The Sweet Rival (Mango Shen and Nathaniel Ye)

"Of course!"

In fact, Mango did not think much of it.

Furthermore, drawing blood was a regular occurrence in her country. Moreover, Mango was touched that Queena promised to find a solution for her identity problem.

Although she did not know if it would be successful, at least there was some hope.

Even with Mango's agreement, Queena did not feel any better.

Then, Queena said in a low voice, "Follow me, there's a blood sampling facility here."

"Oh, okay!"

Mango obediently followed behind Queena to the blood sampling facility.

Along the way, many people greeted Queena, but she acted as if she did not hear them and it seemed like she was in a trance.

Although Mango felt that Queena was acting very strangely, she did not ask her further.

After they arrived at the blood sampling facility, Queena said to the staff inside, "Please do me a favor and collect a blood sample from her."

"Right away, Minister Xiao."

The staff of the facility quickly collected a sample of Mango's blood. Then, Queena said, "Mango, go back to my office and wait for me. I have something to do here first, but I'll be back to see you later." "Alright!"

Mango did not question Queena's instructions and she went straight back to the office.

After Queena saw that Mango was out of earshot, she said to the staff, "Have the blood fractionated for me. Other than keeping a record on file, I need this blood for something else." "Alright, Minister Xiao, please wait for a moment."

The staff of the blood sampling facility made a record of Mango's blood before they gave a portion of it to Queena.

Then, Queena took the blood and she left the embassy immediately. After that, she drove to a government hospital nearby.

"I want to perform a maternity test, so how quickly can you complete it for me?"

"It'll take at least two to three days."

The other party recognized Queena and he replied in a low voice when he noticed she was particularly cautious. "If it's urgent, we can do it in a day and a half but we have to work overtime." "Sorry to trouble you."

Queena then handed over two samples of blood.

"This is classified information and you cannot reveal it to anybody, especially the test results."

Queena's solemnity made the person feel somewhat pressured to keep this secret. After she left the hospital, Queena returned to her office.

Meanwhile, Mango had fallen asleep on Queena's desk because she had waited for too long and became sleepy.

As she looked at Mango who was sleeping soundly, Queena's emotions were very complicated.

Queena took off her coat and she draped it over Mango's shoulders. Next, she got up before she went to the side cabinet and opened a safety box. Queena then took out a few pictures from the safety box. The photos were taken when she was together with Dennis when they were younger.

At the time, Dennis was not a soldier yet. He was just a painter and an artist.

Back then, Dennis loved to travel and paint everything he found that pleased his eye. They had met at an art exhibition and they fell in love quickly due to their common love for art.

At the time, Queena had felt that they would eventually be married and they would be the sort of couple that people envied. However, she did not expect that Dennis would suddenly leave her.

Without even a single message to her, he went straight to the battlefield.

That was a dark time for Queena.

She did not know where to find him, but then she found herself pregnant with his child.

Those days, it was shameful to be pregnant out of wedlock. Furthermore, her prestigious family background made it even less tolerable.

Thus, Queena had thought about aborting the baby, but she could not bring herself to do it every time she went to the hospital. As time passed, Queena was even more reluctant to abort it when she felt the baby move in her belly.

Then, she left home, her school, and all her friends and family before she secretly went to a small hilltop village to await the birth of her child.

When she gave birth, she quickly realized that she could not raise the child on her own.

This was because she was unmarried and she still had a bright future ahead. Hence, she would not ruin her whole life for the sake of this child.

At that time, there was another couple in the hospital that gave birth at the same time. Queena found out the couple had come to the countryside to paint the landscape around them. They were young and very loving but their child died at birth.

Queena did not know what possessed her to bribe the doctor to exchange her own daughter to the couple. After that, she took the dead child away from the hospital.

After she settled the burial of the dead child, she adopted another child from the orphanage in fear of somebody discovering her own child's whereabouts. Then, she brought him back to Ocean City and she publicly gave him away to another orphanage.

Back then, she had given birth to a daughter, but she deliberately adopted a son. In fact, all this was to ensure that no one from the Hans family could find the child.

Years later, she never expected that the news of Dennis's death would reach her.

At that moment, Queena was extremely devastated and she could not accept the fact.

How was it possible that Dennis was dead?

After that, Queena chased down every clue she could in order to find the daughter because that was the only connection left between her and Dennis. Unfortunately, the couple that she gave her child to was not from that village and they were just passing by en route to paint.

After their child was born, the couple had left and no one knew where they went.

Queena lost her own child amongst the burgeoning masses of people. In fact, she'd searched around for many years, but there was no news of her missing daughter.

Now, she recalled the fragments of memories between her and Dennis as she looked at the picture. At the same time, tears welled up in her eyes.

Then, she looked at Mango, who was sleeping, again. If Mango was really their daughter, then what should she do?

Queena was in a dilemma.

On the other hand, Mango did not sleep well. In her dreams, Abyss hunted her down madly and he would stop chasing her no matter what she said. Furthermore, Abyss had shot Nathaniel dead while he was protecting her. The bright red blood caused Mango to scream in fear and she was immediately jolted awake from her nightmare.

Then, Queena quickly put away her things and she calmed her turbulent emotions.

"What's wrong? Did you have a nightmare?"

Queena's voice was steady, but her hands were trembling.

Then, Mango glanced at Queena, and then she realized where she was.

"Yeah... I just had a nightmare, and it was scary as hell!"

Next, Mango patted herself on the chest like a child before she suddenly realized how mentally retarded was she. Then, she put her hand down sheepishly and giggled at Queena. "Ahem, Aunt Xiao, have I slept for a long time? If so, I'm sorry about that, but why didn't you wake me up?"

"It's okay. It's not like I have anything else to do anyway."

Queena smiled faintly and she began to put away the items that she took out earlier.

Mango did not have a habit of invading other people's privacy even if she felt that Queena's mood was off today. Nevertheless, she would not ask questions if Queena did not want to talk. "Are you hungry? Let's go home and I'll make you something delicious to eat."

Queena suddenly offers had made Mango feel somewhat flattered.

Although they hadn't spent a long time together, Mango could sense that Queena was not a fan of cooking. Most of the time, it was Mango that made food for Queena.

However, Queena seemed to be in a gleeful mood today so Mango decided not to interrupt her.

"Okay then!"

Mango answered immediately.

Then, Queena said with a smile, "What's your favorite food?"

There was a hint of tenderness in Queena's eyes.

Thus, Mango felt that Queena was acting differently towards her, but she could not pinpoint how Queena was different.

"I'm not really that picky so I' II eat whatever you cook. Since I was a child, my parents told me that being picky could stunt my growth. Look at me now, I'm so big and plump because I wasn't a picky eater." Mango joked happily with Queena.

Then, Queena suddenly asked, "Do your parents treat you well?"

"Of course, they've been very good to me. I'm the only child, and I heard from my father, that my mother's womb was damaged when she had me. Because of that, they couldn't have another child so they doted exclusively on me. Through the years, they gave me whatever I wanted and they tried their best to satisfy my every desire. Unfortunately, they thought that I'd died during that fire incident years ago and they were sad for several years. Now that I've come back against all odds, I'll try my best to be a filial daughter to them."

Mango was very sincere when she talked about the Shen family.

In fact, she had started to miss her parents a little. Other than that, she missed Wisdom, Rita, and Madam Ye as well.

Alas!

Mango did not know when she would be able to return home.

Hence, Mango became rather somber.

On the other hand, Queena felt both distress and comfort at the same time. Fortunately, Mango had been well taken care of these years and it was a better life than traveling all around the world with Queena. "Let's go home!"

Next, Queena smiled before she put on her coat and left the room.

Only then did Mango notice that Queena's coat was draped on her shoulders.

Did that mean that she had covered herself with Queena's jacket as she slept?

Mango felt that she had become increasingly reckless. How could she be so capricious in front of Queena?

After that, she quickly caught up to Queena.

"Aunt Xiao, let me drive. I've slept for a while and I'm wide awake now." Mango spoke hurriedly as she noticed that Queena seemed quite exhausted.

"Alright then!"

Soon, Queena gave the car keys to Mango.

When the two of them got in the car, Queena seemed very tired and she closed her eyes immediately.

Nevertheless, Mango did not say anything and she even turned on the heater in the car to make sure Queena stayed warm.

As Mango drove away from the embassy, Queena seemed to have fallen asleep.

Hence, Mango drove the car as steadily as possible as they returned to the villa.

As she was about to wake Queena up, Mango found that Queena was already awake.

"Aunt Xiao, are you awake? We're home."

"Yup!"

Queena looked at Mango with a smile before she got out of the car.

Mango felt that Queena was particularly joyful today. Furthermore, her gaze seemed extra tender and it reminded Mango of Mrs. Shen's eyes.

Honestly, Mango felt that she was really quite homesick.

Alas, she did not know when she could return home.

Then, Mango quickly got out of the car and she followed Queena into the villa. "Aunt Xiao, let me help you with the food."

Mango rolled up her sleeves, but Queena pushed her out of the kitchen instead.

"You're not needed in here today, so go outside and watch some TV."

That rendered Mango speechless, but she did not resist Queena's orders. So, she went back to the living room and turned on the TV. There was still a reward out for her discovery, and the reward was now increased to ten thousand dollars.

It seemed that Abyss was willing to spare any expense in order to find her.

The more Mango watched, the more annoyed she became. Then, she just turned off the TV. After that, she picked up her pen and she was about to draw something before she noticed that her art block had been ripped up.

Except for Queena, Andrea was the only person who could enter the villa. Hence, it was obvious that Andrea had done this too.

Frankly, Andrea acted like a petulant child. Not only did she rip up Mango's art block, but she had also strewn them haphazardly across the tea table.

Mango shook her head. It was ridiculous to witness Andrea's childish behavior.

In order to avoid angering Queena, she quickly cleared away the pieces of paper. However, she found a corner of a photo stuck in the edge of the tea table.