Chapter 193 Do You Know This Woman in the Photo?

Chapter 193: Do You Know the Woman in This Photo?

The reason for the breakup still had to be made clear, otherwise having the guy badmouth her would mess with her head.

Qi Xiang was introduced to Leng Jiaxin by a colleague, said to be a city boy, an only child, gentle in nature, with decent parents and a harmonious family.

They had only been dating for a short time, and this meeting with the parents was her suggestion. In her eyes, the other party’s parents were very important in a relationship. If she found them agreeable, she would continue; if not, she'd bail before things got worse.

Back home, Qi Xiang got Leng Jiaxin's breakup text and freaked out.

Although Leng Jiaxin was from a small town, she was hot, had a steady job, and looked good on paper—she was the best he'd ever had, and he didn’t want to lose her.

But Leng Jiaxin was dead set on ending it. After being blocked, Qi Xiang found the matchmaker, hoping she could persuade Leng Jiaxin to change her mind. However, the matchmaker had found out the truth and ripped into him on the phone.

After failing to win her back, Qi Xiang took his anger out on his mom.

“Mom, how could you let Jiaxin wash the dishes? Now look what you did—we're done!” Deep down, Qi Xiang knew it was wrong for a girlfriend to wash dishes on her first visit, but he hadn’t stood up at the time.

Chen Lian curled her lip and sneered, “What daughter-in-law doesn't do the dishes? I knew that girl was no good from the get-go. It’s good you broke up—I’ll find you a better one.”

“Mom!” Qi Xiang shouted in dissatisfaction, “The girls you set me up with were all train wrecks! It’s all your fault!”

“Quit your yelling! I’m your mother, I wouldn’t harm you. What's so great about that fox spirit? Even if she hadn't dumped you, I'd have made you dump her. Tsk, acting like she's some princess. The veggies at that market are way too pricey—good thing I didn't buy 'em, or it'd be a total waste.”

“Mom, didn’t you say you bought them at Nanhe Market? You lied to me.” No wonder Leng Jiaxin seemed off from the moment we sat down.

While blaming his mother, Qi Xiang also felt Leng Jiaxin was at fault—was it worth breaking up over some food and dishes?

Whether it was worth it was her call, but the breakup was a done deal. Regretting it wouldn't do squat.

*

Yu Mianyun, Lei Mingchen, and his new girl Zhou Bing showed up at Xuehe Small Shop.

Zhou Bing had a mask on, hiding her whole face.

No matter who the guests were, at least one person in the group had to have a membership card.

Since Zhou Bing was a celebrity and didn't want to be seen in a small town, only Yu Mianyun and Lei Mingchen got cards.

Yu Mianyun wasn't there to shop. After grabbing a signature healthy lunch box on a whim, he said to Jiang Yingxue, “Boss Jiang, got a minute? I have something I’d like to discuss with you.”

It was when school let out, and the shop was busy. Jiang Yingxue replied, “Not now. I’ll be free after 2 PM. What is it?”

Seeing her face, so much like his mom's, Yu Mianyun smiled gently and said, “Something very important.”

Jiang Yingxue thought the guy was weird, but he didn't seem dangerous.

Even though she could read someone's bone age and cultivation level, she couldn't tell how they were connected to her.

If she could figure it all out just by looking, the cultivation world wouldn't have so many fakes stealing bloodline status.

Yu Mianyun plopped down on the sofa, watching the busy scene of buying and selling and Jiang Yingxue’s busy figure, his nerves calming down.

Zhou Bing came for the clothes. The second she walked in, she pulled Lei Mingchen to the Xuehe Apparel shop next door.

She was checking out dresses, but realizing they weren't limited edition and were mass-produced—meaning she might run into someone wearing the same thing—killed her buzz.

Still, she loved the designs and fabric. Besides, since she was already there, leaving empty-handed wasn't her thing. “Miss, do you do high-end custom orders?”

“No, we don’t.”

They did regular custom orders, but not high-end ones.

For regular orders, customers could pick styles and fabrics from the catalog. High-end orders were a pain—you had to talk to the client, redo sketches, and make tons of tweaks.

“I see.” A flash of disappointment crossed Zhou Bing's face. She pouted at Lei Mingchen, but her mask hid it.

Ling Ji pulled out the catalog and said, “Miss, we do regular custom orders. Wanna take a look?”

“Let me see it.”

The shop didn’t accept high-end custom orders, but Zhou Bing still ordered a custom dress from the catalog—the Spring Drunk Immortal Dress—along with two matching jewelry sets.

Lei Mingchen stuck by Zhou Bing, patiently going along with her as she looked at clothing styles and picked matching jewelry.

Lei Mingchen said, “Everything sorted? Let's grab some food.”

Yu Mianyun replied, “I'm not going. I'll eat here. You guys?”

Zhou Bing and Lei Mingchen exchanged glances. Zhou Bing was a celeb, and there were no private rooms—she was scared of getting snapped.

Lei Mingchen gave Yu Mianyun an apologetic smile and said, “Brother Yun, she can't eat here. We'll head out.”

Yu Mianyun nodded. “Go ahead.”

Lei Mingchen and Zhou Bing left to find a restaurant with good privacy, while Yu Mianyun grabbed a random seat in the dining area for lunch.

“Hey, handsome, wanna be friends?” A pretty woman shook her phone at him, smiling shyly.

“Sorry, I didn’t bring my phone.”

During this time, several women approached Yu Mianyun to ask for his contact information, but he politely declined.

At 2:30 PM, Yu Mianyun and Jiang Yingxue sat facing each other in the meeting room.

Yu Mianyun took a photo from his wallet and placed it in front of Jiang Yingxue. “Ms. Jiang, have you seen the woman in this photo?”

Jiang Yingxue picked up the photo to look at it. She recognized it immediately—the woman in the photo was a younger Jiang Mingzhu, her mother.

But how did this man have a photo of her mother?

She gently set the photo down and asked the man across from her, “What do you want with her? What is she to you?”

Her first words weren’t “I don’t know her” or “I’ve never seen her,” but rather a question about his relationship with the woman in the photo.

Hearing this, Yu Mianyun’s heart raced with excitement, and his voice trembled slightly. “She is my mother.”

As soon as he said this, Jiang Yingxue stared at his face in surprise, checking if he was lying.

Jiang Mingzhu was undoubtedly Jiang Yingxue’s mother. Yu Mianyun’s bone age was 27, older than her. If he wasn’t lying, that would make him her brother.

But she had never heard from her family that she had a brother.

After a moment of thought, Jiang Yingxue took out a transparent, palm-sized stone.

This was a kinship stone. Two people with a blood relation could drop blood onto it to verify if they were related.

If they were related, the kinship stone would turn red. The closer the blood relation, the deeper the color; the more distant, the lighter.

If there was no relation, the stone would show no reaction.

Jiang Yingxue placed the kinship stone on the table and pushed it toward him, saying, "Mr. Yu, please place your hand on the stone."

Yu Mianyun was puzzled by this action but complied nonetheless. "Alright."

In the cultivation world, the two people being verified would perform a blood-dropping ritual in person.

However, during the verification process, the kinship stone would emit an unusual glow. Jiang Yingxue couldn't be bothered to explain this weird glow to the stranger in front of her, so she simply asked him to place his hand on it without giving a reason. As he did so, she secretly used her magic to collect his blood.

Jiang Yingxue retrieved the kinship stone and took a photo of the old picture with her phone. She said to him, "Mr. Yu, I'll look into the person in the photo and verify things first. I'll notify you once I have an answer."

Yu Mianyun looked anxious. "How long will the verification take?"

Jiang Yingxue tapped her index finger lightly on the table, glanced at him, and said, "Two days. I won't make you wait long."

After Yu Mianyun left, Jiang Yingxue placed her hand on the kinship stone. A white light flashed across her fingertip, and then a drop of blood fell onto the stone.

Instantly, a brilliant red light radiated from the kinship stone.

"No way..." Jiang Yingxue stared at the crimson kinship stone, falling silent for a long moment.