The Supporting Female Lead Chooses to Mark the Villain [Rebirth] - Chapter 76

Mo Huai was sitting in a booth outside the private room, enjoying a brief moment of leisure chatting with a friend. Looking up, she suddenly realized that Shen Nian was standing right in front of her.

She hurriedly ended her conversation. “Finished talking?” She stood up and glanced around. “Where is Teacher Yan?”

“She had things to do and left first,” Shen Nian said calmly.

“Oh.” Mo Huai’s intuition told her something was off. She looked at Shen Nian and asked, “Why do you have that look on your face?”

Shen Nian seemed to snap out of it, a slight curve appearing at the corners of her mouth. “What look do I have?”

“Did you hear bad news from her?” Mo Huai was genuinely confused. She crossed her arms. “In any case, you don’t look like someone who just finished reminiscing with an old acquaintance.”

“Heh.” Shen Nian shook her head and smiled. She picked up a cup from the table and sat directly opposite Mo Huai. “I did indeed hear some strange things from Aunt Yan…”

Shen Nian twirled the ceramic teacup, playing with it absentmindedly. “She said I was four or five years old when I was sent to the orphanage, and that I was adopted by the Shen family shortly after.”

Mo Huai scratched her head. “What’s wrong with… wait?” She looked at Shen Nian and frowned. “When I helped you check your adoption papers before, you weren’t even three years old when the process was finalized.”

Shen Nian nodded slowly.

“Aiyoo, it’s been so long. That Teacher Yan must have remembered it wrong,” Mo Huai dismissed it, unconcerned.

Shen Nian’s gaze remained deep and somber.

Mo Huai clicked her tongue. “What’s that supposed to mean? You actually believe her?”

Instead of answering directly, Shen Nian posed a strange question. “Sister Mo, tell me—what necessary reason would a petitioner have to go through the trouble of modifying an adoptee’s age, changing it from five years old to three?”

Mo Huai’s lip twitched. “I really don’t understand where you’re going with this…” She leaned in and lowered her voice. “Tell me honestly, what is the point of this investigation? Are you trying to find your biological parents?”

Shen Nian didn’t answer. She leaned back and rubbed her temples. She was a bit a mess right now. Was it really just a lapse in memory? Had Yan Zhu confused her with the little girl who fell from the dangerous wall? Shen Nian felt a wave of frustration, annoyed that she had let the vague words of a stranger throw her into such a state of panic.

She opened her eyes. “Forget it…”

“Wait, I just remembered!”

Their voices rang out almost simultaneously.

Shen Nian steadied herself. “Remembered what?”

Mo Huai cleared her throat. “About the age question you just asked.” She unlocked her phone. “When I was checking those adoption papers, a friend of mine mentioned something…”

She took a moment to pull up a legal clause. “A decree newly promulgated in the year 2589: If the adoptee is under the age of three, the intent of the adoptee does not need to be considered. However, if they are over three and have basic cognitive awareness, the relevant adoption agency must communicate with the child to verify their true intent… Hey!”

Before she could finish, Shen Nian snatched the phone away. Looking at the black and white text on the screen, Shen Nian’s hands trembled with excitement.

“Under three, intent need not be considered.”

Yan Zhu had said that the child who was sent there cried constantly, refused to stay at the orphanage, and eventually tried to climb the wall to escape, falling and hitting her head.

Why was she so desperate to leave? What was outside the orphanage that drew her? If she was over three when she was taken away by that luxury car, was she truly “willing”?

Mo Huai was startled. “What’s wrong with you?”

Shen Nian slowly regained her composure. She muttered an “I’m sorry” and returned the phone. Taking a deep breath, she couldn’t help but ask, “Is Yan Zhu the only staff member we can find? What about the Director?”

Mo Huai shook her head. “No contact. It seems that person immigrated directly; there isn’t a shred of news.”

Shen Nian sneered, not surprised at all. But after the sneer, a sense of profound powerlessness washed over her. If there really was a scheme behind this, Shen Bi would have covered his tracks meticulously. Key witnesses like the Director would be long gone. As for “unimportant” people like Yan Zhu… they didn’t even need to be considered.

“Help me check…” Shen Nian murmured.

“Huh?” Mo Huai’s features crumpled. “My little ancestor, you don’t actually expect me to find a needle in a haystack overseas, do you?!”

“No.” Shen Nian looked up. She stood, leaning in close to Mo Huai. “Check for missing children reports near the Lanxin Orphanage in the two months prior to my adoption by the Shen family.”

Mo Huai’s eyes nearly popped out of her head. “What?”

Shen Nian set the teacup, warmed by her palm, back onto its saucer. “Unrecovered cases, female, age between four and five at the time of disappearance.” There was so little information she could provide. “Likely a child from a single-parent family, where one parent didn’t want to fulfill their duty of support.”

Mo Huai: “…”

Shen Nian thought for a moment. “If you can’t find anything near Lanxin, expand the search to the entire province…” She stopped mid-sentence, seeing the muscles in Mo Huai’s face twitching. “Is it very difficult?”

“What do you think?” Mo Huai hissed. “With this little information? It’s no different from looking for someone in a foreign country!”

“Well, you could choose to look in a foreign country instead…”

“Stop, stop, stop!” Mo Huai caught her breath, a ridiculous thought forming in her mind. “Wait, what does this mean? Are you suspecting you were a victim of human trafficking?”

“I don’t know.” Shen Nian rubbed the bridge of her nose tiredly. She looked at Mo Huai. “But this is the only way I can think of right now.”

“You’re an adult now,” Mo Huai said, placing a hand on her shoulder, her tone dry. “Things from the past shouldn’t become your nightmare.”

Shen Nian gently pushed her hand away. Her eyes were clear and bright. “Uncertainty is what breeds fear and nightmares. I am trying to save myself.”

Mo Huai was speechless for a long time. Finally, she nodded. “Understood. I’ll do my best to check. But if…”

“I know.” Shen Nian smiled back at her. She turned to look out the window. Bathed in the afternoon sunlight, her silhouette was as tall and straight as fresh bamboo. “If there’s no progress after this, I’ll accept it. I also hope I’m just overthinking things.”

That evening.

When Shen Nian returned to the apartment she shared with Shen Zui, the scent of home-cooked food greeted her immediately. Shen Zui came to meet her, and Shen Nian naturally circled her arms around the woman, tilting her chin up to exchange a lingering kiss in the entryway.

When their lips finally parted, Shen Zui’s breathing was uneven. She blushed and chided, “Couldn’t you wait until we got inside?”

“Can’t wait.” Shen Nian leaned down to nuzzle her nose. Her eyes were full of mirth as she teased, “Didn’t you come over here specifically because you wanted to be kissed?”

The wrongly accused Shen Zui widened her eyes. Realizing she’d been teased, she huffed and turned to walk inside. “In the future, I’ll try to do fewer things that lead to your ‘misunderstandings’.”

Shen Nian laughed and quickly followed after putting away her shoes. At the dining table, she hugged Shen Zui from behind, praising the array of dishes. “Wow—how extravagant!”

Shen Zui looked up at her. “Are you hungry?” She was about to tell Shen Nian to wash her hands when the latter started acting like a spoiled child. “I’ve been in a car all day; I’m exhausted and starving.”

“…Then go wash your face quickly.” Shen Zui took her hand. “I’ll get the bowls and chopsticks.”

Shen Nian rested her chin on Shen Zui’s shoulder, drawing out her words. “No strength.”

“No strength for what?”

Shen Nian lied through her teeth. “No strength to wash my face or hands.” She nuzzled against Shen Zui’s neck. “What should I do?”

Shen Zui’s neck was sensitive, and she instinctively tried to dodge. Her eyes were full of laughter despite her helpless expression. “Stop it.”

“President Shen, give me a kiss,” Shen Nian began to negotiate for benefits. “I’ll have strength after a kiss.”

Shen Zui bit her lip. They had done much more intimate things, yet she was still pure and shy in the face of Shen Nian’s flirting. “Just now, in the entryway…”

“Mm,” Shen Nian interrupted. “The kiss in the entryway was only enough to get me this far. I’m all out.”

Shen Zui feigned anger. “Are you such a high-energy-consumption model?”

“I’m alright.” Shen Nian lowered her head, closing in on those parting lips. “It’s mostly just when I see you…” Her words dissolved into an intimate murmur against Shen Zui’s lips. “I can’t help but want more… and then even more…”

The “kiss-recharge” lasted about five minutes before Shen Nian was finally swatted away by Shen Zui’s fist. Shen Zui’s punch had no power, but the redness at the corners of her eyes made Shen Nian a bit wary—not because she was afraid of making her cry, but because the time and place were simply wrong.

During the meal, Shen Zui naturally asked where she had been.

“I went to meet a former staff member from the Lanxin Orphanage.”

Shen Zui froze for a moment, then looked up. “Why meet those people?”

“Just wanted to reminisce.” Shen Nian poured her a bowl of soup, her tone light. “I have no memories of my own from that time, so I asked her to tell me some stories.”

“What did she say?” Shen Zui asked curiously.

“It’s been too long; she didn’t remember much.” Shen Nian smiled. “She only remembered a dangerous wall at the orphanage and a little girl who fell and hit her head. She’s been bothered for years that the wall was never fixed.”

Shen Zui was practical and moved straight to the point. “Why wasn’t it fixed? Financial issues?”

Shen Nian shrugged. “Who knows.” She sighed. “The orphanage has been closed for nearly twenty years; no records were preserved.”

“I see…” Shen Zui asked again. “Did she recognize you? Did she say anything else?”

Shen Nian shook her head. “No. We talked for about half an hour and then she left.” She placed a piece of stuffed bitter gourd into Shen Zui’s bowl. “This is good—sweet with a hint of bitterness. Try it.”

Shen Zui hummed and focused on the food. Shen Nian looked at her, her internal emotions difficult to define. She had hidden parts of the conversation, but not out of a need to guard against Shen Zui. It was simply because those things were her own speculations; there was no need to bring them home and upset their mood.

As for the parts of Yan Zhu’s story that conflicted with what Shen Zui had told her…

“Why do you keep looking at me?” Shen Zui looked up. After swallowing her food, she pointed to Shen Nian’s bowl. “Didn’t you say you were tired and hungry? Eat up.”

“Mm.” Shen Nian snapped back to the present and nodded with a smile.

At the very least, she was certain of one thing: Shen Zui would never lie to her. Shen Zui was absolutely incapable of deceiving her.