Sheng Wanqing had gone two days without any news from Shen Yi.

It was only after she proactively called Xu Mo that she learned Shen Yi had been home the whole time, claiming to be unwell and asking her to postpone his work matters.

Upon learning that Shen Yi was unwell, Sheng Wanqing naturally had to come pay a visit. So she used her lunch break to make a trip to Shen Yi’s home.

What she had not expected was to walk in on this scene.

The Shen Yi Sheng Wanqing knew was rigorous and rarely given to smiling — in his professional mode, he almost never showed any expression at all. Even when he was warm and courteous toward people, Sheng Wanqing could still sense that beneath his gentle surface lay a fundamental indifference.

And so, seeing Shen Yi in front of Rong Qian with barely-concealed warmth and laughter glowing in his eyes, Sheng Wanqing was genuinely stunned.

The first to notice Sheng Wanqing was Rong Qian.

As it happened, Rong Qian had also nearly finished eating. She set down her chopsticks, and Shen Yi, catching the shift in her gaze, followed it — and saw Sheng Wanqing.

Realizing that both of them had noticed her, Sheng Wanqing quickly raised the corners of her mouth and stepped forward: “Mr. Shen, Miss Rong — I hope I’m not interrupting.”

“Secretary Sheng, what a coincidence — we meet again.” Rong Qian placed deliberate weight on the word “again,” resting one hand beneath her chin and regarding Sheng Wanqing with a look that carried an undecipherable significance.

Sheng Wanqing looked momentarily discomfited, but when it came to handling “misunderstandings,” she was clearly well-practiced. She responded with a self-deprecating, apologetic smile: “Miss Rong, I was blind to who you truly were last time and misjudged you entirely. I trust that Miss Rong is too gracious a person to hold it against someone like me — isn’t that right?”

Rong Qian saw right through her approach, and deliberately smiled sweetly, lacing her words with honeyed venom: “Oh, Secretary Sheng, the way you put it — do I look like the kind of person who is petty and unreasonable?”

Knowing this woman was not one to be easily handled, Sheng Wanqing lowered her head, bit her lip, and put on an expression of timid, shrinking vulnerability.

This was actually quite a clever move — by making herself look pitifully delicate and fragile, she cast Rong Qian in the role of the bully by contrast.

Rong Qian shook her head at this, quietly amused. In modern terms, Sheng Wanqing was putting on a textbook performance of the calculating, soft-spoken schemer type.

Shen Yi unhurriedly sipped his tea. Once it seemed the two of them had said what they needed to, he spoke up: “Was there something you needed to see me about?”

“Mr. Shen, are you feeling better?” The words had barely left Sheng Wanqing’s mouth before she sensed she had overstepped, and quickly added: “It’s just that there is a meeting that needs to be held at the company, and also — Madam Meng called this morning, saying she wished to see you.”

“Meng Yuxin?” Rong Qian raised an eyebrow.

Shen Yi gave a slight nod. “Yes, it’s her.”

“That woman is still bothering you? What does she want?” The mention of Meng Yuxin immediately put Rong Qian in a less-than-pleasant mood. She did not even want to think about whether that woman had been causing trouble for Shen Yi all these years.

Hearing Rong Qian speak with such casual disregard, Sheng Wanqing’s brow furrowed. Meng Yuxin was Shen Yi’s mother — and yet this woman had the nerve to speak of her in that tone, right in front of Shen Yi?

The answer Shen Yi gave, however, left Sheng Wanqing even more dumbstruck.

“That woman is coming to me because of her foolish son — matters concerning Shen Fenran.”

Hearing that it had something to do with Shen Fenran, the expression on Rong Qian’s face darkened. There were still things she had not told him.

So once Sheng Wanqing had gone, Rong Qian called Shen Yi into the room. After they had sat down, Rong Qian’s very first words were: “What do you think of the name Mu Chaoxue?”

“Mu Chaoxue?” Shen Yi paused for a moment, as though slightly taken aback that she would bring up this name.

Seeing that he had reacted, Rong Qian probed further: “Do you think — if you were to use the name Mu Chaoxue — would it be fitting for you?”

“A’Qian, are you deliberately making fun of me?”

“Hmm?” Rong Qian did not understand how that had come across as making fun of him.

Shen Yi told her, “Did you not know that Mu Chaoxue looks a great deal like me?”

Hearing that, Rong Qian’s eyes went wide in an instant. He looked like Shen Yi — so that old man was truly not Shen Yi after all!

“You say Mu Chaoxue looks a great deal like you — how much? Exactly alike?” Rong Qian pressed urgently.

Shen Yi went back to his room and brought out a photograph for her to see. “You can judge for yourself.”

Rong Qian took the photograph and looked — and was struck speechless. The man in the photograph bore at least an eighty percent resemblance to Shen Yi.

The differences were in the eyes: the man in the photograph had a sharp, malicious gaze, and he was dressed in tattered, worn clothing, his frame thin and gaunt, his hands roughened and coarse, his complexion a sun-darkened tan. Apart from that face, not a single thing about him bore any resemblance to Shen Yi.

Rong Qian pressed him eagerly: “What is your relationship with this Mu Chaoxue? How can he look so much like you?”

“No relation whatsoever — just a coincidental resemblance.” Shen Yi said this with perfectly composed ease. “The reason I know of him is that he was using my name to deceive and swindle people.”

“And where is he now?” Rong Qian asked curiously.

“In prison.” Shen Yi smiled slightly — a smile of complete and utter innocence.

Rong Qian blinked. Sending someone who had tarnished his name straight to prison was, admittedly, exactly what she would have expected of him. But that was not the point!

Rong Qian told him: “The reason I knew of Mu Chaoxue is that decades from now, Shen Fenran — living in a care home — told me that you had not actually come to grief back then, but had gone into hiding under an assumed name, using the identity of Mu Chaoxue.”

There was a great deal of information packed into that sentence, and for Shen Yi’s benefit, Rong Qian recounted the whole experience of her visit to Shen Fenran — as well as the matter of Thomas and Lin Jie — holding nothing back from Shen Yi, laying it all out completely.

When she had finished, Rong Qian shared her own conclusion: “When Shen Fenran told me this, I was skeptical. And so just now, when you told me that Mu Chaoxue is a different person entirely, it only confirmed my belief that you did not survive back then.”

“Not necessarily — perhaps, knowing that a Mu Chaoxue existed, I deliberately adopted his identity.” Shen Yi stood at the window, one hand in his pocket. He turned his head and looked at her, something unreadable in the depths of his eyes.

Rong Qian turned the question back on him: “Would you actually do that?”

Shen Yi curved his lips into a slight smile, then shook his head. “I wouldn’t.”

“But it’s still a possibility that can’t be ruled out entirely.” Rong Qian rubbed her chin thoughtfully.

In the end, Rong Qian asked for his opinion: “Shen Yi, what do you make of all this?”

“A’Qian, how well do you know Shen Fenran?” Shen Yi countered with this question.

Rong Qian thought for a moment, then shook her head. “Not particularly well. All I know is that the reason he ended up disabled — and blind in one eye — was because of you.”

“His eye — I was indeed the cause of it.” This point, Shen Yi confirmed.

Rong Qian’s eyes went wide in an instant. “So what he said was true! What on earth happened back then — what drove you to harm him?”

“Well, as for that.” Shen Yi folded his arms and seemed to consider how best to frame it for her. He paced back and forth for a moment, then asked Rong Qian a question: “A’Qian, do you think I’m good-looking?”

Rong Qian stared at his flawlessly handsome face and nodded vigorously. “Very!”

“Yes — Shen Fenran felt the same way.”

Rong Qian did not quite catch up with him immediately. Shen Fenran felt the same way — so that meant…

“He once slipped me a drug.” Shen Yi said this with complete nonchalance, then looked at Rong Qian and added, “Which is precisely why I say he is a madman.”