At the center of Lan Ting Park was a crescent-shaped lake. Li Ran found a bench by the lakeside and sat down, casually pulling a textbook from her backpack to flip through.
“I wonder if Mom and Dad can find me. If they go to the school looking for me, they should be able to guess I’m at the park, right?”
With the college entrance exam coming next year, revenge was important to Li Ran, but at this stage, nothing mattered more than the exam.
Hah, someone as insignificant as Li Xin wouldn’t affect her determination to get into a good university!
Meanwhile, Father Li and Mother Li, anxiously searching for their daughter, finally arrived at the lakeside. At a glance, they spotted their daughter sitting under the sunset, reading a book. The sunlight bathed her, making her look as beautiful as an angel.
Mother Li finally breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing her daughter. Taking in the scene before her, she pulled out her phone and snapped a photo of her daughter’s silhouette.
Then, following Father Li’s lead, she walked up behind her daughter. “Xiao Ran,” Mother Li called softly, her voice choked with emotion.
Hearing her mother’s voice, Li Ran, who had been eight-tenths acting, couldn’t hold back her tears. She put down her textbook, turned to look at her parents behind her, and with a sob, buried herself in Mother Li’s embrace.
“Wah… Mom, Dad, you came to find Xiao Ran. I thought you’d never come again, that I’d never have a home anymore, wah…”
Mother Li held her daughter tightly, gently patting her back. “Silly child, what are you saying? You’ll always be Mom and Dad’s sweetest, best daughter.”
Father Li chimed in beside them, “That’s right! No matter what, you’ll always be our little princess of the Li family! Did someone say something to you? Why didn’t you stay at school and wait for us to pick you up? Why did you come to the park?”
Li Ran buried her head in the crook of Mother Li’s neck. The familiar scent made her feel warm and safe. Even though she wasn’t the Li family’s biological daughter, the Li family was her home, and Father Li and Mother Li were her parents.
Even if the Li family wasn’t wealthy but just an ordinary household, she still wished to remain their carefree little princess under their protection forever.
So, no matter what, in this lifetime, she wouldn’t let Li Xin bully her again, let alone be killed by her.
She would protect her family and her life.
“Dad, someone sent me a text message. Here, look.”
Li Ran took out the phone she had prepared earlier and showed it to her parents. The message read:
“Get lost! You fake heiress, haven’t you stolen someone else’s life for over a decade? Now that the real Li family heiress is back, how dare you still stay in the Li family? Why haven’t you packed your bags and left yet? You shameless bitch!”
Father Li and Mother Li’s faces darkened instantly upon reading the message. Father Li took the phone and dialed the number that had sent the text. As expected, the other end was switched off.
Li Ran pursed her lips. Of course it was switched off—after all, she had orchestrated this entire scene herself. The SIM card had already been tossed into the crescent lake before her.
“Xiao Ran! Just because of a message like this, you decided to run away from home? Do you really have so little trust in Mom and Dad?” Mother Li was both furious and heartbroken, wondering who could have sent such a message to her precious daughter.
How malicious! If she ever found out who it was…
Father Li patted Li Ran’s head. “Silly girl, don’t you know your dad and mom? You’re our precious little darling. How could we ever not want you?”
Li Ran stammered in reply, looking utterly confused. “But Dad, Mom… after all, I’m not your biological daughter. Now that you’ve found your real daughter, I…”
Before Li Ran could finish, three tall boys hurried over from nearby—Qi Jingchuan, Lu Zhizhou, and Li Qing.
The energetic Lu Zhizhou rushed over and said to Li Ran, “Little crybaby, who bullied you? Tell me, I’ll go beat them up for you!”
Li Qing, who had just caught up, smacked Lu Zhizhou’s head hard. “What are you talking about! She’s my sister, not yours.”
Qi Jingchuan focused intently on the girl before him. She stood against the light in the sunset, instantly dispelling the bad mood he’d carried all the way here.
Father Li and Mother Li exchanged a glance, unsure whether to tell the other two boys the truth. After all, this was a family matter—if they were to know, it should be their own parents who told them.
But seeing their anxious expressions, Father Li suddenly found himself at a loss for words.
At that moment, Li Ran tugged at Father Li’s sleeve. “Dad, Mom… I want to go home. Can we?”
Mother Li nodded firmly. “Of course! Let’s go home right now!”
“Jingchuan Gege, Zhizhou Gege, thank you for coming to find me. School isn’t out yet at this time, right? You should hurry back to school! I’m going home with Mom and Dad.”
After saying this, Li Ran playfully stuck out her tongue at the two boys. Combined with her red, tear-filled eyes, it made them both amused and exasperated.
The group parted ways after leaving Lanting Park. Li Qing drove Qi Jingchuan and Lu Zhizhou back to school before heading home himself.
On the way home, Mother Li gently explained everything that had happened to Li Ran.
“Sweetheart, don’t overthink it. I’ve raised you for sixteen years. Even though she’s the one I gave birth to, my feelings for you are different.
Back then, I went to Mengshan County to teach as part of a volunteer program. Your dad was learning business under your grandfather. Once, when your dad had some free time, he came to visit me. Two or three months after he left, I discovered I was pregnant.
Later, due to work reasons, I gave birth at Mengshan Hospital. It was two days after I had the baby that your dad received the news and came to pick me up.
Somehow, the babies got switched. A while ago, your dad said Secretary Wang saw a girl sitting downstairs at our company who looked a lot like me when I was young. He even took a photo for your dad.
Your Uncle Wang has worked with your dad for twenty years—he knows what I looked like when I was young.
When your dad saw it, the girl really did look exactly like me when I was young. Later, we did a paternity test, and unexpectedly, it turned out to be true…
That girl’s adoptive parents both died in a car accident. She said her adoptive mother told her on her deathbed who her biological parents were.”
At this point, Mother Li paused. That girl’s adoptive parents were Xiao Ran’s biological parents. She didn’t know how Xiao Ran would react to such news.
She didn’t want Xiao Ran to have any feelings for those two scoundrels, but if she showed no reaction at all, wouldn’t that be too…
Just then, upon hearing this, crystal-clear tears began streaming uncontrollably from Li Ran’s large, watery eyes.
“Her adoptive parents… are my biological parents? Are they… are they gone?”
Mother Li nodded gravely.
“Then, Mother… does Xiao Ran truly have nothing left in this world anymore?”