Shen Yu was stunned for a moment, then looked at Yu Tang in surprise: "Brother, you actually believe that I didn't put it there?"
Seeing Yu Tang nod, he pursed his lips and suddenly stopped smiling.
"What a surprise..."
He continued, "It was Shen Changliu who set the fire."
Yu Tang remembered that this Shen Changliu was Shen Yu's sickly older brother.
“He’s a madman.” Shen Yu shrugged and said, “Actually, four people died in that fire.”
"Shen Jianmin, Shen Changliu, Cheng Yin, and the child in Cheng Yin's belly."
"Because Shen Changliu was diagnosed with a brain tumor and has only two months to live."
"The Shen family cannot be without a successor, so Shen Jianmin and Cheng Yin planned to have another child to manage the Shen family."
Yu Tang interrupted, unable to resist asking, "Aren't you also a child of the Shen family?"
"Hahaha..." Upon hearing this, Shen Yu glanced at Yu Tang for two seconds and burst into laughter: "Brother, don't joke around."
He stopped laughing and said softly, "In their eyes, I'm nothing more than a dog."
Seeing Shen Yu's appearance, Yu Tang felt a pang of sympathy.
He held the boy's hand, which made Shen Yu glance at him again.
Then relax your body, tighten your fingers, and grasp Yu Tang's hand in return.
"Shen Changliu knew that Shen Jianmin and Cheng Yin had a child behind his back. He thought they wanted to abandon him, so he harbored resentment and locked their door while they were sleeping. He poured gasoline outside and set the room on fire to burn them to death."
But the fire was so fierce that it swept him in and killed him...
"By then, I had already unlocked the cage and was quietly watching him go mad from behind."
Shen Yu's face was devoid of a smile as he coldly recounted the facts: "Seeing the fire burn his wheelchair and clothes, seeing him roll on the ground screaming for help, I felt extremely pleased at that moment. I felt he deserved what he got."
They even wanted to pour a bucket of gasoline on him, burning him to ashes...
Yu Tang kept observing Shen Yu's expression.
As a result, he did not see a joyful expression on Shen Yu's face, only indifference and emptiness.
The fact that his parents and relatives all died tragically in front of him must have left a psychological scar on Shen Yu.
While he spoke frankly, what Yu Tang truly felt from him was a profound sense of desolation.
“My leg wasn’t broken by the beam, but rather by Shen Changliu repeatedly breaking my leg, which caused the disability.”
"The reason I said that was simply to absolve myself of the crime of witnessing a fire and not stopping it."
"After they died, the Shen family came into my possession."
"I'm so happy."
"Finally, I no longer have to live like an animal. Finally, I can live in the sunlight like a normal person. No one will ever..."
Shen Yu was a little stunned when he was suddenly hugged.
Yu Tang hugged him and softened her voice: "That's enough, stop talking."
“There’s no need to pretend to be so strong,” he said. “You’re just a child, a child who needs to rely on adults. It’s normal to be scared when you see that kind of scene. They have no heart, but you do. It’s not your fault for not helping. You’re just too terrified to react…”
"Brother, what nonsense are you talking about?" Shen Yu was being held by him, his chest shaking with laughter: "Don't be so self-righteous. I never thought that way. I think they all deserve to die. They brought it all on themselves and deserve to die!"
"I've never considered them my family!"
"They're all bastards!"
"They're all heartless beasts!"
"They are all..."
As his voice faded, Shen Yu's eyes reddened.
He held Yu Tang tightly, pursed his lips and said nothing more, but his body was trembling slightly as he tried his best to control his emotions that were about to collapse.
After a while, Yu Tang felt his shoulder getting wet.
He sighed, gently ruffled Shen Yu's hair with his large hand, and quietly stayed with the boy all night.
Chapter 18
Died a second time for the villain ⩨100023456789⩨
The next day, Shen Yu woke up, stared at the ceiling light, and remained in a daze for a while.
Because he possessed the memories of other personalities.
This puzzled him.
After all, he used to only be able to know what his body had done after being taken over by other personalities through surveillance.
But now, he clearly has the memories of two other personalities.
He turned his head to look at Yu Tang, who was sleeping soundly beside him. Thinking of how he, at the age of eleven, had cried in the man's arms last night, he couldn't help but feel ashamed.
But this little bit of embarrassment seems insignificant compared to my five-year-old self who loved watching Barbie princesses.
Shen Yu turned to the side, reached out, and gently traced the strong lines of Yu Tang's face, lingering on his lips.
He touched the pale pink lips with his thumb, and the warm, soft touch stirred his heart.
This man is truly amazing.
He originally only wanted to keep Yu Tang as a plaything by his side.
Now, however, she is gradually falling deeper into the other person's gentle trap, unable to extricate herself.
He can hardly imagine how devastated he would be if everything Yu Tang did for him was just an act to gain his trust.
He dared not even think about what he would do if Yu Tang took his things and gave them to Han Zichen.
He could only pray that what Yu Tang said was true, and that Yu Tang's efforts for him were genuine.
I never imagined that one day he would be so humble because of someone.
Shen Yu found it laughable.
But they don't want to let go, and they can't let go.
He moved closer to Yu Tang, gently kissed the man's lips, pressed his forehead against his, and whispered.
"Yu Tang, now that you've provoked me, don't even think about running away."
"Spend the rest of your life by my side."
Shen Yu's teenage personality only appeared once, and then it never appeared again.
During the Mid-Autumn Festival, the two returned to the Shen family's old house together.
That night, Shen Yu led Yu Tang to the second most forbidden area of the Shen family—the basement of the main house.
The dimly lit basement was decorated much like Shen Yu's bedroom.
It was filled with instruments of torture, resembling a torture chamber.
"This is where they used to lock me up." This was the first time Shen Yu confessed to Yu Tang using his primary personality.
Instead of hiding this painful experience, she dissected herself and laid it out in front of Yu Tang, so that he could truly understand her.
"I always thought Cheng Yin was my biological mother."
So I couldn't understand why she treated me that way, and I was heartbroken about it for a long time.
“It wasn’t until I was seven years old that I found photos and diaries of my biological mother in this basement.”
Then it dawned on me—that's what Cheng Yin meant when she called me a bastard.
Shen Yu took out a notebook and photos from the box and showed them to Yu Tang, his voice filled with undisguised pride: "Isn't my mother very beautiful?"
The woman in the photo is wearing an elegant floral cheongsam, holding Shen Jianmin's arm, and smiling happily at the camera.
That beautiful face was almost a carbon copy of Shen Yu's.
Yu Tang sincerely praised, "Yes, it's very beautiful."
Shen Yu took out a handkerchief and carefully wiped the photo clean. He said softly, "I brought you here today because I wanted you to witness me saying goodbye to the past."
"This basement holds all the knots in my heart that I can't get over."
The reason I've kept it is because I can't control my hatred for them.
"But after meeting you, I suddenly realized that all those past things didn't seem to matter much."
"Throw it away if you should, stop dwelling on it, and look forward. That's the most important thing."
After saying that, he took Yu Tang's hand, held it up to the photo frame, and smiled: "Mom, do you see? His name is Yu Tang, he's the person I like, and we're together."
Ignoring Yu Tang's shocked gaze, Shen Yu said to himself, "We will stay together for the rest of our lives, until we grow old and die, I will never let go."
"Mr. Shen, I..."
Yu Tang's rebuttal was blocked in his throat by Shen Yu's gaze, and he swallowed it down.
Shen Yu only let go of Yu Tang's hand after the two of them left the basement with the photos and diary.
"Don't let me hear a word of refusal." Shen Yu's face was tense, his lips almost pressed into a line: "You're mine, so you have to stay with me for life. Unless you die, don't even think about leaving my side."
Saying these words seemed to have exhausted all of Shen Yu's energy.
The hand gripping the cane tightened until the knuckles turned white.
How could he, with his keen senses, not see that Yu Tang didn't like him?
Actually, he didn't care about this kind of thing at first.
He thought that as long as he used some forceful methods, Yu Tang would eventually be unable to refuse him.
Or perhaps if they spend every day together like this, even a man with a heart of stone will eventually develop some feelings for him.
But now he realizes he was terribly wrong.
The look Yu Tang gave him never revealed a trace of romantic affection.
Even when he corners me at the foot of the bed, kissing me until my face is flushed and my legs feel weak, it's just a natural physical reaction.