Standing Next To You-Chapter 354: Lifting the Veil

Molted flowers that had been preserved, wrappers from the food he had sent, gifts, accessories, letters... all of them were things Bei Sangyun had received from Fei Chuan.

She had kept them safely, preserved them carefully, and treasured them more than her bank cards and property documents.

Bei Sangyun had grown thinner over the past four days. Her pale face carried a weak expression that Maid Ye Zhai wasn’t used to seeing.

"Young Miss..." She immediately set the tray on the table and hurried to fetch Bei Sangyun’s slippers. "The ground is cold." She glanced at Bei Sangyun’s pale feet. The room was cold—perhaps she had opened the balcony door again last night.

Bei Sangyun silently slipped on the slippers. Seeing her so drained of energy made Maid Ye Zhai’s heart ache.

"This is the dessert Mrs. Bei made. She said you like this."

Bei Sangyun finally tore her gaze away from the items on the desk and looked at the rice cake she had loved as a child. She smiled weakly, her lips bloodless. "Thank you."

She picked one up. She could still remember its taste just from the scent. However, when she placed it in her mouth, she tasted nothing. She slowly set the rice cake down and smiled sadly.

"Unfortunately, I can’t enjoy it even if I want to." She turned to Maid Ye Zhai. "Please tell Grandma Bei not to worry about me."

Her grandmother had spent time and effort cooking her favorite dishes, yet she couldn’t savor them. It would only go to waste.

"Young Miss," Maid Ye Zhai suddenly held her hand. "You don’t have to act strong around us. We will wait for you. We only wish for you to be healthy and happy..."

Bei Sangyun gently took her hand in return. "I know... I can stay strong because of you and Grandma. And for that, I’m always grateful." She smiled faintly. "But believe me, I’ll be fine. Although I can’t tell you the details right now, I will recover from this."

Maid Ye Zhai opened her mouth to offer more comforting words, but upon meeting Bei Sangyun’s solemn gaze, she knew she wasn’t lying.

Right. Her Young Miss was strong. She didn’t know what had made Bei Sangyun cry that night, but she believed in her.

Maid Ye Zhai finally smiled. "Alright. I always believe in you. But if you ever need someone to listen, just call me. My room is right next to yours. Grandma Bei and I will always be here for you."

Bei Sangyun smiled as well. "Alright."

Maid Ye Zhai glanced at the scattered items on the desk, each one meticulously well taken care of. "Do you need help with these?"

Bei Sangyun shook her head. "No. I just laid them out because I wanted to appreciate them again." Because I miss him, she silently added.

Despite everything that had happened, she still missed him. Badly.

But because she felt she no longer had the right to call him or speak to him after that, she could only comfort herself with these things. She regretted not taking any photos with Fei Chuan. The only pictures she had were stolen shots taken by the paparazzi.

"Alright. Then I’ll leave you to it. I’ll make some soup and bring it here later."

Maid Ye Zhai left, her steps no longer as heavy as before.

Bei Sangyun turned her gaze back to the desk.

She reread the brief letters he had sent along with the gifts. She traced back from the most recent ones to those from four years ago.

Then, her hand stopped on the very first gift. freeweɓnovel.cøm

A pair of antique-design earrings. Despite their old-fashioned style, their class and sophistication stood out in any generation.

These earrings were the first gift she had ever received from Fei Chuan. She remembered the moment he gave them to her—in the limousine, just before the homecoming event.

He had put them on her with a flustered expression. And she had kissed him as a reward, making him turn even redder.

He had been so innocent, so cute, so pure.

Bei Sangyun picked up the earrings, their blue gems sparkling as if they had come to life.

How she wished she could go back to those moments—when she had no worries, no cruel destined fate hanging over them, no illness, no unbearable truth.

Her heart ached, as if it were being crushed by an iron grip.

But now, she could never return to that time. Nor could she erase the painful memories Fei Chuan carried because of her. She could not take away his pain, his anger, or his hatred.

Bei Sangyun bit her lip. She blamed herself.

She was the one who had hurt him. In the past life, and even now.

She was, indeed, a terrible person—a villain.

She had wounded that innocent, adorable, pure-hearted boy and turned him into someone who had to pretend to be someone he wasn’t, just to seek revenge on her.

A tear slid down her cheek.

This was why the only thing she could do now was lock herself in this room and wait for the storm to pass. Because she had no right to beg for his forgiveness, no right to return to his life, no right to remind him of the pain he had suffered because of her.

Bei Sangyun hugged the earrings close, wishing they were Fei Chuan instead.

"What should I do now, Fei Chuan?" she murmured his name as she sobbed quietly.

Silently...sobbing quietly as time passed.

A sudden knock at the door sounded. Bei Sangyun quickly wiped away her tears.

Maid Ye Zhai entered, carrying a bowl of soup. She placed the tray on the table, then noticed the earrings in Bei Sangyun’s hands.

"Oh, that’s the earring that made headlines when you were in high school, isn’t it?" Maid Ye Zhai still remembered it well—it had been the talk of the school for quite some time.

"Yes, indeed. Fei Chuan gave it to me." Bei Sangyun smiled faintly, her fingers gently tracing the delicate jewelry. "It’s from a set called The Tears of the Mermaid—"

She suddenly stopped.

Tears of the Mermaid.

Her eyes lit up with realization.

No wonder Cry of the Mermaid—the name Bei Xingyun had mentioned—sounded so familiar.

...

Bei Sangyun had done some research on the earrings on the day she received it.

She had been worried that Fei Chuan might have paid an exorbitant price for them, only to be scammed. So, she made sure to verify their authenticity.

The earrings originated from an antique set known as The Tears of the Mermaid. She traced their history, but the deeper she searched, the more she realized just how ancient and mysterious they were. Even her research team eventually gave up—they couldn’t trace the earrings back to their true origins.

They had found records of their existence in the 1800s... the 1700s... the 1600s... even as far back before empire rises.

Then they discovered mentions of them in ancient texts from the A.D. era. They were finally forced to stop because there were no more available scriptures or records to consult. But her team suspected the earrings had existed even long before that.

Bei Sangyun eventually let it go. What mattered was that she had confirmed their immense value. No wonder they had been put up for auction. If William James hadn’t personally intervened to cap the bidding, the price might have skyrocketed far beyond what Fei Chuan had paid.

Even so, it was already remarkable that Fei Chuan had bought them for her. After all, he had still been a student back then.

She flipped through the file and tried to find the legend of The Cry of the Mermaid that was subtly mentioned in the report she had read years ago.

Her intelligence team had included a note in their report, suggesting a possible connection between the earrings and the myth. However, they hadn’t investigated further, dismissing it as mere folklore—a fantasy tale with no real significance.

But now, Bei Sangyun felt differently.

She opened her drawer and searched for the files they had compiled for her.

It was a thick file—a compilation of reports her intelligence team had gathered on the earrings. According to the auction’s description, a queen from the Yonjan Empire in the 1500s had once owned them. It was said that the earrings had been passed down through generations of queens. As for their true origin, it was suspected that they had been created long before the 1500s.

But Bei Sangyun’s team had done a thorough job. Not only had they traced the earrings back past the 1500s, but they had also uncovered records dating back to the 1300s, the 1200s, the 900s, the 500s, the 100s... even as far back as the year 45. Eventually, they had reached a dead end—there were simply no more surviving materials to continue the search.

No wonder the report was so thick. Her team hadn’t just compiled a timeline of the earrings’ appearances in articles, journals, and scripture passages—they had also documented a list of their previous owners.

Bei Sangyun stopped at the last known entry:

A young woman traded the earrings and a necklace that resembled the ocean for two loaves of bread and a small sack of rice with a merchant.

After this, the trail went cold. There were no records of where she had originally obtained them.

Bei Sangyun’s eyes lingered on the phrase "earrings and necklace."

So it really was a set.

She flipped back through the list.

Lady Kai had purchased the earrings and necklace with blue gems like the sea from Merchant Shin who got it from another country...

Viscount Julius had acquired the earrings and necklace from Viscount Gordon, as his wife had taken a liking to them...

Lady Villamor had received the earrings and necklace from her suitor...

The pieces had changed hands countless times, yet they had always been together—a set. Even as empires crumbled and new ones rose, the blue gem set had remained intact. When rulers surrendered, offering the jewelry as a tribute to the new queen, it had continued to be passed down through generations.

A title was even bestowed on the set by the Queen herself- The Tears of Mermaid. It was said to be derived from the legend- the Cry of the Mermaid.

Bei Sangyun scanned the list again, her gaze suddenly stopped.

At some point, earrings and necklace had become simply earrings.

The necklace had vanished.