A Substitute Bride With Multiple Identities
Chapter 362 Xiao Huai, Good Night

Chapter 362: Chapter 362 Xiao Huai, Good Night

Fu Yanhe helped Shen Huai change his clothes and supported him as he walked out of the restroom.

Seeing Ye Min, Shen Huai revealed a smile and called out crisply, "Grandma! Look at me! Handsome or not?"

Ye Min’s eyes reddened immediately at the sight of the neatly dressed Shen Huai, but she held back tears, smiling and nodding vigorously, "Handsome, so handsome, just like your father when he was young."

Shen Yanhe didn’t speak, stepped forward to straighten Shen Huai’s collar, and helped him sit down in the wheelchair, "Let’s go, I’ll take you out to have fun and eat delicious food."

Shen Huai sat in the wheelchair, full of excitement, nodding happily, "Let’s go!"

For the next two days, Shen Yanhe took Shen Huai all around Hai City to play.

They rode on every amusement park ride he could handle.

Ate everything he could eat.

And she played games with him.

Even as she desperately wished for time to slow down, even more, the moment of parting still arrived.

On the last day, Shen Huai suddenly mentioned wanting to go back to their old home to take a look, so Shen Yanhe took him there.

However, what was once called home had been demolished for redevelopment into a wetland park, deliberately landscaped with greenery, and the scenery was quite nice.

Shen Yanhe pushed Shen Huai to the artificial lake, in the place where their old house filled with the scent of home-cooking once stood, and sat down on a bench next to him, both watching the glistening lake surface.

Shen Huai’s complexion was very pale now, yet his eyes were bright. He looked at the sunset connected with the lake surface and chatted to Shen Yanhe about their childhood occurrences.

"Sister, do you remember? I was playful and hid from you during hide-and-seek, not letting you find me. You couldn’t find me and were almost crying."

"Of course, I remember." Shen Yanhe chuckled, the corners of her eyes brimming with a hint of red, "You even got me spanked by mom because of that."

Shen Huai giggled, "You were mad at me for several days. I gave you all my candies, and only then did you stop being mad. I secretly called you a little stingy."

Shen Yanhe smiled and did not reply.

She couldn’t speak; her throat was tight as if it was blocked by something.

Her chest felt as if it was weighed down by a heavy stone, making her extremely uncomfortable.

Shen Huai spoke wistfully, "Childhood was so good."

Mom and Dad were still around, he hadn’t fallen ill, life was mundane, yet warm and happy.

But now, he was going to see Mom first.

Leaving his sister behind, he felt truly heartbroken and reluctant to let go.

Shen Huai blinked away the moistness in his eyes and turned his head with difficulty to look at Shen Yanhe, who was forcibly holding back her tears next to him. He couldn’t help but smile, but his vision began to blur.

His voice grew faint, "Don’t cry, sister. I don’t like to see you cry."

"I like to see you smile, to see you happy and well."

Shen Yanhe closed her eyes, clenched her fists on her lap, her nails digging into her palms, her knuckles turning white, and her body trembling slightly.

She swallowed the acidity rising to her throat, and with an ugly smile on her face, she said, "Who’s crying? I’m not crying."

"Good, if you’re not crying." Shen Huai suddenly felt very tired and wanted to sleep. His eyelashes fluttered slowly like butterfly wings, his lips curled in a smile, speaking softly, "Sister, after I’m gone, don’t be mad at Grandma. She didn’t mean it; it’s my body that’s failing me."

"Sister, you need to get along with Grandma..."

"These past two days I’ve been very happy, I got to eat lots of delicious food, experience many things I’ve never encountered before... I’m very happy..."

Shen Huai’s vision started to blur, and his consciousness was fading away bit by bit.

Staring at the shimmering lake, in a daze, he saw a gentle and dignified woman standing in the light, smiling as she outstretched her arms towards him, "Little Huai."

"Mom..."

Shen Huai’s eyes slowly closed, and his face bore a radiant smile.

Mom had come to pick him up.

The lakeside was deathly silent, with only the sound of insects.

A gentle breeze blew softly as Shen Yanhe’s tears kept falling. She turned to look at Shen Huai in the wheelchair, who had already stopped breathing. With a smile on her lips, she reached out and gently held his emaciated wrist.

Her voice was so soft it seemed to dissolve in the wind.

"Goodnight, little brother."

For years, Shen Huai had been tormented by his illness to the point of no longer looking human, not having a single good night’s sleep for many years.

Now, he was finally free.

He could finally have a good sleep.

Ye Min, watching from a distance, wept until she nearly fainted, supported by the silent Fu Yanhe, who helped her retreat back to the car.

Hua Tuo, looking at the lakeside, saw the apprentice holding Shen Huai’s hand, unmoving, with eyes that did not even blink. He sighed, moved forward, and gently patted her shoulder in a soft tone, "Yanyan."

Shen Yanhe’s eyelashes trembled. She raised her swollen eyes to glance at Hua Tuo. "Master."

Then she looked down again at the peacefully "sleeping" Shen Huai and said softly, "I still couldn’t save little Huai."

Her initial intention to learn medicine was to follow in her mother’s footsteps; later, it was to save Shen Huai.

After years of hard study and trying every method, she still couldn’t keep him.

Her medical skills were already so advanced.

Why couldn’t she save her own brother?

Hua Tuo sighed and, knowing the knot in her heart, gently consoled her, "You have to know, you’re human, not a god."

"Even gods have things they can’t do, much less humans. The severe combined immunodeficiency that little Huai had is one of the world’s top ten incurable diseases, and the road to treatment was always full of thorns."

"If it weren’t for you, he would have died at eight years old. You’ve extended his life, you’ve done everything you could; there’s no need to carry a burden in your heart any longer."

Shen Yanhe hummed softly in agreement. She sat with Hua Tuo for a while before standing up to take Shen Huai away.

There were not many who knew Shen Huai in the hospital, so the arrangements for his funeral were relatively simple.

The young man of one meter seventy turned into a small handful of ashes, stored in a tiny box.

Shen Yanhe purchased a new plot next to her mother’s grave and buried him together with their mother.

On the day of the burial, the sky was incredibly somber, with howling winds and a fine, steady rain falling.

Ye Min, overcome with grief, had been admitted to the hospital, leaving only Shen Yanhe, Fu Yanhe, Hua Tuo, and the nurses from the hospital who had cared for Shen Huai to attend the graveside.

Shen Yanhe personally covered the grave with the last handful of soil.

She had sent off her mother, and now her brother.

Now in this world, it was just her left alone.

-

Meanwhile.

Across the distant ocean, in a secretive laboratory.

Shen Zhong, who was meticulously mixing a medicine, suddenly felt a stabbing pain in his chest. The pain came so unexpectedly and was so intense that he couldn’t help but bend down, his breathing becoming progressively more labored.

He haphazardly placed the medicine on the table, clutching his chest in agony as he slowly crouched down. His throat was filled with an extreme sourness, making him want to sob out loud.

Shen Zhong’s forehead throbbed with bulging veins, panic spreading in his heart.

Something had happened.

Yanhe and little Huai must have had an accident!