Chapter 217: Collateral Damage
Ye Zhongjue was shocked at how readily Mo Zhenfeng answered.
He stood up and walked to the door, quickly opening it before Mo Zhenfeng could react.
Mo Sulian fell into the room.
Ye Zhongjue dodged her, watching her fall to the ground with a placid expression. He said, “Is it fun to eavesdrop?”
Mo Sulian picked herself up and denied it in embarrassment.
“I just so happened to… pass by!”
Ye Zhongjue kept quiet at this, while Xia Zi narrowed her eyes, smirking. Passing by… haha!
Ye Zhongjue knew what Mo Sulian was thinking. He only approached her in order to get more clues to uncover the truth of what happened years ago.
Seeing the unwelcome gazes of those in the room, Mo Sulian stood up awkwardly and said, “I’ll leave, the three of you please continue… continue!”
Ye Zhongjue ignored her since it was unlikely for Mo Sulian to have heard anything. He went to open the door almost immediately after feeling her presence when she just arrived outside.
Mo Zhenfeng looked at Mo Sulian in a daze. He then said, “Sulian, go on out!”
Mo Sulian glanced at Ye Zhongjue cautiously, wondering how she got caught so quickly when she tried to eavesdrop outside.
Although she liked and admired the man, she found it hard to fathom the reasons behind his actions and his thoughts.
She left the room quickly. Mo Sulian was angry and upset about how she was being treated. She could tell that Ye Zhongjue had been ignoring her completely now that Mo Suqing has returned.
She no longer dared to try to eavesdrop again after being caught the first time.
Mo Zhenfeng answered Ye Zhongjue seriously only after Mo Sulian left.
“Xiaoye, how did you find out?”
Ye Zhongjue should’ve only been about three or four years old at the time...
Mo Zhenfeng looked at him anxiously, eagerly awaiting his answer. Mo Suqing going missing had been a blow to him, but if he had news about where his other daughter was, then he would definitely go search for her.
Even though he was a greedy man who placed importance on riches, he was filled with guilt every time he thought about the girl. Xia Yanran was carrying Mo Suqing at the time, while he was the one who was taking care of her sister, and he was the one who lost her...
Ye Zhongjue asked, “Can you tell me what happened? Why did Suqing’s sister go missing?”
Mo Zhenfeng sighed heavily.
“Children were going missing in A City in that year, and most of them were about two or three. Suqing’s sister went missing at around that time.”
He looked at Xia Zi before continuing. “If she’s still alive, then she would probably be like Suqing now. She’s Suqing’s twin. I didn’t keep an eye on her properly when I was buying the groceries, causing a two-year-old to get abducted by human traffickers just like that. The police told us that most of the abducted children got sold overseas, and we’ve tried to look for her but we’ve been unsuccessful. Suqing doesn’t remember it because she was too young, so Yanran and I decided to keep it from her. She probably doesn’t even know that she has a twin sister. Xiaoye, how did you find out about this?”
Ye Zhongjue glanced at Xia Zi instead of answering.
Xia Zi was the one who asked Mo Zhenfeng the next question. “What was her name?”
A child should already have had their identity registered by the time they turned two, so I should at least have a name!
Guilt flickered across Mo Zhenfeng’s eyes as he answered. “Her name was Mo Ziqin. We have no idea where she is now. Yanran was very upset after that, and she had probably never forgiven me!”
Xia Zi felt quite despondent. Her mother had died, Mo Suqing was nowhere to be found, and she did not want to acknowledge the father who was before her either.
She then said, “Jue, let’s go!”
Ye Zhongjue could tell that Xia Zi felt awful, so he quickly answered with an affirmative, “Mm!”
The two of them left the room, leaving Mo Zhenfeng alone in the study.
Ye Zhongjue sent Xia Zi back to the hotel and told her that she could visit the Ye family home and their villa in Shallow Sea if she had the time since the children loved her.
Xia Zi agreed without hesitation.
She then plucked a strand of hair from her own head and gave it to Ye Zhongjue, together with the strands that she took from Mo Zhenfeng’s head earlier.
“Although we can be almost a hundred percent sure now, I’d still like to get it checked and confirmed. Thanks for your help on this!”
Ye Zhongjue took the strands of hair from her and said, “You’re Suqing’s sister, so I’m sure she’d want me to help you out too!”
Xia Zi looked at him as if to say something, but she kept quiet in the end. No one knows what the results would be at this point.
Ye Zhongjue headed for the hospital immediately after leaving the hotel and passed the strands of hair to Gu Yi’an, asking him to work on the DNA testing and report as quickly as he can.
When Ye Zhongjue returned to his villa at Shallow Sea, Lin Ran had already sent the children back home.
With one look at Mo Yanxi’s swollen eyes, he could already tell that the little girl had been crying a lot when she was at the Ye family home.
Ye Yanchen looked at his sister with a gaze that was a mixture of affection and disdain.
Ye Zhongjue could only shake his head as he watched the two of them. These children were really as stubborn as Mo Suqing.
He walked over to carry Mo Yanxi in his arms and asked her gently, “Xiaoliu, what happened? Did your older brother bully you?”
Feeling like he had just turned into collateral damage, Ye Yanchen looked up at Ye Zhongjue with an incredulous look, as if to say, Daddy, why did you push the blame onto me for no reason?
Ye Zhongjue ignored his son and continued coaxing his little princess.
Mo Yanxi kept pouting, and she looked like she was about to cry in the next second.
“No! Older Brother… Older Brother is good to me. I just miss Mummy. Daddy said you were going to take us to see Mummy, you lied!”
Ye Zhongjue looked her at, feeling sorry. Why did this little girl have to be so stubborn?
“That wasn’t your Mummy...” Ye Zhongjue wondered how he should explain the situation to his children, but before he could continue, his daughter pouted and frowned at him.
“Daddy, you’re a liar. Mummy looks like that, I’ve seen her pictures!”
Ye Zhongjue smacked his own forehead. Did I make a mistake? He was trying to show them that their mum was still around, but he did not expect for his children to end up insisting on seeing her so badly.
“That’s your aunt!” The girl was surprised at Ye Zhongjue’s words, staring at him in disbelief.
Ye Yanchen was shocked too. It’s not Mummy but our aunt?
Ye Zhongjue then explained patiently. “It wasn’t your Mummy, but your aunt. Your aunt and your Mummy are twins, and twins are children who look like each other. Understand? They look like each other, but they’re actually not the same person. This is why you thought that your aunt was your Mummy.”
The children continued looking at him with quizzical expressions. “Do the two of you understand it now? It’s not that Daddy lied, but this is the truth. If you really want to play with your aunt, I’ll ask her to come over tomorrow, okay?”
At that, Mo Yanxi jumped for joy in his arms, causing Ye Zhongjue to almost drop her with how sudden her movements were.
……
Xia Zi returned to her hotel room quickly, wanting to check if Luo Qiqi had replied to her messages.
Xia Zi saw the notifications and clicked them open with excitement.
“A’zi, I can’t wait to fly over to you! I’m boarding the plane now, wait for me!”
Xia Zi smiled as she typed in her reply. “Okay, I’ll wait for you. There’s something I have to tell you now. I think I’ve found out who I really am!”
Xia Zi initially wanted to tell Luo Qiqi about it in person.
It just so happened that Luo Qiqi was online at the same time and she replied instantly.
“Really? Tell me! I can’t wait to know!”
“You’re online?” Xia Zi asked in surprise.
“I’ve been waiting for you. Tell me what happened!”
Luo Qiqi sounded impatient and excited in her messages.
Xia Zi knew that she had a rather impatient nature, so she replied to her without much of a preamble.
“Do you remember that woman who looked exactly like me on that night we got separated five years ago?”
“Of course I remember. You wouldn’t have lost your memories if it weren’t for what happened, and we wouldn’t have been separated. That woman you’re talking about is Mo Suqing, right?”
“You know her?” Xia Zi was rather shocked. Luo Qiqi answered as if she knew Mo Suqing in person, but she was sure that they had not been acquainted with each other five years ago. Did something happen within these five years?
“Of course I know her, she’s now...” Instead of finishing the sentence, Luo Qiqi typed in an ellipsis. Xia Zi frowned at this, wondering why she would do that.
“How is she doing now? Tell me, she might be my twin sister!”
Seeing Xia Zi’s message, Luo Qiqi was in a little bit of a dilemma. I should be telling A’zi about this, but A’zi might be placed in a difficult position if she knew the truth.
A’zi is in Interpol, while Mo Suqing...
She pondered over this for a while before deciding to tell Xia Zi the truth. She had, in fact, guessed how they were related when she saw Mo Suqing.
“She’s now a weapon designer for The Dark Night. She’s very good at what she does. She doesn’t go around killing others though, she simply designs the weapons. But...”