Wu Ningli's words hung heavily in the air while Elder Hyacinth worked quietly in the background and Yao Meifeng contemplated what her soon-to-be adoptive mother had said.
"What if I don't want to acknowledge them?" Yao Meifeng asked after thinking for several moments. "My father only ever saw me as something to barter away and my mother could never protect me from…" her voice trailed off as she paused for a moment, drawing a deep breath before continuing.
"It's not important," she said firmly, slamming a wall of ice between the warm core of her heart and the painful memories of her childhood. "The point is that I don't see a reason to honor either of them after they've worked so hard to force me into a marriage I don't want, to a family that has no love for me either," she said.
