After returning home with the child, her ex-husband knelt down and gently coaxed her.

Along the ancient city by the sea, colorful little lights twinkle like stars in the sky, and rows of bamboo rattan chairs are placed on the steps for people to enjoy the sea view and drink tea.

An Ning and Lu Xiyan sat side by side. She held a cup of local specialty milk tea and looked at a small boat that was about to disappear into the night on the shimmering sea in the distance. It was as if she saw her lonely and helpless self from the past.

She spoke softly, "west Yan, there's something I've never told you before."

Lu Xiyan turned to look at her. The evening breeze blew through her long hair, and her fair and delicate profile looked especially beautiful in the shimmering lights.

"Six years ago, on that rainy night, you held an umbrella for me. I asked you if you could marry me. That was the first time I desperately wanted to hold onto someone, one of the few people in my life who had given me warmth and tenderness."

An Ning smiled faintly as she turned to meet Lu Xiyan's gentle eyes. "Back then, my life was a bottomless abyss, but your appearance saved me. The unrestrained and carefree youthful spirit you exuded was a light I couldn't touch in my stagnant life."

Her gentle voice gradually penetrated Lu Xiyan's heart. Of course, he knew how difficult her life had been back then.

She is like a very resilient little grass, struggling to take root in the wind and rain.

It was this resilience that allowed him to see the diversity of life.

"On the day we got our marriage certificate, you asked me why I wanted to marry you. I told you, my parents were pressuring me to get married and were arranging blind dates for me to marry someone. I didn't want to get married, so I married you to avoid this problem." An Ning smiled gently, "Actually, I was lying to you."

Lu Xiyan looked at her smile, which was clearly a smile, but contained an indescribable bitterness.

"The real reason is that they forced me to marry for the 200,000 yuan dowry." An Ning's eyes darkened slightly, but a smile still played on her lips.

Six years ago, she didn't tell Lu Xiyan about this because of her deep-seated pride; she was afraid that he would look down on her.

She looked into Lu Xiyan's deep eyes, her voice trembling slightly, "Because I'm not their biological child, they bought me for three thousand yuan, so they think it's only right that I sell myself to repay this debt of gratitude."

Upon hearing this, Lu Xiyan's expression hardened, and his eyes revealed undisguised surprise.

Besides that, there's also heartache.

"I'm not from the An family, and maybe my real name isn't even Anning." Anning smiled bitterly, "But I don't even know what my real name is."

Anning never mentioned these things, not even when they were inseparable six years ago.

Lu Xiyan only knew that her family atmosphere was not healthy, even abnormal.

He had gone back with her a few times and had dealt with Li Chunfang and An Tianhua. Although he had not yet entered the business world at that time, he had developed the ability to recognize people at a glance since childhood due to his exposure to the world around him.

Especially someone like An Tianhua, who is addicted to gambling and drinking, his eyes clearly reveal his self-interest behind his cheerful and friendly demeanor.

But at that time, Lu Xiyan never cared. He only had one thought: to take Anning out of that house and give her a complete family again.

Once I thought about it, I did it.

Therefore, An Tianhua secretly asked him for money several times under the guise of his daughter, ranging from 100,000 to 200,000 yuan, which Lu Xiyan gave him. Later, he made an outrageous demand for 2 million yuan.

At that time, Lu Xiyan had broken away from the Lu family and was making money through racing. When he used the two million he won from the race to pay off An Tianhua's gambling debts, he told him, "Considering that you are An Ning's biological father, this is the last time. Don't look for her again."

An Ning was completely unaware of these things.

Lu Xiyan now realized that they were able to become vampires with a clear conscience simply because they had spent three thousand yuan to buy her.

His eyes, filled with heartache, were brimming with tenderness as he looked at An Ning.

He got up, walked over to her, squatted down, took her wrist, and looked up at her.

His fingertips gently caressed the small, black mole on the inside of her left wrist. After a moment of silence, he asked, "Where did your parents buy you? When and where?"

Looking down into his eyes, An Ning felt a sense of relief and comfort amidst her loneliness.

She said, "Twenty-three years ago, in Jinghai, a man sold me to them."

At this point, her breathing became choked with emotion. "My mom just called me and said she met that man. He said he found me in Dianhai, so maybe I'm from Dianhai."

"west Yan." She looked at Lu west Yan, "Is this really my hometown? But I don't know anything, I don't even remember whether I got lost on my own or whether my biological parents abandoned me."

In the darkness, she seemed to be enveloped by a thick cloud of worry and sorrow.

Lu Xiyan kept his head up, his deep gaze fixed on her fair face, his hands gripping her wrists, tightening his grip slightly.

"Ningning."

When he spoke, his usually cool voice had a hint of something else, an indescribable hoarseness.

"Um?"

As soon as An Ning responded, he pulled her up and held her in his arms. His kiss landed on her earlobe, and he immediately noticed the bright red mole.

An Ning was a little stunned, not knowing why he suddenly kissed her, and thought that he was worried about what she had gone through.

The next second, a warm palm pressed against her lower back, and slender fingers caressed a spot slightly above her waist through her thin fabric.

His hoarse voice sounded in her ear, "Ningning, you have a faint crescent-shaped mark here. Do you know how you got it?"

He knew the marks on her body better than Anning herself, which didn't surprise her at all. What surprised her was why he would suddenly ask about it.

"I don't remember." Anning tilted her head back, resting her chin on his shoulder. "My mom said I had it when I was little, like a birthmark, but it was light in color and not very noticeable, so I never asked about it."

After An Ning finished speaking, she heard Lu Xiyan's heavy and powerful heartbeat, which was very different from usual.

"What's wrong? Why are you asking this all of a sudden?" She gently put her hand on his back and patted it lightly.

Ningning.

Lu Xiyan held her tightly, his voice low and deep, "Have you ever considered that you are very likely the daughter of the Jiang couple?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the person in his arms suddenly stiffened.

An Ning's breathing and heartbeat seemed to stop, and the color drained from her face rapidly.

Lu Xiyan hugged her tighter. "Aunt Jiang told me about the characteristics of the lost girl, and you have every single one of them."

He initially thought it was a coincidence, but after hearing her say that she was bought by the An family, he became even more certain that the daughter of the Jiang couple who went missing 23 years ago was most likely An Ning!

If Lu Xiyan hadn't been holding her, An Ning would have almost collapsed from weakness.

Twenty-three years ago, a girl from Dianhai went missing...

These conditions seem to match those of the Jiang couple's daughter.

But she never imagined that the biological parents she was looking for were Professor Jiang Pei and Professor Kong Yiyun!

But she did have an inexplicable sense of familiarity with this place, and some vague images in her subconscious told her that she seemed to have been to Qichuan before.

She suddenly remembered her fragmented dream from her first night in Qichuan City.

The woman in my dream, the man who's talking...

The experiment was conducted...

And what about that "Xiao Zhi"?

"Th-that..." An Ning began, her voice inexplicably choked with emotion and stammering, "That girl, what was her name?"

"Jiang Zhi." Lu Xiyan whispered in her ear, "Ningning, your name is Jiang Zhi."