Chapter 96

Chapter 96

When Liu Xiaohua was arrested, Wen Ningshu and Shen Liangyu were reading with deep pain and guilt about the tragic past of Su Xingyao as shared by an online user.

In fact, after Su Xingyao returned, they had a vague sense that his past had been difficult.

But out of a desire to avoid the truth, they inexplicably never looked into it, and were even unwilling to bring it up.

It wasn’t until today, when someone recounted everything, that they learned so vividly how miserable and difficult the child’s life had been.

After reading it, the Shen couple were immersed in endless grief and guilt.

At that moment, a group of police officers stormed in and handcuffed Liu Xiaohua.

One officer, introducing himself, explained to Shen Liangyu, "Sir, we suspect your housekeeper, Liu Xiaohua, was involved in a malicious child trafficking case, and we are now taking her into custody for further interrogation."

Hearing this accusation, Wen Ningshu immediately had a bad premonition.

The next second, her fears were confirmed.

The words spoken by the police plunged her into another nightmare.

"You are her employers Shen Liangyu and Wen Ningshu, right? Please come with us to the station for questioning. The police suspect that she was involved in the trafficking of your child, Su Xingyao."

Shen Liangyu’s teacup clattered to the floor, shattering.

He felt the world spin.

"What..."

"What did you say..."

...

After Liu Xiaohua was arrested, she remained tight-lipped at first.

However, despite her malice, her defenses weren’t as strong as expected.

Under the professional interrogation of the police, she quickly confessed to all her crimes.

This included her recent theft from the Shen family to help Shen Huaixi, and assisting him in providing Su Xingyao’s childhood photos to marketing accounts, as well as hiring trolls to smear Su Xingyao and Su Nian.

Of course, this was the least of it.

Among the crimes she confessed, she also admitted to deliberately trafficking Su Xingyao.

It was a rainy night twenty years ago.

Wen Ningshu, struggling with postpartum depression, had been cold and indifferent to Su Xingyao, and Shen Liangyu, to cheer her up, took her to an evening art exhibit.

After the two went out, they left Su Xingyao, not yet four, alone at home, waiting for them.

Liu Xiaohua, who had long planned this, seized this opportunity.

She took Su Xingyao to a blind spot of the surveillance cameras and lied, saying his parents had been hurt in a car crash and were now in the hospital for emergency treatment, and the situation was very critical. She told him they really wanted to see him and asked if he wanted to go see them immediately.

The innocent child, who had no defense against Auntie Liu who had been with him day and night, and was especially worried about his parents, believed it to be true. He got up in the middle of the night and agreed to go immediately.

Before leaving, the child saw that it was raining, and fearing that his parents would get wet on their way home, thoughtfully grabbed two small umbrellas.

In his bag, he even carried two candies and adhesive bandages, hoping to apply them to his parents to ease their pain.

As he stepped out into the pitch-black night, young Su Xingyao was genuinely terrified.

But the thought of his parents waiting for him gave him the courage to take that step.

That step sealed his fate.

Liu Xiaohua had arranged for his younger brother to wait outside the door, who immediately covered the child's mouth and nose, rendering him unconscious.

After moving through several cities, they sold Su Xingyao for a pittance to a couple from the Yue family they had previously identified in their hometown.

Liu Xiaohua then bided her time until the moment was right, orchestrating a "chance meeting" with Wen Ningshu for the child she had before becoming a nanny for the Shen family.

From then on, her previously unwanted "illegitimate child" enjoyed a life of opulence that was the envy of all.

Meanwhile, Su Xingyao, who should have led a tranquil and uneventful life, suffered brutal abuse and beatings in her child's stead.

Upon discovering the full truth, Shen Liangyu stood in stunned silence.

He stood motionless, like a withered tree.

Liu Xiaohua had been the nanny he selected back then.

In his youth, upon discovering that she had been sold by her family to fund her brother's dowry and had endured domestic abuse, he chose to retain her.

He could never have fathomed.

That he had harbored such a venomous individual, who single-handedly obliterated the happiness that should have been theirs.

Shen Liangyu could not absolve himself of his own imprudence.

Upon uncovering the truth, he struggled even more to accept the child he had ignored and mistreated.

When Su Xingyao was deceived and abducted by Liu Xiaohua, it was initially because he was concerned for his parents...

His child was so intelligent; had it not been for the pretext involving his parents, the child would never have been so easily duped...

In that moment, he realized with absolute clarity how deeply his child had once loved his parents.

Shortly after Liu Xiaohua's arrest, the police escorted her back to the Shen family to gather evidence of her crimes.

She retrieved an entire box of photographs from the safe.

The photos captured various angles of Su Xingyao being abused in the Yue family, each one shocking.

"Why did you take these photos?"

Even the police couldn't bear to look, frowning as they asked.

Liu Xiaohua was like an emotionless robot.

"I don't know, I just felt happy seeing him suffer."

Liu Xiaohua continued, "From the beginning, I knew this family had poor character, that's why I deliberately chose them."

Witnessing these photos and hearing Liu Xiaohua's cold words, Wen Ningshu couldn't bear the shock and vomited blood in anger.

She had read the article posted by that neighbor; she knew that the child had always wanted to come home from the start.

But he was gone forever...

"Why did you do this to my child!!!"

Wen Ningshu stared fiercely at the person before her, asking each word deliberately.

Liu Xiaohua didn’t answer immediately; instead, she spoke with a half-smile after a pause.

"It doesn’t seem like you care much about this child either."

Liu Xiaohua glanced at Wen Ningshu and continued her heartless mockery.

"You’re always so self-absorbed, never caring about the child you had with Mr. Shen. If you don’t care, why should anyone else? It’s better to let my child fulfill filial duties for Mr. Shen."

Her absurd reasoning was laughable.

Wen Ningshu, unable to believe what she was hearing, slapped her.

"Shut up!"

Those three words drained her completely, and she fainted.

When she woke up, she saw her once elegant husband now looking gaunt and lifeless.

They stared at each other, unable to speak.

After a pause, Wen Ningshu broke the silence.

"You heard her—it’s all because of you..."

"Because of you, I lost my child."

Shen Liangyu listened to Wen Ningshu’s accusation, unable to argue.

Wen Ningshu didn’t seem interested in his response and pressed on.

"Let’s get a divorce."

"Shen Liangyu, neither of us deserves to be parents."

Shen Liangyu silently gazed at the person in front of him.

He wanted to beg her to stay but ultimately accepted her decision.

He knew there was no going back.

He was undeniably responsible for the suffering their child endured.

Bringing Liu Xiaohua into the Shen family had set the stage for disaster.

Even after the child returned, he remained blind, favoring Shen Huaixi and neglecting the child.

Wen Ningshu was right—he didn’t deserve to be a parent.

Losing his family was the punishment he deserved.

Overnight, Shen Liangyu’s hair turned white, and he became gravely ill.

The Shen Group, which he had worked so hard to build, descended into chaos overnight after the chairman’s illness and withdrawal.

Su Xingyao was also involved in this incident, so while assisting with the police investigation, he encountered Shen Liangyu once at the police station.

His back was no longer as upright, and his once authoritative face was now full of fatigue.

Shen Liangyu stood still, quietly watching Su Xingyao.

As Su Xingyao was about to leave after signing the documents, his lips trembled.

He wanted to call Su Xingyao's name, but found these three words to be so painful for him.

Su Xingyao did not see the person leaning on a cane in the corner, and after completing the procedures, he left with Lu Jiuxu.

However, the next day, he was contacted by Shen Liangyu's lawyer.

The lawyer said, "Mr. Shen wants to transfer all his property under your name."

Su Xingyao glanced at the person in front of him and shook his head gently.

"That won’t be necessary."

The incident of Liu Xiaohua deliberately abducting her employer's child, involving two stars and the wealthy Shen Family, immediately trended on social media as soon as the police issued the announcement.

*

After reading the police announcement word by word and learning about this bizarre truth, netizens were left exclaiming "Holy shit!"

"Holy shit!"

"This scandal is beyond belief..."

"This matter is so vicious and complicated that my brain is still buzzing..."

"I never thought I’d witness such a scandal in the entertainment industry."

"So Su Xingyao is actually the child of the Shen Family, and Shen Huaixi, who has been marketing himself as the young master of a wealthy family, is actually the son of their nanny?"

"It was a deliberate abduction..."

"I hate child abduction the most in this lifetime, it's too despicable, all human traffickers should be shot!"

"This mother and son are too vicious... causing Su Xingyao to suffer so much."

"Shen Huaixi spent so much effort spreading rumors that Su Xingyao is the brother of a murderer, but he turned out to be the son of a human trafficker, you two are utterly despicable..."

"The human traffickers and his shameless son have done all the bad things, just drop dead together!"

Shen Huaixi, who had long disappeared from the scene, finally trended again, but this time he was scolded by outraged netizens.

How he framed Su Xingyao and caused Su Xingyao to be misunderstood and insulted by everyone, now all of this has been returned to him tenfold.

Even more, because it involved an abduction case, netizens had zero tolerance for him.

"I swear to go vegetarian for ten years, praying that Shen Huaixi and his mother disappear from this earth as soon as possible!"

"Too disgusting, too disgusting, trash Shen Huaixi and your human trafficker mother, go rot in jail!!"

"Ugh, I remember Shen Huaixi, wasn’t he with Su Xingyao in the star before, constantly bullying Su Xingyao..."

"No wonder I always thought Shen Huaixi's targeting of Su Xingyao was so inexplicable. After hearing all this gossip, I can't help but suspect that he actually knew all this from the start and intentionally tried to undermine Su Xingyao to prevent him from reuniting with his biological parents."

"So, did the Shen family invest time and money just to let their adopted son mistreat their real son?"

"Su Xingyao and the Shen family’s situation is just heartbreaking."

"I don’t know if the Shen family is tragic, but I do know that Su Xingyao is truly tragic. I heard that the Shen family had already found Su Xingyao long ago but never acknowledged him and treated him poorly all along."

Netizens who just caught wind of this gossip were shocked all over again.

"What???"

"Am I seeing this correctly?"

"If this is true, this gossip is just too wild for me..."

"This is their own child... Are they out of their minds?"

"I just don’t get it. After the child was kidnapped and suffered so much, how could they not cherish him after finally finding him?"

This is so unbelievable that no one knows what to think.

"Speaking of which, I suddenly remembered that Su Xingyao had very poor resources in the entertainment industry and was often blacklisted and criticized. If the Shen family really cared, they wouldn’t have ignored him."

"It seems like that’s really the case... Shen Huaixi used to bully Su Xingyao shamelessly."

"So, did his parents really just stand by and watch as their nanny's son openly bullied their own child in the entertainment industry???"

"What kind of messed-up behavior is this..."

"If they dislike Su Xingyao so much, then why did they come out to issue a statement for him that day?"

"That’s just weird."

"Su Xingyao really drew the short straw with them."

"Does everyone remember when the official Weibo of Jingsheng Group threw shade at the Shen Group, telling them not to interfere with Su Xingyao's affairs and to go home and manage their adopted son properly... If that’s true, they totally deserved it."

"Looking back at that statement now, it seems like the Jingsheng Group editor seemed to know all the dirt."

"Editor, spill the tea already!"

Jingsheng Group’s official Weibo, which netizens were eagerly tagging, was right there in the thick of the gossip.

Among the numerous comments, they specifically picked one to reply to.

Netizen: Editor, is it true that the Shen family favored their adopted son and neglected Su Xingyao as the internet says?

Jingsheng Group replied: Hey, Mr. Su Xingyao has no ties to the Shen family now~

Then they added a "Don’t mess with me" meme.

Seeing this reply, some quick-thinking netizens finally pieced it all together.

"The editor said Su Xingyao now has no relationship with the Shen family, so does that mean the rumors are true and he’s cut ties with the Shen family?"

"Well... can I say well done? After being kidnapped and going through so much hell, finally coming home only to deal with such clueless parents, who wouldn’t be pissed..."

"Su Xingyao did the right thing by cutting them off. Parents like that aren’t worth the hassle."

"Looking back at their statement for Su Xingyao now feels utterly ridiculous—like watching a clown. Who else gets that sense of absurdity?"

"My Su is flawless—all you idiots, stay the hell away!"

...

Amid such a massive scandal, the Shen family's stock price crashed overnight.

And Shen Huaixi himself, of course, became public enemy number one.

No one in the industry would touch him, and if he was spotted on the street, people would pelt him with rotten eggs and hurl insults.

For his so-called 'inferior genes,' every time he was recognized, people would sneer, spit, and shout, 'Son of a human trafficker, drop dead!'

Shen Huaixi's phone was blowing up, and his door was pounded on at all hours.

Overwhelmed by the harassment, Shen Huaixi moved repeatedly, venturing out only in disguise, like a rat scurrying across the street.

But even then, the paparazzi hounded him relentlessly.

With such a juicy scandal, the paparazzi were all over him, milking the negative attention for all it was worth.

When he realized he was being spied on from the opposite apartment, a frazzled Shen Huaixi packed up and bolted overnight.

But the paparazzi were like bloodhounds, chasing him down for snapshots.

Desperate to lose them, Shen Huaixi kept flooring the gas.

He stomped on the accelerator.

By the end, even Shen Huaixi had no clue how fast he was racing.

Only when he’d finally shaken them off did his nerves ease slightly.

But before he could breathe, a massive truck loomed directly ahead.

Panicking, Shen Huaixi yanked the wheel, trying to swerve left and dodge the truck.

But he’d forgotten just how fast he was speeding.

The brakes were useless against his speed.

And just like that, Shen Huaixi and his car hurtled off the overpass into the river below.

As he hit the water, Shen Huaixi’s foggy mind snapped into focus.

A flood of images raced through his mind.

In that instant, it hit him—his true identity—

He was a transmigrator—someone who’d crossed into another world.

After a car crash, he’d been thrust into a novel he’d just read—a tale of a true and false heir.

The hero was Su Xingyao, the real heir swapped at birth.

And the Shen family’s adopted son, his namesake, was the story’s doomed villain.

He was a bumbling fool, always clashing with Su Xingyao, serving as the hero’s stepping stone, and ultimately shamed and cast out.

As a transmigrator, he was obviously not willing to be a mere cannon fodder.

With such an opportunity for wealth and prosperity, he, who had been a loser for half his life with a dark heart and never succeeded, decided to grab it at any cost.

Being familiar with the plot, he had memorized every key plot point and every detail important to the protagonist by heart.

For Qin Mingchuan, who was supposed to be with Su Xingyao in the original plot, he knew the world’s rules had marked the engagement as a trigger for dislike.

Therefore, instead of crying and making a scene to bind the other party with the engagement after realizing that Qin Mingchuan had unknowingly fallen for Su Xingyao, he acted first, straight up telling the Shen parents that everything belonging to Su Xingyao should be returned, including this engagement.

Thus, the childhood engagement somehow ended up with Su Xingyao, who had just returned to the Shen family.

From then on, Qin Mingchuan, who had always found Su Xingyao straightforward and simple, started seeing Su Xingyao in a negative light.

As for the second important male supporting character, Fu Qingyan, who was originally Su Xingyao’s best friend, he also managed to turn them against each other through the incident of the fire.

While Fu Qingyan was unconscious, he set the fire on purpose and pinned it on Su Xingyao, constantly stirring up trouble and ruining Su Xingyao’s friendship for good.

As for the most important couple in the Shen family.

From the moment he transmigrated, he had been winning them over.

He knew better than anyone that in the world’s setting, the things that won their favor were kids and guilt.

So as long as they acknowledged him as their adopted son for one more day, they’d care a little less about Su Xingyao.

After following the plot and pleasing the couple for many years, knowing that Su Xingyao was about to be brought back, he made a show of holding the photo album with Wen Ningshu and Shen Liangyu, wrote a suicide note promising to be their real son in the next life, and swallowed sleeping pills.

When he was resuscitated and saw the couple hesitating to even bring up Su Xingyao’s name in front of him, he knew Su Xingyao didn’t stand a chance against him in this lifetime.

All the familial, friendly, and romantic relationships originally arranged for Su Xingyao in the book were carefully torn apart by him.

Finally possessing the wealth and endless affection that should not have been his, Shen Huaixi was totally smug about his handiwork.

However, just as Su Xingyao was set up and killed, and he thought he had successfully replaced the other as the protagonist and could live smoothly in this world until old age.

He never expected that his perfect plan would hit a snag...

This snag was Su Xingyao’s childhood playmate.

A minor character who hardly got any attention in the book.

Shen Huaixi only found out about this person named Lu Jiuxu when he was getting hit with his crazy revenge.

After Su Xingyao’s death, he went mad, taking them all down one after another.

In the end, this world was completely destroyed after this madman decided to take everyone down with him.

However, Shen Huaixi never expected that the world would give him another shot.

When he opened his eyes again, the world he had altered had miraculously inherited the storyline and will from his transmigration.

Thus, this time, he finally became the protagonist he had always dreamed of being.

And the original protagonist, Su Xingyao, became the one everyone looked down on.

As the river water flooded his mouth and nose, Shen Huaixi finally remembered everything.

But this time, he’d run out of luck.

Trapped in the car and unable to move, he could only watch helplessly as the river water rose above his head.

Just like the car accident before he transmigrated into this world, no matter how hard he struggled, he was destined to die painfully from suffocation.

After fear, panic, and despair, Shen Huaixi, in the last moments of his life, still reached out his hand, unwilling to give up.

He tried to hold onto everything one last time.

But even as he died, he couldn’t comprehend.

Everything had unfolded exactly as it had in his past life, so why was his end still the same?

*

Shen Huaixi died from suffocation, engulfed in endless darkness and torment.

At the moment of his death, the full story of what had transpired was revealed simultaneously in the dreams of all those involved.