A Stepmother's Marchen - Chapter 28

Elaine Monroe never meant to fall in love with him. She never meant for her heart to betray her like this. But as she watches him stand beside another, hand resting on the waist of the woman he’s meant to be with, she wonders if she was always destined to be the outsider.“You knew,” she says, voice barely above a whisper. “You knew how I felt.”His jaw tightens, but he doesn’t deny it. He never does.“It wouldn’t have changed anything,” he finally says.She laughs bitterly. “I know.”Loving him was always impossible. He belonged to someone else. To his family’s expectations. To a future where Elaine had no place.“Forget whatever you think you feel,” he tells her, voice firm, but there’s something unspoken in his eyes—something that makes it hurt even more. “It will never happen.”And yet, his gaze lingers, just for a second too long.Then there’s her best friend—the one who stands beside her when the world turns its back. The one who sees her pain without asking.“You don’t have to do this to yourself,” he says, handing her his jacket on a cold night. “You deserve more than waiting for someone who will never be yours.”She wants to believe him. She wants to move forward. But some loves are impossible to forget. Some wounds never truly heal. And some desires, no matter how forbidden, refuse to die._____“loving him best decision i ever made” Elaine“you are my world”

The Shao and Cheng families have been sworn enemies for generations, though few outsiders know the exact details of their feud.

What is known to all is the Shao family’s three cardinal rules:

The Shao family must not cooperate with the Chengs, must not intermarry with the Chengs, and must never appear with the Chengs at any public event.

One day, an adorable little girl looking like a doll, wearing a puffy pink dress, pink hair clip, and pink backpack, walked into the lobby on the first floor of the Shao Group building.

The receptionist thought she was some child who had wandered away from home. But the little girl solemnly said, “I want to see your Shao Group CEO, Shao Chengze.”

Seeing the girl’s pink outfit, the receptionist knew she must be from a wealthy and noble family to dare to address their CEO by his full name. She couldn’t be the daughter of some high-ranking Shao Group executive?

Smiling warmly, she asked, “Little one, could you tell me your parents’ names?”

The girl tilted her head. “My mommy is Cheng Jinlan.”

Cheng…Jinlan?!

Second Miss Cheng Jinlan of the Cheng family?! She never thought she’d see the day a Cheng would set foot in the Shao Group building. What a miracle!

“As for my dad, I’ve come today to get some of Shao Chengze’s hair for a DNA test. Once I have his hair, I’ll know if he’s my dad or not.”

The girl’s crisp words rippled outwards from the front desk through the bustling first floor lobby. Everyone who heard froze in shock, jaws dropping.

Everyone except Shao Chengze, who had just stepped out of the elevator surrounded by a group.

He looked at the girl in pink through narrowed, fox-like eyes.

Cheng Liqi recognized Shao Chengze and covered her mouth in an “ah-oh”.

She decided that even if Shao Chengze wasn’t her dad, she’d have to help Cheng Jinlan get this man. She liked his eyes.

They were just like hers.

So pretty.

Gu Yunjiao, the eldest young lady of a medical family, was reborn with a pharmacy and became a village girl who failed in Chongxi.

Her father is missing, her mother is a crybaby, her in-laws are the star of her death, and there is a mischievous femininity next to her.

Not having a good day.

Fortunately, her mother-in-law is sturdy, her younger siblings are strong, and her family is very supportive of her.

Her mother-in-law made an agreement with her to observe the festival for three years, and then set her free.

Three years later, she is already a well-known god of medicine, and she is very rich.

She packed up and prepared to go to freedom. The big one cried and the little one screamed. A certain handsome man hugged her and said, “Don’t go! You look at people’s bodies, and you have to be responsible to them.”

Gu Yunjiao snapped her fingers: “When I was treating my illness, I saw men ranging from 100 to 80.”

Someone gagged her, “They’re all sick, only I’m a man.”

Later, there was a legend in the capital that the young and handsome Lord Shoufu was afraid when he heard that.

Who are you asking about? Isn’t it just a three-year-old dumpling in the family of Lord Shoufu?

- Description from novelbuddy

In a World where power is everything, Gojo finds himself reincarnated into the Naruto universe, armed with a unique System known as the Konoha Prosperity System. With each investment he makes in the growth and prosperity of the Hidden Leaf Village, Gojo becomes stronger, how Strong and Influenceable will he become?