Xuan Yu raised her delicate hand, making a signaling gesture.

The bodyguard handed over a tablet.

Xuan Yu swiped the screen and passed the device to the girl sitting across from her.

It displayed a photo captured by a hospital ward’s surveillance camera.

The camera angle was somewhat distant and not very clear.

A woman lay silently on the hospital bed, only her graceful profile visible, pale, gaunt—a patient who had been bedridden for some time.

Although it was an unclear half-profile, Jiayi vaguely recognized her own shadow in it.

A stir of emotion fogged her heart as distant memories began to draw near.

It was as if someone whispered her name in her ear, "Jiayi...".

But try as she might to remember more, nothing else came to mind.

The only certainty was that she and the woman on the bed were indeed related by blood.

The feeling of being moved upon seeing a relative was very distinct.

"May I ask, what is the name of my birth mother?" she asked, her fingers lightly scrolling across the screen, holding back a sense of heartache.

"Xia Tingxuan. Really, you don’t know that the stage name you’re using is actually your birth mother’s?" Xuan Yu slightly raised her eyebrow.

Xia Tingxuan...

Jiayi’s pupils constricted.

Was the actress resembling her whom Ye Yongning met back then, actually her mommy?

No wonder she felt an unusual sense of familiarity upon hearing this name for the first time.

No wonder Ye Yongning never found mommy again—she had been hiding under an assumed name in a remote town of a small Southeast Asian country all these years.

However...

Ye Yongning mentioned that back then, mommy had a boyfriend whom she loved deeply, and she was desperately earning money for his surgery...

After Chu Family people came to China in search of her, she had learned from Lin Zixun that Chu Yanhan, the head of the Chu Family and her biological father, had lived in China for a long time when he was young. He only returned to S Country in his twenties.

Could it be that the so-called boyfriend of mommy back then was actually her daddy?

Considering the time when Ye Yongning filmed "Bright Moon Shines Over the Harbor Bay," Xuan Yu and her biological father, Chu Yanhan, had not yet gotten married.

This meant that if mommy’s boyfriend at that time was Chu Yanhan, then mommy knew Chu Yanhan before Xuan Yu did!

Who exactly was... the third party?

She momentarily suppressed her thoughts, lifted her face, and used the motion of wiping away tears from the corner of her eyes to conceal the shock in her heart.

A few seconds later, she had calmed down, "I’ll return with you to S Country immediately."

No matter how much she resented the Chu Family, how much she disliked Chu Xinyu, or how complicated her feelings towards Nie Yixiao were...

There was only one purpose that made her return without hesitation—her birth mother.

At this moment, all she wanted was to see her mother as soon as possible.

If her mother’s health problem could arise at any moment, she might be too late to see her for the last time.

Xuan Yu breathed a sigh of relief in her heart, and her tense facial expression relaxed, "Our private jet of the Chu Family is nearby, Jiayi, you can leave with us right now."

She didn’t hesitate much, nodded in agreement, but then seemed to waver, standing up and walking towards the reception, "I need to make a call to Huo first."

She had left in such a rush in the dead of night, bringing nothing but the money for the cab.

Xuan Yu, reacting on reflex, stood up too and called out to her, "Jiayi, it’s only a two or three-hour flight from China to S Country in a private jet. Can’t you contact him after we’re back?"

Doubt crossed Jiayi’s face.

Quick to explain, Xuan Yu added, "You know how overbearing and autocratic that man Huo is. I’m afraid if you call him now, he won’t let you leave right away. He’s a busy man. If he waits to come with you, your mother might... Jiayi, your mother can’t wait."

Jiayi was stunned for a moment, "Then I also need to send a text message to let him know where I’ve gone, at least to let him know where I am."

The man she was referring to absolutely loathed unannounced departures.

The last time she left G City, she had experienced his thunderous rage and the repercussions it had on others.

This time, no matter what, she had to let him know beforehand, she couldn’t make the same mistake again.

Xuan Yu this time did not refuse; she raised her hand and gave instructions to the bodyguard, "Do as Miss Jiayi said, notify Young Master Huo, just say Miss Jiayi is returning to S Country to visit her birth mother for a short while."

"Yes, madam," the bodyguard pulled out his phone.

Jiayi held her breath, uncertain if Lin Zixun would be angry with her for suddenly deciding to return to the Chu Family without discussing it with him. But... sending him a text message now to greet him should be okay, shouldn’t it?

Ten minutes later, Xuan Yu had the bodyguards escort Jiayi through the back passage of the hotel to the private jet.

Her sharp eyes glanced at the bodyguard, "Did you send the message?"

The bodyguard clearly understood madam’s intent and shook his head.

A slight smile appeared on Xuan Yu’s lips.

————**————

When the plane touched down in Nanga City of S Country, it was already the breaking dawn of the next day.

After disembarking the plane, Jiayi took a deep breath of the S Country air.

This was a peninsula country in Southeast Asia, connected to the mainland on one side and facing the sea on the other.

The rising sun was slowly ascending from the horizon.

This wasn’t China, but it was a state populated by ethnic Chinese. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Jiayi had researched information about S Country; its people were almost all descendants of those who had fled from China or those who had come to trade and then settled down.

Therefore, about ninety-eight percent of the pedestrians on the streets were Chinese, with the familiar yellow faces and black hair just like the ones seen on the streets of G City.

The city’s streets and decor were also quite modernized.

Even most of the languages that floated into her ears were Chinese.

Overall, it seemed as if there was no difference from G City of China, and in fact, S Country felt like a slightly smaller version of China.

But here, Jiayi still felt no sense of belonging.

Walking in the dim light of dawn, led by the Chu Family’s bodyguards, Jiayi followed Xuan Yu and Chu Xinyu as they got off the vehicle that had come to pick them up and arrived at the Chu Family residence.

The entrance to the Chu Family home was already lined with servants awaiting their arrival.

"Madam, young miss, Mister Nie," the servants all bowed in unison.

Xuan Yu cleared her throat, "Call her Miss Jiayi."

Only then did the servants dare to address Jiayi, "Miss Jiayi, good to have you back."

It was evident that Madam had become somewhat more courteous towards the recently found Miss Jiayi.

In the past, Madam would have Miss Jiayi stay in her room when there was no need for her presence elsewhere, never allowing the household servants to address her so respectfully.

Compared with the reserved mystery of Huo Garden, the Chu Family, as a centuries-old prominent house of S Country, displayed a conspicuous opulence and luxury.

Golden rooftops, white-painted houses, marble steps and columns, and a garden rivaling the size of a soccer field.

It was just like the photos Nie Yixiao had shown her before.

Yet, Jiayi still had no impression or sense of intimacy towards the Chu Family residence.

This place, it made her feel foreign and even nervous.

But what did it matter... she was here mainly to see her biological mother.

She also keenly sensed that had it not been for Xuan Yu’s reminder, the Chu Family’s servants wouldn’t have even bothered to greet her.

One could only imagine her former status in the Chu Family.