Chapter 658: The Cuckoo Occupies the Magpie’s Nest

Chapter 658: The Cuckoo in the Nest

Jiang Yu felt some of her worry ease.

She kept climbing the stairs.

Seeing her, Tan Lizhu looked shocked.

“What are you doing here?”

Jiang Yu replied calmly, “I heard about what happened and was concerned, so I came to check on you.”

Tan Lizhu lowered her gaze and asked softly, “How did you know I was here?”

“I went to your home first and found out you weren’t there,” Jiang Yu said plainly.

Tan Lizhu’s eyes stung. When the truth had struck her the night before, it had felt like a bolt of lightning—she couldn’t believe she wasn’t the Tan family’s biological daughter.

The shame of being an impostor weighed heavily on her, filling her with sorrow and shame.

Even though her grandfather had immediately declared she would always be a child of the Tan family—that even if the other child returned, her place would remain unchanged—his kindness only made her feel worse. She had moved out of the Tan household that very night.

“He Dongqi, why are you still standing there? Scram.” Jiang Yu had no patience for pleasantries and directly dismissed him.

He Dongqi knew he couldn’t win their verbal spats. And since he didn’t dare resort to violence, he had no choice but to shut up.

“Li Zhu, think carefully. Who else would even take you besides me? Without the Tan family, you’ll never find a man better than me.”

Jiang Yu scoffed. “I suggest you take a good look in the mirror. There are plenty of men in this world miles better than you.”

He Dongqi swallowed his words, snorted coldly, and hurried down the stairs.

Tan Lizhu dabbed her eyes and stepped aside for Jiang Yu.

“Come in and sit.”

She had often stayed here when she worked at *The Party Paper*.

Later, after moving to the Second State Cotton Mill, she had returned to live with her family, so the place was barely furnished.

Once seated, Jiang Yu cut to the chase. “What are you planning to do now?”

Tan Lizhu’s face was ashen, her heart torn in two.

“Jiang Yu, everyone says you’re smart. Can you tell me what I should do?”

Jiang Yu shook her head. “This is your family matter. You should do what feels right.”

Tan Lizhu covered her face and wept softly. “Grandfather said I could still be a child of the Tan family if I wanted. But how could I dare…? If I stay, what about their actual daughter? How would she feel seeing someone who took her place for over twenty years always in front of her?”

Her ties to the Tan family were stronger than any connection with the other child.

Every ounce of love the Tan family had ever shown her was deep in her bones—yet every bit of that affection would just hurt the real daughter.

"Jiang Yu, that would make me too selfish."

Living under the same roof as the Tan family’s biological daughter was bound to cause tension down the line.

"But the Tan family raised me for so many years, loved and cherished me. I can't bear it, nor do I want to sever ties with them."

Stuck between a rock and a hard place, she truly didn’t know if there was a third path for her.

Her logic and emotions were at war, leaving her trapped.

As an outsider, Jiang Yu believed she couldn’t view this matter objectively.

Having never met the Tan family’s biological daughter, she naturally sided with Lizhu.

"Sorry, Lizhu, I can’t offer any advice on this."

Lizhu smiled bitterly, "I know, no one can help me. I just wanted to talk to you—I just needed to get it off my chest."

Jiang Yu didn’t know how to console her; the whole thing was a mess she couldn’t sort out.

"Lizhu, take some time to pull yourself together, then come back to work soon."

Lizhu nodded, "I just took the one day. I’ll return tomorrow. Jiang Yu, I heard before that you helped the police crack a major human trafficking case—was it down in southern Henan? Can you tell me about it?"

Jiang Yu understood her mindset—she was afraid the child swapped with her had been sold into hardship in the mountains.

"Lizhu, dwelling on it won’t do any good. You’ll just wear yourself out."

Besides, Lizhu had been just a child back then. Even if she had wanted to, what could she have done?

"Rest well and don’t dwell on it. Instead of agonizing over the past, think about how to make things right with her when she returns."

After comforting Lizhu for a while, Jiang Yu left.

Back home, she held Ning Ning in her arms.

Honestly, she got where Lizhu was coming from.

As a mother herself, the thought of raising a daughter for over twenty years only to discover she had been swapped—how gut-wrenching that would feel.

The child you raised, though not biologically yours, had become part of you, impossible to sever.

The biological child, suffering out there, with two decades of separation leaving no way to make up for lost time.

Yao Xiangling sighed, "What a messed-up twist of fate—a good family torn apart because of this."

Aunt Lan also lamented, "Isn’t that the truth? Who could be so wicked as to swap children? You don’t think it was Lizhu’s birth parents, do you?"

Jiang Yu shook her head, "No, it was someone else, long gone."

Precisely because the culprit was gone, with many details unclear, finding that child had been next to impossible.

Had it been Lizhu’s birth parents, Commander Tan would’ve kicked her out of the Tan family.

Jiang Yu kissed He Ning’s cheek, "If Ning Ning were taken from me, I’d go out of my mind."

The little one in her arms was only three months old, but she was already head over heels for her.

Losing Ning Ning would cut deeper than a knife.

Ya Xiangling nodded. "Human traffickers are running wild. I see news about searching for missing children every day. Jiang Yu, let's not take Ning Ning outside the residential compound for now. Just stick close to home when we go out."

Aunt Lan quickly agreed. "Yes, we should be more careful."

Soon enough, He Feiyan and her siblings came in from outside.

"Auntie!"

Ya Xiangling smiled. "We were waiting on you to eat. Go wash your hands."

He Feiyan hurriedly said, "Isn’t Sis-in-law’s show on tonight? Let’s turn on the TV first."

Jiang Yu had indeed forgotten about it—today was the day!

She told He Tingyue to turn on the TV right away.

"Let’s eat first. It’ll probably start by then."

After the meal, the whole family gathered around the TV, waiting for the drama to begin.

At that moment, Xu Lihua walked in.

"Jiang Yu, is your drama airing today? We came to watch it at your place."

Not many families in the residential compound had TVs—they were just too expensive.

The Fu family also had one, but no one liked going to Lin Hongxia’s place, so they sucked it up and came to Jiang Yu’s instead.

Jiang Yu opened the door and invited them in. Seeing that they had brought their own stools, she smiled even brighter.

With so many people, even all the stools in her house wouldn’t be enough.

"Everyone, please make yourselves at home. I won’t stand on ceremony—just do whatever makes you comfortable."

She was just being polite. With so many elders around, she couldn’t exactly snap at them.

Xu Lihua, never one to mince words, called out, "Jiang Yu’s got standards. If we wanna keep coming over to watch TV, we should be mindful—bring our own stools and not litter. Hey, hey! I just said that—Old Lady Qian, pick up those damn seed shells!"

Following her gaze, Jiang Yu noticed Old Lady Qian standing among the crowd.

Her eyes widened in surprise as she whispered to Ya Xiangling, "I thought she went back to the village for her oldest son?"