“What?” Su Nanye widened his eyes in disbelief.
Su Ning nodded. “That’s right. I know this is hard to believe, but you have to believe me.”
Su Nanye didn’t believe it. “Impossible! My parents have been separated for a long time. How could they have another younger sister?”
Not to mention this business about time travel.
The bizarreness of it was no less than a wife walking into the delivery room, only for the baby to come out and ask him whether to save the doctor or Pavel Korchagin!
Hearing the word “parents,” Su Ning’s mind went blank for a brief second.
She had forgotten that at this time, both of her parents were still alive.
Her parents died when she was only a month old.
Back then, she was too young to have any memories of them.
Growing up, everyone around her had a mom and dad, except for her.
Their parents would kiss and hug them, and hold their hands to cross the street.
Even though her older brother tried his absolute best to give her all the love in the world, it would be a lie to say she had never envied children who had parents.
However, so as not to make her brother sad, she always acted like she didn’t care.
It was only occasionally at night that she would hide under the blanket and cry alone.
In elementary school, the teacher assigned a text called “My Mom and Dad.”
She thought about it the entire night, biting through several pen caps, and only wrote down one sentence:
[My mom and dad are two black-and-white photographs.]
She had also heard from other relatives that her birth was an accident.
She wasn’t a child born out of her parents’ anticipation.
That person said that even if her parents hadn’t passed away, they wouldn’t have loved her.
She didn’t believe it. With her hands on her hips, she retorted, “I’m so smart and cute. How could my mom and dad not love me?”
Raised by her brother, she had a very high sense of self-worth and frequently performed on stage, so she never lacked confidence.
Now that she had traveled back twenty years in time, she could genuinely see her mom and dad.
Yet, she was extremely nervous.
If her mom and dad saw her, would they like her?
Regardless of whether they would like her or not, she really wanted to see her parents, those two people she had only ever seen in photographs.
She hadn’t even clearly heard her brother mention that the word “separated” followed their parents.
Su Ning lifted her delicate, fair chin. “Don’t you think I look a lot like Mom? People say I look like Mom was carved from the exact same mold when she was young.”
Hearing this, Su Nanye suddenly figured out why he had found the girl’s face so familiar.
There was a photo of their mother at seventeen or eighteen at home, which he had seen once.
The girl in front of him really did look seven or eight parts like the slender and pretty mother in the photo.
Their mother was a bit fuller now.
His pupils constricted slightly. “You know what? You really do!”
Su Ning’s eyebrows curved into a smile. “Do you believe me now? Take me home, Brother. I want to see Mom and Dad.”
Like it or not, Su Nanye had to believe it.
Looking closely, he could even catch traces of his old man in Su Ning’s face.
But how could this be possible?
Could two people whose relationship had broken down still have children?
Regardless, having a biological younger sister drop out of the sky was indeed a big deal.
He looked at Su Ning. “Dad is at work right now. I can take you to see him. I haven’t seen Mom in a long time, so I don’t know where she is.”
Only then did Su Ning realize that her parents’ relationship seemed to be very bad.
Her long, curled eyelashes drooped. “Okay.”
Su Nanye walked back toward the school. “Wait here a second. I’ll go get the bike and take you to Dad’s factory.”
Confusion appeared in Su Ning’s eyes.
In 2005, her brother was only eighteen and a senior in high school. Did he already have a driver’s license?
Soon, a roaring sound echoed.
She looked closely and saw her brother riding a sidecar motorcycle, much like the ones driven by the Japanese invaders in war movies. “Come on, get in.”
Su Ning said nothing, staring blankly.
Su Ning had always been chauffeured in luxury cars since she was little.
She had never ridden in a vehicle like this before, so she excitedly got in. “What is this car called?”
Su Nanye twisted the throttle. “A sidecar! Fashionable, right? I’m the only one in the whole school who has one!”
It was indeed very eye-catching. Sitting on top of it, the exquisite and pretty Su Ning was blown straight into looking like the ghost Sadako.
When they got off, Su Nanye asked proudly, “How is it? My sidecar isn’t bad, right?”
Feeling like she had eaten about a pound of dust, Su Ning coughed twice. “Not bad. Next time, I’m not riding it.”
Su Nanye was left speechless.
The sidecar parked inside the courtyard of a factory named “Jianheng Manufacturing.”
Su Nanye introduced, “This is the factory Dad opened. It makes auto parts. There are over a thousand people in the factory now, and it’s the largest private factory around here.”
Su Ning looked around at the large expanse of connected factory buildings.
Automobiles in the new millennium were right in the boom industry.
She smiled and looked at Su Nanye. “Under your leadership in the future, this factory will become a super factory, taking orders from all over the world.”
Hearing that he would be so amazing in the future, Su Nanye curled the corners of his mouth and flicked his rainbow bangs. “I knew I’d make something big of myself in the future!”
And then he would be ruined by an overnight corporate collapse when things were at their absolute peak.
Su Ning didn’t say these words out loud.
Let her brother be happy for a while first.
Many workers in the factory knew Su Nanye.
The workshop director was outside supervising the cargo shipment when he saw him and hurried over to greet him enthusiastically, “Young Master, you’re here.”
His gaze uncontrollably fell on Su Ning. “And this is?”
Su Nanye didn’t answer the question, only asking, “Where’s my dad? Is he in the factory?”
The workshop director immediately replied, “Yes, yes, he’s in the office.”
Familiar with the way, Su Nanye led Su Ning toward the office area.
Reaching the door, seeing that it wasn’t fully closed, he pushed it open directly. “Dad!”
Su Jianheng was in the midst of signing a contract when Su Nanye suddenly barged in.
He frowned slightly and raised his head.
His gaze was drawn to the girl standing behind Su Nanye.
The moment he saw the girl’s entire face, cracks instantly formed across Su Jianheng’s normally emotionless pupils.
Before the boss could speak, the secretary, Wu Lili, spoke up first, “Nanye, why are you so lacking in manners? Don’t you know you should knock before entering a door?”
As if accustomed to being scolded by her, Su Nanye raised his eyebrows sheepishly. “Forgot.”
Wu Lili’s gaze was also naturally drawn to Su Ning.
She looked to be around seventeen or eighteen, with a very striking appearance.
She continued to lecture Su Nanye, “And why are you randomly bringing a stranger into the office? You’re too insensible!”
“Get out!”
She directly ordered Su Ning.
The moment Su Ning entered the office, her attention was entirely fixed on the middle-aged man behind the desk.
She had only ever seen him in photographs.
The man before her was dressed in a crisp black suit, with deep facial features, sword-like eyebrows, and starry eyes.
His handsome appearance radiated an unmelting, cold rigidity and a ruthless detachment.
Yet, it was this very cold man who, in that massive fire, marched backward into the inferno without a second thought.
When their bodies were discovered, he was holding their mother tightly in his arms.
Her parents died in a sensational kidnapping case that shocked Haishi.
Her mother, Fang Meixia, was kidnapped, and the kidnappers called her father, Su Jianheng, demanding a thirty-million-yuan ransom.
They warned him that if he called the police, they would immediately kill the hostage.
Su Jianheng didn’t dare call the police. He urgently raised the funds and personally delivered the money to the kidnappers.
After getting the money, the kidnappers set fire to the house where Fang Meixia was locked up and drove away.
Inhuman kidnappers!
They wanted both the money and their lives!
In the end, two living people perished in that fire.
The case was of such magnitude that the Haishi police pursued the kidnappers with full force.
Eventually, the kidnappers were caught, and they even confessed an accomplice.
It was none other than Wu Lili.
It was Wu Lili who had told them Fang Meixia’s movements, and it was Wu Lili who instructed them to kill the hostage after getting the money.
However, Wu Lili was not arrested. She had embezzled the factory’s newly received payment and fled abroad.
Fifteen years later, when Su Ning was fifteen years old, Wu Lili returned to China for personal reasons and was arrested at the Haishi airport.
During those fifteen years, she had lived a carefree life abroad.
After all those years, Su Ning wanted the truth, so she went to the prison to see her.
“Why did you do that to my mom?”
Wu Lili laughed, a laugh grinding through clenched teeth. “I hated your mom! Clearly, we were in the same social class, yet your mom was able to marry a man as exceptional as Su Jianheng and live a good life!”
“What right did she have? Just because she was prettier than me? I refuse to accept it!”
“That fool Su Jianheng could have been with me after your mom died. I could have helped him pay off his debts and make even more money, but he died trying to save your mom! How laughable!”
Hearing the words spoken by the younger version of Wu Lili, Su Ning’s gaze turned cold as she stared straight at her.
“What right do you have to tell me to get out? Get this straight: this is not your office, and you are merely a secretary!”