Chapter 244: The illegitimate daughter
Chapter 244: The illegitimate daughter
Nana felt her whole world crash.
“No, how can this be possible? Dad loved Mom so dearly. He loved his family. How can he betray her? Everything was good between them. There were never any fights, no clashes. So how?”
“Dad was cheating on her? How could he?”
Then she remembered the other cuff link and her meeting with Huo Xiao Fan. The room where she found it wasn’t somewhere a guest would go. So, it belonged to someone who lived there.
She couldn’t believe that Yu Tengfei could do something like this. Yu Ichika always loved him and supported him. She was a good wife, but he…
Nana searched some more in the bag. In one of the corner pockets, she found a stack of letters.
“Tengfei dear, I miss you. When will you come back?”
“Let’s go on a holiday trip when you will be free next time. It’s been so long.”
“I have learned your favorite dish, chicken stew. Next time you come home, I will make it for you.”
“I will cherish your cuff link. With it, I never feel your absence. You know what? I have inscribed the letters of our names, XF and T. XF for me Xiao Fan and T for Tengfei. Isn’t it cute?”
She then remembered the small inscriptions she had seen when she was checking the cuff link.
The letters fell from her hands.
Xiao Fan…
Huo Xiao Fan…?
Nurse Kim had also said a name like that…Xiao Dan. But, now, she doubted herself whether she heard it right. She also felt uneasy with the questions that Xiao Fan was asking her in the banquet.
Nana mumbled in a daze. “It must be Xiao Fan. I must have made a mistake. Huo Shen’s wife was the woman Dad had an affair with? But how? She is married to Huo Shen. Was she also having an affair behind his back?”
Nana was feeling suffocated. Never she thought that Yu Tengfei would be a cheater.
Tears trickled down her cheek.
“Why, Dad? Why did you need to do this? Mom loved and trusted you with all her heart, and you found another woman?”
She closed her eyes, sobbing hard. “Didn’t you feel guilty at all?” She cried for a few minutes and sniffling, she picked up the letters once again.
“Tengfei, there is a surprise for you. I cannot wait to tell you, so I’m writing this letter. I’m pregnant. So, come back soon!”
Nana widened her eyes. Her hands were trembling as she found it hard holding onto them.
‘There was also a child?’
She sat on the bed, collapsed.
Then she read many such letters with Xiao Fan writing about her pregnancy and baby.
“Tengfei, when you came to visit last time, I forgot to discuss the baby’s name. So silly of me. What should we keep the name?”
Then Nana read another letter.
“Your choice of names is so bad! I cannot depend on you. Forget it, I have thought of one. I don’t know about a boy, but for a girl, I have found a perfect name. How about we name her Nana?”
Nana blankly stared at the letter. She read it again and again and again until her head started aching. She couldn’t make any sense of it.
Nana…
Nana…
Nana…
The name continuously circled in her mind. Her eyes watered, and the words began to blur. A tear dropped on the letter. She inhaled a sharp breath as she realized the meaning of what she read.
She continued reading the letter. “In Japanese, one kind of kanji with which we write Nana means peace. And hasn’t this baby brought peace and happiness in our life?”
Japan?
What an irony. Yu Tengfei met Ichika in Japan, and now this Xiao Fan was also living in Japan?
She was struggling to get the words out of her mouth.
“I-I am their daughter?” She choked on her voice. “I am an illegitimate daughter of Dad and Huo Xiao Fan?”
The truth struck her hard.
“I’m his biological daughter?”
So, Yukito and Yukira…I’m their stepsister in reality…
Now she understood why Xiao Fan didn’t have any family during her labor. She might have come to Beijing alone.
But if she was happy about her pregnancy, then why did she abandon her? Did she come to know that Yu Tengfei was married? Because in any of her letters, Nana didn’t get a feeling that she knew about his marriage.
And did Yu Tengfei coincidentally adopt her unaware of her identity, or did he already know that she was his daughter?
She remembered that Yu Ichika told her that Yu Tengfei had urged her to adopt Nana when they had visited the orphanage that day since she also liked her.
But if he knew the truth, then how could he attack her that night twelve years ago?
She always thought that she didn’t have any blood relation with him, and she was an outsider, so he maybe he couldn’t think of her as his daughter.
But if he knew, then how could he have molested his biological daughter? What kind of a father does that…?
There were too many questions, but Yu Tengfei wasn’t alive anymore to give the answers.
So, is Huo Xiao Fan the blackmailer? Is a mother behind her daughter’s misery?
“She gave birth to me…Why does she hate me so much? Why is she trying to destroy my life?”
Suddenly, Nana felt a searing pain in her head. Her vision was darkening as she thought the room was spinning wildly in circles. She clutched her head, tightly furrowing her brows, and she was about to collapse on the floor, but a figure from the shadows quickly ran in and caught her in his arms. She fainted in that man’s embrace.
Jinhai looked down at Nana, her face stained with tears. He wiped her tears and kissed her forehead. He whispered, “Now rest, my dear wife.”
—
Nana slowly opened her eyes and saw an unfamiliar ceiling above. She tilted her head left and right and found herself lying on a bed. The walls were all white, and she realized the place.
‘Hospital…’
“Nana, how are you feeling?” She heard a familiar voice that she loved so much.
Jinhai was holding her right hand in his. The warmth of his hand never failed to reassure her.
“Jinhai…”
“En.” He caressed her head and kissed her knuckles. “I am here.”
Nana recalled the visit to her house, where she discovered the most terrible truth of her birth.
Yu Tengfei was her biological father, who tried to molest her.
Huo Xiao Fan was her biological mother, who is the cause of her misery today.
Both of her parents had only hurt her when she didn’t even know what her crime was.
“How did I come here..?”
Jinhai said, “I was not able to reach you on your phone. I got worried, so I tracked your number and found you unconscious in that house.”
Nana panicked.
‘Did he see those letters? Does he know about Huo Xiao Fan?’
Nana wanted to let him know everything only when she would have resolved everything. Now that she knew the truth, she wanted to confront Huo Xiao Fan and end this game once and for all.
Until then, there would always be a threat to Jinhai’s life.
But fortunately, Jinhai didn’t ask anything as to why she was present at her old home.
The doctor came in and examined Nana.
She pulled out her stethoscope and said, “Mrs. Liu is fine now. But, she was under too much stress. The cortisol level in her blood was very close to reach the borderline. That is why she fainted. Mrs. Liu, you should take care of yourself. This much stress is not good for you and your baby’s health.”
Nana couldn’t say anything.
Jinhai nodded. “En. I will take care of her.”
As the doctor left, the whole Liu family came rushing in.
Liu Chunhua worriedly asked, “Nana, how are you, dear?”
Liu Hai exclaimed, “You scared us, child!”
Jing was equally stressed. “Sister-in-law, tell me what happened. I will take care of all your problems!”
Grandma Liu harrumphed. “Kids these days just don’t know how to rest. So irresponsible.” She was tsundere until the end.
Jinhai said, “She is fine. The doctor has checked her vitals. For now, let her rest. You can ask all the questions later.”
They reluctantly nodded. Liu Chunhua sighed, “Alright. Take rest, dear.”
Nana nodded.
Jinhai said, “I will come back in a few minutes.”
She was now alone in the ward. Her phone buzzed.
The same number.
“Nana, You had quite the guts to foil my plan last night. But enough is enough. Now, I will end your marriage in one strike. Wait for your surprise.”
A few seconds later, she saw an incoming video message.
Her heartbeat quickened.
As soon as Nana nervously opened the video, she was stupefied. The phone fell from her hands as she started trembling in fear.
“No…”