Chapter 102: The Dumbfounded Family

Seeing Xu Yunzhou appear, Qin Shuyi was so excited her soul trembled, hot tears filling her eyes, as if witnessing a miracle descend.

And the ones who felt the most thorough, the most bewildered, and doubted life the most about this scene before their eyes, were undoubtedly the three under the camphor tree—Xu Zhongshan, Yang Wenhui, and Xu Chen.

Xu Zhongshan slowly turned his head, looked at Yang Wenhui, then looked at Xu Chen, a face full of dumbfoundedness:

"That person who went in just now..."

He hesitated to speak, saying every word very slowly, his voice as light as if afraid of disturbing something, and also as if confirming whether he was still awake,

"Seemed... a bit familiar? Do you guys... know him?"

Yang Wenhui:

"..."

Only one thought was crazily spamming in her mind:

Nonsense! Could you not be familiar with your own biological son?

But when these words reached her mouth, it was as if her throat was firmly blocked by something, unable to spit out a single word.

She... she didn't dare to be certain either.

That scene just now was too shocking, too bizarre, completely exceeding her cognitive limits as an ordinary middle-aged woman.

That young man wearing a sharp gray Mao suit, being collectively saluted and paid respects to by the entire Wu family—from the big shot in military uniform to the academician wearing glasses...

That young man whom the Queen of Pop Song Jiaru eagerly went up to meet, her eyes full of reliance and admiration when looking up at his face...

That custom-made outfit which she had never seen in her son's wardrobe and looked expensive at a glance...

That unique detachment and faint majesty which she had never felt from her son, yet could clearly perceive even from a distance...

Is that really her son?

Is that really that Xu Yunzhou who would post on Moments to complain because the boss of the beef noodle shop downstairs gave two fewer slices of meat, and who would stay up several consecutive nights for a project bonus of a few thousand yuan?

Xu Chen also barely struggled out from the initial petrified state, his voice very light, as if sleepwalking:

"He does look very much like your family's Yunzhou..."

These words were spoken without any confidence.

Because it was more than just "looks like."

It was simply exactly the same.

But exactly because it was exactly the same, it appeared even more absurd and bizarre.

Then, the three turned their heads simultaneously and looked at Shen Mingyue.

Shen Mingyue smiled. She looked at these three who were already completely dazed, her voice soft:

"He is exactly Yunzhou."

She paused and added, her tone as natural as if talking about an extremely ordinary matter:

"Just changed clothes, that's all."

Just changed clothes, that's all?

The corners of Xu Chen's mouth twitched.

Is this fucking a matter of changing clothes?

That's changing a life, right?

An ordinary programmer who worked overtime until losing hair and paid a mortgage until fifty years old...

Transformed in seconds into a "Mister" who could make the family of a founding female general collectively stand up to salute?

Is this scientific?

Could it be we collectively transmigrated to some weird parallel space?

He took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down, but his voice still carried a trace of undetectable trembling:

"Then... why didn't he come over to greet us?"

Shen Mingyue smiled and said:

"We were standing so far away, there are so many people, and the lighting is dim, it's normal he didn't see us."

She explained softly, her tone matter-of-course:

"Besides, you guys just now... didn't call him either."

Xu Chen choked.

Isn't that nonsense!

In this kind of occasion, surrounded entirely by figures usually only seen in the news, the atmosphere as solemn as attending a state banquet, how could they dare to make a loud noise?

How could they dare to call someone casually?

Not to mention, what if they recognized the wrong person, what if it was some mysterious big shot who looked extremely similar, wouldn't that make a heaven-shattering joke?

Xu Zhongshan, however, seemed to have suddenly remembered something:

"I remembered! That woman walking in front just now was Lin Ruoxuan!"

He turned to Yang Wenhui, his eyes widening roundly:

"Do you still remember? The day before yesterday Yunzhou even searched out her photo to show us, saying she was some hundred-billion Queen, and gave us a USB drive in Chengzhou ten years ago..."

He suddenly shut his mouth, realizing some things couldn't be said "outside."

But that absurd thought in his mind became clearer and clearer!

Could it be...

Could it be that Lin Ruoxuan targeted Xu Yunzhou when he was just a little brat in his early teens?!

This... this is a bit perverted, right?!

Then those ten Bitcoins make sense, it was exactly "money to buy meat" for him!

Inside that USB drive, besides the Bitcoin wallet, there must have been Lin Ruoxuan's contact information!

So they got in touch now! It matches up!

As expected, there are no unprovoked gifts in this world, everything has its price tag secretly marked.

Xu Zhongshan's heart was a mix of five flavors.

There was both the humiliation of "son being kept by a rich woman" and the absurd pride of "this rich woman has too good an eye," ultimately turning into a complex sigh:

Sigh, having money really means you can do whatever you want.

Yang Wenhui guessed the meaning her husband didn't speak out loud, but her brows furrowed even tighter:

"It's her, no mistake. I saw the photo, exactly the same. That can explain a part..."

Her voice was suppressed very low, carrying deeper confusion:

"But... but how does this explain Song Jiaru?"

"Isn't that girl a big star? Completely unrelated to Yunzhou! When did they meet? Why would she... hold Yunzhou's arm so affectionately?"

Questions came one after another, tangled together like a mess of hemp, the more she tried to sort it out, the messier it got.

Yang Wenhui turned her head, looking at Shen Mingyue, her eyes complex:

"Miss Shen... you just said, you are Yunzhou's girlfriend."

She paused, her gaze carefully sizing up Shen Mingyue's face, as if wanting to find even a trace of lying from it:

"But you also saw, beside him... there are other women. And more than one. You... why do you seem not to care at all?"

This question was asked very straightforwardly, even somewhat offensively.

But Yang Wenhui had to ask.

Because she couldn't understand.

The smile on Shen Mingyue's face froze slightly at that moment.

Her eye rims, at a speed visible to the naked eye, rapidly turned red.

Her eyes rapidly filled with tears, yet stubbornly didn't fall, only swirling in her eye rims, moistening those beautiful eyes until they rippled with water light, delicate and touching.

She reached out and gently held Yang Wenhui's hand.

The palm was warm, but the fingers trembled slightly.

"Auntie..."

Her voice choked, carrying a heartbreaking fragility:

"I truly like Yunzhou."

The tears finally fell, one drop, two drops, sliding down her fair cheeks, gleaming with crystal light under the lantern light.

"They... they just came... early."

She sniffled, her voice carrying suppressed grievance and pleading:

"Teacher Song is five years older than Yunzhou, and President Lin is even nine years older than him... I am younger than both of them, I... I am only twenty-three, I am... younger, have more time, and am also... more suitable for the next generation than them..."

She raised her tearful eyes, looking at Yang Wenhui, her gaze like a homeless little kitten drenched by rain:

"I don't want to break them up... I know, they are very important to Yunzhou, they are... people who existed in his life long ago."

"I just... just hope that in his heart, there can also be a tiny place for me, even if just a little bit, a very, very small place, is fine..."

She tightly held Yang Wenhui's hand, as if grasping the final lifesaver:

"Uncle, Auntie... can you... support me? Can you... help me? I... I really don't know what to do anymore..."

"Besides liking him... I have nothing else..."

These words were spoken with genuine and earnest emotion, every word weeping blood.

Coupled with that face like pear blossoms bathed in rain that evoked pity, and that humble posture, anyone who heard it would feel unable to bear it in their heart.

The three people:

"???"

No...

What, what kind of outrageously absurd plot development is this?!

A popular top-tier little flower, a national goddess, willingly sharing one man with other women?

And loving so humbly, so bitterly, so... compromising for the sake of the general interest, low into the dust?

Also, according to the meaning in her words, that Lin Ruoxuan and Song Jiaru also think this way? Also "coexisting peacefully" like this?

Has this world gone completely crazy?

Or has our whole family gone crazy and produced a collective hallucination?