Chapter 17: Going with Brother?

That feeling of being stuffed with a sponge came back.

Shuangxu hated the feeling of being treated like a thief, but she had a guilty conscience and couldn’t blame anyone.

She could only blame herself.

The whole world was telling her she was wrong, that liking Shen Yu was a heinous sin, a shameless, delusional, and ungrateful wolf.

Shuangxu also hated saying this: “Don’t worry, I’m just his sister, I won’t have any impact on you.”

Lu Manman shrugged: “I don’t think so. I know you like him.”

“Then what do you want?” Shuangxu looked directly at her. “Do you want me to cut off ties with my brother in exchange for your peace of mind? I can answer you now, it’s impossible.”

“I don’t want to influence your opinion of my brother because of me. I never thought about destroying your golden marriage, but my brother will always be my brother, no one can change that. You can accept it if you can, and if you can’t, make your own choice. Don’t put pressure on me, I have no obligation to be responsible for your ‘displeasure’.”

“You’re so gentle in front of your brother, why are you so tough on me?”

“Are you my brother?” Of course, people have different levels of closeness. Can family and outsiders be the same?

Shuangxu said bluntly: “You don’t want to listen to reason, then I’ll be direct – this marriage, you can do it or not.”

To be honest, before today, Lu Manman thought Shuangxu was a gentle, obedient, and easy-to-control person.

But she had a feeling that this rebellious side was the real Song Shuangxu.

“I’m not that domineering, after all, you’ve lived together for so many years, even a dog has feelings, let alone siblings. But, as your future sister-in-law, I have the right to know about your dry sister, right?”

“If you really think you have the right, wouldn’t it be faster to ask my brother directly?”

Lu Manman smiled again: “Are you sure you want me to ask him, ‘Does your dry sister like you?'”

Shuangxu hated Lu Manman using Shen Yu to threaten her, but she couldn’t deny that this method was indeed the most effective.

“My background, Song Leyan must have told you. I was abandoned by my mother. When I was eight years old, she didn’t want me and sent me back to the Song family. My father was transferred to work abroad at that time, and Aunt Cui and Song Leyan all moved to Europe with him. I was alone in China and had no one to take care of me, so I was entrusted to the Shen family.”

“What about your grandfather?”

“My grandfather is the person in the world who hates me the most.”

Shuangxu’s fingertips were pinching the handle of the coffee cup, the circle was very small, she rubbed the smooth porcelain surface, calm as if telling someone else’s story: “He had strong opinions about my mother’s secret birth and sending me back, and he also thought I was timid and crybaby, full of petty bourgeois air, so he left me to the nanny and didn’t care about me.”

Lu Manman was pampered by everyone in the family since she was a child, and grew up in a fairy-tale childhood. It was hard for her to understand that there were still some children in the world who were not loved by their father or mother, whose relatives were still alive, but who were like orphans.

“Then why did Yue Zifeng say that Shen Yu picked you up?”

Shuangxu looked at her for a while and answered with reservations: “The Shen family and the Song family are neighbors, my brother passed by, saw me feeling sorry for me, and took me back.”

Lu Manman showed a sympathetic look.

Shuangxu didn’t bother to judge whether her sympathy was real or fake, she didn’t need it either. She put down the coffee, picked up the bag on the chair.

“I’ve told you everything you want to know, it’s your own business how you think about it. Don’t bother me again.”

The night curtain silently spread outside the glass window. There were few customers in the cafe at this time. She pushed open the door of the cubicle and left without looking back.

The Shen family’s driver was waiting outside the cafe. Shuangxu asked him to send Lu Manman home, and she walked along the quiet street outside the mall for a while and got on the bridge.

Yancheng at night, after nightfall, was full of lights, with a unique prosperity.

The cool and damp wind blew on her face, the river roared under the bridge, the lights on the river embankment formed a line, extending from this moment to the year she was eight years old.

The story she told Lu Manman was a streamlined version.

For a child, being abandoned by her mother was a devastating event. Especially, her mother clearly loved her all the time, but she said no and she didn’t want her anymore.

An eight-year-old child already understands many things. She knew at that time that her mother was going to send her away. She didn’t want to go, she hugged the door frame and wouldn’t let go, and her mother dragged her out forcefully.

That day, while waiting for Song Mianzhi to pick her up at the restaurant, she kept making a fuss. Her mother probably also felt reluctant, so she coaxed her, saying she would buy her the ice cream she liked from the store next door. She was in a bad mood and wouldn’t go, so her mother went by herself and asked the clerk to look after her.

She sat alone in the restaurant, watching people come in and out of the door, each time a man of a similar age came in, the resistance in her heart would increase by one point. The last straw that broke the camel’s back was a man with a very lewd appearance who kept staring at her.

She was scared and ran out of the restaurant impulsively wanting to go home. It was a place she was not familiar with, she got lost, couldn’t find her way home, and couldn’t find the restaurant either.

All the grievances came up together, she stood at the crossroads and burst into tears, until a pair of very clean sneakers appeared in her tear-filled vision.

A boy who looked like the protagonist in a comic book squatted down in front of her, with curved eyes, and asked her: “What’s wrong, little friend?”

She was crying so hard she couldn’t catch her breath, but he was very patient, listening to her mumbling for a long time, and even bought her a beautiful little cake.

He could see her defenses, so he sent her to the police station and stayed with her all the time, until her mother came to pick her up.

Shuangxu remembered that day very clearly, she remembered his fragrance, she remembered the temperature of his palm when he rubbed her hair, she remembered him saying goodbye to her before leaving.

She also remembered that after she went home, her mother, who had been looking for her all afternoon because she had run around, beat her hard.

She cried all night, cried dry her tears, and the next day she was sent directly to the Song family by her mother. She was quiet all the way, and never made a fuss again.

Looking at her mother’s back as she left at that time, she hoped in her heart that her mother would turn back and look at her, but since then–>>

There was nothing left in the end.

Song Mianzhi had left for a work assignment abroad the previous night. Mom’s decision to bring her back was sudden, and he had no plans for this unexpected daughter. He only spared an hour for lunch with them, leaving before they even arrived at the restaurant.

So, the Song family mansion was empty.

Only two housekeepers remained, strangers to her, whispering about her background.

The pain of being abandoned by her mother and the helplessness of being alone overwhelmed her. It was only a few days later that Grandpa Song found time to visit the villa.

His aura was already stern, and his critical gaze towards her made him look annoyed. He stayed for only a few minutes before leaving.

The housekeepers only took care of her meals, not speaking a word beyond that.

Shuangxu was left alone in that empty villa, like someone forgotten by the world.

She spent her days squatting by the fence, looking out, like a wild mushroom growing there, still clinging to the unrealistic hope that her mother would come back for her.

She didn’t wait for her.

But she waited for that handsome brother.

He wore the uniform of Fuzhong High School, carrying a schoolbag on his shoulder, passing by the fence in the evening.

Every time, Shuangxu’s mushroom-like head would turn towards him like a sunflower.

Finally, one day, he crossed the lush green lawn and walked towards her, standing outside the iron fence of the garden, bending down to look at the unwanted her for a while, asking:

“Will you come with your brother?”

That year, Shen Yu was sixteen.

Outsiders only knew that she was entrusted to the Shen family, but they all got one thing wrong.

It wasn’t Shen Changyuan and his wife who raised her, but Shen Yu.