After the Early-Deceased White Moonlight of a Wealthy Family Returns (GL) - Chapter 54

Monday.

Shen You’an woke up and went to school as usual. Today’s breakfast was another “blood-replenishing set” specialized for her by Su Wu. The housekeeper was perpetually kind and energetic; at her age, waking up early never seemed to be a burden. The green plants on the balcony—which had only appeared after Shen You’an moved in—bathed serenely in the morning light. Outside the window stood upright ginkgo trees; inside, the green leaves added a touch of elegance.

Everything felt like an ordinary day.

Except, before opening the door, Shen You’an looked at Su Wu with hesitation. Su Wu, understanding what was on her mind, said, “Go to school with a clear mind. I’ll prepare everything we discussed last night.” You’an nodded obediently, but her heart was racing. Having slept on it, she realized her suggestion from the previous night was somewhat outrageous. Yet Su Wu acted so normally that You’an could only steal glances at her, secretly loathing herself for overthinking.

Everything was normal—except for the moment the door opened to reveal a bright, radiant smile. It was Shen Huaijin, who definitely shouldn’t have been there.

“Sister…?” Shen You’an checked repeatedly to make sure her eyes weren’t playing tricks on her. It was indeed Shen Huaijin.

“I’ve moved in across the hall. The owner happened to be looking to sell, so I bought it. I don’t have many belongings; I finished moving everything in one trip this morning,” Shen Huaijin said with a smile. “At first, I thought I should stay away to avoid bringing you trouble. But then I realized the photos I received for no reason were likely sent by the person behind the scenes. Since they already know of your existence, there’s no point in hiding. Being closer to you gives me peace of mind.”

“Shall Big Sister take you to school?”

There was expectation in Shen Huaijin’s eyes.

“Why aren’t you moving?” Su Wu stepped out with her bag. Seeing the girl standing still at the door, she looked out and found Shen Huaijin’s face so familiar it left her speechless. “So you were the one who took that apartment off the owner’s hands?”

“…Is that a problem?”

Su Wu raised an eyebrow and said nothing more, pressing the elevator button.

Shen Huaijin explained, “I know the housing market is crashing right now and it’s not the best time to buy, but the owner wouldn’t rent, so what choice did I have?”

“I didn’t offer a critique,” Su Wu said.

“You raised your eyebrow!” Shen Huaijin was quick to notice the subtle cue. “As if I don’t know you?”

Su Wu: “Did Meng Xi go back with you last night?”

Shen Huaijin: “Yeah.”

Su Wu: “And does she know you’ve been causing a ruckus moving house first thing this morning?”

Shen Huaijin: “Don’t even get me started. When I left the hotel this morning, she was still huddled in bed cursing at me for being noisy.”

Su Wu smiled. “Then did she mention to you that her sister, Meng Dongdong, stops by every morning to pick up You’an for school?”

“Now, can you tell what my smile means?”

Shen Huaijin: “…” So frustrating!

Shen Huaijin voluntarily took a step back. “Then I’ll just see Xiao An to the car.”

Su Wu: “How do you plan to explain your relationship with Xiao An to Meng Dongdong? On the surface, you aren’t her sister. After what happened last night, Meng Xi likely won’t want her sister getting involved in this mess. If Meng Dongdong suddenly grows a brain one day and starts getting suspicious—”

Shen Huaijin gritted her teeth. “Can’t I just be ‘passing by’?”

Su Wu laughed but didn’t say anything.

Despite her stubborn words, Shen Huaijin didn’t take another step once she had seen Shen You’an to the entrance of the apartment building. She watched from a distance as Su Wu led Shen You’an away.

In the end, she—the real sister—had become the one who couldn’t be seen in public.

Shen Huaijin turned back upstairs to tidy her room and contact the staff at the Shen Corporation to begin assessing the situation. This is for the best, she thought. With Su Wu protecting You’an, she felt much more at ease.

“An-jie, I brought you breakfast.” As soon as You’an got into the car, Meng Dongdong presented an exquisite takeaway bag with both hands. “I know you definitely ate at home, but just in case you’re still hungry, I made some things myself!”

“I made cinnamon rolls, blueberry-chestnut muffins, and cream cheese bagels…”

Shen You’an took the insulated bag. Without even leaning in, the scent of freshly baked bread wafted toward her.

“Thank you…” Shen You’an responded hesitantly, looking at Meng Dongdong and asking tentatively, “Do you… have something you want to tell me?”

Meng Dongdong: “Haha, haha, why would you think that?”

Shen You’an: “That laugh was very fake.”

Meng Dongdong’s face immediately fell, returning to a pitiful look. “An-jie, I do have something to tell you, but it’s not anything else—I’m here to beg for your forgiveness! I… I was confused for a moment yesterday and did something bad.”

“What was it?”

Meng Dongdong peeked at Shen You’an’s expression cautiously. “Promise me that if I tell you, you won’t be angry with me. Okay, you can be angry—you can scold me or hit me—but you absolutely cannot stop being my friend.”

This made Shen You’an nervous. “Is it that serious?”

Meng Dongdong nodded repeatedly. “Super, super serious.”

Shen You’an: “Wait a second.” She took two deep breaths to steady her emotions. “Okay, tell me.”

Meng Dongdong swallowed hard, suppressing her nervousness and fear. She glanced at her friend’s face and said, “Yesterday, Auntie Lan took me out to play.”

Upon hearing this, Shen You’an’s soul completely relaxed. She had thought Dongdong had been dragged into the mess behind the Shen family. “Go on,” she said.

Meng Dongdong felt incredibly guilty and didn’t dare look You’an in the eye for long, only stealing glances to monitor her mood.

“She apologized to me, saying she had a bad attitude that night. Then she asked me… she asked me…”

“Mhm? Asked you what?”

Meng Dongdong found it hard to say. “She asked if you were very special to me.”

Shen You’an didn’t understand. “What does that mean?”

Meng Dongdong’s face burned intensely. She whispered, “Remember when I told you about… you know, the drunken kiss? We talked it out. You know me, I’m not good at faking things. She apologized to me, saying she’d lost her head that day and was sorry. And she seems to think… think… think that I like you, and that it’s an unrequited love.”

“…”

“………?”

Meng Dongdong felt even less confident. “Then she said she hoped I would reconsider my feelings. She said her intuition tells her you’re a dangerous person with many secrets. She mentioned the move you made at the boxing ring that even she couldn’t see through, and how you vanished directly from the fourth floor—”

“Of course!” Meng Dongdong raised her hand to swear. “An-jie, on this point, I have always stood firm! I know I’m a bit slow and not that smart, and there are many things I can’t guess. But I know you’re a good person, and you’ve been so good to me. Ji Lan only said those things because she doesn’t know you at all.”

“I absolutely did not reach a consensus with her on that!”

Shen You’an found it amusing. She reached out to lower Meng Dongdong’s hand and asked, “And then? The ‘bad thing’ you’re apologizing for probably isn’t what you just said, right?”

Meng Dongdong coughed lightly. “You know, normally in that kind of moment, I would have argued my case and explained our perfectly pure friendship.”

“But,” Shen You’an had learned to throw out the “but” for Meng Dongdong in advance.

Meng Dongdong was ashamed to speak. “But… I… I got carried away in the moment.”

“It was the first time I saw Ji Lan look at me like that, as if she really cared about who I liked. I didn’t confirm it, but I didn’t deny it either. But you know, in that situation, it basically amounts to a silent admission…”

Shen You’an truly couldn’t figure it out. Her brain felt like it was short-circuiting.

Seeing her silence, Meng Dongdong’s heart sank. She tried to explain: “An-jie, are you angry? I know it was wrong, and I’m sorry, but I really… I couldn’t help it…”

“I wouldn’t exactly say I’m angry.” Shen You’an felt a complex mix of emotions; she found it hard to understand. “Don’t you like her very much? What is the point of letting her misunderstand that you like me…?”

“I don’t want her to know I like her,” Meng Dongdong said, bowing her head and whispering. “At least, not until I’m sure she likes me back. Compared to being a junior who has a crush on her, being in love with someone else, suffering unrequitedly, and only using her as a substitute… wouldn’t that look cooler?”

“…?”

I beg your pardon?

Where is the cool factor?

“An-jie—”

“Wait.” Shen You’an was trying to piece together her fragmented thoughts. She organized her words: “So, you think this kind of ‘cool’ will get you what you want?”

Meng Dongdong’s gaze was lost. “I don’t know.”

“An-jie, I don’t know.”

“I only know that I don’t want her to know I like her, and I don’t want to miss the chance to keep things from going back to square one. I told her I can’t move on from you, so I asked her to stay with me. She agreed. This is a chance, An-jie. I want to try, just try one more time. It’s the first time I’ve felt her so close to me, and I don’t want to lose that feeling. For the first time, I felt that she might actually like me. Not the way you like a kid, but the way I like her!”

“I’m sorry for using you like this.” Meng Dongdong’s head dropped so low it nearly touched the floor.

“It’s alright. This doesn’t have any real impact on me. And Dongdong, I should apologize to you too. Your Auntie Lan was right; I do have many secrets and have kept many things from you. Hearing you be so honest makes me feel a bit ashamed.” Shen You’an patted Meng Dongdong’s shoulder. “As an apology for the things I can’t tell you yet, please feel free to ‘use’ me.”

Meng Dongdong let out a wail and lunged forward to hug Shen You’an. “An-jie, ugh, why are you so good!!”

“But except for Ji Lan, we can’t let anyone else misunderstand,” Shen You’an said.

Meng Dongdong nodded vigorously. “I know, I know! I won’t tell anyone, I promise. Ji Lan won’t tell anyone either. She knows how to protect my reputation.” Saying this, Meng Dongdong sounded a little proud. She glanced at You’an again and teased, “Don’t worry, my sister definitely won’t find out, and neither will Sister Su Wu.”

Shen You’an: “…That’s not what I meant!”

Meng Dongdong: “I didn’t mean anything either!”

Shen You’an: “…”

Meng Dongdong chuckled. “Are you afraid Sister Su Wu will misunderstand?”

Shen You’an didn’t know. But that was indeed her brain’s first reaction.

“An-jie, what’s actually going on between you and Sister Su Wu? Do you like her?”

Shen You’an nearly lost her grip on the custom-made Dongdong breakfast.

“Or think of it this way: imagine if one day Su Wu had another ‘sister,’ or got together with someone—man or woman, doesn’t matter. Imagine if she couldn’t put you first in everything like she does now. How would you feel?”

You’an’s fingertips squeezed the bag, making it crinkle.

“You’d definitely feel a sense of loss,” Meng Dongdong said in an experienced tone. “That feeling is very uncomfortable. If you feel unhappy, like something of yours is being taken away—You An, that is ‘liking’ someone.”

Shen You’an didn’t understand.

“You’re right, I would feel a sense of loss.” Just imagining that scene made her chest ache, as if a hand were literally ripping out half her heart, making it hard to breathe. But then, she calmed down and continued the imagination.

If Su Wu really met such a person—a healthy, normal person without secrets or danger.

Shen You’an said, “But if it’s someone she truly loves, I would be happy for her.”

Meng Dongdong: “…?”

“Did I guess wrong?” she muttered.

“Guess what wrong?” Shen You’an’s hearing was very sharp.

Meng Dongdong shook her head. “Forget it then, An-jie. Pretend I didn’t say anything today. Besides, there are all sorts of affection in this world: friend-love, family-love, lover-love. Maybe your feelings for Sister Su Wu really aren’t what I thought.”

“Which kind?”

“You know, the kind where as long as you see the person, you want to possess them. To be more dramatic—you see her and you want to eat her up. When you like someone to the extreme, you wish you could merge with them and never be separated. It’s the kind of liking full of possessiveness that doubles the good and the bad in your heart,” Meng Dongdong whispered. “Sometimes, that kind of liking even makes you stop feeling like yourself.”

“…?”

Shen You’an fell into a long period of thought.

What should she do? Meng Dongdong’s mention of “eating her up” was probably just a dramatic metaphor.

But she was different.

Sometimes, it seemed like she really wanted to eat Su Wu.

To wrap her up in one bite and swallow her whole.

Did that count as an appetite, or did it count as “liking”?