Sitting on the chair and looking at Meng Li’s pitiable face, a thought suddenly popped into Ji Yunshu’s mind.
Actually, it was only right for Meng Li to want to return to the Ji family.
She was the Ji family’s daughter to begin with. Getting swapped at the nursery in the Liberated Zone back then was not her fault, nor was it Ji Yunshu’s fault; it was an accident that no one could have anticipated during those chaotic war-torn years. Meng Li had spent nineteen years with the Meng family, and now that she knew her true identity and wanted to return to recognize her family, it was completely justified.
On the contrary, she, Ji Yunshu, was the intruder who had occupied another’s place.
She had taken Meng Li’s spot, enjoying nineteen years of fortune in the Ji family, held in the palm of He Qiuxia’s hand and doted on, protected by Ji Yunting. She ate well, dressed well, and even when drinking poached egg water in the morning, He Qiuxia would feed it right to her lips. But what about Meng Li? Ji Yunshu didn’t know how Meng Li had lived in the Meng family.
Ji Yunshu recalled the images from her dream again—those young people wearing red armbands gathering together to drag her into the darkness, their mouths endlessly shouting slogans like “Down with the capitalist lady!”… If that dream was real, then the Meng family’s life must have been very hard.
What fault was there in Meng Li wanting to leave the Meng family and return to the safe haven of the Ji family?
People naturally seek benefits and avoid harm; Ji Yunshu understood that completely.
It was just… would the Meng family be willing to accept her?
Thinking of this, Ji Yunshu felt even more flustered in her heart. If the Meng family wasn’t willing to accept her, what should she do? She had grown up in the Ji family since childhood; everyone she knew, was familiar with, and was close to belonged to the Ji family and the compound. If she were suddenly sent to a strange place, forced to address unfamiliar parents as Mom and Dad, could she bring herself to say the words?
She raised her head and stole a glance at He Qiuxia. He Qiuxia was looking at Meng Li, her eyes slightly red, her lips tightly pursed.
Ji Yunshu suddenly felt a lump in her throat.
She didn’t know if she would still be able to continue calling He Qiuxia “Mom” in the future.
Just then, Meng Li was the first to move.
She stood up, patted off non-existent dust from her dress, and cleared her throat toward Ji Haiguo and He Qiuxia.
“Dad, Mom,” she called out very naturally, as though she had been addressing them this way for many years, “I’ll be heading back first. I’m still staying at the hospital, so I can’t stay out for too long.”
He Qiuxia was startled: “Heading back where?”
“The hospital.” Meng Li offered a smile, lightly patting her chest, looking fragile and weak indeed. “I told you I came for medical treatment. I just wanted to come take a look, and seeing that you are all well, I’ll head back first.”
He Qiuxia stood up: “I’ll see you out.”
“No need, no need.” Meng Li waved her hand, her tone laced with a few hints of obvious deference. “I remember the way, and I know which bus to take. Mom, please don’t see me out. It’s hot outside, so rest at home. Besides… this matter is also a big deal for Sister. Mom, stay home to keep Sister company more; I can manage on my own. I know this matter is very difficult for Sister to accept, so I won’t overstay my welcome…”
Ji Yunshu: “…”
Why did this tone sound as though she were the one unwilling to let Meng Li stay? She hadn’t said a single word yet!
He Qiuxia wanted to say something more, but Ji Haiguo spoke up: “Let me see her out. Qiuxia, talk to Yunshu properly. She… after all, she is also our daughter.”
Ji Yunshu glanced at Ji Haiguo. He hadn’t said many words from start to finish, but his offering to see her out now made his meaning clear—he had already accepted this daughter.
“Dad, I’ll go with you to see Little Sister out.” Ji Yunshu stood up on her own initiative, looking directly at Meng Li, seemingly not influenced in the slightest by her words just now. “I don’t find it hard to accept. If you really are Dad and Mom’s biological daughter, I was originally occupying your place. But this matter wasn’t my intention either. It’s just that if I go to Su City in the future, I might not be able to dutifully care for Dad and Mom properly…”
Wasn’t it just playing hard to get? She could do it too!
“What kind of nonsense are you talking about? Could it be that I wouldn’t recognize you as my daughter?” Hearing this, He Qiuxia predictably grew anxious as well. “Xiao Shu, no matter what happens in the future, you are my daughter!”
Hearing these words, Meng Li’s gaze visibly darkened a great deal.
Ji Yunshu knew He Qiuxia was exceptionally good to her, but hearing He Qiuxia say the entire sentence so forcefully, she was moved once again.
Afterward, He Qiuxia wanted to follow Ji Haiguo to see Meng Li out as well.
Unable to dissuade them, all four of them eventually left the courtyard together, walking toward the compound’s gate.
The sun was already tilting to the west, but the heat hadn’t diminished at all, making the cicadas in the trees along the road chirp incessantly. Ji Yunshu walked on He Qiuxia’s right, while Meng Li was flanked between He Qiuxia and Ji Haiguo.
Walking beside Meng Li at an unhurried pace, Ji Haiguo glanced at her twice and asked, “How is your adoptive parents’ health, really? You said your adoptive mother’s health is poor—what illness is it?”
Meng Li paused, then said, “It’s just an old ailment, seemingly from a health issue during childbirth that was never properly nursed back to health.”
Ji Haiguo gave an “Mhm” and asked no further questions.
He Qiuxia let out a sigh: “Since your adoptive mother is in poor health, how do you plan to tell her? How about I have Old Ji send a telegram first to tactfully explain things? Knowing that you aren’t their biological daughter, it shouldn’t be that difficult for them to accept this matter…”
“I… I will find an opportunity to tell them,” Meng Li hurriedly replied.
Afterward, Ji Haiguo asked Meng Li a few more questions about the Meng family’s situation, all of which Meng Li answered vaguely, without elaborating much. Before long, the group reached the compound’s gate.
The young soldier on guard duty recognized them, gave a salute, and opened the gate.
Standing at the gate, Ji Haiguo looked toward the roadside: “The bus station is up ahead, I’ll walk you over.”
“Dad, really, no need,” Meng Li said with a smile. “I can walk over myself. You, Mom, and Sister should go back.”
Just as Ji Haiguo was about to say something, he suddenly heard a rush of hurried footsteps approaching from the distance.
Ji Yunshu raised her head and saw two people running over from across the street. A man and a woman, both middle-aged, running covered in sweat, the expressions on their faces a mix of anxiety and panic.
Their gazes swept past Ji Haiguo and Ji Yunshu, finally locking onto Meng Li.
“Li-zi!” the woman cried out, her voice full of worry and helplessness. “Where did you run off to! Are you alright? We’ve been looking for you all afternoon!”
The two rushed over, catching hold of Meng Li’s hands from both sides.
Meng Li’s face turned pale in an instant.
Meng Li froze first, then the expression on her face changed from surprise to panic, and from panic to something indescribable. But after just a split second—so fast that Ji Yunshu thought it was her own illusion—Meng Li restored that gentle, delicate demeanor, except her eyes were red and her voice was trembling: “Dad, Mom… why are you here?”
Ji Yunshu was stunned for a moment.
Dad? Mom?
Then these two people were…
Her gaze fell upon that woman’s face, her entire person feeling as though struck by lightning.
That woman was also looking at her.
Around forty years old, wearing a plain checkered shirt, her hair tied behind her head with a black rubber band, the wisps of hair on her forehead wet with sweat and sticking to her face. Her features couldn’t be described as exceptionally beautiful, but they were very soft, bearing an indescribable gentleness in her brows and eyes. Her face was very pale, as if she had recovered from a serious illness but was not yet fully restored, and her lips lacked color.
However, what left Ji Yunshu speechless was not any of this.
Most importantly, it was that face.
Long, slender curved eyebrows like willow leaves, slightly tilted almond eyes, and cheeks with a touch of fullness—they were extraordinarily similar to Ji Yunshu’s, except this face bore the traces of time, with clear wrinkles at the corners of her eyes and forehead, and a few strands of gray in her hair.
No, that was wrong.
It should be said that she looked like this woman.
Ji Yunshu recalled what Meng Li had said in the house earlier—”You look so much like my adoptive mother, as if cast from the exact same mold.”
At the time, she thought Meng Li was trying to incite discord, deliberately making He Qiuxia feel uncomfortable. But looking at the woman before her now, she realized Meng Li had not exaggerated.
They really were too similar.
The same brows and eyes, the same face shape, even the slight upward curve at the corners of the mouth was identical. If Meng Li looked like Ji Haiguo, then Ji Yunshu looked like this woman before her.
So similar that anyone taking a single glance could tell that they were mother and daughter.
That woman was looking at her as well.
Her eyes swept slowly and meticulously across Ji Yunshu’s face, from her eyebrows to her eyes, from her eyes to her nose, from her nose to her mouth. Her lips began to tremble, her eyes instantly reddened, and tears streamed down her cheeks, yet she made no sound, just looking at Ji Yunshu like that, even covering her mouth in disbelief.
The man beside her was also looking at Ji Yunshu. A head taller than the woman, slim-built, wearing black-framed glasses, with hair turning gray at the temples. His eyes were red too, his lips moving as if wanting to say something, but in the end, nothing came out. He merely reached out his hand and gently held that woman’s shoulder.
Standing between them, Meng Li looked from one to the other, the expression on her face nearly crumbling.
“Dad, Mom,” her voice was somewhat tight. “Why did you come to Beijing? Didn’t I say I…”
“What did you say?” The man’s voice was very low, making it impossible to tell if he was angry or sad. “You said you were coming to Beijing for medical treatment, so we specifically got letters of introduction to accompany you here. Look at you! Taking advantage of a gap between check-ups to sneak away from the hospital. If the re-examination doctor hadn’t failed to find you, we wouldn’t even have known you were gone! If you came to look for someone, you could have told us in advance. Beijing is so big; your mother and I were terrified something happened to you, rushing to the police station next to the hospital to report it, and your mother even hurried to the school to find your older sister. Sigh… you…”
Meng Li bit her lip and remained silent.
Just then, two more people walked over from across the street.
One was a police officer in uniform, in his forties, with a stern face. The other was a young woman, appearing in her early twenties, wearing a white short-sleeved shirt and a single-sided hair braid, with an exceptionally grave expression.
When Ji Yunshu saw that young woman, her entire body froze.
That young woman was looking at her as well.
Their eyes collided in the air, both seeing shock in each other’s eyes.
This woman… no, this girl, also had a face almost identical to Ji Yunshu’s. Except this girl’s mouth alone was different from Ji Yunshu’s; Ji Yunshu’s mouth resembled her mother’s, while hers resembled that man who had just spoken.
Looking at Ji Yunshu, that girl’s eyes widened, her mouth slightly agape, as if she had seen a ghost.
Ji Yunshu knew her own expression right now must be exactly the same.
The two stood face to face like that, neither speaking.
The surrounding air seemed to freeze.
Standing on the side, Ji Haiguo looked at that girl, then at Ji Yunshu, the expression on his face shifting from surprise to complexity, and from complexity to an indescribable heaviness.
He finally opened his mouth, asking tentatively, enunciating each word clearly: “Comrades, are you… Meng Li’s adoptive parents?”
The man wearing glasses took a deep breath and stood up straight. He looked at Ji Haiguo, then at Ji Yunshu, finally resting his gaze on Ji Haiguo.
“Hello, comrade. I am Meng Guangze.” The man extended his hand, wanting to shake Ji Haiguo’s hand. “I am Meng Li’s adoptive father. This is my wife, Wang Wanru, and this is my eldest daughter, Meng Yunzhen—Meng Li’s older sister.”
Ji Haiguo extended his hand, gave Meng Guangze’s hand a light shake, and quickly let go.
Meng Guangze’s gaze searched between Ji Haiguo’s and Meng Li’s faces for a moment, finally resting on He Qiuxia: “So… are you Meng Li’s biological parents?”