Chapter 72 "You think you can just pay it back like that?"...
Chapter 72
Beijing University.
"Hey Yu Pan, I'm asking you a question, what are you daydreaming about?" Yu Yiming nudged Yu Pan, who was walking beside him, with his elbow.
Yu Pan snapped out of her daze, her eyes still somewhat unfocused: "Huh? What?"
Yu Yiming sighed helplessly: "It's about the class trip to the countryside this weekend! You said you were going home last time and couldn't come, but you should come this time, right? Everyone else is going, and we're just missing you."
Yu Pan smiled sheepishly, "I probably won't be able to go this time either. I have other plans for the weekend."
"Alright." Yu Yiming looked him over and asked with concern, "What's wrong with you these past few days? You've been so absent-minded, like you've lost your soul."
"No, I was just thinking about some things," Yu Pan said, shaking her head.
"Thinking about your stories again, huh?" Yu Yiming raised his hand and patted Yu Pan's head. "How is your brain structured? Every day some little stories pop up, and they're even interesting."
Yu Pan merely smiled slightly, without replying.
These past few days, Shen Yanzhou has given him a strange feeling; he won't say anything when asked, and...
As Yu Pan was thinking, Yu Yiming nudged him again in a dramatic voice, "Hey, look over there, under the tree, isn't that Wu Chongzhi?"
Yu Yiming frowned. "It's really strange. Lately, it seems like I run into him everywhere I go. The place where their physics department usually holds classes is not close to our teaching building."
Following his gaze, Pan felt the same thought. Indeed, she had been seeing this person every few days lately, a frequency that was unusually high.
“But I guess he’s probably pursuing some girl in our department,” Yu Yiming said, stroking his chin.
Before Yu Pan could respond, Yu Yiming suddenly nudged his hand again, "Holy crap! He... he seems to be coming this way!"
Yu Pan looked closely and saw that the person they had been talking about was walking towards them.
"Something's weird?" Yu Yiming whispered. "They can hear us from this far away?"
Yu Pan patted his hand, signaling him to stop talking.
Wu Chongzhi stopped in front of them, quietly sizing up Yu Pan, who bore a resemblance to himself and was very likely his older brother. "Going to class?"
Yu Pan felt a little uncomfortable under his gaze, so she nodded and politely replied, "Mm."
Wu Chongzhi also had many questions he wanted to ask and confirm, but his father had repeatedly instructed him not to act rashly or cause any trouble for the other party before the final result was released.
He didn't know why he had come over so suddenly, and now he could only suppress his surging thoughts and reply dryly, "Yeah, me too."
After saying that, he hurriedly brushed past them.
Watching Wu Chongzhi's retreating figure, Yu Yiming put his arm around Yu Pan's shoulder, looking puzzled: "When did you two meet? It feels... weird."
Yu Pan herself was also completely confused: "I've never met you before."
"Forget it, I don't want to think about it anymore, I don't understand it." Yu Yiming glanced at his watch and gasped, "Damn it! Class starts in two minutes! Run, run!"
Yu Pan had a full day of classes today, from morning until nine o'clock at night. As soon as he left the school gate, he saw Shen Yanzhou standing by the gate to greet him.
Yu Pan ran over quickly, "Brother!"
Shen Yanzhou took his schoolbag naturally. "Are you hungry?"
As darkness fell, Yu Pan looked around and, seeing that no one was paying attention, took Shen Yanzhou's hand, placed it on her stomach, and said with a grin, "Feel it yourself."
Shen Yanzhou's hand, through the thin fabric of his T-shirt, asked, "What did you eat?"
"Juice!" Yu Pan burped. "I bought it when I was having dinner, but I didn't finish it. I felt thirsty right after class, so I drank it all."
Shen Yanzhou rubbed his head. "Hmm, that's good. You know to stay hydrated and are taking good care of yourself."
"Oh, right!" Yu Pan suddenly remembered something important, "The final exams start next week."
"So fast?" Shen Yanzhou was surprised, but after thinking about it carefully, it was already the end of June, and the exams were indeed coming up. He just didn't expect time to pass so quickly.
"Right! Several teachers have marked the test points today," Yu Pan said incessantly, "It feels like there's so much to review."
"Yeah, time really flies." Shen Yanzhou put his arm around his shoulder and they slowly walked towards home. "Any places you'd like to go during summer vacation?"
Yu Pan's eyes lit up. "Brother, are you coming too?!"
"Hmm, it's hard to say." Shen Yanzhou is currently working, so his time is naturally not as free as Yu Pan's.
Upon hearing this, Yu Pan immediately deflated and muttered, "Never mind then, I think staying at home is fine too."
Shen Yanzhou chuckled, pinched his cheek, and said helplessly, "We'll see when the time comes, and I'll try to find time to go out with you."
"I knew you were the best!" Yu Pan's mood immediately brightened.
-
The day after Shen Yanzhou received the firm report, he received a call from Wu Zewen.
“Okay, it’s out. Come over here.” Shen Yanzhou said. “The address is 22nd floor of XX Building.”
Within ten minutes, Wu Zewen had already appeared downstairs at Shen Yanzhou's company. The secretary, who had already been instructed, led him directly to Shen Yanzhou's office.
This temporary office in Beijing, unlike the bright style of the Qingyu headquarters, features a black and white color scheme with clean and simple lines.
The only thing that remained unchanged was the undeniable powerful aura emanating from the young man sitting behind the desk.
Wu Zewen sat down in the chair opposite Shen Yanzhou, but his gaze was involuntarily drawn to a small object on the corner of the desk.
It was a mushroom-shaped house with a red roof, carefully built from LEGO bricks. Its design was childlike and cute, and it was covered with a transparent protective cover. It was out of place with the cold and hard style of this office, but it was also very eye-catching.
Shen Yanzhou noticed his gaze but ignored it, instead tapping the table lightly with his finger to draw his attention back. "Mr. Wu, the truth about what happened back then."
Wu Zewen pursed his dry lips and insisted, "I need to see the test results first."
Shen Yanzhou had no intention of getting entangled with him any further. He simply took the report out of the drawer and pushed it in front of Wu Zewen.
Wu Zewen's hands trembled slightly uncontrollably as he skipped over the preceding analysis and explanation, fixing his gaze directly on the final, decisive conclusion.
[Based on our center's identification, it is supported that Sample A (Wu Zewen) and Sample B (Su Wenjun) are the biological parents of Sample C (Yu Pan).]
Upon seeing those words, Wu Zewen felt as if all his strength had been drained away. His hand holding the report trembled violently, almost unable to hold the light sheets of paper.
Shen Yanzhou simply stared at him coldly from beginning to end, his face expressionless.
After a long while, Wu Zewen finally recovered a little. He raised his bloodshot eyes and stared at Shen Yanzhou, his voice hoarse, "Mr. Shen..."
“The truth,” Shen Yanzhou interrupted him.
Wu Zewen took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, then, as agreed, recounted what had happened back then.
At that time, Yu Pan was still called Wu Chongyuan.
“When Chongyuan was a child, he was indeed different from other children. He wasn’t stupid… Looking back now, he probably just… didn’t like to look at people, was slow to learn to speak, and was immersed in his own world.”
“Wenjun and I were both busy at that time, and our careers were just starting out. He was raised by my mother, who is also the child’s grandmother.”
"When he was about three years old, the maid who took care of him started to mutter from time to time that the child didn't talk, didn't make eye contact with people, and didn't react when she tried to coax him."
"After half a year, my mother took him to visit someone else's home. There was a child of his age who was sweet-talking and lively. He could recite poems and sing, and he performed in front of the guests. But Chongyuan just sat quietly, playing with his fingers with his head down, lost in thought, completely ignoring his surroundings."
“At that time, most children of that age would tell an adult when they needed to pee, but Chongyuan didn’t. That’s what happened when we visited someone’s house; he soiled my mother’s clothes right there.”
“My mother felt utterly humiliated and wanted to discipline the child herself when she returned home. But less than half a month later, she got so angry that she said the child was stupid and told them to let them take care of him.”
“When our own child was told by his biological grandmother that he was stupid, Wenjun and I were naturally heartbroken and didn’t want to believe it, but we were really too busy at the time, so we left the child with the maid.”
“But every maid would complain when we got home that the child had secretly wet his pants again, or had taken care of it in a corner. No matter what we said or taught him, or even hit him a couple of times when we got angry, he would be scared at the time, but he would still do it again next time.”
“At that time, although Chongzhi was two years younger than him, he was lively and spoke clearly. We also began to think that the child might really have some problems with his brain.”
"In addition, my mother kept pressuring me. The Wu family has been a scholarly family for generations, and they absolutely cannot have a child with abnormal or stupid behavior. This would make the whole family a laughing stock and make her ashamed to face her deceased grandfather and ancestors. So she proposed to give Chongyuan to her hometown, to a cousin who was said to have never been able to have children."
Wu Zewen closed his eyes in anguish. "We gritted our teeth and agreed!"
"On the day we sent him away, Chongyuan didn't cry or make a fuss. He just quietly hugged his favorite old bed sheet. Wenjun cried her heart out, and I felt a lump in my throat, but I still gritted my teeth and watched the car drive him away..."
“That relative would bring Chongyuan to Beijing once a month as agreed, so we could meet him. Strangely enough, after Chongyuan was adopted by the relative, that kind of thing never happened again. He was always kept clean and tidy. We all breathed a sigh of relief and even felt that this might really be the best arrangement.”
"However, after only three months of being raised by relatives, the relatives came to our door crying, saying that they had taken the child out to play and the child had disappeared..."
“We were also anxious at the time, and immediately used all the connections we had, sent a lot of people to search in and around the area, offered a reward, placed advertisements in the newspapers, and searched for more than half a year... but we didn’t find any news at all.”
Wu Zewen's face was filled with despair. "Later we learned the truth: shortly after adopting Chongyuan, his wife became pregnant. He was afraid that after having his own child, he would have to continue raising this 'abnormal' adopted son, so he even asked my mother."
“My mother didn’t discuss it with us at the time. She felt that since the child had already been given away, she didn’t want to cause any more trouble, so she said it was up to him to do what he wanted. He thought he would find a good family for Chongyuan to raise, but who knew he would run away and disappear!”
Shen Yanzhou listened to the "truth of what happened back then" with a blank expression, his heart aching so much that he could hardly breathe. He had thought that Yu Pan had been abandoned, but he never expected that there was so much involved.
Such a young child, being transferred from one place to another.
Xishan Village is so far from Beijing... Shen Yanzhou didn't dare to think too much about how Yu Pan got there and what she went through.
Wu Zewen was overcome with emotion, tears streaming down his face. His usual gentle and refined demeanor had vanished. "Mr. Shen! My mother is senile, and we parents are even more so! Because of this incident, Wenjun's mental state has been fluctuating for many years, with recurring depression. She can't help but cry whenever she sees a child about the same age as Chongyuan..."
He prostrated himself on the table, pleading with Shen Yanzhou, "Mr. Shen, please... give Chongyuan back to us..."
Shen Yanzhou laughed when he heard this. "Wu Zewen, you saw Yu Pan's performance at Youth Day, right?"
Wu Zewen wiped away his tears and nodded.
“That’s his past.” Shen Yanzhou stared into his eyes. “No, it’s actually worse than that. I went through so much trouble to raise him to be like this, and you’re just asking me to pay it back?”
"I am his biological father..."
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Author's Note: Panpan [Cat Head emoji]: Going to play with my brother during summer vacation! [Sprinkling flowers emoji] [Sprinkling flowers emoji]
Shen Yanzhou [Angry]: My biological father [Angry] What the hell is this? Get out of here! [Angry]
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