Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Humans tend to fail to grab the opportunity when it’s right in front of them.
Things might just turn out differently if she were allowed to turn back time.
—
It was the day after.
It was yet another bright and sunny day.
The sky was filled with fluffy white clouds and the sun rose high above from the east.
The Xu family and Mr. Jin headed to the DNA test center early in the morning.
They got the test done twice at two separate prestigious DNA test centers.
Under normal circumstances, the DNA results would only be ready a week after the test was carried out.
However, in order to obtain the results as soon as possible, the Xu family had offered to pay ten times the original price and requested to collect the results within a few hours’ time.
They did not wish to wait a second longer to get to the bottom of the matter.
As the saying goes, 90% of the problems in this world can be solved with money.
However, some also say that the remaining 10% can be solved with even more money.
From eight o’clock in the morning to almost noontime, they waited patiently for the results.
The results were released by both test centers at about the same time.
Military Commander Xu and Madam Xu were devastated and disappointed after collecting the first set of results.
The results showed that Xu Youran and Military Commander Xu were not biologically related and that Xu Youran and Mr. Jin were confirmed to be father and daughter.
Mr. Jin was saddened to see the results.
On the other hand, Madam Xu burst into tears and began bawling loudly, unlike her usual calm and composed self who rarely lost control of her emotions in public.
The second set of results from the other test center came off as another blow to Madam Xu.
“Why is this the case? Didn’t the test we carried out back then prove that she’s our biological daughter? Why are the results different now!?! Why!?!” Madam Xu cried in agony.
Although Military Commander Xu was upset as well, he remained much calmer than his bawling wife, whom he constantly tried to placate. After all, he was a man who had experienced all sorts of incidents and thus had better control of his emotions.
Madam Xu finally got a grip on herself after hearing her husband’s comforting words.
Mr. Jin was ill at ease after receiving the answer.
“I initially thought you guys adopted her. After our conversation yesterday, I again began to wonder if I had made a mistake. But it seems like… it’s real now.”
Military Commander Xu did not have much to comment and instead said, “Whatever it is, Youran is already married now. If you want to acknowledge her, please have a talk with her yourself. She has nothing to do with us now.”
He then waved Mr. Jin goodbye and led Madam Xu to the car while holding her hand.
Along the journey home, Madam Xu sobbed continuously throughout as she could not seem to verbalize her thoughts.
After pondering for a long while, she turned to face her husband and said, “I thought we could finally end our regrets after having found Youran. Turns out it’s not the case. Hubby, we can’t give up on finding our daughter. We have to keep searching for her.”
Military Commander Xu nodded and said, “We must find her, but it’s already been so many years. I doubt it’d be easy.”
“Do we really have to chase Youran out of the family?”
“Yes. How well have we been treating her all these years? Given her mean-spirited character, she’s bound to wreak even more havoc. Since she’s not our biological daughter and is already married anyway, we should just cut off all ties with her, lest we create unnecessary trouble for ourselves.”
“But I can’t bear to leave her… I’ve been treating her as my own throughout all these years. Shall we forget about cutting ties and continue treating her as our daughter? It’ll be enough to know that she isn’t. If she finds out that she isn’t our biological daughter, she might just behave herself and stop getting herself into trouble. Why must we really cut all ties with her?” Madam Xu said with a sigh.
Military Commander Xu remained silent, feeling flabbergasted about the fact that the daughter he had been raising for years turned out not to be his flesh and blood.
“Just how did the DNA test go wrong? There usually wouldn’t be mistakes in such stringent and precise tests,” Military Commander Xu said to his wife.
“Who knows? It’s already happened so long ago. There’s no point in pursuing the matter anymore. Since things have already come to this, what else can we say?” Madam Xu answered.
“Give Youran and our sons a call immediately. We have to clarify this matter in front of all of them.”
“Yes.”
Half an hour later, the Xu family siblings arrived at the living room of the Xu family mansion.
Noticing that Madam Xu was teary-eyed, Xu Cai asked, “Mother, what’s the matter with you?”
“I’m fine, listen to what your father has to say,” said Madam Xu, wiping her tears away with her hands.
“I’m going to retire very soon, and I was just thinking that I could finally enjoy my retirement. Yet, who knew something like that would crop up all of a sudden? Your mother and I are going to have our peace disturbed again,” Military Commander Xu said solemnly.
“Did Youran get into trouble again?” Xu Yang asked.
“Elder Brother, I didn’t land myself in any trouble at all, don’t try and accuse me!” Xu Youran retorted immediately.
Military Commander Xu gestured for them to stop.
“Hear me out first.”
They quietened down and stared at their father anxiously, unsure of what to expect.
“Jin Qingyan’s father came by our house yesterday.”
Xu Youran’s heart dropped the moment she heard his words, seemingly having guessed what was going on.
“He said that Youran seemed to be his long-lost daughter and requested to see Youran’s childhood photos. Thus, your mother showed them to him. To our surprise, Youran looked exactly like the girl in the photo he showed us. Yesterday, we were still…”
Before he could even finish speaking, Xu Youran interrupted, “Father, there are many people in this world who look alike.”
“Stop talking,” Military Commander Xu ordered.
Xu Youran dared not utter another word.
“Yesterday, I got your mother to call Youran home and retrieve a sample of her hair, which we brought for a DNA test this morning. In order to prevent any mistakes from occurring in the test results again, we specifically went to get two tests done, each at a separate test center. Here are the results,” Military Commander explained before handing Xu Yang the test report.
After perusing the content, Xu Yang handed it to Xu Cai, who then passed it to Xu Youran after taking his turn to read the report.
The results spoke for itself.
“Youran is Jin Qingyan’s sister and not one of us. That also means your biological sister hasn’t been found yet, Xu Yang and Xu Cai.”
The brothers were momentarily stunned beyond words.
“Father, didn’t we already run a DNA test when we found her back then? Did something go wrong with the results?” Xu Cai asked in utter disbelief.
“The test center we went to back then no longer exists today, which means there’s no way we can find out what went wrong.” Military Commander Xu sighed deeply before continuing to speak, “Your mother has been crying non-stop ever since she received the results.”
Xu Youran felt like killing herself at this very moment.
She deeply regretted looking up Mr. Jin and telling him about her true identity.
In the end, not only did she stand to gain nothing from the Jin family, she was about to be chased out from the Xu family very soon.
She was completely dejected and disheartened for she did not expect for this day to come so soon.
She had not prepared herself fully or come up with a backup plan.
Yet, it happened just like that.
Was this what it means to never be able to conceal the truth?
Xu Youran broke down into tears at the thought of no longer being able to have the support of the Xu family whom she was about to sever ties with very soon. She dropped to her knees and pleaded, “Father, Mother, please don’t chase me away. I’ve long treated you guys as my own parents.”
Staring at her, Military Commander Xu said, “I heard from Mr. Jin that you were 12 years old when you went missing. You should’ve already been sensible enough to know what was going on at 12 years old. You knew who your biological parents were at the time, didn’t you? And yet, you still kept mum about the truth even though there was a clear mistake with the DNA test results, which you were aware of. No wonder you were so strongly against the Jin family and An Xiaoning. It’s precisely because you know you belong to the Jin family and wanted to avenge your biological mother instead of your adoptive mother like you claimed previously, isn’t it?”
