Wan Qingsi didn’t give a rat ass about Wen Pinyu’s bids. No matter how high they were, Wan Qingsi would still outbid them. As long as it was something that Ah Sha wanted, he would get it at all costs. Needless to say, when the needles were finally sold out, the price was jaw-dropping. What shocked everyone more was the fact that Wan Qingsi had handed the needles straight to Mei Jing after he got it. And Ying Qingcang, who was sitting right beside them, wasn’t even mad! Heck, he also gave the needles two curious glances! What the heck?
.
Other than his desperate attempts to outbid Wan Qingsi earlier, Wen Pinyu never made huge bids on any other items, so nobody knew which items he had his eyes set on. When the bidding for an antique dressing box began, Wen Pinyu raised his paddle and called out a price. Apparently, the box was made from Indian sandalwood and was passed down from the Qing dynasty.
For a moment, nobody tried to offer a higher price. That was until Mei Jing suddenly raised her paddle, drawing the attention of several people.
“You like that one?” Wan Qingsi asked. Ying Qingcang was looking at Ah Sha as well.
Ah Sha let out two evil chuckles and then said, “Tang Yue likes this one.”
Ah Sha had noticed just now that Tang Yue’s pamphlet was opened to a page containing the description of that dressing box; thus, she had come to the conclusion that Tang Yue was interested in that dressing box.
“Stay out of this. I’ll call the bids!” Ah Sha said, raising her paddle again. “We’ve spent so much money for nothing just now. I want to piss off Wen Pinyu one more time.”
As it turned out, Wen Pinyu was indeed pissed off. The random bids that he’d made just now were all distractions and red herrings to mask his real target: the dressing box. But now this Mei Jing woman was trying to outbid him?
For the life of him, he never saw this coming.
“How could a woman like Mei Jing have such good tastes? Don’t worry, I’ll get it for you. A woman like her isn’t worthy of using it.” It never even crossed Wen Pinyu’s mind that Ah Sha was purposely trying to outbid him. He thought that Ah Sha genuinely wanted the dressing box.
Tang Yue frowned slightly. She had a feeling that Mei Jing had done it on purpose. However, she wouldn’t say anything to Wen Pinyu now because she wanted that dressing box. Besides, she didn’t believe she’d lose to Mei Jing.
“Hmph! I refuse to believe that Wan Qingsi would spend so much money on her!” Wen Pinyu growled and raised his paddle. This time, he had called out a price that had exceeded the needles just now. Wen Pinyu then gave Mei Jing a smug smile before tossing his paddle away.
When the auctioneer announced the item as sold, Wen Pinyu saw Wan Qingsi giving him a pointed look. Wen Pinyu wasn’t an idiot, so he instantly knew that he had been played. That woman had raised the price deliberately. Wen Pinyu balled his fists in anger, though it was already too late for him to do anything.
“Pinyu…” Tang Yue said when she saw the strange look on Wen Pinyu’s face. “It’s all my fault. If I’d known it would cost this much, I would’ve let Mei Jing have it.”
“Nonsense. How could I let that kind of woman have the things you like!” Wen Pinyu guided Tang Yue towards the exit. “Don’t worry. That kind of money is nothing to me.”
Seeing the happy look on Tang Yue’s face as she left, Ah Sha curled her lips. “We don’t even know if she’s pregnant yet. The Wen family will act soon if she doesn’t hurry up.”
“How do you know that Wen Pintang will deal with her?” Ying Qingcang asked, appalled that Wan Qingsi had corrupted his once innocent and adorable daughter.
Ah Sha quickly pointed at Wan Qingsi. “Xunxun told me!”
Wan Qingsi stood up before Ying Qingcang could give him a piece of his mind. “Time to head back,” Wan Qingsi said. “Let’s go.” Utterly incensed, Ying Qingcang yelled, “Come back to visit your mommy if you have time!”
Chinese New Year arrived a few days after the auction. Ying Qingcang and Xin Qing had been invited to spend the Chinese New Year in New York since neither Shen Batian nor Zhang Mi could bear to part with the new addition to the Shen family.
“You and daddy should go to New York,” Ah Sha said while enjoying a bowl of pudding on the couch. “I’ll stay here with Brother Xunxun.”
Xin Qing sighed. “Why did you have to come back using another identity? Just look how troublesome things have become!”
“My in-laws are coming!” Ah Sha turned to Wangwang who was tinkering with a computer. “Are you going?”
“Yup,” Wangwang answered without even raising his head.
At this moment, Ying Qingcang stepped out of his study and went to stand beside Xin Qing. He bent down and kissed Xin Qing. “The arrangements have been made. We’ll leave first thing tomorrow!” Frowning, Ying Qingcang turned to Ah Sha. “Your godparents miss you a lot. You haven’t even met their son.”
“Next year!” Ah Sha pledged with her hand raised. “I’ll visit them next year! I promise!”
Ying Qingcang and his family left for New York the next day, but Boss Wan’s family never came.
“Liuliu went into a sudden coma last night.” Wan Qingsi frowned. He had disagreed to let Xiao Liu take the injection from the start.
Ah Sha flinched. “She’s already seven. How come her body is repelling the drugs only now?”
“Let’s spend the new year back at the base,” Wan Qingsi said, wrapping his arms around Ah Sha. “I’m worried about Liuliu.”
Ah Sha nodded immediately. “Alright. Let’s buy some things to bring back, then we’ll depart.”
A chopper hovered above a tropical island. Xiao Hua was the first one to climb out when the helicopter landed. She hadn’t been back here for more than a year. To her, the base was home. She missed it. That was why she was so excited to be back.
“Slow down,” Wan Qingsi said as he helped Ah Sha down the chopper while Wan Yi and Wan Er stood behind him.
Swish! A young man leaped down from the top of a tree and landed beside Wan Qingsi. “Young master, young miss, the master, and mistress are at the clinic!”
“Got it,” Wan Qingsi said, turning to look at the young man. “Wan Si, there are gifts for everyone on board the chopper. Move them out with Wan Yi and Wan Er.”
Wan Si grinned at Ah Sha. “Thanks, young miss!” The gifts had to be from their cute and adorable young miss; their young master would never think of something like this.
Inside the clinic, a little girl lay unconscious on a bed with metal frames. Chen Huan slumped over the side of the bed, holding the girl’s hand. Boss Wan pressed his finger to his lips when he saw Wan Qingsi and Ah Sha enter.
“Your mom has been up the whole night,” Boss Wan said in a hushed tone. “She just fell asleep. Let’s not wake her.”
Ah Sha and walked quietly to the bed. Perhaps there really was a connection between the minds of a mother and her son; Chen Huan shifted in her sleep when Ah Sha and Wan Qingsi got close enough. She then raised her head and saw them.
“Ah Sha!” Chen Hua threw herself at Ah Sha and burst into tears. “Liuliu has been unconscious for a day. What if she doesn’t wake up. Www…”
“It’s going to be fine. She’s going to wake up,” Ah Sha whispered words of comfort. “Wangwang slept for three days that year. Liuliu’s going to be fine. You’ll see.”
Chen Huan shook her head. “Wangwang had a fever at that time. But Liuliu isn’t even showing any symptoms. There’s just nothing! Oh, no, she’s not going to wake up.”
“Mom, stop it. You’re strangling Ah Sha. Let her go,” Wan Qingsi said, pulling Ah Sha into his arms.
Boss Wan handed a glass of milk to Chen Huan. “Here, have some milk. You haven’t been eating for a day.”
“You unfilial son!” Chen Huan snatched the milk and glared at Wan Qingsi.
Ah Sha touched Liuliu’s cheeks, which felt soft and plump under her fingers. The girl’s eyes were shut tight with her long lashes tickling her cheekbones. The girl was adorable. Most importantly, Liuliu was actually a nice and agreeable person, unlike most of the people in the Wan family.
She didn’t have Boss Wan’s cold face or Xunxun’s sharp tongue. Nor was she violent like Chen Huan.
“It’ll be alright, you’ll see! Liuliu looks like she’s just sleeping. She’ll wake up once she’s had enough sleep!” Ah Sha said. Then, she noticed the eye signal that Boss Wan was giving her. Ah Sha held Chen Huan’s hand and said, “Come on. I’m so hungry. Let’s go grab a bite!”
Chen Huan was just about to protest when Wan Qingsi suddenly said, “You got crows feet.”
“If it weren’t because you’re my son, I would’ve poisoned you to death!” Chen Huan glared at Wan Qingsi before following Ah Sha out.
On the night of Chinese New Year’s eve, Wan Qingsi brought Ah Sha to the beach to light up fireworks. Ah Sha didn’t want to go at first, because she thought that lighting fireworks would be pointless if Liuliu was still in a coma.
In the end, this was what Wan Qingsi told her: “Liuliu loves beautiful things. Who knows she’ll wake up once she hears the fireworks.”
Of course, nobody would believe nonsense like that. However, Wan Yi came to them when they were in the middle of lighting the fireworks. And guess what? Liuliu woke up.
“What’s wrong with her?” Wan Qingsi noticed something was wrong with his younger sister the moment he saw her.
Boss Wan looked utterly crestfallen. “She doesn’t remember anything.”
“What? Nothing at all?” Ah Sha ran over to look at Liuliu.
“No. It’s not that she doesn’t remember. Not really. It’s just that… ugh,” Chen Huan said.
“Is this my brother? And is she my sister?” Liuliu asked timidly. Chen Huan nodded. “Mm. This is your brother, Wan Qingsi. And also his wife, Ah Sha.”
Liuliu nodded. “Brother! Sis!”
“You need to call her sister-in-law,” Wan Qingsi said with a frown.
Liuliu nodded and said, “It’s true that I don’t remember anything, sis. But your appearance is in my memory. I know you guys are my family!”
Seeing the scowl on Wan Qingsi’s face, Chen Huan smugly decided to piss him off even more. “You’re right, Liuliu! Ah Sha is your sister!”
Ah Sha shot a worried glance at Liuliu. “Looks like the only normal child in this family is about to become abnormal…”
Liuliu had been staring at a computer screen ever since she left the clinic. At first, everyone thought Liuliu was watching cartoons, but when Ah Sha accidentally caught a glimpse of the screen, she realized just how wrong they were. The screen was filled with symbols, chemical equations, and formulas with Xs and Ys that Ah Sha had never seen before in her life.
“Liuliu is a genius!” Chen Huan said, handing a flawed experimental report to Ah Sha. Apparently, Liuliu had discovered the errors in the report in just three minutes.
“She’s my younger sister,” Wan Qingsi said proudly. “So it’s not surprising that she’s special.”
“Seems like she’s only interested in Biology and Chemistry though,” Boss Wan said after giving Ah Sha a brain scan. “She’s pretty much normal in any other aspect. Wait, no. That’s wasn’t quite right. There’s one completely abnormal thing.”
“What? Her memory?” Ah Sha asked worriedly.
“She doesn’t remember the things that happened since she was born,” Chen Huan said, “but that’s not a big issue. Subconsciously, she still knows us, just like how she knew you were family from the start.” Chen Huan paused, turning to look at Liuliu, who was messing around with a test tube. A conflicted look formed on Chen Huan’s face.
“What’s the issue then? Which part of her is abnormal?” Wan Qingsi asked.
Boss Wan glanced at Wan Qingsi and said, “Her EQ is practically zero.”
…
What the hell was that supposed to mean?
“Meaning, Liuliu might run into problems with human interactions,” Chen Huan explained to Ah Sha. “For instance, if a normal person sees a couple fighting with each other, they would try to mediate the fight. But Liuliu would just come straight out and tell them to get a divorce!”
Understanding dawned on Ah Sha. The kid had no emotional capacity at all. Instead, she realized only on her primal instincts to survive.
“Nah, that’s nothing. My daughter doesn’t need to say all those sappy things to make others feel good!” Apparently, Boss Wan didn’t find it to be a big deal at all.
Wan Qingsi shared his view since he decided to bring Ah Sha home the next day and get back to their own time together.
However, someone that Ah Sha had never expected to see again arrived at the island the next day.