Su Ning'an wore an expression of unworthiness. "What? Give me your shares? That doesn't seem right. I only want the love of Mom, Dad, and Brother. What do I need so many shares for?"
"What a good child. Of course we love you. You take them. Consider it a little compensation from Mom and Dad for the years you suffered outside. We heard you had a hard time when you were young."
"That's all in the past." Su Ning'an shook her head. "Having your love, I feel like the happiest person in the world. It's just... when Sister comes back, she'll be very sad, won't she?"
"Why should she be sad? We're giving this to you willingly. What does it have to do with her? It's not like she built the Su family empire."
"Mom, you're so good to me."
Su Ning'an leaned against my mother. In a corner no one else could see, I saw the slight, triumphant curl of her lips.
Clearly, the shares were no accident. This was also part of her scheme.
*I didn't understand. She had Lu Shiyan's devotion, she was the darling of the Su family. With a single word, my mother gifted her an 80-million-yuan piece of jewelry without hesitation. She already possessed vast wealth.*
So why was she still scheming for shares? First Grandma, now the others.
I thought my death was the end of everything. But now, I had a feeling.
Su Ning'an wanted far more than just my death!
It seemed she was brewing an even greater storm, perhaps related to the Su family, perhaps also to the Lu family.
Su Ning'an, what exactly are you trying to do?!
"Tomorrow, I'll have the lawyer handle it. You should rest early. Once the procedures are done, An'an, you just need to come sign."
"Thank you, Dad."
"Silly child, what's there to thank among family? Consider it the dowry Mom and Dad are preparing for you in advance."
Su Ning'an handed the bowl to Mother. "Mom, the soup is getting cold. You can drink it now."
"Good girl."
I stood by, desperately trying to stop her. "Don't drink it! Please, don't drink it!"
But no one could hear me. I could only watch helplessly as my mother drank the chicken soup from the bowl containing my ashes.
Su Ning'an then urged my brother and father to have some soup too. Both declined at first.
"Drink it. It's our daughter's filial piety. In the future, when she's married, you might not get to drink it even if you want to."
"That's true. Let's have a little then."
The family was harmonious and happy, making me seem like a complete stranger.
Heartbroken, I withdrew from the Su house, wanting to find the rest of my body.
My skin was peeled to make the human-skin book, my bones ground into powder. Then what about the flesh...?
Was it thrown to the dogs, or minced and flushed down the drain?
When I opened my eyes again, I saw only a sky heavy with dark clouds and the deafening roar of thunder.
I wasn't indoors. Was I outside? Had I found the burial site?
I was both startled and thrilled, quickly looking around to identify the place.
The scenery was still familiar to me because right behind me was the marital home I shared with Lu Shiyan.
Wrong? How could I be here?
Did those people have the audacity to bury me at the marital home after killing me?
I had spent a long time buying and decorating this house. I loved gardening, so even before moving in, I had cultivated many plants and flowers in the yard. Both the front and back yards had fertile soil.
A thought rose in my mind: Had my flesh been turned into fertilizer for the flowers?
BOOM!
Lightning streaked across the sky, followed by the rumble of thunder.
In that moment where time and space seemed to intersect, I noticed something new in the front yard.
It was hard to see clearly in the pitch-black night, but when the lightning lit up the sky, I saw a huge black shadow.
What was that?
Had Lu Shiyan specially transplanted a tree?
The feeling of unease grew stronger. I slowly walked towards the large black shadow. It was taller than me by more than half, wrapped in a layer of black cloth.
I reached out, wanting to tear away the black waterproof cloth, but I remembered I couldn't touch anything.
I could only watch as the pouring rain streamed down the edges of the waterproof cloth.
What is it! What secret is hidden inside?!
Whatever it was, something related to my body must be here, otherwise I wouldn't be lingering in this spot.
I waited for a long time but gained nothing, so I returned to Lu Shiyan's side.
He had just finished showering and was lying in bed. The phone on the nightstand vibrated incessantly, Su Ning'an's name flashing repeatedly.
It was strange. Before, when he was with me, no matter when Su Ning'an called, he would answer. Why was he so calm now?
Beneath those dark pupils, a storm was brewing, as if he was酝酿 something.
Perhaps he had begun to suspect, to realize what role Su Ning'an truly played?
Or perhaps he still clung to the illusion, thinking he might be wrong, unwilling to tear off that mask without concrete evidence.
Su Ning'an finally hung up. Lu Shiyan stared intently at the movie projected on the screen—the classic Titanic.
It was exactly at the part where the ocean liner hits the iceberg, the ship tilts, and everyone faces imminent death.
I saw Lu Shiyan's serious expression. Was he thinking about how I felt when I fell into the sea back then?
When the male protagonist jumps into the water, and the female protagonist sits on the only piece of driftwood.
The moment the whistle blows, the女主 looks relieved towards the男主, thinking they are saved, only to see him frozen solid.
He never reached the other side of the ocean, his short life ending in the icy sea.
The女主 is heartbroken. Two tear tracks slowly traced down Lu Shiyan's cheeks.
He murmured softly, "Wanwan..."
Suddenly, he grabbed the phone from the nightstand and frantically dialed my number. The other end still offered the cold, automated female voice reminder.
Lu Shiyan clicked on my profile picture again, but unlike his previous threats, his voice in this night seemed exceptionally fragile and helpless:
"Wanwan, I was wrong. I truly know I was wrong. Please come back. Stop joking with me. I miss you."
"I shouldn't have abandoned you at the wedding. Come back, let's live a good life. From now on, I will never make you sad again."
"You wanted to go to Las Vegas for our honeymoon, didn't you? As long as you come back, I'll go to the ends of the earth with you."
"I know about the baby... I'm so sorry. That day, I abandoned a multi-billion-dollar deal to come. I thought you were joking. I didn't mean to push you... I'm sorry, I'm really sorry..."
I had never seen Lu Shiyan like this—curled up into a ball, looking utterly helpless.
If I had heard this voice in the past, no matter how much he had hurt me, I would have forgiven him instantly.
But now, I could only sit by the bed, listening to the theme song of Titanic, watching the man whose shoulders trembled, without shedding a single tear.
"But Lu Shiyan... it's too late now. I will never forgive you."