A Foodie Transmigrated into the Palace Chapter 1644: Past and Present 80

“We’ll find them!”

Xu Jingyu wasn’t good with words, but he forced himself to speak.

Xu Wanning looked at her son’s deep and contemplative face.

After a long while, she sighed.

“Son, have you… already found out something?”

Xu Jingyu was taken aback, then nodded heavily.

“Mom, you know everything?!”

“Then…”

“That senior manager of Zhao Group, Xia Yu, is he really my dad?”

Xu Wanning took a deep, heavy breath.

“That’s right!”

“Since you already know, I can’t hide it from you any longer!”

“He’s your biological father!”

After saying this, Xu Wanning walked out to the yard looking utterly lost and soulless.

Xu Jingyu was worried and followed her outside.

The mother and son went to the central pool of the villa and sat down in the gazebo.

Xu Wanning began to recount the events of those years.

Xu Jingyu sat quietly beside her, listening attentively.

When she finished, Xu Wanning said.

“All these years, I’ve been holding onto a feeling, working tirelessly, crazy for money!”

“I finally caught up with the era’s prosperity, and I have everything!”

“But later I realized, the black hole in my heart was growing larger!”

“I understand less and less about this world and don’t want to understand it. I just want to live my own life well!”

“I could give up those things; what I can’t let go of more and more is family!”

“It’s you!”

“And my precious daughter, lost for years, whom I’ve wronged all these years!”

Under the moonlight, Xu Jingyu’s handsome face appeared even more chiseled.

He embraced his weeping mother and comforted her softly.

“Mom!”

“Don’t worry!”

“My sister…”

“I’m most worried she’s been kidnapped!” Xu Wanning’s emotions were somewhat out of control.

“She’s poor, she’s struggling, she’s sad, I’m not afraid of that, but I fear she’d be bullied!”

“She’s a girl!”

Xu Jingyu’s handsome face also hung low, his eyes reddened after a while, saying.

“We’ll find her, we definitely will!”

“Mom, don’t worry!”

“It’s just a matter of time!”

“We can’t rush it; she’s lost here, won’t have gone far, nor been kidnapped!”

“Hopefully!”

Xu Wanning wiped away her tears.

“Let’s leave it at that!”

“You…” She pressed down on her son’s shoulder.

“I know you don’t like doing business! But…”

“If you really don’t like it, why not donate this money?”

“Consider it gathering luck for your sister; if Heaven is moved, maybe our family can reunite?”

Her eyes were filled with hope.

Xu Jingyu was silent for a moment and nodded.

“Okay!”

“Rest assured! Since Mom wants to rest now, I’ll take care of everything!”

“I won’t disappoint anyone, not the Group!”

Xu Wanning nodded and felt relieved.

Looking at the desolate moonlit surroundings, she sighed.

“Alright, it’s getting late! Go rest!”

“From now on, you’re my successor!”

Xu Jingyu didn’t say anything, supporting his mother as they entered the house.

He indeed didn’t like business, didn’t like this battlefield without smoke, where everyone was hypocritical, pursuing interests while avoiding harm.

But, so what?

Not liking it doesn’t mean he can’t do it well!

Not liking it doesn’t mean he can’t take responsibility.

This is all about love and responsibility.

…

At Xia Ruqing’s place.

After dinner, she and her two best friends snuggled in the warm blankets watching shows.

Wenwen occasionally picked up her phone to browse the news.

A while later, she suddenly exclaimed loudly.

“Xiao Qingqing, look! Quick, look!”

“The photos in the news look just like the ones in your album!!”

Xia Ruqing leaned over.

Sure enough, there on the phone screen was a clear black-and-white photo, showing a little girl, around several months old.

The news headline read: Seeking a lost person, Xu Corporation’s eldest daughter went missing years ago…

She frowned and scrutinized the photo, feeling increasingly unfamiliar.

“Really?”

“I feel like I haven’t seen it!”

“All these photos look more or less the same!”

The photos left by Grandma have grown moldy from the dampness at home, and the faces are blurred beyond recognition, showing only rough outlines.

Wenwen scratched her head.

“Is that so? Now that you say it, it seems it really is!”

“Old photos from then do look like that!”

“Still, I think it resembles!”

“Why don’t you compare them?”

Wenwen smiled playfully.

Xia Ruqing handed the phone back to her somewhat bored, tapping her forehead.

“People are, after all, Xu Corporation’s eldest daughter!”

“How could we, ordinary folks, come into contact with them?”

“They’re looking for their daughter; why should I join in this hullabaloo!”

Wenwen rubbed her head while complaining.

“I’m just worried for you!”

“You’re this little unlucky girl, lonely from childhood!”

“If you can find your parents, that would be a good thing!”

Xia Ruqing leaned back on the sofa, with a faint expression.

“Why look for them!”

“Since they threw me away back then, they absolutely won’t look for me!”

“Didn’t you see? Their daughter is lost!”

“I’m not lost, I’ve been abandoned!”

Wenwen fell silent.

She merely sighed and comfortingly patted Xia Ruqing’s back.

“It’s okay!”

“You still have us!”

“And you’ve found a partner, maybe next year you’ll form a little family, and the year after…”

If it were the past, Xia Ruqing would surely join in the play-fighting.

Now, she felt lethargic, merely grinning and not saying much.

Xiaoxiao glanced at them but said nothing.

The room fell into silence.

…

Lying in bed at night, Xia Ruqing tossed and turned, unable to sleep.

Her mind lingered on Wenwen’s words.

“The photo kind of resembles!”

“The photo is kind of!”

“Kind of resembles!”

This sentence was like a stone thrown into a calm lake, creating ripples that wouldn’t fade away.

Eventually, still sleepless, she got up, took out her phone, and brought up the news.

She looked at the photo accompanying the news.

Then dug out the album Grandma had cherished all her life.

Though there were mold spots and the photos were already fuzzy, the outlines were still recognizable.

She compared the two images.

Like playing a spot-the-difference game, she compared them side-by-side, top and bottom, slowly.

After the comparison, she suddenly looked up.

“!!!”

“Seems about the same!”

She jumped out of bed and found the photo originally in the frame.

That photo, identical, was less moldy in its frame. It had been casually placed on the desk.

Since moving to a new house, she’d put it away.

Now, she compared this relatively new photo to the other one, and then…

She was left in shock, dumbstruck!

“Indeed, it’s identical!”

“But…”

“What does this mean?”