Chapter 552

After nine o’clock, there were fewer people in the shop, and the miners had gradually started heading home for the Lunar New Year. It wasn’t as busy as before, so her mother could manage the shop alone, and Grace Ziegler went home to rest.

It wasn’t yet ten o’clock, and the sunshine was brilliant, perfect for airing out quilts.

Grace figured that a thorough cleaning was required before the New Year anyway. Her mother shouldn’t have to do it all, so Grace decided to share the burden.

Grace took a quilt outside to air, then came back to tidy up the mattress.

Suddenly, a photograph fell out.

Grace didn’t think much of it and picked up the photo as if nothing had happened, intending to shove it back under the mattress.

However, the moment she glanced at the picture, Grace froze.

The young man in the photo was certainly her father, but the woman holding the baby girl wasn’t her mother.

Did her father have an affair?

Did he have other children?

Staring wide-eyed in disbelief, Grace scrutinized the slightly yellowed old photo.

Instantly, she was dumbfounded.

The woman holding the baby girl resembled Grace upon a closer look.

What in the world was going on?

In her shock, Grace dropped the photo, and only then noticed there were words on the back of the weathered old photo.

{“Our daughter is one month old. We hope our baby girl grows up healthy and safe!”}

Reading the date written below, Grace was certain. The baby girl in the photo was her.

Since the woman holding her bore a resemblance to her, she had to be her mother.

As if suddenly realizing something, Grace found the family photo album and compared her baby pictures.

Her photo at eight months old was taken in the residential area of the mine, and the person holding her at the time was her current mother.

Grace combed through all the photos in the house. From the time she was eight months old, all the photos taken every year included only her father and her current mother, no sign of that woman.

Did that woman not want her anymore?

Or did she pass away?

Her father had died when she was very young and she had never met the woman in the one-month-old photo.

Regardless of whether that woman was alive or dead, she likely had nothing to do with Grace.

The mother who now loved and cherished her… was definitely not her biological mother!

Was she an orphan?

After all these years, Grace had never heard of any other relatives. Only she and her current mother relied on each other.

It seemed that she was indeed an orphan, and her current mother had kindly adopted her.

The truth was too harsh. Grace dared not think any further, sitting on the ground and crying.

No matter how people outside bullied her or looked down on her, at least she had her mother’s love when she came home.

However, the mother who loved her wasn’t her biological mother!

Would there be a day when this mother would also stop loving her and abandon her?

Thinking about the possibility of being left with nothing, Grace felt heartbreaking. Her heart ached!

Tears gathered in her eyes, silently overflowed, and slowly slipped down her cheek.

Before long, the tears soaked Grace’s pale face, and her eyes became swollen from crying.

Why was life so cruel to her?

Grace really hated this reality!

…

Half an hour later, Grace’s tears stopped flowing.

She got up from the ground, casually put the old photo back where it had been. She also decided not to air out the quilt anymore.

Grace considered things heavily. She needed to plan for her own life and couldn’t just watch as she was left with nothing.

Everything she wanted, she must strive to achieve.

She would definitely have everything she desired.