Chapter 184: I'll still be your family
"--which means that there is likely a possibility that this Song Yinan and Ying Shen are the same person." Mo Yiling twisted his lips and narrowed his eyes at the tablet screen. Some years ago, he had seen Ying Shen once before at Juyan. There was an unmistakable resemblance between the two.
Big Boss put his head in his hands. He didn't know what to say.
Ying Yue was as pale as a ghost, her lower lip trembling. She didn't know what to feel. AS much as anything, she wanted Ying Shen to be alive, but she didn't want to put too much hope in it either. "But he didn't recognize me earlier. He looked at me like he'd never met me before," she pressed.
The silent Xi Shenghui finally took the opportunity to speak up. "I had a comrade before…" The other three people in the room turned to him, intent on listening on what he had to say. "We thought he got killed in one of our missions. Years later we found him working his ass off as a local fisherman. Turns out he suffered a head injury and had amnesia. So if you ask me, if that guy really looks and talks like her brother, he might be. "
***
"Buckle up." Big Boss took a glance at her and did his own seatbelt before starting his car.
"To what do I owe the pleasure of having my boss drive me home? Xi Shenghui could have done it, you know."
Her question sounded like she was half-sarcastic and half-joking, and for a moment there, Big Boss thought she had finally snapped out of the fragile state she was in earlier. But when he took another glance at her, there was still that glazed look in her eyes, her face blank and devoid of any emotion. He then knew she was just trying to sound normal, and she was failing terribly at it.
"I thought the Juyan training would have improved your acting by now." He said lightly. He was in a state of shock himself, but after years of being in this industry, he had learned how to compartmentalize things and spring back like nothing was wrong.
She looked outside the window. "I don't feel the need to act differently in front of you."
Big Boss thought about what she said for a while and then nodded. "Good to know." The car pulled out from the parking lot and out of the Juyan property. It took another mile of driving before he said anything else. "You know, I've always treated you like family."
This got her attention, and she turned to him questioningly.
"When Ying Shen left you with me, initially I was hesitant about it. There were so many doubts in my head: Could I keep you safe? Could I ever make you stop crying? Could I keep you in Juyan? Would you be happy there?" He paused, as if reminiscing about something. "But eventually… I pushed with it. And truth me told, I even thought about adopting you." He glanced at her with a small, sad smile.
Ying Yue's brows curved downwards. Although she treated Big Boss like family, too, she had never thought that he cared for her that deeply. If anything, she felt more like a burden to the man.
"If… if this Song Yinan is really Ying Shen, and he doesn't remember you, I hope you know that you can come back to Juyan any time. I'll still be your family no matter what."
"Big Boss…" Her eyes watered. She suddenly seemed to recall something that Big Boss said years ago, back when she had just arrived in Juyan. She was crying so much and wouldn't eat or come out of her room. But one day he said the same thing through the door: I'll be your family. And she decided to come out of the room the next day and begin anew. If he hadn't said those words now, she might have forgotten all about it. "Sorry for being such a brat to you…" she mumbled.
"It's good enough that you know." He chuckled. "By the way, I think you should talk to this Song Yinan so we can fill in the gaps of his past. If everything fits with the timeline, there's a chance he might really be who we think he is."
"I'll see what I can do."
Silence filled the car once more as she looked back outside the window. Dusk was falling rapidly, putting a blanket over the city and prompting the streetlights to turn on one by one. The day was dying. Who knew what tomorrow held?
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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stone