"Dad, Mom, this is lody. She’s our biological daughter."
lody Sumrs awoke from darkness. The suffocating feeling of bleeding out, of being on the verge of death, still clung to her. She opened her eyes and stared blankly at her surroundings, realizing she was standing in the living room of the Lancaster Villa.
And the elegantly dressed couple before her were none other than her biological father, Robert Lancaster, and her biological mother, Elaine Hughes.
The fake heiress, Sylvia Lancaster, was wearing a high-end white dress. She stood beside Elaine Hughes, her arm gently linked with Elaine’s, and she was looking at lody with a hint of unease.
lody Sumrs realized she had been reborn to the mont she first t her biological parents.
lody Sumrs had never imagined that the cliché drama of a rich family claiming their long-lost child would ever happen to her. But a week ago, a sharp young man in a suit had found her, introducing himself as Simon Lancaster, the CEO of the Lancaster Group. He claid to be her biological older brother and told her she was the true heiress of the Lancaster family, switched at birth twenty years ago.
After seeing the paternity test he presented, lody Sumrs had spent a week ntally preparing herself before finally deciding to co to the Lancaster Family and et her biological parents.
lody Sumrs had long known she was adopted. Her adoptive parents later divorced, and her adoptive mother raised her alone. lody had always been curious about what kind of people her birth parents were.
Before lody Sumrs could recover from the shock of her rebirth, her biological mother, Elaine Hughes, pulled her into a hug. Elaine’s voice was choked with emotion as she said, "My daughter! My dear daughter!"
The scent of Elaine Hughes’s expensive perfu brought lody Sumrs back to her senses. She gently pulled away from the embrace, struggling to suppress the hatred in her heart.
’This was the woman who was my mother by blood—the sa woman who, in the apocalypse, had personally fed drugged water and sold to a sadistic black-market organization.’
’In my despair, I had taken the organization’s leader down with . I never expected to open my eyes and find myself back here.’
"You must be lody. Welco ho, sister." Sylvia Lancaster also stepped forward, offering a slightly nervous smile.
’Sister?’ lody Sumrs sneered inwardly. ’In my last life, Sylvia Lancaster pretended to welco just like this, only to show her true colors after I moved in.’
’After I moved in, Sylvia would often pull little tricks, either hurting herself or cutting up her own dresses and jewelry, only to fra for it.’
’No matter how I tried to explain, the Lancasters always chose to believe Sylvia, growing more and more disappointed with .’
"Is this the girl I was switched with?" lody Sumrs asked her parents, turning to them with a blank expression. "If I co back, does she have to leave the Lancaster family?"
Elaine Hughes froze for a second, then said anxiously, "Of course Sylvia won’t be leaving!"
"lody, you and Sylvia are both our daughters," her biological father, Robert Lancaster, said, a subtle hint of displeasure in his tone. "Can’t the Lancaster family afford to raise two daughters?"
Before lody Sumrs could speak, an angry voice suddenly bood from the stairs. "You’re the one who should leave! What gives you the right to talk to Sylvia like that?!"
lody Sumrs turned to see a young man of about eighteen or nineteen walking down the stairs. He was dressed head to toe in trendy streetwear—her biological younger brother, Silas Lancaster.
Silas Lancaster descended the stairs and turned to his older brother, Simon Lancaster, his voice full of confusion and accusation. "Simon, why did you bring this woman back?!"
"Silas!" their father, Robert Lancaster, scolded him in a low voice before turning to comfort lody Sumrs. "lody, your brother Silas is young and doesn’t know any better. Don’t take it to heart."
"Who’s her brother! Why should I let this country bumpkin be my sister!" Silas Lancaster retorted resentfully.
lody Sumrs instinctively glanced down at her clothes. After graduating, she had been helping her adoptive mother manage their family’s fishpond and orchard, often running all over the mountain. She certainly wasn’t as glamorous or decked out in designer brands as Sylvia Lancaster.
But lody Sumrs was in no mood to argue with Silas Lancaster. She said, "You’ve misunderstood. I didn’t say she had to leave. I didn’t co to the Lancaster family today for a reunion. I’m here to discuss transferring the contract rights for Mount Anworth."
The Lancaster family was in the tourism industry. They had their eyes on Mount Anworth in Anworth Village, wanting to develop a new type of resort project there. The contract rights for Mount Anworth were in the hands of lody’s adoptive mother but were registered under lody’s na.
lody’s adoptive family had invested in a sizable fishpond and orchard on Mount Anworth. It was during negotiations with the Sumrs family over the transfer of the contract rights that Simon Lancaster, CEO of the Lancaster Group, had seen lody Sumrs. He was stunned by her striking resemblance to Elaine Hughes, and upon learning that lody was the Sumrs family’s adopted daughter, he secretly took a sample of her hair for a paternity test. The results confird that lody was the Lancasters’ long-lost biological daughter.
The Lancasters were caught off guard by lody’s sudden shift in topic. Her biological mother, Elaine Hughes, was the first to recover, saying, "lody, today is your first day ho. Let’s not talk about this. Co see the room your mother prepared for you."
But lody knew the contract transfer agreent had to be signed today, because in three days, a massive mudslide would strike Mount Anworth.
That mudslide was the beginning of the apocalypse and the beginning of lody’s nightmare. It was in that very disaster that she lost all her relatives, including her adoptive mother, forcing her to return to the Lancaster family.
This ti, lody was determined to stay far away from the Lancasters and ensure her adoptive family survived. To do that, she needed a large sum of money to stockpile supplies for the coming apocalypse. That was why she had to sign the contract transfer agreent today and get the paynt.
"The peak tourist season starts in two months. Signing early is also beneficial for the Lancaster Group," lody said, knowing exactly what her biological father, Robert Lancaster, cared about most.
’To Robert Lancaster, the company and its profits always ca first. Real daughter, fake daughter—none of it mattered in the face of business.’
Sure enough, Robert Lancaster paused for a mont in thought, then said to his eldest son, Simon Lancaster, "Go to my study and get the contract."
Robert Lancaster had pushed hard for the Mount Anworth project. The Lancaster Group had made several poor investnts in recent years and desperately needed a new, profitable venture to recoup its losses.
Although he didn’t know why lody Sumrs wanted to sign the agreent now, it was a developnt Robert was happy to see. With a few months left to prepare before the peak tourist season in June, the investnt could start turning a profit for the company this year if all went smoothly.
"Sister, let’s go see your room first. Mom and I spent all day preparing it for you," Sylvia Lancaster said, stepping forward and gently taking lody’s arm.
"That’s not necessary. I don’t plan on moving back for now." lody pulled her arm away, rejecting the offer flatly.
Sylvia Lancaster stared at lody in disbelief for a mont.
"What are you trying to pull? This playing hard-to-get act is so cliché," Silas Lancaster sneered from the side, his arms crossed.
"Silas!" Robert Lancaster snapped. "lody is your biological sister! Apologize to her!"
Silas Lancaster shot back resentfully, "Why should I apologize? She should be apologizing to Sylvia! Look at her attitude toward her! Why did Simon even bring her back? Did he ever once consider Sylvia’s feelings?!"
lody sneered inwardly. ’Of course he considered them. Simon did all of this for Sylvia.’
’At first, I’d also believed that Simon had brought back to the Lancaster family for my own good. It was only later that I learned he had developed inappropriate feelings for Sylvia. Only by finding the family’s true biological daughter could there be any hope for him and Sylvia.’
’I’ll never forget how, when Sylvia frad , Simon destroyed the security footage and helped her provide a false testimony.’
Just then, Silas Lancaster walked over with a file. "The contract for the transfer of rights to Mount Anworth. This is the final draft."
lody Sumrs ignored Silas Lancaster and picked up the contract to read it carefully.
’My adoptive mother originally invested over a million in the fishpond. It yielded two harvests a year, each earning several hundred thousand. Since the next harvest was only two months away, my mother in my last life wanted to wait until after the fish were collected before signing.’
’But that wait led straight to the mudslide, followed by years of apocalyptic disasters that dealt a devastating blow to the entire tourism industry. The agreent beca completely worthless.’
"The transfer fee we discussed was four million. If we sign today, I’d like to add another four hundred thousand. The fishpond will be ready for harvest in two months. We’ll get at least a hundred thousand catties of grass carp—you inspected it yourselves. That’s a guaranteed sale of over five hundred thousand," lody said.
"Done," Robert Lancaster agreed with a nod after a mont’s thought.
"Thank you, Father," lody said, suppressing her disgust. "Can the money be transferred tomorrow?"
Robert Lancaster was taken aback for a second by her use of the title. He was very pleased that lody had called him ’Father’. He then waved his hand grandly and said, "Normally, the transfer process takes a month. But since today is your first day ho, lody, of course I’ll grant your request. I’ll have soone transfer the 4.4 million to you tomorrow."
lody breathed a long sigh of relief inwardly.
"lody, can we go see the room now? Please don’t throw a tantrum anymore, or you’ll make Mother sad," Sylvia said, biting her lower lip gently.
lody rembered how in her last life, she had agreed to stay for a few days, only to lose all of her loved ones, including her adoptive mother, three days later.
Thinking of the humiliation and injustice she had suffered at the hands of the Lancasters in her previous life, lody wanted to curse them out right then and there. But she couldn’t afford to burn bridges with them before the money was in her account.
Without that money, lody couldn’t stockpile supplies. She was just a college graduate, less than a year out of school, with no savings to speak of.
So, lody feigned hesitation, looked down, and said, "Thank you for preparing a room for , but this is all too sudden. I need a few days to cool down and think things over. I’ll move back after I’ve had so ti to process everything."
Her biological mother, Elaine Hughes, was saddened by lody’s response. But on second thought, she figured the whole situation was indeed very sudden for lody. She should give the girl a few days to process it. ’Besides, she’ll co back sooner or later. Who would refuse the chance to return to a wealthy family and live as a pampered heiress?’
So she stepped forward and gently hugged lody again. "Well, call Mom when you’ve made up your mind. I’ll send soone to pick you up. My dear daughter, I really do miss you. Don’t make wait too long, okay?"
lody forced a smile for Elaine Hughes.
But from the side, Sylvia Lancaster suddenly asked, "Sister, are you not staying today because of ?"
Sylvia looked up at lody, her expression pitiable, and tears began to fall. "If it’s because of , I can leave."
"Sylvia, what nonsense are you talking about? This is your ho! You’re not going anywhere!" Elaine Hughes imdiately let go of lody and rushed over to console Sylvia.
"Sis, what are you talking about? I’d like to see which country bumpkin dares to make you leave," Silas said, shooting another vicious glare at lody.
"Sylvia, trust , this will always be your ho."
"lody, I know you feel it’s unfair, but Sylvia is innocent in all this. I hope you two can get along. You are both daughters of this family," Robert Lancaster admonished in a low, serious voice.
lody had experienced the Lancasters’ favoritism toward Sylvia firsthand in her previous life. After she had returned ho then, not a single one of them had truly cared about her. They were all too busy worrying about whether her return would upset Sylvia.
Once, Sylvia had deliberately broken an heirloom left to lody by her adoptive mother. Before lody could even say anything, Sylvia burst into tears. The entire family gathered around to soothe and comfort her, even blaming lody for not putting her things away properly.
But now, watching the group huddle together to console Sylvia, lody felt nothing at all. She had no interest in competing with Sylvia for their affection. ’These so-called biological relatives... if Sylvia wants them, she can have them. This ti, I’m going to save my real family.’
"Well, I’ll be taking my leave. I hope to see the transfer fee in my account tomorrow." After saying her piece, lody turned and left the suffocating villa without a backward glance.
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