Chapter 114: Imagined Desires

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Ran Ling confided everything Yu Ting wanted to know.

The rumors circulating online weren't spread by Ran Long. If anyone wanted to keep these secrets buried, it was him—out of pride and self-preservation, but also because he still needed Ran Ling. Most likely, the slander came from a competitor of the Ran family: accusations of Jing Xian's infidelity and Ran Ling being an illegitimate child were utterly fabricated.

When Ran Ling first learned of these allegations, she was as stunned as anyone. She couldn't believe her mother would ever be unfaithful, but under pressure, Ran Long revealed the truth. She wasn't his biological daughter; in fact, even Ran Xue wasn't. Ran Long had never been able to father children.

Years ago, when Jing Xian and Ran Long were overseas, trying unsuccessfully to conceive, a medical exam revealed that Ran Long was almost infertile. However, Jing Xian wanted a child of her own, so she decided to have one through IVF, leading to Ran Ling's birth.

They had hidden this fact from everyone. Ran Long's pride ensured that he never revealed it. After Jing Xian's passing, he continued to raise Ran Ling as his own, concealing the truth behind a mask of fatherly care. Yet now, someone else had uncovered this secret and weaponized it against him, seemingly having planned this downfall from the start.

"So, what now? What do you plan to do?" In bed, Yu Ting held Ran Ling close, her cheek pressed against hers. Even after an intense and passionate union, she sought to use this closeness to give Ran Ling a sense of security.

"I've contacted the hospital where my mother had the IVF done," Ran Ling replied. "They're going to provide the documentation to prove her innocence."

"Good. I'll support you however I can," Yu Ting replied, already calculating how she might assist her.

"Don't be sad," Yu Ting comforted her.

"I'm not sad," Ran Ling replied.

"Really?"

"Mm... I'm not saddened by him not being my father. Honestly, I feel relieved."

"Why? Can you tell me?" Yu Ting knew Ran Long wasn't exactly a good father, but she longed to understand more about Ran Ling's past and the emotional world she kept so hidden.

Ran Ling gave a soft smile, sensing Yu Ting's curiosity, and began to speak slowly. "Growing up, I knew never to expect anything from him. All I felt was revulsion toward his hypocrisy and bitterness toward the things he did... toward how he drove my mother to her death."

"All this time, I suspected he may have been behind it, that he'd killed her."

"It wasn't as though she had a terminal illness or would abandon me for a man by choice."

Yesterday, she had tried to test him again, but he'd given nothing away. However, she had long wanted to confront him, to demand why power was always more important to him than her mother or even herself.

He had always favored Ran Xue, which had once led Ran Ling to wonder if she were really his biological child. Why else would he always choose Ran Xue over her? She'd later come to realize that he only valued Ran Xue because it was beneficial. Now that Ran Xue was no longer useful, he discarded her without a second thought. And it turned out that Ran Xue wasn't even his real daughter, either. It was all so coincidental—she and Ran Xue even resembled each other a little.

"When I went abroad to seek treatment, all I had left for him was calculation," she said. "The Ran family business is a prize worth claiming, isn't it? I refuse to be a fool like my mother. I have a rightful claim to it."

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