‘Will she not come?’
Su Ling felt a bit lost. Perhaps he wasn’t meant to have any friends?
He stood up, casually straightened his clothes, and prepared to head back.
However, between the ball cap and the mask he was wearing, his vision was already quite obstructed. Not to mention, he was walking with his head hung low due to his dampened spirits!
Just as he reached the door, he collided with a figure walking in.
“Ah! — “
The sudden impact was more than his fragile body could handle. He lost his balance and began to fall backward uncontrollably!
Just as his head was about to hit the ground, a hand firmly caught him!
“Are you alright?”
Su Ling was about to reflexively say thank you when he heard a familiar voice. He looked up and saw that it was indeed her.
Although her appearance and temperament were a world apart from the version in his memories, that sense of familiarity was unmistakable!
Nangong Wan stared fixedly at the boy in front of her.
‘I really found him!’
‘Was Ye Jin waiting for her?’
“Um… you, let go of me first.”
Su Ling was being held in a strange posture, and his face instantly flushed red. He struggled to pull himself out of her arms!
“You…”
Su Ling wanted to say something but didn’t know how to phrase it. She had only held him like that to catch him from falling.
Nangong Wan felt a slight pang of disappointment seeing Su Ling like this, but she quickly swept it aside!
She told herself that they hadn’t seen each other in several years, so it was normal for things to be a bit awkward!
“Long time no see!”
At that thought, she revealed a smile and reached out her hand, looking at Ye Jin expectantly.
Su Ling froze for a moment. After hesitating, he finally reached out his hand.
“Long, long time no see…”
“Can we go sit over there?”
Su Ling thought about it, and his Elder Sister’s figure involuntarily flashed through his mind, though he quickly banished it.
‘I’m just out to see a friend. Elder Sister won’t be angry!’
Thinking this, he nodded and took the initiative to walk toward a seat in the corner!
Nangong Wan followed and sat opposite him. She wasn’t in a hurry to speak. Instead, she opened her phone and ordered a few food and drink items she thought were good.
“I thought I would never see you again.”
“????”
Su Ling blinked his innocent, bewildered eyes. What was she talking about? What did she mean by “never see him again”?
“Everyone said you were dead. I even went to your gravestone to leave a flower. I believed it, too, until I ran into you here the other day. Can you tell me what happened? Why did everyone say you died?”
“Huh?!”
Su Ling was even more confused. What did she mean by saying he was dead? He was sitting right here, wasn’t he? When did he die?
Nangong Wan stopped mid-sentence as she watched the expression on the little fellow’s face, her brow gradually furrowing.
“You didn’t know?”
“Was I supposed to know something?”
Su Ling felt a sudden, inexplicable sense of panic. This person had started the conversation by saying he was dead, but he was clearly right here. Why would she say such a thing?
Nangong Wan remained silent for a moment before searching through her phone. After a while, she found a video, tapped play, and pushed the phone toward the little fellow.
“Look at this. This… is your funeral video…”
A voice in the back of Su Ling’s mind told him not to watch, but his curiosity and confusion drove him to look anyway!
The video was blurry, and raindrops were hitting the screen, making it look like it had been raining that day. The scene appeared to be in a cemetery, with many people dressed in black suits and dresses!
Some looked mournful, while others showed looks of regret. As the camera panned across a corner, he saw a tombstone. On that tombstone was his photo!
It was the photo taken on his birthday last year. At that time, Jiang Yu hadn’t returned yet, and he was still the Young Master of the Ye Family, so he was smiling very happily in the picture!
But why was it there? Why was his photo on a grave?
What he found even more unbelievable was that in a corner of the video, he saw a person — his sister!
A massive sense of absurdity and fear filled his heart!
His breathing became rapid. An inexplicable terror closed in from all directions, threatening to imprison him completely in a dark corner!
“Are you… okay?”
Seeing that something was wrong with Ye Jin, Nangong Wan immediately moved to rush over, but another voice was faster than hers!
A figure wearing a black hooded sweatshirt appeared. The tall body shoved Nangong Wan aside and scooped Su Ling into her arms!
Ye Moran turned back and gave the other woman a cold glare before carrying Su Ling away without looking back!
Nangong Wan was about to stop them when she realized the person who had taken Ye Jin was his sister!
She thought about it but decided not to chase them. She felt that the more urgent matter was to figure out why Ye Jin didn’t know he was “dead.”
She had originally assumed that something had happened to Ye Jin and that he had been forced to use a fake death to escape.
After all, she had heard that Ye Jin wasn’t the true Young Master of the Ye Family. She had wanted to ask him if he was in any trouble so she could help!
But now it seemed that things weren’t at all what she had imagined!
She had to get to the bottom of this. Only by figuring everything out could she truly help Ye Jin!
—
Su Ling gripped Ye Moran’s collar tightly, his eyes filled with tears as he looked at her!
“Wh… Why!”
His voice trembled, his gaze full of confusion and terror.
“We’ll talk when we get home!”
Ye Moran held the little fellow tightly, ignoring the stares of the people around them as she led him straight back to the room!
The moment they entered, she threw the little fellow onto the bed and stood quietly to the side, waiting for him to lose control!
Su Ling lay on the bed, tears streaming down his face!
“Why?”
“Why did she say I was dead?”
“I’m not dead! Why would I be dead?”
Ye Moran slowly took a step forward, her body gradually leaning over the little fellow until the distance between them was less than 2 centimeters!
“Because I didn’t want you to have even the slightest possibility of leaving.”
“Do you know what my original plan was?”
Ye Moran took a deep breath and began to explain slowly.
“That basement you’re so afraid of? I intended for us to live there together!”
“I originally only designed one exit for that basement, and once it was closed, it could never be opened again!”
“I wanted to lock you and me inside completely. I put a lot of food and supplies in there!”
“You… you’re a lunatic!”
Su Ling’s body was shaking with fear. He tried to retreat, but he was already at the edge of the bed; if he moved back any further, he would fall off!
Ye Moran gripped his shoulders, her eyes turning a deep crimson!
“So, I engineered your death. I made everyone believe you were gone!”
“From now on, you are a dead man. You have vanished from this world to become a baby who belongs only to me!”
“Get away!”
Su Ling kicked her hard in the face. Taking advantage of her momentary distraction, he scrambled away from her!
He didn’t stop until he had put some distance between them!
‘I am not your toy, nor am I your property! What right do you have to do this to me?’
“I love you!”
“What???”
“If you need a reason, that’s it!”
“I love you!”