The Moon Shines on Me (GL) - Chapter 31

Shen Yuan’s phone was once again forcefully confiscated by Xie Tingxin.

Shen Yuan, having lost her phone, seemed to have lost all her strength and means.

She took a deep breath, endured the stabbing pain in her stomach, and pushed Xie Tingxin away with a blank expression.

She was about to lift her foot and leave this suffocating space when her wrist was suddenly grabbed by Xie Tingxin.

Shen Yuan’s back stiffened. She tried to pull her hand away but couldn’t; Xie Tingxin held on tight.

“What are you doing?” Shen Yuan turned back, irritated.

“Do you really like her?” Xie Tingxin asked.

Shen Yuan was stunned for a moment, then turned away without a word.

Xie Tingxin: “Answer me.”

Shen Yuan: “Yes, but what does that have to do with you?”

Xie Tingxin let go of her hand.

Shen Yuan escaped from Xie Tingxin’s grip and went to the first floor, but only then did she realize that the main door of the Shen family’s old house was tightly locked, and she couldn’t get out at all.

Was Xie Tingxin planning to keep her imprisoned here?

What exactly was she plotting?

The night was cool and deep. Shen Yuan didn’t stay downstairs for long and returned to her room.

When she returned, Xie Tingxin was gone, and the bowl of noodles had been removed.

Shen Yuan searched the room but couldn’t find her phone, guessing it had been taken by Xie Tingxin.

This night was exceptionally long. Shen Yuan stayed awake with her eyes open until dawn.

As the sunlight shone through the window, Shen Yuan heard a knock on the door.

“Come out for breakfast.”

“After you eat, you’ll come to the hospital with me.”

Listening to the footsteps fading away, Shen Yuan numbly got out of bed to wash up.

She had thought Xie Tingxin intended to keep her locked up at home and wouldn’t take her to the hospital, but it seemed Xie Tingxin still had a little conscience.

Ten minutes later, Shen Yuan went downstairs. She ate breakfast calmly under Xie Tingxin’s watchful eye. After eating, Xie Tingxin took her and they left the Shen family’s old house together.

Upon arriving at the hospital, Xie Tingxin forcefully held Shen Yuan’s hand despite her resistance.

Xie Tingxin’s face had returned to its signature smile, as if the person who was so distraught yesterday wasn’t her.

Shen Yuan couldn’t pull her hand free, so she frowned and followed her to a VIP patient room. There was only one bed in the room, and a small, slender figure was curled up on it, facing away from them, looking at first glance like a child.

“Mom, I brought Mingyue back to see you,” Xie Tingxin said, pulling Shen Yuan inside.

“Mingyue?”

The figure suddenly trembled, then slowly turned around, facing them directly.

Upon seeing that aged face, Shen Yuan’s eyes instantly turned red.

“Mingyue, come here and let me take a good look at you.”

The figure on the bed waved to her, and Shen Yuan walked over involuntarily.

The next moment, her hand was grasped.

“Mingyue, the biggest regret of my life is that I didn’t stop you when you left.”

“Mingyue, can I hear you call me ‘Mom’ one more time?”

The once elegant and dignified Madam Shen now had deep wrinkles etched on her face. All her beautiful black hair had been shaved off, and constantly taking medication made her entire body exude a bitter odor.

Shen Yuan remained silent for a long time under her expectant gaze, until Xie Tingxin nudged her arm. Only then did Shen Yuan collect herself and speak:

“Mom, I’ve come back to see you.”

“Oh… it’s good that you’re back.”

“Mingyue, I feel at ease seeing that you and Tingxin still have such a good relationship.”

“It was my fault back then. Have you suffered these past years?”

Suffered? She must have suffered. She went from being a privileged young lady who didn’t know how to cook to an overworked laborer juggling multiple jobs; from the carefree Shen Mingyue to the debt-ridden Shen Yuan. After leaving the Shen family, she was hardly ever relaxed, constantly working.

However, all that was in the past. She had let it go.

“Mom,” Shen Yuan said, “I’ve been doing well these past years.”

“Really?”

Shen Yuan nodded: “Really.”

“I’m sorry, my dear,” Mother Shen said, crying.

Perhaps due to the intense emotion, the medical equipment began to beep an alarm.

In less than a minute, Shen Yuan and Xie Tingxin were rushed out of the patient room by a quickly arriving doctor.

“Mingyue?”

At the end of the corridor, Father Shen was standing upright, holding a thermos.

His hair was already gray, his shoulders were hunched, and he looked incredibly old.

Shen Yuan opened her mouth and called out ‘Uncle Shen.’

He walked over, stared at Shen Yuan for a while, and said gently, “Have you seen your mother?”

“I have.”

He nodded with relief, tears welling up in his eyes.

“Dad,” Xie Tingxin said, “Mom got very emotional seeing Mingyue, so I’ll take her away first.”

Father Shen nodded: “Alright, go ahead.”

“Let’s go,” Xie Tingxin said, taking Shen Yuan’s hand and leading her away from the hospital.

They returned to the Shen family’s old house.

Once home, Xie Tingxin took a phone call and then hurried out again.

Shen Yuan watched the main door open and close, then expressionlessly turned and went upstairs.

As she reached for the doorknob, Shen Yuan suddenly and inexplicably glanced at the room next door.

Xie Tingxin said yesterday that the room next door was hers. Could the phone be hidden in there?

Although sneaking into someone else’s room wasn’t right, Shen Yuan was desperate to get her phone back.

She walked a few steps, moved to Xie Tingxin’s room door, and turned the doorknob with a push.

The door opened.

At first glance, Xie Tingxin’s room was extremely simple, containing only a bed, a wardrobe, and a desk, with no other furniture.

There was a computer on the desk, and Shen Yuan, with her sharp eyes, spotted her phone next to the keyboard.

She walked towards it.

At the same time, footsteps sounded behind her.

Having retrieved her phone, Shen Yuan turned around to see Xie Tingxin standing quietly in the doorway.

Her eyes were extremely calm, as if she had expected all of this.

“I… just wanted to get my phone back.” For some reason, Shen Yuan felt a chill down her spine. Xie Tingxin’s expression was too abnormal, as if… a desperate criminal wanting to drag someone down with her, and she was that person.

Xie Tingxin didn’t speak. She silently closed the door and walked in.

Shen Yuan was so scared she took a step back, and her elbow, which was hanging by her side, accidentally knocked the mouse on the desk.

The next second, the screen lit up, and the computer displayed a sight familiar to Shen Yuan.

“This is… you actually installed surveillance in my room?” Shen Yuan frowned, feeling a sense of suffocation as she stared at the surveillance footage on the computer.

So everything she had done since coming back had been under Xie Tingxin’s surveillance?

Thinking about flipping through that photo album yesterday, Shen Yuan was filled with regret.

“Don’t be afraid. I just wanted to watch you more,” Xie Tingxin took another step forward, coming right in front of Shen Yuan.

“You’re truly sick,” Shen Yuan said.

Xie Tingxin acted as if she hadn’t heard Shen Yuan’s insult, or perhaps she did hear it but didn’t care.

She grabbed Shen Yuan’s hand and led her to the other side of the room.

Shen Yuan, confused, followed her a few steps, unable to figure out what she was up to.

Xie Tingxin pulled a white cloth off the wall. Immediately, a large number of colorful photos were revealed.

Shen Yuan: “???”

The photos on the wall were arranged in a long sequence following a timeline. Besides Shen Yuan, the photos included her classmates, colleagues, and some friends she barely remembered herself.

There was even a photo from a year ago when she was hospitalized for depression. In that picture, Shen Yuan’s face was extremely pale. She was wearing a patient gown, lying on the hospital bed with her eyes closed. The photo was taken from a very close angle, seemingly right by the bedside.

The last photo on the wall was of Gu Shiwei.

In the photo, Gu Shiwei was smiling at her from the side.

Shen Yuan grew more and more alarmed as she looked.

It turned out that for the eight years since she left the Shen family, she had been living under Xie Tingxin’s surveillance. Even Gu Shiwei had been implicated.

“You walked in yourself.”

“Now, you can’t leave.”

Xie Tingxin’s smiling voice rang in her ear. She reached past Shen Yuan and took Gu Shiwei’s photo off the wall.

Shen Yuan: “…”

Shen Yuan wanted to escape this room immediately, but Xie Tingxin wouldn’t give her the chance. She hadn’t walked many steps before Xie Tingxin grabbed her wrist and pushed her onto the bed.

The sudden fall made Shen Yuan’s head spin. Before she could sit up, Xie Tingxin pinned her down.

Xie Tingxin grabbed Shen Yuan’s jaw with one hand, forcing her to look up at her, “Where are you going?”

“Slap—”

A sharp slapping sound echoed in the empty room. Xie Tingxin’s face turned to the side. Shen Yuan’s hand, not yet withdrawn, was still raised in the air.

“Don’t touch me. You’re disgusting.”

Shen Yuan felt Xie Tingxin was a pervert and that she shouldn’t have come back with her.

“You find me disgusting too?”

“I feel the same way about myself.”

The stinging pain branded on her skin diluted a hint of Xie Tingxin’s irrationality. She propped herself up with her arms and sat up on the bed, her back to Shen Yuan, tearing the photo in her hand into pieces.

“I hate myself, too.”

“But I just can’t help but get close to you.”

Shen Yuan frowned, looking at Xie Tingxin’s back, not understanding who she was trying to look pathetic for, when she was the one who had imprisoned Shen Yuan here.

“From now on, you can’t leave this room,” Xie Tingxin said.

Shen Yuan: “Are you crazy?”

Xie Tingxin was true to her word. For the duration that followed, she stayed in the room, monitoring Shen Yuan. Except when Shen Yuan went to the restroom, Xie Tingxin’s gaze never left her for more than three seconds.

Shen Yuan was already mentally stressed, and coupled with a sleepless night, she suffered an acute bout of hypotension.

When she opened her eyes again, it was the next morning.

The first thing Shen Yuan saw was an expanse of white.

This was… a hospital, not the Shen family home.

Shen Yuan wiggled her fingers, only to find that her hand was being held tightly by someone.

She looked down and, sure enough, saw a familiar back of a head.

Gu Shiwei was quietly resting her head by the bed, her hand still holding Shen Yuan’s tightly.

Perhaps Shen Yuan’s movement woke her up. She lifted her head, and her gaze met Shen Yuan’s.

“Yuan Yuan, you’re awake.”

“Are you uncomfortable anywhere? I’ll call the doctor.”

The doctor came and examined Shen Yuan. After confirming that everything was fine, he left.

When the room was left with just the two of them, Gu Shiwei held Shen Yuan’s hand again.

“Gu Shiwei, how are you here?” Shen Yuan asked, confused.

“My watch detected that your vital signs were very abnormal, and you weren’t responding to my messages. I was so worried about you that I rushed over overnight.”

When Gu Shiwei arrived, Shen Yuan was already in an ambulance on her way to the hospital. Gu Shiwei chased after it the whole way, and when she saw the unconscious Shen Yuan on the stretcher, Gu Shiwei was so frightened her heart nearly stopped. Even now, she was still shaken.