"Brother Lancaster, Sister Yvette Quick, when did you guys return to the country?" Julie Sampton, looking excited to see long-lost friends, walked over and wrapped her arm around Thomas Lancasterâs, just like Jane Sampson used to do when she was little, "How come you told only Jane, without telling me? Weâre all girls from the Sampton Family, youâre so biased."
Thomas Lancaster was startled by the sudden appearance of Julie Sampton and quickly regained his composure, withdrawing his hand and taking a step backward, his face immediately hardening, "Julie Sampton, I donât have a younger sister as big as you, so stop calling me âbrotherâ this and âbrotherâ that. I donât recognize you as such."
"Youâre really shameless," Yvette Quick was not as polite as Thomas Lancaster.
She pushed past Alexander Forest and Peter Gingery, stepping directly in front of Julie Sampton, "Why should we tell you when we came back? And âgirls from the Sampton Familyâ? Who do you think we are? Should we be ingratiating ourselves with a girl from the minor Sampton branch? Jane Sampson is all of our little sister, but what are you, Julie Sampton, supposed to be?"
"Even if Jane Sampson is a girl from your Sampton Family, sheâs still our granddaughter-in-law at the Black Family, and my brotherâs wife. Sheâs part of the Black Family. Although she shares the same surname, thereâs still a distinction between the noble and the common," said Peter Gingery, speaking as though he were a Crown Prince, his every word dripping with scorn and ridicule toward Julie Sampton for overestimating herself.
"I didnât mean anything else..." Julie Samptonâs face was red and she clenched her teeth as she explained, "I was just happy to see you all back, and a bit sad too. You came back and didnât tell me, making me feel left out as if we werenât friends from our childhood."
"Why should we tell you?" Yvette Quick sneered, raising her hand to slap Julie Samptonâs face, not lightly, the gesture full of humiliation, not trying to hide it at all, "Donât flatter yourself, who played with a selfish ghost like you when they were kids? We were never friends, okay?"
In Yvette Quickâs words, Julie Sampton was purely courting disgrace by coming over.
Julie Sampton couldnât possibly be unaware that their whole circle detested her. With her there, who could possibly catch up with her?
Thinking they were friends? Talking more than a few words with Julie Sampton felt like losing status.
"Get lost, donât stand there being an eyesore," said Yvette Quick, waving her hand, "If you keep hanging around here, Iâll have the boss come out and kick you out."
Julie Sampton knew Yvette Quick meant what she said. She raised her hand to touch her face where Yvette had struck her, looking at Thomas Lancaster with a hurt expression, hoping he might speak up for her, but Thomas just pretended not to see and continued talking to Jane beside him.
It took Julie Sampton a few seconds to gather herself before she bit her lip and turned to leave.
Yvette Quickâs group was one she had always tried to fit into from a young age but was consistently excluded from.
Why could Jane Sampson, a foster daughter with unknown parents, be as close as real siblings with these second-generation officials, while she, Julie Sampton, the true daughter of the Sampton Family, was ostracized by them?
If it werenât for Jane Sampson taking her place, if Jane hadnât monopolized the life that belonged to her, if she had grown up inside the great courtyard and known them since childhood, then she, Julie Sampton, would be the one now cherished by Yvette Quick and the others!
Jane Sampson stole her parents, the Sampton Familyâs wealth, the good life that should have been hers, and even the childhood and playmates that were rightfully hers.