Reborn As Super Heiress

Chapter 362: Chapter 358: The Daughter Abandoned Eighteen Years Ago

Zhang Xiaohui dug around for a long while but couldn’t find any money, and she immediately flew into a rage, ”Where’s the money?”

Wu Dekai’s face showed embarrassment as he looked away guiltily, ”I lost it.”

”You lost it all?!” Zhang Xiaohui couldn’t believe it.

Wu Dekai nodded hesitantly, and Zhang Xiaohui was instantly choked with anger, ”You lost over three thousand dollars in one night? Are you trying to drive our daughter and me to our deaths? Wu Dekai, do you even want to continue living?!”

”It’s just some money that was lost, what’s the big deal?”

Having lost the money, Wu Dekai naturally lacked confidence, grumbling a few words before turning around to see his wife packing clothes, ready to take their child back to her parents’. He became anxious immediately, ”Stop, stop, I was wrong, isn’t that enough?”

Zhang Xiaohui sneered, ”Wrong? Do you ever intend to quit your gambling? While your daughter and I are starving at home, you’re enjoying yourself at the gambling house! Now that the money’s gone, you think a simple ’I was wrong’ makes everything okay? We have no money for the New Year, and Xuanxuan’s tuition is also unsettled. How do you expect us, mother and daughter, to live?”

Wu Dekai looked sheepish and found himself at a loss for words. Deep down, he didn’t think there was anything wrong with gambling; it was only the thought of his wife returning to her parents’ house that instinctively made him want to say a few persuading words. Truly asking him to give up gambling would probably be more painful for him than losing his own life.

Seeing his behavior, Zhang Xiaohui knew exactly what he was thinking and was even angrier. Without a word, she picked up the child, pushed Wu Dekai aside, and made for the door.

Wu Dekai hurriedly chased after her to stop her, when suddenly a thought struck him, and he blurted out urgently, ”Right, right, money, we have money!”

Zhang Xiaohui’s steps halted at these words, and she turned back to look at Wu Dekai, ”You’ve lost it all; where are we going to find money now?”

”I’m not lying, we have money! Someone sent me a text message last night!”

As he spoke, Wu Dekai pulled out his worn-out mobile phone and flipped through it to show Zhang Xiaohui the text message.

”Wu Dekai, do you remember the child you abandoned at the Baiyun Township Orphanage eighteen years ago? She has now grown up safely and turned out to be a beautiful young lady who has found a wealthy boyfriend. However, she still broods over not knowing who her parents are. If you want to acknowledge this daughter, you can contact me.”

Zhang Xiaohui read the text message aloud, but her gaze was filled with skepticism, ”What does it mean, the child from eighteen years ago?”

Wu Dekai glanced at the situation outside before pulling his wife back into the house and securing the doors and windows. He then looked at Zhang Xiaohui somewhat awkwardly and said,

”That was all more than a decade ago. At that time, I was working as a miner in a coal mine in Baiyun Village. I was young and reckless, and I ended up getting involved with a widow from a village at the base of the mines. Who knew that woman would actually get pregnant, and she refused to have an abortion. She sneaked off and secretly gave birth.”

Listening to him, Zhang Xiaohui didn’t show much of a reaction. She knew Wu Dekai was unreliable, so such an event wasn’t surprising to her, ”Then what?”

”Then...” Wu Dekai looked at Zhang Xiaohui to confirm she wasn’t angry before he continued,

”The widow had a girl and actually wanted to marry me. I was not even twenty then; why would I marry a widow?”

”When she saw I disagreed, she went and made a scene at the mine, causing me to lose my job. Then, taking advantage of a night when I was sound asleep in my tent, she left the child with me and went off to remarry in another place.”

”Back then, I was homeless myself, struggling just to get by from one meal to the next, how could I raise a child? So, without giving it much thought, I just dumped the kid at the doorstep of the orphanage.”

Zhang Xiaohui nodded, but there was little joy in her eyes, ”So, you want to recognize that girl as your daughter again?”

Zhang Xiaohui was not even thirty herself, and out of the blue had to play mom; naturally, she couldn’t be too happy about it.

Seeing her expression, Wu Dekai knew she had misunderstood and said with a flattering smile, ”What are you thinking? A loss-making good-for-nothing who wasn’t even raised by me, how could she be dear to me? Recognizing her would only be an annoyance, wouldn’t it?”

Being sidetracked by Wu Dekai like this, Zhang Xiaohui’s original anger subsided quite a bit, and she looked at him calmly, saying coldly, ”If you’re not planning to recognize her, then why are you showing me this? Isn’t it just annoying me?”

”Besides, this has nothing to do with the argument we just had, does it? Whether you recognize the child is your business, and whether you can or not, let’s not even mention that for now. But the fact that you lost your money is true, and we have no money for the New Year—I don’t want to live like this anymore.”

Wu Dekai’s face showed excitement, ”Are you stupid? This is money being delivered to us! Didn’t you see? The message says that the kid has got herself a rich boyfriend!”

At these words, Zhang Xiaohui was stunned for a moment, and then she realized, ”You’re planning to ask that girl for money?”

Wu Dekai, with a smug face, ”What do you mean ’ask for money’? I’m no beggar, I’m her father! No matter what, I am her biological father. If she’s living a good life, shouldn’t she send some money for her old man to spend?”

When he saw the message last night, his first thought was that it was a scam, and even when he showed his phone to Zhang Xiaohui, he did so partly to put her off. But once Zhang Xiaohui had read out the message, he started to think differently.

If that message was really a scam, how did that person know about his actions eighteen years ago?

Considering that when he returned from Baiyun Village, he had abandoned the child at the orphanage in the middle of the night and had never mentioned it after returning to Qingshan, how could the scammer have gone through so much trouble to uncover his secret just to deceive him?

But now, he was completely broke, with nothing left but the walls around him, and the remaining three thousand yuan he had was lost to the gambling house—what could the scammer possibly swindle from him?

The more Wu Dekai thought about it, the more he believed the message was genuine. A wave of excitement surged through him, as he envisioned himself winning big at the gambling house and recouping all his losses.

Indeed, he wanted to go to the girl for money, not to provide Zhang Xiaohui and the child with a better life, but in hopes of turning the tables at the gambling house.

Such is the gambler’s mentality; once they lose, they want to win it all back, and when they win, they want to win more, never knowing when to stop.

Wu Dekai of Qingshan Township replied to the message, and was given an address, informing him that he could find his biological daughter in the Imperial Capital.

With this confirmed information, Wu Dekai became restless. Even though there was less than half a month until the New Year, he was eager to make the trip to the Imperial Capital.

Zhang Xiaohui was not keen on this, but she couldn’t help but feel a hint of difference. If that girl had indeed found a wealthy man, it would be decent for her to help out her birth father’s family. If they had money, her daughter Xuanxuan could attend a better elementary school in the town.

Thinking this way, Zhang Xiaohui did not object. She even borrowed five hundred yuan from her parents to give to Wu Dekai as travel expenses and watched him board the bus headed for the provincial city.