"Yes, yes, exactly!"
My adoptive mother tightened her grip on my hand, still visibly shaken.
"Your father has been especially short-tempered lately. I don't even dare provoke him. Let's wait a while before telling him."
"How about your birthday?" she suggested eagerly. "Your father dotes on you the most. If we tell him on your birthday, he surely won't get angry."
My birthday…
How perfectly convenient.
In my previous life, on my eighteenth birthday, you personally brought the real daughter home.
This time, when you need me so badly, I truly wonder whether you will still dare to bring that girl back.
In the days leading up to the birthday banquet, my adoptive father—who practically lived at the company—finally came home.
And I also noticed something amiss with my adoptive mother.
She had grown distant toward me, and at times, there was a cold glint in her eyes when she looked at me.
Once, I followed her out and discovered her shopping with a young girl. The two were intimate, as though they were the real mother and daughter.
It seemed she had already found the biological daughter who resembled her so closely—most likely even had a paternity test done.
That evening, I heated a cup of milk and was about to knock on my adoptive father's study door when my adoptive mother's voice drifted out—
"The DNA report and the photos are right in front of you! That is our real daughter! Why won't you acknowledge her and bring her back?!"
She was sobbing uncontrollably.
Unfortunately, tears held no power over a man long corroded by wealth.
Years of ambition and ruthless ascent had turned him into a cold, calculating businessman.
I returned to my bedroom, pulled up the study's surveillance feed on my computer, and watched as my adoptive father flung the documents to the floor. The force was so great that the photos scattered everywhere.
"Drinking, gambling, bullying at school, and grades so bad she couldn't even reach the second-tier cutoff—someone like that dares to call herself a Lu? Dares to represent the Lu family's face?"
"Zhang Xinru, let me make this clear. The Lu family will have only one daughter—and that is Xiao Ruan."
"If you dare bring that useless piece of trash into this house, I'll show you what happens."
My adoptive mother insisted on bringing the girl back regardless. Enraged, my adoptive father slapped her across the face.
She stared at him in disbelief, then pointed at him furiously. "You are cold beyond redemption!"
With that, she stormed out.
Tsk.
You can't take it already?
Then how will you endure what's coming next?
I sighed lightly, brushed back my hair, and took a small bottle from the wardrobe. I poured out the last white pill and dropped it into the milk.
The pill dissolved instantly—colorless, tasteless.
I carried the milk to the study and knocked.
"Come in—"
I entered, set the milk down as usual, and moved behind him, gently massaging his temples.
"Dad, the bids for the eastern district won't exceed fifty million. I'll send you the exact figures later—just don't overbid during the auction."
He raised his hand, and I immediately stopped. "The development prospects for that land don't look very promising," he said.
I smiled softly. "If it were truly that bad, why would so many companies compete for it? The outlook may seem bleak now, but in two years, it will be a different story."
"That's true," he said with a nod. "Your judgment has never been wrong."
He patted my hand gently, his expression benevolent. "Your coming-of-age banquet is in a few days. We'll celebrate it properly. Your mother has been overworked and a bit unstable lately—don't take her words to heart."
I nodded obediently.
Watching him drink the milk, I smiled and quietly withdrew.
Over the years, I had painstakingly helped him climb to the very top, made him see my value, my obedience, my indispensability.
All of it was to ensure that the real daughter would never be able to return to the Lu family openly and honorably.
I wanted to see for myself—
Between a capable, profitable, well-raised "daughter" whose background he knew inside out, and a biological daughter bound only by blood,
which one would truly win?