He Xiyan froze for a moment, then she smiled happily. Shu Man had finally called her âsisterâ and her younger sister had finally stopped addressing her so distantly as âMrs. Yeâ.
âMan Man, what do you want to know?â she asked with a smile as she looked at her sister.
Shu Man frowned and her beautiful eyes were filled with confusion.
âUh⦠whereâs uncle and aunty?â She wanted to ask about her biological parents but she couldnât bring herself to say the words âfather and motherâ, so she changed it to âuncle and auntyâ.
He Xiyan understood what she was trying to ask and her face suddenly turned pale and her eyes that had been filled with happiness earlier darkened sorrowfully. She turned away and pursed her lips hard.
She only looked at her sister after some time and said sadly, âOur dad passed away in a car accident 14 years ago while our mother passed away from an illness 10 years ago.â Then, she pulled out a piece of tissue and dabbed at her eyes.
She thought that if her parents were still around, then this would have been a family reunion. Her parents greatest desire had been to find her sister and for their whole family to be reunited.
She had finally managed to find her younger sister but her parents were no longer around.
Shu Man froze in stunned silence and her eyes suddenly widened. She held her fingers tightly and her eyes were full of surprises but after the initial shock faded, she felt a little sorrowful. She didnât feel anything toward her biological parents but she hadnât expected them to have passed away.
âOhâ¦â she didnât know what else to say.
He Xiyan heaved a long sigh and continued, âMan Man, please donât blame our parents. They had truly loved you and our mother had been calling your name right up to the moment she died. They didnât abandon you by choice.â
The more Shu Man heard about her family, the more upset she felt. She didnât think that her biological parents had loved her so much. If they had truly loved her, why did they abandon her? She wanted to know the truth and how did she become an orphan.
âWhy did they do it then?â she couldnât help but verbalize her thoughts.
He Xiyan shook her head helplessly, âYou were only slightly more than a year old then. Our mother had brought us both to the market and she had stopped to buy something. She only discovered that you had gone missing after she had finished making her purchase. She spent ages searching for you but to no avail. Our parents never gave up hope and tried various methods to find you. They even gave the policemen quite a bit of money but we were never able to find you. They had always been very upset over this and our mother was wracked by guilt. She was worried that you had been sold by human traffickers but unfortunately, she still passed away with regrets.â
He Xiyan couldnât stop her tears from flowing when she got to this part of her tale and Madam Shu quickly handed her a piece of tissue.
Madam Shu tugged at her daughterâs sleeve and motioned for her daughter to stop probing.
Shu Man turned away and she suddenly turned a little pale. So the truth was that she had gone missing; she hadnât been abandoned.
Her biological parents had passed away with regrets because they were never able to find her so she suddenly felt very sad for some reason at the thought of that. Her stone-cold heart suddenly melted a little.
âSister Heâ¦â she took the initiative to sit beside He Xiyan and placed a hand on her shoulder. She guessed that her sister might not have had it much better than her since both her parents had passed away when she was only in her teens.