Yong County Guesthouse!
Tang Xue sat alone in her room, unable to sit still.
Since the operation was taking place at night, and Tang Xue was pregnant, Li Yi hadn’t brought her along.
Left alone at the guesthouse, Tang Xue felt a hint of anticipation, but mostly worry.
After all, when you really think about it, this whole situation was a bit dodgy—what with the “kidnapping” and the intimidation. If they were found out, they might just end up attracting the attention of the police.
At that moment, she felt a twinge of regret. If she’d known it would be this much trouble, she never would have begged Li Yi to investigate her background.
In any case, she was already an adult. Even if she found her biological parents, what would it really accomplish?
Was she supposed to go visit them and claim kinship?
The thought of calling strangers “Dad” and “Mom”—Tang Xue felt she simply couldn’t bring herself to do it.
“Knock, knock, knock…”
Just as she was lost in her thoughts, a soft knock suddenly sounded at the door.
Tang Xue hurried to the door and asked nervously, “Who is it?”
“It’s me, Li Yi!”
Hearing her husband’s familiar voice, Tang Xue breathed a slight sigh of relief and immediately unlocked the door from the inside.
Seeing Li Yi, who looked worn out from his journey, Tang Xue asked with concern, “You’re back. Have you eaten yet?”
“I’ve already eaten!”
Tang Xue immediately poured him a glass of water and brought it over, saying, “Have some water first. If it’s hot, I’ll open the window!”
“No need. Sit down. I have something to tell you,” Li Yi said as he drank.
Tang Xue’s heart began to race, and she asked, “Is it… is there news?”
“Yes!”
Then Li Yi said in a grave tone, “Just as we suspected, you weren’t deliberately abandoned by your parents—you were switched at birth by Tang Jizhong!”
“Swapped… swapped?”
“That’s right!”
Li Yi then recounted in detail the truth he had pried out of Tang Meiqin to Tang Xue.
Upon learning that she had been stolen from her mother’s side by Tang Jizhong using such despicable means, Tang Xue could no longer hold back and burst into loud sobs.
Ever since she was a child, she had always known that her parents treated her differently from Tang Lei and Tang Bing. Her grandparents had been fine at first, but later on, their treatment of her had clearly changed as well.
She had simply assumed her parents were biased, never once imagining that she wasn’t their biological child.
When she finally learned the truth that day, she felt a great sense of relief. She even began to think she was being ungrateful—that her parents had been kind enough to raise her, and that she had simply set her expectations too high.
That was precisely why she had given them three thousand yuan that day—as a token of gratitude for raising her.
But now that she knew the truth, she finally understood: Tang Jizhong and his wife had never shown her any kindness—only hatred!
At the same time, she felt a pang of sympathy for her biological mother. Although she didn’t know why her mother had gone to the hospital alone to give birth, she suspected that, having been manipulated by schemers, she might still be unaware that her biological daughter had been switched at birth.
Listening to Tang Xue’s sobs, Li Yi didn’t try to comfort her; he simply held her close and gently patted her back.
At a time like this, words were useless; only by crying out her inner grief would she feel any relief.
After quite a while, Tang Xue finally stopped crying.
“What do you think I should do?”
Li Yi thought for a moment and said, “The police will handle the matter involving Tang Meiqin and Tang Jizhong and his son. What we need to do is continue investigating your mother’s identity while we wait for news from the police!”
“Will… will they go to jail?”
Li Yi knew Tang Xue was asking about Tang Jizhong and his son Tang Lei, so he replied immediately, “Yes!”
Tang Xue fell silent; she didn’t know what kind of emotions were swirling inside her.
She knew full well they were her enemies, and she knew they hadn’t truly treated her as family all these years. Yet at that moment, she didn’t feel the satisfaction of seeing her enemies brought to justice; instead, she felt a pang of sadness.
“Xiao Xue, are you feeling a bit reluctant?” Li Yi asked immediately.
He knew she had a kind heart. After all, Tang Jizhong had raised her all these years, and Li Yi was genuinely worried she might not have the heart to send those bastards to prison.
Tang Xue shook her head and said, “No, I just feel a little uneasy. Besides, whether they go to prison or not isn’t something we can decide.”
Although she was just a young girl, she understood that this case constituted a criminal offense. Even if she were willing to forgive the father and son, there was no way the police would drop the charges.
Besides, she didn’t want to forgive them just like that.
After all, she wasn’t the only one truly harmed by this incident—her biological parents were the biggest victims.
“I’m relieved to hear you think that way. People like them aren’t worth forgiving. They’ve done you no favors—only inflicted searing hatred and irreparable pain!” Li Yi said.
Li Yi wasn’t just saying this to Tang Xue standing before him; he was also speaking to that poor, foolish girl from his past life.
In her past life, because of his own heartlessness, Tang Xue eventually returned to Yong County.
Although Li Yi didn’t know the exact details of what happened later, based on what he’d learned recently, it wasn’t hard to guess what had transpired in his past life.
It must have been that after Tang Xue returned, the Tang family forced her to marry that bloated, fat-bellied director—a man old enough to be her father—in order to secure the money for Tang Lei’s wedding and to resolve Tang Bing’s employment issues.
Tang Xue obviously wouldn’t agree; after all, stubbornness ran deep in her very bones.
And so, conflict was inevitable!
Later, Tang Xue discovered she was pregnant. When the Tang family found out, they pressured her to have an abortion so she could go through with the marriage.
Ultimately, under the pressure from these scoundrels, coupled with the gossip and rumors from those around her, Tang Xue could no longer bear the immense pressure and chose to drown herself in the river.
So, to Li Yi, the Tang family—father and son, Tang Meiqin, and Li Hongmei—were all enemies: the enemies who killed Tang Xue, the enemies who killed his child.
In his previous life, burdened by guilt and feeling he had no face to show the Tang family, Li Yi never investigated the cause of Tang Xue’s death—nor did he know that Tang Xue wasn’t actually the Tang family’s biological daughter.
As a result, he allowed those demons of the Tang family to evade justice, and even gave them a sum of money.
In this life, he would absolutely not let them off the hook. Not only would he send these scum to prison, but he would make their lives a living hell!
Tang Xue didn’t dwell on it. She simply sighed and asked Li Yi, “That woman said my mother worked at the cotton mill. Should we go there tomorrow to investigate?”
“Yeah, I’ve made plans with Xiao Zhanwu for tomorrow. Once they’ve arrested Tang Jizhong and Tang Lei, the father and son, they’ll take us to the cotton mill to investigate your mother’s identity under the pretext of the case!” Li Yi said.
“Alright!”
…….