Three Parts Attachment

He called her name to make sure she was safe

An Shu didn’t wait for Shen Zhi. He walked ahead quickly, forcing her to pick up her pace just to keep up.

Wrinkling her nose in frustration, Shen Zhi tried to express her dissatisfaction.

Then she called out to his back, “Hey! What’s the rush?”

Though An Shu didn’t stop walking, he did slow down his pace slightly.

Eventually, Shen Zhi caught up with him, and the two of them walked side by side. By the time she finished calling out to him, they had already arrived at the tray return area.

She watched as An Shu placed his tray in the designated bin, and she followed suit, grumbling as she did, “It’s just returning a tray, what’s the hurry?”

An Shu didn’t reply, and Shen Zhi didn’t press him. She remembered—he had always been like this. This was just who he was. He hadn’t changed.

Realizing that, her earlier frustration melted away.

As they exited through the cafeteria’s back door, An Shu turned and asked, “Are you heading back?”

Shen Zhi blinked, puzzled at first, then quickly understood. “Oh, yeah.”

He looked at her briefly, his face expressionless, and replied simply, “Okay.”

Beyond the back door stretched rows of poplar trees behind a wire fence, which—according to rumors—was installed to prevent people from illegally chopping down trees.

Just as they reached the end of the path, Shen Zhi thought An Shu was about to leave. So she took the initiative, saying, “Then I’ll head back first. If anything comes up, you can find me.”

“Mm,” he responded briefly.

Taking that as the end of their conversation, Shen Zhi turned and left.

An Shu stood where he was, watching her figure retreat until it disappeared completely into the distance. Only then did he turn and leave.

Back in her room, Shen Zhi collapsed onto the bed. Exhaustion hit her like a wave. She wanted nothing more than to sleep until morning, but her mild OCD got the better of her—there was no way she could fall asleep without showering.

So, groaning, she got up and went to clean herself up.

After her shower, Shen Zhi found several missed calls on her phone. When she checked, she saw they were all from Chen Xue, a high school classmate—one of the few she still kept in touch with.

Just as she was about to call her back, her phone rang again. This time, it was Chen Xue. Shen Zhi answered immediately.

As soon as the line connected, Chen Xue’s teasing voice rang out, “Yo, superstar! "How’s the celeb life treating you?”

Rolling her eyes, Shen Zhi ignored her wet hair, wrapped it haphazardly in a towel, and launched into her rant. “Ugh, don’t even start." I’m dying over here.”

Chen Xue had originally called for something else, but Shen Zhi’s sudden outburst caught her off guard. “What? What happened?”

“Guess where I am right now.”

“You’re not… filming a drama?”

“Nope. I’m planting trees.”

Chen Xue sounded completely floored. “You’re doing what?”

“I’m on a variety show. You’ll see it in a few months.”

“Oh, okay. Make sure you send it to me when it airs—I don’t really watch much TV these days.”

“Got it.”

After chatting a bit, Shen Zhi finally remembered to ask, “Anyway, why’d you call me?”

“Oh right—I was wondering, do you still talk to any of our old classmates?”

“…Huh?”

“I mean, do you remember Wei Minghao?”

Hearing the name, Shen Zhi was confused at first. Then, from the depths of her exhausted brain, the memory surfaced.

“You mean that guy who stole my love letter?”

Had Chen Xue not brought it up, Shen Zhi would’ve completely forgotten that particular episode of high school humiliation.

And strangely enough… that incident had a little something to do with An Shu, too.

Her memory drifted, pulling her back to that summer—

Imperial High School, Year 1 - Class 16

The weather that day was beautiful—sunny and bright. If not for Lu Fangya, everything might have been perfect.

Sixteen-year-old Shen Zhi despised Lu Fangya. That hatred began in junior high, the day she saw a tearful Lu Fangya being led out of a car by a chauffeur… her father’s chauffeur.

Back then, Shen Zhi had felt a strange kind of pity. Fangya looked about her age, maybe a bit scruffy, her clothes worn and old. Shen Zhi had even thought to herself, Is she the security guard’s daughter? I have lots of pretty clothes I could give her.

But then her father, Shen Congbo, took Lu Fangya into their grand living room and, in front of her and her older brother Shen Xiubai, announced: “This is your sister.”

Her world collapsed at that moment.

Shen Zhi’s mother had died during childbirth, so she grew up without a mother. Her father doted on her endlessly, which made her willful—but never unreasonable.

But that day, she completely lost control for the first time.

Her beloved father had cheated—and brought home a sister.

She locked herself in her room, refusing to eat or drink. No amount of coaxing from her father or brother could make her come out.

Curled up in bed, Shen Zhi sobbed so hard she shook. And when the tears finally stopped, she looked at the locked door and had one single thought: I wanted to run away.

And so she did.

That night, she climbed out the window and escaped from the Shen family’s villa. She was careful, avoiding detection. She carried only a phone and a little cash.

At the time, she hadn’t thought about what would come next. All she wanted was to make Shen Congbo regret it.

But hurting herself to get revenge was the most useless thing she could’ve done.

On the first day, she managed to get by. But by day two, she was already struggling. She hadn’t brought enough money.

Her accommodation worsened by the day, but she refused to call home. She even deleted her father’s and brother’s numbers from her phone—thinking she was waging a one-girl war against the world.

But in truth, she was just a child throwing a tantrum.

She had never been sick alone before. At home, there were always private doctors.

So when she came down with a fever, she went to a pharmacy, bought some cold medicine based on the clerk’s advice, and went to a convenience store to buy water.

She didn’t know that her body was sensitive and couldn’t handle just any medicine.

She took it according to the instructions—too late to undo the mistake.

After swallowing the bitter pills with bottled water, she bought herself some candy to drown out the taste.

But even with sugar melting on her tongue, the bitterness in her heart only grew stronger.

Maybe it was the fever, maybe exhaustion—but tears rolled down her cheeks.

At first, she just sniffled. Then, unable to hold back, she began to cry—loudly.

There weren’t many people in the store that afternoon. But her cries drew attention.

A teenage boy sitting nearby turned his head toward her.

Sunlight slanted through the window, casting a golden halo across his clean, handsome profile, making him look soft and warm.

He hadn’t cared about the noise until he saw the crying girl.

His eyes darkened. That face… she looked familiar. Wasn’t she a classmate?

Shen Zhi. The missing heiress the Shen family had been frantically searching for.

An Shu tapped the table three times with his long, well-defined fingers before standing up.

But just as he rose to approach her, Shen Zhi also stood up—only to stagger.

Her vision spun wildly. She couldn’t keep her balance.

Everything turned black. Her head pounded. Her heart raced. Her body trembled. She gripped the hem of her shirt—dirty from several days of wear—trying to steady herself.

But she couldn’t.

She collapsed.

The convenience store clerk rushed over, and An Shu immediately pulled out his phone to call an ambulance.

Then he crouched beside Shen Zhi’s unconscious body, gently patting her pale cheeks to check for a response.

Lowering his head close, he whispered through his ear—

“Hey… Shen Zhi—?”