Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Return to Your Biological Parents Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Return to Your Biological Parents June, just after the college entrance exams had concluded.
Scarlett Garrison had just completed her discharge paperwork alone and returned home. As she stepped through the doorway of the Garrison Family villa, a suitcase landed with a thud at her feet.
A glamorous woman stood at the entrance, looking down at her. Her gaze swept over the girl’s delicate features and snow-like skin, a flicker of jealousy passed through her eyes, soon replaced by undisguised disgust, “I’ve packed your things. From today onwards, you’ll get out of this house and go back to your biological parents!”
Scarlett Garrison didn’t even glance at the suitcase on the floor. Her almond-shaped eyes looked coldly at Emma White, the woman she had called mom for seventeen years.
The commotion at the door caught the attention of those inside, and soon, Scarlett’s father and his two children stepped out.
Scarlett’s father looked at the suitcase at Scarlett’s feet, then at his wife, his tone slightly reproachful, “Emma, what is this about? Scarlett is a daughter we’ve raised for eighteen years after all.”
“She’s a thankless burden!” Emma White glared at Scarlett Garrison, “I clearly told her to give the city image representative spot to Isolde. She ignored my words! If I hadn’t inquired about the final list, we’d still be kept in the dark by her! If she had any conscience at all, she wouldn’t have taken her sister’s spot!”
At Emma’s words, a flicker of envious hatred flashed in Isolde Garrison’s eyes, but she quickly masked it, showing a hint of grievance and sadness on her face. However, she said, “Mom, don’t be like this. The opportunity to be a city image representative is rare; it’s normal for sister not to want to give it up. Maybe there’s something I didn’t do well enough, otherwise, I wouldn’t have been chosen…”
“What do you lack compared to her? Everything she has wasn’t because of the Garrison Family.” Emma White gently comforted her daughter.
Scarlett Garrison just watched the mother and daughter perform. She had seen such performances countless times since childhood. This time, not only did she feel no waves in her heart, she even wanted to laugh a little.
Four days ago, she was hit by a car and thrown twenty meters away while trying to save Isolde. Everyone thought she wouldn’t survive.
When Emma White and the Garrison Family rushed to the scene, their first reaction was not to check on her injuries, but to comfort the tearful Isolde who was inconsolable after the accident.
Scarlett Garrison lay on the ground, feeling dazed and with icy hands and feet. What chilled her more was the conversation between Scarlett’s father and Emma White—
“The front of the car is smashed; she likely won’t make it.”
“Well, if she dies, it means she really took Isolde’s great misfortune in her life, which makes all the years we raised her worth it…”
Scarlett Garrison had always known she was merely a tool the Garrison Family raised to shield Isolde from hardship.
As a child, she didn’t understand why every time Isolde got sick, Emma White would demand she take care of Isolde around the clock, and each time under her care, Isolde would quickly recover, while Scarlett would fall seriously ill afterward.
Later, she met a mentor who enlightened her that she and Isolde’s birth dates belonged to the complementary halves of the Harmony Technique.
The two halves of Harmony, and she was the good half.
The Garrison Family kept her by Isolde’s side to actually use her own fortune to mitigate the misfortunates Isolde carried, and through these acts of shielding, Isolde’s fate gradually improved, while Scarlett’s would slowly venture towards decline.
If Scarlett Garrison hadn’t prepared in advance, she might have already exhausted her fortune and died in that car accident four days ago.
It was also because of this accident that her biological father unexpectedly found her.
“Are you done talking? If so, can I leave?”
Having heard this couple coldly discussing her death, any last shred of hope Scarlett Garrison had for the Garrison Family vanished completely.
She felt not the slightest reluctance in leaving the Garrison Family.
“Scarlett, don’t blame your mother. In this instance, you were indeed in the wrong.” Scarlett’s father finally came forward, his expression as stern as ever, “Since you’ve found your biological parents, you should go back with them.”
Isolde Garrison also spoke up, her voice soft and timid, “Sister, don’t be mad at mom, she did everything for me.”
As she spoke, she suddenly took out an envelope from the side and handed it to Scarlett, very considerately adding, “This is your travel money. Dad said your biological parents live in the mountains, their home is poor, and the network in those places is underdeveloped, so it’s better to carry some cash.”
Emma White snorted from the side, “Don’t say we didn’t consider the many years of affection; this money is enough to last a year in the mountains. Our family has been more than good to you.”
She sneered again, “Once you go back, I guess you won’t have a chance to return. I heard there are many old men in those mountains who can’t find wives; you could marry there, since you wouldn’t get into college anyway with your grades.”
Scarlett Garrison glanced at Emma White’s face, which was full of malice even as she feigned generosity, and merely gave her a light glance, “You have some deep frown lines, which is a sign of excessive scheming and accumulated debts. Instead of worrying about me, perhaps you should use that few thousand to buy a facial mask.”
She paused deliberately, as if adding as an afterthought, “Although it probably wouldn’t help much.”
Scarlett’s words were earnest, but they made Emma White’s face suddenly grow sharp with anger. She shouted, “You little brat, who gave you the nerve to talk to me like that!”
Saying so, she raised her hand to strike Scarlett across the face.
The latter merely watched coldly, slightly stepping aside so that Emma White’s slap hit nothing but air.
Emma White stared incredulously, “You even dare to dodge…”
Isolde hurried forward, pulling Scarlett, “Sister, don’t make mom angry; just speak calmly, and she will forgive you.”
Her words sounded kind, but her real intention was to hold Scarlett so she couldn’t dodge Emma White’s slap again.
Scarlett Garrison raised her hand, ready to push her away, but her eye caught sight of something, and her gaze froze. She saw the Jade Bracelet on Isolde’s wrist.
Swiftly, she grabbed Isolde’s wrist, coldly demanding, “Why is the bracelet with you?”
Isolde had intentionally worn the bracelet today to flaunt it. Now that Scarlett actually noticed it, and grabbed her by surprise, she put on a frightened face, crying out in pain, “Ah, it hurts…”
As soon as Isolde cried out, Emma White’s expression changed instantly. She grabbed Scarlett’s hand, pulling it away, and screamed angrily, “Scarlett Garrison! What do you think you’re doing?!”
Scarlett, however, kept her gaze fixed on Isolde, her voice cold, “That bracelet was left to me by Grandma.”
“What do you mean your bracelet?! That was left for the Garrison Family’s daughters; you’re not even part of this family anymore, so of course, it belongs to Isolde!”
Scarlett Garrison bit her lip, letting go of the suitcase handle and looking at Scarlett’s father, “I won’t take a single thing from the Garrison Family, I only want the bracelet Grandma left for me.”
If there was anything left in the Garrison Family that she cherished, it was Grandma.
Grandma was the only person in this family who truly loved her. Even on her deathbed, she worried about how Scarlett would fare after she was gone.
That bracelet was the only memory Grandma left her.