Yu Shu followed the stairs up to the second floor. Facing the stairs on the wall hung a huge picture frame, the dust cover that had been shielding the frame lay on the ground, pointing to one of the room doors on the second floor, Shen Youlin must have pulled it off in a hurry.
This is really fucking ridiculous! Yu Shu swore silently.
In the moonlight, she could clearly see the woman in the photo. She looked a lot like Shen Yuxiao, she was holding a St. Bernard dog in her arms, and the tall and handsome man next to her had his arm around her, their heads leaning against each other, smiling sweetly and happily. There were also two children fighting for the limelight next to them, making funny faces, one was Shen Youlin, and the other...
Was Jiang Han.
Yu Shu walked into that room, it was pitch black inside.
"Shen Youlin?"
"Dear..."
She tried calling out a few times but there was no response, she could only brace herself and walk inside, stretching out both hands to feel around, afraid that she would touch something she shouldn't the next second.
"I swear I truly love you! If you play me again I won't want you anymore!"
Finally there was sound coming from inside the room, a clear knocking sound on the wood reached Yu Shu's ears, but the sound was too short for her to figure out where it came from.
Yu Shu breathed a sigh of relief, and coaxed: "Where are you? Say something back to me."
Silence again.
Yu Shu suddenly touched a piece of fabric, she was startled, gathered her courage to feel it again, making sure it was velvet bed curtains, finally putting her heart down.
Opening the curtains, moonlight came pouring down.
Luckily, the moon was very bright tonight.
Yu Shu could finally see the layout of this room under the moonlight, it looked to be a child's room. The walls were blue, with various ocean theme murals on them, the ceiling was painted with a starry sky, and had a planet lamp hanging from it, even the wall lamps were in astronaut shapes.
The furniture was also ocean or space themed. In the corner of the room, there was a huge pirate ship style kid's bed, the sleeping area made to look like the door of a ship's cabin, which was tightly shut right now. Through the porthole, Yu Shu could see the sulking Shen Youlin curled up by the foot of the bed. Such a tall guy looking exceptionally pitiful curled up like that.
And hateful too.
Yu Shu was so angry her teeth were itchy. She pushed on the door of the pirate ship, but couldn't push it open. Having no choice, she knocked on the porthole: "Are you coming out or should I come in?"
Shen Youlin didn't move at all. Yu Shu's patience ran out. "I'll count to three. Three, two..."
"Go away." Shen Youlin's voice was hoarse. He repeated, "Go away."
Yu Shu was too lazy to waste words with him. She kicked the door of the pirate ship cabin open. "Did you ask me first? You just wanted to drag me into the abuse genre channel!"
This kid's bed was more spacious inside than she had imagined. The ceiling was also quite high. Though an adult wouldn't be able to stand upright, it didn't feel too oppressive.
There was custom bedding inside. Yu Shu crawled towards Shen Youlin on her knees.
Shen Youlin shrank back further inside. "Go away!"
Yu Shu grabbed both his ears and made him face her. "Do you really want me to leave?"
He opened and closed his mouth, unable to get any words out, pursing his lips as if about to cry.
"No crying!"
The tears were frightened back by Yu Shu's yelling. His expression became even more aggrieved.
"I'll ask you questions, just nod or shake your head, got it?" Yu Shu let go of his ears and grasped his icy cold hands to tuck into her own embrace instead.
She gentled her tone to ask: "Understand?"
Shen Youlin was stunned for a moment, then nodded.
"You wanted me to leave because you were afraid of hurting me, right?"
Shen Youlin kept his head lowered without responding. Yu Shu urged: "Nod or shake your head?"
Shen Youlin finally nodded.
"This was your room when you were little, yes?"
Shen Youlin nodded.
"The woman in the photo by the stairs, she's your sister, right?"
Nod.
"You were very close with her, yes?"
Shen Youlin nodded.
"Her leaving had something to do with you?"
Shen Youlin stiffly shook his head.
"Your nightmares are caused by her leaving the Shen family?"
Shen Youlin froze, not knowing whether to nod or shake his head.
"It's fine. Next question - when you were little, the one who hurt you was a middle-aged maid, right?"
Yu Shu had found it strange for a while now. The maids who had appeared before her and Shen Youlin were all young. Logically speaking, the old madam of the house would have hired help more suited to her own preferences.
And it became even clearer after Yu Shu saw Qu Qingyue that day.
Shen Youlin suddenly lifted his head to look at Yu Shu, disbelief in his eyes.
"Don't look at me like that. I'm so smart it's not weird for me to guess."
Yu Shu sighed, reached out to hug him and patted his back. "It's alright. Nowadays who doesn't have some issues, I don't mind yours. As long as you don't go trying to walk down the abuse genre path!"
Shen Youlin's stiff body gradually relaxed. His arms went around her in return. He rasped out: "Thank you."
"I didn't want to ask before but you really frightened me today. So I'm giving you a chance to come clean. Tell me everything after we get out of here. For now, come out with me. Let's leave this place first."
No matter who was playing tricks tonight, they would have to pay the price.
"Oh."
Shen Youlin still had his phone on him but there was no signal at all.
Yu Shu was tired of cursing. She silently rolled her eyes and turned on the flashlight function, pulling Shen Youlin along to find the exit along the courtyard wall.
Seeing the strangulation marks on her throat, Shen Youlin hated his own two hands down to his bones.
The metal gate wouldn't budge open, the courtyard wall was too tall to climb over. Yu Shu angrily kicked the wall!
Shen Youlin made small talk: "I fell and hurt myself climbing this wall when I was little. My sister had it heightened after that."
Yu Shu: "Why didn't you die from that fall."
Shen Youlin shrank back his neck, not daring to retort.
"How is there not even a dog door here!" Yu Shu angrily kicked the tree next to her. She was pissed off at everything she saw now.
"Be...because Yun Duo would wander around."
Seeing his pitiful state, Yu Shu didn't have the heart to stay angry.
Yu Shu closed her eyes to hypnotize herself. "Don't get angry, getting angry isn't pretty."
Shen Youlin suggested: "Why...why don't we go back for now and think of something when it's light out?"
"Are you sure this place is safe?"
Shen Youlin nodded: "That stupid pig Zhao Wenqian brought me in here. With her courage and brains she couldn't have done anything else."
He had seen Zhao Wenqian when he came in.
Yu Shu blew up again in an instant: "She's a stupid pig? After falling for her trap, you're more stupid than a pig!"
Amitabha, I'm scolding his virtual mom.
"Waa..."
