Chapter 53: Family Background

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Although Jennie seemed to be laughing at Lisa's expense, the fact that former had taken the initiative to joke made her very happy. Everything that was going on with the Manoban family had inevitably dragged down her mood, but now she was feeling much better.

Compared to the happiness she had now, what did the Manoban family count for? They weren’t worth her attention.

“Jennie, were you able to find out who the culprit is?” she awkwardly changed the subject.

She was rather skeptical about the culprit. It couldn’t be that nominal father of hers, but what about the other members of the Manoban family?

“Old man Manoban will be dying soon, so Zhenyi Manoban and his three brothers are fighting to be the next head.” Jennie was quite familiar with the happenings in the Manoban family. After all, power struggles were not uncommon in prestigious families.

And as for her addressing Zhenyi Manoban by name, that was a decision she had made based on how Lisa viewed the Manoban family. Her family was of great importance to her, but as far as she was concerned, even though they shared blood ties, the Manoban family was not worthy of Lisa. Therefore, there was naturally no need for her to respect them as in-laws.

Over the past few days, Mother and Father Kim had been doing some investigating and dug up the reason why Lisa had been put into an orphanage.

Lisa's mother hadn’t known that she was carrying Zhenyi Manoban’s illegitimate child. She was a beautiful but simple-minded college student. Although at the time Zhenyi Manoban was already engaged, he still fell for Lisa's mother, and the two had quickly tangled. When she was pregnant, Zhenyi Manoban had married his fiancee and kept Lisa's mother as a mistress.

In the beginning, Lisa's mother was oblivious and hadn’t even known Zhenyi’s real identity. Back then, it was hard for an unmarried woman to support a child. When she found out about her pregnancy, she’d talked with Zhenyi about marriage, only to learn that he had already married someone else. She was so sad that she had almost committed suicide, but for the child in her stomach, she’d held on until the baby was born. Unfortunately, the childbirth was what had killed her.

In other words, Lisa had been born without a mother, while her paternal family was less than happy about her existence. Without so much as a glance at her, they had instructed their housekeeper to take her to an orphanage. Very few people in the Manoban family knew about this—as a matter of fact, not even Zhenyi’s wife was aware.

Lisa was over ten years old when she found out, and it was the dean of the orphanage who told her. After all, the Manoban family was very well-known, and the housekeeper had specifically told him to take good care of Lisa, handing over a large sum of money for child support before leaving.

By then, Lisa had passed the confusion period, and the desire to find her parents had already been extinguished. After learning about her background, she’d reacted calmly without bothering to pay any heed to it.

“It has nothing to do with me.” Whether it was in the past or now, the Manoban family had nothing to do with her.

“The Lee family also played a part. They conspired with Zhenren Manoban to strike at Zhenyi, which is why your background was exposed. The Lee family is feeling restless, huh.” When she talked about that senseless Lee family, she spoke with a cold and irritated tone of voice.

Their company was on the verge of bankruptcy, and yet they were still thinking about drawing Lisa's attention. Jennie didn’t know if she should call them ignorant or foolish.

“I have some information on the Lee family that might come in useful,” she said, despite knowing that Kim family had most likely dug up more information than she had.

Jennie's eyes shone with admiration, as the woman had thought similarly to her.

“Give it to Kim Jisoo, let her sort through the information. We will use it soon.”

Jennie and Taehyung had begun to covertly acquire shares in the various companies under the Lee family. Companies that had potential would be acquired, but those that didn’t would be completely destroyed as to not leave any benefit behind for the Lee family.

“Good.” The Lees had caused her trouble so many times already that it wouldn’t be right if she didn’t reciprocate.

…..

For the next few days, every major newspaper focused on Lisa's family background, but thanks to The Dragon’s Emissary and the support of the Kim family’s connections, the public opinion never once turned from Lisa's side.

Although both Lee Media and Tiansheng Media tried their best to splash dirty water on Lisa, the results only backfired on them. When the main instigators, Lee Sunmi and Lee Pinde, learned about what was going on, they were so angry that they started to smash things. Sunmi was especially mad.

And speaking of Sunmi, just what was she thinking? She claimed to like Lisa, but everything she had done so far was an attempt to damage the latter's reputation.

Off to the side, Lee Ye-jin sneered, “Did you really think Lisa would leave Jennie after she finds out about her birth family? Little sister, I don’t mean to look down on you, but why are you so naive? Even if those two are acting, you can’t separate them with petty tricks like this. You know what I think? That woman likes Jennie very much, whereas you… tut-tut, I’m afraid you’re not even worth a glance.”

The two sisters were pretty close in age. They had grown up competing against each other and were not close at all. Last time, Sunmi had laughed at Yejin for getting divorced. Now there was an opportunity for her to retaliate, so why wouldn’t she?

Lee Sunmi's face reddened with humiliation. She believed that Lisa was only with Jennie for her money, so if she had acted faster, the woman would’ve been hers. That was why she had tried everything she could think of to break them apart. She’d never thought she would go for wool and come home shorn, making a fool of herself in front of her older sister.

“Look at yourself. At least I didn’t get abandoned after a marriage,” Sunmi retorted mercilessly. She didn’t think she was doing any worse than Yejin, who turned blue in the face and gave a cold harrumph.

“Enough. Look at the situation we’re in, have you both forgotten what our goal is? That woman is not our target, the Kim family is! Can’t you stop letting me down? Don’t always make such a mess!” Lee Pinde snapped. The entire family sunk into a moment of silence.

Ironically, they were here trying to scheme against others, completely oblivious to the fact that they themselves had already become the other party’s meal, that they were slowly being cooked over a fire, and that before long… they would be consumed.

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