233— You Mean You've Found Yueran?

Unwilling to watch his mother torture herself, Gao Tinghua gave her Pei Yueran's phone number and even offered to call her himself, but Qiao Mingran declined.

Since her daughter said she should wait, then she would wait. She owed her a lot already.

When she said this to Gao Tinghua, he nodded helplessly. He wasn't the one always showing a disappointed face whenever a call came in. His mother could do whatever she liked.

But he reminded her that there were other things to do. At the very least, they could do something, like informing the rest of the family.

So on this day, the Gao family members were gathered around the dining table again, but without the previous feast. Qiao Mingran could not be bothered to plan a menu this time around.

Everyone noticed, but each had different thoughts and didn't say anything.

Gao Tingxiu was just happy to note that there were no shrimp dishes this time, while Gao Zhipeng looked slightly worried as his gaze swung from his wife to the dishes. He could just feel that something had changed.

Especially since his wife was just eating her meal elegantly, without trying to put food into any of their bowls. It was like...she didn't care.

The more he looked at her, the more convinced he was. Then he began to notice other things.

For instance, her eyes had changed a bit. The brown orbs no longer looked like extremely limpid as if the owner would burst into tears at any second. Her demeanor had also changed — her back was straighter, and she looked at ease with herself.

Overall, her bearing was now different, making her look like a true aristocrat, like the woman he got married to at the beginning, and not the one that changed after they lost their child.

Qiao Mingran had long noticed his penetrating stare, but she didn't react. She just focused on her meal. She needed the distraction, not to mention the energy.

Ironically, even though this dinner wasn't as sumptuous as the first time, it was much more peaceful and finished without a hitch.

The more Gao Zhipeng watched her, the less hungry he felt, so he soon stopped eating altogether, just after Gao Tinghua finished his meal.

Gao Tingxiu was the next to drop her chopsticks. She had to maintain a certain weight for her current movie, so she couldn't eat much. Now she was only waiting for her mother's announcement.

She had to say she was slowly getting fascinated by her mother. For someone whose care seemed hypocritical at first, Gao Tingxiu didn't have an impression of her.

If she had to say something, it would be that her mother was a person who was always close by, yet absent from her life.

Growing up, her mother always looked at her with sad eyes and an absent look, making her feel like her mother was not looking at her, but at someone else through her.

Thankfully, even though she had awful parents, she at least had a great big brother, and for that, she was thankful. Gao Tinghua played the role of father and mother to her, and she adored him in return.

After the shocking revelation of another child, she began to understand somethings. Perhaps this was why her mother always looked at her like that, the reason she was like an unfamiliar stranger.

But the fascinating thing for her was the way her mother had changed since then. How should she put it? It felt like watching a caterpillar for years, only to look again one day and see a brilliant-looking butterfly instead.

The difference was too obvious.

Gao Tingxiu would say she was the one most unconcerned about this new sister of hers. She wasn't even close to the mother that birthed her, what more a sister that she didn't even know existed?

Aside from the initial shock, she felt nothing.

But seeing how her brother had been very busy for the past month, she instinctively knew it had something to do with the issue, and that he cared about it a lot.

Since her brother cared, she made up her mind to care too.

It would also be great to see the reactions of the rest of the family, namely her father and their relatives. If nothing at all, it would help her enlarge the expressions in her acting vocabulary, as well as provide some entertainment!

That was why when she saw her mother's message about another dinner where she had something to announce, Gao Tingxiu made sure to make out time.

Now seeing her mother finally put down her chopsticks and wipe her mouth slowly, Gao Tingxiu felt curious and a bit excited. What could the news be?

Amidst the three pairs of eyes trained on her, Qiao Mingran drank some water and put down her glass before saying, "The reason I called everyone today is to announce that I have finally found her."

This bombshell was not surprising at all to most of the family, neither did anyone ask who the "her" was. Gao Tinghua already knew, and Gao Tingxiu had already guessed a bit of it. The only person who was truly shocked was Gao Zhipeng.

"You-you mean you've found Yueran? That's impossible. How-how come?"

When the word "Yueran" came out, two pairs of eyes turned sharply in Gao Zhipeng's direction.

Gao Tinghua frowned, but Qiao Mingran's eyes had taken on a glint.

Turning to face her husband squarely, she asked in a voice that seemed to be coated with steel, "How did you know that her name is Yueran?"

For long moments, Gao Zhipeng could only stutter, without saying anything coherent. At this point, even Gao Tinghua was fast losing his patience.

"Father, drop the act and speak. How did you know her name? Did you search for her?"

By now, Gao Zhipeng was sweating profusely. How should he answer this question?

In that short moment, he considered many lies, such as saying he saw the name on his wife's phone or that Ran was the name he had always called that daughter in his heart, but one look at his wife told him he had better say only the truth.

With those eyes that looked poised to shoot out lasers, Qiao Mingran really looked dangerous at that moment.

So after half a day, he manged to grind out the words, "I knew about her identity and whereabouts all along."