Chapter 823 No Blood Relation
By the time Adeline and Jasper reached the cherry blossom tree, it was already 2 AM.
Ryan and his team were using large flashlights to light up the area for them.
Jasper initially wanted to use a shovel, but then he remembered that the child buried under the tree didn't have a coffin. A shovel might damage the body, so he decided to ask Ryan for a small trowel instead.
It was the middle of the night, and Ryan had to send someone to find one nearby.
But as soon as Ryan's team set off, Jasper turned around to see Adeline already on her knees, using her hands to dig up the small grave.
Watching her thin figure and her hands, which only had nine fingers, tirelessly digging through the dirt, Jasper felt a pang of pain in his heart.
He took a deep breath and quickly ran over, grabbing Adeline's dirt-covered hand.
Her hands were too delicate, and the friction with the dirt had already caused them to bleed.
Jasper looked at her blood-stained hands and sighed deeply.
"Let me do it."
He gently pushed her aside and began digging himself.
Adeline watched him for a moment, then looked down at her own bloodied hands. Finally, she reached out and started digging again alongside him.
Seeing her continue, Jasper knew he couldn't stop her.
He sighed and kept digging.
Both Adeline and Jasper remembered that the child wasn't buried very deep under the cherry blossom tree.
But after half an hour of digging, there was still no sign of the child.
Jasper double-checked the location. They were in the right spot.
What was going on?
After a moment of silence, Jasper picked up the shovel he had initially discarded and dug forcefully.
As he expected, there was nothing but dirt.
Adeline bit her lip in silence.
A month wasn't enough time for a body to completely decompose.
Even if it had decomposed, there would be some trace left, right?
Had their child's body been stolen?
She instinctively looked at Jasper.
Jasper's eyes were filled with shock and confusion.
But after a moment, he regained his composure.
"Maybe someone found the child buried here and thought it was inappropriate, so they had the city workers remove it."
Jasper sighed and gently patted Adeline's shoulder to comfort her.
"It's late. You should go home and rest."
"I'll check the surveillance footage from the past month and talk to the city workers tomorrow."
Adeline bit her lip and silently looked at the deep hole they had dug.
After a while, she looked up at Jasper, her voice barely a whisper.
"Do you think our child might still be alive?"
Jasper sighed. "If she's alive, I'll find her."
Adeline was silent for a moment before nodding firmly.
"Right."
"Ryan, take her home."
"Yes."
Ryan nodded and walked over to Adeline, comforting her as they walked.
Jasper stood still, watching their retreating figures.
Once Adeline was out of sight, he relaxed slightly and put away a blood-stained piece of cloth he had been holding.
"Mr. Foster, where to?"
The driver asked respectfully as Jasper got into the car.
Jasper was silent for a moment before leaning back in the seat.
"Find me the nearest DNA testing center."
Back at the small courtyard, only Linda was left.
She seemed to have been crying, her eyes red and puffy.
When she saw Adeline return, she quickly stood up.
"How did it go? Did you find the child? Did you do the DNA test?"
Adeline shook her head, looking lost.
"No, we didn't find anything."
As she walked into the house, her voice was heavy with despair.
"Linda, isn't it strange? Our dead child was stolen."
Adeline bit her lip, holding back tears.
"Why would someone steal a baby's corpse? A child who died at birth, what use could they have for it?"
Adeline sniffled.
"Or maybe someone hates me or Jasper so much that they wouldn't even let our dead child rest in peace?"
Linda supported Adeline's trembling body, her heart aching at the mix of sadness and despair in Adeline's voice.
She bit her lip, remembering Lucy's last words.
"Adeline, don't be so pessimistic. What if the servant was telling the truth? Maybe your child is still alive, and the one who died was a fake."
Adeline frowned and sighed deeply.
"If it was a fake, why would it be stolen?"
Linda's eyes darted around.
"Maybe the person who stole the child didn't know it was a fake. Or maybe the person who swapped your child was afraid you and Jasper would eventually suspect and dig up the body for a DNA test, so they stole it."
The more Linda spoke, the more she believed her own words.
"Yes, that must be it. So, Adeline, don't be too sad. Your child might still be alive!"
Linda's words didn't comfort Adeline; they made her more anxious.
Back in her room, she lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling, her mind in turmoil.
On one hand, she thought Lucy's last words, spoken as if grasping at a final hope, couldn't be true. People would do anything to survive. And Lucy was a woman who had taken money from many people and even framed Zara. Her words weren't trustworthy.
On the other hand, Adeline hoped everything Lucy said was true. If her child was really alive. Even if the child didn't come back to her, she would be happy!
Adeline lay in bed, torn between believing and doubting Lucy's words, until she fell asleep.
She had a dream where her and Jasper's child was still alive. The child wasn't anywhere else but under the cherry blossom tree where they had buried her. Under the tree, the child was calling out, saying Adeline and Jasper had buried her alive. The little girl's hysterical voice and her face, twisted like something out of a horror movie, jolted Adeline awake.
She sat up in bed, drenched in sweat.
Adeline trembled, fumbling for her phone. Almost instinctively, she dialed Jasper's number.
At that moment, Jasper was sitting on a couch at the DNA testing center.
"What's wrong?"
Adeline's breathing was heavy. She spoke in a trembling voice.
"Jasper, when we buried our child, she was really dead, right? We didn't bury her alive."
"Yes."
Jasper's voice was steady. "Did you have a nightmare?"
Adeline exhaled deeply. "Yes."
"Don't overthink it. I'll let you know if there's any news about the child."
Jasper held the phone, comforting Adeline while his eyes lingered on a DNA test report on the table.
The report clearly stated: [Sample A and Sample B have no biological relationship.]
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