“Yi Yi, do you want a big sister?”
IF Arc
002
-Farewell-
Chen Yi’s tantrum had worked like a charm. Chen Nanyun was completely at a loss with her.
That very evening, the whole family set off for X City.
After the plane landed, they had to take a train to Y County—the clunky old green kind.
Chen Nanyun held Chen Yi on her lap in the window seat.
Throughout the journey, Chen Yi kept observing the scenery around them.
The last time she had gone back to Xu Yan’s hometown with her, they had flown. Today was her first time on this particular rail line. The landscapes outside were utterly unfamiliar, but the moment Chen Yi thought about how this strange route led to Xu Yan’s homeland, a unfamiliar warmth bloomed in her heart.
She was going to see Xu Yan.
A little Xu Yan, one she had never even seen in photos.
Yes, Xu Yan had no childhood pictures—not even a single weird artistic shot of her with a red sticker on her forehead like some Bodhisattva.
Chen Yi had once lamented that fact, but she had never imagined she would one day return to Xu Yan’s childhood herself, to see the younger version with her own eyes.
The thought made Chen Yi feel a mix of nerves and awkwardness.
Did Xu Yan have the same memories as her? Did Xu Yan even know who she was? Most importantly, could she find her?
Xu Yan’s family lived in a newly built complex by the city river. Chen Yi remembered Xu Yan mentioning that their house had been rebuilt after a demolition. It had originally been a single-story place, now turned into a six-story building.
As soon as the green train pulled into the station, they hailed a yellow taxi at the entrance and headed to the hotel they had booked in advance.
Chen Yi had deliberately nudged her mom into picking this one.
Because right across the street from it, just one road away, was Xu Yan’s home.
Being so young had its downsides: no freedom to act on her own.
Chen Yi couldn’t wander off by herself, or her parents would worry sick that she’d get snatched by human traffickers in a blink.
Finally, she found her chance. While her parents were busy with work in the hotel room, she quietly said she was going downstairs to buy some snacks.
She was usually so well-behaved, and there was a convenience store right next to the hotel lobby besides, so Chen Nanyun and her father didn’t press her. They handed her a twenty-yuan bill.
Back then, twenty yuan counted as real money.
Chen Yi clutched the cash tight and darted toward the complex where Xu Yan lived, following her memory of the way. From a distance, she spotted their building—one household there loved plants, with vibrant spider plants dangling all the way down and ivy climbing the black steel bars around the windows.
She hurried up the stairs. Second floor, right side: Xu Yan’s place.
After several deep breaths, Chen Yi finally knocked.
Knock knock knock.
Several times.
No answer. But the neighbor’s door creaked open instead.
Chen Yi put on her sweetest face and explained she was looking for a friend. The kind auntie said they’d seen Xu Yan and her family head out early that morning.
Chen Yi had struck out. Disappointment sank in her chest, but she thanked the auntie politely and clomped back down in her little leather shoes.
She bought a few lollipops at the convenience store near the hotel and sat munching on one while her eyes stayed glued to the complex gates across the street.
Just as the candy in her hand was nearly gone, she finally spotted a familiar silhouette.
It was little Xu Yan, dressed in clothes too big and ragged for her. Her small face was stern, head down as she trailed behind her parents. Xu Yan’s mom and dad were bickering the whole way.
“Didn’t I tell you to ditch her?”
“How was I supposed to? There were tons of people in the park!”
Their argument grew louder, clear even to Chen Yi sitting by the roadside.
Chen Yi bolted forward, lollipop still in hand, and yelled, “Xu Yan!”
The arguing couple froze, staring blankly at the little girl in front of them.
Xu Yan looked up too, her eyes cool and detached.
Even now, she already carried a hint of her future iciness. When she didn’t speak, her gaze felt emotionless, piercing right through you.
“It’s me!” Chen Yi said urgently. “Me!”
Xu Yan’s father snapped, annoyed, “Xu Yan, do you know her?”
Xu Yan paused, then shook her head slightly.
“I’m Chen Yi!”
Xu Yan frowned in confusion. “You’ve got the wrong person.”
Chen Yi’s little fists clenched in her clothes.
Damn that Bodhisattva!
Why give her adult memories all alone, while leaving Xu Yan in the dark?
She had considered this possibility before coming, but when it actually happened right in front of her, her chest felt hollowed out.
Chen Yi stood there, her big dark eyes welling up with tears.
“Whose kid is this?” Xu Yan’s father grumbled impatiently. “Doesn’t anyone watch her?”
Chen Yi hated the man. She shot him a fierce glare.
That look rubbed him the wrong way.
“You little brat, what’s with the attitude?”
He rolled up his sleeves in a rage.
Chen Yi braced herself for a fight with her no-good future father-in-law using her tiny body, but just then, Chen Nanyun and her father emerged from the hotel. Spotting the scene from across the street, they saw red.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Chen Nanyun shouted from afar. Even in her eight-centimeter high-heeled boots, she moved like lightning and reached Chen Yi in seconds, shielding her behind her.
Xu Yan’s father stood dumbfounded.
Chen Nanyun’s aura had stunned him. Then he took in her outfit.
No need to guess—she was clearly from a different world than them.
He was speechless, fumbling for words.
Seizing the moment, Chen Yi wailed at the top of her lungs.
“Wah!” She unleashed that shameless kid tantrum mode, clinging to Chen Nanyun’s arm and tattling. “Mommy! The uncle’s bullying me!”
Xu Yan’s father panicked. “Hey, don’t go spreading lies!”
“I didn’t do anything!”
Chen Yi sobbed with snot and tears. “Mommy, Mommy, Yi Yi’s scared!”
Chen Nanyun shielded Chen Yi tightly, her face cold as she eyed Xu Yan’s father and his rolled-up sleeve.
“Sir, I need you to apologize to my daughter.”
He had no intention of apologizing at first, but a glance at the tall, imposing man behind Chen Nanyun made him purse his lips. He muttered a quick “sorry,” grabbed Xu Yan’s hand, and dragged her away.
Xu Yan followed obediently, but her gaze lingered on Chen Yi and Chen Nanyun.
Once they were a short distance away, Chen Yi hit her mom with another round of complaints.
She whispered in Chen Nanyun’s ear, “Mommy, they were talking about abandoning a kid. Yi Yi heard it all.”
Chen Nanyun’s brow furrowed. “What?”
“They wanted to ditch that big sister,” Chen Yi said. “Mommy, she’s so pitiful. Can we help her?”
Chen Nanyun wasn’t one to meddle, but with her daughter pleading like that, she sighed helplessly.
They were outsiders, after all. How could they interfere in the Xu family’s affairs? It wouldn’t fly logically or emotionally. Even the police would call it a private family matter.
Chen Yi had thought of that too.
She quickly added to her mom, “Mommy, it sounds like they have another sister at home.”
Chen Nanyun chuckled. “You’ve only just met them—how do you know their whole family situation already?”
Chen Yi pouted. “I overheard it, that’s all!”
As if she could ever explain rebirth.
“Got it,” Chen Nanyun said, ruffling Chen Yi’s hair. “Mommy will figure something out.”
Chen Yi trusted Chen Nanyun completely.
From childhood on, her mom had never broken a promise. They had even sealed it with a pinky promise amid her coquettish begging.
Chen Nanyun handled it efficiently. That same day, she had people in the area ask around and dig up info on the family. Soon enough, she had the full picture on the Xu household.
Neighbors and teachers said the couple treated their daughter poorly.
Beatings and scoldings were routine, and they’d seen the kid come home filthy and alone more than once.
Linking it to her daughter’s words, Chen Nanyun realized they might truly be trying to abandon this girl named Xu Yan.
They had an older daughter in college out of town. Xu Qing’s tuition came mostly from their second aunt, and she’d spent half her childhood at her aunt’s place. The parents weren’t satisfied—they wanted a son for their old age—so they had another kid, only for it to be another girl.
Now the second aunt couldn’t look after Xu Yan; she’d moved abroad and could only send money on holidays for her niece. But not a cent reached Xu Yan or Xu Qing. Xu Yan’s father gambled it all away.
Once Chen Nanyun learned all this, she immediately contacted Xu Yan’s second aunt and her older sister.
They were skeptical of her motives at first. After explanations and back-and-forth talks, they hammered out a plan.
“Yi Yi, Mommy has something to tell you.” It was half a month later when Chen Nanyun brought it up again. They were long back home by then. For those two weeks, Chen Yi had been pacing like an ant on a hot pan, fretting over Xu Yan.
The moment Chen Nanyun spoke, Chen Yi knew: Xu Yan’s situation had a resolution.
Sure enough, by the time Chen Nanyun finished explaining, Chen Yi’s eyes lit up.
Chen Nanyun took her little hand and asked gently, “Little Yi, would you like to have a big sister?”
Chen Yi froze for a moment, taking a full three seconds to collect herself before putting on her most innocent face and asking Chen Nanyun what she meant by those words. Once Chen Nanyun explained, Chen Yi fell utterly silent.
Her mother had grown genuinely fond of Xu Yan over the past half month. After much deliberation, she had come up with adoption as a solution.
But—
Chen Yi rejected the idea outright.
“No way!” These were the most resolute words she had ever spoken in her life. “No, no, no!!”
Chen Yi’s reaction took Chen Nanyun completely by surprise.
She had assumed her daughter would agree.
After all, it had been the daughter who first brought it up.
“Doesn’t Yi Yi like her?” Chen Nanyun asked.
Tears welled up in Chen Yi’s eyes, on the verge of spilling over.
She did like her!
It was precisely because she liked her so much that she couldn’t let Chen Nanyun adopt Xu Yan!
If Xu Yan really became her sister, then who would be her wife?
Her wife—
Her one true wife—
She had known from the moment she was born that Xu Yan was meant to be her wife!
