Chapter 4317

“Raising a daughter isn’t easy.”

Kathryn agreed.

The cost of raising a child was immense.

“But you didn’t raise me,” she said calmly. “You raised Feng Ruo. I was raised by my adoptive parents. Before I returned to the Feng family, I secretly gave them some money as compensation for the years they spent taking care of me.”

“If I were more ruthless, I wouldn’t have given them anything. After all, if they hadn’t done such terrible things to me, I wouldn’t have been separated from my biological parents, abused for over a decade, or nearly sold off.”

By the time she became a teenager, her adoptive parents could no longer control her. But those ten years of suffering had already left deep scars.

Kathryn remembered everything clearly but never exaggerated.

Her adoptive parents had secretly asked her for money before, but she refused. She even warned them not to try again, and they didn’t dare. They had also approached Feng Ruo, but Feng Ruo mostly ignored them. On rare occasions, she gave them a few thousand yuan at most. She made it clear to her biological mother: she wasn’t Kathryn and wouldn’t allow them to bully her.

Her mother suffered deeply, but Kathryn refused to let anyone control her. Once she grew up, she fought back—and she was ruthless. If anyone dared to bully her, she would chase them across villages with a kitchen knife.

In her hometown, Kathryn was known for her fierceness.

The Feng family had assumed that since she grew up in the countryside, she would be weak and easy to manipulate. They were wrong.

Zheng Hua fell silent for a moment before speaking.

“I may not have raised you,” he admitted, “but I gave you life. I am your father, and now that you’re getting married, shouldn’t you repay me for bringing you into this world?”

“When your mother was alive, she never got to enjoy your success or see you get married. But I’m still here. So, shouldn’t you show your filial piety to me instead?”

“If she were alive, I wouldn’t have come looking for you.”
Zheng Hua had raised Feng Ruo with care, cherishing her like a treasure.

If things hadn’t taken such a tragic turn, Feng Ruo would have gladly been filial to him. He wouldn’t have had to worry about his retirement at all.

What a pity.

Zheng Hua resented the fate that had torn him and Feng Ruo apart. He refused to believe it was just bad luck—someone must have deliberately plotted against them.

That incident not only shattered his marriage but also forced him to make a devastating choice. To earn his wife’s forgiveness, he castrated himself. Though it saved his life, his health never recovered.

But the worst part? He lost his daughter.

The bond between him and Feng Ruo was completely severed. She despised him, and how could he not hate her in return?

They were both victims. The people who schemed against them deserved a miserable end.

Back then, his wife was still alive. He feared her power and didn’t dare to fight back—he couldn’t.

In the end, he could do nothing but watch as his beloved daughter fell to her death.

Feng Yue was too cruel.

Even though Feng Ruo wasn’t their biological daughter, she had grown up with them. Over time, without realizing it, they had come to love her as their own.

Feng Yue had once cherished Feng Ruo like a part of herself.

But the moment she discovered that Feng Ruo wasn’t truly her daughter, she took back all the love she had given her for over twenty years—completely and without hesitation.

It wasn’t Feng Ruo’s fault. She had been switched at birth. She was innocent.

Zheng Hua saw things differently from Feng Yue. He still felt guilty for Feng Ruo. But Feng Yue? She only cared about the daughter that was rightfully hers.