To unravel the mystery of Xu Yuan's origins, Lin Xiaoxia began gently guiding him through fragments of his childhood. She took him to places he'd mentioned before—each location a potential key to unlock his sealed memories.
They visited the old neighborhood where he'd grown up. Most of the houses had been demolished, leaving only skeletal remains of walls that moaned in the wind. Xu Yuan walked those familiar streets with a dazed expression, as if the echoes of the past brushed against him—close enough to feel, yet impossible to grasp.
Next, she brought him to what had once been his elementary school, now replaced by a park. He stood watching children play, his eyes soft with something like nostalgia. But when she asked what he remembered, he could only shake his head.
The attempts yielded little. Xu Yuan's past remained shrouded in fog, untouchable.
Then, in the attic, she found it—a dust-laden chest tucked beneath cobwebs. Inside lay childhood toys, yellowed books, and among them, a tattered fairytale anthology.
Between its pages nestled a faded photograph.
A young man and woman held the hands of a small boy—no older than five—whose features unmistakably foreshadowed the Xu Yuan she knew.
On the back, elegant script:
"To our Xiaoyuan, may your smile always stay this pure."
When Xu Yuan saw it, his breath caught. His fingers trembled as they traced the boy's face.
"Who... is this?"
Lin Xiaoxia's pulse quickened. "Who do they look like to you?"
His brow furrowed, pain flashing across his face as if wrestling with invisible chains. Then—
A gasp. Hands clutching his temples.
"Fragments... A mansion... A strict old man..." His voice frayed at the edges. "And... a silver ring..."
The ring.
Lin Xiaoxia gripped his hand as memories surfaced in fractured pieces: A grandfather's iron discipline. The weight of an heirloom on small fingers. The creeping sense that his childhood hadn't been ordinary at all.
With each recollection, Xu Yuan paled further, his eyes widening with something between dread and revelation.
Lin Xiaoxia said nothing.
The past was stirring—and whatever slept inside Xu Yuan was beginning to wake.
ns3.145.180.66da2
and then Add to home screen.