Chapter 224 - 222: The Past

"Mom, what exactly happened back then?"

Ethan, filled with curiosity, scooted closer and asked.

Lily also looked at her mother, clearly wanting to know as well.

Seeing this, Jasmine Sterling sighed helplessly. She hadn’t wanted to bring these things up ever again, but Cecilia was right; the children were all grown up now. They had a right to know some things, and it was time to tell them.

"Back then, your father and I got pregnant by accident before we were married. The baby I was carrying was your older sister."

As Jasmine spoke, she instinctively glanced at her daughter. Back then, Cecilia had almost not made it.

"I wasn’t from around here, and my background was average in every way. The Fulton family looked down on me. They thought I was using my looks to seduce your father and had gotten pregnant on purpose to force them to let me marry into the family."

"That’s also why the Fulton elders never liked Cecilia. To them, the baby—Cecilia—was just a bargaining chip I was using to force my way into the family."

"I was young back then, and I’d act on impulse. In a moment of anger, I even considered getting an abortion. But once I was at the hospital, I regretted it. She was my child, and I would raise her myself."

"What about Dad?" Ethan asked anxiously. "Didn’t he fight for you? You were pregnant!"

"Of course he did," Jasmine said with a helpless smile. "But what good did it do? The Fulton family had already picked out a bride for him from a family of equal social standing. Still, your father was dead set on being with me. But his family held onto his household registration book, so we couldn’t get married."

"Later on, as my belly grew, your father kept begging his parents, hoping they would grant us a proper status and a chance for the baby’s sake."

"When I was eight months pregnant, they finally relented. But their exact words were, ’Unless she gives birth to a boy, she can forget about ever setting foot in this family.’"

At this, Jasmine seemed to recall that moment. She took a deep breath and lowered her head. "But it was a girl."

"I remember thinking, ’Will I ever be able to escape the bias for sons?’ But the moment I held Cecilia in my arms, my resolve hardened. I would never let my daughter experience such unfair treatment."

At this point, she looked at Lily. "The second was a girl, too."

Jasmine didn’t go into detail about what happened the year Lily was born. She just continued, "Two daughters... Your father couldn’t take the pressure anymore. He left. He went back and got married. The Fulton Family would never have accepted girls, and your father and I never got our marriage license, so custody of you two naturally went to me."

"Then... then where did I come from?" Ethan’s eyes widened, a panic he couldn’t hide flashing in them.

Jasmine chuckled softly. "They say fate works in mysterious ways. When he left, he didn’t know I was pregnant again. I was finally carrying a boy, but by then, everything was already set in stone. The Fultons didn’t know, and your father didn’t know either."

"He went back to the Fultons, accepted the arranged marriage, and started building a new house with great fanfare. But because of a mistake during construction, a large wooden beam fell and crushed his chest. His ribs broke and punctured his internal organs. He died on the spot."

Hearing this, Lily and Ethan were too stunned to react.

’So that’s how Dad died?’

Jasmine continued, "I gave birth to Ethan in secret. Thankfully, your aunt and uncle helped out. The three of us adults managed to raise the five of you. We somehow managed to get you all grown up."

"So that’s how awful Dad’s parents were!" Ethan’s heart ached for his mother, and his eyes immediately reddened. "I’ll never acknowledge them!"

He then quickly confessed, "Mom, I actually secretly took some pocket money from my uncle when I was little. But I was young and didn’t know any better back then. I haven’t taken any since I started high school!"

"Hah." Cecilia let out another cold laugh. "So they’ve been secretly giving you pocket money since you were a kid? I’ve never even seen a shadow of anyone from the Fulton family. Lily, have you?"

Lily Sterling shook her head. She had always had a strange feeling about the Fulton family—complete and utter unfamiliarity. She had never felt the slightest emotional flicker of kinship, not even when she met her uncle for the first time.

Jasmine Sterling explained, "News that I’d had Ethan eventually reached the Fultons through gossip. When you all were still little, they came to demand custody a few times. It even escalated to a court battle over Ethan. But since Justin Fulton and I never got a marriage license, and he had passed away so suddenly, I was the mother. As long as I was alive, there was no way I would give my child to someone else."

"Mom, I never knew you went through so much back then. It must have been so hard for you." Ethan, moved, stepped forward to hug his mother. Tears welled in the eyes of the six-foot-tall young man. "And thank you for not giving up on me. Otherwise, I definitely wouldn’t have lived such a happy and contented life these past eighteen years, and I wouldn’t have two sisters who dote on me and love me so much."

Ethan was the one in the family who was never shy about showing his emotions. He could always say whatever was on his mind, a trait Lily could never seem to learn.

But she ached for her mother just the same.

Jasmine patted Ethan’s hand, then took the hands of her two daughters. "Mom’s hard work wasn’t for nothing. Seeing how wonderful you all are now, I’m very content and so proud."

"Mom, once Ethan gets into college, our family will move to Lorcain," Cecilia said. "We’ll be far away from the Fultons then, and they won’t be able to bother us anymore."

Recalling these heavy memories, Jasmine Sterling had expected her mood to sour. But after telling her children everything, she felt a sense of relief instead, as if she had just recounted a story from a long, long time ago.

The people in the story had become blurry. What remained most vivid in her memory were the unforgettable feelings. It was precisely the sharp contrast between those bone-deep emotions of the past and the happiness of the present that made Jasmine feel how real and vibrant her current joy was.

"It’s the New Year, let’s not talk about this anymore." Jasmine stood up with a smile and bustled into the kitchen. "We’ll make something simple today. The most important task is the big cleanup."

Hearing this, Cecilia and her younger siblings shook off the somewhat somber mood and chimed in, "No problem, Mom! We’ll get the house spick and span."

"Sis, you and Lily can clean the room you share and the living room. I’ll get my room and Mom’s, plus the balcony. The kitchen’s for Mom!"

With the tasks clearly divided, the family sprang into action. Jasmine reminded them to go put up the New Year’s couplets first.

Cecilia watched her mother’s smiling face. Amid her contentment, she couldn’t shake a strange feeling. It was as if a piece of the story she’d just heard was missing. Considering her mother’s earlier hesitation, the ever-perceptive Cecilia had a nagging suspicion that she had intentionally left something out.

But she couldn’t quite put her finger on what part was missing. And the mere thought of the Fulton Family made a wave of disgust instinctively rise within her.

’Forget it,’ she thought. ’I won’t dwell on it.’