After Being Reborn, My Ex-Girlfriend Became Obsessed - Chapter 71

“They’re really mean, they scared Sister Duxi so she doesn’t want to come back,” Xiaoxiao said, shrugging her shoulders in disappointment.

She reached out and tugged at Anyu’s clothes, her small hand testing the waters. In her childlike voice, she looked up at her.

“Can you tell Sister Duxi that Grandma, the director, really misses her?”

Like being struck by a fierce wind, Anyu’s heart suddenly felt heavy. Her fingers curled instinctively. She lowered her head and reached out to gently ruffle the little girl’s messy hair.

“Okay, I’ll definitely tell her. Haven’t we already made a pinky promise?”

Xiaoxiao pouted for a moment, recalling that it was indeed so. She brightened up, and everything she said was filled with joy.

“Great! I’ll definitely watch your show later. You and Sister Duxi must love each other.”

Anyu was momentarily stunned. She didn’t say anything but reached out to ruffle the girl’s head again.

She watched the little girl skip away happily, her smile fading as complex emotions passed through her.

She knew that coming to the welfare home might reveal some things about Lin Duxi, but in just a few hours here, from both the staff and the children, it seemed she had glimpsed events she had missed.

During the time she was worried and preoccupied with her parents’ bankruptcy, she had assumed that Lin Duxi’s affection for her had gradually faded and that Lin Duxi’s own life must have been in chaos.

She had thought that Lin Duxi was disappointed in her at the time, since she had been dissatisfied with being sent abroad despite her family’s bankruptcy. Because of her relationship with Lin Duxi, her relationship with her parents had also been tense.

Much later, in the darkness, when she couldn’t sleep, Anyu would think back on that short, youthful love. She assumed Lin Duxi didn’t want to see her argue with her parents, didn’t want her to constantly make choices at her own expense, so she decisively broke up and left.

It was decisive but also very much in line with Lin Duxi’s personality.

But now it seemed that Lin Duxi had her own struggles back then, just like Anyu, unable to take care of herself.

The beloved director, due to a sudden illness of a relative, had put the welfare home in crisis. That wasn’t something a recent high school graduate with dreams for the future should have had to face.

Anyu remembered that Lin Duxi had been very busy then. Because of her fame as the top student in the city, she was often tutoring at various homes. Anyu had asked her if it was a financial problem. She remembered clearly that Lin Duxi, silhouetted against the sunset, with an expression hard to read, replied gently:

“I just want to save more money so I can be with you, Anyu.”

A wave of melancholy surged in Anyu’s heart. Emotions churned violently inside her, as if she were in a foggy maze with no way out, yet somehow ending up at the same point.

She casually squatted on the ground, resting her head in her hands, recalling the events of that time—her parents, her classmates, Lin Duxi…

Everyone had behaved strangely during that period.

Her parents, who normally supported her, were unusually insistent regarding her situation with Lin Duxi; classmates she barely interacted with constantly mentioned Lin Duxi; and Lin Duxi herself had been avoiding her, interacting only superficially.

She was puzzled.

A hand rested on her shoulder, pulling Anyu back to the present. She looked up—it was Shiyu.

“Anyu, are you okay? Are you feeling unwell?” she asked, worried.

Anyu shook her head and straightened her clothes.

Shiyu looked at her carefully, seeing that she was indeed fine, and said:

“The director asked us to help out, putting those stationery supplies in the storage room.”

Anyu nodded and followed her to the backyard.

Compared to the quiet back yard, the front yard was much livelier, which slightly lifted Anyu’s mood.

She picked up a box of stationery and followed the staff into the storage room.

The storage room was large and hadn’t been entered for a long time. Upon opening the door, the dust floating in the sunlight made everyone cough.

Anyu walked forward, coughing lightly, and placed the stationery on a shelf in the corner as instructed. Many large boxes were scattered around, some casually placed on idle shelves, thick with dust.

She put the box on the ground, stirring up more dust that made her bend over and cough. After a while, the staff had already gone to move other boxes, leaving her leaning against a dust-free spot to quietly observe the room.

The smell of damp, rotting cardboard filled the air. She watched the dust settle in the light and prepared to leave.

But as soon as she stepped away from the shelf she had been leaning on, it collapsed like an old door with a loud creak, tilting under the weight above it.

The room was immediately filled with dust, making it hard to see. Anyu covered her mouth and crouched to check the fallen shelf. Luckily, the boxes on top only contained used notebooks and textbooks, so nothing was damaged.

The commotion quickly drew the staff over.

“Miss An, are you okay?”

Anyu stood up, apologetic: “I’m fine, but this shelf probably needs to be replaced.”

Staff member: “These shelves have been used for many years and are already rusty. We’ve just left them here for convenience. Now that it’s fallen, we can sell it as scrap and use the money to add some meat to the kids’ meals.”

“Good that you’re fine. Let us clean this up, you should rest,” said another staff member.

Anyu didn’t let them. She helped move the fallen shelf out and then went back to pick up the boxes that had fallen.

Some boxes had become damp and moldy from lack of sunlight, and their contents spilled out. She picked them up and put them into new boxes.

These were school supplies used by children at the welfare home. From the childlike handwriting, Anyu could see how diligently they had studied. She picked up a notebook, and her eyes froze when she saw the name on it.

Lin Duxi.

This was Lin Duxi’s childhood notebook, the closest thing Anyu had to see how Lin Duxi had lived there. The notebook was well preserved, just like its owner. The neat, childish handwriting made Anyu feel as if she were seeing the young Lin Duxi herself.

A part of her heart softened instantly. Her previously gloomy emotions were soothed by this one name.

Lin Duxi’s meticulous nature had been cultivated from childhood. This notebook contained exercises she had done, all neatly categorized and organized. Anyu could almost see little Lin Duxi writing, and she felt a familiar warmth, as if recalling a similar feeling from long ago.

But the feeling quickly faded, leaving no trace.

As she turned a page, she noticed that a part of it had been torn off for some reason, leaving only a fragment behind. Anyu found it odd but didn’t think much, turning the page again. Then she saw a passage on the back:

“The teacher asked me what my dream is. I said I didn’t know, which was wrong. When I grow up, I want to work hard to repay Uncle Lin and Aunt Yu, who sent me here. I am very grateful to them, and I want to find…”

The rest of the page had been torn away.

Anyu’s breath caught. The impact was so strong that it took her a while to react. The young handwriting seemed like a sharp blade in her eyes, impossible to ignore.

All her previous guesses were confirmed. She thought she might be angry that Lin Duxi had hidden this from her, but in reality, she didn’t feel much; she quickly accepted that Lin Duxi had known her parents all along.

Even she found her own reaction strange. She was simply puzzled—why hadn’t Lin Duxi told her back then, when she had gone through so much?

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