In the sickroom, Yin Cheng watched his older sister, Yin Xiaomo, standing by the window with a look of deep worry.

She had been standing there for a long time, silently gazing at the stars in the black night. Her pale face was shrouded in the darkness, her eyes distant and vacant.

He remembered the first time his sister emerged from that dark place; she was covered in wounds, and a fresh gash marred her face. Yet, no matter how heartbroken he was or how insistently he questioned what had happened, she remained silent, her eyes a bleak, dead black.

Later, the scar on her face healed, leaving not a trace behind.

She seemed to recover gradually too, returning to her usual cheerful demeanor and gentle ways. Only the time she was held captive in that dark place became an eternally forbidden topic.

Why dredge up the past... why couldn't they both just completely forget that period of their lives...?

"Tap, tap!" The sickroom door was knocked upon.

"Come in."

Yin Cheng murmured softly, and Yin Xiaomo turned slowly, as if startled awake.

The door opened, and a stern, slightly old-fashioned figure stepped inside. Yin Cheng froze; the visitor was none other than Butler Shen.

"Miss Yin."

Butler Shen offered a brief, formal bow to Yin Xiaomo, then, his expression unreadable, looked directly at her. "First, please forgive my uninvited intrusion. This visit is not at the Young Master's behest, but my own doing."

"Please do not address me as 'you' [formal form]."

Yin Xiaomo blinked in surprise for a moment before gesturing for him to sit.

"Butler Shen, please state your business."

"I am very sorry, but I inadvertently overheard your conversation with the Young Master in the lounge this afternoon."

Butler Shen remained standing rigidly straight, seemingly unaffected by her correction, his manner imbued with an unyielding, disapproving stiffness. "Miss Yin, please forgive my bluntness, but you have no right to wound the Young Master's feelings based on private speculation."

"..." She frowned, unsure of his true motive.

"The matter of the court demanding repayment of the debt owed to the Ou Group by your esteemed parents, and the subsequent freezing of accounts and repossession of property, has absolutely nothing to do with the Young Master."

Butler Shen's voice was flat. "Because... those actions were all mine."

"What did you say?" Yin Xiaomo looked up sharply! She stared hard at the old man before her.

She had known Butler Shen since childhood; he had always been inseparable from Ou Chen, fiercely loyal, like a servant and a father combined.

"That is correct."

Butler Shen met her gaze unflinchingly. "When the Finance Department reported the request regarding the outstanding debt after your esteemed father’s passing, it was I who decided on behalf of the Young Master to pursue the recovery of those funds within the statutory timeframe."

"Ou Chen would let you decide things for him..." She gave a faint, dry laugh, not wanting to hear any more. Given Ou Chen's personality, there was no way he would allow Butler Shen to meddle in such affairs.

"The Young Master was unaware."

"..."

"On the very night you broke up with the Young Master," Butler Shen’s voice turned cold as iron, "the Young Master drove alone in the heavy rain and was involved in a serious car accident. He remained critically injured and unconscious for over two months. By the time the Young Master finally pulled back from the brink of death, he had complete amnesia."

Car accident?! A roar sounded in Yin Xiaomo’s mind, as if layers of white mist had suddenly dissipated. She stood there, utterly stunned! On the day she reunited with Ou Chen at Leo Company years later, she had heard Butler Shen mention Ou Chen's amnesia.

She had always assumed it was a random mishap—but it was actually this—he had suffered the accident the night they broke up?! Her body began to tremble minutely.

Beneath the cherry blossom tree six years ago that night, she had coldly tossed the green lace fabric into the night sky, the hurtful words she spoke out of despair and hatred, the sight of his pale, shocked face beneath the wildly shaking leaves, the figure slowly sinking to his knees...

Summer of Bubbles III