Chapter 21 – Neighboring Big Sister (Part 11)

—

The amount of money was substantial.

For a moment, Wen Shulan thought it was some shady money laundering scheme, or a scam text message.

But after a trip to the bank, she realized it was neither.

After taking a moment to calm down, she shakily sent a message to that same number from before.

But this time, the message failed to send.

Wen Shulan collapsed into a chair, tears streaming down her face as she clutched her phone tightly.

She didn’t know if she was crying for herself, or for those memories she could never return to.

She didn’t tell her son and stepdaughter about this unexpected windfall. Maybe it was one of her few selfish thoughts—she felt that if she spent this money, she’d truly be crossing a line.

But what she didn’t expect…
Was to come home one day after an exhausting shift—only to find the house completely empty.

Her stepdaughter had taken Chu Jie and all their belongings with her, leaving only a note behind.

Hands trembling, Wen Shulan opened the tattered piece of paper.
The messy writing, like a child dog-paddling through literacy, belonged to Chu Jie:

“Mom, I’ve left with big sis. She said she could only take one of us. We’ll live well. But since we don’t have jobs yet, we took Dad’s bank card too.”

“……”

The once-crowded rental house was now filled with nothing but her hysterical laughter.

She had treated Chu An like her own daughter, poured her heart into raising both kids, carefully budgeting every penny of her meager income—pinching cents in half to stretch them farther—

And yet they had left her behind without the slightest bit of hesitation.

Fortunately—

Fortunately—

Fortunately, she hadn’t told them about the “thank-you fee.”
Wen Shulan glanced at the balance on her phone and at the card she had hidden in the most discreet place in the house. Then, she finally exhaled.

…With this money, she could go somewhere no one knew her and start over.

—

Jiang Jiang noticed that Wen Ye was about to deactivate one of his old phone numbers.

He explained, “It was a secondary SIM card my mom got me back in middle school. It came with some monthly data and minutes—enough for me to use while staying in the dorm.”

Jiang Jiang felt like he wanted to say more but was hesitating, so she gently prompted him:
“You’re deactivating it because you don’t need it anymore?”

Wen Ye pressed his lips together.

“Back then, my mom hadn’t gotten pregnant yet. She was worried I’d be scared living away from home at such a young age, so she told me—”

“If you ever feel lonely, use this card to call or text Mom. I’ll always be there for you, A-Ye.”

“……”

“At first, it was like that. But then she got pregnant, and stopped checking her phone as often. After giving birth to Chu Jie, she got too busy to keep up. That SIM card just… stopped being used.”

After getting kicked out, he had blocked every contact from that family—except this one number.

He hadn’t expected it would someday be used again, when Wen Shulan messaged him a warning about Chu Keyong.

In return, he’d calculated all the expenses she had spent on him over the years—
Even factoring in the early years of motherly affection—and transferred enough money to her to live comfortably for the rest of her life.

As long as she didn’t do something foolish and give it to those two ungrateful brats, she’d be fine.

“It doesn’t hold any meaning anymore. No point in keeping it around to upset myself.”

Jiang Jiang looked at his face—calm to the point of eeriness.
She knew he probably didn’t feel as indifferent as he looked.

She reached for the card he was tightly gripping.

Couldn’t pry it from his hand.

“Let go.”

She gently tapped the back of his hand.

Though confused, Wen Ye obediently handed it over.

Jiang Jiang slotted the card back in and added herself as the only contact.

Then handed the phone back to him.

“Now it’s useful again.”

Wen Ye chuckled. “But don’t we usually use my main number to talk? Are you trying to claim both my phone numbers?”

“So what if I am?” Jiang Jiang said bossily.

She knew she had to shift Wen Ye’s focus.

Jiang Jiang stuffed the phone into his pocket, then reached out and slowly hugged him.
“This way, you’ll always have two choices.”

She pressed her face against his chest, voice muffled:
“The main number is the current Wen Ye. The secondary one… is the little Wen Ye who still needs his mom.”

Wen Ye’s entire body froze.
He looked down at the fluffy crown of her head, his throat bobbing—but no sound came out.

“I know I can’t replace her…” Jiang Jiang looked up and gently wiped the redness from the corners of his eyes with her fingertip, “but you can use that number to contact me anytime. If you have nightmares in the middle of the night, or want a midnight snack—”

She was suddenly pulled into a tight embrace.

So tight her ribs almost hurt.

Hot breath brushed against her neck.

“Enough,” Wen Ye whispered, “that’s enough, Jiejie. I already can’t love you any more than I do now.”

Jiang Jiang blinked, confused.

What was that supposed to mean?

Wen Ye kissed her fingertips and murmured,
“…It means I love you too much.”

Only he knew—

All these touches weren’t enough for him anymore.
He wanted to keep her locked inside him forever.

He wanted them to stay bound, even through life and death.

Like a soothed little beast, he lay on her lap with his eyes closed, resting peacefully.

But the desire in his heart only grew darker, heavier.

—

Wen Ye had been trying to find a good opportunity to tell Jiang Jiang the truth.

But he kept failing.

Because he couldn’t imagine what would happen if she found out he’d already been acknowledged by the Qin family before they even met—
That he had been pretending to be pitiful from the very beginning.

He could only reveal things slowly, bit by bit.

But the break ended sooner than expected.

When he lived with the Chu family, breaks always felt endless.

Now, every moment with his sister passed far too quickly.

Jiang Jiang had finished scouting scenes around the small town and was preparing to return home and talk things over with her parents.

Luckily, Wen Ye’s university was in the same city as the Jiang family.

It would still be convenient for them to see each other.

This made “10086” (the phone carrier) feel quite proud. Hmph—
If it hadn’t done its job, would they have ended up together so smoothly?

—

But Wen Ye didn’t return to campus.

After parting ways with Jiang Jiang, he was picked up by the Qin family.

Old Master Qin’s attitude was:

“You can go back to school once you’ve started handling Qin family business. Degrees are just a formality. We Qin men don’t need fancy diplomas.”

Wen Ye stared at the old man—half-illiterate at best—and asked calmly:

“So… is that why you never went to school either?”

The old man paused to consider, then replied,
“No.”

“I just didn’t pass the entrance exams.”

“……”

Only after saying it did he seem to realize how awkward it sounded.
He cleared his throat.
“Anyway, you’ll need to change your surname. We’ll also be hosting a banquet to officially announce your identity.”

“…Okay.”

Wen Ye knew—

It was time to act fast.