Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
They watched the fireworks on the balcony for about half an hour, until the celebrations gradually died down.
Around them, things quietened down again.
The festive atmosphere in Beijing was intense. The districts and the streets were completely decorated with Chinese knots.
Because Xia Yehua enjoyed the bustling atmosphere, the Shen family home was, too, decorated with Spring festival calligraphy characters symbolizing good fortune.
At one a.m., they both decided to go to bed.
They quickly checked on Xia Yehua to ensure she was sleeping well, and then returned to their bedroom.
Before getting into the shower, Shen Liangchuan said, “I’ll watch over Mom tonight, just in case she feels unwell.”
There were no other housekeepers around and Auntie Li herself was an elderly woman.
As she had been triggered over dinner, they feared that she might feel ill in the night.
Qiao Lian nodded and offered, “You watch over her the first half of the night, I’ll take over the next half.”
He shook his head, “No.”
After saying this, he walked into the bathroom.
Qiao Lian was still awake by the time he came out of his shower.
Now it was almost two a.m.
Shen Liangchuan walked up to her and asked, “Why aren’t you asleep already?”
“To enjoy the new year!” Qiao Lian grinned as she said this. But the truth was that she had too much on her mind and couldn’t get to sleep.
He paused for two seconds and said, “I’ll keep you company.”
Qiao Lian nodded.
They walked to a balcony near Xia Yehua’s balcony with woolen blankets draped over to keep themselves warm and watched the moon.
The sky in Beijing was thick with smog, mostly from the fireworks and the celebration’s firecrackers.
The outline of the moon was blurred.
They snuggled up to each other.
Qiao Lian suddenly spoke, “Zi Chuan, I have a question for you.”
“Go ahead.”
She ventured, “Why did you and Mom leave the Shen family eight years ago? Why does Zihao misunderstand Mom all the time? And Mei Feng, what did she do?”
After asking those questions, she fell silent to listen to his answers.
She was hoping to find answers to her real questions from these leads.
He paused for a moment and then said, “Mei Feng used to be his secretary.”
By that, he was referring to Shen Xiu.
Qiao Lian nodded and continued, “And so they were sleeping with each other secretly?”
He nodded, “Yes, but they hid it well so no one knew. This one time, I went to his office and hid in his private room to play video games, but I ran into them.”
As he recalled this episode, he narrowed his eyes.
A young man of about 18 was playing video games.
He heard footsteps and quickly turned off the volume of his game. He was immediately alert and held his breath, fearing that he would be caught by his father and berated for wasting his time on video games.
However, he only heard rustling sounds coming from the office.
He sneaked around to the door and looked out, where he saw two naked bodies pressed up against each other.
At that time, he had wanted to throw up in disgust.
This, incidentally, was the cause of his mysophobia later on in life.
Qiao Lian was stunned and asked, “What happened after that?”
“After that I rushed out.” Shen Liangchuan narrowed his eyes and continued, “I looked at the flustered couple. He was trying to convince me that it wasn’t what I thought…”
Shen Liangchuan smirked, “I was 18, not 8 months old. Hence, I told Mom.”
“Mom was livid. And they had a big fight. From then onwards, he hated me, but because Mom defended me, he couldn’t do anything to me.”
He stopped for a moment and then continued, “Right up to when we decided to create an eSports team.”
