Jiang Lan's mind was in chaos. She no longer knew how to describe her current feelings. One shocking secret after another had bombarded her, making it difficult to bear.
"No, how is this possible?" Jiang Lan looked at Xu Qin, hoping to get a denial, but unfortunately, Xu Qin remained silent, implicitly confirming it.
Lu Ming sat down quietly. He had already guessed such an outcome, but hearing it publicly revealed still brought a deep sense of shock.
There was nothing Lu Ming could do to help with this matter. Such origins were left behind by the previous generation; neither Lu Ming nor Jiang Lan could make a choice.
"What is all this about?" Jiang Mengxin was completely bewildered. She looked at Xu Qin and said, "Mom, how did things turn out like this? What did you do when you were young?"
Jiang Mengxin's mind had not yet caught up. She still thought that Xu Qin had made a mistake in her youth, having an illicit affair with the head of the Jiang family from Jiangcheng and giving birth to Jiang Lan.
In Jiang Mengxin's view, Jiang Lan was supposed to be her half-sister.
Xu Qin rolled her eyes and said angrily, "Mengxin, stop talking nonsense. Your mother isn't that perverse. Jiang Lan isn't my daughter at all!"
Jiang Xueyi nodded and said, "Xiao Lan is indeed not my daughter. She's a child we adopted out of helplessness. Sigh..."
Jiang Lan became even more confused.
"What are you old folks doing? Hurry up and explain things clearly!" Jiang Lan was genuinely anxious.
Then, Jiang Rong slowly revealed the truth.
The matter was not complicated.
Jiang Zaiye, the head of the Jiang family from Jiangcheng, was an extremely amorous man in his youth, fond of seducing women wherever he went.
At that time, Jiang Zaiye had a good relationship with Jiang Xueyi, and they often went out together.
Once, they went to the great grasslands and met beautiful grassland girls. Given Jiang Zaiye's personality, he was instantly smitten.
He lost control and went on a date with a grassland girl that night, taking her innocence.
Tragically, Jiang Zaiye lost control. This time, he made a mistake and actually got the grassland girl pregnant!
Jiang Zaiye was unaware of this at the time. After his escapade, he returned home.
A year later, the grassland girl came to his door with a child, demanding that he acknowledge paternity!
This was a disaster!
At that time, Jiang Zaiye was engaged to the daughter of a wealthy merchant with the help of his family and was about to get married. Moreover, Jiang Zaiye was about to become the new head of the branch family.
If paternity were acknowledged now, the wealthy merchant's daughter would certainly not agree to marry him, and the engagement would be off.
Secondly, Jiang Zaiye would be retaliated against by people within the family. They would use this child to cause trouble, and Jiang Zaiye would have no chance of becoming the family head!
If he acknowledged the child, Jiang Zaiye's marriage and career would be ruined!
But the grassland girl had already come to his door with the child. Could he refuse to acknowledge it?
Finally, Jiang Zaiye, Jiang Xueyi, and a few others discussed it for a whole night and came up with a makeshift solution: Jiang Xueyi would acknowledge the child!
The story would be that it wasn't Jiang Zaiye who had been intimate with the grassland girl, but Jiang Xueyi.
Since Jiang Xueyi had no family head position to contend for, and Xu Qin was present at the time and knew that Jiang Xueyi was taking the blame and not truly betraying her, there were no worries about their marriage.
By having Jiang Xueyi acknowledge the child, Jiang Zaiye could be protected.
The only question was: would the grassland girl agree to this arrangement?
With trepidation, Jiang Xueyi stepped forward and acknowledged the child. To everyone's surprise, the grassland girl did not expose Jiang Xueyi and cooperated with them in this charade.
In the end, Jiang Zaiye gave the grassland girl a large sum of money, reportedly over a hundred million yuan! The grassland girl left the Jiang family with the money and never reappeared.
The child was then handed over to Jiang Xueyi and became Jiang Xueyi's daughter from then on.
That child was Jiang Lan.
From then on, Jiang Zaiye often provided Jiang Xueyi with certain benefits, urging him to take good care of his daughter. However, Jiang Zaiye himself could not visit his daughter because he could not let this matter be exposed.
If it were exposed, his wife might divorce him, and his position as family head might be unstable.
Therefore, Jiang Zaiye never visited Jiang Lan for twenty years.
As a father, Jiang Zaiye was extremely unsuccessful.
Upon hearing this, Jiang Lan finally understood the entire sequence of events. Her heart ached with bitterness. Her origins were so ignoble; her biological father was such a despicable scumbag!
At the same time, Jiang Lan understood something: why Jiang Xueyi and Xu Qin had treated her and Jiang Mengxin so differently over the years. She wasn't their daughter in the first place, so it was normal for them to treat her with a different attitude. It was only her misfortune to not have a good father.
Jiang Mengxin also spat and said, "This Jiang Zaiye is truly a major scumbag! He doesn't dare to acknowledge his wife and child. What a coward."
"Ahem," Jiang Xueyi coughed twice, reminding her to be mindful of her words.
Jiang Mengxin rolled her eyes and asked Jiang Rong, "Since this secret was so important, why dare you reveal it now?"
Jiang Rong said, "It was a desperate measure. You must have heard some rumors about our Jiang family in Jiangcheng. Uncle Zaiye has always wanted a child since he got married, but he couldn't have one! Later, after medical examinations, it was discovered that Uncle Zaiye had health problems. Without a child, the position of family head remained vacant. A few years ago, his wife passed away, and Uncle Zaiye had no one to care for him, his health deteriorated, and he is now on his deathbed, with only a few days left. Everyone is thinking about who will succeed as the family head. It was at this time that Uncle Zaiye finally revealed the truth of that year: he had always had a daughter—Jiang Lan! Uncle Zaiye wants Jiang Lan to be the family head."
Firstly, Jiang Zaiye was nearing his end and desperately wanted to see his biological daughter before he died. Secondly, he wanted to make amends for his wrongs to Jiang Lan.
As for the family, everyone initially disagreed.
However, multiple factions argued endlessly, unable to decide on a suitable heir. After much deliberation, they found that Jiang Lan was the most suitable.
Setting aside other considerations, Jiang Lan was at least Jiang Zaiye's biological daughter! Her succession was quite reasonable.
The only issue to consider was Jiang Lan's capability: could she lead the Jiang family of Jiangcheng to glory?
They didn't expect her to be exceptionally astute or capable, only that she wouldn't be a burden. The family had plenty of capable individuals who could assist her.
It was precisely for this reason that the family had arranged for Jiang Rong to come to Jinling to test Jiang Lan.
This was the entire truth!