Afraid that Henry would be upset, A Wan didn’t say anything more.
That evening, A Wan washed up first and went straight to bed.
Before closing her eyes, she saw Henry organizing their luggage—a task that seemed to always fall to him.
Henry always took such good care of her, giving her the very best.
A Wan felt truly happy to have Henry by her side.
Gradually, her eyes closed, and her breathing became steady.
Henry finished packing and sat down on the edge of the bed.
He gazed at his wife, his green eyes filled with guilt, sorrow, and fear.
He slowly reached out, wanting to touch A Wan’s face, but just before making contact, he pulled his hand back.
No one knew just how shocked and frightened he had been when he saw that little boy named “Xingxing.”
Especially when he heard A Wan say that she felt she should have a child—that was when his fear reached its peak.
He was terrified that A Wan might regain her memories.
Although he knew that by allowing A Wan to come to China, some things were bound to happen.
In the end, he might even lose her.
But seeing how A Wan had longed to return to China for over a decade—Henry had avoided it for more than ten years, but now he could no longer run away.
That child, “Xingxing.”
The moment Henry caught sight of him, he felt a strange sense of familiarity.
Slowly, Henry pulled something from the inner pocket of his shirt.
Looking closely, it was a pocket watch.
On the surface, it appeared to be just a watch, its style dating back over a decade. He flipped it open with his fingertip, and a black-and-white photo pressed against the watch face appeared before his eyes.
It was a happy photo of a family of three.
In the picture, a man in military uniform had handsome features and gazed tenderly at the woman beside him.
Looking closely, one would realize that the woman in the photo was none other than a younger A Wan.
Held between them was a little boy, a few years old.
The child’s features bore a striking resemblance—about seventy to eighty percent—to the boy named “Xingxing” he had seen at the airport today.
This pocket watch was something Henry had taken from A Wan’s neck.
He had removed it and kept it hidden for over a decade, never allowing A Wan to see it.
Henry clutched the watch tightly.
Countless times, he had wanted to crush it, but thinking of A Wan, he held back.
After a long while, Henry slipped the pocket watch back into his inner pocket.
He looked at A Wan, sleeping soundly in bed, and murmured softly, “A Wan, Sang Yuwan… if you ever find out the truth, will you blame me?”
Sang Yuwan—what a beautiful name.
As beautiful as she was. That was why he fell in love with her at first sight, unable to pull himself away.
And why he became a thief.
A Wan, don’t blame me. It’s just that I love you too much.
Meanwhile, on the way back, Gu Jianing was still thinking about what Xingxing had said at the airport—about seeing his grandmother.
After some thought, she called Sheng Zexi at the military district as soon as she got home, asking if he would be back that night.
“There’s something I need to discuss with you, so it’s best if you come home.”
“Alright, I’ll be back early tonight.”
Sheng Zexi returned in the evening.
When he arrived, Aunt Chen had just finished preparing dinner, and the family was about to sit down to eat.
Sheng Zexi joined them.
After dinner, Grandmother Sang stayed in the living room with the children.
Sheng Zexi followed Gu Jianing back to their room.
Gu Jianing asked, “Can you tell me again about what happened when your mother passed away?”
Sheng Zexi was stunned. He hadn’t expected that Ningning had called him back to ask about this.
Though a bit puzzled, Sheng Zexi knew Gu Jianing wouldn’t bring something up without reason, so he went ahead and explained.
Thinking back, the news of his mother’s death had come as a complete shock.
“I had just started middle school. That day, when I went home…”
That day after school, since neither of his parents was home, Sheng Zexi had gone to the Sang residence.
But the moment he walked in, he saw his maternal grandparents weeping, along with his father, Sheng Xinhao, whose eyes were red.
He was happy to see his father back.
But his mother was nowhere to be found.
So he asked about her.
The answer he received made him feel as though his world had collapsed.
His grandmother pulled him into her arms and tearfully told him that his mother had passed away from illness.
Then, Sheng Xinhao brought out an urn of ashes.
He explained what had happened.
It turned out that a plague had broken out at the border where they were stationed, and his mother, Sang Yuwan, had tragically contracted it.
Sheng Xinhao had sought out numerous doctors, but in the end, he could only watch helplessly as his wife succumbed to the illness.
Because it was a plague and they were at the border,
her body couldn’t be brought back.
So she had been cremated.
“…You have no idea how devastated I was when I learned my mother had died.”
“I looked at that urn and kept shaking my head, saying, ‘That’s not my mother, that’s not my mother…’”
But no matter how much he refused to accept it,
his mother was gone.
She was never coming back.
He never imagined that the last time they had said goodbye would truly be the last.
It was after his mother’s death that Sheng Zexi’s life changed completely…
Once, their family of three had been happy and whole.
But after his mother died, everything changed.
“Maybe… maybe it really wasn’t your mother…” Gu Jianing murmured.
Though recalling the past, Sheng Zexi was now relatively calm, thinking of his mother still pained him.
But when he heard Gu Jianing’s words, his brows furrowed.
His eyes were full of confusion.
“Ningning, what do you mean by that?”
Gu Jianing took Sheng Zexi’s hand. “You know, today when Third Brother was going abroad, I took the kids to the airport to see him off, and then…”
She told him about how Xingxing had encountered someone who looked like Sang Yuwan.
“…Xixi, you know how smart Xingxing and Yueyue are. They have excellent memories, and they don’t just say things carelessly.”
“Especially Xingxing. If he was bold enough to say that was his grandmother, then the resemblance must be incredibly strong.”
Actually, rather than just similar, it was more like it was Sang Yuwan.
That was why Xingxing had been so certain.
“You also know that before, when Father took Xingxing and Yueyue to the old Sheng residence, he often showed them old photos of your family, so…”
Sheng Zexi felt a dryness in his throat, and his voice came out a little hoarse. “So you’re saying that Xingxing believes that person is the grandmother in the photos?”
That is, his mother?
At this moment, Sheng Zexi was completely shocked.
What he never expected was that Ningning wanted to tell him that his mother might actually come back to life?
That she might have risen from the dead after more than a decade?
No, how could someone come back to life after dying?
If that really was his mother, then back then, she might not have died at all.
For a moment, Sheng Zexi’s emotions were incredibly tangled.
He couldn’t tell whether he felt joy or confusion.
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