SEC Chapter 3 Mom, this is Dad! Dad's here!
Chapter 3 Mom, this is Dad! Dad's here!
The setting sun shone through the balcony window, casting a warm glow across the floor.
Her two darlings, the eldest daughter Niannian, nestled in the man's arms on the sofa, tilting her head back and smiling so much that her eyes narrowed into crescent moons.
Meanwhile, Gui Gui, the youngest son who had been precocious and reserved since childhood and didn't like to get close to people, was in a good mood and leaned against the man, chatting and laughing with him.
The man with his back to her was tall and straight, and the profile of his face was so familiar that it made her blood freeze instantly.
It's Shen Yu.
Six years.
The person she had hated, resented, and secretly thought about in countless late nights suddenly appeared in her home without warning, sitting on her sofa with her child.
Hearing the door open, Shen Yu turned around abruptly.
The moment their eyes met, time seemed to stand still.
He looked at the woman standing at the door, still in her costume, her hair disheveled and plastered to her cheeks, her lips pale, her eyes filled with lingering fear and unconcealed exhaustion.
Even so, it couldn't hide the beauty that was etched into her very being.
But those almond-shaped eyes, which were once brimming with starlight, were now filled with shock, which was then gradually filled with cold hatred.
Shen Yu's heart clenched, his throat tightened, and a thousand words stuck in his throat, ultimately turning into only one sentence filled with endless guilt:
"Xinlan, I'm back."
These words were like a match, instantly igniting the emotions that Jiang Xinlan had been holding back for six years.
She snapped back to her senses, rushed over, and pulled the two children behind her, protecting them tightly like a mother beast whose scales had been touched. Her eyes were red as she looked at Shen Yu, her voice trembling violently.
"Shen Yu? What are you doing here? How dare you show up here?!"
Niannian peeked out from behind her mother and whispered, "Mommy, it's Daddy! Daddy's home!"
"What kind of father!"
Jiang Xinlan's voice suddenly rose, and tears streamed down her face uncontrollably.
"No! He's long dead!"
As soon as she said those words, she shuddered.
Six years.
At first, she loved him, missed him, and hoped he would come back.
Otherwise, she wouldn't have let the children take Shen Yu's surname after they were born, and she wouldn't have named them Shen Nianyu and Shen Sigui.
But after waiting and hoping for so long, Shen Yu never appeared.
Over the past six years, as a single mother raising two children on her own, she has truly suffered too much injustice and hurt.
So many times when Shen Yu was needed, he didn't come back.
Now that the child is grown up, he's back, casually appearing in her house and becoming her father.
Seeing her with tears streaming down her face, Shen Yu felt an overwhelming pang of heartache. He took half a step forward.
"Xinlan, I'm sorry, I..."
"Don't apologize to me!"
Jiang Xinlan interrupted him sharply, pointing to the door, her chest heaving.
"I don't want to hear this from you! Six years, Shen Yu, six years! You disappeared without a word back then, and now you've reappeared without a word. What exactly do you want?!"
"I know I owe you, I owe the children so much."
Shen Yu looked at her, his eyes full of seriousness.
"I came back this time to make up for what I didn't have, and to take care of you and your two children."
"I don't need it!"
Jiang Xinlan refused without hesitation, her eyes filled with even more hatred.
"These two children have absolutely nothing to do with you! From the day you disappeared without a word six years ago, you cut all ties with us, mother and children! I raised them all by myself with great difficulty; they don't need your hypocritical concern!"
"I know you're angry and resentful, and I accept that."
Shen Yu didn't press her any further. He knew very well that the debt and suffering of the past six years couldn't be resolved with just a few words.
"But the child needs his father, and you don't have to shoulder everything alone anymore. I'll move in across the hall. I won't disturb your life; I just want to be closer to the child so I can protect you both at any time."
These words were like a thorn, piercing deep into Jiang Xinlan's heart. She abruptly looked up, her eyes filled with wariness and defensiveness.
"Living across the hall? Shen Yu, what gives you the right?! Let me tell you, Nian Nian and Gui Gui are my children alone, and have nothing to do with you."
I won't let you come near the child again! Now, get out of my house! Get out of my house right now!
She pointed to the door, her whole body trembling, not from fear, but from anger—the grievances and resentment that had been building up for six years were finally erupting at this moment.
Her almond-shaped eyes were terribly red, but she forced herself not to shed any more tears. Only her tightly bitten lower lip betrayed her barely suppressed emotions.
Looking at her with her body covered in sharp thorns, Shen Yu felt as if his heart was being cut by a dull knife.
He knew that nothing he said now would make a difference; no amount of explanation could compare to the pain and suffering she had endured over the past six years.
He didn't argue further, but just gave her a deep look, then turned his gaze to the two children, nodded gently to them, and finally said nothing. He turned and walked out of the house, gently closing the door behind him.
The moment the door closed, all the tension in Jiang Xinlan's body instantly dissipated.
She leaned against the door, slowly slid down to the ground, and could no longer hold back, covering her face and bursting into tears.
Memories buried for six years surged up like a floodgate opened, flowing with my tears.
Six years ago, on a summer night, after a class reunion, she helped the drunken Shen Yu back to his rented room off campus.
Under the influence of alcohol and confused by passion, when she woke up the next day, all that was left beside her was a cold bed sheet; Shen Yu had vanished without a trace.
She searched for him frantically, asking all her classmates, reporting him to the police, and checking all the records at the train station and hotels, but there was no trace of him at all.
He vanished from her life as if he had evaporated into thin air.
For a full month and a half, she waited with her last glimmer of hope, only to receive a positive pregnancy test result.
twin.
Everyone around her advised her to abort the child, saying that as a college student who hadn't even graduated yet, getting pregnant out of wedlock would ruin her life.
She lay on a hospital bench, clutching the ultrasound report in her hand, looking at the two tiny gestational sacs on it, listening to the faint heartbeat inside, and finally gritted her teeth and walked out of the hospital.
She couldn't bear to part with it.
Even if the child's father disappeared without a word, she couldn't bear to give up on these two little lives.
But she didn't expect that this was only the beginning of her suffering.
Li Qianqian, a classmate with whom she had a past conflict, somehow found out that she was pregnant.
Overnight, the post "Jiang Xinlan is being kept by an old man and is pregnant out of wedlock, ruining the school's reputation" spread throughout Jiangcheng University.
Wherever she went, she could hear whispers and pointing fingers behind her back; those disdainful and mocking glances felt like needles pricking her.
The school spoke with her three times, ultimately forcing her to voluntarily withdraw from the school.
She lost her studies and her reputation, and with her belly growing bigger and bigger, she went home.
Her biological parents were so ashamed by the gossip from their neighbors that they couldn't lift their heads, but seeing her pregnant and helpless, they finally softened and let her go home to rest and prepare for childbirth.
At that time, she still held onto a sliver of hope, always feeling that Shen Yu would eventually come back.
On the day of delivery, she suffered from severe labor pains and fainted several times. The doctor had her family sign an informed consent form for the difficult labor.
In the end, she could only sign her name herself, her hands trembling.
She risked her life in the delivery room to give birth to both children.
In the night after the anesthesia wore off, the woman in the next bed had her husband busy taking care of her, bringing her water and feeding her.
She was all alone in the hospital bed, struggling to feed her two crying babies.
That very day, the last vestiges of hope in her heart were extinguished.
Not long after she finished her postpartum confinement, a group of people blocked her doorway, holding banners, splashing red paint, and yelling at the neighbors who were watching that she was a mistress.
They say she interfered in other people's relationships and was morally corrupt for having a child out of wedlock.