SM Chapter 45

Chapter 45: I’ve completely forgotten what happened before.

Unknowingly, the car had already stopped steadily in front of the orphanage.

“Director Sheng, we’re here,” the assistant said, turning his head.

Sheng Mingqian’s knuckles gripping the phone were turning white, as if he couldn’t control himself. It took a long time for him to regain his senses and slowly relax his body.

“Your face doesn’t look good,” the assistant noticed that Sheng Mingqian’s face was pale, even worse than when he left the event venue. During the event, his face was dark, but now it looked more like panic and fear. He couldn’t tell anything more.

“I’m fine.” Sheng Mingqian’s eyes were staring blankly, his gaze fixed downwards.

He was sweating, and beads of sweat were trickling down his forehead. The assistant pulled out a tissue and handed it to the back row: “Director Sheng, did I turn the air conditioning up too high? You’re sweating.”

The assistant’s reminder made Sheng Mingqian realize that sweat had already flowed into his neck, making his skin itchy and unbearable. He took the tissue and wiped his neck haphazardly: “It’s not hot. You don’t have to wait for me. Call a car to go home and rest later. Give me the car keys, and I’ll drive myself.”

After the assistant left, Sheng Mingqian sat in the car for a long time before getting out.

The sounds of children chasing and playing echoed from the courtyard. Xiao Yu, wearing a thick down jacket, sat listlessly at the entrance with his head drooping, drawing something on the ground with a small stone.

“Xiao Yu,” Sheng Mingqian steadied his mind after the violent tremor and called out to Xiao Yu, “What are you playing?”

“Uncle Sheng…” Xiao Yu recognized Sheng Mingqian’s voice, threw the stone aside, ran to the gate, opened it from the inside for Sheng Mingqian, and jumped on him: “Uncle Sheng, you’re finally here. I’ve been waiting for you for a long time.”

Sheng Mingqian bent down and ruffled Xiao Yu’s hair: “Were you good today, Xiao Yu? Did you go to class obediently this morning?”

“Yes, I went to class obediently.”

“Did you have lunch?”

“I did.”

“Good boy.”

Xiao Yu was still thinking about Ye Lai and Mother Jiang Ying: “Uncle Sheng, are Brother Ye Lai and Mother Jiang Ying still in the hospital? Can I see them?”

Sheng Mingqian squatted down and showed Xiao Yu the photos he took on his phone last night.

The photos were of Ye Lai when he was asleep last night. Jiang Ying was lying flat on the bed with her eyes closed, her face pale. Ye Lai was lying on his side by the bed, not sleeping well, his expression strained. Because of the backlight, his face was in shadow.

“When can they come back?” Xiao Yu asked, looking at the photos.

“They can come back when they’re better,” Sheng Mingqian said.

Sun Ayi heard the sound in the courtyard and came out of the kitchen: “Mr. Sheng, you’re here.”

Sheng Mingqian nodded to Sun Ayi: “Sun Ayi, I came to see Xiao Yu and the children.”

“Mr. Sheng, please come in and sit wherever you like,” Sun Ayi greeted Sheng Mingqian and called out to Xiao Yu, “Xiao Yu, take good care of your younger siblings.”

“Okay.”

Sun Ayi greeted Sheng Mingqian and turned to go back to the kitchen, but Sheng Mingqian saw her leaving and quickly followed: “Sun Ayi, please wait. I have something I want to ask you.”

Sun Ayi took off the dripping rubber gloves and placed them on the table next to her, wiping her hands on her clothes: “Mr. Sheng, you don’t have to be polite. Ask whatever you want.”

Thinking of the sudden storm and changes along the way, Sheng Mingqian’s throat was dry, like parched earth cracking after a long drought. A ladle of water would be instantly baked away, sizzling and steaming. He pinched his Adam’s apple twice before speaking.

“Sun Ayi, do you know why Ye Lai changed his name? Ten years ago, Ye Lai was not even nineteen years old. What happened to him then?”

As soon as Sheng Mingqian spoke, Sun Ayi’s face changed immediately. The wrinkles on her forehead deepened, and her eyes darted away, avoiding Sheng Mingqian’s gaze: “This… I’m not really sure. I’ve only been here for less than five years. At that time, Ye Lai was an actor, and he was called Ye Lai. As for Ye Lai’s past, it’s considered taboo here. Jiang Ying doesn’t tell us, and she doesn’t allow us to discuss it. Mr. Sheng, I don’t know about this.”

Sheng Mingqian didn’t want to give up: “Are you really not aware of anything at all?”

Sun Ayi’s eyes were evasive, hesitant, and she stammered for a long time before saying: “I’ve heard a few words from the previous employees in private. Ye Lai used to have a different name, he changed his name, and he was injured. I don’t know anything more than that. Only Jiang Ying knows about this.”

–

–

In the hospital ward, Jiang Ying had woken up. After the ventilator was removed, Ye Lai fed her two mouthfuls of thin rice porridge and a few sips of water, but she couldn’t eat anything else.

Jiang Ying’s periods of wakefulness were short now, and she was mostly in a semi-conscious state. Occasionally, when she woke up, she was confused and always talked to Ye Lai about things from a long time ago.

“When I picked you up as a child, you were so small, like a sesame seed in my arms,” Jiang Ying said, taking a breath after every few words, her voice intermittent. “Xiao Lai was good-looking since he was a child, but he was too thin. Even when he grew up, I couldn’t fatten him up no matter how much I fed him.”

Ye Lai smiled and continued her words: “Xiao Yu was chubby when he came, and he still is. It might be innate. I just belong to the type that doesn’t gain weight, no matter how much I eat.”

After Ye Lai finished speaking, Jiang Ying closed her eyes again. Her breathing was heavy, rising and falling, and there were rattling noises. She didn’t say anything for a few minutes, looking like she had fallen asleep again. Ten minutes later, she woke up again, opened her eyes, and looked at Ye Lai. Her aged and cloudy eyes suddenly filled with tears: “Good child, you’re back.”

As she spoke, Jiang Ying trembled and raised her hand, touching Ye Lai’s arm: “When did you come back? Does it hurt?”

Ye Lai pulled out a tissue and wiped Jiang Ying’s eyes, knowing that Jiang Ying was thinking about the past again. His body tensed up, and he didn’t dare to look at her.

When Sheng Mingqian entered, Ye Lai was wiping Jiang Ying’s face with a hot towel, coaxing her: “Sleep for a while, take a rest.”

Jiang Ying barely propped open her eyelids, closing them for a moment and then opening them again: “I won’t sleep. I’m afraid I won’t wake up if I fall asleep. I was confused before. How could I let the bad guys take you away? No one adopts a child who’s almost an adult. I should have stopped them. I should have stopped them.”

Ye Lai turned the towel over, lowered his head, and choked up: “Mother Jiang Ying, it’s been many years. I’m fine now. Don’t worry, I’m back.”

“It’s good that you’re back, it’s good that you’re back…”

Ye Lai’s attention was all on Jiang Ying, and he didn’t hear the sound of the door opening and footsteps behind him. Holding the towel, he turned around and met Sheng Mingqian’s deep, red-rimmed eyes.

For some reason, Ye Lai felt that Sheng Mingqian’s gaze was too complicated, nervous, sad, and filled with a long and helpless sorrow.

Ye Lai had already seen on the news that Sheng Mingqian was attending a promotional event. He was still wearing the suit from the event, but his collar was wrinkled, and two buttons were undone. He looked a bit disheveled, like he had stepped on a frozen lake all winter, but the lake only had a thin layer of ice left. As soon as the sun rose, the thin ice would melt instantly, and the person standing on it would fall into the lake.

As soon as these feelings arose, Ye Lai quickly denied them. He must have been mistaken, he thought too much. Sheng Mingqian was at the hospital last night, so he probably stayed up all night.

Ye Lai withdrew his gaze, raised his leg, and went into the bathroom, saying to Jiang Ying on the bed: “I’ll go wash the towel.”

As soon as he came out after washing the towel, he received a call from Zhang Yihao. Without looking at Sheng Mingqian in the ward, he held his phone and went out to answer the call.

Jiang Ying vaguely saw Sheng Mingqian, squinted her eyes, and thought for a long time before remembering who he was. She raised her fingers towards him: “Look at my memory, Mr. Sheng, you’re here.”

Sheng Mingqian walked two steps to the bedside, bent down, and sat down: “Jiang Ying, how are you feeling today?”

“I feel okay, thank you for coming to see me.”

After chatting for a few sentences, Sheng Mingqian realized that Jiang Ying’s condition was not good. He didn’t ask the questions in his heart, afraid of further stimulating her, and just chatted with her.

“Ye Lai has never brought anyone back before. When he brought you back that time, I even… misunderstood your relationship. But I can see that you should be a very important friend to him.”

Sheng Mingqian wanted to say that she didn’t misunderstand their relationship, but then he thought that he and Ye Lai were already divorced. In the end, he just listened quietly.

“By the way…” Jiang Ying closed her eyes again and took a breath, speaking very slowly, “I also have to thank Mr. Sheng for donating so much money to the orphanage before. You donated anonymously at first. I only found out it was you from a friend. Xiao Lai doesn’t have many friends. Mr. Sheng, please help take care of him in the future.”

Sheng Mingqian agreed quickly: “Don’t worry, I will.”

As soon as Ye Lai came back, he heard their conversation and walked over: “Mother Jiang Ying, I don’t need anyone to take care of me. I can take good care of myself.”

Ye Lai’s reminder made Jiang Ying realize that her words were inappropriate. Sheng Mingqian was just Ye Lai’s friend and had no responsibility to take care of him. She was just confused just now, only knowing how to worry about Ye Lai. In a hurry, she casually asked someone for help.

Jiang Ying wanted to say something, but Sheng Mingqian repeated his previous words: “Don’t worry, I will take good care of Ye Lai.”

Sheng Mingqian’s words were firm, with a weight that could make a pit in the ground. Ye Lai’s heart trembled, and he didn’t say anything more, turning around to boil water again.

Now that Sheng Mingqian had seen Ye Lai, his eyes never left him, trying to find some clues.

He didn’t want to verify that Ye Lai was the child from the sixth floor, the pitiful boy who had briefly appeared in his world and then disappeared. Sheng Mingqian wanted to find some differences to refute this sudden change.

Ye Lai’s voice was different from that child’s. That child’s voice was hoarse and, to be honest, not pleasant. But Ye Lai’s voice was clear when he sang. Although Ye Lai was thin, he wasn’t skin and bones. That child was timid, but Ye Lai often smiled, although sometimes it was a forced smile. Ye Lai would also bite people when he was unhappy.

He would rather Ye Lai not be that child. Although Ye Lai had no parents, he grew up in the orphanage without too much difficulty, like other ordinary children. Although there were regrets, he grew up smoothly.

But Sheng Mingqian was very clear in his heart that even if he found more differences, the fact was still the fact, Ye Lai was the child from back then.

Sheng Mingqian still didn’t dare to think about it. Those words were connected to such a small Ye Lai, connected to a dark abyss. At the bottom of the abyss, an evil claw was waiting, and as long as he jumped in, he would be torn to pieces.

But only by jumping in could he know what was in the abyss.

Sheng Mingqian thought of the scar on the back of Ye Lai’s foot, a scar from a knife cut. The child on the sixth floor had also been cut on the foot.

He still didn’t know what that child originally wanted to do with the knife that day, but the result was that he cut himself. Because he was worried about Sheng Mingqian not being able to see on the stairs, he fell down the stairs in a hurry and accidentally cut himself.

Sheng Mingqian also remembered that when he asked Ye Lai about the scar on the back of his foot, Ye Lai said that scar removal surgery could remove it, and the scar wasn’t that obvious anymore after so long. If he minded, he could have the scar removal surgery.

“How did you get the injury on your foot?” Sheng Mingqian walked to Ye Lai’s side and asked that question again.

The tall and long-legged Sheng Mingqian stood beside him, and a shadow covered Ye Lai’s head, making him feel pressured.

Ye Lai didn’t know why Sheng Mingqian suddenly asked this again. Without thinking much, he replied casually: “Didn’t you ask before? It’s a knife wound.”

“When did you get it?”

“That year, when I was nineteen years old.”

Sheng Mingqian had been looking down at Ye Lai’s feet, but when he finished speaking, he suddenly grabbed Ye Lai’s arm, his fingers gripping him tightly: “Ye Lai, did you change your name before?”

His words made Ye Lai, who was about to struggle to pull his hand out, pause. He only felt a loud thunderclap in his head. He turned his head in a panic, exhaling more than inhaling, and said casually: “What’s wrong with changing my name? Many people change their names when they debut to have good luck.”

There was no need to ask anyone else. Ye Lai’s reaction had already explained everything. Sheng Mingqian’s fingers gripped harder and harder: “Did we meet a long time ago? That year, I couldn’t see, and you came to find me every noon. At first, your hair was very long. We sunbathed together. You came to see me during the New Year, and later you ate dumplings with me. You hurt your foot, it was cut by a knife.”

Ye Lai looked at Sheng Mingqian’s shrinking dark brown pupils, his chin tightened into a stiff arc. After a long time, he curled the corners of his lips slightly at Sheng Mingqian: “Director Sheng, it’s been ten years. I have a bad memory. I’ve completely forgotten what happened before.”