Chapter 141: Player 13

Tang Shiyu couldn’t quite put her feelings into words. Meanwhile, Yu Liuxue frowned in displeasure as she stared at her with a strange expression. Inwardly, she muttered to the System, “Just you wait.”

System: “?” This has nothing to do with me.

Soon, the elders also noticed Tang Shiyu’s arrival. They warmly welcomed her inside, then started chattering all at once: “Shiyu really does like Yin Yin, she even specially bought roses for her.” After a pause, someone with sharp eyes immediately spotted the small box in her hand. “Oh? What’s this? A ring? Shiyu, are you proposing to Jian Yin?!”

Yu Liuxue instinctively looked at Tang Shiyu’s hand. Tang Shiyu, suddenly exposed, was caught completely off guard. She quickly tried to hypnotize herself: She had finally been reborn and reunited with the one she loved. She had a chance to make up for everything. And besides, it was because she had given birth to her child that…

Just as she was trying to comfort herself, a loud fart brutally shattered her thoughts.

The elders clapped their hands in joy and relief. “Good! Well done! I’ve never heard anyone fart that loud before! With a body like that, Yin Yin could definitely have a second child! Just look at our Tang Yu, so beautiful and healthy! Like a porcelain doll, absolutely adorable.”

Tang Shiyu tightened her grip on the bouquet of roses. Yu Liuxue’s gaze never left her, as if waiting to see her next move. Taking a deep breath, Tang Shiyu steadied herself, then stepped forward and knelt on one knee in front of Yu Liuxue. Her eyes were as gentle as water as she offered the carefully prepared roses. “Yin Yin, you’ve worked so hard.”

Looking at Yu Liuxue’s face, Tang Shiyu couldn’t stop the flood of memories. That photo by her bedside, faded from decades of gazing, came to mind again. It was the only selfie Jian Yin had taken before her death, and the one she had personally chosen to be her memorial portrait¹. In the photo, she wore a faint smile, her eyes full of tenderness, yet no amount of light makeup could conceal the pallor and illness in her face.

It had taken Tang Shiyu a long time to persuade a close friend to give her the original color version of that photo.

She had printed it out and placed it in Jian Yin’s favorite Gudetama-themed frame, keeping it safe and close. She had stared at it from her youth all the way to her twilight years. In the quiet of the night, only she knew the depth of that sorrow.

As the memories surged, Tang Shiyu’s eyes shimmered with tears. She took out the ring and coaxed softly, “Yin Yin, marry me. I’ll spend my whole life making it up to you, treating you well.”

Yu Liuxue felt something was off with Tang Shiyu. She quickly asked the System, “What’s going on with her? Why is she suddenly proposing to me so tenderly? It’s kind of scary.”

Surely it couldn’t be just because she had given birth to her biological daughter?

The System quietly hid its little secret. “Host, just think of it as her suddenly realizing you’re her true love.”

“No way!” Nan Xu suddenly burst in, also holding a bouquet of vibrant roses. She glanced at Tang Shiyu, who was still kneeling on one knee, then smiled and walked right past her to stand in front of Yu Liuxue. “Xiao Yin, happy International Day of Peace.”

Tang Shiyu: “?”

Yu Liuxue: “……” She looked at the flowers in Tang Shiyu’s hand, then at the ones in Nan Xu’s, her eyes widening in disbelief. What was going on with these two? Were they secretly betting on who could win her over first? She smiled faintly and unceremoniously accepted both bouquets. “Thank you.”

With the elders’ encouragement, Tang Shiyu forced herself to put the ring on Yu Liuxue’s finger. Then, face dark, she turned to Nan Xu. “We need to talk.”

In her previous life, if Nan Xu hadn’t deceived her, she wouldn’t have missed her chance with Jian Yin. She wouldn’t have caused her to fall ill and spiral into depression, ultimately dying without ever receiving the love she deserved. Though she bore some blame herself, Nan Xu was undoubtedly the main culprit!

Nan Xu gave a soft laugh. “Perfect. I have something to discuss with you too, CEO Tang.”

Tension crackled between the two women. If it weren’t for the presence of the elders, they might have come to blows right then and there. Yu Liuxue was completely baffled. “Oh~! Are they about to fight over custody of the child?!”

“Sigh, it’s my fault. I should’ve had a few more,” Yu Liuxue said tearfully.

The System gave her a sideways glance and couldn’t help but snort. The Host was getting more and more fake by the day. Maybe start by wiping that smile off your face.

Tang Shiyu and Nan Xu found a quiet place. Just seeing Nan Xu’s confident, radiant face filled Tang Shiyu with bitter irony. While she had amnesia, Nan Xu had spun lie after lie, wrapping her around her finger. Every word she’d said had been false. If Tang Shiyu hadn’t regained her memory in time, she would’ve fallen completely into this woman’s trap.

She always claimed it was because she loved her, that love was selfish, that she was just trying to find her own happiness. And because of all this nonsense, Jian Yin had been driven into depression and died. She had only been twenty-five that year!

Tang Shiyu stared at Nan Xu with a cold, heavy gaze and asked bluntly, “Nan Xu, what is it you really want?”

Was it the title of Mrs. Tang? The entire Tang Family’s wealth? Or did she want both power and fame? Wasn’t that a bit too greedy? As Tang Shiyu frowned, trying to guess her intentions, Nan Xu smiled gently. “After all this time, do you really still not understand, CEO Tang? All I want is Xiao Yin and our child.”

Tang Shiyu’s head snapped up. “?”

Since when was the child hers?

And why did this plot feel different from what she remembered? She looked Nan Xu over without revealing her thoughts. “Sorry, she’s mine.”

After a pause, she emphasized, “The child is mine too.”

Nan Xu let out a soft chuckle, her expression still tender. “Looks like Xiao Yin kept our promise and didn’t tell you the truth.”

“Last year, when we got drunk and made that bet in your bed—before you made it back home—we slept together. That’s when she got pregnant with my child.”

Tang Shiyu felt like she’d been struck by lightning. She struggled to dig through her memories and finally pieced the scene together. Her face turned green. “Impossible!”

“There’s nothing impossible about it. You didn’t know, did you? When she suspected she was pregnant—on the very day you brought her home to meet your family—the first person she went to was me.” Nan Xu’s tone was light, like she was chatting with an old friend, but Tang Shiyu’s heart sank lower and lower. Could someone please tell her why, after being reborn, the person who was supposed to stop at nothing to pursue her had suddenly fallen for her wife instead? And now she was even claiming the child was hers?

Was it really because she had arrived too late that day?

Nan Xu didn’t care about Tang Shiyu’s inner turmoil. Her eyes flickered slightly, and she finally said, “If you don’t mind, I’ll talk to Xiao Yin about letting you live with us.”

Tang Shiyu’s fury erupted. She glared at her. “Don’t even think about it! She and the child are mine. You’re a ruthless, venomous woman, worse than a snake. I won’t let you get your way.”

As she left, she slammed the door behind her.

Ever since Tang Shiyu returned, she had stayed in the room with Yu Liuxue. Even though Yu Liuxue was dying of curiosity, Tang Shiyu didn’t say a single word about what had just happened between her and Nan Xu. When Nan Xu came back, she was calm and composed, showing no trace of anything unusual. Left with no choice, Yu Liuxue turned to ask the System, “What did they say? Did they fight?”

“No.”

Disappointment instantly flashed across Yu Liuxue’s face.

System: “……” As expected.

Tang Shiyu found Nan Xu an eyesore just by looking at her, yet the woman insisted on lingering around. To make matters worse, Yu Liuxue welcomed her warmly and even seemed to be enjoying their conversation immensely. Tang Shiyu’s face was practically as dark as a vat of vinegar. In her past life, Nan Xu had deceived her and sabotaged her relationship with Jian Yin—fine, she could accept that. But now, in this life, she was coming to steal her woman again… Wait a minute!

Could it be that the person Nan Xu was truly interested in was Jian Yin all along? That everything she did—sowing discord between her and Jian Yin—was just to drive them apart, so she could swoop in and claim the beauty for herself?

What if… even the car accident that caused her memory loss had been orchestrated by Nan Xu?

It all made sense! After being reborn, her fiancée was already pregnant with a child whose other biological mother remained unknown!

Without revealing anything, Tang Shiyu secretly asked the doctor to run a paternity test. Then she focused on sorting through the fragments of memory left in her mind. The more she examined them, the more alarmed she became. Something felt off—Jian Yin had changed, like she had become a completely different person. Could it be…

She had been reborn too?!

Tang Shiyu instantly tensed up. No wonder Jian Yin always looked at her with such indifference, and had even become good friends with Nan Xu. That would have been unthinkable in the past.

Tang Shiyu was panicking. She was terrified that Jian Yin had already given up on her, terrified that she would be kicked aside without a second thought.

Nan Xu was quietly called back to the company by someone Tang Shiyu had sent. Yu Liuxue stared up at the snow-white ceiling, thinking that she couldn’t just keep sitting here staring at Tang Shiyu. So she took the initiative to strike up a conversation. Tang Shiyu appeared calm on the surface, but inside, fireworks were exploding in dazzling brilliance. She was so happy she felt like she was floating.

Yu Liuxue’s dinner had been specially prepared by Mi Rou, while Tang Shiyu’s dinner had been carefully arranged by Yu Liuxue. Yu Liuxue had spent money to order from a five-star hotel online, even offering a 200 yuan tip for the delivery. Only then did the food arrive safely at the hospital. The moment she received the takeout, Tang Shiyu was overjoyed. Jian Yin might have a sharp tongue, but she had a soft heart. Even though she acted cold and indifferent, deep down, she was still thinking about her.

So without hesitation, Tang Shiyu ate the entire meal.

But not long after, she started to feel something was off. It was as if several pockets of gas were moving around in her stomach, and it kept gurgling nonstop. Her face turned slightly pale. Just as she was about to get up and head to the bathroom—“bu——!”

A loud fart shattered the silence of the hospital room.

Tang Shiyu instinctively looked up at Yu Liuxue. Yu Liuxue blinked at her with an innocent expression, even looking a bit startled. “Shiyu, what’s wrong? Did you eat something bad?”

Tang Shiyu froze, then glanced down at the receipt on the table: celery beef, octopus and onion salad, stir-fried cabbage, chicken mushroom soup… over ten dishes in total—4,027 yuan.

Tang Shiyu: “……”

You spent over four thousand yuan to prepare me dinner… just to get back at me?

Translator’s Notes