Ian’s voice was very low, but his dispassionate words reached everyone’s ears clearly.
The entire hall suddenly quietened again.
Everyone looked at Ian incredulously, only to see him pushing his wheelchair forward slowly until he reached the few of them.
Upstairs.
An anxious Mrs. Hunt was going down the stairs. As she did, she complained to Mrs. Lewis, “I knew Justin’s girlfriend would be terrible. People from poor, humble families just aren’t presentable enough. Look at that outrageous scene they made!
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“Why can’t she even get along with her cousin? It’s to the extent that she would even embarrass her like that in public!
“Look at how cultivated and refined Ms. Smith is instead. None of the girls in the hall can say she’s not good enough. Whether it’s because they fear the Smiths or because of Ms. Smith’s personal charm, this is undeniably what she’s capable of! If only Justin were getting engaged with a young lady of the Smiths instead! I won’t even ask for her to be related by blood anymore. Yvonne Smith would do just fine!”
Mrs. Hunt went on and on. “Look at how I have to mediate for her despite how much I dislike her. What else can I do when Justin has already acknowledged her status?! Her embarrassing herself is equivalent to embarrassing Justin, which is equivalent to embarrassing the Hunts!”
Mrs. Lewis held Mrs. Hunt’s arm and said, “Slow down a little. I told you to take the elevator, but you simply refused to. Can you go down the stairs with your knees like that?”
Mrs. Hunt replied huffily, “Considering the situation in the hall, it’ll take even longer for me to reach if I take the elevator!”
The out-of-breath woman reached the lower floor just in time to hear Rachel saying, “Without a strong family to support you, you’ll be hated by the Hunts sooner or later and will be divorced!”
She panicked at once. She was about to speak when she heard Ian’s comment.
Mrs. Hunt was stunned.
Justin looked at Nora—although her brows were raised slightly, and she was a little surprised, she didn’t look greatly astonished. He knew right away that she must already have guessed something a long time ago.
Nora had already given it a lot of thought.
After realizing that Henry Smith was not her real father, she had started to wonder why her mother had picked him out of all the ordinary men out there.
After she came to New York, she had come to understand the way her mother did things. She was likely someone not to be trifled with, in which case, she would definitely know what kind of person Henry was.
Therefore, her mother must have had her reasons for picking him.
She had thought about it over and over and even gone through all the events from back then. The Henry of that time couldn’t get any more ordinary than what he had been.
If there was anything unusual about him, it was the fact that his last name was Smith.
After all, there weren’t that many people with the last name Smith.
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His last name was Smith…
In that case, did that mean that her father was Ian?
She had already suspected that a long time ago, which was why she had paid special attention to Ian’s condition. That was also why she had followed him when he asked her to go to the balcony with him just now. She had even planned to find an opportunity to take a DNA sample from him and get Lily to do a test.
Therefore, she wasn’t very surprised when Ian said what he did.
Rachel, however, was dumbfounded. “W-what do you mean?”
Yvonne also looked at Ian in shock and astonishment. When she saw him staring at Nora, she suddenly panicked…
Ian slowly lowered his head and said dispassionately, “She is a child of the Smiths.”
“…”
The whole hall was silent.
Everyone stared at Ian in disbelief. Yvonne was also astonished and bewildered. She looked at Nora, and then at Ian…
One must admit that Nora took after Yvette a great deal, but the parts that didn’t did indeed resemble Ian!
Her legs went limp and she staggered.
Even Rachel was utterly stunned. “What? T-that’s impossible!”
She was just a hillbilly! It was impossible for her to suddenly become Cinderella!
Ian must be lying!
Warren was also dumbfounded.
He had been arguing with his wife just a moment ago.
His wife had been unhappy at him for making things difficult for Nora and had given him a warning in private, so he had been very angry. He said, “I don’t care whether she did anything wrong or not. Yvonne is my sister. Am I supposed to abandon my sister and take her side instead? No way!”
Maureen was furious when she heard that. “Can you be reasonable? Besides, Yvonne is not related to you by blood anyway. How is she even your sister?!”
Warren reprimanded her. “How can you say that? She is Uncle Ian’s adopted daughter, and she grew up in the Smiths. That makes her my sister! I look only at family ties, not reason! Hmph, Nora can only blame herself for not being a daughter of the Smiths!”
Maureen was so mad that she was about to go berserk.
But unexpectedly, things had suddenly taken a huge turn!
Warren was also dumbfounded. When Rachel said what she did, he subconsciously also asked, “Is Uncle Ian’s illness making him muddleheaded?”
Joel’s gentle but stern voice reached him. “Uncle Ian would never take matters about the Smiths’ bloodline lightly. Nora does indeed have blood relations with the Smiths! She’s our cousin!”
Warren: “!!”
Everyone: “!!!”
This piece of news was simply too sensational!!
As it turned out, Yvette Anderson’s daughter was actually Ian Smith’s daughter?
Then why did she run away when she became pregnant?
Hadn’t they been in love?
Didn’t they say that Yvette had betrayed Ian?
However!
The hillbilly’s sudden transformation into a young lady of the Smiths sure was dramatic! No wonder Yvonne had stopped competing with her.
And no wonder Nora could catch Justin’s eye!
Just as everyone was speculating, Nora suddenly asked, “Why do you say that? Do you have any evidence?”
Everyone: “??”
Why did it look like Nora wasn’t very happy about it?
Had they been in her shoes, they would have just acknowledged the Smiths as family first and left the talk for later! Who cared about evidence or whatnot?!
They were the Smiths!
Yet, Nora had asked about it. Joel answered seriously, “We did a DNA test.”
It was just like what she had thought.
Nora thought back to the other time at the medical university when someone had tugged a few strands of hair off her head. Was he sent by the Smiths?
No… The Smiths would never send someone to kill her.
In the midst of her thoughts, Justin smiled and said, “Uncle Ian, Joel, let’s go upstairs, find a quiet place, and have a good talk. I think Nora also wants to know what exactly is going on.”
It wasn’t appropriate to talk about the details in public.
Joel looked at Ian. When he saw him nodding, he replied, “Okay.”
Justin led the way. Nora followed beside him. Joel pushed Ian’s wheelchair and followed behind them. The four of them went upstairs and entered a meeting room.
As soon as they entered, Joel took the initiative to take out the results of the DNA test they did the other time. He handed it to Nora and said, “This is the evidence.”
Nora took it from him casually. She glanced at Ian but didn’t see any traces of joy on him. When she looked down at the report in her hand, her eyes widened in astonishment…
This… How could this be?!