Chapter 1445 - 1408: Home of Cannon Fodder 16
Chapter 1445: Chapter 1408: Home of Cannon Fodder 16
Anning received a call from Xiao Yuan and left some money for Zhao Xiaocong.
"In a while, take your sister to have some food. Your Uncle Xiao and I are going out to take care of something."
"What’s the matter?"
Zhao Xiaomeng asked while brushing her teeth.
Anning changed clothes and quickly did her hair: "It’s about Yilin. The Zhang family came with a paternity test, saying Yilin is their daughter and that there was a mistake made back then."
"What?"
Xiaocong and Xiaomeng were shocked: "No way, is this real? How dramatic!"
"Isn’t it just that dramatic."
Anning smiled: "I need to let you know in advance. Once the paternity test result is out, Yilin will likely be taken by the Zhang family. We can’t give up on your Uncle Xiao’s biological daughter either. You guys will have an extra sister then, so be prepared."
"Ah!" Zhao Xiaocong sighed: "So troublesome, we just got to know Sister Yilin well, now we’ll have to get familiar with someone new."
"Thank you for your patience."
Anning smiled as she grabbed her bag and headed out: "Our family doesn’t only have troublesome matters, there’s something good too, but I’ll tell you in a few days."
After Anning left, Zhao Xiaocong shrugged at Zhao Xiaomeng: "Mom didn’t even finish what she was saying; isn’t this just making us anxious?"
When Anning arrived at Xiao Yuan’s house downstairs, Xiao Yuan was there with Xiao Yilin and a few men.
Seeing Anning come over, Xiao Yuan held her hand: "You’re here."
Zhang Hao smiled at Anning: "You must be Mrs. Xiao, I’m Zhang Hao."
Anning smiled and extended her hand: "Hello, Mr. Zhang."
After shaking hands, they got into the car. Anning, Xiao Yuan, and Xiao Yilin sat in one car. Anning softly said to Xiao Yilin: "Don’t be nervous, don’t be afraid. We’ll discuss everything after the paternity test is done. You’re old enough to understand; if you want to go back to the Zhang family, your dad and I have no objections. If you don’t want to go, you’re welcome to stay at home. Also, even if you go to the Zhang family, don’t feel guilty or afraid. Forget about whether they’re rich or not; the rich are just people too, not so different from us. Besides, they are your biological parents. When facing them, be confident; if they treat you well, we won’t say anything. If not, come back home; you’re always welcome here."
Those words made Xiao Yilin’s heart feel sour.
She lowered her head without speaking, but Anning saw tears falling onto her knees.
"Don’t cry. You’re not a child anymore. Your legs are on your body; you can go wherever you want. Even if you return to the Zhang family, you can still come back to see me, your dad, and your siblings. It’s basically just changing where you sleep; everything else is just like it was."
Anning rubbed Xiao Yilin’s head.
Xiao Yuan sighed: "Yilin, don’t overthink it. You’ve called me dad for more than ten years, and I’ll always be your dad."
Xiao Yilin started to cry.
Crying, she suddenly hugged Xiao Yuan tightly: "Dad, I’m sorry. I was really immature and disobedient before..."
"It wasn’t easy for dad either."
Xiao Yuan gently patted Xiao Yilin’s back: "I was an irresponsible dad. It’s understandable for you to blame me."
In fact, at first, Xiao Yuan didn’t think much of Yilin. He always thought Yilin was selfish, willful, and vain.
However, he recently accessed memories buried deep in her mind from the past, and he no longer felt so resistant to Yilin.
Yilin became like this largely due to what the protagonist caused.
The protagonist was a swindler. When Yilin was small, he was often away from home, saying he was running a business, but actually deceiving people. He was young at that time and wasn’t as experienced, often being called a fraud.
There were times when people would come to his home to insult him.
Back then, he was living in rented houses, often moving around with no fixed address. Yilin would follow him, frequently changing where they lived, and every time they moved, Yilin would be isolated by her peers, labeled as the swindler’s daughter. Some kids even called her a young swindler.
His wife was meek, introverted, and couldn’t handle things well.
She didn’t work and stayed home supposedly to take care of the kids, but she was just wallowing in self-pity.
Not only did she wallow in self-pity, but in front of the kids, she continuously complained about how unfortunate her life was for marrying someone like the protagonist. She even encouraged Yilin not to get close to her dad, constantly instilling negativity in the child.
Yilin remembered these things early on, and they gradually influenced her personality. Her vanity developed later on in school, where she found that by buying treats and gifts for classmates, people would befriend her.
When Yishan was born and grew up, the protagonist had become much better at his deceitful ways and made sure his outside dealings didn’t affect the family. Thus, Yishan wasn’t hurt like Yilin was.
The greatest impact on Yilin’s character was the death of her mother.
Yilin took on a big role in caring for her sick mother while also making sure her sister wasn’t affected.
Especially during the years their mother was dying, she vented all her pent-up bitterness, often talking nonsense to Yilin.
She frequently said it was the protagonist’s fault she was sick and died young; that he ruined her life.
Yilin, having been raised by her mother, remained close to her despite her flaws. Having been fed these ideas for a year, Yilin grew to harbor greater resentment toward the protagonist after her mother’s death.
The protagonist understood his failings when it came to Yilin, knowing full well what he owed her, so he never reacted harshly to her sharp words.
Instead, he tried to cover up these painful past events, never wanting to mention them.
Yilin cried for a long time before Anning helped wipe away her tears.
Feeling a bit embarrassed, she said with red eyes: "Am I being too emotional?"
"No."
Anning smiled, holding her hand: "Around me and your dad, you have the right to be emotional for your whole life. There’s no need to worry about being emotional with your own parents."
Yilin smiled, a genuine smile from the heart.
Now in her second year of high school, she understood everything better.
Especially watching how Anning and Xiao Yuan interacted after they married, and how Anning treated the children.
She realized that her mother had been wrong too; it wasn’t entirely due to her father’s shortcomings that the family suffered as her mother had said.
Yes, the father should carry the family responsibilities, but doesn’t the mother bear responsibility too?
Seeing Anning, who despite having divorced, met everything head-on, caring for Zhao Xiaocong and Zhao Xiaomeng well, gave Yilin a different perspective.
She had even asked Xiaomeng privately. Xiaomeng had shared that their biological dad, Zhao Dahai, was irresponsible as he was always away on business since they were young, leaving their mother to raise them alone. Yet, their mother gave them more love to compensate, sparing them from negativity.
Seeing and hearing these things, Yilin started to pull out the thorns of resentment from her heart, and her anger and sadness began to settle.
After a while, Yilin partially shared her thoughts with Xiao Yuan.
"I’ve been really inconsiderate. My sister told me many times, but I stubbornly blamed everything on dad. These last two years brought dad a lot of trouble, sorry."
Xiao Yuan smiled: "You’ll never need to say sorry to me. Now, let your mom redo your hair. We can’t have you looking messy at the paternity test, can we?"