Chapter 135: Painful Memories

She came to a halt, the radiant smile on her face gradually fading as a profound sense of sorrow flickered across her bright, starlit eyes.

Sensing her sudden shift, Yan Yichen gripped her cold, small hand; to his surprise, her palm was already slightly damp with sweat.

Meng Yi'er glanced at Yan Yichen’s concerned expression and his tender gaze. She forced a faint smile for him and spoke in a soft voice.

"My father has already passed away, and as for my mother... I have no idea where she is now. Since I was eight years old, I haven't heard a single word from her. Even now... I don't even know if she is alive or dead."

Meng Yi'er offered a bitter smile and shook her head slightly, as if she herself could hardly believe it.

Yan Yichen was momentarily stunned, his heart feeling as though it had been torn apart. So, back when she was eight, she had waited for her mother in vain.

"Why did she leave you?" Yan Yichen asked, his cool voice laced with heartache.

"I don't understand why they both left me back then, either."

"They?"

Meng Yi'er nodded, speaking as if she were describing someone else’s life, entirely detached from her own. "That’s right, they—my father and my mother."

Yan Yichen was taken aback once more. His gaze fixed upon her was filled with confusion and surprise, but above all, deep sympathy.

Meeting Yan Yichen’s dark eyes directly, a flicker of stubborn resilience appeared in her own. "They abandoned me. When I was eight, they abandoned me, and they never appeared again."

Yan Yichen slowly pulled the car over to the side of the road. He was too shaken to continue driving. That night sixteen years ago, she had been hurriedly carried away by a man in the morning. He had imagined countless scenarios, yet he had never dared to conceive of this. This innocent, kind-hearted young girl had endured such a painful and lonely childhood.

Meng Yi'er stared blankly ahead, her expression void of emotion, yet her body began to tremble slightly. These memories had been buried deep in her heart for so many years, yet unsealing them proved just as agonizing as before.

Seeing her struggle to mask her inner turmoil, Yan Yichen felt his own heart ache even more. He gently draped his arm around her frail shoulders, drawing her head to his broad shoulder.

Feeling the warmth of his body, Meng Yi'er felt a surge of sorrow. The tears that had welled up in her eyes spilled over, silently tracing paths down her cheeks.

"If it’s too painful, don’t say any more..."

Yan Yichen wiped away her tears with tenderness. Seeing her in such pain hurt him even more than it hurt her. He had only been curious about what had happened to her over the years, never expecting that what she had endured was far more traumatic than he had ever imagined.

She leaned against his shoulder in silence, shedding tears for a long while.

After a long time, she sat up straight, wiped her eyes, and smiled at him, pretending to be lighthearted. "I’m fine... all of this happened so many years ago."

Seeing her feign strength, Yan Yichen felt a tremor in his heart, a flash of pain crossing his dark eyes.

"Actually, I stopped blaming them a long time ago. Perhaps they had no other choice back then. Besides, my father has already passed away..."

A glimmer of confusion flickered in Yan Yichen’s eyes.

"You said they abandoned you when you were eight and you never had word of them again. How, then, do you know that your father has passed away?"

"Six years ago, when I was eighteen, he appeared. When I received the news, I was filled with joy and hope as I returned to Haishi to see him, but he had already passed away. He left me completely..."