Chapter 420: You Don't Need to Know

"No, if you don't tell me, I'm going with you." Shi Youxuan jumped off the bed and began pulling on her coat.

Sheng Hanyu had no choice but to tell her the truth: "Yes, those two didn't go home; they were caught by my mother at the Villa."

Shi Youxuan:...

What kind of divine operation is this?

Before going to sleep, the two had discussed the relationship between the Aunt and the father-in-law. Shi Youxuan had noticed that something was off between them, but Sheng Hanyu had been uninterested, saying he was sleepy and wanted to go to bed after only a few words.

She had also realized that it wasn't appropriate to discuss such things in front of Sheng Hanyu, so she hadn't said anything more.

As it turned out, only a few hours had passed before something happened.

"You go yourself, drive carefully." Shi Youxuan decided not to follow.

It wasn't appropriate for her to tag along for this kind of matter.

Sheng Hanyu finished dressing, but changed his mind when he was ready to leave.

He asked Shi Youxuan to go with him.

As a man, he wasn't very good at handling these kinds of situations.

So the two left together and returned to the Villa.

Along the way, they discussed several plans to deal with different scenarios.

But when they returned to the Villa, they were stunned!

The living room was brightly lit, but only the Aunt was there; Sheng Jiang and Wang Yingzhi were both gone.

If not for the mess in the living room, which looked like it had been ransacked, and the injury on the Aunt's face, they would have suspected that Wang Yingzhi had called in the middle of the night as a prank just to mess with them.

"Where are they?" Sheng Hanyu's expression was grim, and his tone was harsh.

Although he was usually closer to the Aunt than to Wang Yingzhi, if the Aunt were to be his father's mistress, he would definitely be the first to object.

"They left. They left half an hour ago."

The Aunt didn't explain why they left, nor did she say what had happened before they arrived.

She only said nonchalantly: "It's good that you came; it saves me from having to tell you both separately. I plan to return to the south, leaving first thing tomorrow morning." As she spoke, she placed the front door key on the coffee table.

After giving her instructions, she stood up and turned to go back to her room.

She left behind one sentence: "When you two leave, make sure to close the door for me."

"Stop!"

Sheng Hanyu asked the Aunt's back: "Didn't you say you were taking him back? Why did you both end up here?"

The Aunt, with her back to him, said: "We had some old matters to discuss, so we came here."

"What matters?"

Her figure swayed for a moment, but she steadied herself in an instant, her tone as calm as ever: "You don't need to know."

Sheng Hanyu wouldn't give up, questioning her coldly: "Do you think I won't find out if you don't tell me?"

"If you want to keep it hidden, you shouldn't have done it."

The Aunt did not answer again and walked straight back to her room.

Sheng Hanyu stood in place for over ten seconds, then suddenly grabbed Shi Youxuan's hand: "Let's go, we're going back."

Today's events were too suspicious; he would definitely get to the bottom of it.

Shi Youxuan shook him off: "You go back, I'm staying."

With the children home alone, Shi Youxuan was worried; otherwise, she wouldn't have let Sheng Hanyu go back.

Sheng Hanyu: "It's no use for you to stay. I know her; if there's something she doesn't want to say, no matter what method you use, she won't say it."

Shi Youxuan shook her head, telling him that she didn't want to pry into secrets others didn't want to share.

Rather, relying on a woman's intuition, she was afraid the Aunt might have an accident and prepared to stay here to keep her company.

He was too close to the situation to see it clearly.

He only cared about the matter itself, but hadn't considered what kind of impact this incident would have on the Aunt.

On the surface, the Aunt appeared gentle, wise, and capable of handling anything in an orderly fashion, as if she were omnipotent.

But everyone has a weakness, and her greatest weakness was her pride—and Wang Yingzhi had just rubbed all of her dignity into the floor today!

So Shi Youxuan was worried, afraid the Aunt might do something rash.

Sheng Hanyu was very grateful; he truly hadn't thought of that point.

So he left by himself, and Shi Youxuan stayed behind.

She locked the front door.

Shi Youxuan took a broom and dustpan from the utility room and gave the chaotic room a simple cleaning.

At the very least, there needed to be a place to stand.

After cleaning up, she went to the door of the Aunt's room and listened carefully for any movement inside; there was none.

It was very quiet, quiet enough to be unsettling.

"Aunt, I'm watching TV in the living room. If you need anything, call me." Shi Youxuan didn't truly believe the Aunt would call her if she needed something.

She was just sending a message inside, letting her know that she had stayed and hadn't left.

"Rest assured, I won't do anything rash or take my own life."

A voice finally came from inside, still as calm as ever.

Speaking was a good thing. Shi Youxuan expressed that she was relieved; she wasn't worried about the Aunt taking her own life, she just wanted to stay with her and chat.

This request was rejected.

The Aunt indicated she didn't want to chat, she just wanted some peace and quiet.

If she didn't want to leave, that was fine—that was Shi Youxuan's freedom—but please don't disturb her; she just wanted to be alone.

"Alright, you stay here by yourself, I'll be right outside," Shi Youxuan emphasized once more, then quietly moved a chair to guard the doorway and took out her phone to scroll through it.

Sheng Hanyu left the Villa.

On the road, he received a call from Wang Yingzhi; naturally, she was not using her own number, but Sheng Jiang's phone.

Every time she used her own number, it would be blacklisted by Sheng Hanyu immediately after one call.

"Son, boo-hoo..." Wang Yingzhi started off by crying.

He frowned, put on his Bluetooth headset, and continued driving.

Whenever Wang Yingzhi started with crying, she would never finish without first warming up for ten or twenty minutes.

He had guessed correctly.

By the time he returned to the Apartment, Wang Yingzhi had finally finished crying.

"Son, you must stand up for your mother, your mother can't go on living like this. That pair of goddamn bastards have made me lose all face; how can I ever face anyone when I go out in the future..."

Sheng Hanyu's brows were almost knotted together.

"If you don't go out and talk about it, no one will know."

He was merely stating a fact.

But to Wang Yingzhi's ears, it was not like that at all!

She felt that Sheng Hanyu was favoring that pair of "bastards," and even suspected that Wang Yinghao had already told him about the incident.

"Son, did you hear something from that shameless woman?"

Wang Yingzhi began to brainwash Sheng Hanyu: "You must not listen to that woman's nonsense. You have been blinded by her superficial gentleness. That woman is a hypocrite who is best at putting on an act; everything she says is a lie, none of it is true..."

Sheng Hanyu was impatient: "What exactly do you want to say? Get to the point in one sentence."

"You cannot believe what she says; that woman is not a good person." That was the point!

"She didn't say anything, rest assured."

Sheng Hanyu hung up the phone and habitually prepared to turn it off.

But then he thought, that wasn't right.

What if Xuanxuan called him?

He couldn't turn it off, so he added Sheng Jiang's number to the blacklist instead.

Dawn broke.

The Villa.

In her twenty-plus years of life, this was the first time Shi Youxuan had drunk so much coffee—it was for staying alert!

Sheng Hanyu had stocked too much black coffee at home, but she couldn't find any creamer or sugar near the coffee machine.

It was so bitter that she thought the miseries of the world were probably nothing more than this.

All night long, she had kept her ears pricked for any movement in the room; at first, it was just quiet, but as dawn approached, a faint snoring sound came from inside.

Only upon hearing the snoring did Shi Youxuan feel relieved enough to go brew some coffee.

And after brewing the coffee, hearing that the snoring in the room continued, she went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast.

Her aunt said she was flying today, so she needed to eat well before leaving.

She didn't even think about those delicious porridges.

Lacking the skill, she simply cooked some plain white porridge.

The servants were on holiday for the New Year, and there were only simple ingredients in the refrigerator, which suited Shi Youxuan perfectly—she couldn't make anything complicated anyway.