Jiang Yangxu warned her sternly, “Have you really made up your mind? Once you sign the severance of ties agreement, your mother and I will truly have nothing more to do with you.”
Jiang Youli looked at him calmly. “Second Uncle, you must be joking. It’s not like you’ve ever really cared about me these past twenty years.”
Jiang Yehan then spoke with unwavering determination, “Second Brother, you don’t need to worry. Su Su and I will take good care of Youli.”
Seeing that Jiang Youli had made her decision, Old Master Jiang no longer interfered.
“Youli, I’ll have the steward prepare the severance agreement for you tomorrow and send it over.”
With that, Old Master Jiang allowed the steward to help him leave the villa.
“Alright, thank you, Grandpa. Take care.” Jiang Youli smiled, then turned to face four pairs of resentful eyes glaring at her. “Second Uncle, Second Aunt, Grandpa’s gone now. What are you still doing here? Haven’t you been scolded enough yet?”
Qin Yulian shot back bitterly, “Jiang Youli, your father and I were right not to acknowledge you. You’re nothing but a selfish troublemaker!”
“Mom, stop arguing with her. Let’s go.” Jiang Zhao, having gained nothing and just been reprimanded by Grandpa, felt humiliated and furious. “Jiang Youli, I hope you won’t regret coming back later to beg for our forgiveness.”
With that, he snorted coldly, grabbed Jiang Yonghe’s hand, and left.
Jiang Yangxu had initially hoped to use the fact that his son was beaten to turn Old Master Jiang against Jiang Youli, making her easier to control in the future.
But who would have thought his own daughter was so cunning!
“I really underestimated you!” Jiang Yangxu threw up his hands and walked away.
Qin Yulian also stood up, saying, “Your brother’s right. You’ll regret this someday!” Then she followed them out.
……
After leaving the East District villa, Jiang Yonghe was already thinking about how to explain everything in the recording to her foster parents and second brother.
Unexpectedly, Jiang Zhao comforted her directly, “Xiao He, don’t overthink it. I believe you and understand you. If Jiang Youli hadn’t pushed you, you wouldn’t have been forced to say those things.”
Jiang Yonghe took the opportunity to express her grievances, “I always thought that even though Youli sister treated me this way, I could understand her and not blame her. If it were me, I’d find it hard to accept too. But honestly… after she trampled on my feelings again and again today, I really felt like I couldn’t take it anymore. I just hope that because of me, you and Mom and Dad won’t have any unpleasantness with Youli sister.”
Qin Yulian looked at her with tender affection. “No matter what happened back then, it’s not your fault. Every parent loves their child. Your birth mother did what she did so you could have a better life. She also paid the price for her greed and is now in prison.”
She paused, then added, “But you, you won’t blame us for how we treated your birth mother, will you?”
Jiang Yonghe shook her head through tears. “Mom, to me, you are my mother. Always will be.”
Qin Yulian’s eyes welled up with tears. She had raised such an outstanding daughter, had spent twenty years with her, and how could she bear to send her away just because her biological daughter was inferior in every way?
Anyway, when it came to their biological daughter, they had done their best.
If their own daughter truly understood the situation, she would have come back down the steps without hesitation.
Jiang Yangxu sternly reminded, “Xiao He, you really shouldn’t have given her any leverage this time. Letting her turn around and bite us back like that was a serious mistake.”
Jiang Yonghe nodded. “Dad, I know. I never expected my sister to scheme against me like this. I definitely won’t make such a careless mistake again.”
“My only worry now,” Qin Yulian said anxiously, “is that after all this conflict, will she still be willing to marry Young Master Qi for Yonghe’s sake?”
Jiang Yonghe bit her lip and said, “If it really comes down to it, Mom, just let me go ahead and marry Young Master Qi. That way, Sister Youli can at least vent her anger.”
Jiang Zhao immediately objected, “No! I can’t let you marry a cripple!”
Jiang Yangxu also disagreed. “Xiao He, you’re so outstanding—you deserve better.”
He had already lost his own daughter. If his adopted daughter couldn’t live up to her full potential, it would be a huge loss.
“Leave the substitute marriage to me, Mom. I’ll find a way to sort it out! No matter what, I won’t let you marry Young Master Qi!” Qin Yulian promised.
Seeing this, Jiang Yonghe finally breathed a sigh of relief.
This unexpected turn of events had been narrowly avoided.
She truly hadn’t expected Jiang Youli to stab her in the back like this. She had seriously underestimated that wild woman. From now on, she would have to be much more cautious around Jiang Youli!
……
“You and your father truly love you, Youli. We want to adopt you as our daughter not for Jiang family inheritance, but because we genuinely care about you,” Zhang Susu said immediately after the Jiang family left.
Jiang Youli smiled. “Mom, I know that very well.”
“I really can’t believe that Jiang Yonghe is capable of such things. I can hardly believe those words on the recording were hers,” Zhang Susu shook her head. Although she didn’t particularly like Jiang Yonghe, she certainly didn’t hate her either.
She just wasn’t familiar with her.
From previous encounters, the girl had always been polite and seemed harmless.
Jiang Yehan recalled the cold, ruthless look in Jiang Yonghe’s eyes and wasn’t too surprised. “You can never really know a person by their face. Well, it was a false alarm—nothing serious. But now that things have escalated like this, our second brother’s wife will probably hold a grudge against us. We’ll have to be a little more cautious around them in the future.”
Zhang Susu nodded. “I understand.”
Jiang Youli had already anticipated that Jiang Yonghe would act up when she came back. How could she not have prepared in advance?
So when Jiang Yonghe deliberately provoked her, she simply played the recording.
One could only say that Jiang Yonghe wasn’t careful enough.
But after this incident, Jiang Yonghe would surely be more cautious in what she said and did!
That would make things more interesting!
She would still enjoy the identity of the true daughter of the Jiang family for a long time to come, and she planned to play along with Jiang Yonghe carefully.
……
The next day at noon, before Old Master Jiang had even arranged to sign the severance agreement, Qin Yulian came to visit again.
Only this time, she came alone.
“Jiang Youli, sunbathing, are you?” Qin Yulian said as she walked over to Jiang Youli’s side.
At this moment, Jiang Youli was lying on the hammock in the small courtyard at the doorstep, soaking up the sun, her eyes shaded by a large banana leaf.
Hearing this, she replied listlessly, “Where is that dog barking coming from? Strange, we don’t even have a dog at home, yet every day there’s a dog barking here.”
Qin Yulian knew that was a jab at herself. Her face darkened, but she still forced herself to be patient. “Youli, this is a gift from Mom. Take a look and see if you like it.”
Jiang Youli pulled away the banana leaf covering her eyes and glanced at the gift she was holding — it was a bank card.
“There’s ten million yuan on this card. It’s from me and your father. You’ve suffered so much outside, and this ten million is our way of making up for the first twenty years of your life,” Qin Yulian explained, pressing the card into Jiang Youli’s hand.
Ten million yuan. A girl like her, who had never seen the world, surely wouldn’t be able to resist such a temptation and would finally give in!
Jiang Youli took the card and held it up in front of her, “Wow, ten million yuan, huh.”
That was about the same price as a single rare medicinal herb she had cultivated.
Unfortunately, the rare herbs she grew could be harvested in many batches.
Ten million yuan wasn’t even one percent of the funding she needed for her botanical research.
Seeing her reaction, Qin Yulian felt hopeful. Seizing the moment, she squeezed out two tears and said, “Youli, I know deep down you still want to acknowledge us. After all, we are mother and daughter, bound by blood.”
