As they brushed past each other, Meng Shangchu seemed to think of something and unconsciously followed the other person with her gaze, yet she didn’t stop walking because she hadn’t noticed Shen Weiyi behind her, and the two accidentally bumped into one another.
"Sorry." The latter quickly diverted her gaze.
Hearing the familiar voice, Shen Weiyi lifted her head to look and realized it was Jiang Zhiyi.
Jiang Zhiyi, seeing her, couldn’t help but pause briefly.
"Are you alright?" That’s when Meng Shangchu turned his head to ask with concern.
"I’m fine." Shen Weiyi shook her head.
Meng Shangchu’s gaze then fell on Jiang Zhiyi, and after glancing at Shen Weiyi, something flickered in his eyes before he said, "I have to go now!"
"Okay!" Shen Weiyi nodded, watching him walk toward the car parked outside the café.
Only after his car had departed did Shen Weiyi retract her gaze.
But then she saw Jiang Zhiyi frowning slightly as he looked in the direction Meng Shangchu had gone.
"What are you looking at?" Shen Weiyi found his reaction a bit strange.
Hearing her, Jiang Zhiyi looked back at her and said, "That person just now looked familiar. Do you know her?"
"What did you say?" Shen Weiyi’s eyes widened in shock.
According to Shen Juanzhi’s description, the other had been living abroad all these years. How could Jiang Zhiyi have seen her?
Though Jiang Zhiyi didn’t understand why she was so excited, he still answered carefully, "I’ve seen her around the neighborhood and near the school before."
"When?" Shen Weiyi pressed him.
Jiang Zhiyi thought carefully, "It must have been many years ago. I can’t remember the exact time, but I remember her face and that it was definitely her."
Shen Weiyi blinked in surprise.
What kind of situation would lead someone who lived abroad to appear in their neighborhood and near their school?
There was only one possibility: to see her.
"What’s wrong? Who exactly is she?" Jiang Zhiyi didn’t understand why her reaction was so strong. They had practically been inseparable since childhood, and if this person was important to her, he would certainly know.
But other than the fact that he had seen her, there didn’t seem to be any interaction between her and that girl.
"She is my mom." Shen Weiyi’s voice came out strained as she spoke.
This time, it was Jiang Zhiyi’s turn to be taken aback.
After a moment, he finally asked, "Are you okay?"
"I’m fine. I’m just a little surprised." In fact, after all these years of her being absent, Shen Weiyi had grown accustomed to it and even felt like she didn’t need a mother; having Shen Juanzhi was enough. But the moment she knew that woman was her mother, Shen Weiyi couldn’t help but want to understand her, to know what kind of person she was.
Shen Weiyi thought she could treat her like any ordinary person, but the unexpected news that she might have come to see her, more than once, still stirred something within her.
She lowered her eyes to look at the business card Meng Shangchu had given her earlier, then slipped it into her bag.
In the end, she had accepted the business card.
She hadn’t initially thought about seeking the woman out.
The fact that she hadn’t appeared in the past twenty years didn’t particularly trouble Shen Weiyi.
But hearing that she might have come to see her, Shen Weiyi found her feelings for her suddenly complex.
At that moment, as Meng Shangchu drove away, the image of that girl’s changes over the years couldn’t help but surface in his mind.
The once tiny girl had grown up in the blink of an eye.
At first, it was her lack of means, her inability to keep and raise her daughter. Even though she had entrusted her to Shen Juan, in truth, she had been secretly keeping an eye on her all these years.
She would occasionally return to the country to see her.
Knowing that she was doing well was the reason she had never appeared.