Inside the private room, Situ Wenze had been waiting with his nephew and niece for a long time.

The three of them saw Yun Zijin, and their eyes instantly lit up.

"Aunt Zijin!"

Hearing someone call her "aunt" so suddenly, Yun Zijin was still a bit unused to it.

She hadn’t expected to be called "aunt" at only twenty-one years old.

"There’s no concrete evidence yet, so there’s no need to change how you address me."

Yun Zijin only wanted to know the truth. But as for returning to the Situ family, she was absolutely against it.

Going back would mean she was a member of the Situ family, and she would have to consider the rest of the family in everything she did from then on.

And Yun Zijin didn’t believe that someone like her, who was only acknowledged halfway through her life, would have any say in the Situ Family.

She’d be constrained at every turn, having to watch others’ expressions before doing anything. No matter how she thought about it, Yun Zijin couldn’t see any benefit in returning to the Situ family.

Twenty-one years had passed. They hadn’t come when she was working part-time jobs every day just to make a living. They hadn’t come when she was all alone at school parent-teacher conferences. And they certainly hadn’t come when others bullied her, calling her a little bastard!

Now that she had everything, they showed up. Swooping in to reap the rewards couldn’t have been easier.

"Are you resentful of us?"

The moment Situ Wenze heard her, he felt that Yun Zijin didn’t seem particularly happy about their arrival.

’Hadn’t he heard that she grew up in an orphanage and that finding her father was worse than not having one at all? So when family like them appeared, shouldn’t she cherish them even more?’

"No, I just think it would be more reliable to do a DNA test. The mere fact that I look like your aunt isn’t persuasive enough."

Yun Zijin was very clear about her reason for agreeing to meet Situ Wenze today.

She simply wanted to know who her parents were.

"You’re right, a DNA test is necessary. However, my aunt is still in France right now, so we might have to wait a few days for the test."

He could do a kinship test with Yun Zijin, but the accuracy was a bit lower. If a maternity test was possible, it was the more reliable option.

"I’m available anytime. Just let me know when she comes to Hua Country."

Aside from what was necessary, Yun Zijin had no intention of having much contact with the Situ family.

Situ Wenze nodded. "I’ll let you know the moment my aunt arrives in Hua Country. The food is getting cold, let’s eat."

They must have already ordered before Yun Zijin arrived. During their conversation, a waiter had quietly served the dishes.

However, looking at the food on the table, Yun Zijin had no appetite. She barely picked at her food with her chopsticks a couple of times before making her excuses to leave.

"I just had breakfast not long ago, so I’m not very hungry. Please take your time. I’ll be going now."

Now that the DNA test was settled, Yun Zijin had no intention of staying any longer.

Situ Wenze frowned slightly. He couldn’t shake the feeling that Yun Zijin didn’t seem to like them very much, showing none of the joy one would expect from someone who had finally found their long-lost relatives.

But considering they hadn’t done the DNA test yet, Situ Wenze couldn’t bring himself to say anything to her.

’Even if I were to say something, I’d have to wait until after the DNA test confirms everything. Then I could speak to her as an elder.’

Situ Anyu and Situ Anrui ate in silence, feeling that it would be inappropriate for them to speak at that moment.

After leaving Qingjin Pavilion, Yun Zijin glanced back at its sign.

’It seems there was a reason Situ Wenze reacted so strongly when he heard my name at the banquet.’

However, Yun Zijin didn’t want to dig any deeper. Her life was very good as it was.

Just as Yun Zijin stepped out of Qingjin Pavilion’s entrance, she ran into Lu Yunque.

"What are you doing here?"

"I came to pick you up."

Lu Yunque raised his hand slightly, took Yun Zijin’s, and led her away from Qingjin Pavilion.

"You knew I was meeting Situ Wenze today?"

’I don’t think I told Lu Yunque about my meeting with Situ Wenze today.’

"I spoke with him for a bit at the banquet yesterday while you were away."

The implication was that Situ Wenze had told him everything, and he himself hadn’t done anything to find out.

Yun Zijin gave Lu Yunque a suspicious look and suddenly asked, "How’s that self-criticism essay coming along?"

Yun Zijin’s sudden jump in topic almost caught Lu Yunque off guard.

"It’s not finished yet. I’ll give it to you tonight after work."

Lu Yunque was confident he could easily handle an 800-word self-criticism. Since Lu Yunque had given a deadline, Yun Zijin didn’t press him further.

The Xia Group had recently been mired in the TSLS scandal, and investors were pulling out of many of its projects.

After Yun Zijin bought that plot of land in the South Suburb, their cash flow, which had been painstakingly recovered, was once again on the verge of collapse.

The Xia father and son were running around to various government departments every day, trying to pull strings, but it was useless. The required procedures had to be followed, and not a single step could be skipped.

To deal with the inspections from the tax authorities, the finance department of the Xia Group was, so to speak, tearing their hair out.

Meanwhile, in a coffee shop near the Xia Group’s building, Xia Zhiyun and Cen Mulin had somehow ended up together.

"Miss Cen, you’ve been persistently staking this place out for days. If you have something to say, just say it."

The Cen family’s current situation wasn’t much better than the Xia family’s, so Xia Zhiyun had no interest in wasting time arguing with Cen Mulin.

"The banquet hosted by the Situ Family yesterday... President Xia, you didn’t attend, did you?"

For whatever reason, the Situ Family had decided on their guest list, and the Xia Family had not received an invitation.

This matter had become a topic of after-dinner gossip in Dijing.

After all, even if the Xia family was on the verge of collapse, they were still part of Dijing’s elite circle. Yet the Situ family had specifically left out the Xia Family, which was quite intriguing.

"Is Miss Cen here today to laugh at our Xia Family’s expense?"

Xia Zhiyun was also holding a grudge about not receiving an invitation from the Situ family.

Receiving an invitation and not going was completely different from not being able to go because you weren’t invited.

"Of course not." Cen Mulin’s hands, hidden under the table, clenched into fists as she recalled the news she had accidentally overheard at the banquet yesterday.

"I wonder if President Xia knows that one of the reasons the Situ Family returned to the country to develop their business was to find a child they lost many years ago."

This piece of news was actually something anyone with the right connections could find out.

But no one had been able to find out specifically who they were looking for.

Presumably, the news that they were looking for someone was deliberately released by the Situ Family themselves.

"What does that have to do with you asking me to meet today?"

From the bottom of his heart, Xia Zhiyun looked down on women like Cen Mulin who were always putting on an act.

"Just today, Situ Wenze met with Yun Zijin. If I remember correctly, this Miss Yun is President Xia’s biological sister who was switched at birth, right?"

"Everyone in Dijing knows that."

The fact that Yun Zijin was the Xia Family’s true daughter, who had been switched at birth for twenty-one years, was no longer a secret in Dijing.

"Just today, the Situ family met with Yun Zijin."

To deal with Yun Zijin, Cen Mulin would, it could be said, stop at nothing.

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