You're dumping me, huh? Fine, then I'll just pick up the school beauty and make her my wif

Bathed in the warm light of the gilded lamp, the woman's face was outlined with an extremely clear contour.

She was around forty years old, with long, jet-black hair piled up at the back of her head, revealing a smooth, full forehead.

Her features were exquisite and aloof, and her eyes exuded an imposing aura.

She wore a neatly tailored dark-colored cheongsam, with no extra accessories except for a high-quality jade bracelet on her left wrist, which gleamed warmly under the light.

The woman sat there, saying nothing and making no expression.

But the aura emanating from within was enough to make one hold their breath the moment they stepped into the study.

Su Qinghe stood at the door for two seconds without moving.

Ye Yunjin raised her eyelids and glanced at her. "Sit down."

There was no extra emotion in his tone; he was neither warm nor cold.

They treated it like a pre-booked visitor, with a purely businesslike attitude.

Su Qinghe did not sit down. She stood there, her eyes scanning every corner of the study warily before finally settling back on the face of the woman in front of her.

"What do you want from me?"

Her mind was in turmoil. On one hand, she was worried that Jiang Che was looking for her everywhere, and on the other hand, she couldn't figure out who this woman in front of her was.

"Also, what exactly is your relationship with my master?"

Ye Yunjin did not answer.

She picked up the teacup on the table, took a sip, and then slowly placed the cup back on the saucer. "I said, sit down."

This time, there was an added layer of uncompromising forcefulness in his tone.

Their gazes met in the air for about five or six seconds. Su Qinghe pursed her lips and did not back down, nor did Ye Yunjin.

The atmosphere remained tense for a while.

Su Qinghe cursed inwardly, but still pulled out a chair and sat down.

She knew there was no point in fighting back on someone else's turf.

Now that we've been brought here, let's listen to what the other party has to say and do.

Ye Yunjin's expression softened slightly after she sat down.

"Your master is one of my men," she said bluntly. "I brought you here just to confirm one thing."

Su Qinghe frowned. "What is it?"

Ye Yunjin clapped her hands to the side.

Before Su Qinghe could react, the two maids who had been standing behind her with their heads bowed suddenly moved.

They stepped forward, one on each side, and each grabbed one of Su Qinghe's shoulders.

Su Qinghe instinctively tried to struggle, but her shoulders were held down tightly, and she couldn't move at all.

Immediately afterwards, one of the maids reached out and grabbed her collar, pulling her outwards.

The neckline was pulled open, revealing a black stone pendant that clung tightly to the skin of the collarbone.

With its intricate patterns and unique material, it hangs around the neck on a finely woven rope, gleaming faintly under the light.

It was one of the personal belongings that Su Qinghe took from the Su family more than half a year ago.

After leaving the Su family, she always wore it close to her body and never took it off.

"Let me go! What are you doing!"

Su Qinghe rarely lost her temper, but at this moment she was truly furious.

Regardless of who the person in front of her was, or what unknown dangers awaited her ahead, she didn't care.

All I wanted was to break free from the two maids' grip as quickly as possible and leave this awful place!

To Su Qinghe's surprise, the two women had an unusually strong grip, clearly indicating they had received professional training, and they firmly pressed her shoulders into the chair.

No matter how hard she struggled, it was all in vain.

Ye Yunjin's gaze was fixed on the black pendant peeking out from Su Qinghe's collar.

Her lips moved slightly. "As expected... it was her."

A complex emotion welled up in Leng Rui's eyes.

After a moment, Ye Yunjin came to her senses and saw that Su Qinghe was still struggling desperately, so she withdrew her gaze and raised her hand to the two maids.

"Relax."

Upon hearing this, the two maids simultaneously released their grip, took a step back, and stood by the wall with their heads bowed again.

As soon as she was free, Su Qinghe sprang up from her chair and took two steps back. She quickly covered her collar with one hand and hid the pendant back inside her clothes.

At the same time, Ye Yunjin also came out from behind the desk and walked slowly toward Su Qinghe.

Su Qinghe's eyes were filled with vigilance. With each step Ye Yunjin took closer, she would take a step back.

Until her back hit the bookshelf behind her, with nowhere left to retreat, she could only watch helplessly as Ye Yunjin stood in front of her.

The distance between the two people was less than half a meter.

Ye Yunjin was half a head taller than Su Qinghe. She lowered her gaze slightly and looked at the hand that Su Qinghe was using to cover her collar.

Do you know the origin of this pendant?

Su Qinghe pursed her lips, raised her chin slightly, and said, word by word, "No comment."

Looking at her stubborn appearance, Ye Yunjin felt a barely perceptible pang of sadness in her eyes. "It's okay if you don't say anything."

"Because no one knows the origin of this pendant better than me."

She extended her finger, hovered it over Su Qinghe's collarbone for a moment, and then withdrew it.

"This stone is an extremely rare black crystal rough found deep within the jadeite veins of northern Myanmar. There are no more than five known finished pieces of it in the world."

"And the patterns on it are not carved by hand, but formed naturally."

At this point, Ye Yunjin paused slightly, and what she said next completely shocked Su Qinghe—

"Eighteen years ago, on the day you were born, I personally hung it around your neck."

"???"

Su Qinghe froze instantly, wondering if she had misheard.

Eighteen years ago?

personally?

She stared blankly at the woman in front of her, her mind trying to process information rapidly, but it was as if something was blocking it, and after a long time, her mind was still completely blank.

Ye Yunjin stared intently at the astonished girl before her, then added a shocking statement: "Su Qinghe, you are my daughter."

These six words seem to have come from a very, very far place.

Su Qinghe was completely at a loss for words. Her mouth opened slightly, but it was as if something was stuck in her throat, and she couldn't utter a single sound.

My head was buzzing with noise.

Several seconds passed before she managed to find her voice, "You...you're my mother?"

"But I'm a member of the Su family! My dad's name is Su Jianguo, and my mom's name is Chen Wanqing. They're my family..."

She couldn't continue speaking halfway through her sentence, and her voice gradually faded away.

Because she suddenly realized a question she had never dared to think about deeply before.

Are Su Jianguo and Chen Wanqing really my biological parents?

Or to put it another way, did they ever really treat her as their own daughter?

From childhood to adulthood, she was punished by kneeling for every wrong note she played on the piano, and she was beaten for every drop in her exam grades.

Although the family had hired maids, her status was so low that she was even lower than the maids. It was common for her to be ordered around by the maids to do dirty and tiring work that they didn't want to do.

Her sole purpose in that household was to be packaged as a perfect commodity, waiting to be sent out one day for profit.

Would a biological daughter really be treated like this?