Chapter 132: Don't rush

(1)

Three distinct clicks of the deadbolts rang in her ears, each one making her heart tighten a little.

In Shu Shu's bewildered gaze, Pei Du turned his long legs back, stopped in front of her, and gestured toward the sofa with his hand: "Please have a seat."

His pleasant, low-pitched voice also carried a hint of politeness.

It seemed as if the person who had just tricked her here with a smoke bomb and then swiftly locked the door wasn't him at all.

"……"

Shu Shu looked at Pei Du, who lowered his eyes to meet hers, his expression normal, giving no useful information from his face or gaze.

She felt that Pei Du had something he wanted to say to her.

The only connection between them now was Mu Yin; perhaps it had to do with her daughter?

But saying that, how could deceiving her be justified?

At that moment, Shu Shu's mind flashed with many possibilities, yet she never considered the most impossible scenario.

That is, Pei Du knew the true relationship between her and Mu Yin.

Because she was eighteen and Mu Yin seventeen—no one would even think of a mother-daughter relationship, no matter how hard they tried.

Shu Shu narrowed her eyes, remained still, her face betraying no inner emotion, and only asked: "Where is Mu Yin? How did her phone end up with you?"

"Next door, having dessert."

Pei Du even frankly admitted: "I borrowed her phone to send you the message."

The next door was the presidential suite across the hall; Pei Du had booked both rooms.

"……"

Shu Shu curled her lips in a hollow smile, sneering: "I didn't expect Mr. Pei, at his age, to still be fond of the emojis young people like to use."

His imitation of Mu Yin's tone was an exact copy.

He even, he even added a QAQ.

Pei Du's eyelids didn't move; his dark pupils showed no sign of life, silently accepting Shu Shu's sarcastic remarks.

Shu Shu: "So that means Mu Yin's clothes aren't dirty."

Pei Du: "Hmm."

"Oh, then there's no need to change clothes."

For some reason, from the moment she entered, Shu Shu had a bad premonition, feeling as if she had walked into some kind of trap.

This ambiguous feeling made her have no time to keep arguing with Pei Du about his deception; instead, she needed to leave as soon as possible.

"Tell Mu Yin, after she finishes dessert, I'll be waiting for her downstairs; I'm leaving first."

Having said that, Shu Shu walked toward the door as if nothing were wrong.

"Click."

Before she could even flip the first deadbolt, a faint breeze accompanied by footsteps brushed the skin on her neck; immediately, a powerful hand with a faint cyan hue on the back pressed against the door before her, clearly preventing her from opening it.

Pei Du told her: "Don't rush to leave."

Shu Shu feigned speechlessness: "Mr. Pei, my luggage isn't packed yet; are you offering to help—"

Before she could finish speaking.

"Yinyin."

The man's low, soft voice appeared beside her ear, cutting off all of Shu Shu's words.

"……"

She held her breath for over three seconds, Shu Shu stiffened her body, not turning around.

"Yinyin."

"Do I have to call you that for you to stay?"

"……"

Shu Shu turned her head in disbelief, stared at Pei Du in shock, observing his expression, and then confirmed from his gaze—he had not regained his memory.

"Mr. Pei, you've mistaken me for someone else, right? My name is Shu Shu."

Shu Shu instantly composed her expression, curled her lips, trying to cover up her pretense of ignorance.

The cold-faced man stared at her and bluntly said: "You are Shu Shu, and you are also Yinyin."

"……"

"……"

"……"

Shu Shu's CPU overheated.

Pei Du asked: "So, can we sit down and talk now?"

…

Shu Shu and Pei Du sat facing each other across a low marble square coffee table.

Seeing Shu Shu's full of bewildered doubt, Pei Du proactively said: "I haven't regained my memory."

Shu Shu: "……?"

She became even more confused: if he hadn't regained his memory, how would he know the two words "Yinyin"?

Pei Du suddenly said: "Mu Yin is my daughter."

Shu Shu: "."

"Oh, I see."

"The next second."

"And also Yinyin, your daughter—"

"……"

Compared to just now hearing Pei Du call Yinyin herself, it was even more shocking; Shu Shu's pupils almost instantly contracted from a reflex.

"Yinyin and Shu Lingchen are not an aunt and nephew relationship." Pei Du stared at Shu Shu's stunned expression with his dark eyes, each word clear, like a powerful hammer striking down and sealing the deal as he continued: "He is your son, and likewise, mine."

From the moment he obtained the test results as solid proof, Pei Du never intended to hide that he had learned everything.

That dream had brought him too many disappointments; by the time the mist cleared that day, he had waited so, so long.

All this gradualism, boiling a frog in warm water, beating around the bush—nothing but seeking far while neglecting the near.

Now, the person is right before us.

So, what he wants to do is come clean.

"……"

Pei Du, with such a casual tone, pulled down the shocking curtain blocking the truth.

So blunt that nobody had any chance to dodge.

The air now could no longer be described as dead silent.

""——Then what?""

Soon after, Shu Shu's slightly cold voice sounded.

Even before Pei Du said, 'And Yinyin is your daughter,' her gaze toward him had changed.

Those beautiful peach-blossom eyes were full of wariness, her whole person like a cat with its fur blown out.

For Pei Du to say this so confidently, he must have used some method to confirm it completely.

Shu Shu unconsciously clenched a tassel from the nearby sofa in her palm.

Been found out.

Then what?

An eighteen-year-old girl is actually the mother of a seventeen-year-old boy and girl?

That's pretty strange and bizarre, isn't it?

Furthermore, the boy's mother clearly died in an accident thirteen years ago, yet now she is alive and well in this world, appearing as an eighteen-year-old.

Back from the dead, crossing into the future.

This is even more bizarre and fantastical to the extreme.

Will she be seen as a monster? Or, once it gets out, will she be targeted by those weird scientists who specialize in researching strange phenomena?

Various random thoughts flashed through Shu Shu's mind.

She stared at Pei Du, full of wariness, yet his face showed no sign of thinking it absurd or ridiculous; instead, he let out a faint sigh and continued her words:

"Then, I just want to tell Yinyin that afterward, she doesn't need to avoid me anymore."

Pei Du was referring to the period after he asked Shu Shu that day whether they had known each other before.

He knew that Shu Shu had been intentionally avoiding their contact.

"……"

Shu Shu froze for a second.

Just... like this...?

(2)

In summer, the temperature is high; cool air flows from the central air conditioning, moving the tightly closed curtains.

The indoor lights are on, so it's not dim.

At the side of the coffee table, Pei Du wore casual dark clothing, his aura aloof, setting off the cold-white skin of his neck exposed at the collar, lines smooth, one hand slightly bent downward resting on a knee.

He appeared especially composed.

That feeling of "Oh, Shu Shu is eighteen, but she has two seventeen-year-old children, and Shu Shu actually died thirteen years ago, yet she has come back to life. Hmm, I get it."

"……"

Pei Du watched the wariness in Shu Shu's eyes gradually fade.

Shu Shu, puzzled, asked: "……You, how do you know?"

This person.

Haven't they all lost their memories! How is an empty head turning!

Pei Du told Shu Shu there were many aspects.

For example, Shu Shu's overly meticulous care for Pei Muyin; for example, a Shu Shu aunt appearing from the orphan Shu Lingchen, who had lived alone for thirteen years; for example, Pei Muyin and Zhou Zhi both said Shu Lingchen resembled Pei Du.

And so on, letting Pei Du's suspicions grow like a snowball.

Shu Shu said: "These can only raise your suspicions; they cannot support the conclusion you just stated."

So, what gives him the confidence to confront her so firmly?

Then.

Pei Du then fell silent.

All that could be seen was the man's lashes fluttering, a faint shadow falling on his clean eyelids; though his expression didn't change, Shu Shu inexplicably saw a hint of... guilt?

The matter is a bit complicated; Shu Shu narrowed her eyes and pressed on.

Soon after, Pei Du lifted his eyes: "Before speaking, I might need your forgiveness first."

Shu Shu nodded without hesitation: "Mm-hm, forgiven."

……Pei Du furrowed his brows, observing Shu Shu's expression; he was clearly unsure whether her forgiveness was genuine, realizing she probably just wanted to learn the truth quickly; in the end he still said: "Sorry, without your knowledge, I took samples from everyone and conducted a DNA test."

…………

Another lengthy silence.

Shu Shu felt like laughing in exasperation.

She just said, what overcame metaphysics? Turns out, it was science.

:)

Just like that, her cover was blown.

But the point is, who in their right mind would run a kinship test on an eighteen-year-old and two seventeen-year-olds?

Shu Shu looked at Pei Du, locking eyes with the man's calm, dark gaze.

This person has amnesia.

How is his keen perception still so… terrifying.

Shu Shu asked again, a bit awkwardly: "How did you know 'Yinyin'?"

"Mu Yin told me, the third character of her name is her mother's name." Pei Du paused, then said: "All this time, I've been having a dream where it's Mu Yin's mother, but it's very blurry—I can't see her face or hear her voice clearly—until I called out 'Yinyin' to her, and her response sounded exactly like yours."

Shu Shu: "……"

Just, just based on this?

This person, their mind, simply, terrifying to this degree!

However.

The matter is still far from as simple as Shu Shu thought.

Pei Du said: "Mu Yin still doesn't know you're her mother, right?"

Shu Shu didn't make a sound, tacitly agreeing, because it was obvious.

"However, Lingchen knows you're the mother, and also knows that Mu Yin is his sister. But he doesn't know that I am his father." After Pei Du finished, he added: "Also, I should say, he doesn't know that I am his father by blood relation to Mu Yin."

The man's voice lightly analyzed.

"He thinks I and Mu Yin have that kind of adoptive relationship, and that I obtained it through unscrupulous means—for example, the way rich people use money and influence to pick someone else's newborn, then switch identities, making that child mine."

After a brief interaction with Shu Lingchen over the past two days, Pei Du had already extracted eighty or ninety percent of the information from the youth.

Shu Lingchen variously targeted him—was it dislike? Was it hatred?

None of those seem accurate; perhaps he's blaming him.

Yes, blame, to blame.

So from Shu Lingchen's perspective, I must have done something that made him feel unforgivable.

Shu Lingchen still didn't trust him, worrying over his prepared sandwiches in every way; a string of talk first openly and secretly suspected him of putting something in them, and then those descriptions were practically the standard kit of a TV drama abduction plot.

Just afraid that I might end up kidnapping him like he said.

And Shu Lingchen had also said that Mu Yin was his priors.

So working backward, it means that his "abduction" of Mu Yin is what has Shu Lingchen holding a grudge.

After Pei Du finished speaking, he said to Shu Shu: "Of course, I've never had an open and honest talk with Lingchen; all of the above is just my personal speculation, which might be inaccurate."

"……"

"Wait." Shu Shu reacted, asking: "When did the two of you ever have private contact?"

"When you and Mu Yin came to this science museum to compete." Pei Du said: "The next day it rained; he didn't bring an umbrella, so I went to the school to pick him up. This morning, too, I brought him here to the science museum."

Shu Shu: "……"

Nice kid, claiming he brought an umbrella turned out to be a lie.

Lying aside, his words spilled out like beans from a broken basket, all picked up by others.

He's really a silly hare.

Facepalm JPG.

…

Confession session, continue.

The two had a moment of silence.

At this moment, all of their relationships and entanglements have been laid out clearly on the table.

Pei Du, choosing his words carefully, asked softly: "Back then, how did it happen for you?"

He died in an accident; so what kind of accident was it?

Shu Shu froze.

She thought Pei Du would first ask about what happened between the two of them.

"Stabbed in the back with a knife." Shu Shu shrugged: "Then, when I opened my eyes again, it was thirteen years later—now, in an eighteen-year-old's state."

Pei Du's pupils contracted sharply.

Shu Shu said: "I didn't see the killer's face at the time, but after returning, I asked Xiao Chen; Xiao Chen recalled that the killer was a mentally ill person who acted in a fit of passion, committed suicide on the spot after the act, and then the case was closed."

Pei Du furrowed his brows, about to speak.

"I know what you're going to say—it's too neatly wrapped up; could it be a revenge killing ordered by someone? I'm not sure." Shu Shu paused a few seconds, then said: "Back then, I hid my name and lived far, far away from my past, with no social circle at all, and my old identity was already considered dead."

"……"

Probably realizing that last sentence was a bit too much.

Who knows, this person might keep digging, trying to turn her inside out.

Shu Shu cleared her throat: "Since you already know everything, I'll just say it straight—return my daughter to me—"