Chapter 1
The Last Meal
At the Fang Family residence in Haicheng City, the nanny served the final dish onto the table, prompting Fang Liguo to finally pick up his chopsticks and place a chicken wing into Fang Yuan’s bowl.
“This might be the last meal we’ll ever share together in this lifetime. I never anticipated that your birth parents would discover the news so soon and decide to reclaim you…” Fang Liguo expressed his reluctance, his mind inevitably drifting back to what had transpired three months earlier.
During that time, he had been gravely ill and desperately in need of a bone marrow transplant. While preparing to draw blood from Fang Yuan, he unintentionally discovered that she had type A blood, whereas both he and his wife possessed type B blood, making it biologically impossible for them to have a child with type A blood. After a thorough investigation, it was confirmed that Fang Yuan was not their biological child, leaving the entire Fang Family in a state of shock.
Once Fang Liguo regained his health, he embarked on a search for his own flesh and blood. The Fang Family experienced immense joy upon finding their true biological descendant.
As for Fang Yuan…
This child, who bore no blood relation to the Fang Family, had been posted on a missing persons’ platform.
A month later, just one day prior, Fang Liguo received a phone call from someone claiming to be Fang Yuan’s biological mother, stating that she would come to collect her child today.
“These dishes were all prepared with your preferences in mind…” Fang Liguo momentarily paused his ruminations, placing additional food into Fang Yuan’s bowl. “My child, please eat more, you never know…”
Based on the previous day’s phone conversation, Fang Liguo discovered that Fang Yuan’s birth parents were both unemployed and hailed from Qiushui County, the most impoverished and underdeveloped region in all of China. They likely couldn’t afford such lavish dishes, let alone the delicacies before them.
Fang Yuan remained composed, as if she had discerned Fang Liguo’s thoughts. Setting down her chopsticks, she calmly uttered, “I’m finished,” before getting up and departing without even glancing back, displaying a complete disinterest in her current family.
Song Ling’s displeasure surfaced. “This ungrateful girl doesn’t appreciate the food we serve her with chopsticks! You’ve spoiled her for years! She won’t be able to eat anything once she returns home!”
“Mom, please calm down. I just don’t want to return to the countryside right now. I’m feeling a bit down,” Fang Jiayi said, trying to pacify her mother. She had only been back home for a month and had overheard her parents’ conversation the day before, which revealed the dire circumstances of Fang Yuan’s biological parents. Not only were they unemployed, but there were also five unmarried brothers at home, along with a seriously ill grandmother. It was evident that the family was burdened with difficulties.
With a hint of superiority, Fang Jiayi stood up and declared, “I’ll see sister off.”
Fang Liguo cast a reproachful glance at Song Ling. “Yuan has been our daughter for the past 18 years.”
“Hehe…” Song Ling sneered. “When I think about how we treated that wretched girl as our precious treasure while Jiayi suffered outside, it feels like a knife piercing through my heart.”
Fang Yuan returned to the living room, picked up her backpack from the couch, and prepared to leave.
Fang Jiayi hurried after her. “Sister, my engagement banquet with Lu Chen is on October 1st. You’ll be there, right?” Her eyes gleamed with expectation, but her tone carried a sense of showing off.
Everyone knew about the engagement between the Fang and Lu families. If not for Fang Liguo’s intervention, Fang Jiayi would have been engaged to Fang Yuan.
“Lu Chen is an exceptional young man, and he treats me well. If it weren’t for my parents’ assistance, he would have been engaged to you, my sister. You won’t hold it against me, will you?” Fang Yuan smiled, her words laced with gratitude.
“Of course not. I should thank you for sending that trash where he belongs,” Fang Yuan replied, her tone indifferent.
Fang Jiayi was taken aback. Before she could react, Fang Yuan continued, “I had wanted to discard him at the waste collection center for a long time, but someone came knocking at the door to take him away.”
“You…” Fang Jiayi was about to erupt in anger, but when she caught sight of the person beside her, she feigned a distressed expression, her eyes turning red.
Walking into the living room, Song Ling witnessed the scene and snapped, “Fang Yuan, how dare you speak to your sister like that? Your words are poisonous!”
“I have a way with words, no need to worry,” Fang Yuan said with a smile. “However, I do think it’s a good idea for you to get your eyes checked at the hospital.”
Despite living with this deceitful person, the white lotus, for a month, she still couldn’t discern the problem with her eyes!
“You!” Song Ling trembled with anger.
“Dear sister, let’s not behave this way. I’ll give you the necklace that our parents gave me. We are sisters after all, and who knows when we’ll meet again…” Fang Jiayi pretended as if the past didn’t matter. She reached out to grab Fang Yuan, and in that moment, her hands accidentally touched Fang Yuan’s bag…
A ruby necklace slipped out from Fang Yuan’s bag!
Everyone was stunned. Fang Jiayi covered her mouth in shock. “How did it end up here? Isn’t that the necklace I intended to give you? Could it be…”