Chapter Forty-Five: Your Father Has Returned (Part One)

Zhao Si... Why does this name sound exactly the same as Chao Si?

Holding her teacup, Lu Yuehong seemed to realize something, and her mind went blank for a moment.

With a loud "crash," the valuable blue-and-white porcelain cup slipped from her hand in her distraction, shattering into countless fragments on the floor. The scalding tea, no longer contained, splashed directly onto her exposed skin.

"Ahhhhhh!"

Her skin turned bright red from the burning liquid. Lu Yuehong bent over in pain, letting out a shrill scream.

At that moment, the very person who had caused all this walked over with an expression of innocent concern and asked, "Teacher, are you all right? How did you manage to drop your teacup like that?"

His voice was gentle and caring, the very image of a well-mannered young gentleman.

Lu Yuehong, after all, was still a woman; being stared at so intently by such a handsome youth, she couldn't bring herself to keep screaming. Her face twitched slightly as she forced a strained smile, enduring the pain. "It's nothing. It's just that your name is very similar to a former classmate of ours."

"Is that so?" The youth seemed interested, and even his tone became livelier.

"My 'Chao' means 'morning and evening,' and my 'Si' means 'unrestrained.' Teacher, what was your student's name?"

From the bottom of her heart, Lu Yuehong detested Chao Si. She hadn't planned to mention her at all. But the boy's eager, inquisitive eyes were as moist and pleading as a small animal's, and she found herself unwittingly spilling the truth.

"Her? She can't compare to you. She was a little fool in the class, useless too. I don't know how she got so lucky with her surname, just like yours. As for her name... it's pronounced the same as yours, but written with a different character—the number four."

As Lu Yuehong spoke of Chao Si, her face was full of undisguised disgust. There wasn't a shred of gentleness or concern, not the least bit of a teacher's warmth.

How laughable.

The light in Chao Xu's eyes dimmed, turning chillingly cold.

If the hazy memories served him right, Lu Yuehong hadn't directly harmed Chao Xu. But her actions were even more despicable. She was an abuser, inflicting emotional coldness on Chao Si, encouraging those who followed her lead to bully Chao Si as a way to please her. Even when Chao Si was being bullied mercilessly, she would simply stand by with her arms crossed, watching coldly.

Such a person was unworthy of being called a teacher; she could hardly even be called a decent human being.

"Chao Si, is it?" Chao Xu watched Lu Yuehong's expression, the smile at his lips only growing more radiant.

"What a coincidence—that's my sister's name. I thought there was someone with exactly the same name as mine, but if it's my sister, then it's not strange at all. After all, my name was chosen together with hers by a fortune-teller."

With an unruffled calm, he dropped a bomb into Lu Yuehong's heart.

Sister!?

Lu Yuehong, who had just been about to complain to Chao Si about Chao Si herself, suddenly felt the words clogging in her throat, unable to go up or down.

She swallowed hard, forcing herself to speak. "What sister? Didn't your mother only have one child—you?"

Otherwise, the right to inherit the Chao family wouldn't have fallen to such a young boy.

The boy, still wearing that innocent, angelic smile, replied, "Yes, my mother only had me, but my uncle—the head of the Chao family—did not. My cousin, my uncle's daughter, is named Chao Si. Actually, the reason I came to you, Teacher Lu, is because my sister used to be in this class."

Lu Yuehong's pupils trembled uncontrollably in shock.