Oh no! My yandere school beauty is so clingy!

Lin Anran's voice brought Shen Yu back to his senses, which had been wandering.

He composed himself. Yes, he was already here.

There's no point in standing here and letting your mind wander.

No matter what the situation is inside, we have to go in and find out.

He squeezed Lin Anran's hand tightly, as if drawing courage, then raised his other hand, bent his knuckles, and gently knocked on the light gray iron gate.

"Knock, knock, knock..."

In the courtyard, the middle-aged woman who was sitting on a small stool picking vegetables looked up at the sound and looked towards the door.

She was about fifty years old and wore a faded blue apron.

When she saw Shen Yu and Lin Anran standing outside the door, she was stunned for a moment.

They seemed somewhat surprised to see these two young strangers, whose clothing and demeanor were distinctly different from the townspeople, here...

However, just as Shen Yu was about to explain his purpose, the middle-aged woman's gaze froze the moment it landed on Shen Yu's face...

She seemed to have seen something incredibly unbelievable; her eyes widened suddenly, her mouth opened slightly without her noticing, and the half-picked vegetable leaf fell to the ground without her noticing.

She stared intently at Shen Yu's face, her expression shifting rapidly from initial confusion to shock, and then disbelief...

Shen Yu's heart sank when she saw her gaze, and the words she was about to say stuck in her throat.

"Ahem... um... excuse me..."

Before Shen Yu could finish speaking, the middle-aged woman suddenly came to her senses, hurriedly stood up, and almost knocked over the small stool behind her because of her haste.

She didn't bother picking up the vegetables on the ground, nor did she pay any attention to Shen Yu. Instead, she turned and shouted urgently into the nearest building:

"Old Zhang! Sister Wang! Come out quickly! Come out and see!"

As she shouted, she kept turning back to look at Shen Yu, pointing at him with trembling lips.

Soon, commotion came from inside the building.

First, the door creaked open, and an elderly man in his sixties, wearing an old jacket and with gray hair, peeked out.

Immediately after, a middle-aged woman, also around fifty years old, wearing an apron and holding a spatula, quickly followed...

"What are you yelling about? It's so noisy..."

The old man frowned and muttered impatiently, but when his gaze followed the direction the middle-aged woman was pointing and landed on Shen Yu's face outside the door, his words stopped abruptly.

"Holy crap?"

His face showed the same shocked expression as the middle-aged woman's, or even more so, with his eyes wide open and his mouth agape.

"Oh my god!" Sister Wang, who was holding a spatula, exclaimed in surprise, almost dropping the spatula.

She rushed to the courtyard gate, pressed her face almost against the fence, and stared intently at Shen Yu, scrutinizing him from head to toe, muttering to herself:

"Is that Xiaoyu?! No... you're a boy..."

"It's...it's so similar..."

"When I looked up, I almost thought I was seeing things!" The middle-aged woman slapped her thigh excitedly, as if she had found proof.

The old man also recovered from his initial shock. He took a few steps closer, his cloudy eyes scanning Shen Yu's face, nodding repeatedly, and muttering:

"Oh my... that really scared me... it looks just like Xiaoyu... I thought it was Xiaoyu coming back..."

Lin Anran's gaze fell on Shen Yu, scanning his face. At that moment, she and Shen Yu were thinking the same thing...

That must be it... I've found the right place, this must be it.

Shen Yu already knew the answer in his heart: the "Xiaoyu" that these people were talking about was probably his sister.

After all, when they see me, they all say I look like them, so it must be my younger sister who looks like me, otherwise who else could look like me?

However, this surprised Shen Yu a bit. Could it be that his younger sister really looked more like him? That was quite amazing.

Logically speaking, even twins should look alike, since they are of different genders.

Shen Yu coughed twice, looked at the old man opposite him, and said:

"Hello sir, I'm here to ask if you found a baby girl more than ten years ago... um... about eighteen years ago..."

"If I'm not mistaken... the Xiaoyu you're talking about... might be that baby girl..."

Shen Yu's words silenced the three people inside the door.

The excitement and discussion that had just arisen from seeing Shen Yu's appearance had now subsided.

The old man stared at Shen Yu, his cloudy eyes flashing with doubt, surprise, and a hint of barely perceptible wariness.

He looked Shen Yu up and down, then glanced at Lin Anran, who was clinging tightly to him and looked equally nervous, as if trying to determine the truthfulness of their words and their intentions.

"Wow! Wow!..."

Just then, the sound of a baby crying suddenly came from inside the house.

Everyone's attention was instantly drawn to it. Upon hearing this, Sister Wang immediately turned and ran back, shouting as she ran:

"Hey! Here it comes!"

A moment later, Sister Wang came out carrying a swaddled baby who was crying loudly...

Shen Yu didn't pay much attention. After all, this was an orphanage, so it wasn't surprising to find children and babies here.

The old man turned to the side and said, "Come in, let's talk."

Shen Yu and Lin Anran exchanged a glance, both seeing tension and seriousness in each other's eyes.

They stepped into the courtyard...

The courtyard was very clean, and although the facilities were simple and old, they were well-maintained.

The children who were playing earlier are gone; they were probably called back inside.

The old man led them to a small bungalow next to the main building that looked like an office or reception room. Sister Wang and the middle-aged woman followed them in.

The room was small and simply furnished with a few old tables and chairs, a filing cabinet, and some yellowed certificates of merit and children's handicrafts on the wall.

Old Zhang invited them to sit on the peeling wooden bench, then pulled up a chair and sat opposite them.

Sister Wang poured three glasses of water and placed them on the small wooden table in front of them.

The atmosphere was awkwardly silent, heavy with a sense of unspoken unease...

Shen Yu spoke first, adding to what he had just said:

"The Xiaoyu you're talking about, perhaps, is the person I'm looking for. She's... probably eighteen years old this year, and was probably abandoned here shortly after she was born..."

"I want to ask...is she still here? What's her name?"

After Shen Yu finished speaking, the old man just frowned, smoked his cigarette, and didn't reply...

Meanwhile, Sister Wang was trying to soothe the baby in her arms, but nothing she did could calm the baby down; the baby kept crying...