Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Ji Yunshu sat in the chair, looking at Meng Li's pitiful face, when a thought suddenly surfaced in her mind.

Actually, it was only right that Meng Li wanted to return to the Ji family.

She was the Ji family's daughter after all. Being swapped at the nursery in the liberated area back then wasn't her fault, nor was it Ji Yunshu's—it was an accident no one could have foreseen in those chaotic years of war. Meng Li had spent nineteen years in the Meng family, and now that she'd learned the truth about her origins, it was only natural she wanted to come back and claim her birth family.

If anything, it was Ji Yunshu who was the intruder in the nest.

She had taken Meng Li's place, had it good for nineteen years in the Ji family, been coddled and cherished by He Qiuxia, protected by Ji Yunting. She ate well, dressed well, and even had her morning egg water spoon-fed to her by He Qiuxia. And Meng Li? What her life in the Meng family had been like, Ji Yunshu had no idea.

Ji Yunshu thought back to the images from her dream—those kids with red armbands dragging her into the darkness, shouting "Down with the capitalist's daughter!"... If that dream was true, then life in the Meng family couldn't have been easy.

Meng Li wanted to leave the Meng family and return to the safety of the Ji family—what was wrong with that, really?

People always move toward what's good for them and away from what's not. Ji Yunshu understood that perfectly.

But... would the Meng family be willing to acknowledge her?

The thought made Ji Yunshu's heart sink even more. If the Meng family refused to accept her, what would she do? She'd grown up in the Ji family—everyone she knew, was familiar with, or felt close to was from the Ji family or the compound. Could she really go somewhere unfamiliar and call strangers "Dad" and "Mom"? Could she even get the words out?

She looked up and sneaked a glance at He Qiuxia. He Qiuxia was looking at Meng Li, her eyes slightly red, lips pressed into a thin line.

Ji Yunshu suddenly felt a lump in her throat.

She didn't know if she'd still be able to call He Qiuxia "Mom" anymore.

Just then, Meng Li made the first move herself.

She stood up, brushed off her skirt even though there was no dust on it, and cleared her throat toward Ji Haiguo and He Qiuxia.

"Dad, Mom." She said it so easily, like she'd been calling them that her whole life. "I should get going now. I'm still in the hospital—I can't stay out too long."

He Qiuxia was taken aback. "Heading back where?"

"The hospital." Meng Li smiled, gently patting her chest, looking as frail as could be. "I told you I came to see a doctor, right? I just wanted to stop by and see that you're all doing okay, and then I'll head back."

He Qiuxia stood up. "I'll walk you out."

"No need, no need." Meng Li waved her hand, her tone clearly deferential. "I remember the way, and I know which bus to take. Mom, don't bother—it's hot out, you should stay home and rest. Besides... this is a big deal for sister too. Mom, just stay home and keep sister company. I'll be fine on my own. I know this must be really hard for sister to take in, so I won't stick around..."

Ji Yunshu: "..."

As if she was the one who didn't want Meng Li to stay! She hadn't even said one word yet!

He Qiuxia was about to say something else when Ji Haiguo spoke up: "I'll walk her out. Qiuxia, you stay and talk with Yunshu. She... she's our daughter too, after all."

Ji Yunshu glanced at Ji Haiguo. He'd barely said anything the whole time, but offering to walk her out now made his position clear—he'd already accepted her as his daughter.

"Dad, I'll come with you to walk my sister out." Ji Yunshu stood up on her own, looking Meng Li straight in the eye, as if what she'd just said hadn't affected her at all. "I don't have any trouble accepting this. If you really are Mom and Dad's biological daughter, then I was the one who took your spot in the first place. But that wasn't what I meant to do either. It's just... if I do end up going to Su City, I might not be able to take care of Mom and Dad like I should..."

If it was a move to retreat in order to advance, she could play that game too!

"What are you talking about? That's nonsense! As if I'd ever stop calling you my daughter!" He Qiuxia really did get flustered hearing that. "Xiaoshu, no matter what happens, you'll always be my daughter!"

Hearing that, Meng Li's eyes visibly darkened.

Ji Yunshu knew He Qiuxia was especially good to her, but hearing He Qiuxia declare that so forcefully, it moved her all over again.

After that, He Qiuxia insisted on going with Ji Haiguo to walk Meng Li out.

Meng Li couldn't talk them out of it, and in the end, all four of them left the yard together and headed for the compound gate.

The sun was already starting to sink in the west, but the heat hadn't lessened at all, and the cicadas in the trees by the road were chirping nonstop. Ji Yunshu walked on He Qiuxia's right, with Meng Li sandwiched between He Qiuxia and Ji Haiguo.

Ji Haiguo walked beside Meng Li at an easy pace. He glanced at her a couple of times and asked, "So how are your adoptive parents doing, really? You said your adoptive mom isn't well—what's wrong with her?"

Meng Li paused, then said, "It's an old problem. I think she got hurt during childbirth and never fully recovered."

Ji Haiguo just made a sound of acknowledgment and didn't push further.

He Qiuxia sighed. "If your adoptive mother isn't doing well, how do you plan on telling her? Why don't I have Old Ji send a telegram first to break the news gently? They already know you're not their biological daughter, so it shouldn't be too hard for them to accept..."

"I... I'll find the right time to tell them." Meng Li said quickly.

After that, Ji Haiguo asked Meng Li a few more questions about the Meng family, but Meng Li gave vague answers and didn't go into detail. Before long, they reached the compound gate.

The young guard at the gate recognized them, saluted, and opened it.

Ji Haiguo stopped at the entrance and looked down the road. "The bus stop is up ahead. I'll walk you over."

"Dad, really, there's no need." Meng Li said with a smile. "I can walk there myself. You, Mom, and sister should go on back."

Ji Haiguo was about to say something else when suddenly he heard hurried footsteps in the distance.

Ji Yunshu looked up and saw two people running across the road toward them. A man and a woman, both middle-aged, drenched in sweat, their faces a mix of worry and panic.

Their eyes swept over Ji Haiguo and Ji Yunshu, then landed on Meng Li.

"Lizi!" The woman called out, her voice full of worry and exasperation. "Where did you run off to?! Are you alright? We've been searching for you all afternoon!"

The two of them rushed over and grabbed Meng Li's hands, one on each side of her.

Meng Li's face changed instantly.

She froze for a second, then her face went from surprise to panic, and from panic to something she couldn't name. But it only lasted a split second—so fast that Ji Yunshu thought she might have imagined it—before Meng Li went back to her sweet, gentle act, though her eyes were red and her voice was shaking: "Dad, Mom... what are you doing here?"

Ji Yunshu was stunned.

Dad? Mom?

So those two were...

Her eyes landed on the woman's face, and it hit her like a bolt of lightning.

The woman was staring right back at her.

Around forty, wearing a plain plaid shirt, hair pulled back with a black hair tie, loose strands of hair at her forehead stuck to her skin with sweat. She wasn't particularly pretty, but her features were soft, with a gentle look around her eyes and brows that was hard to describe. Her face was pale, like she'd been sick and hadn't fully recovered, and her lips had no color to them.

But that wasn't what left Ji Yunshu speechless.

It was her face.

Slender arched brows like willow leaves, slightly upturned phoenix eyes, and cheeks with a little fullness—all strikingly similar to Ji Yunshu's. Except her face showed the signs of age: clear wrinkles at the corners of her eyes and across her forehead, and a few strands of hair that had already gone white.

No, that wasn't quite it.

It was that Ji Yunshu looked like this woman—not the other way around.

Ji Yunshu recalled what Meng Li had said earlier in the room—"You look exactly like my adoptive mother, as if you were cut from the same cloth."

At the time, she had thought Meng Li was trying to drive a wedge between them, deliberately trying to make He Qiuxia feel bad. But now, looking at the woman before her, she realized Meng Li had not been exaggerating.

They truly looked so much alike.

The same eyes and brows, the same face shape, even the way their mouths curved up at the corners was exactly the same. If Meng Li resembled Ji Haiguo, then Ji Yunshu looked like this woman.

So much that anyone could tell at a glance they were mother and daughter.

The woman was looking at her too.

Her gaze slowly and carefully traced over Ji Yunshu's face, from her brows to her eyes, from her eyes to her nose, from her nose to her mouth. Her lips started to quiver, her eyes turned red in an instant, and tears rolled down her cheeks. But she made no sound, just kept gazing at Ji Yunshu, even clapping her hand over her mouth in disbelief.

The man beside her was also looking at Ji Yunshu. He stood a head taller than the woman, lean, wearing a pair of black-framed glasses, his temples already gray. His eyes were red too, and his lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, nothing came out. He simply reached out and gently supported the woman's shoulder.

Meng Li stood between them, looking back and forth from one to the other, her composure about to break.

"Dad, Mom," she said, her voice sounded strained. "Why are you here in the capital? Didn't I say I..."

"What did you say?" the man's voice was low, impossible to tell if he was angry or hurt. "You said you were coming to the capital for medical treatment, so we went out of our way to get a letter of introduction and come with you. But you, instead, sneaked out of the hospital during a break in your check-ups. If the follow-up doctor hadn't noticed you were gone, we wouldn't have known you were missing! If you were coming to see someone, you should have told us in advance. The capital's so huge—your mother and I were terrified something had happened to you. We rushed to the police station by the hospital to report you missing, and your mom even rushed to your school to find your sister. Ugh... you..."

Meng Li bit her lip and said nothing.

Just then, two more people walked over from across the street.

One was a police officer in uniform, around forty years old, with a stern expression. The other was a young woman in her early twenties, wearing a white short-sleeved shirt, also with a single braid, her expression was grave.

When Ji Yunshu saw the young woman, she froze solid.

The young woman was looking at her too.

Their eyes met in midair, both seeing shock in each other's eyes.

This woman... no, this girl, also had a face almost identical to Ji Yunshu's. Except that this girl's mouth was different from Ji Yunshu's—Ji Yunshu's mouth resembled her mother's, while this girl's mouth resembled the man who had just spoken.

The girl stared at Ji Yunshu, eyes wide, mouth slightly open, as if she had seen a ghost.

Ji Yunshu knew her own expression must be exactly the same.

The two of them stood face to face, neither speaking.

The air around them seemed to freeze.

Ji Haiguo stood nearby, looking from the girl to Ji Yunshu, his expression shifting from surprise to something complicated, then to a heaviness he couldn't quite name.

He finally spoke, with a tentative tone, enunciating each word clearly: "Comrade, are you... Meng Li's adoptive parents?"

The bespectacled man took a deep breath and straightened up. He glanced at Ji Haiguo, then at Ji Yunshu, and finally fixed his gaze on Ji Haiguo.

"Hello, comrade. I am Meng Guangze," the man said, extending his hand to shake Ji Haiguo's. "I am Meng Li's adoptive father. This is my wife, Wang Wanru, and this is my eldest daughter, Meng Yunzhen, Meng Li's older sister."

Ji Haiguo reached out, lightly shook Meng Guangze's hand, and quickly let go.

Meng Guangze's gaze swept over Ji Haiguo and Meng Li's faces for a moment, then settled on He Qiuxia. "So... you are Meng Li's biological parents?"

Author's note:

None