A bed, a desk, and a very old wardrobe—other than that, there was nothing else.

In other words, there was no one inside.

In the past, although this room was occupied by Old Carter, it was always piled high with her unused workbooks and children's books, looking very much like a garbage heap. Now, seeing the room so clean and tidy, she suddenly felt extremely unaccustomed to it.

But looking at it from another angle, there didn’t seem to be any trace of a little girl living here.

Even if Old Carter still lived here, he didn’t have another daughter!

David Carter forcibly comforted herself.

……

From the blazing midday sun to the setting of the evening sun, David Carter stayed at the entrance of the small courtyard the whole time, not even seeing the homeowner, let alone her biological father.

During that long wait, David Carter gradually sobered up.

If she couldn’t find Old Carter here, then the most likely possibility was that Old Carter had already gone abroad to study, right?

Actually, that wasn’t so bad, she thought.

This was the life Old Carter was supposed to have.

And who knows, maybe the future plotline would turn into a rich kid recognizing their roots and returning to the family?

She comforted herself with these thoughts. As dusk was about to fall, she knew she had to go back.

As she neared the entrance of the welfare institute, David Carter sensed a feeling like a storm was about to break.

It wasn’t that she had any special abilities, but as she dragged her heavy steps to the mouth of the alley, a little boy squatting under the streetlamp suddenly let out a thunderous shout: “David Carter! You’re back!”

David Carter was startled and turned to run.

The little boy was quick and agile, darting over to grab her leg, hugging it tightly as he shouted, “Brother Xi is trying to run, everyone come catch her!”

David Carter looked down at the boy rolling around at her feet, feeling puzzled. With all her supposed rebelliousness, how did she end up with so little authority among the kids at the welfare institute?

She stood still, shook her leg, and said, “James Carter, that’s enough.”

“No way, Auntie said whoever catches you first gets five pine nut candies.”

Just as David Carter was about to curse, a large hand came from behind and pinched the back of her neck.

She was about to cry out in pain, but when she turned around and saw a gloomy face, all her complaints were swallowed back down.

Five minutes later, in the director’s office.

Not many lights were on in the welfare institute, and the buildings outside the window looked dim, with only the office bathed in warm yellow light.

The walls were covered with group photos, and the bookshelf against the wall was crammed full of certificates and trophies. Most of the certificates were old, and many were for insignificant awards, like third place in a school reading contest.

But no matter how big or small, they were all carefully framed and displayed, representing the feelings of the person who put them there.

David Carter stood silently, her gaze sweeping over each certificate and the names of their recipients.

She looked for a long time, until the owner of the office put down her pen, the soft sound breaking the silence.

She quickly looked up, forcing a guilty smile onto her face.

Seeing the little girl’s obviously ingratiating smile, Julia Grant felt very disappointed.

This afternoon, she had received a call from David Carter’s homeroom teacher and thought she must have misheard. She wasn’t surprised about the fighting, but skipping class—how could that be possible?

Because every child here knew that the welfare institute also had elementary school classes, so being able to go out and attend school was very rare.

She could say that in her more than twenty years working here, she had seen many children insist on going to school even with a 40-degree fever, but had never encountered a child who would skip school over a trivial matter.

She was angry inside, but knew that David Carter was extremely proud, so she forced herself to stay calm.

Gazing into the little girl’s dark eyes, she spoke slowly: “Today, I made quite a few phone calls.”

David Carter froze.

Of course she knew skipping class was wrong, and she was prepared to be scolded harshly.

But to her, no matter how terrible the scolding or punishment to come, it couldn’t compare to her urge to find Old Carter.

But now? There was no scolding, no anger. The atmosphere in the office was calm, and the director herself didn’t look the least bit angry. Instead, David Carter felt uneasy.

“I called every hospital in the city, big and small, and the traffic police as well. They all said that no twelve-year-old girl had been sent to the hospital because of a car accident today, so I was much relieved.”

The woman at the desk was in her forties, wearing a yellow cotton shirt with black checks. She spoke unhurriedly, and when she finished, she pushed up her glasses and looked over calmly.

Everything was clearly very quiet, but David Carter’s mind was suddenly in chaos.

That’s right, when a child doesn’t show up at school, a parent’s first reaction is to think something bad has happened. In these past few hours, the director-mother must have made a lot of calls and looked for a lot of people.

She wanted to act cute and say something funny, but the words stuck in her throat, and she didn’t know what to say.

Just then, the director spoke again.

“As long as you’re okay, go back.”

David Carter looked up sharply.

Actually, before coming here, she had already thought up excuses like getting into a fight with a classmate and the school calling her guardian, so she was afraid to come back.

But hearing such a plain and ordinary sentence, all her casual excuses suddenly got stuck in her throat, and she couldn’t say a single word.

“I’m sorry.”

After thinking for a moment, she stood up straight and apologized sincerely.