Chapter 430: Photo (2)

What a similar situation and condition. The only difference was that the smug person who joined the family as the mistress along with her illegitimate children was now trash under someone else's feet and a stepping stone that could only watch as other people s.h.i.+ne brightly while they step all over her.

There was one saying that always held true: karma always struck. Once the tides started changing, no one knew whether it would be their turn for the tides to be against them.

Right now, Zhao Shuncheng's lover was the Li Hongyu of the past. After she managed to sink her claws into Zhao Shuncheng, she did everything she could to get pregnant with his child and obtain his affection. Then, she naturally kicked away the legitimate wife and became the second madam of the Zhao family.

Meanwhile, the child in the lover's womb had been Zhao Youming and Zhao Youxi in the past. The child was the leverage the lover had used to get into the Zhao family.

In the past, Zhao Shuncheng had cast aside Zhao Youlin's biological mother and Zhao Youlin for Li Hongyu. Of course, it was entirely possible that he would cast away Zhao Youming for his lover and the child he conceived with her.

The possibility of it became even greater if the lover gave birth to a son for him.

With that thought in mind, the look of mockery on Zhao Youlin's face only intensified.

All this while, his position as the young master of the Zhao family had been firmly in his hands, but now, it faced a three-way threat. Han Yichen and Zhao Yifei stood in front of him as obstacles, and his unreliable father stood behind him to drag him down.

Would Zhao Youming choose to endure this situation and say nothing, or would he act desperately? It was truly exciting.

Once Zhao Youlin handled all the problems in the company and went back home, she was not at all surprised when she saw the servants busying themselves all over the place.

Duan Yarong's birthday was in two days time, and the former master wanted to use the chance to announce Han Yichen's ident.i.ty to everyone. Hence, he wanted to make the party as grand as possible.

The servants in the mansion were seniors who had served the Zhao family for a long time. Even though they did not know the former master's true goal for throwing the party, if the former master wanted to make the party as grand and lively as possible, they would naturally not dare to slack off in preparations.

Over the past few days, they started decorating the place like busy bees, and it was all so that they could ensure that no accidents occurred during the party.

Zhao Youlin looked around but did not find the person she was looking for. She frowned and grabbed the servant by her side to ask, "Where are my grandfather and parents?"

"Ms. Youlin, the former master and master went out just now. As for the madam, she seems to have gone to the second floor. She might be in the study now."

Zhao Youlin nodded at the servant and headed to the second floor.

When she opened the study, Zhao Youlin found Duan Yarong searching for something from the shelves.

"Mom, what are you doing?"

Duan Yarong turned around to cast Zhao Youlin a glance from the ladder when she heard her voice. She smiled and said, "Youlin, welcome back. Did you need me for something?"

"It's nothing. I want to go to the Mu family tomorrow." Zhao Youlin arrived at the foot of Duan Yarong's ladder and looked up to say this to Duan Yarong.

"You want to go to the Mu family?"

"Yes. I have some things to settle." Zhao Youlin did not elaborate on it.

But Duan Yarong seemed to have thought of something. She gave Zhao Youlin an ambiguous glance and chuckled before she said, "Alright, go. Send my greetings to Madam Mu, and do come back soon."

"Okay." Zhao Youlin nodded and wanted to leave. In any case, she just came to look for Duan Yarong so that she could notify her of her plans.

Yet, to her surprise, before she could take one step forward, she heard Duan Yarong cry out in delight. "Oh, I found it."

Zhao Youlin looked over in reflex, and she was just in time to see Duan Yarong plucking out an old book covered in dust from the top of the shelf. She became a little curious.

Duan Yarong got down slowly from the ladder, and Zhao Youlin quickly supported her to prevent her from falling should she stagger.

"Mom, what is it? It looks old." Zhao Youlin watched Duan Yarong grab a clean towel by the side to wipe off the dust from the alb.u.m, and she asked in spite of herself.

Duan Yarong smiled and flipped open the alb.u.m after she finally wiped it clean. "These are photos I took with your father during high school. When you were talking about our time in high school, I remembered this alb.u.m, but plenty of things happened later on, and I never had time to look for it. When I was cleaning up the study today, I remembered it, so I wanted to look for it. I didn't expect to find it."

As Duan Yarong spoke, she flipped a few more pages of the old alb.u.m and pointed at a photo before she said, "Look. This is me when I was young."

Zhao Youlin quickly moved over when she heard this, and she immediately saw a girl in the black and white photo. She was elegant and gave off a youthful air.

Indeed, this was a girl. At that time, Duan Yarong was just a girl who was no more than eighteen years old. There was a youthful look on her face, one that was inevitable on her. But after living for so many years, her face became more defined and mature.

Overall, she changed a lot. However, Zhao Youlin could still tell based on her facial features that the person in the photo was Duan Yarong.

"I didn't expect that you'd be so beautiful when you were younger. It's no wonder why Dad fell in love with you at first sight."

Duan Yarong smiled and said nothing. She turned another page of the alb.u.m, and Zhao Youlin saw a taciturn, stern-faced boy.

She did not even need to think about this and could tell just who it was because the boy in the photo looked too similar to Han Yichen.

"Is this Dad's photo from when he was in high school?"

Duan Yarong nodded. "At that time, your father was just eighteen years old, but he always kept a stern expression all the time, and he was like an old man. Back then, I was shocked when he suddenly proposed to me. But now that I think about it, it was pretty interesting."

Zhao Youlin was speechless. Interesting? If she were in her place, she would not find it interesting if she was proposed to the next day after just getting to know someone.

Zhao Youlin cleared her throat and suppressed the sarcastic quip that bloomed uncontrollably in her head. She asked curiously, "Speaking of which, Mom, did grandfather and grandmother know about you being confessed to in front of everyone in school on the second day after you got to know Dad?"

"They did. Your father proposed to me in front of so many people, and there were a lot of people in school at that time. The teachers and students paid a lot of attention to this, so even if I wanted to hide it, I couldn't."

Zhao Youlin nodded in understanding before she asked, "How did they react?"

"How else would they react? When my parents learned of this, they were stunned. After they wrapped their heads around it, my father looked so angry, and he intended to come to the Zhao family personally to talk about this. But before he could even take a step out of the house, your grandfather brought your father along to pay us a visit."

Zhao Youlin found herself speechless again.

'Grandfather sure was quick.'