Chapter 497: Chapter 497

Mu Shaoqian tilted his face, stunned, his cheek still aching from the slap.

"Dad, what are you saying? Qianshui isn’t my biological sister? What do you mean?"

Mu Jingheng glared at him angrily, his frustration boiling over as he turned and marched upstairs.

"Mom! You tell me right now—Dad’s lying, isn’t he? How could Qianshui not be my biological sister? How could that possibly be true?"

His disbelief filled the room, his eyes wide with shock.

He and Mo Chuxi were the same age, and since his earliest memories of childhood, Mu Shaoqian had always had two sisters.

One was called Mu Qianyuan, the other Mu Qianshui.

Back then, he had indeed preferred Mu Qianyuan. He doted on her, cared for her in every way.

If he only had one lollipop to give away, he wouldn’t hesitate to give it to Mu Qianyuan.

Every time he heard Mu Qianyuan’s sweet, childish voice calling him "Brother," he would feel an overwhelming sense of fulfillment.

In those years, he and Mo Chuxi were still good friends, two boys with a shared focus—tirelessly caring for Mu Qianyuan, giving her their undivided love whenever they could.

But then, Mu Qianyuan had tragically passed away.

Mo Chuxi grew distant, and Mu Shaoqian was left with only Mu Qianshui as his sister. Though deep down his heart had always belonged to Little Qianyuan, he had no choice. Qianshui was his only solace.

But now, what was this?

His father was telling him that the sister he’d loved and spoiled for so many years wasn’t his biological sister?

"Mom, answer me! If you don’t speak, I’ll go ask Qianshui myself!"

Ning Zitong hurriedly stepped in to stop him, tears already streaming down her face.

"Yes... Qianshui isn’t your biological sister!"

At last, Ning Zitong revealed the truth.

In that moment, Mu Shaoqian felt like a balloon that had been punctured, collapsing weakly onto the sofa.

Ning Zitong wiped away her tears.

"Qianshui is just an orphan I brought back from the orphanage. I didn’t want Little Qianyuan to grow up lonely as a girl, so I decided to adopt a girl her age to keep her company..."

"How could this... how could this happen..."

Mu Shaoqian sat there blankly, dumbstruck.

"Why didn’t you tell me? Why did you keep this from me?"

"Only I and your father knew about this. You mustn’t bring this up with Qianshui. We’ve lived together for more than twenty years, and even if there’s no blood relation, she’s already family..." ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ꜰʀᴏᴍ novelFirｅ.net

"No! It’s different!"

Mu Shaoqian shot up and roared furiously.

"Someone who isn’t connected to me by blood can’t really be my sister! Why did you make me dote on someone unrelated to me all these years? Hmph!"

He gave a cold laugh, the ridiculousness of it all biting at him.

"I, Mu Shaoqian, have had only one sister my entire life! And she’s already dead!"

After those scathing words, he spun around and ran out of the house.

"Shaoqian! Shaoqian!"

Ning Zitong tried to stop him, but no matter how much she called out, he didn’t turn back.

"Yan Xinxin, this is all your fault!"

She muttered bitterly and turned to go upstairs.

She hadn’t made it all the way to the bedroom when she caught a faint smell of smoke in the air.

In decades, Ning Zitong had rarely seen Mu Jingheng smoke. The only times were when Mu Qianyuan had her accident, and when his business failed.

But today, he was smoking again.

His deep voice broke the silence.

"That ungrateful son—if this keeps up, he’ll ruin himself!"

"Ah Jing, do you really think Shaoqian’s chaos at the wedding was all Qianshui’s doing?"

"I worry that, if we don’t tell that foolish boy the truth now, he’ll keep getting manipulated by Qianshui."

Mu Jingheng turned, extinguishing his cigarette.

"Ah Tong, Qianshui doesn’t seem to be the same Qianshui we used to know. You need to stop pampering her. One more thing."

He said as he picked up a file from the desk and handed it to Ning Zitong.

"I suspect that back then, Qianyuan’s death was connected to Qianshui."