Chapter 172: Chapter 172
"He said, Yun’er is the most important person to me in this world. No one can take her away from me, not even my child."
At this point, Luo Wan wiped her tears: "Actually, after your mother passed, your father wanted to follow her. If it weren’t for you, he would have gone after her."
Luo Wan had witnessed her sister and brother-in-law’s love firsthand, and even now, it still shocked her.
Their love was simple, pure, and passionate, untouched by even the slightest impurity.
"An’an, you came into this world filled with love. Your parents loved each other deeply, and they loved you just as much."
Saying this, Luo Wan couldn’t hold back her tears anymore and collapsed onto Shen You’an’s shoulder, crying bitterly.
"That year, your father had an emergency firefighting mission and called me to come keep your aunt company. At the time, your aunt was just over seven months pregnant, still more than a month away from her due date. She said the weather was cooling and wanted to knit you a sweater. She asked me to go with her to buy some yarn, and the doctor had also suggested walking more for the baby’s health. So we brought you along and went outside. At the market, we ran into Zhou Qin. She said some unpleasant things about you, upsetting your mom. Your mom pushed her in anger, but accidentally caused the baby to move..."
Luo Wan’s face turned extremely pained, as if reliving that dark day was unbearable.
A calm, cold voice of a young girl rang in her ears: "Which hospital did my mother give birth at?"
"City Third Hospital. At the time, it was the closest, so we rushed her there. If there had been enough time, your mother had registered at the City Maternal and Children’s Hospital, where you were born. If she had given birth there with the experienced doctors, perhaps the tragedy wouldn’t have happened. In the end, everything is fate..."
"Was Zhou Qin present during my mother’s operation?"
Luo Wan froze for a moment, wiped her tears, and replied, "She followed us there. Later, when I went to pay the medical bill, she stayed outside the operating room the whole time. From what I saw, she was frightened too, afraid something really bad would happen to your aunt and that your father might blame her."
Shen You’an lowered her gaze, lost in thought.
She suddenly recalled overhearing her aunt and uncle discussing her father’s past outside a hospital ward.
"My father... was he really an orphan?"
Luo Wan said, "Back then, your grandmother opposed their marriage, thinking your uncle couldn’t provide security for your aunt because he was an orphan. But he claimed he actually had family. When he wanted to enlist in the army, his family disapproved, so he left home and kept it a secret. Your grandmother suggested meeting his family to discuss the wedding, but at that time, her health suddenly worsened. The two of them quickly got married and didn’t have time for a ceremony. Your father kept saying he would give your mom a proper wedding later, but he never got the chance."
In the end, he truly never got the chance.
Zhang Jian walked out at that moment: "A week before your father’s accident, he seemed to sense something bad was going to happen. He came to me with some strange words and left me a phone number, telling me not to use it unless absolutely necessary."
Zhang Jian’s mood was visibly low: "I tried calling the number a few times, but they all said there was no such person as Shen Li."
Shen You’an remained silent.
After a long pause, she said, "It’s getting late, Aunt, Uncle, please rest early."
At 2 a.m., a fierce wind battered the windows.
A torrential rain poured down.
A stark white lightning bolt tore through the night sky, illuminating the room filled with solitude.
The rolling thunder roared, making the heavens and earth seem to tremble.
In the endless long night, the wind howled, and the rain was relentless.
Shen You’an lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling with unblinking eyes.
In the fleeting white light, her glistening tears reflected in her dark pupils.
She kept her eyes wide open, and the tears slowly evaporated into the air, leaving behind her sore, aching eyes.
Suddenly, Shen You’an sat up, walked to the bookshelf, and stood on tiptoe to reach for a box on the top shelf.
She sat down on the floor and opened the box.
Inside were small toys: a carved wooden bird, a wand missing its gemstone, and a Barbie doll dressed in a gorgeous gown. These toys bore the marks of time, left untouched and forgotten in a corner.
Shen You’an caressed each one, even though in this timeline, it was only nine years ago.
But to her soul, thirty long years had passed in between.
It was so far away, so distant that no matter how hard she tried to recall, she couldn’t remember.
These toys carrying memories of her childhood—she desperately wanted to find even the slightest trace of her parents in them.
But there was nothing.
Only hollow memories and a numbed heart eroded over the long years of life.
At the bottom of the box lay a small photo album.
Shen You’an’s trembling fingers slowly opened it.
After waking up at five years old, she had sealed these memories away completely.
She refused to become someone trapped in pain, and she would never repeat the mistakes of her past life.
So she discarded everything, forcing herself to harden her heart and grit her teeth, moving forward.
Through those three thousand-some days and nights, what had supported her to keep going?
Even now, she did not know the answer.
Eating delicious food, enjoying beautiful scenery, diving deep into the sea of knowledge, spending vast amounts of money, achieving remarkable results...
She had long achieved secular success, enough to bring glory to the family name.
But to her, none of it mattered.
Even if one day she obtained the power to protect herself—so what?
There was still an emptiness inside her, hollow and vast.
If the system hadn’t found her back then, and she had simply faded away from this world without any reincarnation—it would’ve been fine too.
The human world was beautiful, but for someone in despair, it was better not to return.
The album was thin, only five pages.
Separated by thin plastic film were pale yellow old photographs.
The man in the photos had a sunny, handsome face, with clear, bright eyes. His smile revealed a row of white teeth, and the dimples on his side radiated vitality from the photographs.
He must have been a passionate, optimistic, life-loving, and kind man.
The woman in his arms had long hair cascading over her shoulders, her refined beauty unparalleled. Her large black eyes shone brightly; her lips curved in a reserved smile, like a lotus blooming on a summer night—subtle, yet tender.
The woman possessed a simple and pure aura, resting in his embrace with happiness lighting up her eyes and brows.
Under her flowing dress, her belly was already slightly rounded. Both of their hands rested on her abdomen, radiating their joyful anticipation for the life to come. The love between them practically overflowed.
Amid the flashes of lightning, Shen You’an gently stroked the photo with her fingers.
This was when she was five months old in her mother’s belly—the photograph taken then.
Further back were her hundred-day baby photos.
A chubby, round-faced baby dressed like a New Year’s poster child smiled foolishly.
On the back of the photo were several words written in bold, flowing penmanship:
"To my beloved daughter, You’an: May your heart be as tranquil as the tides, may you accept life as it comes, may you be as free as the wind, and as radiant as the flowers."
"Hundred-day portrait."
Each word was infused with the most beautiful blessings a father could give to his daughter.
Shen You’an stared at these words, finally unable to stop her tears.
Outside, lightning and thunder continued; the storm never ceased.
After enduring the wind and rain, something fresh and tender sprouted in a hollow and desolate place.
She pressed the photo to her heart and, in the long night clad in black, wept silently.
In the dark, her jet-black eyes shone with a determination stronger than ever before.