Chapter 3: So-called Family

◎ If Xue Huiyu were still alive, how could she not have come back? ◎

After hiding nervously in the corner for a while, Xue Huiyu realized Pei Wenyu wasn’t actually seeing her—he was sleep-talking.

“Xue Huiyu! Xue Huiyu!”

From gentle murmuring to anxious shouting, he reached forward blindly, grasping at the air.

At first, Xue Huiyu couldn’t understand how he could be dreaming about her…

But seeing him call her name in terror, drenched in sweat and flailing helplessly, she suddenly understood—he was having a nightmare, most likely reliving the car crash they’d been in together.

His wrist-worn smart bracelet was flashing madly, showing a dangerously elevated heart rate and blood pressure…

Xue Huiyu felt a complex mix of emotions.

It had been three years, and he was still having nightmares about the crash… Clearly, it had left deep psychological trauma.

She had lost consciousness as she was thrown from the car, blood streaming from her head, so she hadn’t felt much pain. But for the ones who survive, who witness the death or disappearance of their loved ones—it’s a gut-wrenching, unforgettable pain.

Even if their marriage lacked affection, they were more than strangers. They’d gone through the crash together, yet only he had survived. Survivors often struggle with intense guilt—why was it them who lived?

Thinking of this, Xue Huiyu felt a bittersweet ache and lost her earlier urge to hit Pei Wenyu. She floated away, slumped her shoulders, and drifted downstairs.

After swiping at the air in vain, Pei Wenyu woke up, drenched in sweat.

Gasping heavily, his eyes widened in panic. It took him a long moment to recover from the nightmare that had haunted him for three years.

He’d dreamed of that day again.

After giving birth, Xue Huiyu had been anxious, nervous, and unable to eat or sleep. He’d worried it was postpartum depression, so he booked her an appointment with a trusted psychologist, bought tickets for The Phantom of the Opera, and planned a hospital visit followed by the show and a candlelit dinner.

But Xue Huiyu refused to go out, no matter how many times he asked. So to coax her out, he lied and said her father needed to see them.

On the way, she sensed something was off and called her father’s secretary—exposing his flimsy lie. Furious at his meddling, she demanded they turn the car around.

If he’d agreed to turn back, the accident wouldn’t have happened. But the moment was lost. Exhausted from arguing, tragedy struck the next second.

Pei Wenyu regretted it deeply—regretted not buckling her seatbelt, regretted not holding her tighter in that final moment.

When he woke up in the hospital, he was told Xue Huiyu had fallen into the river—her fate uncertain.

The waters of the Shiyu River were deep and fast-flowing, with near-zero visibility. Falling in meant being swept away. Worse, it was the dead of winter and that night brought extreme storms: hail, freezing rain, and damaging winds. Divers couldn’t get in the water, delaying rescue efforts and missing the golden window.

By the time the weather cleared and divers entered the water, there was no sign of Xue Huiyu’s body.

In such freezing conditions, if she hadn’t been rescued quickly, she was likely frozen to death. After three days of fruitless searching, they suspected her body had floated downstream—into the country’s largest river, making the search area impossibly large.

To this day, her body had never been found.

No body meant hope. Maybe she’d been rescued by some kind soul?

But hope turned into numbness over the course of three years…

He no longer dared hope.

If Xue Huiyu were alive, how could she not have come back? How could she not contact anyone?

No matter how much she hated their married life, she wouldn’t have abandoned her ballet dream.

She didn’t return because…

Pei Wenyu’s chest tightened with sorrow.

After splashing his face with cold water, he lay on the bed in a loose bathrobe and lit a cigarette. The heart rate monitor on his wristband showed his vitals dropping sharply—like a jagged mountain slope.

Xue Huiyu had hated the smell of cigarettes. After their first proper meeting, he quit cold turkey for her. But in the years since her disappearance, the habit had returned—worse than ever, now a dependency.

Doctors had warned him repeatedly—his frail body couldn’t handle smoking. But it was the only way he could numb his nerves. Without it, he wouldn’t have survived the first month after losing her.

Just as he finished the cigarette, his phone rang.

He glanced at the caller ID and picked up. After a pause, he said, “Auntie, what’s the matter?”

“It’s about Huiyu’s funeral, Wenyu. When do you plan to hold it?” asked Xia Lanzhi—Xue Huiyu’s stepmother. Huiyu had never called her “Mom,” so Pei Wenyu also referred to her as “Auntie.”

She hesitated and said, “It’s already been three and a half years…”

“I understand, Auntie,” Pei Wenyu interrupted with a frown. But unlike before, Xia Lanzhi didn’t stop there.

“You’ve said ‘I understand’ so many times, but you can’t keep dragging this out…” she urged, sounding like she was speaking with the utmost sincerity. “If Huiyu were coming back, she would’ve come back already… You should face the facts and hold her funeral… Let her wandering soul finally have a home and a place to rest…”

Xia Lanzhi sounded so righteous, as if she truly had the best intentions for the late Xue Huiyu. But Pei Wenyu knew better—what she was waiting for wasn’t Huiyu’s peaceful burial, but her inheritance and insurance payout.

After someone has been missing for two years due to an accident, one can apply to the People’s Court to have them declared legally dead.

Xia Lanzhi had been dropping hints for a whole year. Her goal was clear—she wanted to quickly divide up Huiyu’s shares and assets. Pei Wenyu also knew Huiyu loathed Xia Lanzhi and would never have allowed her to seize what rightfully belonged to her.

Annoyed, Pei Wenyu rubbed his freshly washed hair and replied coldly, “I’ll process Huiyu’s death certificate soon, and then hold a funeral for her.”

But before that, he planned to give Xia Lanzhi a big surprise.

Oblivious to Pei Wenyu’s real thoughts, Xia Lanzhi believed she had finally convinced him.

Thinking about the large inheritance that was about to fall into her lap, and that her son’s problems might finally be resolved, she beamed with joy. “I’m glad you’ve come around!”

While Pei Wenyu was on the phone with Xia Lanzhi, Xue Huiyu, who had nothing else to do, took a bus to her father Xue Qingyu’s villa. It was only a 20-minute ride.

Before her marriage, her relationship with her father had deteriorated again due to the arranged marriage. Now that he thought she was dead, did he ever regret it, even a little?

Did he miss her?

Not that she was worried about him having no one to care for him. After all, his pride and joy was his son—her half-brother Xue Hongjun.

In his eyes, daughters were merely tools for arranged marriages, while his son was the rightful heir to the company.

Now that she was “dead,” there was no one to compete with his son for the company. Not that she had ever cared about that.

But when she floated into Xue Qingyu’s villa, she saw that woman again—her stepmother, Xia Lanzhi.

She was just hanging up a call with a big smile on her face, and then, like a fluttering butterfly, she gracefully made her way to Xue Qingyu’s bedroom. Of course, before knocking, she quickly wiped the smile off her face and replaced it with a look of sorrow. She pushed the door open and said, “Wenyu just called me. He said he’ll be processing Huiyu’s death certificate soon and then holding a funeral.”

Sitting in a recliner, Xue Qingyu looked up, and Xue Huiyu was surprised to see how much he had aged in three years.

He had far more white hair, his eyes had lost their luster, and his complexion was poor.

“Three and a half years… it really has been that long.” Xue Qingyu coughed lightly. “Leave Huiyu’s share to Wenyu and Yuqi.”

Xia Lanzhi’s face immediately fell, but she quickly composed herself and feigned hesitation. “Yuqi is only three years old. Is it really okay to leave it to him this early? What if Wenyu remarries? Wouldn’t that end up benefiting someone else?”

“Didn’t I leave enough for Hongjun? Now you want to snatch Huiyu’s share too? Even if Wenyu marries someone else, Yuqi will always be my grandson!” Xue Qingyu said sternly. Xia Lanzhi’s expression darkened but she didn’t dare say more.

In the silence, Xue Qingyu sighed. “There was no real love between Huiyu and Wenyu, but in the three years since her death, Wenyu never remarried. He focused entirely on running the subsidiary well. As for the Pei Group, it’s clear they won’t let Wenyu inherit. We have to think more about Wenyu and Yuqi.”

“Cough, cough…” As he spoke, Xue Qingyu began coughing again. He reached for a capsule and a glass of warm water, swallowing it in one go.

Seeing him take his medicine, Xia Lanzhi didn’t stay long. She picked up a tray and left the bedroom.

But once she was outside, her expression turned grim.

“Mom, what’s with that face?” Xue Hongjun, just returning home with a golf club slung over his shoulder, saw her sulking in the living room. He quickly put the club in the entryway and rushed over. “Who upset you?”

Seeing her son acting so flippantly, Xia Lanzhi was filled with anger. “All you do is play! Did you fix the losses yet? If your dad finds out what you did, do you really think he’ll still hand the company over to you?”

Scolded straight out, Xue Hongjun mumbled, “Once Huiyu’s money comes in, we’ll figure something out…”

“We’re not getting Huiyu’s share anymore.”

Xue Huiyu owned 20% of the company and a subsidiary. Now all of it would go to that Pei Wenyu!