It Seems Like My Senior Seems to Like Me - Chapter 103

Three months later, Chen Meijuan successfully underwent a kidney transplant in Nanzhou.

The surgery went extremely well, and at the moment she woke up, her lover, her daughter, and her daughter’s partner were all by her bedside. The feeling of surviving a life-threatening ordeal and being cared for by family filled her heart completely.

After the operation, Pei Suye took her to their new home to recuperate. Her father, Pei Xin, also helped by taking her pulse and prescribing several traditional Chinese remedies. Soon, Chen Meijuan’s urine tests returned to normal, and the sickly pallor on her face gradually faded.

However, on the day Ye Hua saw Pei Xin, he held a question in his heart.

“Xiao Pei, your mother… did she ever go to the United States?”

In the kitchen, Ye Hua quietly approached Pei Suye, who was simmering soup, and asked during the brief moment when Ye Wanjia was in the study attending an online meeting.

“Huh?”

Pei Suye looked up and met the face of the man in his fifties, worn by life. She glanced out the kitchen doorway to make sure no one was around, then returned to stirring the soup and replied calmly:

“She did. After giving birth to me, she suffered from postpartum depression. But back then, the concept of depression wasn’t widely known. She just felt trapped in her marriage, divorced my dad, and went to the U.S.”

Ye Hua’s eyebrows twitched, because this answer meant the truth was edging closer to the guess he had long harbored.

“And when did she go?”

The soup in the pot began to boil, bubbles rising steadily from the center. Pei Suye pulled back the ladle, turned the heat down, and covered the pot with a lid, suppressing all inner turbulence.

She turned to face Ye Hua directly, her beautiful expression calm and free of any concealment:

“Uncle, are you asking whether my mother was Su Hongyue, the one who gave birth to Wanjia back then?”

Boom!

An invisible thunderclap struck. Ye Hua stiffened, a lump catching in his throat:

“So… it really was her?”

He then felt a deeper concern: “And do you know that Wanjia is your half-sister?”

If this were a melodramatic prime-time TV show, Pei Suye would have been resentful, suspicious, and perhaps forced into a dramatic revelation after a near-death ordeal. But this wasn’t a TV show—it was real life.

She simply smiled gently and explained:

“I was even more afraid than you when I first learned the truth. But actually, I am not my mother’s biological daughter. The child she gave birth to back then passed away shortly after birth. My mother already had depression, and my dad, fearing she might take drastic measures, adopted me from an orphanage.”

This explanation allowed Ye Hua, who knew the truth from back then, to finally relax. It was the best outcome.

“Oh… that’s a relief. That’s really a relief… Does Wanjia know?”

Pei Suye remained calm: “I haven’t told her. Although she seems carefree, she tends to overthink. So, it’s best to let this old story stay in the past.”

Ye Hua felt satisfied: “Good, that’s for the best.”

Outside the door, Ye Wanjia leaned against the wall, having overheard the entire conversation.

She tilted her head back, letting her hair fall from her shoulders, evoking memories from many years ago.

Back then, Pei Suye had wanted to break up but hid the reason painfully. Later, he had let go of the past and made every effort to pursue her again.

The gaze he once held, the face she once knew, the cherry blossom petals that once fell onto her shoulder—it all seemed to find its resting place.

Perhaps the past had been too distant, or perhaps the present too blissful. Upon learning the truth, she finally released the last tie in her heart, letting her blood flow freely.

The figure at the doorway quietly slipped away, as if she had heard nothing at all.

As Pei Suye said, let the past remain in the past.

Soon, May arrived. The couple had been working together for nearly a year, which also meant Ye Wanjia’s birthday was approaching.

With stable jobs and a happy family, Pei Suye touched the matching couple rings on his middle finger and felt: it was time to do that one thing—propose.

By then, Ye Hua and Chen Meijuan had returned to their hometown. Pei Suye had initially wanted them to stay in Nanzhou, since a big city offered more convenience. But the elders were accustomed to rural life and their daily routines with friends and neighbors, so they went back home, keeping in touch via weekly calls.

In their own world, it wasn’t easy to plan a surprise. Pei Suye took advantage of a day off from school to secretly go to a jewelry store and buy the engagement ring.

On the 20th, Ye Wanjia celebrated her 28th birthday and invited several friends over.

Pei Suye thought it might be nice to have witnesses, so he queued a song—“Marry You”—as the last song.

However, things weren’t so simple—“Marry You” was preceded by “Hou Lai” (Later), which made Ye Wanjia’s best friend, Wei Xiaoxiao, burst into tears.

Wei Xiaoxiao, heavily drunk and sitting quietly in the corner, was weeping in sorrow, but Ye Wanjia, fearing her friend’s distress, decided to let her sing a couple of songs.

“You tell me what you want to sing, I’ll pick it for you,” said the birthday girl, displaying a sense of righteousness, completely unaware of what she was missing.

Wei Xiaoxiao raised her reddened eyes, tearful and upset: “I want to sing Later.”

Ye Wanjia hesitated: “That song’s a bit sad, isn’t it?”

Wei Xiaoxiao sniffled, her voice breaking: “But… didn’t you say I could sing whatever I wanted…?”

Seeing her friend about to cry, Ye Wanjia relented: “Okay, of course. I’ll sing with you.”

Wei Xiaoxiao was stubborn: “No, I want to sing it alone.”

“Alright, alright,” Ye Wanjia agreed.

Seizing the end of the previous song, she quickly queued Later on the song selection screen and pinned it to the top:

“Who even picked an English song? Let me pin Later first.”

Nearby, Pei Suye nodded, forcing patience: “Okay.”

During the next three minutes, the room was enveloped in the melancholy of Later. Wei Xiaoxiao struggled to sing through her sobs:

“How do you recall me, with a smile or silently? All these years, has anyone kept you from being lonely…”

The song recalled the depth of love they had shared and the regret of separation.

As she sang, a bitter wave rose in her chest. Eventually, she collapsed into Ye Wanjia’s arms, crying painfully:

“From tomorrow onward, the name Jiang Shiyu will disappear from my life forever…”

She had agreed to meet a prospective partner arranged by her family—a woman from a business family.

Ye Wanjia, understanding the depth of their friendship over the years, knew Wei Xiaoxiao had never dated because she couldn’t let go of Jiang Shiyu. She recalled her own break-up with Pei Suye: they had vowed never to meet again, yet couldn’t forget each other.

Together, they shed tears.

Just as the sadness lingered, the accompaniment of Later ended, and the next song—“Marry You”—began. The cheerful prelude felt jarringly bright in the sorrowful room. Ye Wanjia, sobbing, protested:

“Who queued this? Skip it!”

Pei Suye, abandoning the ring box in his pocket for the moment, switched to queue “Where’s the One Who Understands Me”.

Nearby, Xu Qian gently patted his shoulder: “Old Pei, the road is long and fraught with obstacles…”

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