"Click-click-click..."
The sewing machine hummed on the table, yet Ye Shiyu's gaze gradually lost focus in front of it.
The once rhythmic and pleasant sound now only added to her irritation, and she abruptly pressed the off switch on the sewing machine to stop it.
"..."
The phone had been playing music on the side, and she realized she had forgotten to turn off the screen.
She was indeed somewhat distracted tonight.
Ye Shiyu pursed her lips, took a deep breath, stood up, and reached for the empty water cup beside her, intending to go downstairs for a drink.
Whenever she felt irritable or tense, she drank a lot of water.
At this time, Mom and him were probably still chatting, right?
It doesn't matter, let them talk.
After all, tonight...
She would also find him for a serious "chat."
Gripping her phone and the water cup firmly, Ye Shiyu emotionlessly pushed open her room door and headed downstairs.
However, when she reached the second floor, she saw that Yan Huan's room door was wide open, revealing the unlit space inside.
"Whimper whimper whimper..."
Then, she seemed to hear the sound of her mother sobbing downstairs.
She frowned slightly, walked down to the living room on the first floor, and saw Ye Lan sitting on the couch, her knee still holding that photo album, as she cried with her head down.
Aunt Chen sat beside her, patting her back constantly and passing tissues, while the coffee table was already cluttered with balled-up tissues.
Scanning the room, she did not see Yan Huan.
She did not speak, as if realizing something.
Had he left?
Why?
Even if she couldn't think of the reason at the moment, relief and joy were the first to spring up in her heart.
Seeing Ye Shiyu come down, Aunt Chen, while patting Ye Lan's back, said to her,
"Shiyu... Xiao Huan has left, he made you a double-skin milk, try it."
"..."
Ye Lan lifted her head upon hearing this, her face smeared with tears expressing her overwhelming sorrow.
Ye Shiyu could least bear to see her mother like this, so she glanced at the double-skin milk on the table and asked,
"He left, why?"
"Sob sob... I don't know... just suddenly... we were getting along just fine before..."
Ye Lan puckered her lips, looking up at Ye Shiyu in front of her, making her unnaturally avoid her mother's gaze as if afraid of revealing the relief and joy hidden in her own eyes.
Yet the teary-eyed Ye Lan, after all, was not an emotional detective, blind to the dark secrets in her daughter's heart.
She simply lowered her head again, crying,
"Sob sob... Mom searched for him for so long in Lin Gate, just to bring him home... I promised his godmother to take care of him... Yulu, what should I do?"
Ah, mother, always so emotional about her favorites, wishing she could pluck the stars from the sky for him.
Being so rational at work, why can't she let him leave that simply?
"Sob sob sob..."
But as she listened to her mother's grief-stricken sobs, Ye Shiyu, standing still emotionless, still struggled.
To be honest, she wished Yan Huan would never return, never contact her mother.
Just seeing him, watching him talk to her mother, seeing her mother smile at him, it all irritated her.
But...
Perhaps she was even less willing to see her mother wear such an expression than to endure her own irritation.
Ye Shiyu's teeth clenched tighter, and after a moment of silence, she suddenly asked,
"When did he leave?"
Aunt Chen, overhearing, added from the side,
"Xiao Huan left about five or six minutes ago. Your mom wanted to drive him, but it's not safe to drive so late, so he didn't let your mom see him off. He's probably going to take the bus back to South District, and the bus stop is quite far from here."
Ye Shiyu turned to look at her mother, who was still sobbing with her head lowered, and said to her,
"I'll go persuade him to come back."
Ye Lan lifted her head to look at Ye Shiyu in front of her, covering her mouth in surprise at her daughter's reaction.
So her Shiyu was indeed a kind child, just not always showing it...
"Shiyu... let me go with you..." said Ye Lan.
"No need, Mom, let me do it... It's easier to communicate between peers."
And Ye Shiyu put the cup down and walked towards the door.
Her fair fingers flipped the phone over, screen inside, emanating a deep purple, sinister glow. This was the "communication method between peers" unique to her.
To make her mother happy, even if it required hypnosis...
And what about her own aversion?
After all, like in the movies, she could use an app to change him...
When the time came that her mother would not be sad to see him leave, then she could...
With these thoughts in mind, Ye Shiyu put on her shoes and left the house.
Since Yan Huan had left with his luggage, it was now nearly eight o'clock.
The bus stop was outside the residential complex, and to catch Yan Huan before he boarded the bus to leave, Ye Shiyu unconsciously quickened her pace.
The streetlights in the upscale residential area were spaced closely together, afraid that the residents would be consumed by the darkness in between during the night.
However, once out of the complex, there were only decorative lights every ten meters or so.
These lights turned the road into a series of bright islands.
Between the islands was a sea made of night shadows.
Ye Shiyu repeated the process of "landing on islands," "leaving islands," until she saw the bus stop on the main road ahead.
The bus stop leading to South District was very deserted, and buses only came every fifteen minutes.
The bus stop was supposed to have lights as well, but half of them were broken, leaving half the shelter bright and the other dark.