Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I mustered the courage to look up at her, my voice trembling. “Aunt said you’re sick because you don’t have enough blood.”

“I have lots of blood. I can give some to you!” My tears fell in torrents. “If you drink my blood, will you get better faster?”

My Adoptive Mother’s lips trembled, and she remained silent for a long time.

Through my blurred, teary vision, I looked at Chu Qi.

“Brother, please don’t hate me.

“Don’t worry, I’ll only take a tiny bit of the love meant for you.”

I held up my thumb and index finger, gesturing a small gap.

Then I squeezed them closer and closer together until only a paper-thin sliver of light could pass through.

I gave Chu Qi a pleading, fawning smile. “I only need this much. Is that okay?”

If one has never been loved, one can stumble through life well enough.

But once you have tasted what it feels like to be loved, it becomes an addiction you can never cut away.

Chu Qi clenched his fists, his entire face flushing red as he shouted at me, “You idiot! Drinking blood doesn’t replenish blood!”

After snapping at me, he turned and ran out of the kitchen, heading upstairs. A loud bang echoed as he slammed his bedroom door shut.

My Adoptive Mother helped me up and gave an order: “Go sit on the sofa. I’ll go find the first-aid kit.”

She went up to the master bedroom, and just then, there was a knock at the front door.

I went to open it. The two people standing there felt like a bucket of ice water poured over my head, freezing the tears in my eyes.

It was my Biological Father and Biological Mother!

Unlike my stunned silence, they were incredibly agitated.

They forced their way inside and gripped my hands tightly. “Laidi, we finally found you!”

My Biological Mother’s eyes were rimmed with red as she excitedly touched my clothes and face. “Look at you. Why do you look so pale? Have you been crying? Are they treating you poorly?”

“Mama thought I’d never find you again.”

My eyes darted between them.

It was strange.

At this moment, my heart was pounding wildly.

It wasn’t the joy of a long-awaited reunion, but the sheer panic of a meeting that should never have happened.

My Biological Father took a final drag of his cigarette and tossed the glowing butt onto the hallway floor. He grabbed my arm and started pulling me toward the door. “Stop wasting time. Let’s go. You’re coming back with us!”

My mother wiped her tears, her face full of delight. “A highway is being built back home. Every person registered in the household gets twenty thousand yuan!

“If you come back with us, our family gets an extra twenty thousand. With that money, our family will never have to be apart again.”