"Fifteen years back, He Lin and my real daughter Xin Mei had gone to city Y to celebrate their Christmas and new year with my mother in law. They were in the way when they had an accident. My real daughter Xin Mei, who was of age nine at that time, died in the accident where He Lin went into a coma."
Xin Jin started to narrate his story. He looked at Su Yuchen who was looking at the city without any emotion in his eyes. The locket of Mian was clutched tight in his hand.
Su Yuchen looked lost in his thought but he was carefully listening to the story of Xin Jin. He wanted to know the answer to many unasked questions.
At first, Su Yuchen had also thought that Xin Mei was his Mian but his theory was wrong after the report of the investigators and the claim of Xin Mei that she was the biological daughter of Xin.
Besides, if she was his Mian then why didn't she remember about him?
"I, Xin Yan and my mother rushed toward the city Y after knowing about her accident. I broke down when I realized that my daughter, my princess was dead and the critical condition of He Lin was not helping me."
Xin Jin sobbed and tears flowed from his eyes upon remembering the sad phase of his life.
"One night, I was driving the car on the dark roads of city Y when I saw your Mian, our Xin Mei for the first time. She was hardly nine or ten at that time. She was badly injured and was thrown along side the road to claim the slow death. There was blood all around her and her many bones were broken. She was dizzy and she was saying only one name in her unconsciousness, Chen."
Head of Su Yuchen snapped in the direction of Xin Jin when he heard him. Breath of Su Yuchen hitched and tears flowed from his eyes. His heart pricked imagining Mian in that half-dead condition.
Su Yuchen gulped. He felt as if his legs had become numb. He held tight on the railing to protect himself from falling on the gerund.
"I took her to the hospital where the doctor took her to the emergency. Mian was suffering and I felt worried for her. Everyone, my mother, Xin Yan, and mother of He Lin felt worried for that little soul who was also suffering in the hospital. We all saw our Xin Mei in her."
"A week, it took the doctors a week to stable her condition. She had many fractures but there was nothing life threatening. They saved her but they failed to save her memory. She could not remember anything except for two names, Mian and Chen. And when she tried to remember something else, she cried in pain. So, we stopped attempting to make her remember anything."
Su Yuchen gasped when he heard Xin Jin. Now he knew why Xin Mei did not remember him. She had forgotten about everything from their childhood.
"Mian was very cute. She was like a light in our family which was suffering from the loss of Xin Mei and suffering from the condition of He Lin who was in a coma. You know Xin Mei is very close to her grandmothers and that's because they were the ones who looked after her when she was discharged from the hospital."
"Xin Mei was broken when she was discharged from the hospital. She was a broken child and her grandmothers and Xin Yan were the one who had healed her soul. They spent their day in her company, attempting to make her smile and laugh."
"I also got close to her. I saw my real Xin Mei in Mian." Xin Jin shook his shoulders and tears left his eyes. His lips started to tremble. "When He Lin woke after an year, her mental condition was not good. She was continuously asking about our daughter. I didn't know how to tell her about the death of our daughter."
"My problems were solved when He Lin saw Mian and called her Xiao Mei. She hugged Mian tight and Mian also called He Lin her mother. Both were so happy, so, so happy that I decided to make Mian my daughter, Xin Mei."
Xin Jin looked down with guilt. Su Yuchen looked at him with accusation filled eyes. He wanted to yell at Xin Jin for changing the identity of Mian. That was also the reason he failed to find her.
"I know I became selfish to give her identity of my daughter but I also did it for the good of Mian." Xin Jin yelled upon feeling the accusation filled gaze of Su Yuchen.
"You don't know her condition when I had seen her for the first time. I knew someone wanted her dead and I know he wouldn't stop himself from attempting to kill her again after knowing she was alive."
"The change of her identity was important and giving her the identity of my daughter was the best way. By giving her the identity of my daughter, I wanted to protect her too. If I had given her the identity of Xin Mei only to satisfy my wife, then I wouldn't have gotten all the certificates of my real daughter Xin Mei transferred as the certificate of Mian."
"I would not have deleted all the traces which could lead anyone to link that Mian was not my daughter. I would not have paid money to destroy all the records about Xin Mei or Mian. I wanted to protect Mian from whoever was after her."
"The only mistake I did was I never thought about you. I knew she was an orphan but I never thought she could have a friend who was looking after her." Xin Jin yelled and started to sob loudly.
Su Yuchen looked at him without any words. All his anger had vanished upon hearing the reasoning of Xin Jin, to hide the identity of Mian and he found his reasoning logical.
Jiang Biyu would have probably killed Mian if Xin Jin had not given her the identity of his daughter. Also, now when he thought, as Xin Mei, Mian had lived a very good life. She was safe and had received the love of her parents.
"Thank you, father, thank you for saving my Mian and giving her all the love."
Su Yuchen felt grateful and hugged Xin Jin tight. Xin Jin started to sob in his arms and asked for forgiveness. From last night Xin Jin was feeling guilty, guilty for separating two friends.
"Father, please don't cry, you did nothing wrong. You protected my Xin Mei like a real father should. Otherwise…." He trailed and shook his head. "I hope this secret will not come out. I do not wish to ever tell Xin Mei that she is Mian. I hope you will also keep this secret hidden."
"I know it will break her. That's why I and everyone have kept this secret hidden from her and He Lin."