"Mom, I don’t want to get married; I just want to stay by your side forever."
Xu Nianhua said coquettishly, "Let’s talk to Big Brother again. Maybe, Big Brother would be willing to marry."
Ji Ying smiled but didn’t speak further. She knew the son that came from her womb all too well. Nianji, he probably didn’t want to get married in his whole life, always feeling that he owed Zhou He, that he was the cause of Zhou He’s misfortune.
If he hadn’t postponed the marriage, Zhou He would have entered the Xu Family’s home long ago and that accident would never have occurred.
"Big Brother is coming back today; let’s make dumplings," Ji Ying thought, recalling there was still a small amount of flour at home, and today Xu Nianhua had bought two pounds of pork back, which shouldn’t go to waste.
Xu Nianhua and Ji Ying made dumplings together, chatting as they worked, and the atmosphere was just right.
The Gu Family chose that moment to visit. Whenever Ji Ying saw the Gu Family members, she always wondered, they didn’t know such wealthy people, did they?
However, once the Gu Family explained their intentions, Ji Ying’s complexion instantly changed. She subconsciously held Xu Nianhua’s hand tightly, fearing that the daughter she had raised for over twenty years would suddenly belong to someone else.
"Mom, you’re my mom, and you’ll always be my real mom."
Xu Nianhua grasped Ji Ying’s hand tightly, stood up, and said sternly, "Mr. Gu, our family is doing very well. We hope you won’t disturb our peaceful life."
"But you are our daughter, how can we bear to see you suffer here?"
Gu Hai spoke with genuine emotion, while Fang Yue went straight to Ji Ying, broke down in tears, and said, "Thank you for raising Nianhua all these years, but Nianhua is my daughter, a part of me. You too are a mother, please understand our desire to reclaim our daughter."
She had found Xu Nianhua on the street, so how could her family now appear at her doorstep?
"It doesn’t matter if Nianhua doesn’t recognize me; she doesn’t know I’ve searched for her for over twenty years, but you can’t keep my daughter from me." Fang Yue spoke through sobs, her voice filled with tears, as if Ji Ying had stolen her daughter.
"I didn’t steal your child; I found Nianhua on the street."
In that moment, Ji Ying’s mind raced back to that year’s events.
When she came across Xu Nianhua, it was the day after Ji Ying had lost her own child. She had been pregnant, but tragically, the child died soon after birth due to malnutrition. She barely caught a glimpse before Xu Qinghe took her to bury it.
Ji Ying couldn’t bear the pain of losing her daughter and was reluctant to return to the village. She lingered in the county for several days before, under Xu Qinghe’s persuasion, she had to accept the reality of her child’s passing. That’s when, on their way home, they found Xu Nianhua.
She was very small, even smaller than a normal child, all red and seemingly just born. Furthermore, there was no one in sight on the road. The couple guessed that Xu Nianhua must have been abandoned.
Ji Ying had just lost a daughter, and yet someone else had abandoned theirs. Ji Ying and Xu Qinghe discussed it and immediately decided to deceive all and raise the girl as if she were their own newly born child.
Because her child had been a premature birth due to overexertion and couldn’t be born at home, they had gone to the county. Now, in just two days, the newborn Xu Nianhua was virtually indistinguishable from a two-day-old baby.