Chapter 19: Dream Verified

Then, in the middle of the night.

Mother and son each sat on the high stools at the juice bar, drinking the sweet water served just after three a. m.

It was mango milk pudding with sago.

Shu Lingchen scooped a large spoonful into his mouth; the silky fruit flesh and milky aroma blended together and spread across his taste buds.

The last time he drank sweet water made by his mother was thirteen years ago.

The taste was as good as ever.

How nostalgic.

Shu Lingchen narrowed his eyes in satisfaction, and the lingering dread from the nightmare in his chest also faded.

He took another few big gulps, then suddenly remembered something; he lifted his head, looked across at Shu Shu, and probed: "Mom, tomorrow when I'm in class sleeping, you won't smack my head, will you?"

Shu Shu didn't even look up: "If you sleep, I'll hit you."

"But I'll have to get up soon after falling asleep to go to school, so I'll definitely be sleepy during the day."

Shu Shu: "No problem, a few more hits and you won't be sleepy."

"..."

Shu Lingchen wilted; he recalled how, when he had been jolted awake by the nightmare just moments before, he had heard Shu Shu softly call him "Xiao Chen." The boy's eyes grew somewhat resentful: "Mom, I've noticed you've changed."

Shu Shu's expression didn't change: "Yeah, I know—I've become younger and prettier."

"..." Shu Lingchen couldn't deny that, but after pondering, he replied: "No, you used to gently call me Xiao Chen, but now you always call me by my full name, Shu Lingchen, Shu Lingchen—it sounds so cold."

"Mom, could it be that you... despise the grown‑up me?" he said, lowering his eyes in dejection.

Upon hearing that,

Shu Shu lifted her gaze, looked at Shu Lingchen, and examined him seriously.

Receiving his mother's stare, Shu Lingchen tensed, his spine straightening reflexively; he stuck out his neck, expecting to hear words of comfort like "Mom, how could I possibly dislike you? You're overthinking it, son."

The result came the next second.

He heard Shu Shu let out a long sigh and say: "Shu Lingchen, you should know—no one can be gentle with a turkey chick."

Shu Lingchen: "?"

What does that mean?

Shu Shu glanced at Shu Lingchen's indescribable red‑yellow‑blue turkey‑like hair.

When Shu Lingchen was little, his looks were famously high throughout the neighborhood and kindergarten.

He inherited his father's excellent genes—big eyes, double eyelids, a high nose bridge.

He was a fragrant, soft, handsome little shota, the kind that could melt anyone's heart.

Back then, Shu Shu's favorite thing was to have custom‑made little vests and suits tailored for Shu Lingchen to wear.

But now.

He has turned into a ripped‑jeans‑wearing 'kill‑matte'!

Shu Lingchen lifted his head and saw the blatant disdain in Shu Shu's eyes; he felt as if an arrow had struck his knee, then he turned away and snorted:

"... Fine, dislike me if you must—after all, no matter how much you dislike me, I'm still your genuine son."

Shu Shu couldn't help but curl her lip.

That brat's pretty good at self‑consoling.

Shu Shu gazed at the boy's profile, recalling the dream she'd had—the pitiful little figure curled on the bedboard and the frightened, sobbing Shu Lingchen from just moments ago seemed to slowly overlap.

She wasn't sure whether it was merely a dream or something that had actually happened…

Shu Shu pressed her lips, let her gaze fall on her son, and said: "Xiao Chen, I've always wanted to ask—during these thirteen years I was gone, how did you… get by?"

Shu Lingchen had been about to smugly rejoice at hearing his mother call him Xiao Chen again, but upon hearing the latter part of her question, his expression faltered and he muttered: "Didn't I already say? Aunt Chu took care of me."

Shu Shu: "What I want to know is what happened to you after I died."

The dream just now was all too real.

Just as real as the dream she had before she died.

"You also said before that your resistance to the orphanage and foster families was either simply not wanting to go, or was there some other reason?"

Shu Lingchen fell silent; after a long while, he finally spoke.

"I resisted going to the orphanage because I'd been there before, and there was an aunt… who abused me, falsely accusing me of messing up the food everywhere and constantly pinching me."

Shu Shu's pupils contracted.

The dream is real!

"She deliberately made me wear long sleeves to cover the bruises on my body, pretending to treat me well in front of others."

Shu Lingchen said: "If Aunt Chu hadn't reported her, perhaps the fact that she abused me wouldn't have been discovered so quickly."

Shu Shu: "Wait, Aunt Chu, Chu Lian's mom? She was also at that children's welfare home?"

"Yes." Shu Lingchen nodded: "Aunt Chu happened to volunteer at that welfare home, discovered I was being abused by that aunt, and immediately reported it to the director—only then was that woman taken away by the police."

Shu Shu fell into thought.

As it turns out, it was Chumu who helped Shu Lingchen.

"Later I returned to Yujingyuan, where a young couple wanted to adopt me—that is, a foster family."

Shu Shu nodded: "Mm‑hm, what were they like?"

In her dream she had seen that this couple liked children very much and were patient with Shu Lingchen.

As a result, Shu Shu heard Shu Lingchen across from her let out a cold chuckle and say: "They, just like that aunt at the orphanage, are all actors, frauds—their kindness toward me is fake."

"Why do you say that?"

Shu Lingchen's eyes held a deep sneer: "At first I also thought they genuinely wanted to adopt me, but then I realized they couldn't have kids of their own and just wanted to bring me home to experience what it's like to have a child."

They themselves are also seeing doctors to treat their bodies so they can have children, declaring that as soon as their own child is born, they will abandon me.

So Shu Lingchen's resistance to that young couple was for this reason.

"...... How did you know they had that kind of idea?"

Shu Lingchen said: "It was Aunt Chu who told me."

Shu Shu: "???"

Again, it's Chu's mother.

"At that time, Aunt Chu went to 1701 every day to take care of me in place of the property management, and she overheard the phone call that couple made to the doctor."

Shu Lingchen recalled that day.

Aunt Chu held him in her arms, her face full of distress, and she kept murmuring:

"Our little Chen really has a hard life; that couple are like wolves and tigers, sooner or later they'll have a child, saying they're waiting for their own child to be born, then they'll just toss little Chen into an orphanage and never look after him again—oh dear, what will little Chen do then?"

At that time, Shu Lingchen already had a traumatic reaction to the three words "welfare institute"; hearing them made his whole body tremble involuntarily.

In an instant, he lost all goodwill toward that young couple and developed a strong sense of resistance.

Therefore, on the day he was about to be taken by them to a new home, his resistance was understandable, and in the end he did not go.

"If it weren't for Aunt Chu, I wouldn't know what kind of dire straits I'd be living in now."

Shu Shu had a blank expression.

She thought, "You're not doing any better either."

"From then on, Aunt Chu has been taking care of me, and Chu Chu——"

When Shu Lingchen spoke of Chu Lian, his eyes lit up and a hint of shyness flashed across his face.

For a period of time I became unwilling to speak; at school no one wanted to play with me, only Chu Chu, she accompanied me to and from school, she accompanied me during meals.