Chapter 1114 - 1156: Debt Collectors

Chapter 1114: Chapter 1156: Debt Collectors

When she saw the hopeful look in Ling Shenglan’s eyes, Ling Yueyue’s heart softened, and all the little bits and pieces of the time they’d spent together over the years flashed through her mind one by one.

In the end, Ling Yueyue still couldn’t bring herself to hurt this aunt who had taken care of her for fifteen years. She pressed her lips into a smile and asked softly, "Have you been doing well these past five years? Things with Uncle should be pretty good, right?"

Seeing that after chatting for so long, Ling Yueyue had finally said something that showed concern for her, Ling Shenglan couldn’t help her eyes turning red. She nodded hard, over and over. "These five years, I’ve been doing very well, and your Uncle treats me very well too! It’s just that... with you not by my side, I always felt like something was missing! I really miss you! I came back to the country this time especially to see you!"

"Oh!" Seeing how agitated Ling Shenglan was, Ling Yueyue felt a bit of sourness in her heart too, but nothing more than that.

She really didn’t believe that just an aunt could miss her, this niece, to that extent, even to the point of coming back specifically to look for her. After all, in the first fifteen years, her aunt hadn’t treated her that well, had she? Not even as well as the mother of her best friend Ye Anxin.

Afraid Ling Yueyue was in a hurry, even though she was reluctant, Ling Shenglan still said to her, "If you’re rushing, then go ahead. I’ll call you later."

"Bye." Ling Yueyue nodded, and after saying goodbye to Ling Shenglan, she walked toward the entrance of Blue Sky Group.

Watching Ling Yueyue’s departing back and thinking about the "application" she’d just been talking about on the phone, Ling Shenglan couldn’t help secretly following along.

To avoid being noticed, Ling Shenglan deliberately stayed farther away. When Ling Yueyue stopped at the entrance of Blue Sky Building, she hid behind an inner wall, poking her head out to secretly observe Ling Yueyue.

Ling Yueyue hadn’t been standing at the entrance for long when a black Maybach pulled up in front of Blue Sky Building.

Looking at this distinguished, luxurious sedan that screamed status, a hint of suspicion unknowingly surfaced in Ling Shenglan’s eyes.

Could it be that the person in the car was the one Yueyue was waiting for?

When did Yueyue get to know someone this rich? And was it a man or a woman?

Granted, people who drove this kind of car were basically all very rich men, but it wasn’t impossible for a woman to drive it either.

Just as Ling Shenglan was secretly guessing, Ling Yueyue picked up her shopping bags and walked down the steps, and at the same time the driver’s door of the Maybach opened. Out stepped a tall, straight, broad-shouldered man.

Even though they were separated by some distance and the entrance of Blue Sky Building was packed with people, Ling Shenglan could still clearly feel the noble aura this man radiated from the inside out.

After getting out of the car, the man took the shopping bags from Ling Yueyue’s hand and put them on the back seat. Then he walked around the front of the car to open the passenger door for her. Only after Ling Yueyue was seated did he go back around to the driver’s side. A moment later, the car drove off.

Only when the car had completely disappeared into the crowd did Ling Shenglan dare to step out from behind the wall.

Staring at the receding back of the car, Ling Shenglan’s heart was full of questions.

Who was that man? And what was his relationship with Yueyue? Since when did Yueyue know such a wealthy man?

Her older brother and sister-in-law had clearly said that Yueyue despised the poor and loved the rich, and had already cut ties with them. But judging from Yueyue’s expression just now, things didn’t seem at all like that.

It looked like there was a lot she didn’t know about what was going on here. She needed to sit down and talk with her brother and sister-in-law again, to find out who was lying and who was deceiving her.

On the other side, after picking up Ling Yueyue, Huo Junmo drove to the kindergarten entrance and picked up Huo Jiantian after school, and the family of three rode home together.

Ling Yueyue sat in the front passenger seat, tilted her head to look at Huo Junmo, and said mysteriously, "Mr. Huo, guess who I just ran into?"

Eyes on the road, Huo Junmo asked lightly, "Who?"

Ling Yueyue answered, "My aunt."

Huo Junmo glanced at her, puzzled. "Didn’t she go abroad? How come she suddenly came back?"

"She’s been back for half a year. She said she’s been looking for me for six months! But honestly, after not seeing her for five years, she seems really different now. Not so much in appearance, but in her attitude toward me. You should know, before I was even a month old, my aunt carried me off to Jin City. So I grew up with my aunt, and every month my parents would give her some living expenses. But my aunt wasn’t like other aunts who fuss over their nieces and dote on them. When I was very little, she often just stared at me in a daze. I don’t know if it was my imagination, but I even felt hatred for me in her eyes. To this day I still don’t understand why she would look at me like that," Ling Yueyue said, and without realizing it, that look her aunt used to give her surfaced in her mind.

That gaze, full of love mixed with hate, hate mixed with love, tangled, regretful, yet faintly satisfied—it was practically every emotion rolled into one. Even now she still couldn’t find the words to describe exactly what kind of feeling it was.

She always felt like her aunt was looking through her face at someone else.

Huo Junmo asked in confusion, "If she couldn’t find you, why didn’t she go to your father and mother?"

Ling Yueyue let out a cold laugh and mocked herself. "She did. Aunt said my mom told her that I despise my own parents, despise life in the countryside, that I love the rich and hate the poor, so I refuse to acknowledge them as my parents and have cut off contact with them."

Hearing this, Huo Junmo’s eyes sharpened and his brows knit tight. "Your mother really said that?"

Ling Yueyue shrugged, unconcerned. "Yeah. I had no idea that in my mother’s eyes I’m that kind of person who doesn’t recognize her own kin. She basically painted me as heartless, cold, and unfeeling."

Sitting in the back seat, Huo Jiantian hurriedly chimed in to comfort her. "Malicious stepmom, you really don’t need to care about what your parents say. If you ask me, they’re the ones who are heartless and unfeeling, with no conscience, and only money in their eyes! They’re completely money-obsessed! If you ask me, you should just do exactly what they say—sever ties with them for real and never have anything to do with them for the rest of your life!"

Ling Yueyue let out a helpless sigh. "How could I completely sever ties? They’re still my biological parents."

Huo Jiantian pursed his lips in disdain. "Hmph! How do they count as biological parents? If you hadn’t told me, I would’ve thought they came to you to collect a debt."

"Heh heh..." At Huo Jiantian’s words, Ling Yueyue didn’t respond, just gave two dry, self-mocking laughs.

Yeah. People say children are born to collect their parents’ debts. But in her family it was the exact opposite—her parents were the ones acting like they’d come to collect a debt from her. Just saying it out loud was enough to make your heart ache with sadness.

Listening to the conversation between Ling Yueyue and Huo Jiantian, Huo Junmo didn’t say a word from beginning to end. He just calmly watched the road ahead. In the unfathomable depth of his eyes, a strange light flickered, as if he were thinking something through.