Chapter 10  : A Happy Family of Three

“Yao Tang, do you not understand how crucial this is for our family? Do you think listing you under some distant relative was easy? It’s to keep Yao Ran’s position in this society. She’s so smart and talented–for her to be wasted like this...”

Qin Man didn’t hear Yao Tang’s comment at first. However, when she realized what the country bumpkin had said, she froze. Her face paled and stiffened, looking as if she had been struck by lightning.

Even Yao Ran had also stiffened at the words.

Tears trickled down her face, and her hands trembled at her sides.

“So it really is my fault,” she whispered. Tears continuously ran down her cheeks as she regarded her sister with both pity and vulnerability. “Fine, I’ll leave. Just don’t be angry with Mom, please.”

Upon seeing Yao Ran’s pitiful face, Qin Man immediately engulfed her in a hug. “Ranran, it isn’t like that,” she comforted. “Of course, I wouldn’t agree to this. This–this has been your home for eighteen years! Where will you go if you leave, huh?”

She shot Yao Tang a furious look.

“What the hell do you want? Do you know how devasted your sister was when she had found out the truth? Do you really want to send her to that ravine you call home? Are you really that vicious? I don’t care if you’re my daughter or not–Ranran?will live here. If you have a problem with that, then leave!”

Yao Tang didn’t even flinch as she continued to lean against the wall. “I don’t have a problem. Whether you want to keep her or not isn’t really any of my business.” She shrugged. “I just want to remind you that I don’t really have an obligation to watch out for her. Do you understand?”

No one could see Yao Ran’s stiff and ugly expression.

Did this bumpkin think of her as some dispensable pet? Yao Ran clenched her fists. Why can’t this bitch just go crazy and get lost?

Qin Man heaved a relief as if a burden had been lifted from her heart. Even then, that still had not lifted the tension around them.

Snorting coldly, she pulled Yao Ran back. “Then it’s good that you understand your duty.” She sniffed. “Perhaps there’s hope for you yet. You better not get in the way of Ranran, got it?”

Not wanting to stay there any longer, Qin Man pulled her daughter down the steps. Finally. Yao Tang?rolled her eyes in relief as she closed the room behind her. Might as well catch up on sleep while she still can.

When Yao Tang had gone downstairs to eat, she could see a happy family of three gathered at the dining table.

It didn’t feel as if they were missing a member of the family. In fact, they all looked quite relaxed with one another. The stern look on Qin Man’s face was replaced with a gentle smile as she spoke with Yao Ran. There, at the center, was her husband Yao Yuan, who also seemed to be enjoying their presence.

Just like his wife, Yao Yuan was an incredibly successful businessman. It was also where Yao Tang?had gotten her good looks. Despite already being a middle-aged man, he still appeared quite young and carefree.

Both father and daughter had smiles plastered on their faces as they chatted, ignorant of the shadowy presence by the staircase.

Their laughters echoed across the room from time to time, painting the hallways with their amusement and delight.

However, when Yao Tang appeared by the dining table, everyone stopped what they were doing.

..

“Tangtang, how was the move here?”

Yao Yuan had a gentle appearance towards his long-lost daughter. Unlike his wife, he showed no disgust and coldness when regarding the young woman.

Yao Tang, at first, didn’t reply as she ate.

Qin Man and Yao Yuan?had spent most of their years in the States, so the food served was quite Westernized. Even in the morning, they ate a plate of steak and gravy.

Not wanting to eat so much, she had only taken a few pieces of toast and egg and poured herself a cup of milk.

She ate very slowly, chewing each mouthful of bread before swallowing it down. Only when she had finished did she manage to look up. “It’s okay.”

Her voice was neither cold nor indifferent.

“It’s good that you’re getting used to it.” He smiled. “Your mother and I have brought you some new gadgets–a desktop and a phone. Have you used it yet?”

“I haven’t.”

The brand-new devices were still at the corner of her room–untouched and unopened.

“Haven’t used it?” Yao Yuan furrowed his eyebrows. “Why not? Do you not like it?”

Before she could say anything else, Yao Ran interrupted, “Dad, if you keep prodding her about this, she’d only be embarrassed.”

“And why would she be embarrassed?”

“Don’t you know?”

Yao Ran furrowed her eyebrows, blinking innocently at her father. “It’s not as if you don’t know that she grew up in an...underdeveloped area.”