Chapter 188: Chapter 188

Le Tong steadied herself, discarding all those chaotic, bizarre thoughts from her mind, focusing intently on the text below the big headline and the large close-up photo.

The few lines below the missing person notice were surprisingly not the square lead type of a standard print, but were obviously handwritten, and moreover, written by someone not very practiced at it.

As soon as Le Tong saw those wobbly, crooked handwritten words, her heart raced, and as she read the content carefully, her eyes uncontrollably reddened.

[My name is Ji Yu, everyone calls me Baby, I’m five years old this year.

Baby has a daddy who loves Baby very much, but Baby has never met his mommy.

Baby really likes a sister, her name is Le Tong.

Baby really wants her to be Baby’s mommy, but she, just like mommy, doesn’t want Baby anymore!

Looking for sister, Baby’s phone: XXXXXXXXXXX, generous reward]

Those few brief and simple lines took Le Tong several minutes to finish reading. The short lines deeply struck her tearful spot, and by the end, tears dripped "drip drip" onto the newspaper, quickly soaking the pretty face on that close-up photo...

Through the hazy veil of tears, Le Tong read those lines again, then bent her knees and buried her head deeply between them...

In terms of word choice and phrasing, this notice wasn’t particularly artistic or successful. ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ nοvelfire.net

But those crooked writings and the childlike simplicity exposed a five-year-old boy’s intense desire to find the person involved without reservation.

Le Tong cannot delve into the feelings of unrelated people reading this notice; she only knows that, at this moment, her floodgate of tears is open and won’t close, and her heart feels as if it’s being cut by a knife!

In the yard, Wenwen’s laughter was quite loud. Far away in R City, what kind of mood is Baby in at this moment?

Is he crying out for sister, or is he, like Wenwen, playing and laughing happily?

Ever since Le Tong decided to leave the Ji Family and leave R City, she had deliberately tried not to think about the angel-like Ji Baby, but not thinking didn’t mean she truly couldn’t think about him.

Until this moment, she had to admit, compared to Ji Rui, that rigid, solemn, cold-hearted man, Ji Baby moved her emotions more, made her feel more heartache and concern.

Moreover, she always felt there seemed to be an unbreakable bond between herself and Ji Baby!

Is it simply because he has a background that evokes her sympathy and affection, triggering her maternal instincts to the fullest?

Or is it because he shares similar facial features to Ji Rui, whom she once admired and had a crush on?

Le Tong buried her head between her knees for a long time. Until her emotions calmed slightly, she straightened up, wiped her face haphazardly with the back of her hand, and worried that Zhang Yi would see her unusual state, folded the newspaper, put it on the sofa, went into the bathroom, poured hot water, and washed her face. In the mirror, her eyes were as red as a rabbit’s, and even her nose was red.

Gently applying a hot towel over her eyes, Le Tong’s mind was a tangled mess!

The contents of Ji Rui’s contract proposal unexpectedly jumped into her mind.

[...Though there is no legal restraint between the parties, once the woman accepts this cheque, it signifies agreement to all terms and clauses of the man’s contract proposal. Besides fulfilling relevant obligations to the man, also must undertake the responsibility and duty to take care of the man’s five-year-old son...]

If she really got carried away and accepted Mr. Demon Ji’s contract proposal, doesn’t that mean she could rightfully be good to Ji Baby?

Just like the mommy he’s never met, love him, protect him?

Thinking of this, Le Tong’s heart started to ache again painfully.

She raised her face from the hot towel and gave a bitter smile to the mirror.

No matter how good she is to him, ultimately, she’s not his mommy.

In this world, many people or things can be replaced, but mommy—no one, no matter who, can replace!

Baby, I’m sorry! No matter how much you want me to be your mommy, ultimately, I still can’t be your real mommy!

Le Tong stood up, and it was only this time that she vaguely understood why Ji Rui limited the contract period to three years.

He probably is still waiting for Baby’s mommy, isn’t he?

The reason for making this contract with her should largely be to provide Baby with a substitute mommy, right?

As expected, she wasn’t wrong. Ji Rui, maybe not necessarily a good husband, nor a good boss, but absolutely, a good daddy!

Le Tong walked back to the living room, bent down to pick up the newspaper, and the sound of a door opening came from behind.

"Tongtong..." Zhang Yi’s worried voice came from behind her.

Le Tong straightened up, turned to Zhang Yi with a gentle smile, "Brother, where’s Tongtong?"

"Your sister-in-law took her to Uncle Chen’s next door to play." Zhang Yi closed the door, walked over, and sat on the sofa looking at her.

"What do you plan to do?"

Le Tong spread out the newspaper she had just folded back, handing it to Zhang Yi.

"Brother, if you didn’t know me, just looking at this photo, you’d probably find it hard to match up with me, right?"

The photo on the newspaper was the one Le Tong had attached to her job application resume at the Ji Family; the woman in the photo was her three years ago, with a clean short haircut and a fresh, naive smile. Though her facial features hadn’t changed much, her aura was completely different.

Zhang Yi carefully looked at the photo on the newspaper, then at Le Tong, finally nodded gently.

"Yes, if you hadn’t mentioned it, I wouldn’t have noticed. Now that you say it, it really doesn’t resemble you much."

Since Le Tong came here, the couple introduced her to the people around them, only mentioning her as Tongtong, so there shouldn’t be anyone who knows her full name.

Moreover, this type of newspaper generally has low sales in this secluded small town; who would really care about something that has nothing to do with them?

"Brother, you don’t need to worry too much. As long as you and sister-in-law don’t tell, no one will recognize me here."

Zhang Yi took another close look at the photo, "When was this taken, how could there be such a difference?"

"Maybe it’s the hairstyle causing it."

Le Tong knew better than anyone, the reason for the stark difference wasn’t the hairstyle, but because three years ago compared to now, her mental age gap wasn’t merely three years!

Zhang Yi picked up the photo, comparing it to Le Tong, "Seems like it, and yet not quite! Do you think others really won’t recognize it?"

Le Tong snatched the newspaper, "Ugh, if you’re so worried, just go to the newspaper stand and buy all the newspapers published today, I’ll do it!"

[Second update; ladies finish the text, wash up, sleep well, goodnight!]