Xu Cheng had kept everything Eric said in mind. She clenched her fists, sitting still as Lina looked her up and down.
“Eric, explain everything. Over the phone, you didn’t share any specific details. I want you to explain everything now. Don’t spare any details,” Lina instructed Eric calmly. Although she was desperate to track down her long lost daughter, it didn’t mean that her desperation would cloud her judgment.
Eric passed the relevant documents to Lina. “Chairwoman, these documents contain detailed information sieved out by the private investigators. I have already made a copy for you.”
Lina leaned over, grabbing hold of the documents, and looked through them solemnly.
“Back then, when you had safely given birth to your child, your mother gave her away. The family who intended to adopt her initially didn’t have a child of their own, which was why they were keen on adoption. However, the mistress of the family later got pregnant, and they had a child of their own. They were no longer keen on adopting your daughter and proceeded to sell her to a trafficker. These are all facts that we already know and were what we used to form the foundation of our investigation. It was also why we came to this country to search for your daughter. In reality, it’s completely possible that your daughter has been passed along to many different traffickers. During that era, many in the country heavily favored boys over girls, so it was uncommon for folks to buy a girl. Besides, she was too young at the time, so it was impossible to sell her under the name of a child bride.”
To Lina, Eric’s words were a bitter pill to swallow. “Get to the main point! I don’t want to hear what I already know!”
Knowing Lina’s impatience and her unwillingness to hear about how her daughter was very possibly sold among traffickers, Eric decided to get to the main point straightaway.
“I know that you don’t wish to hear this, Chairwoman Li, but it’s still my duty to share this. When the trafficker remained unable to sell your daughter off, he initially wanted to just get rid of her. I mean, he wanted to just kill her then and there. It was Ms. Huang who bought your daughter and essentially saved her from death’s clutches. After that, Ms. Huang treated your daughter as her own, bringing her up with tender loving care, up until she became an adult. Ms. Huang is Xu Cheng’s mother. And so, that means that Ms. Xu Cheng is Chairwoman’s daughter.”
Lina listened to Eric’s words carefully as she gathered up the documents in her hands. Every document, every piece of evidence, seemed to suggest that Xu Cheng was indeed her daughter.
However, doubt loomed in Lina’s mind. “Her age doesn’t match. My daughter should only be 27 years old this year, not 28. Yet, this lady here is Ruan Zeyan’s cousin, isn’t she? If so, how could she be my daughter?”
Eric glanced at Xu Cheng. “Well, we’ll have to hear what Ms. Xu Cheng has to say.”
Xu Cheng stared on blankly before the glint of warning in Eric’s seemingly friendly gaze knocked her out of her stupor. She then recalled what Huang Ying had taught her to say. “It was only today that I found out that I wasn’t my mother’s biological child. Honestly, this piece of news was a big shock. But, I still decided to meet you today. I really wanted to see what my biological mother is like, after all.”
Upon hearing the words “biological mother,” Lina’s heart quivered. Her collected and somewhat cold expression faded into a softer one.
Eric had worked for Lina for a long while. He could tell apart each and every expression of hers and how they reflected how she felt at that moment.
