Chapter 37: Yuzao is a Princess?!

Under Lu Ya’s prodding, Yu Zao’s just-awakened mind felt increasingly heavy.

She instinctively reached for her phone to check its contents, but as soon as her fingers touched the old, malfunctioning screen, it dialed the first missed call on its own.

*Beep... beep... beep...*

The ringing lasted only a second before the other party answered immediately. Fu Shiyong’s voice was so frantic it sounded as if he were rushing to his own reincarnation.

"Yu Zao, you’re calling me on your own initiative—are you feeling guilty?"

"To get back to my side, to squeeze Yu Yue out, you really have gone to great lengths."

"You don't even care about your own health."

"If you wanted to fake an illness, you could have just injected yourself with muscle-relaxing anesthetics."

"To you, is wealth and status really more important than your own life?"

The phone was on speaker. That deep, husky, resonant voice lacked the usual hysteria of someone driven by indignation, yet every word felt like a thousand fine needles, piercing her until she was left defenseless.

After a long silence, Yu Zao heard her own shattered, unrecognizable voice ask, "Fu Shiyong, if one day I die, would you also think I was just playing a joke on you?"

"Die?" The man let out a cold scoff through the poor-quality phone, the interference making his tone sound even more mocking. "Yu Zao, before you get the wealth you dream of, you won't die. You’ll only exhaust yourself trying to seduce me and hurt Yu Yue!"

"Fu Shiyong, Yu Yue is just the daughter of a mistress! You said... you..."

Perhaps it was because she had been unconscious for so long, but her emotions were fragile. Yet, once she shouted those words, the suffocating pressure in her chest dissipated just a little.

"The daughter of a mistress? Yu Zao, it’s been three years. Do you still think I would only believe your one-sided story just because I once loved you?"

If words could flay a person alive, she would have died a thousand, ten thousand times over.

"Remember this: whoever I love, I will protect and trust."

"As for you, a poisonous woman who abandoned her husband and child, I, Fu Shiyong, find you utterly disgusting!"

"Also, stay away from Yu Yue, or I will make you wish you were dead!"

With that, the call was unilaterally disconnected. The old phone, unable to hold on any longer, crashed and the screen went black.

Yu Zao’s palms clutched the high-end silk sheets, leaving them damp with her sweat. Her eyes were red enough to bleed, yet she couldn't squeeze out a single tear.

Lu Ya smacked her lips, trying to lighten the atmosphere with an awkward laugh. "Auntie, I told you, Fu Shiyong is just a dog of a man! Don’t mind him. Anyway, our family’s wealth is enough for you to..."

"What 'Auntie'? Princess Lu Ya, we shouldn't know each other, right?"

Aside from the unsettling similarity to her mother’s personality, the two were worlds apart. One was an "orphan" in Jingbei, riddled with illness and clinging to life; the other was a noble-born princess, standing at the very pinnacle of humanity.

Even if they racked their brains, there should have been no connection between them.

"No, Auntie, your last name is Yu, and you’re a native of Jingbei."

"My Great-Aunt ran away from home and came here back then. My father’s information can’t be wrong!"

As if to prove it, the little princess immediately had her servants bring over the painting Yu Zao had restored.

"Auntie, look, this is the painting my father collected that his aunt made."

"Only his aunt herself and her children could restore it with such perfect fidelity."

It was true. The brushwork and composition of the painting, though slightly raw and immature, did match some of her mother’s small habits.

At this thought, the sense of loneliness that had Yu Zao feeling abandoned by the world loosened just a fraction. She had lost her mother in the past and been kicked out by her father. Later, she met Fu Shiyong and gave birth to Yiyi. She had thought she would never again be that pathetic creature who was abandoned and left behind. But after a severe illness, she had pathetically returned to the starting point—a place where she had nothing and was betrayed by everyone.

"Alright, Auntie, I know you’re suspicious and must think I have ulterior motives."

"But don't worry, I’ve already had our family’s laboratory in Jingbei perform a DNA test."

"As soon as the results are out, I’ll notify my parents so they can bring you back with honor."

"When that happens, you’ll be a princess too, a person of high standing, with a family and people who love you."

"Hmph! Then I’ll get to see how that scumbag and that bitch, Fu Shiyong and Yu Yue, try to squirm."

Lu Ya had a quirky personality, but she was infinitely dependent and defenseless toward those she felt close to. Yu Zao’s instinctive defense mechanisms automatically disarmed when she looked at the girl who resembled her mother in every gesture.

"Anyway, Auntie, until your identity is officially confirmed, stay here and be my second steward. I’ll officially hire you; I definitely won’t mistreat you."

The seventeen-or-eighteen-year-old girl was youthful and boisterous. Watching her chatter away, even at night when they slept, she would act spoiled, insisting on sharing the same quilt with Yu Zao and hugging her tightly.

In the dead of night, Lu Ya would act as if she were afraid Yu Zao might suddenly stop breathing. She would cautiously test her pulse, repeating the same action over and over throughout the night.

"Auntie, please, I hope it’s really you. It has to be you!"

The next day, having temporarily settled in, Yu Zao decided to meet Yang Chen, who had been sending her messages.

Inside a private room at a Michelin-starred restaurant under the Yang family’s name, the privacy was absolute.

"So, you’re saying you might be a lost European princess?"

Yu Zao was successfully amused. She shook her head. "It’s not certain yet, but Brother Yang, I really don't want to reach the day I die still being all alone."

Lu Ya was different from Fu Shiyong and Yiyi. If that father and son didn't hate her and wouldn't let go, the repeated suicide attempts of three years ago would only happen again.

"But, Yu Zao, have you ever thought about whether you even look like you have mixed heritage?"

"Besides, you’ve met the Liu family in Jingbei; they are a respectable, scholarly family."

When people want something desperately, they often deceive themselves. Outside the private room, the LCD television in the corridor was playing local news at random. A waiter entered to serve the dishes, and as the door opened, the host’s voice, thick with uncontainable envy, drifted in.

"Today, the awards ceremony for Ms. Zhao Yueyao was held at the Jingbei Stadium."

"Her husband, daughter, and son-in-law were all in attendance to offer their congratulations."

"Surrounded by her family, Ms. Zhao was officially certified by the global art community as one of the most creative painters."

The scene switched to the event. Zhao Yueyao was being escorted by her husband and daughter, one on each side. Fu Shiyong was tenderly holding an umbrella to shield them from the sun. Professor Zhao’s students were everywhere, filling the VIP stands and cheering for their kind and gentle teacher.

"Little Yu..."

Yang Chen noticed that Yu Zao’s face had turned an unnaturally deathly pale. Her dry, dehydrated lips were bitten until they bled.

He immediately sent the waiter out and shut the door tight, completely isolating the sounds of celebration and cheering.

Suddenly, Yu Zao lowered her head and stuffed a large piece of potato into her mouth, her tears falling and mixing into it.

"Brother Yang, if my mother hadn't fallen ill, and if I hadn't fallen ill..."

"Then would it be the two of us, mother and daughter, being held by Mr. Yu and treated with genuine love by Fu Shiyong today?"

"And I wouldn't have been kicked out of the house as a teenager to become an orphan."

"My mother wouldn't have jumped from a rental apartment to her death, left without a whole corpse!"

Perhaps when one has lost too much, one always wants to grasp that last bit of unrealistic hope. Lu Ya had become the only ray of light in Yu Zao’s pitch-black world that could pierce through the dead silence.

"Fine, let’s take the gamble."

"But, Little Yu, don’t blame me for not warning you: that little princess Lu Ya has a strange temper. If you aren't who she thinks, I’m afraid she’ll take revenge on you until you’re dead!"

The meal was eaten without any joy. Returning to the villa that night, Lu Ya grabbed her and pushed her toward the walk-in closet filled with high-fashion couture.

"Come on, come on, Auntie, come out and play with me."

"There’s the biggest socialite party in Jingbei, and that bitch Yu Yue will be there, too. I’m going to help you slap her in the face!"