Jane Sampson looked at Mother Sampton sitting there with a flustered expression, her tears falling one by one.
She couldnât hold it in anymore, she truly couldnât.
"Julie Sampson, you keep saying I owe you, that I owe this family. You always act like the victim, but what about me? Am I not a victim too?" Jane Sampson roared lowly, "Back then, I had just been born. I didnât grow legs and run to your Sampton Family just to enjoy riches and luxury. What does the mistake of the past have to do with me? What did I do wrong?"
Jane Sampsonâs sobs could no longer be suppressed, "For so many years, Iâve always wanted to ask you, how do you even qualify to be called parents? How could you fail to recognize your own biological daughter? And Iâve always wanted to ask you, where are my daddy and mommy? Where are they? Each time I watch you dote on Julie Sampson, I miss them too, so much, so very much."
"If it hadnât been for you as parents failing to recognize your own child and swapping babies back then, wouldnât I have grown up happily by my biological daddy and mommyâs side? Perhaps they wouldnât have had as much money as you, wouldnât have been able to provide me with a privileged living environment, but maybe, just maybe, they would have loved me deeply. If I hadnât grown up in the Sampton Family, if Iâd grown up with my daddy and mommy, wouldnât I have been a little happier than I am now?"
"Mr. Sampton, Mrs. Sampton, Iâd like to ask you something as well. You found your biological daughter, reunited with her, and now youâre happy as a family. But what about my daddy and mommy? Where did you hide my daddy and mommy?"
She missed them too, wished for them to appear before her one day, hold her close, and tell her, "Daughter, weâve been searching for you all along." "You push all the mistakes onto me, treat me as some shameless plunderer. But have you ever considered? Did I even have the right to choose? Who was truly at faultâme, or you back then?" Jane Sampson bit her lip. "For so many years, Iâve remembered the kindness you showed in raising me. I neither fought nor argued. I watched as you prepared to marry Julie Sampson off into the Black Family, and I said nothing. I watched as you treated me like a mere item to swap into the Black Family, and I didnât complain. Yes, you raised me, and I owe you for that."
Jane Sampson asked softly, "Wasnât the kindness of raising me repaid the moment you swapped me into the Black Family? The benefits the Black Family has given you all these years could already be considered interest. So, Mr. Sampson, Mrs. Sampson, what do I still owe you? How do you have the audacity to demand more repayment?"
"I owe the Black Family, owe them for taking me in. When you pawned me off like an object to them, they gave me another place to stay, a refuge. They gave me a new home, and love and care that you had never given me."
"You long ago withdrew all affection for me, forced me to repay you with money. Now, how do you dare come demanding more?" Jane Sampson let out a cold laugh, "I will give back the shares to you. And from now on, your Sampton Family and I are no longer connected. As for whether you choose to publish a statement in the paper or not, thatâs entirely up to you."
Jane Sampson said this and turned toward the doorway, yet halfway there, she suddenly turned back. "If weâre talking about kindness in raising me, the real debt I owe is to my grandparents. Because they were the ones who truly gave me food and clothing. It wasnât you. It was them. My tuition fees, my clothes, my meals and accommodationsâtheyâve always been the ones worrying about those, not you. So, I have never owed you anything."