Slow to mature after marriage

the next day.

Zhou Yu'an was awakened by the sound of rain.

The curtains were drawn, with only a sliver of dim light filtering through the edge. A heavy rain was falling outside, the sound of the rain so dense and persistent, as if someone had laid a thick curtain of water between heaven and earth, washing the whole world clean.

The smell of blood, disinfectant, and the saltiness of tears, along with all the emotions left behind in that absurd yet real early morning, were washed away by this rain.

She lay in bed, listening to the rain, and felt an unprecedented sense of peace and tranquility.

Then she rolled over and picked up her phone.

The screen lit up, and the time was clearly displayed—5 PM.

Zhou Yu'an's drowsiness vanished instantly.

Five o'clock.

She arranged to meet Zhou Xubai at the appraisal center at 10 a.m.

Zhou Yu'an sat up abruptly and flipped through his call log—more than a dozen missed calls, all from Zhou Xubai. The earliest call was at 9:30 a.m., and the last was at 2 p.m.

Zhou Yu'an quickly dialed back, and the phone was answered after one ring.

"I'm sorry," her voice was still hoarse from just waking up, "I accidentally overslept, how about I—"

"fine."

On the other end, Zhou Xubai's voice was soft and careful.

"Go back to sleep, little sister. I'm downstairs."

Downstairs?

It took Zhou Yu'an a moment to realize that before they parted last night, when Zhou Xubai pressed her for the address, she had ultimately sent him the location of Mu Yan Garden.

Zhou Xubai's voice changed from gentle to barely suppressed excitement, with a slight tremor.

"The paternity test results are in. You are my sister, An'an."

"I've finally... found my sister."

Zhou Yu'an sat on the bed, phone in hand, lost in thought. The blanket had slipped down to his waist, his hair was loose over his shoulders, and the sound of rain outside the window suddenly seemed very distant, as if separated by an entire world.

Grace crawled over from the foot of the bed at some point, her cool scales brushing against the back of her hand, and her head resting on her wrist.

Zhou Yu'an stroked its head and sighed softly.

"I've found myself, Grace."

He paused, then continued.

"It seems... she's found her family too."

-

downstairs.

The atmosphere in the living room was even more gloomy than the rainy day outside the window.

Bo Yan leaned back in the armchair, his long legs crossed, arms folded, his face expressionless. His silver hair, not yet dyed back to black, hung above his brow bone, making his eyes appear exceptionally cold.

He didn't give his brother-in-law, who had "intruded," a friendly look—in fact, if it weren't for Zhou Yu'an, he would have even wanted to kick the man out.

They searched for over twenty years but couldn't find him, causing his wife to suffer so much in the Mu family.

What a piece of trash.

After hanging up the phone, Zhou Xubai's smile vanished instantly. He sat upright on the far edge of the sofa, his back straight, and he gave Bo Yan the same unfriendly look.

He didn't rest at all last night. First, he rushed directly from the South City Expressway to the identification center, delivered the paternity test samples overnight, and then used all the resources at his disposal to conduct a detailed reinvestigation of Zhou Yu'an's life experiences over the years. From the orphanage to the Mu family, from the Mu family to the Beijing North City Identification Center, from her minoring in forensic medicine at eighteen to her marriage at twenty-five—the more he investigated, the less he could sleep.

The Mu family was indeed not good to my sister. The pale words on the thin paper in that investigation report could not possibly express the suffering my sister had endured over the years.

At the same time, he also discovered that Bo Yan had abandoned Zhou Yu'an shortly after their marriage and gone to the United States alone for three years.

Three years.

Although the couple seems to have a very strong relationship now, that's now. What about the past three years? How did his sister get through them all alone?

Zhou Xubai was quite dissatisfied with this.

But at this moment, he had no right to express his dissatisfaction. He was twenty-one years too late; he had been absent when his sister needed protection the most. He owed her too much, so much that he had no right to blame anyone else.

Therefore, like Bo Yan, he could only remain silent with a cold face.

At opposite ends of the sofa, like the Chu River and Han border, neither side touches the other.

Footsteps came from upstairs.

Zhou Yu'an went downstairs.

She was wearing a white loungewear set, her hair casually tied back, and her face still flushed from just waking up. Her steps were unhurried, each footstep making a soft sound on the stairs.

Bo Yan and Zhou Xubai stood up almost simultaneously.

"Wife."

--"younger sister."

The two exchanged a glance, simultaneously snorted coldly, and turned their faces away.

Zhou Yu'an stood at the top of the stairs, looking at the one on his left and then the one on his right, completely bewildered.

Even if she were slow to realize it, she could tell that the two of them weren't getting along.

She walked over, picked up the paternity test report from the coffee table, and flipped directly to the last page.

"The probability of parentage is greater than 99.99%... supporting the existence of a biological parent-child relationship between Zhou Shuyan, Shen Ruoqing, and Mu Siwan."

Zhou Yu'an's eyelashes trembled slightly.

"I've already told my parents the test results." Zhou Xubai looked at her, his voice very soft. "They were supposed to fly over immediately. But the weather's bad today, and the flight is delayed. They might not be able to come until tomorrow."

Zhou Yu'an was silent for a moment. She closed the report, gently stroking the cover with her fingers before speaking.

"They don't need to come. I'll go to Haicheng instead."

"Mom..." The word came out of Zhou Yu'an's mouth, sounding awkward. She paused, temporarily setting aside the address, "Haven't you been in poor health all this time? I was just thinking of going to Haicheng to see you."

Bo Yan glanced at Zhou Yu'an, then lowered her eyelashes to hide the disappointment in her heart.

Zhou Xubai nodded excitedly, his eyes beginning to redden again.

"Okay, I'll arrange the itinerary." His voice was filled with barely suppressed excitement. "Let's try to reunite the whole family in Haicheng tomorrow."

He seemed to notice Bo Yan, who had been standing silently to the side, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "If Mr. Bo wants to come along, then we'll buy three tickets—"

"No need," Bo Yan said with a sigh, unaware that he was just being polite. "I won't go."

Bo Yan was reluctant to part with Zhou Yu'an. But he also knew that she was reunited with her family whom she hadn't seen for a long time, and that his presence was superfluous.

He didn't want to be the superfluous one.