"Slap!" A heavy smack resounded, and a thin line of blood appeared at the corner of Zan Weiwei’s mouth. Li Ailing rushed to her daughter’s side, gently caressing her daughter’s cheek, which now bore five distinct finger marks. "Weiwei, don’t blame your father, he..."

"Get away!" Zan Weiwei pushed her mother aside, staring coldly at Zan Wenxing. "Great! I was hesitant before, but now I can tell you officially, from today onwards, we each go our separate ways and don’t interfere with one another!"

Originally regretful for his impulsive outburst, Zan Wenxing felt ignited anew by his daughter’s icy stare: "I gave birth to you, raised you, and after one slap, you start with this nonsense. Fine, leave—I’d like to see how far you can get without me!"

"Wenxing!" Li Ailing called out anxiously, tugging on her daughter’s sleeve. "Weiwei, your father is troubled, don’t provoke him further, listen to him..."

"He’s troubled?" Zan Weiwei laughed coldly. "I’m troubled too. You lied about Grandma being sick. And what happened? I rushed back in a hurry and didn’t even get to see her shadow before being sent abroad. Is this what you call having a conscience?

Giving birth to me is indisputable, but can you proudly claim those words ’raised me’ with a clear conscience? Other children could be breastfed until over a year old, and me?

Sent back to the rural countryside at three months old—while other kids drank mother’s milk, I drank rice soup! Grandma pitied me, often taking me to households with children, begging for milk for me to drink.

After sending me to the countryside, you didn’t care for me for three whole years. Without Grandma, I might not have survived until now. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

From childhood to adulthood, how much responsibility have you shouldered for me? I’m already 20 years old; have you ever considered my opinions on how to live my life?

Let me tell you, in this world, the person closest to me is Grandma. Leave her? Not a chance. Without you two, I can still earn money to support Grandma!"

"It’s my fault for spoiling you..." A hint of sadness flashed in Zan Wenxing’s eyes. "I’m still your biological father; how can you say such things?"

"Everything I said is the truth!"

Li Ailing held her daughter, gently rocking her. "Weiwei, those are just rumors. How can you believe them? Please, don’t quarrel with your parents anymore.

If it weren’t for the urgent situation, your dad and I wouldn’t be in such a rush to send you away. As for Grandma, don’t worry, we’ll arrange for her visa, and she’ll come to Canada to visit you.

By then, Dad and Mom will accompany Grandma, and our family will live together again, never to part, okay?"

Luo Ye and Zhao Qianqian exchanged a secret glance; it seemed Zan Wenxing had already anticipated that escaping was not possible, focusing solely on sending his daughter away.

In this respect, his daughter truly misunderstood him. If he didn’t genuinely care for her, he wouldn’t dare take such a risk. Let it be known that having Zan Weiwei leave at this time would only expedite his downfall.

Zhao Qianqian leaned closer to Luo Ye’s ear: "Given his status, can you believe he has just one daughter?"

"Well, for now, I have to believe it."

The people of Ludong hold strong biases favoring sons over daughters. Never mind those of Zan Wenxing’s status—even ordinary families would rather face fines to have a second child, and if the second isn’t a boy, they’d have a third and fourth, remaining steadfast despite being fined into poverty.

Therefore, Zhao Qianqian’s questioning was certainly justified.

"I have a friend from Ludong, she’s the same age as you, 19. But guess what age her ID shows?"

After pondering for a moment, Luo Ye replied, "21?"

"Wrong!"

"24?"

"Try harder!"

"Could it be 30?"

"Well, it’s not that exaggerated, but close, it’s 29. She probably feels embarrassed about it and never shows her ID in public.

Until once, when we went to the bank together for a lost card, I saw it, and she confessed. Her parents had four children — she was born in ’83, followed by ’84, ’85, and ’86, but her ID says she was born in ’73, her three sisters’ IDs were for ’75, ’76, ’79, respectively.

I asked her then, with such discrepancies, how is it possible? How about schooling? Jobs? Didn’t the parents think about their future?

She said, back then, the household registration was lax, and she had an uncle working at the Police Station managing household registers, who secretly altered them. This way, not only did they avoid fines, but her parents could also have more children.

Of course, her parents’ wishes were never realized, and after having a miscarriage, there was no further action taken. As for their household registration, they never intended to change it back.

When she grew older and wanted to change it, the regulations got stricter, and they were reluctant to spend money, resulting in a situation where the longer they waited, the harder it became to change. This change required all sorts of documents to be reissued, which was too troublesome, so now, unless absolutely necessary, she doesn’t use her own ID for registration.

To me, this sounded like pure fantasy, but she said this situation wasn’t unique to her family back in her hometown.

Families with connections often reported their children’s household registration with a greater age. The reasons for this were to avoid fines and to enable earlier marriage. I find it hard to comprehend.

"I’ve heard of situations like this, but most only increase the age by two or three years; such a significant difference as hers is indeed quite rare.

However, I’m puzzled. For instance, if she’s ten years old and her household registration says she’s twenty, wouldn’t someone question such a discrepancy?"

"These situations are common in their area; teachers simply don’t care. She graduated from high school at sixteen, and her ID made things much more convenient for her.

She’s a waitress at my aunt’s restaurant. I used to work there part-time on weekends and became familiar with her."

"Alas, children like her tend to be very sensible, but many are hindered by their parents. Hearing what you said just now makes me think we should thoroughly investigate Zan Wenxing’s side."

After a moment of silence, Luo Ye suddenly slapped his forehead, "I suddenly feel Zan Wenxing might not have truly intended for Zan Weiwei to leave.

He is only putting on a show, making others believe he wants to protect his only daughter, but the end result is him saving the person he truly cares about.

Think about it, he must know the country is already watching him, yet at this critical moment, he deliberately prevents his daughter from taking a flight. Such futile gestures make people think he’s truly panicked, but actually..." Luo Ye paused without finishing the thought.

By this time, the argument in the room had reached a boiling point. Li Ailing was crying and trying to persuade her daughter to leave, while Zan Wenxing and Zan Weiwei were fiercely arguing, completely ignoring Li Ailing’s pleas.

However, the more this happened, the more Luo Ye suspected her assumptions might be correct.

Zan Wenxing couldn’t have reached his current position by being foolish. Time was of the essence, and he must understand this. Yet here he was, procrastinating over whether his daughter should leave, delaying for nearly half an hour. If this continued, it would certainly lead to missing the flight, and what followed next would be straightforward.

Zan Weiwei was not involved in Zan Wenxing’s affairs, even if something happened to Zan Wenxing, Zan Weiwei would only lose her financial support.

Since Zan Wenxing planned to protect his son, he would consider such a sacrifice worthwhile.

Most people are defeated by themselves; in these short decades, one spends what little one has, tries every trick, commits all sorts of immoral acts, all for that single root. But is that root truly that important?

Luo Ye sighed lightly, nudging Zhao Qianqian: "Let’s go, there’s nothing valuable left to see. Looking at them, it seems our guesses were mostly right.

I think Zan Weiwei might have some sense of it, but she’s not entirely sure, so she’s opposing her father."

"Being able to have a child quietly is quite impressive." Zhao Qianqian pursed her lips, just about to move, but suddenly stiffened, looking at Luo Ye with a bitter expression, "My leg’s gone numb, let me rest a bit."

"Let me move over there and massage it for you. Hold on, don’t make any sound." Luo Ye said while shifting toward Zhao Qianqian’s right side.

"No need, I’ll do it myself." Zhao Qianqian said as she gently massaged her leg, inhaled sharply, quickly gripping the wall. Her physique was not as adept as Luo Ye’s; such movement made her whole body start to shake.

"Don’t be brave; if we’re exposed, even if unharmed, our mission ends here." Luo Ye quietly cautioned her, stealthily moving to the outside of another room and cautiously testing the claw hook, standing firm before about to help Zhao Qianqian rub her leg when she suddenly crouched down.

Zhao Qianqian was startled by Luo Ye’s actions, reflexively crouching down, her numb leg throbbing painfully, nearly causing her to fall, but Luo Ye quickly steadied her, whispering, "Don’t move; where I’m standing is directly facing the window. There are people inside."

"Really?" This maneuver managed to restore Zhao Qianqian’s leg, as she quietly moved beside Luo Ye, carefully peeking inside: "Ah...mm..."

Her mouth was naturally covered by Luo Ye. Fortunately, this time, there was still some noise; otherwise, it could have alerted the people inside, potentially ending their task.

Unable to make a sound, Zhao Qianqian hastily pointed upwards.

"I’ll let go, but don’t get startled again." Luo Ye said while cautiously lifting herself up. Even though she was mentally prepared, she was startled by the face tightly pressed against the window.

Zhao Qianqian also stood up, six eyes meeting one another, all frozen momentarily.

Luo Ye activated the mechanism on her wrist, grasping the silver needle in her hand, and slowly raised it upwards. With her strength, quickly opening the window and sealing her opponent’s acupuncture point is certainly possible, but the movements must be swift; otherwise, their mission ends here. (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to visit Qidian (qidian.com) and cast your recommendation ticket, monthly ticket. Your support is my biggest motivation.)