Chapter 3

Less than two seconds after Qin Mingchuan’s questioning message arrived, Su Xingyao’s phone gently vibrated.

The other party, unusually, had initiated contact with him.

Interrupted in the process of blocking the contact, Su Xingyao expressionlessly looked at the incoming call. Without even blinking, he hung up the call.

But the next second, the phone started vibrating again.

Qin Mingchuan, the high-and-mighty young master, persistently called again.

Su Xingyao didn’t waver because of the other party’s persistence and was about to hang up once more.

But just then, a few meters away, Sunset, who had been squatting by the flowers, suddenly leaped towards him excitedly.

Its little paws landed on Su Xingyao’s right hand, causing his finger to accidentally touch the wrong spot on the screen.

Thus, Qin Mingchuan’s call was mistakenly answered.

The familiar low voice immediately came through the earpiece.

“How long do you plan to run away from home?”

Qin Mingchuan’s tone was still gentle, but his words carried an unmistakable certainty.

He had already firmly decided for Su Xingyao—his disappearance for more than a month was simply a tantrum, running away from home.

Upon hearing this, Su Xingyao didn’t try to explain and had no intention of doing so.

He knew that not only Qin Mingchuan, but everyone around him probably saw his disappearance this way.

After all, people who truly care about you don’t need your explanation, while those who require constant explanations never really cared about the truth of the matter in the first place.

Su Xingyao remained silent, and on the other end of the line, Qin Mingchuan also fell quiet.

A few seconds later, he spoke again.

“Tomorrow is Aunt Wen and Xiao Xi’s birthday. Don’t forget.”

After understanding the purpose of the call, Su Xingyao responded with a simple, “Got it.”

After saying that, Su Xingyao, who no longer wanted to talk to him, was about to hang up the phone.

But before he could hang up, Qin Mingchuan, who hadn’t spoken more than three sentences to him in a long time, spoke again.

“Are you coming back?”

“Huh?” Su Xingyao didn’t understand why Qin Mingchuan was saying so much today.

It seemed like Qin Mingchuan wasn’t used to it either. After a pause, he added, “Don’t make Aunt Wen angry.”

Then, as if realizing he hadn’t gotten to the point, he added, “She really cares about this birthday.”

Qin Mingchuan knew better than anyone how much Su Xingyao cared about his mother, so he emphasized this once again.

Su Xingyao wasn’t really paying attention to what Qin Mingchuan was saying. After absentmindedly responding with a soft “mm,” his attention was drawn to the dog, Sunset, who was attempting to bite the peony petals.

Seeing that the little dog was about to actually bite the flower, Su Xingyao quickly reached out to stop it.

“Sunset, don’t bite.”

He gently placed his hand on Sunset’s head and warned in a soft tone.

Sunset, always one to take advantage of the situation, tilted its head back and, in that position, stuck out its tongue to lick Su Xingyao’s palm in an attempt to please him.

The soft sound of the dog’s tongue, through the phone, reached Qin Mingchuan’s ear.

He kept his hand on the phone, quietly listening to the sounds coming from Su Xingyao’s side.

After a while, he seemed to casually ask, “Who is Sunset?”

“My…” Su Xingyao hurriedly corrected himself mid-sentence.

“A little dog.”

There was a brief silence on the other end of the line.

“You got another dog?”

Su Xingyao didn’t answer.

Qin Mingchuan, waiting for an answer that didn’t come, sighed.

“Xiao Xi is afraid of dogs and allergic to dog fur, so when you come back tomorrow, don’t bring it with you.”

Su Xingyao held the phone further away from his ear, and after being no longer distracted by Sun Rui, he finally managed to hang up the phone.

He then casually added Qin Mingchuan’s number to the blacklist as well.

Looking at the increasingly full blacklist, Su Xingyao realized that severing ties with Qin Mingchuan really wasn’t that difficult after all.

His so-called fiancé had once truly cared for and looked after him.

But later, the hatred and distance he felt were also real.

He hadn’t understood before why someone’s attitude could change so quickly.

Now, after dying once, he finally understood—Qin Mingchuan had liked Shen Huaixi.

When the person you like dislikes you, how can your heart not waver?

Compared to the childhood sweetheart who grew up with him, he was just a person Qin Mingchuan met later in life and, naturally, meant nothing.

Qin Mingchuan’s call had caused Su Xingyao to stay by the flower bed a little longer.

When he finally stood up, his calves felt a bit numb.

He sat down on a nearby swing and gently rubbed his numb muscles.

He remembered when he had first been told about the engagement, he had tried to explain to Qin Mingchuan that they could break it off later.

Looking back now, Su Xingyao only found it laughable.

Qin Mingchuan had never hated the engagement itself.

After the blood returned to his legs, Su Xingyao felt much more comfortable.

The knot he had once felt in his heart, from losing the friendship with Qin Mingchuan, had completely unraveled at this moment.

There were so many people who disliked him—what difference did it make if there was one more person, Qin Mingchuan?

Su Xingyao got up, remembering the reminder Qin Mingchuan had just given him.

Qin Mingchuan’s reminder was quite timely, he indeed needed to go back tomorrow.

But the reason for going back had nothing to do with Wen Ningzhu and Shen Huaixi’s birthdays.

This birthday had long since ceased to matter to him.

What was important was that he needed to quickly take all his documents and household registration book from the Shen family’s villa.

After all, without documents, he couldn’t even change a SIM card.

Su Xingyao rubbed his slightly sore fingers.

It was actually quite time-consuming and exhausting to block each of these people one by one.

The next afternoon, Su Xingyao returned to the Shen family.

Originally, he had planned to take a taxi back, but Aunt Zhang was worried about his health and insisted that the family’s driver take him instead.

Unable to refuse Aunt Zhang’s concern, Su Xingyao ended up taking the car left at the villa by Lu Jiuxu.

He left late, and by the time he arrived at the Shen family mansion, it was already getting dark.

As expected, the usually bustling Shen house was empty at this time.

Except for a few less important servants still staying at the house, everyone else had gone to the Shen family’s hotel for the birthday party.

After all, it was the birthday of the matriarch of the Shen family and the most favored son, so naturally, no one would be foolish enough to skip it.

Su Xingyao walked straight to his room without encountering a single person.

The room was just as he had left it.

However, he had no interest in carefully inspecting a place that wasn’t truly his own. He went straight to the bookshelf, opened the drawer, and took out a file folder.

Inside were various documents he had already prepared.

He opened the folder, carefully checked each one, and after making sure he had all the documents, he placed his household registration book inside.

The household registration book was brand new, and only had his name on it.

Many people didn’t know that, despite having returned to the Shen family for so many years, his household registration had never been transferred here.

Not just his household registration, even his birthday and name—his parents hadn’t allowed him to have any official connection with the Shen family.

For example, today, the birthday of Shen Huaixi, which Qin Mingchuan had emphasized so many times.

It actually originally belonged to him.

Not just his birthday, even the name Shen Huaixi had once belonged to him.

Huaixi, Huaixi.

But unfortunately, after his parents lost their biological son, whom they had once held with hope and expectation, they gave all of this to the child they later adopted.

It was only after he accidentally learned this secret that he, feeling disgusted by the birthday his adoptive parents had given him, naively asked his parents if he could also celebrate his birthday on the same day as Shen Huaixi.

When he made this suggestion, there was actually a small personal reason behind it.

Because if that happened, his and his mother’s birthdays would fall on the same day again.

Although this wouldn’t make up for the maternal love he had lacked since childhood, it might at least make the bond between him and his mother feel a little closer.

Thinking back on his naive ideas from that time, Su Xingyao couldn’t help but laugh.

He no longer remembered exactly how he had made this “impolite” request.

But he clearly remembered his father’s face suddenly turning dark, followed by an unexpected scolding.

His father, who had always been so calm in his eyes, suddenly seemed triggered by something, angrily threw his pen, and pointed at Su Xingyao’s head, harshly reprimanding him.

“^[1] “Yue Shuang” can carry a poetic or symbolic meaning, such as overcoming hardship (like frost or coldness) or achieving something beyond a cold, harsh environment. Yue Shuang, everything in this house is yours, why do you have to argue over something as trivial as a birthday with Huaixi?”

Su Xingyao was stunned by his father’s scolding.

He couldn’t understand what terrible thing he had done to make his father misunderstand his intentions so much.

So, he simply kept silent and never mentioned the birthday issue again, silently accepting that he didn’t deserve to celebrate his birthday.

Naturally, he also had the self-awareness to never bring up the idea of being added to the Shen family’s household registration, or of changing the name “Yue Shuang,” which had brought him endless humiliation and suffering, to the name he had once hoped for.

Su Xingyao opened the household registration book, his fingers gently tracing the words on the page.

The name “Su Xingyao” was something he had applied to change himself before he went abroad for his studies.

But now, looking back, he was grateful for his parents’ opposition back then.

Su Xingyao smiled and placed the folder carefully, then walked to the farthest corner of the wardrobe, where he found an old, yellowing suitcase.

It was the suitcase he had brought with him when he returned to the Shen family, containing all the belongings he had taken from the orphanage.

Su Xingyao placed the folder inside the suitcase, securing it, and, without any lingering attachment, left the room with the light suitcase in tow.

As he passed the backyard, he stopped, his gaze falling on a distant corner.

This was where Dan Huang had once been kept.

Because Shen Huaixi was afraid of dogs, the family had always forbidden him from bringing back the disabled dog that had been his companion for six years in the orphanage.

It was only after Su Xingyao had pleaded with them repeatedly, tearing open the painful memories of how he and his sister had been tortured by their adoptive parents, and explained how Dan Huang had been injured while saving him, that they reluctantly agreed to let the dog stay in a corner of the garden.

Su Xingyao crouched down at the spot, guilty, and gathered a handful of earth.

He had brought it with him when he came, but now, as he was leaving, he could no longer take it with him.

He stayed there for a while, silently saying his final goodbye to Dan Huang.

Afterwards, he placed a black card on Shen Liangyu’s desk.

This was the card his father, Shen Liangyu, had given him when he first returned, telling him to use it whenever he needed money.

However, he had never used the card.

To this day, he didn’t know the card’s balance, but he clearly remembered that the password was Shen Huaixi’s birthday.

Having finally returned the last item connected to the Shen family, Su Xingyao left the Shen household without looking back.

His household registration was independent, his name was his own choice, and he had already transferred the money he owed the Shen family for six years of living expenses into that card through the bank.

Now, he had no more ties to the Shen family.

—

At the Shen family’s birthday banquet.

Before the dinner started, Wen Ningzhu received a thoughtful and expensive gift.

The gift was personally delivered by the head of a well-known art gallery.

“Mrs. Shen, this is a gift personally made by Mr. S for you, and he specifically asked me to deliver it to you.”

Amid the curious and envious gazes of everyone, the gloved gallery head carefully unwrapped the gift box to reveal the contents to Wen Ningzhu.

Soon, a brightly colored painting was revealed to the audience.

The painting depicted a vast sunflower field, with a young woman basking in the sunlight, leisurely strolling through it.

“This painting is titled The Girl in the Sunlight and is the latest creation by Mr. S,” the gallery head introduced.

Fearing that people might undervalue the artwork, the gallery head quickly added, “It’s certified by the gallery.”

Certified by the gallery, which meant its value was exceptional.

A few people in the crowd who were somewhat familiar with art followed up with the gallery head’s comment, saying, “Mr. S’s paintings are priceless, Mrs. Shen, this man who gave you the gift has put a lot of thought into it.”

After all, anyone who followed the art world even a little had heard of the new and mysterious rising star, Mr. S, who debuted just two years ago.

His works were highly sought after by private collectors, but he produced very few pieces.

The most mysterious and regrettable thing was that he only collaborated with one gallery, never attending any events, so even collectors who wanted to purchase his paintings couldn’t find him.

Therefore, for someone to get such a genuine piece for Wen Ningzhu, it was clear that a great deal of effort had been put into it.

The gallery head smiled and nodded at the comment, “Indeed, Mr. Su prepared this for Mrs. Shen a year in advance.”

As he spoke, his gaze quietly fell on Wen Ningzhu.

There were a few things about the painting he didn’t mention.

This piece was actually part of a twin series—Mr. S had painted two works in total.

Apart from The Girl in the Sunlight, there was another painting with a similar visual but a completely different atmosphere, titled Fantasy in the Rain, which depicted the theme of familial love.

However, Mr. S had instructed that if he wasn’t personally available to pick up the painting, the gallery head should deliver The Girl in the Sunlight today.

The other painting would be handled by the gallery.

Of course, these were agreements between the two of them, and there was no need for him to share them with anyone else, least of all the recipient of the gift.

Wen Ningzhu did not notice the gallery head’s gaze.

Upon hearing that this painting had been specially prepared by Su Xingyao for her, the frustration she had felt earlier due to her ungrateful son running away suddenly eased.

Her troublesome son had finally put some thought into a gift for her this time.

She even felt as if this painting had been custom-made by Mr. S specifically for her.

Both the style and the content were completely to her liking.

Even the flowers in the painting were her favorite sunflowers.

Wen Ningzhu’s gaze shifted to the young woman in the painting.

Perhaps it was just her imagination, but she felt that the back of the girl in the painting somewhat resembled her own appearance when she was young.

Amidst the compliments from everyone, Wen Ningzhu gracefully accepted the painting.

Finally thinking of her son, she turned to Aunt Liu, who had raised Shen Huaixi, and asked, “Has Xingyao arrived?”

Aunt Liu shook her head. “Not yet.”

She carefully observed Wen Ningzhu’s expression, and seeing the joy in her eyes, she spoke up, “This time, the young master really put in a lot of thought.”

Afterward, she intentionally emphasized the “wrongdoing” of the son. “He’s been away for so long and upset you. He must be trying to soften his attitude and apologize.”

Wen Ningzhu didn’t deny Aunt Liu’s guess.

She believed it to be true as well.

After all, when Su Xingyao had hung up on her, she had been angry for a long time, telling everyone not to contact him and to let him deal with the consequences on his own.

But despite her anger, seeing how thoughtfully her son had prepared such a gift for her birthday, her irritation had dissipated significantly.

So, when Aunt Liu suggested calling Su Xingyao, Wen Ningzhu finally relented and picked up her phone. She opened WeChat and said, “I’ll ask him myself.”

She pressed the voice message button and gently asked, “Xingyao, the banquet is about to start. Are you almost here?”

Her slender fingers released the button, and the message was sent.

Then Wen Ningzhu saw a red exclamation mark appear on the screen.

Seeing that the message hadn’t gone through, she looked at Aunt Liu in confusion. “What’s going on? Is the signal bad here?”

She changed her position and sent the message again.

When the message failed to send a second time, Wen Ningzhu’s expression suddenly changed. The joy she had been feeling quickly faded, and she finally realized what had happened. Her hands trembled as the realization hit her.

Su Xingyao actually blocked her!