Five years after my wife's death, she came back!

The night was deep, and a strong wind that had suddenly risen up stirred up dust from the ground, which rattled against the French windows.

Shi Ying's eyes were red, with tears still wet at the corners. The look she gave me was no longer the tenderness and dependence she had shown before, but rather disgust and hatred.

The magazine's sharp edge grazed his jaw, causing a slight sting.

Shang Chenyan glanced down at the magazine that had fallen to the ground, and the first page he opened was a photo of them from their university days.

His throat was dry, and he opened his mouth as if to explain, "It's not what you think..."

"What do I mean?" Shi Ying interrupted him, her tone no longer gentle but rather impulsive. "You don't see me as a substitute for your wife?"

Shi Ying was breathing rapidly, and her voice was trembling with sobs.

She should have suspected it long ago. From the first day she met Shang Chenyan, the way he acted in front of her was completely different from how others described him.

He appointed a new employee who had just arrived and hadn't even passed his probation period and knew nothing as his personal secretary, and made him work in the same office as him. Even Jiang Wen, who had never been seen spending all day in the president's office, was not allowed to do so.

He even let her stay at his house, but now that I think about it, even if he felt guilty about being kidnapped by Xia Qian, there was no need for him to let her move into his house directly. Doesn't a group president have any spare houses?

When she first wanted to move out, several landlords she had contacted backed out. What a coincidence!

There was also Shang Nian, who called her "Mom" as soon as he saw her. She thought it was just a child's joke, but she never expected it to be like that.

She was captivated by his face and assumed he was a good person.

Ultimately, Shi Ying is only twenty-two years old, and in the real world, she has only recently graduated. She has never met a social elite like Shang Chenyan, and she would never speculate about others with malice.

Shi Ying found it ridiculous that such a dramatic thing had actually happened to her.

Seeing the expression on the girl's face, Shang Chenyan quickly grabbed her hand: "I never treated you as a substitute. I can tell who is who, but you are clearly the same person..."

Shi Ying couldn't hear the last sentence.

She looked at him mockingly: "Do you even believe what you say?"

Looking at the face in the photo, she recalled how she had been playing the game of being a substitute for Shang Chenyan's "white moonlight" during this time. She was even willing to give up the million-dollar prize to stay in the game with him because he was so good to her.

Shi Ying felt a pang of unease.

That's ridiculous.

It started raining heavily outside at some point.

The torrential rain poured down, forming a thick film of water on the floor-to-ceiling windows.

Shi Ying wiped away her tears with the back of her hand and walked past him to leave.

Shang Chenyan gripped her arm tightly. He wanted to explain, but Shi Ying couldn't hear him at all.

He wondered if he could write it down, or if he could have someone else say it to him.

Yes, call Pei Yanchuan over and have him try to say it to her.

"Yingying, believe me, I really never treated you as a substitute. I... I'll call Pei Yanchuan over to explain to you..."

"Enough! Shang Chenyan, aren't you bored? Haven't you had enough fun yet?" Shi Ying pushed him away forcefully. "Do you need someone else to explain what you've done? How old are you?"

"Get away from me! Don't ever come looking for me again!"

Shi Ying picked up her bag from the chair and jogged out of the office.

It was windy and rainy outside. Rain dripped down the back of the umbrella onto Shi Ying's shoulder. After leaving the company, she hailed a taxi on the roadside.

But Shang Chenyan followed closely behind. He didn't have time to open his umbrella and got soaked in the rain, looking rather disheveled.

"Yingying, come back with me. I'll explain it to you when we get back, okay?" There was no paper or pen here, so she didn't even give him a chance to type.

But when he said it, he felt it was incredibly inadequate.

But he couldn't let her leave like that.

He was afraid that she would disappear from his world again, carrying a misunderstanding.

Shi Ying was too lazy to argue with him anymore. She stomped on his foot hard, and when he loosened his grip, she opened the car door and got in.

"Master, please hurry up and leave."

The driver glanced at the rearview mirror, hesitated, and asked, "Did they have a fight? It's not good to just let him stand there in the road..."

Shi Ying was furious. She wiped her eyes hard with her sleeve and said, "Ignore him, you scumbag."

Upon hearing this, the driver thought, "What a jerk! I'll just ignore him then."

He stepped on the gas, and the car disappeared into the night.

The rain poured down, and the neon lights of the night became blurred in the rain. Shang Chenyan stood there, his vision also seemingly blurred by the rain.

*

Hillside villa.

Shang Nian disliked rainy days. She lay on the small sofa by the window, blinking her big eyes as she looked outside.

Pei Yanchuan was also there, frowning as he fiddled with his phone: "What's wrong with these two? They're not answering their phones, and it's so late, why aren't they back yet?"

"Little Niannian, does your dad usually come home this late?"

Shang Nian glanced at the clock on the wall and shook her head.

A moment later, the blinding headlights shone into the garden. Pei Yanchuan heard the car and quickly walked towards the gate.

As soon as he opened the door, he saw Shang Chenyan standing outside, looking like a drowned rat.

Pei Yanchuan: "Wow... what have you guys been doing?"

He craned his neck to look behind him: "Where's Shi Xiaoying? She didn't see today's magazine, did she? If she did, she'd definitely misunderstand you."

Shang Chenyan walked in silently.

Pei Yanchuan blinked: "She didn't already see it, did she?"

Shang Nian walked over in her little yellow duck slippers, looked up, and grabbed Shang Chenyan's hand.

The man's hands were wet and cold, so Pei Yanchuan quickly called to Zhang Ma, "Zhang Ma, take Niannian upstairs first."

"Okay, sure."

Shang Nian was unusually obedient today and followed Zhang Ma upstairs.

"What's going on?" Pei Yanchuan scratched his head, he was really having PTSD from Shang Chenyan's half-dead state. "If she really saw it and misunderstood, then you should explain it to her quickly, what's the point of having a mouth?"

"I wanted to explain, but she couldn't hear me..."

He couldn't tell her about his past directly, as if some invisible barrier prevented her from hearing what he was saying.

Pei Yanchuan accepted these strange things fairly well. He sat down on the sofa and said, "By the way, Meng Shuyan went to see Shang Nian at the kindergarten today. That magazine incident must be related to her."

"I know." Shang Nian had someone reporting to him about everything that happened at school. He originally wanted to wait until Shang Nian got home from school before asking her, but he didn't expect the magazine incident to happen.

As for Meng Shuyan, he had already asked Jiang Wen to handle it when he returned. Now, the most urgent thing is to explain to Shi Ying.

Shang Chenyan quickly pulled him up from the sofa: "She definitely won't see me now. Go over there now and explain to her."

Pei Yanchuan pointed to his nose: "Me?"