Chapter 261: Meeting Sheng Hanyu

"You all stay outside and keep watch; we'll go in for a look and come right back out." Shi Youxuan gave the order, and A Qing had no choice but to obey.

The entrance to the courtyard looked ordinary enough, but the inside was much better than the outside; it was a two-section courtyard, and passing through the front house, the back was even better than the front.

There were three main rooms side by side, and the woman pointed to the largest one in the middle: "That is the room where Alisha lived; I will take you in."

Stepping through the door, one could see a black-and-white photograph hanging on the wall with black gauze wrapped around the frame. The person in the photo was indeed "Alisha," and there were even offerings of fruit, incense, and candles on the table; it looked quite convincing.

Upon seeing the photo, the little girl let out a "Wah—" and burst into tears.

She broke free from her mother's hand and suddenly rushed over, jumping up to take the photo down: "Take it down, Alisha isn't dead, Auntie is still alive, I won't allow you to curse her, sob..."

She cried very sorrowfully, but no matter how many times she jumped, she couldn't reach it; she was too short.

So the little girl climbed onto the table...

Seeing that she was being truly unreasonable, Shi Youxuan went over to pick the child up and stopped her: "Xiaozhu, you cannot do this. What did we say before? It's enough to just come and look; if you act like this, Alisha won't be able to rest in peace in the underworld..."

"Alisha died in the prime of her life; she couldn't rest in peace when she died, and the harder you cry, the more Alisha suffers!"

She didn't hold back at all, saying whatever would vent her spite.

Shi Youxuan knew perfectly well that all of this had been set up by Sheng Hanyu, just to cooperate with her in letting Alisha "die" with dignity.

Yesterday, she had sent someone here to notify them, telling them to prepare a little and cooperate in acting for Shi Ran today.

They had even sent over a few "gifts" for the woman to give to Shi Ran in Alisha's name, the purpose being to let her daughter give up on Alisha while still having something to remember her by, and then, with her guiding from the side, Shi Ran would be able to turn her grief into energy.

Zhu Yiwen had said one thing that was quite right: long-term pain is worse than short-term pain.

But she had never imagined that this would be *too* "cooperative," would it?

They had even set up a spirit altar; seeing the "Alisha" photo would only make Shi Ran more heartbroken as she touched the scene and thought of the past.

This infuriated her, so naturally, she said whatever would vent her spite.

Sheng Hanyu, who was hiding in the side room peeking, almost spat out a mouthful of old blood!

Does she hate him that much?

Sheng Hanyu knew that Shi Youxuan must know by now that Alisha was someone he was impersonating. Originally, when he received the news that she was bringing their daughter, he had been very happy—so happy he hadn't slept all night.

But now, seeing her expression as if she wanted to bite him to death, Sheng Hanyu regretted whether he had gone too far.

Never mind.

He walked out.

"Yo, whose little girl is this? Crying so pitifully; come, use this to wipe your face." Sheng Hanyu handed over a wet wipe.

Shi Youxuan froze; she didn't need to look back, she knew who it was just by hearing the voice!

"Xiaozhu, let's go."

Shi Youxuan scooped the child up and dodged, attempting to bypass him and leave.

Sheng Hanyu didn't stop her, but said in a loud voice: "Alisha had words for you when she left; don't you want to hear them?"

"I don't want to; let him take them to hell." Shi Youxuan regretted it immensely now; why had she been so clever and insisted on coming here?

If she had known she would run into this person here, she definitely wouldn't have come.

But Shi Ran said: "I want to hear, Mommy, I want to hear. Please let me down, don't hold me, I'm a big girl now." She struggled hard; she really was a big girl now.

Don't look at how short Shi Ran was; her strength was so great that Shi Youxuan couldn't hold her, and in a few moments, both mother and daughter were drenched in sweat.

Sheng Hanyu, who didn't mind the chaos, came over: "Do you need help?"

"Get lost—"

Shi Youxuan glared at him fiercely.

Shi Ran: "Thank you, Uncle, please help me, Uncle." The little girl was naturally sociable and not afraid of strangers.

Sheng Hanyu didn't wait for "help"; Shi Youxuan had already loosened her grip, so the little girl slid down from her mommy and ran toward Sheng Hanyu before she had even stood steady—she almost fell, but was caught by Sheng Hanyu.

"Slow down."

He took out a fresh wet wipe to wipe the sweat off the little girl's face, focused and careful.

"Get away."

Shi Youxuan's heart was beating so fast it felt like it would jump out of her throat; she shoved him away and pulled her daughter back into her arms.

She scolded: "Are you stupid? You have no guard against strangers at all. If you get kidnapped and sold and can't find Mommy, then you'll know regret..." Shi Youxuan's words were sharp and pointed, scolding the locust tree to berate the mulberry.

Sheng Hanyu: "I am not a stranger."

She didn't want to pay him any mind at all, and walked out while clutching her daughter: "Don't talk to strangers; this person looks like a bad guy, specifically one who kidnaps children."

Shi Ran whispered: "Mommy, I don't think he looks like a bad guy."

Shi Youxuan: "Nonsense, if a bad guy let people see he was a bad guy, how would he trick people?"

The little girl felt that Mommy's words made sense.

If Sheng Hanyu didn't speak again and let this pair of mother and daughter walk out of the courtyard, he would probably never see his daughter again.

He looked at their backs and said: "I am Alisha's own brother, not a bad guy."

"Liar, big liar!" Shi Youxuan gritted her teeth in hatred.

But Shi Ran had already broken free from her hand again and ran back: "Are you really Auntie's brother? What do I have to do to believe you?"

Sheng Hanyu: "Look into my eyes; do they look like hers?"

So the little girl stared into his eyes for less than a second and smiled: "They do, they are exactly the same, I like you."

"Alisha left a gift for you; let's go get it."

"Okay."

A large hand reached out, and a small hand naturally rested upon it; thus, large hand holding small hand, the two walked back.

It wasn't that Shi Youxuan didn't want to stop them, but she was blocked outside by that woman and couldn't get in.

"Madam, the weather is hot today; please go to another room to drink some iced sweet juice, I squeezed it myself."

"Get out of the way, or I won't be polite to you." Shi Youxuan found this woman, whom she had once saved, very unpleasant to look at now.

The woman did not care in the slightest about her threats, still smiling as she said, "Please, Madam."

Before the word "please" had even finished falling, she suddenly struck with lightning speed, tapping Shi Youxuan on the carotid artery, and Shi Youxuan's vision went black; she knew nothing more.

The woman turned to support her, then effortlessly carried her into the room ahead.

……

"Uncle, will Auntie never come back again?" Passing by the room from before, the little girl saw the "Alisha memorial portrait," and tears filled her eye sockets once more.

Sheng Hanyu dotingly stroked his daughter's head: "She will come back, Alisha will definitely come back."

Shi Ran was puzzled: "But she has already died, hasn't she?"

"Even the dead can come back to life."

Adults would certainly not believe such words, but it was enough that a child would.

Shi Ran believed this statement implicitly, and her impression of Sheng Hanyu was also incredibly good.

She blinked her large eyes, looked at Sheng Hanyu, and said very earnestly: "Uncle, I like you; you make me feel very close, just like Alisha."

Sheng Hanyu was pleased, so pleased, so pleased that he almost told her: I like you too, my daughter.

In the end, he still controlled himself; now was not yet the time to acknowledge his daughter.

The gifts "Alisha" left for Shi Ran were taken out one by one, filling almost an entire table; except for a few items sent by Shi Youxuan, they were all prepared by Sheng Hanyu.

"So many?" the little one was surprised.

Sheng Hanyu looked at the table full of gifts and still felt it was too little: "Is it a lot? There aren't even a few items here."