Chapter 3
The word “support,” since her mother’s passing, had vanished from her life.
Shen Shiwu didn’t ask about the reason behind her increasing rebelliousness, nor did she lecture her like her class teacher.
She accepted it calmly and told her it didn’t matter.
Jiang Siyi felt her eyes welling up. She blinked several times, her eyelashes fluttering like tiny butterflies.
“Then why are you helping me?”
She couldn’t understand.
The people who had been kind to her were few and far between. Accustomed to loneliness, Shen Shiwu’s sudden appearance and words left her bewildered.
She felt lost, confused, and the childhood memories alone weren’t enough to build trust.
“Does there have to be a reason?” Shen Shiwu actually pondered for a moment. “I find you cute, so I want to help. Is that not allowed?”
This wasn’t a lie.
She genuinely found Jiang Siyi as adorable as she was in her childhood.
Jiang Siyi struggled to form a response, her face flushing red in the process.
After a while, she composed herself. “I’m asking you seriously.”
Hearing this, Shen Shiwu sighed inwardly and told the truth. “Auntie Jiang and my mother were good friends.”
The implication was clear.
So that’s it.
Pitying me and offering help, huh?
Jiang Siyi thought sullenly.
If only Mother were still here.
If she were, I wouldn’t be like a stray dog, with no place to call home.
“Anyway, just stay here and relax…” Shen Shiwu was interrupted mid-sentence. She heard the girl say:
“I’ll move out as soon as I graduate high school.”
“If there’s anything you spend money on, I’ll pay you back with interest.”
Her tone was firm, as if discussing a business deal.
Shen Shiwu simply watched her, her expression exceptionally calm. Only after the girl rambled on for a while did she finally break into a smile, unable to contain it any longer.
Sometimes, when Jiang Siyi got stuck, suddenly forgetting what she was saying, Shen Shiwu would soothe her, “Don’t worry, take your time.”
Her smile lingering.
“Okay, that’s all for now.” Jiang Siyi licked her lips, her mouth dry from talking. She saw Shen Shiwu resting her chin on her hand, watching her. “Finished?”
“Yeah, finished.”
The woman got up and left, returning with a glass of water.
“Drink this.”
Jiang Siyi often overthought things. Now she wondered why she wasn’t offered tea.
She took the glass and thanked her.
Perhaps catching the girl’s gaze, Shen Shiwu gently explained, “You’re too young to drink tea. It’ll keep you up at night.”
Huh.
This is age-restricted now?
Jiang Siyi didn’t believe her nonsense.
After finishing the large glass of water, her dry throat felt much better. Sleepiness washed over her.
“Which room am I staying in?”
“Any room on the second floor except my bedroom. They’ve all been cleaned.”
Seeing the girl respond with an “Oh” and about to head upstairs, Shen Shiwu spoke up just in time, “Wait a minute.”
Jiang Siyi turned around, puzzled. “What’s wrong?”
The woman emerged from the bathroom on the first floor, holding a hairdryer. She walked over and gently grasped the girl’s wrist.
“Your hair needs to be completely dry.”
That night, surrounded by the scent of unfamiliar shampoo, Jiang Siyi fell asleep early.
However, she woke up again at three in the morning and couldn’t fall back asleep no matter how hard she tried.
Perhaps this was retribution for sleeping from morning till seven in the evening yesterday.
She stared blankly at the ceiling, finally resigning herself to playing on her phone.
The class group chat was flooded with messages, mostly lamenting the early start of school. The thought made her sigh. What store would hire her for just one month of summer work?
Without a part-time job, she wouldn’t have any money.
Without money… how could she repay Shen Shiwu’s debt?
Thus, she tossed and turned, staying awake until dawn.
Next door, Shen Shiwu was also awake.
“You have to take good care of Siyi, understand?” Shen’s mother, abroad, was video chatting with her daughter.
“Of course,” the woman replied, tapping her fingers on the desk. “But I have a question.”
“Didn’t Auntie Jiang leave anything behind? Like an inheritance?”
“That bastard Li Nan swallowed it all,” Shen’s mother fumed. “No matter how rebellious Siyi is, she’s still a child. How could she outsmart him?”
Shen Shiwu’s eyes darkened.
“Your Auntie Jiang helped me out a few times when she was alive. If it weren’t for my poor health and inability to fly long distances, I would have come back to raise Siyi myself.”
“Don’t you trust me to take care of her?”
Shen’s mother smiled, her eyes crinkling kindly. “Good, you two get along well.”
***
The next day, the heavy rain from the previous night had stopped, replaced by gentle sunlight.
It was a beautiful, clear day.
Although Jiang Siyi woke up early, she stayed in her room, sitting on the edge of the bed in a daze after washing up.
Shen Shiwu figured teenagers tended to sleep in, so she didn’t knock on her door until noon.
Jiang Siyi, whose backside was nearly numb from sitting, finally heard a noise outside and pretended to call out, “What’s up?”
The woman’s voice was gentle, “Are you up? Come down for lunch.”
Jiang Siyi, who had been up for ages, replied, “Oh, give me ten minutes.”
Sitting at the dining table, the housekeeper brought over seven dishes and a soup, an extremely lavish meal.
Jiang Siyi, holding her chopsticks, was so hungry she couldn’t help but say, “I’m starting.”
Shen Shiwu was amused, and said indulgently, “Go ahead.”
Since last night, the housekeeper had been curious about the young girl the mistress had suddenly brought home.
But no matter how curious she was, she couldn’t ask. Watching the two eat, she addressed Shen Shiwu, “Miss, I’ll be going then. I’ll come back in the evening.”
“No need to come back for dinner. We’ll eat out.”
“Oh, alright.”
Jiang Siyi, enjoying her meal, looked up in confusion.
“I’m taking you to buy some clothes and other daily necessities,” Shen Shiwu explained.
“No need, I brought everything.” Jiang Siyi didn’t want to waste money.
The woman saw right through her thoughts and casually said, “The housekeeper hung your clothes out to dry this morning, and…”
She paused.
Jiang Siyi, chewing on a piece of braised pork, asked, “And what?”
“They were graced by bird droppings.”
“…”
Shen Shiwu continued eating without changing her expression, as if she hadn’t just said those words.
“Really?” Jiang Siyi was a little skeptical. “It was that accurate? All on my clothes?”
“Really.”
She tried to glean something from the woman’s micro-expressions, but the woman was impeccably composed.
Jiang Siyi poked at her rice, too lazy to dig deeper.
The consequence of not asking further was that she was dragged out the door right after finishing her meal.
In the car, Jiang Siyi looked sideways at the woman driving, feeling apprehensive, but still stubbornly declared, “I’ll pay for myself.”
The other woman humored her, “I know.”
Arriving at the mall, she was led into a store.
The last time she had been in a physical store was… she couldn’t remember, but it was a long time ago.
“Do you like these two dresses?” Shen Shiwu waved to the shop assistant, signaling her to leave them alone, and then asked the girl.
Both were floral dresses, just in different color schemes.
Jiang Siyi actually liked this style very much.
But considering her empty wallet, she still shook her head. “Not really.”
Shen Shiwu raised an eyebrow slightly and put the dresses back.
Jiang Siyi felt a little uneasy. She softly urged, “Just buy something cheap. I wear a uniform at school.”
Wearing the school uniform was one of the few school rules she followed.
People bustled around them. Shen Shiwu noticed the girl’s embarrassment and discomfort. She made a thoughtful sound, as if considering something, then said, “Auntie Jiang left a small portion of her inheritance to my mother.”
She slowly soothed the negative emotions in the girl’s heart.
“So it’s only natural for me to spend money on you, understand?”
At the mention of her mother, Jiang Siyi’s eyes flickered.
Then she finally grasped the key point. “Inheritance?”
In fact, Shen’s mother hadn’t taken a penny. Shen Shiwu lied for two reasons.
One, to reassure Jiang Siyi about spending money and to allow her to grow up without worries.
Two, to remind her about the existence of the inheritance.
The woman nodded, thinking it wouldn’t hurt to explain later, and proceeded to pick out a pile of clothes and head to the checkout.
“What are you daydreaming about? Be careful not to get lost.”
How could she get lost here? And she wasn’t a kindergartener.
Jiang Siyi pouted but followed anyway.
“Hello, the total is two thousand nine hundred and eighty.”
T-two thousand?
Almost three thousand?
Jiang Siyi watched as the woman calmly paid, trying to convince herself.
It’s okay, she’s spending my mom’s money.
I deserve this.
Thinking this all the way, she quickly accepted the reality and finally stopped worrying about the money.
“So, from now on, if I want something, will you buy it for me?”
Shen Shiwu smiled. “Yes, I’ll even pluck the stars from the sky for you.”
Jiang Siyi tilted her head and snorted softly.
She didn’t want stars.
She didn’t need that much money either, just enough to get by.
What she longed for most was love.
Later, they entered a lingerie store. Jiang Siyi walked in calmly but came out blushing.
Shen Shiwu looked at her. “There’s no shame in buying underwear. It’s normal, understand?”
Her mother had passed away early, and no one had ever taught Jiang Siyi about these things. She had figured it out on her own.
The girl responded with a hum and then said, “I want bubble tea.”
It was the first time she had actively asked for something, even if it was just bubble tea. Shen Shiwu was quite happy, feeling that her child-rearing mission had made a leap forward.
It was summer vacation, and almost every store was packed, including the bubble tea shop. There were no empty seats.
Shen Shiwu found a place to sit outside, placing several shopping bags at Jiang Siyi’s feet. “What do you want? Wait here, I’ll go buy it.”
The girl told her the name of the drink she wanted and then, watching the woman’s retreating figure, started playing with her phone out of boredom.
“Holy crap, Jiang Siyi!” She knew who it was without looking up.
Xu Yuan lived near the mall and often came here to eat. She was shocked to see Jiang Siyi.
She came over with a bag of fried chicken, the aroma making Jiang Siyi a little hungry.
“Want a bite?”
“Nah.”
She would ask Shen Shiwu to buy her some later.
Xu Yuan ate as she looked her over. “Why aren’t you at your part-time job today?”
When she saw the pile of shopping bags next to Jiang Siyi, she was even more surprised. “Did you win the lottery?”
Jiang Siyi didn’t know how to explain the situation.
She touched her nose and mumbled, “It’s a long story. I’ll tell you when school starts.”
Seeing this, Xu Yuan didn’t press further, but pulled her along. “Want to go play the claw machines?”
“No.”
“Come on, just play with me for a bit. It’s just that store over there, a few seconds away.”
The bubble tea shop was overflowing with customers. Jiang Siyi looked inside and saw Shen Shiwu was still waiting.
She calculated the time, figuring she could play for a few minutes and then run back. Shen Shiwu probably wouldn’t notice.
So, Jiang Siyi took off with the shopping bags.
She still had some conscience, telling Xu Yuan as they walked, “I’m only exchanging ten coins, five tries.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know.”
The shop assistant’s hands moved swiftly, quickly finishing Shen Shiwu’s drink. However, when the woman walked outside, her face darkened considerably.
Because Jiang Siyi was gone.
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