Volume One, Chapter 16: Gazing at the Handsome Man Beneath the Lamp Light

Shen Yan had broken up.

This was probably the only piece of news Lin Yuxia had heard recently that brought her any joy.

Though it felt somewhat unkind to think so, she truly felt as if the world before her had suddenly brightened, even the suffocating weight left by Lin Muheng’s death seemed to ease a little.

“Brother, it’s okay. She didn’t deserve you,” Lin Yuxia said, puffing out her cheeks.

Shen Yan smiled helplessly, deftly picking a grain of rice from the corner of her mouth and popping it into his own.

Lin Yuxia was momentarily stunned, as if she saw the sixteen-year-old Shen Yan...

The story began with Lin Yuxia’s mother.

Her mother, Xia Shian, was a stunning beauty and a music teacher, radiating an ethereal aura with countless admirers.

Lin Muheng, in his youth, was a handsome and talented young entrepreneur. After three years of ardent pursuit, he finally broke through the ranks of suitors and won the beauty’s heart.

At the start of their marriage, the love between Lin Muheng and Xia Shian was intense. Even the name he gave their daughter revealed his sincere love for his wife.

“An’an, I’ve decided on our daughter’s name: Lin Yuxia. It means that I, Lin Muheng, in this lifetime, give my whole self and heart to Xia Shian.”

But Xia Shian could never have imagined that on the day of their daughter’s hundred-day celebration, a pregnant woman would appear uninvited.

She proudly rubbed her seven or eight months’ pregnant belly and told Xia Shian:

“Do you know who the father of my child is? It’s Lin Muheng.”

“You wouldn’t believe his oaths of loyalty, right? Teacher Xia, you’re just too naive. Men can’t control their lower desires, and Lin Muheng is an insatiable man.

“Do you think during your pregnancy, how did he relieve himself? Of course, by coming to me! Hahaha…” The woman laughed mockingly, hands on her hips.

Xia Shian developed postpartum depression, endured for a few years, but one afternoon, she took her own life.

That year, Lin Yuxia was six years old.

Like always, she slung on her little backpack and skipped out of school.

But her mother didn’t show up at the school gate as usual.

As classmates were gradually picked up by their parents and teachers left for the day, only a small figure remained alone on the steps.

She fiddled with her backpack, toes tapping each other, ears straining at every sound, stretching her neck to look, and when it wasn’t her mother, she lowered her eyelids in disappointment.

A kind school security guard asked, “What’s your name? Do you know your parents’ phone numbers?”

The question only made the little girl burst into tears, her chubby face flushed red, mumbling incoherently:

“135…35…6&%￥…I don’t remember…wah wah wah…”

The guard, helpless, bent down to comfort her.

Lin Yuxia was known for her long cries in childhood, usually lasting half an hour, sometimes even an hour.

Just as the guard was overwhelmed by her, a black car pulled up at the school gate, and a handsome, noble-looking young master stepped out from the back seat.

He approached the crying “loudspeaker” crouched on the ground and gently ruffled her soft hair.

“You must be Lin Yuxia, right? Don’t cry anymore, come with me.”

The security guard, unfamiliar with the boy, naturally asked, “May I ask who you are?”

A bodyguard behind the boy handed over a card: “This is the young master of the Shen family, Shen Yan. If you’re worried, you can verify by calling this number.”

And so, at fourteen, Shen Yan took home the six-year-old little crybaby.

In the luxurious Kan Shan villa, Lin Yuxia timidly curled up in a corner of the sofa and asked, “Where’s my mother? Why didn’t she come to pick me up?”

Shen Yan glanced at the little girl whose throat was hoarse from crying and replaced the word “dead” on his lips with “gone.”

“Gone? Where did she go?” Lin Yuxia asked in a childish voice.

“To a very far place.”

Shen Yan sat down on the sofa opposite her, hands resting casually on the armrests, a simple gesture made distinctly elegant by him.

“When will she come back?”

“Probably not for a long time.”

Lin Yuxia pouted and was about to cry again. “You’re lying! You’re making it up!”

Shen Yan was momentarily stunned, then stiffly defended, “I never lie.”

That day, the young master Shen put in extraordinary effort to cheer Lin Yuxia up.

After being a young master for fourteen years, he never imagined there would come a day he’d feed someone, tell stories, and lull them to sleep.

Even more unexpected was that he would do this for many years, tirelessly and skillfully.

In Lin Yuxia’s twenty-two years of life, the six years living under the same roof with Shen Yan were the happiest and most carefree.

That memory stood out against all the darkness, like a diamond dug from the gutter, dazzling and brilliant.

Yet fortune was always stingy with her.

At twelve, because of that one incident, Lin Yuxia was cast out of the Shen family...

* * *

After dinner, Shen Yan took Lin Yuxia upstairs to show her the room she once lived in.

Previously, to cheer the little crybaby up, Shen Yan had specially painted the room in princess pink according to her preferences.

Above the bedhead, a craftsman had painted a mural of a window opening onto the Emerald City.

Lin Yuxia pushed open the door and self-deprecatingly said, “My taste as a child was really questionable.”

“I actually think it’s quite nice,” Shen Yan said as he entered, his fingertips pressing gently on the pristine bedspread, leaving two dimples.

He turned his head and casually asked, “How about resting here tonight? Since you moved out, no one’s stayed in this room, but the sheets and covers are new...”

Happiness came so suddenly that Lin Yuxia was a little overwhelmed. “Is that... okay?”

Shen Yan smiled, “Of course.”

As if recalling her past expulsion from the Shen family, he added, “Don’t worry, no one can kick you out anymore.”

Lin Yuxia took a few steps and collapsed onto the soft big bed, her nose catching the scent of detergent.

It smelled good, just like Shen Yan.

That night, Lin Yuxia curled up in the living room watching TV, while Shen Yan read under the floor lamp, keeping her company.

They hadn’t enjoyed such peaceful moments in a long time.

Lin Yuxia’s mind was far from the TV plot; she had lost the remote, tilting her head and resting her chin on her hand.

She looked up at the handsome man under the light.

Shen Yan noticed her unwavering gaze, closed his book on his lap, and smiled, “What do you want to say?”

Lin Yuxia leaned closer to the light, “Brother, what kind of person do you like?”

Shen Yan was taken aback and poked her forehead, “Little brat, mind your own business.”

Lin Yuxia covered her forehead, “Tell me, tell me.”

Shen Yan drew in a deep breath, then slowly exhaled, a vague figure forming in his mind.

“Slender.”

Lin Yuxia quietly rejoiced—she was slender.

“Long hair.”

Another hit!

“Also intelligent.”

Lin Yuxia struggled to suppress a smile, thinking, I have dual degrees from Yale, brother, are you really hinting at me?

“Preferably a bit mature, maybe older than me.”

Lin Yuxia felt as if she’d been struck by a bolt. “Brother... are you serious?”

“Serious. Xiao Tian is two years older than me.”

Lin Yuxia was confused. Don’t men usually like young and pretty? Why did her brother prefer mature women?

She pointed at herself, “Brother, you don’t like someone like me?”

Shen Yan poked her forehead again.

“You, you’ve already become my one and only little sister, haven’t you?”