After the Early-Deceased White Moonlight of a Wealthy Family Returns (GL) - Chapter 8

Outside the living room, on the balcony, with the glass door tightly shut, Su Wu and Meng Xi stood facing each other.

Meng Xi confirmed what she was seeing over and over again, still unable to trust her eyes. She rubbed her eyes several times, then pinched her cheek, and turned to ask Su Wu: “This—”

Su Wu was calm: “It is exactly what you see.”

Meng Xi held onto the railing in front of her: “Don’t tell me—”

“I picked her up in town,” Su Wu’s voice was light and deep. “Meng Xi, you saw it, didn’t you? She came back to life.”

Meng Xi shook her head violently: “No, no, impossible. There’s definitely something wrong here.”

“Even if she survived back then… ten years, Su Wu, a full ten years. How can she not have changed at all?” This was also the reason Meng Xi hadn’t immediately recognized Shen You’an at first glance.

Time had been fair these ten years.

Except for Shen You’an.

“I know what you’re thinking. In this matter, reason and logic do not apply,” Su Wu took out her phone. The new message on the screen was an express DNA test report prepared overnight. “My mind may lose control, and my memory may be mistaken, but data does not lie.”

“Damn it!” Meng Xi’s head felt like it was going to explode. She looked at Su Wu, her linguistic system completely collapsing, unable to form a complete sentence.

This world has finally gone mad.

Su Wu observed Meng Xi’s expression, the curve of her lips turning slightly upwards: “See? Now it’s your turn to learn to accept reality.”

Meng Xi: “I can tell you’ve wanted to say that to me for a long time.”

She used to often tell Su Wu that Shen You’an was dead, and Su Wu needed to learn to accept reality.

Now, the boomerang had flown back.

Meng Xi’s head was huge. She paced back and forth on the balcony, so anxious she wanted to smoke. After being stopped by a look from Su Wu, she grabbed a handful of her hair and asked: “What are you planning to do now? Are you going to contact her family? Does Shen Huaijin know? Also, does she know what the Shen family situation is like now?”

“You must have loved reading ‘One Hundred Thousand Whys’ as a child.”

“Su Wu! What time is it! And you’re still mocking me!”

Su Wu leaned against the balcony railing, looking inside the room. On the rug next to the coffee table, Shen You’an was sitting with her legs hugged to her chest, curiously looking at the cards with various patterns in Tang Lin’s hand.

“She wants to go home,” Su Wu said. “And I promised her I would take her home once I finished my business.”

Meng Xi immediately felt uneasy: “Just go back like that? Without telling her anything?”

Su Wu: “What else?”

Meng Xi: “She has the right to know the situation beforehand.”

Su Wu: “Then I’ll trouble you to tell her what the Shen family’s current situation is.”

Meng Xi snorted: “I’ll tell her then!”

After preparing herself mentally, Meng Xi tidied her clothes and went into the room. She proactively greeted Shen You’an: “You’an, although we’ve already met, I want to introduce myself again. Do you remember me? I’m Meng Xi, a friend of Su Wu and your sister.”

Shen You’an put down the cards, thought for a moment, and her eyes brightened: “I remember you. Sister Meng Xi, you were classmates, right? And then you went abroad!”

Meng Xi smiled: “That’s right.”

Shen You’an tilted her head: “But I don’t remember meeting you, Sister Meng Xi. Have you met me?”

Meng Xi replied without hesitation: “Yes, I have.”

After saying those three words, her remaining words got stuck.

Damn it.

How was she supposed to put this?

Say, ‘I saw you at your funeral.’

She wasn’t that eloquent.

Just as Meng Xi was struggling with how to continue the conversation, Shen You’an suddenly laughed.

Meng Xi was curious: “What’s funny?”

Shen You’an shook her head and said: “Nothing, I just thought it’s so nice that after ten years, you and my sister are still good friends. It makes me happy.”

The smile on the corner of Meng Xi’s mouth faltered slightly.

She glanced at Su Wu, who was serene and played her role perfectly.

That liar.

She probably didn’t tell the little kid a single truth.

Thinking of Shen Huaijin’s current situation, Meng Xi couldn’t help but sigh quietly in her heart. How did the three good friends from back then end up like this? Su Wu became increasingly self-isolated, busy with work, her sanity wavering on a cliff’s edge. Shen Huaijin gave up on herself, disappeared without a trace, only sending an email every year to prove she was still alive.

She often missed high school, when Shen Huaijin played basketball, Su Wu read, and she stood by, chatting and joking with the junior students.

When did it start? While studying abroad, she received a call across time zones.

Shen Huaijin said, Meng Xi, my little sister is gone.

Shen Huaijin had a younger sister, Meng Xi always knew. She had never seen her with her own eyes, yet she had heard the little girl’s name a thousand times from Shen Huaijin. Before leaving the country, she had promised Shen Huaijin to meet her sister the next time she returned. Who would have thought that the next time she saw her, it would be in a black and white photograph?

Shhh—

It was the sound of 88 cards being shuffled like poker.

Fate had also been reshuffled.

Black and white reversed, the little girl from back then, completely unchanged, was sitting alive in front of her.

“I’m going to see my sister in two days,” Shen You’an’s face was filled with anticipation and visible awkwardness. “I don’t know if she will accept this.”

“She will,” Meng Xi said without hesitation. “You’an, we all want you back.”

Hearing this, Shen You’an felt comforted. She offered a smile and an invitation: “Sister Meng Xi, if you’re free, you can come with me too! Sister will probably be very happy to see you all.”

Meng Xi’s heart sank with a thud.

She wanted to say something.

But facing such clear, transparent eyes, Meng Xi’s words got stuck in her throat. She suddenly understood Su Wu a little.

No one wanted to personally tear off the mask of innocence and destroy a girl’s life, especially a girl who had just come back to life after being missing for ten years. She hadn’t done anything wrong; she had only left because of an accident and been brought back by fate.

“Okay,” Meng Xi squatted down to make the promise with her. “When you go home, your Sister Su and I will both be with you.”

Despite this, Meng Xi still had a strong sense of guilt.

She privately asked Su Wu: “When do you plan to take her back? Have you figured out how to handle the situation? Shen Huaijin… that person isn’t even in the country. Should we call and inform her?”

Su Wu was dismissive: “Tell her what? In her eyes, I’m already crazy.”

Meng Xi’s head was throbbing: “Are you planning to hide this from Shen Huaijin?! You promised You’an you’d take her home!”

Su Wu said coldly: “I did promise, and I will do it. But Shen Huaijin isn’t home; that’s something I can’t control.”

Meng Xi was somewhat angry: “—You know clearly!”

Su Wu’s eyes were sharp.

“So what? So many things are clearly known. Shen Huaijin clearly knows that the person currently staying at the Shen house is not her sister, yet she still silently allows everything to happen. Meng Xi, do you know how I’ve spent these years? Watching a stranger stay in Shen You’an’s house, sleep in Shen You’an’s bed, and call her mother ‘Mom’… What has Shen Huaijin done? She only knows how to run away.”

Whenever this topic came up, Meng Xi felt absurd and powerless.

“There are reasons for that, you know,” she said, her voice weak.

Su Wu lowered her eyes and said calmly: “If a sane person decides to play dumb, their goal is never to comfort the crazy person, but merely to save themselves trouble.”

“What if I tell Shen Huaijin about You’an? She will only do nothing and run away with You’an as well.”

“I will not accept the situation developing that way.”

Meng Xi let out a long sigh: “Then what now?”

Su Wu fiddled with the jade beads on her wrist: “I will keep my promise and take her home. After that, whatever choice she makes, I will respect it.”

Meng Xi said no more. In the matter of Shen You’an, she finally had less authority than Su Wu. At least, for the past ten years, the only person who had never given up was Su Wu. Perhaps that was why the gears of fate had turned in front of her.

However, a few days later, upon learning the exact day Su Wu had chosen to take Shen You’an home, Meng Xi regretted everything.

“Today? You are completely doing this on purpose.”

Su Wu said calmly: “If neither you nor I can explain the facts to her with words, what other method can I use to let her know? Meng Xi, today is the most suitable day.”

“Did you even consider that she might be hurt?!”

Su Wu pursed her lips and said: “Since she’s returned, she’ll have to find out these things eventually, and she will go through this pain eventually. Better a short, sharp pain than a lingering one. Better to hurt sooner than later. At least now, I can stand by her side.”

Meng Xi wanted to say more, but the door of the styling room opened.

Pata, pata.

Meng Xi followed the sound. Under the girl’s grey cable-knit sweater was a well-tailored white shirt. The brown thread embroidery on the cuff was the perfect touch, adding a sense of calmness to the entire top. A plaid tie in a Meilard color palette was paired with a grey-blue long skirt, topped off with exquisite leather boots.

Her long hair was swept up, revealing a full forehead beneath which were bright, clear eyes, showing a hint of nervous apprehension. She was very thin—an unhealthy, malnourished thinness. The stylist had made specific on-site alterations to ensure the clothing flattered her figure and made her look more balanced.

Even the children’s watch on her wrist, with the stylist’s careful matching, integrated with the entire outfit and did not look out of place. Instead, it was an interesting focal point.

Meng Xi was stunned.

Shen You’an clutched the edge of her clothes, asking with some discomfort: “Sister Su, Sister Meng Xi, do you think this is suitable? Do I look strange dressed like this?”

This was understandable for Shen You’an.

Anyone who had spent ten years in the apocalypse would probably be unaccustomed to dressing up so delicately.

Meng Xi immediately poured out praise: “Suitable, absolutely suitable. You’an, you look exceptionally beautiful, truly.”

Shen You’an looked at Su Wu.

Su Wu stepped forward, gently smoothing the strands of hair that Shen You’an had slightly disarranged due to her nervousness.

Su Wu’s gaze enveloped her. Just as Shen You’an suspected she might be burned by the intensity, Su Wu’s gaze withdrew, as if the moment before had been an illusion.

“Beautiful,” Su Wu said. “Wait a moment. I suddenly remembered something that would complement you perfectly.”