Time passed slowly but soon the door to the lawyer's office was opened and he looked out to call everyone in. When I walked in the lawyer came over and patted my arm passing his condolences and well beings since I hadn't been present at the funeral, though he wasn't overenthusiastic I could tell he was genuine so I greeted him in turn. After that he glanced at the other relatives and went to his seat, I took the one closest to him and watched as he took out the documents and placed them on the center of the table.

"Since all parties are now present, I will call to begin the will reading for Mr. Rao Shen-Shui and Mrs. Hong Da-xia, on this day and time of the twentieth of October, twenty-seventeen at ten a.m. This reading is to divide the owned properties of the parties previously named, to those who were named on the will and to witness the handing over of the Minor, only child of parties previously names, Rao Yen-Li, to the chosen guardian among the guardians listed in the will. Let's begin."

After he spoke the room became quiet and the lawyer began to read out the will, the contents of the will sent the relatives of my parents into a frenzy, but there was nothing that their protest could do so they were forced to listen on in silence. But I knew what those people were like and I watched on in silence as a few minutes later a few of them were forced to leave the room. 

My parents were known for being saints among society but like any other human, it seemed they also had a breaking point, from the things written on their will it seemed they had reached that point a long time ago but were just bearing with it. Out of all their fortune, the only thing they left to my father's relatives was sixty million dollars, imagining all those parasites trying to split that "small amount of money" among themselves nearly had me breaking into manic laughter.

Their confidants had received more property than those parasites while everything else was left to me, I tasted fresh blood in my mouth as I bit my lip to hold back my laughter when I felt their piercing stares. But my laughter wasn't one of happiness it was more along the path of sorrow as I couldn't believe I had wasted all my parent's effort in my last life and in the end ended up with nothing, not even the will to live.

The lawyer paused to give them a look before continuing, it seemed that my mother had left her winery and vineyard, while her secretary, Ms. Xie, received a property near the coast. As for my father's best man, he received a few of the resorts he owned and Secretary Min was left in ownership of a few apartment complexes in a new development area. The things that were called out for the others could barely be counted as a semi-quarter of their wealth while the rest was left for me.

After reading out the will, the lawyer took the time to sort out the transfer documents for the things that went to the others before they were sent out. We went through the list of things that were left to me and confirmed the documents before he went through the will that my parents left behind and took out a list. 

"On this list are the relatives your parents have placed for you to choose from" the lawyer spoke as he handed it to me "so take your time and be very certain of your choice, you will need to remain with this person until you are eighteen years old." After saying that he got up and went over to his desk, giving me some space to decide.

I had to say that out of all the things my parents had done for me, this had to be the best, but as I looked at the list I couldn't believe how brain dead I was in my last life. Because even on this list there wasn't a sign of the names of my father's relatives, which meant that my parents had no intention for any of them to act as my guardians. The people on the list were mostly the older generation of my parent's far-off relatives and this alone let me see just how much distrust my parents had in my father's immediate relatives.

As I looked I couldn't help but think of what could have happened if I had come to the will reading in my last life and seen this list, would my decision have been any different? My parents had left back so many signs of their unwillingness to leave me in the grasp of those people so now that leaves me with the question of how I ended up in their guardianship. These things had to be clear to the lawyer and the confidants of my parents, so why in the need did they let me be taken in and ruined by those people.

I gripped the list and bit my lip as I wondered if I had truly gotten the revenge I wanted in my last life or was it that I only scratched the surface? If that was truly the case then it seems that I had another reason for coming back to this life and I'll do everything in order to find the truth, but for now...

I took a deep breath and looked through the list, eventually, my sight stopped on the name that I had been looking for. Anastacia, was the grandniece of my grandfather on my mother's side, the granddaughter of my grandfather's only sister who was just ten years older than me, a citizen of Russia, and my most trusted and beloved benefactor. 

When I was first thrown out of the house by my father's relatives, I was barely eighteen and as someone who grew up under the careful protection of my parents, then inturn carefully manipulated into a piece of trash by my father's relatives, it was impossible for me to survive on my own. It only took me three days to end up at death's door, and if it wasn't for the chance encounter with Anastacia, near a bar in god-knows-where, I would have died.

***

All A's in Anastacia's name are pronounced as ah. Ah-nah-stah-ciah.