Soon they finished their meal. Lu Ping was preparing to go upstairs while Chen Ru and Lu Yu cleared the dining table.

Lu Jin Nan sat across from me, his tone cold and distant.

"What brings you back this time?"

I directly mentioned the situation with my adoptive parents, and his expression instantly turned icy.

"Two million! Why don't they go rob a bank? It's already generous of me not to report them!"

In Lu Jin Nan's mind, he believed that my adoptive parents raised me out of their own selfish motives.

If they could have children, or if they had children later, it was impossible for them to raise an unrelated person like me for no reason.

Listening to his words, I felt a deep sense of irony; he thought everyone in the world was as cold and heartless as he was.

He believed it was unreasonable for my adoptive parents to ask for money now that they needed it for medical treatment.

His voice quickly attracted Chen Ru's attention. "What’s going on? Why do they need so much money?"

I looked at my mother, Chen Ru. "My adoptive father is seriously ill and needs this much money."

"Considering they saved me once, can we at least take out some money to help them?"

I thought my mother would be compassionate, but clearly, Chen Ru was not.

Her expression changed immediately. "Are they trying to morally blackmail us, or do they want support money after raising you all these years?"

"Given their rural living standards, even 20 thousand would be generous; there's no way they need this much!"

I immediately stood up to explain, "I was abducted multiple times back then, and they saved me. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't be who I am today."

"And they have never asked you for any compensation; they haven't asked me for a single penny all these years."

"If they wanted money, they wouldn't wait until now to ask."

Lu Jin Nan sneered, "That's their cleverness. Now they can find a legitimate reason to ask for money, so they’re asking for a lion's share."

"Two million right off the bat—who can withstand that? Does he think we run a bank? Or does he think we're fools?"

Lu Ping, who was upstairs, overheard our conversation and sarcastically shouted down, "I told you coming back would bring trouble. They treat our home like a bank, asking for two million right away."

"You've forgotten who your real family is, right? Only a fool would spend that much money to save someone unrelated!"

I was momentarily stunned; this scene was exactly like when I was brought back before.

Back then, I returned to the Lu family wearing shabby clothes, thinking I had finally come home.

But apart from my warm-hearted mother, everyone else looked at me with cold eyes.

Lu Jin Nan seemed very calm about my return. If it weren't for the police discovering me in the system, he probably wouldn't have thought to look for me.

After all, he had poured all his efforts into Lu Yu.

At that time, he introduced Lu Yu to me.

"This is your younger brother; remember to take good care of him and get along well."

After the introduction, he turned away coldly, reminding me not to compete with Lu Yu for anything.

When 19-year-old Lu Ping saw me, she rolled her eyes and turned to leave.

Lu Yu, on the other hand, smiled and reached out his hand. "Hello, brother."

His smile was innocent and bright; I thought it was friendly, only to later realize it was a knife hidden behind a smile.

In the days that followed, there were many instances where Lu Yu framed me, with Lu Ping helping him to slander me.

They began to criticize me for my lack of upbringing, saying I had developed bad habits while living in the countryside and was incorrigible.

Lu Jin Nan even argued with Chen Ru about why they brought me back. They already had Lu Yu.

Why bring back someone with whom they had no emotional connection?

Because of my arrival, the Lu family fell into chaos.

Lu Ping said I shouldn't have come back; their family of four was living happily, and my presence disrupted their peace.

From that moment on, I knew they didn't welcome me.

I suppressed my inner discomfort and looked at them.

"Just consider this money as a loan from me to you; I will pay you back later."

Lu Jin Nan immediately scolded, "If you say that, others will think our Lu family has mistreated you!"

The atmosphere instantly became tense, and Lu Yu quickly jumped in to speak.

"Brother, although they saved you and raised you for a few years, it's not worth two million."

"And it's not that Mom and Dad don't want to help you; they just worry you might be exploited by someone with ulterior motives. You need to understand their difficulties."

His understanding was always timely, and Lu Jin Nan looked at him with appreciation.

"Look at your brother; if you had even half of his qualities, you wouldn't be in this situation!"

"You left before, so you need to do the same now!"

Five years ago, I left the Lu family voluntarily, which embarrassed Lu Jin Nan.

I didn't want to live amidst their endless quarrels and scheming, and I promised I would never inherit any of the Lu family's assets.

I just didn't expect this would get out, saying the Lu family didn't like me, the true heir they had found.

Although the truth was indeed like that.

Rumors spread that I wanted to sever ties with the Lu family, which embarrassed them greatly.

This made Lu Jin Nan extremely angry, declaring that if I wanted to return in the future, I could only do so on my knees.

I understood his meaning; he had said that if I wanted to come back, I had to do so on my knees.

I looked at the people who were only family by blood and slowly knelt down before them.

They say a man has gold beneath his knees; kneeling is for the heavens, the earth, and then for parents.

But my kneeling was not to express gratitude for my parents' upbringing; it was to plead with them.

"I hope you can help me this time, considering our blood relation. I promise to repay you later!"

Lu Jin Nan didn't expect that I would really kneel for my adoptive parents; he turned his back to me in anger.

Chen Ru was somewhat exasperated, scolding me.

"Aren't you just making it difficult for your dad? You know that's not what he means."

"And what kind of talk is this? Kneeling to plead for someone else in front of your own parents? What do you think we are?"

I looked up at her, filled with helplessness.

"But Mom, I have no other way."

In the end, Chen Ru still avoided my gaze, turning her face away from me.

Lu Ping directly brought over a pen and paper. "Since you say it's a loan, then write it down clearly in black and white, so you can't go back on your word later!"

"After all, what if your adoptive parents are vampires? We don't want to be stuck with people like that."

She quickly wrote up an agreement and a loan note, throwing it down in front of me.

I knelt in the middle of the living room, clenching my fists as I looked at her. "They are not like that!"

Lu Ping rolled her eyes. "Who knows? If you're so high and mighty, why are you still kneeling here?"

Their indifference and words made me feel a chill all over, and the persistent headache caused beads of cold sweat to form on my forehead.

If they knew I had little time left, what kind of expressions would they have?

Would they be sad, or would they feel relieved to finally be rid of me?

After a long time, Lu Jin Nan finally spoke. "You go tell them clearly; I can only give 200,000, nothing more."

"But to sever your relationship with them, from now on, there must be no further contact!"

"If you can do that, then sign."

"If you can't, then get out of here!"