Su Yuyan's childhood was relatively happy, but all of that ended the day her mother passed away.
She remembered she was only thirteen that year.
A young girl just over ten years old could not imagine that one day, her own mother would suddenly pass away, so unexpectedly, leaving her so helpless.
"Everyone who comes into this world will face the terrifying prospect of death one day. Some may face it from birth, some after an accident, and others, perhaps, as their bodies age."
Su Yuyan looked at the old, leaf-shedding tree outside the pavilion, her eyes like stars, deep and captivating.
She slightly raised her fair wrist and, mimicking Zhou Yu's earlier gesture, caught a yellowing leaf.
But she didn't throw it away; instead, she held it in her palm.
"At thirteen, I never thought my mother would leave me. She passed away peacefully, but I remember the last words she said to me."
"'Yuyan, you must choose a man carefully in the future.'"
"I didn't quite understand her meaning then, but later I realized she was advising me, and also speaking of herself."
"Zhou Yu, do you know? That was the first time I began to hate my father."
With the back of her hand facing down, Su Yuyan let the leaf fall, its edge gently touching the surface of the pond, creating ripples.
Zhou Yu remained silent.
He had, more or less, already guessed some information.
Su Yuyan's mother's death likely had something to do with her father.
Of course, Zhou Yu didn't believe her father, Su Qishan, had directly murdered her mother.
If that were the case, Su Yuyan would not have held onto any shred of fantasy about Su Qishan afterward.
"He was the head of the Su family, commanding respect outside and treating my mother like a servant at home. I didn't understand it before, thinking it was just a way married couples interacted. Looking back now, it's quite laughable."
"Perhaps at some point, he took in that woman, the stepmother, but I'm not sure when it started."
"I don't know, but my mother must have known."
"And this, was the fundamental reason for my mother's declining health and eventual death."
"She knew about it but kept it bottled up. How could she not fall ill over time?"
As Su Yuyan spoke, her expression was not overly emotional, but rather quite calm.
It was as if, for her, this matter involving her father, Su Qishan, was not surprising at all.
Seeing this, Zhou Yu offered words of comfort, "Many things in this world are beyond our control. Your father's actions were the cause, and what has happened today is the effect. He deserves his fate."
If it were someone else, he wouldn't have said that.
After all, Su Qishan was Su Yuyan's father. She herself could criticize, curse, and resent him, but others had no right to.
However, Zhou Yu was Su Yuyan's contracted husband.
"Perhaps, as you say, he brought it upon himself."
Su Yuyan smiled faintly, stepped on the ground, her small hands clasped behind her back, and stared blankly at her high heels.
For her.
If her mother's death was the beginning of her disappointment with her father, Su Qishan.
Then learning that her grandfather had been poisoned by her father and stepmother working together was the final despair.
"Actually, if he had another woman outside, doing such things behind my mother's back, I wouldn't blame him if I knew. After all, my life is half his gift; I have no right. But he should never have let my mother fall ill because of it and not cared at all. If... if he had paid more attention to my mother, perhaps..."
Perhaps everything would have been different.
But in this world, where were so many "ifs"?
What had already happened, the turning of the years, would not reverse.
After her father, Su Qishan, married Zhang Rufeng, Su Yuyan never once called that woman 'mother'.
Because for that word, the woman was unworthy.
And the truth was, Zhang Rufeng was indeed unworthy of being a mother.
She had been married to Su Qishan for years, yet her abdomen had never once shown signs of pregnancy.
Su Yuyan had once thought that perhaps her mother was watching from above, divinely preventing Zhang Rufeng from conceiving.
"It's alright. Your mother would be happy to see all that has happened today, from her place in heaven."
Zhou Yu said softly. In that moment, he also thought of his own past.
And Su Yuyan's question came at the opportune moment.
"Zhou Yu, what about you? Have you always lived with your master?"
Su Yuyan knew that her engagement to Zhou Yu had been arranged long ago by Grandpa Su and Zhou Yu's master.
But she had never heard Zhou Yu mention his biological parents.
"Yes, I lived with the old man since I was young."
Memories long sealed were awakened by Su Yuyan's question.
Zhou Yu picked up a small stone from the ground and tossed it into the pond.
He brushed the dirt off his hands and added, "Actually, you are much happier than I am. I haven't seen my biological parents since I was very young. The old man raised me."
"Then you were... were..."
Su Yuyan dared not utter the words 'abandoned child,' fearing it would cause Zhou Yu pain.
"It's okay. I know what you want to ask. I am indeed a child abandoned by my biological parents, but I have the old man, so it's not too bad," Zhou Yu said with a smile.
This was not something that saddened him.
Su Yuyan pursed her lips and fell silent for a moment.
After a few seconds, seeing that Zhou Yu truly didn't seem to mind, she gathered her courage and asked, "Did your master ever tell you where you were born?"
Su Yuyan still didn't know that Zhou Yu was once a scion of the Zhou family in Jiangnan City.
"I asked, but the old man said he didn't know, and he forbade me from asking again," Zhou Yu replied.
Speaking of this, he felt a wave of speechlessness.
The old man seemed afraid his beloved disciple would run away, otherwise, why such vigilance?
However, since meeting that woman Leng Xue, Zhou Yu had investigated once.
The family Leng Xue mentioned was the Zhou family of Jiangnan City.
And upon arriving in Yunhai City, during the Su family's attempt to break off the engagement, the words spoken by Su Qishan also confirmed the credibility of the information.
Zhou Yu's past was likely connected to a prominent family in Jiangnan City.
"Forbidden you from asking?"
Hearing Zhou Yu's answer, Su Yuyan was somewhat puzzled.
She felt that Zhou Yu's master was deliberately hiding something.
Of course, this was just her speculation.
"Yes, he just forbade me from asking. I asked him if he had ever seen my parents, and he said no. But I was already seven years old when he found me. It's quite strange for a seven-year-old to be found."
"It is a bit strange. Usually, they are found as infants."
"Who says not?"
"So, you have no impression at all?"