Qin Yongchao's brow furrowed, "Do you have any evidence for what you're saying?!"
Qin Yonghao took a document from Huang's LV bag and handed it to him, "This is the paternity test result."
Qin Yongchao's eyes fell on the last line: the probability of paternal relationship was greater than 99.99%, confirming father-daughter relationship.
"This..." Qin Yongchao's gaze shifted from the document to Ye Zisu.
Song Shi stood up, walked around Ye Zisu, and examined her, "Indeed, she resembles Sixth Sister by six or seven parts in her eyebrows and eyes."
"Are you sure this result is correct?" Qin Yongchao asked sternly.
"I had someone send blood from Sixth Brother in prison. It can't be wrong," Qin Yonghao stated with certainty.
Ye Zisu was being scrutinized by them, her heart pounding as if it would leap out of her throat. The atmosphere in the Qin family was far more terrifying than in the Ye family.
But she thought of this as her home. Although her birth mother was dead and her father was in prison, her Fourth Uncle had said that as long as she behaved and pleased the head of the family, she could gain a firm foothold in the Qin family.
"Uncle, Aunt, I finally get to see you. My journey here was truly not easy." She knelt directly before Qin Yongchao and sobbed.
"These years, I've been in the Ye family in Beishi, treated as a tool for marriage alliances. I was betrothed to the Gu family and lived in constant fear. But after they brought their own daughter back last year, they not only kicked me out but also framed the Gu family, leading to their ruin.
"Even more so, the young lady of the Ye family, though she returned home, deliberately concealed my true identity and threw me into the mountains. It was a place of poverty and harsh conditions, and I almost didn't survive.
"Although I didn't grow up in the Qin family, the blood of the Qin family flows through me. For them to treat me this way, it's as if they don't put the Qin family in their eyes..."
"Poor child, get up quickly," Song Shi helped Ye Zisu up.
"Beishi Ye family? Ye Jianming's Ye family?" Qin Yongchao asked.
Ye Zisu choked back a sob, "Yes."
Qin Yongchao's face darkened, his gaze carrying an unfathomable and sinister glint. "What is your name?"
"My former name was Zisu," Ye Zisu said.
This was a clever way of putting it, implying that since she had returned to the Qin family, she should be recognized, her lineage traced, and given a name from the 'Xin' generation.
Song Shi saw through Ye Zisu's little ploy. Although she had Qin family blood, her upbringing in a common family was vulgar and greedy, unbecoming of polite society.
"It's good that you're back," Qin Yongchao said, then turned to Song Shi, "Ayin, take her down and arrange for her well."
"Yes," Song Shi understood and then said to Ye Zisu, "Come, child, follow me."
Hearing this, Ye Zisu was overjoyed. The Qin family had accepted her. She said joyfully, "Thank you, Uncle, Aunt."
Qin Yonghao gave Huang Shi a look, and she, along with Qin Xinhui, also descended.
In the living room, only the two brothers remained.
"No wonder they couldn't find the bodies of Physician Yu Xian and Xin Shu back then. It turns out they never died! What a clever trick of feigning death!" Qin Yonghao said.
Qin Yongchao silently smoked his cigar, not speaking. The smoke swirled, blurring his vision, and it was unclear what he was thinking.
"So, Seventh Brother might have known about this all along but never said anything, and he's been so close to that real daughter of the Ye family. Could they have some ulterior motive? After all, back then, that girl..."
Qin Yongchao understood his meaning and interrupted him, "Do not let Beiting know about this matter for today."
Without the investment contract with the Ye family to threaten Qin Beiting, they now had Ye Zisu, the former adopted daughter of the Ye family. It was a twist of fate, a blessing in disguise.
"Yes. Then I will take my leave and pay my respects to Mother for the New Year."
Qin Yonghao left it at that and turned to leave, a fleeting calculation flashing in his eyes.
Outside.
Ye Zisu followed Song Shi through the courtyard of the old Qin family mansion, her gait uneven. This was a lingering effect from Lu Yiming's gunshot, making her look particularly unrefined and drawing curious glances from the servants.
Previously, Ye Zisu would have deliberately adjusted her pace to avoid appearing so clumsy. But now, her heart was pounding, and she had completely forgotten to pay attention to it.
She was like Granny Liu visiting the Grand View Garden, looking left and right. The old Qin family mansion indeed lived up to its reputation – it was so grand and beautiful! Like the Summer Palace!
And this, this was her true home!
She was the legitimate daughter of the Qin family, the head of the four great families!
Any residence here was larger and more valuable than that shabby villa of the Ye family!
To think that that bitch Yu He called her a fake daughter of the Ye family! It was clearly she who had stolen such a good life from her! And then she had the audacity to frame her and make her suffer so much!
She would definitely repay this revenge twofold!
***
Yu He slept until four in the afternoon, waking up from hunger.
She reached out and touched the spot beside her, only to find it empty. She was alone in the room.
The clothes on the floor had already been tidied up, leaving only the messy bedding and the lingering ambiguous scent in the air, reminding her of what had happened last night.
Yu He tried to sit up, but her body was sore and weak. She simply collapsed back onto the bed, fumbling for her phone.
On WeChat, the Star Palace Master had replied to her at eleven in the morning with two words: "Can."
Yu He recalled looking at Qin Beiting's WeChat message list last night and thought it might have just been a coincidence.
She switched her account back to her personal one, ignored all messages, and went directly to Qin Beiting's chat window. Good, there were no new messages.
Qin Beiting's words suddenly echoed in her mind, "Running away after sex?"
Who exactly was running away after sex...
Yu He picked up the water glass on the bedside table and took a large gulp. After a moment to catch her breath, she endured the discomfort in her body, got out of bed, put on her pajamas, and went out.
There was no one in the lobby or the study, but the door to the east wing opposite was open.
She walked over. The east wing was a renovated chemical laboratory. As soon as she entered, she saw 118 transparent glass sealed compartments set up on the opposite wall. Some of the compartments contained items, but most were empty.
Yu He recognized it at a glance; it was a periodic table of elements.
Qin Beiting was standing with his back to the door, gazing at the periodic table.
"Is this the periodic table you collected?" Yu He stepped forward and asked.
"Baby, you're awake. Are you hungry? I'll have someone bring some food."
Qin Beiting turned around and saw her wearing only a thin pajama set. He took off his jacket and draped it over her.
Yu He: "I'm hungry, but I want to eat the steak you make."
"Okay, I'll have Chen Dong send the ingredients over." Qin Beiting said as he took out his phone to message Chen Dong.
Yu He looked at the periodic table on the wall. All 22 non-metallic elements were collected, but the remaining metallic elements were all empty.
"When did you start collecting? You've only collected this much?" she asked, her tone laced with obvious disdain.
There were about 90 common metallic elements like gold, silver, copper, and iron, which could be collected in a few days.
"About twelve years ago," Qin Beiting blurted out.
"Collecting for so long and only gathering these 22 non-metallic elements?" Yu He raised an eyebrow, her tone clearly showing her displeasure.
"Yes, two elements a year."
"Is there any meaning to it?" Yu He asked.
Qin Beiting looked deeply at Yu He: "Yes..."