She recalled carefully that when she was first kicked out by the Yun family, she had fainted in the car on the way down the mountain to the airport and was taken to the hospital by the driver for emergency treatment.
She remembered staying in this ward for two nights. Suddenly, she realized she hadn’t taken her jade pendant, so she got up and took a taxi back to the Yun family villa.
That jade pendant was given to her when she was in elementary school. One time, because of traffic, the car that was supposed to pick them up hadn’t arrived yet, and she and her brother were waiting at the school gate.
Suddenly, a Taoist priest in patched robes approached her and gave her a jade pendant, telling her to wear it, as it would be good for her.
Her brother looked on with disdain and said it was a scam, telling her to throw it away.
But when she held the pendant in her hand, she could feel a warm energy flowing continuously into her body.
After returning home, she wore the pendant around her neck. From then on, her body gradually became less weak.
Her heart condition occurred less frequently. While not completely cured, it allowed her to go out and play like a normal child. As long as she avoided strenuous activity, she could go to school every day without taking frequent leave.
Her parents, seeing her wearing a plain pendant, wanted her to take it off and promised to buy her a better one.
During that period, she wore the pendant her mother bought, but it didn’t give her the same comforting feeling.
So she took it off and switched back to her original pendant.
Her parents saw her wearing the original pendant again and asked her to remove it. She refused, and eventually, her parents gave up, since it was hidden under her clothes and no one could see it.
She didn’t care about being laughed at—after all, a proper young lady wearing a dull pendant wasn’t a problem.
When she returned to the villa, the room had changed completely, no longer the way she remembered. Everything had been refurbished and none of it matched her style.
She knew the Yun family’s real daughter had returned. She worried whether the pendant she had left in the drawer was still there or had been thrown away.
She hurried into the room. Fortunately, the desk was still there. She opened the drawer and saw her pendant lying quietly inside.
Holding it in her hand, she turned to leave, only to see a girl standing at the door, looking at her angrily.
The girl was dark-skinned and thin, about 1.6 meters tall. Even though she had been weak from illness, Yun Shu was about 1.68 meters tall, half a head taller than the girl in front of her.
Could this be Yun Shan Shan, her foster parents’ biological daughter? Though dark-skinned, she still bore some resemblance to her foster mother.
Yun Shan Shan at the door didn’t speak. Neither did Yun Shu. Yun Shu intended to bypass her and leave with the pendant.
But Yun Shan Shan grabbed the string of the pendant.
“This is mine. You’re not allowed to take it,” Yun Shan Shan said fiercely.
“This isn’t yours. I left it here, so I’m taking it back,” Yun Shu said politely.
After all, she had been enjoying the life of the real daughter for 23 years. She had benefited from everything originally meant for someone else.
Although it wasn’t her doing, she had lived a good life in a wealthy family for 23 years. If she had been born into a poor family, she might not have survived, since she was born with a congenital heart condition and was carefully nurtured. Even a mild cold could have been life-threatening.
So when she was told she wasn’t their biological daughter, she felt the world collapse and was extremely sad and heartbroken, unable to accept the truth.
Even when her foster parents said they would send her away, she didn’t resent them. She felt very attached, since they had always treated her well.
“I don’t care. Now I’m the eldest daughter of this family. Everything in this room belongs to me. You little thief, don’t think you can take anything from here,” Yun Shan Shan said, tugging hard.
Yun Shu, frail from long-term illness, staggered as she was pulled, and the string broke.
The pendant remained in her hand. Yun Shu didn’t want a major conflict and bypassed her, heading for the stairs.
Suddenly, a force pushed her forward. She tried to grab the stair railing to steady herself, but due to the momentum, she couldn’t, and tumbled down the second-floor stairs, falling into a pool of blood, dying.
She saw, at the very end, that the pendant was absorbing her blood. Why was that?
The driver entered and saw Yun Shu awake in the hospital bed.
“Miss, you’re awake,” he said, breaking her thoughts. She struggled to sit up.
The driver quickly stepped forward to stop her. “Miss, tell me if you need anything. Don’t move.”
“Zhang Shu, could I trouble you for something?”
“Miss, what is it?”
“Could you go back now and get a pendant from the first drawer of my bedside cabinet?”
“Now?”
“Yes, now. Can you?” Yun Shu looked at him with hope in her eyes.
She wanted Zhang Shu to retrieve her pendant immediately, not wait until she returned in two days and risk encountering Yun Shan Shan again.
She didn’t want to die again. Since heaven had given her a second chance, she wanted to live properly this time.
She just wanted her pendant back; otherwise, her health would continue to decline.
Driver Zhang Shu glanced at his watch. “Alright, Miss. Can you manage being alone in the hospital?”
“I can. Zhang Shu, this pendant is very important to me. Please make sure you get it back, okay?”
“Understood, Miss. I’ll get it for you now.”
After Zhang Shu left, Yun Shu looked at the IV above her head, already half empty, and sighed. She felt the road ahead was full of uncertainty.
Her foster father had helped her buy an apartment in Yunhai City and transferred one million yuan to her account to live on.
Although this money and apartment meant she wouldn’t starve for now, it wasn’t a long-term solution. She still needed medicine and treatment. One million yuan wouldn’t last long.
What could she do to earn a living? Should she perform for money? But her violin was left behind in the Yun family.
She decided to take things one step at a time. She would figure things out when she got to Yunhai City. Her body was fragile, and she didn’t know how long it would hold up.
Thinking of this, her eyelids grew heavy. Exhausted from waking up, she fell asleep.
Before losing consciousness, she hoped Zhang Shu could successfully retrieve her pendant.