After Shen An’an recovered, Shen Nanyue arranged a meeting between her and Madam Bai.
Bai Youwei arrived at the Shen residence dressed formally, her face filled with excitement.
Three whole months had passed.
Because of Shen An’an’s concerns, she had restrained herself for three months without meeting her.
All this time, she had only learned about Shen An’an’s condition through Shen Nanyue.
Now that she could finally meet her biological daughter, she was overwhelmingly emotional.
At home, Shen An’an was still wearing long sleeves and long pants, hiding the visible scars on her body beneath her clothing.
But the black hood she used to wear on her head was gone, revealing a beautiful face that resembled Bai Youwei’s by fifty percent.
The moment Bai Youwei saw Shen An’an, her eyes immediately reddened.
“An’an…”
Compared to Bai Youwei’s excitement, Shen An’an was much calmer.
She invited Bai Youwei to sit down and naturally instructed Li Che to pour tea.
At the moment, Shen Nanyue wasn’t home, so only the two of them were receiving Bai Youwei.
“Sister already told me. You’re my biological mother.”
Bai Youwei hadn’t expected Shen An’an to accept her so quickly.
Her lips trembled, and after a long while she finally nodded.
“Yes… it’s all my fault. I accidentally lost you back then and caused you to suffer for so many years.”
She stared unblinkingly at Shen An’an, her face filled with regret.
But Shen An’an showed no intention of blaming her at all.
“Ever since I can remember, I was already in the orphanage. When I was seven, my adoptive father brought me to the Shen family. Both my adoptive father and my sister treated me very well. I didn’t really suffer much in the Shen family, so you don’t need to blame yourself so much.”
Her words greatly relieved Bai Youwei.
This meeting had waited more than three months, making it feel solemn and significant.
Yet at the same time, there weren’t actually that many topics between them.
Bai Youwei’s mind was blank.
All she wanted was to look more at the daughter she had regained after losing her for so long, to engrave every smile and expression of Shen An’an into her memory.
Tears blurred her vision.
Shen An’an smiled and gently took her hand.
“When I was little, I always blamed my biological parents for abandoning me. But now that I know you never abandoned me, I feel much better inside.”
“Of course we never abandoned you! When you were born, it happened to be the award ceremony where your grandfather was receiving a major international literature prize. He directly gave up attending the ceremony and rushed to the hospital to see you. Your father even gathered relatives from all over the world to hold a grand one-month celebration banquet for you. Look.”
Bai Youwei raised her voice emotionally as she explained to Shen An’an.
She took out her phone and pulled up a massive international news report from years ago.
The headline read:
“American Super Tycoon Zheng Xi Holds Extravagant Full-Month Banquet for His Daughter; Fireworks Lasted an Entire Night.”
Shen An’an stared at the news article in shock.
She had heard of Zheng Xi before.
He was a major business magnate in America, someone powerful in both legal and underground circles—almost no one dared to provoke him.
Although the photo of Zheng Xi holding his wife and daughter was blurry, Bai Youwei’s younger face could still vaguely be seen.
Shen An’an widened her eyes and turned to stare at Bai Youwei.
“Grandpa is…?”
“Your grandfather is Mo Zhizhou.”
Shen An’an sharply sucked in a breath.
Mo Zhizhou was one of Country A’s greatest literary masters!
More than twenty years ago, he had already won a world-class literature award and was considered a national treasure-level figure.
Bai Youwei continued, “Because your father’s business is mostly overseas, we’ve basically lived abroad. But our nationality has always remained with Country A. Your grandfather wasn’t used to living overseas, so he stayed in the country.”
“Three months ago, after I learned about you, I spoke to your father on the phone. He kept insisting on coming to Fengcheng to see you, but I stopped him. We had to wait until you were ready first. As for your grandfather, I haven’t told him yet. He’s old now, and I was afraid you might not want to come home, so I wanted your permission first before telling him.”
By now, Shen An’an was completely overwhelmed by the background of her biological family.
She sat there silently in shock.
Li Che walked over carrying tea and respectfully handed a cup to Bai Youwei.
Seeing Shen An’an still unable to recover from the revelation, he couldn’t help laughing.
“I never expected your family background to be this impressive. Looks like I’ll have to work even harder from now on.”
Shen An’an snapped back to reality and glared at him.
But upon hearing that, Bai Youwei instantly became vigilant.
“You are… An’an’s boyfriend?”
“Almost.”
“No!”
Li Che and Shen An’an spoke at the exact same time.
After Shen An’an denied it, Li Che turned to look at her, frowning in dissatisfaction.
“What? You’re not planning to take responsibility for me?”
“Take responsibility?” Bai Youwei became even more shocked.
Had something happened between them?
Shen An’an’s face instantly turned red.
She shot Li Che a fierce glare.
“Shut up!”
Li Che pouted and stopped talking.
Only then did Shen An’an explain to Bai Youwei,
“His name is Li Che. We grew up together in the same orphanage when we were children, so we’re very close.”
Just very close?
Bai Youwei narrowed her eyes as her gaze swept back and forth between the two of them.
She absolutely did not want to finally reunite with her daughter only for her daughter to get married immediately afterward!
She grabbed Shen An’an’s hand.
“An’an, are you willing to come back with Mom?”
Shen An’an hesitated.
She still had many unresolved matters in Fengcheng, and more importantly, she didn’t want to leave Shen Nanyue.
“I…”
“An’an, I’m not forcing you to decide immediately. Mom will give you time. But can I ask you for one small thing?”
“…Go ahead.”
“Your father can’t leave the country because of work. During our video call a couple of days ago, he nearly went crazy wanting to see you. Since you don’t reject acknowledging me, could you come see him with me? Just meet him once and ease his worries.”
Shen An’an had no reason to refuse.
She exchanged a glance with Li Che before nodding.
Bai Youwei became incredibly excited.
“That’s wonderful! I’ll book plane tickets immediately and tell your father to prepare a grand welcoming party for you.”
Just as Shen An’an was about to refuse, Bai Youwei immediately rejected her own idea first.
“No, it’s better to wait until you truly want to come home before holding a welcome party. I need to calm your father down first. His temper is a little impatient…”
After quickly explaining the situation to Shen Nanyue, Shen An’an left Fengcheng with Bai Youwei the very next day.
Since Shen An’an had left, Li Che no longer had any reason to continue staying at the Shen residence.
In the end, Shen Nanyue was once again left alone in the Shen household.
Late at night.
She sat alone in the art studio, lost in thought.
The pen spun between her long fingers while her curled eyelashes flickered gently beneath the light.
Beneath those lashes, her glass-like eyes stared blankly at the painting before her.
She had originally intended to draw a design sketch.
But after only a few casual strokes, what appeared instead was the outline of that man.
When the housekeeper brought coffee into the room for Shen Nanyue, this was the scene he saw.
He sighed quietly to himself before walking over and setting the coffee on the nearby table.
“Miss.”
Only then did Shen Nanyue come back to her senses and look toward Butler Liu.
“Uncle Liu.”
“Miss, I brought you some coffee. There’s also something I wanted to tell you.”
Shen Nanyue put down her pen and smiled at him.
“Uncle Liu, if there’s something you want to say, just say it.”
“Miss… I want to resign.”
— The end of the Chapter–
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