C13 I Wonder How Many Worries I Have

Kong Shuoyi used every ounce of his strength to vent his pain, his tightly clenched fists slowly seeping blood. He bit his lip, his face pale. Standing at 6'3", his height only made him appear more forlorn.

Suddenly, the door to the room made a noise. Shuoyi clearly heard someone opening it. He straightened up, eager to see who was coming in. This was a private room; people didn't just walk in unannounced.

The door opened, revealing a young woman, probably in her early thirties. Her short, wavy hair was streaked with yellow and purple. She had a bag slung over her left shoulder and a cigarette in her right hand. It was none other than his stepmother, Shen Xiangxia, ten years his senior.

Shuoyi could never understand how his father, a man who had always been so proper and traditional, could fall for someone like her. In his mind, his mother was leagues above this woman.

Xiangxia was the one who had broken up his family, taken his father away, and possibly even had a hand in his mother's death. Shuoyi saw her as his greatest enemy—past, present, and future.

"What are you doing here?" Shuoyi's deep eyes flashed with a sharp intensity. If it weren't for the consequences, he would have wanted to eliminate the woman standing before him right then and there.

Xiangxia waved her right hand, blowing a large smoke ring into the air. The room filled with smoke, obscuring Shuoyi's view of her intentions.

"Don't think I don't know what you're up to behind my back. You'll never escape my grasp," Xiangxia said, her face showing a confident smirk.

"Is that so? This battle has just begun, and it's anyone's guess who'll come out on top. Aren't you afraid your misdeeds will catch up with you, Xiangxia?" Shuoyi glared at her fiercely. Though he had no evidence yet, he was convinced in his heart that Xiangxia was the culprit.

Shen Xiangxia raised an eyebrow, her face full of disdain. She didn't take Kong Shuoyi seriously at all.

"I'm just giving you a heads-up—stop sending your files to the detective agency. You'll never find the culprit. Even your dad isn't dealing with this, so don't think you can solve it on your own," Shen Xiangxia said, her expression turning smug at the mention of Kong Shuoyi's father.

Kong Shuoyi's face darkened. He couldn't deny it; everything Shen Xiangxia said was true, and it was a deep-seated pain for him.

"Mind your own business. You don't need to worry about me," he snapped before storming out, unwilling to spend another second with that infuriating woman.

The elevator descended slowly to the first floor. Leaning against the wall, Kong Shuoyi looked like a lost child, his eyes vacant and dull. How he longed for a comforting embrace, but he could never hold his mother again.

As the elevator doors opened, Kong Shuoyi instinctively pulled himself together, though his face remained pale and ghostly.

The driver, noticing the young master's unusual demeanor, approached cautiously. Liu, ever observant, knew better than to pry into the young master's personal affairs.

"Shall I take you home, sir?" Liu asked tentatively.

"No, take me to the old house in Mu County."

Liu hesitated. "What about Chairman Lin?" In the Lin family, the young master's mother was a sensitive topic. Shen Xiangxia didn't like hearing about her, and no one dared to mention her, not even the chairman.

"Just take me there," Kong Shuoyi nearly shouted. The driver, not daring to argue, quickly mapped the route and drove as fast as he could.

The shrubs outside blurred past the window as the sun set further in the sky. Kong Shuoyi remained silent throughout the long drive, his eyes fixed on the passing scenery, not wanting to think about anything at all.

As the sun disappeared and darkness enveloped the sky, Shuoyi finally looked away.

"Sir, we're almost at the old house. This is as far as the car can go," the driver, Liu, said, glancing back at Shuoyi.

"You can head back. I'll walk the rest of the way. I'll talk to the chairman myself," Shuoyi replied, wanting some time alone.

"Take care, sir. I'll come back to pick you up in a few days." With that, Shuoyi's figure vanished around the corner, blending into the night.

It had been years since Shuoyi last visited this place. He was unaware that the old homes in the area had been replaced by towering modern buildings. The house he remembered from his childhood was nowhere to be found.

Shuoyi wandered through the narrow streets, unable to locate the house he once shared with his mother. The unfamiliar modern structures left him bewildered, wondering where the rusty old home from his memories had gone.

When he was a child, his father was often away on business trips, leaving just him and his mother at home. Back then, Kong Linhua's business was just starting, and their financial situation was poor. They lived in a cheap two-bedroom apartment with unreliable utilities.

Now, Kong Linhua had returned home successful, but Shuoyi had lost his mother forever. He blamed his father for not caring enough about them. The scent of his mother was gone, and all his memories were locked away in his mind.

In the alleys of the small town, Shuoyi wept openly, unconcerned about appearances. Here, in this small town, no one recognized him.

At six years old, Shuoyi lost his mother in a tragedy he could never forget. He was haunted by the memory of her dying beside him. On a stormy night, he awoke from a nightmare where he saw his mother being strangled, but each time he woke, she was still there, safe and sound.

Despite his desperate calls, Shuoyi's mother didn't respond. He switched on the lamp, revealing her wide-open eyes and bulging neck veins, as if she had been strangled. At that moment, he saw a shadowy figure climbing out the window, a distinct tattoo on the man's right arm.

Young Shuoyi shook his mother's body frantically. "Wake up, please wake up. Don't leave me alone." But no matter how much he pleaded, she never woke up again.

This became Shuoyi's eternal childhood nightmare, waking him in cold sweats countless times. After the incident, nearly all the neighbors moved away. Shuoyi's father returned and took him to a new city, where another woman entered his life—his cruel stepmother, Xiangxia.