung up.

He had originally planned to go upstairs to talk to his father about the girl he had just seen, but now he didn’t want to at all. He randomly stepped out onto a floor and stood in the corridor, staring at the rhinestone-studded floor as a certain idea began to take root in his mind.

He really hated Shen Zhirou.

If he could find a replacement who looked more like the original and was easier to use than Shen Zhirou…

Shen Yanchen’s eyes flickered; he had a plan.

He asked in his group chat of “fair-weather friends”: [Has anyone seen Meng Dongdong? And her friend wearing the veil?]

“Mr. Shen, play your card,” someone reminded him at the card table.

“What’s wrong? Is there something with that boy of yours again?” another person asked.

Shen Run smiled gently. “It’s nothing. Is it my turn? Wait a moment, let me look at my cards.”

He laid out his cards and chips, his gaze drifting toward another person at the table.

“It’s rare,” Shen Run said. “For the young CEO Su to join the fun with us old fogies today.”

Su Wu looked up. “There’s a child at home; I brought her out to play.”

“Ah? Since when did CEO Su have a child?”

“A junior.” Su Wu pushed her chips onto the table. “I’ll keep following.”

The pressure on Shen Run rose sharply. He glanced at Su Wu’s flawless face and then raised his hand to check his own cards. He had a straight, but it wasn’t particularly high. The other two players had already folded; only he and Su Wu remained in the round.

“Open one.” Shen Run put down double the chips. He designated the rightmost card to be flipped.

Su Wu showed a King of Hearts, while his was a Jack of Spades.

“Follow.” With a flick of Su Wu’s finger, the chips were pushed into the center.

“Such a steady hand? Must be a big hand,” muttered a person who had folded early. “Old Shen, what do you have?”

Shen Run gritted his teeth and said, “Open another one.”

Continuing the flip, Su Wu showed a King of Diamonds. His was a Nine of Clubs.

“Three of a kind?!” someone exclaimed in shock. “CEO Su has incredible luck.”

Shen Run didn’t believe Su Wu’s luck was that good—that she’d pull three of a kind on her first hand. He observed Su Wu’s expression; with millions of chips on the table, she remained unruffled. She looked at him and followed with another bet without hesitation.

If he wanted to open the last card for a final showdown, Shen Run would have to put up double the chips.

“Fold,” Shen Run said.

The dealer pushed all the chips to Su Wu. Someone at the table was curious about her hand. After getting permission, they flipped over Su Wu’s last unrevealed card.

Two of Hearts.

It wasn’t three of a kind at all. If they had actually compared hands, Shen Run’s straight would have clearly beaten Su Wu.

Having lost a million in an instant, Shen Run’s heart was bleeding. He looked at Su Wu and said, “CEO Su is truly bold and meticulous. To place such a bet with a hand like that.”

“I wouldn’t call myself bold,” Su Wu said unhurriedly. “It’s just that at this table, I am more willing to lose than others.”

“On the other hand, Mr. Shen, if you didn’t clutch what’s in your hand so tightly sometimes, perhaps the results would be better.”

Shen Run: “…Is CEO Su not afraid of biting off more than she can chew? If I didn’t hold on tight, I’m afraid our Shen family would have changed its name long ago.”

Su Wu let out a light laugh, playing with the chips in her hand. The crisp clinking sound reached everyone’s ears.

“Mr. Shen, things that shouldn’t belong to you will be lost eventually, no matter how hard you clutch them.”

Shen Run’s pupils constricted. “You—”

“As for that little bit of the Shen family? My child has a big appetite; there’s nothing she can’t swallow.” Su Wu tapped the table and looked at the group. “Another round?”

Shen Run’s mind was in disarray; he stood up indignantly and left.

Once he was gone, Su Wu took out her phone and sent a message to Shen You’an.

[The big fish and the small fish have both taken the bait.]

[Be extra careful.]

[I heard you are playing a game? What color did you draw?]

“An-jie, at a critical moment like this, who are you chatting with?” Meng Dongdong’s face was practically on fire with anxiety. “The two colors we drew are just too hard.”

“Who mixed this gradient color into the color cards? It’s a death trap!”

“No, I don’t want to lose.”

The color card in Meng Dongdong’s hand shimmered with a silver-blue light.

“An-jie, help me look too. See which guest has this color.” Meng Dongdong had an idea. “How about we split up to search? Contact me if anything happens.”

“Okay,” Shen You’an agreed.

Meng Dongdong gave her a few instructions and ran into the crowd, clutching her skirt.

There was plenty of silver and plenty of blue. But silver-blue specifically?

Meng Dongdong was so worried she could barely hold her red leather book steady.

“What’s the rush?” Meng Dongdong nearly collided with someone but was caught by a hand. She turned around and gasped, “Auntie Lan! What are you doing here?”

Ji Lan: “Why wouldn’t I be here?”

Meng Dongdong looked behind her.

Ji Lan: “Looking for someone?”

Meng Dongdong: “Where’s the beauty who was with you last time?”

Ji Lan: “She’s at home.”

Meng Dongdong gave an “oh,” her expression clearly dimming. So they hadn’t broken up yet.

“What’s this?” Ji Lan saw the small color card in her hand.

Meng Dongdong explained the rules of the game to Ji Lan, complaining in a low voice, “My luck is too bad; I haven’t seen anyone with this color yet.”

Ji Lan raised an eyebrow slightly and moved her face closer.

Meng Dongdong’s heart thudded. She took a step back. “Auntie?”

“Are you blind?” Ji Lan took a small knife used for cutting roasted meat from a passing waiter, grabbed a lock of her own hair, and cut a segment off without hesitation.

The strands fell into her palm, making Meng Dongdong’s heart rate completely lose its balance.

“Auntie, what are you doing!” She looked at Ji Lan’s now asymmetrical hair length, panicked. “You…”

Ji Lan smiled indifferently. “It’s just a bit of hair; it’s not like it won’t grow back.”

“Better than seeing you get punished, right? I’ve heard from my boy that every year they play this game, the punishment for those who fail isn’t simple.”

Like any elder, she ruffled Meng Dongdong’s hair, coaxing her, “Go turn it in. Take my hair and don’t let it go to waste.”

Meng Dongdong lowered her head, saying awkwardly, “I don’t want it.”

Ji Lan thought she was acting like a spoiled brat and explained, “I washed my hair before leaving; it’s not dirty.”

Meng Dongdong wanted to throw the hair back at Ji Lan but couldn’t bear to. She could only grab Ji Lan’s hand, pry it open, and stuff the severed strands back in.

Ji Lan was helpless. “What kind of tantrum is this now?”

Meng Dongdong didn’t know why, but she just felt unhappy. It was as if someone had randomly walked by and kicked over her bowl of rice—mysterious and without reason.

“I just don’t want it,” she said. “Ji Lan, can you stop doing this every time? I don’t want to owe you anymore.”

As she said those words, everything suddenly became clear. She had caught the person who kicked her “rice.”

It was true. She didn’t want to owe Ji Lan anymore.

After all, Ji Lan wasn’t actually her biological aunt. She had just stayed at the Meng house for a while when they were young and was very close to her parents, so she and Meng Xi both called her “Auntie.”

She glanced at the scar on Ji Lan’s face. The presence of it—so different from the smoothness of the surrounding skin—made her heart ache whenever she looked at it.

“Auntie, thank you, but you don’t have to help me like this,” Meng Dongdong said. “I’ve grown up; I’m not that little girl who only knew how to hide behind you anymore.”

If Ji Lan’s movement in cutting her hair had hesitated for even a second, Meng Dongdong wouldn’t have felt so miserable. She had told herself to give up the moment Ji Lan appeared with that girl, yet she found herself almost falling again and again because of the other woman’s instinctive actions. Ji Lan had the instincts of a hunter, but she—Dongdong—was unwilling to just be the prey.

If she accepted this lock of silver-blue today, she would only drift endlessly on this sea.

Meng Dongdong turned and left decisively. Ji Lan didn’t even have time to stop her, nor did she know how. She stared at the silver-blue hair in her palm that had been rejected.

It felt like a cat she had raised for a long time had suddenly bitten her. It didn’t hurt; it was novel, even a bit subtle.

She let the strands scatter into the sea breeze and headed toward the area where the adults were.

After replying to Su Wu’s message, Shen You’an waited for Shen Yanchen. She had already seen several boys looking at her and picking up their phones; she didn’t need to guess to know they were messaging him.

To make it easier for Shen Yanchen to talk to her, she specifically moved away from the crowd and picked a corner. Shen Yanchen arrived shortly after.

“Hey, you, stop right there,” Shen Yanchen said, as rude as ever.

Shen You’an found people like him annoying; she felt they weren’t necessarily evil, just stupid. While she wasn’t exceptionally brilliant herself, she had a low tolerance for stupidity. Lacking basic manners and education, she wondered how Shen Yanchen had survived this long.

She stopped and played along with his performance. “Are you talking to me?”

That’s it. Shen Yanchen looked at her eyes and confirmed once again—this person really looked like the one.

“Do I have a color you need on me?” Shen You’an threw out the bait.

Shen Yanchen shook his head, his eyes burning. “But you have something I need even more.”

“Oh?” Shen You’an felt that after staying with Su Wu, she had learned a bit of her manner of speaking. Facing someone’s urgency, she had become calm and composed.

Shen Yanchen sized her up. He didn’t know much about dresses, but he felt her outfit looked average in price. She didn’t have any jewelry either; he guessed she was just Meng Dongdong’s follower.

“Do you see Shen Zhirou? The one in black,” Shen Yanchen said, tilting his chin. “What if I told you I have a way to make you just like her? Would you be interested?”