novelraw Chapter 495 - 412: Research Study
Chapter 495 - 412: Research Study
Leng Ning found it hard to imagine—how could her sister-in-law, who was from North City, have a father who might really be the lost child of the Jin Family’s aunt?
If this turned out to be true, how should their family hierarchy be arranged? And how would Buding address everyone in the future?
But at the moment, it was too early to say anything. Nobody knew exactly what was going on.
So today, she decided to follow her gut and bring this matter up.
When Li Si saw the image, her immediate reaction was one of bewilderment. How could the design of this jade pendant look so strikingly similar to the one her father had?
Leng Ning noticed her slightly furrowed brow and contemplative expression, an uneasy feeling rising in her heart. "Sister-in-law, have you seen this jade pendant before?"
She might not have realized it, but there was a subtle tremble in her voice.
"It looks like it might be similar! Where’s your brother?" Li Si had only glanced at the jade pendant in the past, before quickly putting it away.
She needed to retrieve it for closer inspection, but she couldn’t access the storage space while Leng Ning was around. So she found an excuse to send her away for a moment.
"I’ll go call him!" Leng Ning gave Li Si a complicated look. Could her sister-in-law really be related to Jin Yichen?
If that were the case, what would it mean for her? How would their relationships and hierarchies be sorted?
Feeling conflicted, Leng Ning left the study. Li Si quickly entered the storage space to retrieve the jade pendant, while Xiao Guai looked on, frustrated by his whirlwind-like owner. He whimpered twice as Li Si hastily reassured him, "Just hang in there for a while longer, and I’ll let you out to play soon! Be good!"
After leaving the storage space, she held the jade pendant and compared it to the image on the computer screen. The more she looked, the more they seemed alarmingly alike.
However, perhaps this jade pendant, stored for so long in the space, appeared to be of better quality than the one in the photo.
The emerald green pendant in her hand was something she had found while sorting through her father’s belongings after she had returned to life. Because it hadn’t seemed all that remarkable at the time, she hadn’t thought much of it.
It had been stored with property certificates ever since. If it weren’t for Leng Ning showing her the image today, she might have long since forgotten the jade pendant even existed.
She had originally thought the carving on it was just decorative. Could it be that her father’s origins were somehow extraordinary?
She shook her head. Why, then, had no one in the Li Family during her previous life—up until her death—ever questioned or mentioned anything about her father’s background?
Could the jade pendant simply have been something her father found or bought by chance?
The more she thought about it, the more likely this seemed.
At that moment, Leng Mochen entered the bedroom behind Leng Ning and saw his little wife lost deep in thought.
"What’s the matter?" Leng Mochen’s heart skipped a beat. Could it be that she’d discovered something? But when Li Si took his hand and showed him the computer screen, he became even more confused as to what had startled her so much.
He turned to ask Leng Ning, who seemed hesitant to speak.
"Xiao Ning just showed me a thread about finding lost relatives. The jade pendant pictured and described in the thread has a design and material similar to my dad’s, but the patterns are different!"
Leng Mochen frowned slightly—lost relatives? Could there be something unusual about Li Si’s father’s background?
"Take a look at the thread!" Li Si opened the webpage she had been viewing earlier. The post was created by a user with the ID "Unrivaled Leaf," and included both images and text.
The poster mentioned searching for long-lost relatives and asked anyone familiar with the jade pendant or possessing related clues to contact them, promising a generous reward for any helpful information.
"What does your jade pendant look like?" Leng Mochen rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"Here! Take a look!" Li Si handed her jade pendant to Leng Mochen while Leng Ning nervously watched him examine it. The more she looked at the pendant in his hand, the more astonished she became.
The resemblance between this pendant and the one in the image was incredible. Could her sister-in-law really be related to Jin Yichen? Her mind reeled—she felt overwhelmed.
Leng Mochen held the jade pendant up to the sunlight streaming into the room. At first glance, it didn’t seem particularly special; the jade wasn’t of top-tier quality, though the craftsmanship was commendable.
"I don’t see anything particularly unusual about it. Had you encountered this pendant prior to finding it among your father’s belongings?"
Li Si, knowing he referred to her previous life, shook her head. "No! I only discovered it while sorting through my father’s things after his passing."
If Zhang Meihua and the others had also sorted through the belongings in her previous life, they must have seen it then, too.
However, no incidents related to searching for lost relatives had occurred back then.
Now, there was a search underway—and her father happened to have this particular pendant. This was a puzzle beyond her ability to resolve.
But it didn’t quite make sense! Li Guofu wasn’t her grandfather’s biological child, so could her father have been someone else’s child as well?
That possibility would throw everything into chaos! It just didn’t add up.
The more she dwelled on it, the more alarming the implications seemed.
Leng Mochen also found it perplexing. "Sometimes things aren’t as simple as they appear on the surface. Xiao Ning, do you know the person who posted this thread?"
Leng Ning nodded, still uneasy. "It’s Yichen’s family. His aunt lost a child years ago, and apparently each family member in the Jin Family has one of these pendants. The child had one hanging around their neck as well."
Li Si’s eyes widened in shock. "What? Jin Yichen’s aunt?!"
Could her father possibly have some connection to the Jin Family? She recalled Jin Yichen mentioning once that his family was native to Beijing.
But logically, her father shouldn’t have had any interaction with them.
Moreover, if her father wasn’t her grandmother’s biological son, it seemed implausible.
Over the years, her grandmother had shown favoritism, but her father had been the only one in the family to graduate from university!
Li Guofu and Li Guozhi, by contrast, had only finished middle school. If her grandmother had known her father wasn’t her biological child, would she have allowed him to attend university?
Why wouldn’t she have prioritized her own children’s education instead? At that time, a university degree was highly valued! Despite her father’s later move back to North City with Tian Yaruo, he had landed a prestigious job!
Li Guofu and Li Guozhi, however, each led markedly different lives—Li Guofu had originally worked at a unit before becoming self-employed due to restructuring, while Li Guozhi quit her job at the factory after having kids.
Had they pursued higher education, their lives would surely have taken a different path!
Still, certain things didn’t add up! If her grandmother had known her father wasn’t biologically hers, why hadn’t she forcefully taken back the house and the money left behind after he passed away saving someone?
Why hadn’t she done so?
"Maybe our assumptions are wrong, and I really have no idea how my father came to have this particular jade pendant. He could’ve found it or bought it—it’s hard to say!" Li Si forced herself to stay calm.
She had just considered another possibility: if her father really was that missing child, it would make her relationship with Leng Ning far more complicated in the future.
At this moment, Leng Mochen, who had been silent all along, said, "Why don’t you, Xiao Ning, give them a call and ask them to bring their pendant here? Let’s sit down and examine them together!"
Regardless of the outcome, now that the issue had surfaced, it had to be addressed. Speculating endlessly wouldn’t solve anything.
"Alright!" Leng Ning immediately called Jin Yichen. Endless guessing wouldn’t help — what if the jade pendant wasn’t her father’s after all?
Her emotions were in turmoil. On one hand, she hoped the Jin Family would find their lost relative; on the other hand, she feared the potential consequences of what they might uncover.
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