The next day, the two of them were sitting in class.

Cheng Xiaoyu suddenly walked over to Yin Mingzheng’s desk and said softly, “Yin Mingzheng, your mom’s here to see you.” 

Yin Mingzheng raised his head. “My mom?”

Shu Ning pricked up his ears and turned to look at Yin Mingzheng.

Cheng Xiaoyu told him, “Your mom is in the homeroom teacher’s office. The homeroom teacher asked me to tell to swing by her office.”

Shu Ning quietly clenched his fists. 

Yin Mingzheng was silent for a moment. Then, he stood up. “Okay.”

He walked out of the classroom. Shu Ning was so anxious that he was about to start biting his nails. Why was Zhou Juan looking for Yin Mingzheng? Was she going to try to persuade Yin Mingzheng to go home?

Shu Ning used to worry that Yin Mingzheng was too attached to Zhou Juan. He was young, so it would be difficult for him to accept the cruel reality of the matter. However, they had already cut off their mother-son relationship now. Even if the truth was revealed, it shouldn’t matter too much!

He already had the villain’s phone number, so he could send him an anonymous text message explaining everything that happened. He could tell him about how Zhou Juan switched the children at birth.

That’s it! He’ll just do that!

Yin Mingzheng walked into the office and found Zhou Juan chatting with the homeroom teacher. They seemed to be having a pleasant conversation. Zhou Juan was even carrying a large bag full of bread, fruit, and the like.

When she saw him walk in, Zhou Juan raised her head and her eyes lit up. She called out to him, “Mingzheng.”

The homeroom teacher also turned her head. She said with a smile, “Mingzheng, your mother took some time out of her busy schedule to see you.” 

Yin Mingzheng didn’t know what it was that Zhou Juan said to her, but the homeroom teacher seemed to have a good impression of Zhou Juan.

“Your busy schedule?” Yin Mingzheng glanced at Zhou Juan indifferently. “Is that so?”

Zhou Juan’s eyes met his, her expression a little embarrassed. She pinched the plastic bag in her hand. “Mingzheng, you haven’t come home for two whole days.”

The homeroom teacher piped up from beside them, “Yin Mingzheng, how could you run off to play without saying a word to your family?” 

There wasn’t any reproach in her tone. If this was before, she would have already started scolding him. Now, the homeroom teacher’s impression of Yin Mingzheng had completely changed, so she became a lot more tolerant of him as well.

Teachers were always like this. If they liked a student, their tolerance for them would be a lot higher. If they disliked a student, they would always be able to find some sort of fault.

Yin Mingzheng listened as she spoke and asked the homeroom teacher, “She said that I ran off to play?”

The homeroom teacher nodded. “Yes. Was it not like that?” 

Yin Mingzheng’s lips curved into a sarcastic smile. He shook his head. “Of course not.”

The homeroom teacher was stunned. She turned to look at the anxious Zhou Juan and the indifferent Yin Mingzheng. Slowly, she started to sense that something was up with the two of them and frowned. “What exactly is going on?”

Just as Zhou Juan was about to speak, Yin Mingzheng interrupted her and said, “I cut off all ties with her.”

Zhou Juan opened her mouth, but she couldn’t say a word. 

The homeroom teacher was shocked. She was at a loss for words. Not only was she shocked, but the other teachers in the office were also shocked.

They all knew bits and pieces about Yin Mingzheng’s hospitalization and his parents’ atrocious behavior. However, that was the extent of what they knew. After news about Yin Qiang’s murder case was released, details about his behavior towards his family was also slowly released to the public. The news reports mentioned their financial situation and his refusal to pay for medical expenses even after beating his son to the brink of death. Later, news reports also revealed that Yin Mingzheng was his adopted son, not his biological son.

In short, this family was simply far too peculiar.

As a result, all of the teachers’ opinions of Yin Mingzheng changed drastically. It didn’t take long for them to forgive Yin Mingzheng for his past behavior. 

However, in the eyes of others, no matter how awful your parents were, they were still your parents. This was especially the case for adoptive parents. After all, they didn’t have to take the child in.

If you were to raise your own child, then it’s a matter of course. If you were to raise someone else’s child, then it’s an enormous favor to be grateful for.

Therefore, even if Zhou Juan and Yin Qiang weren’t good parents, they were still his parents. Didn’t Yin Qiang end up taking revenge for Yin Mingzheng? He even killed a man for his sake. Even if Zhou Juan wasn’t a decent mother, she was still the woman who raised him.

Everyone thought that they would continue to live their lives together. 

Who would’ve thought that they would cut off ties!

How can a fifteen-year-old boy cut off ties with his parents?

How is he going to eat in the future?

There weren’t a lot of people in the world who were willing to adopt a fifteen-year-old boy. Families looking to adopt tend to choose younger children. If the child is too old, it’s harder to get close to them. Plus, who would want to adopt a stubborn kid like Yin Mingzheng? 

Everyone felt that, even if he wanted to cut off his relationship with them, he should do it once he became an adult. They felt that cutting ties now would be very detrimental to Yin Mingzheng.

“Mingzheng, don’t be so impulsive…” the homeroom teacher advised.

Yin Mingzheng let out a laugh. He rarely laughed, but, when he did, he was truly breathtaking. He turned to Zhou Juan and said, “You came just in time. Let’s make a clean break right here and now. The teachers here can serve as witnesses. Don’t ever bother me again, and I won’t come looking for you again either.”

Zhou Juan became anxious. She held up the snacks in her hand and said, “Mingzheng, look, I bought a lot of things for you. Can’t you forgive Mom?” 

Yin Mingzheng stared at her, unmoved. “Before, you wouldn’t get these things for me. Now, I don’t need them.”

The things that she was carrying clearly weren’t worth more than a couple of yuan. She had never bought him anything like this before. She rarely even showed any affection. Yet, here she was, impatiently shoving these insincere peace offerings at him. It only disgusted him even more.

Yin Mingzheng said to the homeroom teacher, “Ma’am, I’ll just tell you the truth. I’ve already paid back everything I owe her. I know what you’re thinking. She’s raised me for so many years, so you don’t think it’s right for me to cut ties with her. Today, I’ll make everything clear to prevent any misunderstandings.”

“Let’s talk about food, clothes, and shelter. I didn’t even have my own room. I lived in a small, narrow sectioned-off area of our apartment. My room was the only area in the apartment with a balcony, so everyone’s laundry was always left to dry in there. It was freezing in the winter and boiling in the summer. The food I ate and drank was always the cheapest stuff on the shelf. Half of the clothes I wore were picked out of the trash, and the other half cost less than fifty yuan.” 

“As for my education, I never went to preschool because we didn’t have the money to send me to preschool. The only reason I was able to go to primary school was because it was free, and, even then, the neighborhood committee had to remind my parents about it. Once I reached middle school, Yin Qiang was always saying that I was wasting his money. He wanted me to drop out because my grades were bad.”

“Ever since I was a kid, I had to do all the cooking and cleaning around the house. All Yin Qiang ever did was drink. He was always trashing the house, and the apartment always smelled like alcohol. Zhou Juan needed to work all day in order to make money, so I had to take care of everything at home. ”

“Whenever Yin Qiang drinks, he beats people. Everyone knows that. I was always getting hurt trying to help Zhou Juan. I had to go to school with injuries on my face. I was even misunderstood to be getting into fights with people. Ma’am, I’ll tell you right now that I have never fought with anyone in my life. All of my injuries were because of Yin Qiang.”

“Every weekend, I would pick up cardboard and glass bottles from the street and cash it in at the trash collection site all for the sake of reducing Zhou Juan’s burden..” 

“I didn’t have time to study, so of course my grades got worse.”

“Furthermore, Yin Qiang was always hitting people, and Zhou Juan was always crying. Whenever she was beaten, she would always run to my room for help. If something upset her, she would use me to vent her frustration for at least half an hour. It was basically psychological torture.”

“I didn’t gain a single thing from being in this family. In fact, I probably would’ve been better off if they had never adopted me. The reason I was even in the hospital in the first place was because I was protecting Zhou Juan from Yin Qiang. I was almost beaten to death, yet they abandoned me because of ¥100,000. They refused to take any responsibility.”

“Are you saying that I need to keep living with parents like that? Why shouldn’t I cut ties with her?” 

Yin Mingzheng calmly and clearly explained everything that he had gone through. His temperament was both restrained and silent. Before, Yin Mingzheng had never explained himself. Even when his face was black and blue and he was misunderstood, he had never complained to anyone else about the situation at home.

Everyone had actually heard a little bit about it, but it was only a little.

However, they hadn’t expected the truth to be even more cruel than they had thought!

Could this even be considered adoption? This was clearly child abuse! Even a dog would’ve been treated better than he was! 

He was still a child! How could they do this to him?

All of the teachers were shocked. His homeroom teacher’s jaw dropped, her face full of disbelief. “Is this the truth?”

Yin Mingzheng smiled. Then, he turned his head and asked Zhou Juan, “Why don’t you tell them? Is what I said true?”

Zhou Juan opened her mouth. She wanted to refute him, but, when she met Yin Mingzheng’s mocking gaze, her words became stuck in her throat. 

If Yin Mingzheng hadn’t said all of this just now, she would have never realized just how outrageous she and Yin Qiang had been!

She always felt that she was a victim, that she was being oppressed. She felt like she did her best to treat Yin Mingzheng well. It wasn’t until now that she realized that she was actually incredibly excessive and disgusting.

Zhou Juan started to cry.

She had miscalculated. She deeply regretted even coming to the school to find Yin Mingzheng. Yin Mingzheng hadn’t changed his mind at all. Rather, he exposed her for who she really was and humiliated her with the truth. 

Why did it become like this? Yin Mingzheng hadn’t been like this before.

She thought that, as long as she coaxed him a bit, he would come back.

Yin Mingzheng’s tone was very, very cold. “Take your things and go. Don’t show up in front of me ever again.”

Zhou Juan’s face turned pale. 

Yin Mingzheng narrowed his eyes. “If you bother me again, I’ll tell everyone in your hometown…”

“No!” Zhou Juan screamed in fright.

The look of fear on her face startled everyone in the office. Yin Mingzheng couldn’t understand why she was so afraid of this. Zhou Juan wasn’t afraid of the abuse or the prospect of Yin Qiang going to prison, but she was afraid of her family finding out that she wasn’t a boss’ wife.

It was both ridiculous and totally bizarre! 

Zhou Juan didn’t have the nerve to stay here anymore. She picked up her bag and ran out of the office. She cried as she left, disappearing from their line of sight.

It took a long time for everyone to recover from the shock.

After a long while, the homeroom teacher called out, her emotions a little tangled, “Mingzheng…”

Tlc Zlcuhtfcu’r fzqgfrrlbc kjr mjiw. “Zj’jw, P’ii tfjv yjmx ab atf mijrrgbbw olgra.” 

Llr jaalaevf kjr ralii jr mbiv jcv lcvloofgfca jr fnfg. Pa kjr jr atbeut la vlvc’a wjaafg lo qfbqif agfjafv tlw ubbv bg yjv, lo atfs vfrqlrfv tlw bg rswqjatlhfv klat tlw. Lf jmafv jr atbeut la tjv cbatlcu ab vb klat tlw.

He calmly left the office, leaving the shell-shocked teachers behind.

When Yin Mingzheng returned to the classroom, Shu Ning asked him anxiously, “Why was Zhou Juan looking for you?”

Yin Mingzheng shook his head. “It was nothing. I’ve already sent her away.” 

He clearly didn’t want to talk about it.

Shu Ning breathed a sigh of relief.

However, when school was over, Yin Mingzheng stopped Shu Ning, who was just about to bolt out of the classroom. “There’s something that I need to do today.”

Shu Ning asked, “What is it?” 

Yin Mingzheng didn’t speak.

The classroom was swarming with the hustle and bustle of students.

When he stood there, the villain looked like a still image inlaid upon a GIF.

Shu Ning had already become familiar with his silences. He knew that he didn’t want to say anything, so he helplessly responded, “Alright, don’t stay out too late.” 

To tell the truth, the reason he even asked was because he was worried that Yin Mingzheng regretted leaving home. He was worried that Yin Mingzheng would return to Zhou Juan.

However, if Yin Mingzheng really did want to go back, what could he do about it? It’s not like he could tie him up and not let him leave. In the eyes of the law, Zhou Juan was Yin Mingzheng’s legal guardian. In the eyes of everyone else, Zhou Juan was Yin Mingzheng’s benefactor of fifteen years.

It wasn’t unusual for Yin Mingzheng to be regretting things now.

Shu Ning felt a little sad and disappointed, but he could understand Yin Mingzheng’s choice. A mother is different from a lover or a friend. People fall in love and break up with each other all the time, but it’s rare to hear of someone who’s actually cut things off with their parents. 

There were always people bemoaning their abusive family or their misogynistic, patriarchal family online. They’d say they want to cut off ties with them, and they really do want to cut off ties with them. However, the ones who were actually able to go through with it are few and far between.

As soon as the parents cried and apologized, most of them would go running back to their families. Then, they would be abused again, falling back into an endless cycle of pain.

The more abusive, cold, and indifferent a family was, the more its children craved affection. On the contrary, children who were doted on and spoiled tended to be a lot more self-serving.

Yin Mingzheng picked up his school bag and headed off. 

In the end, Shu Ning still couldn’t bear to part with him. He shouted from behind him, “Yin Mingzheng!”

Yin Mingzheng turned his head.

The other students had all flocked to the classroom door, and, very soon, they were gone.

Shu Ning’s voice was full of expectation. “I’ll wait for you at home. Let’s eat dinner together.” 

Yin Mingzheng smiled. He was already beautiful, but he was even more stunning when he smiled.

“Mn.” He nodded.

Shu Ning breathed a sigh of relief. Since he promised to go home for dinner, he probably won’t be going back to Zhou Juan, right?

“Shu Ning, hurry up! What are you waiting around for!?” Wang Shenshen and Long Qiao shouted from outside the classroom. 

Shu Ning walked out of the classroom after the villain, absentmindedly staring at Yin Mingzheng’s slender back.

“Hey, you stood us up for several days now! Are we not your friends anymore, huh?” Long Qiao slung an arm around his shoulders. “You have to play a couple games with us today no matter what.”

Wang Shenshen also joined in on the fun. He pinched his throat and said in a high-pitched voice, “Gege, don’t abandon us again.”

Shu Ning rolled his eyes at the both of them. “Let’s go.” 

The three of them cheered and rushed towards the Internet cafe.

The environment at the Internet cafe was really good. The three of them grabbed computers right next to each other and opened up Battle Elites. The entire time, Shu Ning’s mind kept wandering towards the villain. He couldn’t help but worry that the villain would go back to Zhou Juan, so his in-game performance started to drop, causing Wang Shenshen and Long Qiao to complain.

“Gege, what’s with you? Even a noob could play better than you!”

“See, it’s all your fault for not playing with us. You’re always spending your time chasing after Yin Mingzheng, so this is what you get! You’re about to get pummeled to death!” 

Shu Ning quickly apologized and focused his attention on helping them make a comeback.

After two rounds, the three of them decided to call it a day. This was an unspoken agreement between the three of them. If they played for too long, they would definitely get their asses whooped when they got home. Two of three rounds would usually take about an hour. They would be able to get home right on time.

As soon as they parted ways, Shu Ning dragged the reluctant Long Qiao back to their community. Long Qiao ran into his mother halfway back and almost pissed himself. “Thank you, Shu ge. If we’d stayed any longer, I would’ve been done for.”

Then, Long Qiao and his mother headed back to the community. 

Shu Ning’s heart felt heavy. He just couldn’t stop worrying. He hesitated by the stairwell for a bit before sneaking up to the fourth floor. Then, he stuck his head like a thief and peeked at Apartment 404.

The door was closed.

Shu Ning was incredibly tangled up inside. He stayed by the stairwell for about fifteen minutes before finally taking the elevator back up to the twelfth floor.

Depressed, he went back home. Then, he opened the door and was met face-first with a scolding. “Where did you go?” 

When Shu Ning looked up, Cai Qin was standing in the living room with her hands on her hips, glaring furiously. “Mingzheng came home a long time ago! He helped me cook, clean, everything! What about you? Where were you fooling around?!”

Shu Ning froze. Then, he suddenly swung his head towards the living room.

Yin Mingzheng walked out of the kitchen with a clean bowl. He placed the bowl and a pair of chopsticks at the table and nodded at him.

Shu Ning’s heart thumped a bit. He stammered, “Mingzheng, y-you came back?” 

“He came back ages ago!” Cai Qin glared at him. “What are you standing there for? Get inside and wash up for dinner!”

A smile appeared on Shu Ning’s face, spreading from ear to ear. He quickly pulled off his shoes and put on a pair of slippers. Then, he ran into his room, threw off his school bag, and happily sat down at the dining table.

“Mingzheng, eat some more.” Cai Qin put some food in Yin Mingzheng’s bowl, her face blooming with smiles. “I didn’t expect Mingzheng to be so good at cooking! Unlike Ning Ning, all he ever does is eat!”

Shu Ning whined sorrowfully, “Cai Cai, that’s not fair! It’s you who doesn’t let me into the kitchen. You always say that I’m bothering you.” 

“Hmph! So you’re not going to help just because of what I said? I was just being polite!” Cai Qin said. “What else can you do besides making trouble?”

Cai Qin’s attitude was much more enthusiastic than what it had been before. It seemed that she’d been conquered by the villain’s cooking skills.

“Mingzheng has been doing the cooking, cleaning, and laundry ever since he was a kid. What about you, hm? The only thing you know is how to eat!” Cai Qin kept scolding Shu Ning.

Shu Ning felt like he must be a fake son or something. As he was eating, he pitifully asked, “Cai Cai, am I not your little baby anymore?” 

“You’re not,” Cai Qin said. “You can be my little baby once you’ve learned from Yin Mingzheng.”

Shu Ning silently shoveled food into his mouth.

Yin Mingzheng, who hadn’t spoken this whole time, suddenly piped up, “How does it taste?”

Shu Ning: “?” 

Cai Qin explained, “Mingzheng made all the food on the table. He’s asking if it tastes good.”

Shu Ning quickly swallowed the bite of food in his mouth and nodded. “It’s delicious! Super good!”

Yin Mingzheng laughed softly. He put a little bit of shiitake and chicken in Shu Ning’s bowl. “I heard that you like shiitake mushrooms.”

“Yeah.” 

“I would also like them.”

Shu Ning kept scooping rice into his mouth. “Really? Our tastes are pretty similar!”

Yin Mingzheng laughed again.

After dinner, Shu Ning rubbed his tummy and lay down on the sofa. Yin Mingzheng was cleaning up the dishes, but Cai Qin stopped him. 

“No, no, no, I can do that! Don’t worry about it!”

Yin Mingzheng didn’t force it. He silently picked up the broom and started sweeping the floor. After sweeping, he went ahead and started mopping the floor as well. Shu Ning quickly got up from the sofa and reached out for the mop in his hand. “Mopping the floor is my job.”

Yin Mingzheng shook his head and continued to mop the floor.

Shu Ning saw the little villain earnestly mopping the floor, so he scratched his head and sat back down on the sofa. Dinner was really way too good today. He ended up eating three whole bowls of rice. He felt a little bloated. 

Cai Qin, who had just finished washing the dishes, shot a glare towards Shu Ning, who did nothing but eat.

Shu Ning: “…”

Shu Ning quickly gave the excuse of homework and slipped into his bedroom. It was then that he saw a set of sky blue pajamas lying on the bed.

He heard the squeak of the door. Shu Ning turned his head, holding the pajamas in his hand, and saw Yin Mingzheng walking in. 

“I bought that for you,” Yin Mingzheng said.

Shu Ning blinked.

“I’ve been using your pajamas, so you haven’t been able to change pajamas for a couple of days. Sorry about that.”

Shu Ning realized what Yin Mingzheng meant from the apologetic look on his face. Slowly, the expression on Shu Ning’s face became a little awkward. He suddenly realized that there seemed to have been a misunderstanding. The villain thought that he was wearing the same pajamas every day because he didn’t have any clothes to change into. 

After holding it for a while, Shu Ning said honestly, “I change my pajamas once a week.”

When he really gets lazy, he may even put it off for up to half a month. However, for some reason, he felt that it would be a little embarrassing to say that out loud, so he pretended that he changed pajamas once a week.

“…”

Silent. 

Silent.

Silent is Cambridge tonight.

“Oh,” Yin Mingzheng said.

Shu Ning didn’t understand what that “oh” meant, but he was also too embarrassed to ask. He explained, “Everyone wears pajamas like this. Who cares about how long you wear them for? Right?” 

Yin Mingzheng nodded. “You’re right.”

Shu Ning breathed a sigh of relief. “If it bothers you, I can change every day.”

Yin Mingzheng shook his head. “No need. Just be yourself.”

Shu Ning: “…” 

Does that phrase fit this situation?

Yin Mingzheng folded his pajamas neatly. Then, he walked over to the closet and opened it.

Shu Ning suddenly remembered that he hadn’t designated a space for Yin Mingzheng to put his clothes, so he followed him and said, “Ah, that’s right. You can use the top shelves, and I’ll use the bottom shelves. We can both put hanging clothes here. As for drawers…”

There was only a single drawer in the closet. 

Shu Ning opened the drawer and shoved all of his underwear over to one side of the drawer. He said to Yin Mingzheng, “Here. We’ll both take half of it.”

Yin Mingzheng looked at the wrinkled underwear. Then, he looked up at the messy piles of clothes on the shelves and fell silent.

Shu Ning scratched his head awkwardly. He thought that maybe Yin Mingzheng was dissatisfied with this arrangement, so he said, “You can use the bottom shelves if you want. I can use the top shelves.”

Yin Mingzheng shook his head. “I’m taller than you. I’ll just just use the top shelves.” 

Shu Ning thought this as well. He could accept the truth, but he wasn’t very happy to hear it from Yin Mingzheng’s mouth.

Hey, my dad’s 185 centimeters! I’ll definitely reach 185 centimeters too! What’s with that look?

For the next hour, Shu Ning looked on, dumbfounded, as Yin Mingzheng organized both of their laundry. He folded them one by one, sorted them into categories, and placed them neatly in the closet.

When Shu Ning saw him organizing his clothes for him, Shu Ning hurriedly stepped forward to stop him. “You don’t need to do that! I’ll end up messing it up again! Cai Cai doesn’t even help me fold my laundry anymore!” 

As soon as Shu Ning started middle school, Cai Qin stopped taking care of his pigsty of a room. She wanted him to get used to being a little more independent and taking care of himself. If he didn’t put his dirty clothes in the washing machine, Cai Qin definitely wouldn’t do it for him.

Once, Shu Ning’s clothes had stayed in the laundry basket for half a month before he remembered to wash them. He ended up getting scolded by Cai Qin for a long time. Shu Ning had never minded it before because he had been to Wang Shenshen and Long Qiao’s rooms. Their rooms were even messier than his.

He was already doing pretty good!

Moreover, Wang Shenshen and Long Qiao both said that a macho guy shouldn’t sweat the small stuff. They could just find a wife to help clean up after them. 

Shu Ning even asked other boys about their rooms, and they were all the same.

With that peace of mind, Shu Ning let his room be as messy as he liked. The clothes in the closet were going to get messed up anyway, so why bother folding them? Just throw it all in there! He needs to sleep in his bed every night anyway, so why bother making it? It’s such a pain!

Yin Mingzheng ignored him. He carefully folded his clothes. Then, he tidied up the room as well. Everything was neatly arranged.

Shu Ning laid on his soft, pillowy bed and looked around his now-clean room. Suddenly, he was in a very good mood. 

In order to prevent any mishaps from happening later on, Shu Ning secretly took a trip to an Internet cafe. He used a software to send an anonymous message to the villain. The message revealed the truth about the switched children. It even included the approximate time and place.

When he got back home, he discovered Yin Mingzheng sitting motionlessly in the dark. His heart suddenly leapt in his chest.

“Mingzheng, why didn’t you turn on the lights?”

Shu Ning gulped. He was a little worried about how Yin Mingzheng would react. Could it be that it was too big of a blow? Was his mental state okay? 

He suddenly regretted sending that text message. He thought that, since Yin Mingzheng cut off all ties with Zhou Juan, it should be fine to tell him the truth. However, seeing Yin Mingzheng’s silent and motionless appearance, he was starting to feel uneasy.

Was he still unable to accept it?

It made sense. Who could possibly take blow after blow like this? He was probably really upset.

He turned on the light and leaned over. Then, he carefully called out his name, “Mingzheng?” 

Yin Mingzheng looked up and gave him a small smile. “You’re back?”

As soon as he smiled, the gloomy atmosphere instantly disappeared without a trace.

Shu Ning breathed a sigh of relief and nodded.

Yin Mingzheng said, “I just received a text message. It said that Zhou Juan switched me out at birth with her own child. It was kind of interesting.” 

As expected, it was bothering him. He plastered a surprised expression on his face and said, “Really? Something like that actually happened?”

Yin Mingzheng took out his cell phone and handed it to him. He sneered, “I don’t know why, but I have a feeling of ‘so that’s how it is’.”

Shu Ning quickly swept a glance over the text message on his phone. Then, he carefully asked, “Then…do you believe what’s in the text message?”

Yin Mingzheng said, “If it was before, probably not, but now…” 

Shu Ning didn’t know what he was thinking, but he saw him shake his head. “I kind of believe it, and I’m rather willing to believe it.”

Shu Ning was thrilled. “Then, if Zhou Juan ever comes looking for you, you should just ignore her.”

Yin Mingzheng’s beautiful eyes glanced at him. “Don’t worry. I won’t.”

Immediately afterwards, he added, “Even if this didn’t happen, I wouldn’t have paid her any attention anyway.” 

However, if the message was proven to be true, he wouldn’t just leave it at that!

Yin Mingzheng had grown up with Yin Qiang since he was a child. Inevitably, he ended up picking a couple of bad habits. For example, taking revenge.

He would never show mercy towards his opponents.

He didn’t say this part out loud. He was afraid of scaring Shu Ning. 

Yin Mingzheng said, “I’m going to go to Wuxian Hospital tomorrow.”

Seeing that he planned to investigate the truth, Shu Ning immediately said, “I’ll go too.”

Yin Mingzheng shook his head. “No, I can handle this issue myself.”

Shu Ning hesitated for a moment. In the end, he nodded in agreement and stopped pestering him about following along. 

Once the villain made up his mind, there was nothing anyone could do to change it. Either way, Shu Ning achieved his goal of getting him to ignore Zhou Juan, so it didn’t really matter.

The next day, Yin Mingzheng set off for Wuxian Hospital. Wuxian wasn’t too far from Chuzhou. Wuxian was Yin Qiang’s hometown. His house was later demolished, so he moved to Chuzhou.

Fifteen years had passed. Wuxian Hospital had long since undergone renovations. It looked a lot different than it used to.

Yin Mingzheng first went to the maternity ward and asked a nurse about the doctors and nurses who worked here fifteen years ago. The nurse saw that he was handsome and pretty, so she was more than happy to answer his questions. 

After fifteen years, a lot of their employees had left, but the director of the maternity ward was still there. The head nurse had been transferred to the management position and was now a member of the hospital’s leadership.

Yin Mingzheng already had a good idea of the process before he arrived. He first contacted the maternity ward director. He explained why he was here and asked if she could retrieve the medical records.

The maternity ward director’s expression slightly changed. “Fifteen years is too long ago. It’ll be difficult to investigate exactly what happened back then.”

Yin Mingzheng said, “Don’t worry, Director. I’m not here to cause trouble. I just want to know the truth. I won’t demand any compensation or anything.” 

The maternity ward director felt a little more at ease. She said, embarrassed, “Medical conditions were really very poor back then. I’m a little caught off guard by all of this.”

Since Yin Mingzheng’s tone was very gentle, the director’s attitude towards him improved as well. First, she headed towards the office containing medical records to retrieve the case file and found information on Zhou Juan. Then, she looked up information on a woman named Jiang Rui who had been staying in the same hospital room.

When she saw Jian Rui’s name, the maternity ward director immediately recalled the two of them.

“It turns out that it was those two!” the director exclaimed. “Mrs. Jiang is the madam of the Wei family! Back then, she was returning after paying her respects to the ancestors. Just as she was passing by Wuxian, she started going into labor, so she was rushed into our hospital and placed in the same hospital room as Zhou Juan.” 

“It just so happened that Zhou Juan was also giving birth. Later, her husband drank too much and started causing a ruckus. He said that we were robbing him, that we were cheating him out of his money. He even smashed the nurses’ station!”

The maternity ward director was still angry over it. “He was the one who didn’t buy insurance for his wife. If you don’t have insurance, you don’t get covered, yet he kept insisting that we were cheating him of his money!”

“Back then, it only cost two or three thousand yuan to give birth to a child. What were they doing having kids if they couldn’t even afford to pay that amount!”

“What’s more, he damaged hospital property! He caused a public disturbance! Plus, he was horrible to his wife! She had just given birth, yet he was yelling and screaming at her!” 

“We were really busy at that time. Mrs. Jiang wanted to stay in a single-person room, but there weren’t any hospital rooms available. That was the reason why she and Zhou Juan ended up sharing a room. Every last hospital bed was occupied, so we were really hard-pressed.”

The maternity ward director complained as she spoke about the events that occurred back then. Yin Mingzheng listened carefully to each word she said, matching up the things the director told him about to the contents of the anonymous message.

In other words, Zhou Juan had never adopted a child at all. She did in fact give birth to a child here. When the child was born, Yin Qiang did in fact cause a ruckus.

So, there was probably a 90% chance that the content of the text message was true. 

This didn’t necessarily mean that he was switched at birth. Even if Zhou Juan switched the children, there was always the possibility that something happened to the child, so she ended up picking Yin Mingzheng up from elsewhere.

However, the likelihood of this was very small.

Yin Mingzheng started picking through his memories, starting from the appearance of the paternity test. Yin Qiang’s behavior. At that time, Yin Qiang didn’t know that Yin Mingzheng was adopted. This meant that he had always thought of Yin Mingzheng as his biological son.

If the child died and Zhou Juan replaced it, how could it be possible for Yin Qiang not to know? The child had been replaced with a completely different baby. How could Yin Qiang not notice? 

Men were very sensitive to things like this. No honest man would be able to tolerate being tricked like this, let alone a man like Yin Qiang.

Therefore, it was most likely that there had been no adoption. If there had been, Yin Qiang definitely wouldn’t have been unaware of it.

But why did Yin Qiang later change his tune, backing Zhou Juan up?

Yin Mingzheng sat in the hallway of the hospital, thinking. At this moment, his mind was very, very clear, and he quickly thought of an answer. Back then, Yin Mingzheng needed ¥100,000 for his hospital fees. They didn’t want to pay and Yin Qiang didn’t want to admit to being cheated on, so they claimed that he was adopted. 

Yin Mingzheng also remembered that, on the day the paternity test showed up, he had clearly tried to protect Zhou Juan. However, Zhou Juan chose to push him out the door and talk to Yin Qiang in private.

After that, Yin Qiang, who had wanted to kill Zhou Juan, suddenly did a complete 180.

Now that he thought about it, it was really strange!

If Zhou Juan had adopted a child behind his back, Yin Qiang wouldn’t have let her off so easily. 

If Zhou Juan had cheated on him, Yin Qiang wouldn’t have let her off either.

What was the reason for Yin Qiang’s attitude to change so drastically?

He was only a hair’s breadth away from the answer.

Zhou Juan told the truth about what she had done. Yin Qiang realized that he hadn’t been cheated on, hadn’t been lied to, and he couldn’t even get something out of this. That was why he let Zhou Juan off like that. 

Countless little details were stringing themselves together. Yin Mingzheng stared at the medical records in his hand. He had nearly pieced together the entire process of what had happened.

Zhou Juan took advantage of the ruckus Yin Qiang caused and secretly switched the children. The most likely victim was the child of the woman in the bed next to her.

After the children were switched, Zhou Juan was discharged from the hospital and hid the truth from everyone. That was why Yin Qiang never found out. When the paternity test was revealed, Zhou Juan revealed everything to Yin Qiang in order to quell his anger.

Perhaps, Zhou Juan had always known where her real son was. Yin Qiang must’ve changed his attitude after Zhou Juan told him everything. 

Yin Mingzheng smiled. It turned out that, from beginning to end, he was the one being lied to and toyed with.

No wonder Zhou Juan had such a strange attitude towards him.

No wonder he lived a life worse than a dog!

He had always thought that the reason his parents wouldn’t give him food, drink, or even the slightest bit of affection was because there was something wrong with him. He thought maybe he wasn’t sensible enough. Or maybe their family was just too poor. 

It turned out that this wasn’t the case. They were never his parents to begin with!

They didn’t even deserve to be called human beings!

When he recalled all the effort he put into pleasing his parents, he almost wanted to laugh.

He recalled the occasional kindness that Zhou Juan used to show him. Because of this kindness, Yin Mingzheng had regarded her as the most important person in the world to him. He defended her wholeheartedly. He loved her. 

He wanted to vomit.

In the past, he thought that Yin Qiang was the most terrifying person in the world, that Zhou Juan was a victim. However, he was now starting to realize that Zhou Juan was an entirely different beast. She was even more terrifying, more disgusting than Yin Qiang.

Yin Qiang hadn’t actually known the truth at the beginning. He had been a horrible person from beginning to end, but at least he had been honest. Meanwhile, Zhou Juan committed the most heinous act imaginable. She changed his fate entirely, yet she still put on an act of a caring mother. She would weep and wail in front of him, incite him to stick up for her.

People like her were truly disgusting. 

Great!

Fucking fantastic!

Yin Mingzheng felt hurt and indignant on behalf of his former self, but he also felt like a huge burden had been lifted.

If it was before, even if someone had told him the truth, he would never have believed them. Because he was entirely dependent on Zhou Juan. 

There wasn’t a single person in the world that liked him. The people in the community and at school rejected him. Zhou Juan was the only person who would show him a sliver of affection. He really, truly loved this woman. He had wanted to take her far away, leave Chuzhou City, and start a new life.

In the young Yin Mingzheng’s heart, this had been his greatest wish. He was fascinated by August the Great. He wrote in his workbook every day about taking his mother somewhere far away. He dreamed of becoming the protagonist of Lotus Lantern…

For a long, long time, this had been his one and only conviction, his goal.

He couldn’t stand hearing others talk bad about her because he could always find various excuses for her. Their family conditions were too poor, her salary was too low, the work was too hard, Yin Qiang was always giving her a hard time… 

Because, compared to the disgust and rejection that others showed towards him, Zhou Juan was already incredibly good!

Besides, she was his mother, his mom. Based on that title alone, Yin Mingzheng was more tolerant of her.

However, the series of events that occurred afterwards slowly shaved away at his affections.

Today, Yin Mingzheng confirmed that he had been switched at birth, yet he wasn’t surprised at all. 

No matter how deep the relationship was, it couldn’t stand against blow after blow after blow.

Now, he actually felt a sense of relief.

Shu Ning was absent-minded in class. He kept looking at the empty desk next to him.

Shu Ning helped Yin Mingzheng request for leave from school. The homeroom teacher nodded and agreed without any hesitation. She really sympathized with Yin Mingzheng now. 

Even the notorious Miejue Abbess, their English teacher, saw his empty seat and asked, “Where’s Yin Mingzheng?”

Shu Ning replied, “Ma’am, Yin Mingzheng asked for leave today.”

The strict and sullen English teacher showed a rare expression of concern. “Is he sick?”

It’s important to note that, in the past, she would’ve gotten angry and started furiously scolding. She used to complain that Yin Mingzheng was skipping class, that he was being disrespectful to his elders, and so on and so forth. However, she was now showing concern for Yin Mingzheng. Shu Ning’s jaw almost dropped in shock. 

“Yeah.” Shu Ning said, “He has a stomachache today.”

The English teacher lamented, “Sigh, tell him to take better care of his health.”

After saying this, she shook her head and continued the class.

After class, their classmates also started gathering around his desk and asked, “What happened to Yin Mingzheng?” 

“How did he suddenly get a stomachache?”

“I heard that he and Zhou Juan had a falling out. Where’s he living now? Does he have enough to eat?”

It seemed as though the whole world suddenly cared about Yin Mingzheng.

When Zhou Juan came to the office that day, Yin Mingzheng showed Zhou Juan no mercy and ruthlessly revealed the truth in front of all of the teachers. Very quickly, the entire grade learned that Yin Mingzheng had vowed to cut ties with Zhou Juan. 

In the past, everyone had sympathized with Yin Mingzheng, but, now, they were even more sympathetic.

At the same time, they also admired him.

After all, even if a child was from a poor family, the most that people would give him is their sympathy. However, it was rare for a kid like Yin Mingzheng to not only return the donation money but also cut off his ties with his parents at just fifteen years of age!

Even if he got bad grades, dyed his hair, never looked people in the eyes, and didn’t fit in, he was still a hero in people’s hearts. 

His independence, his tenacity was able to touch the hearts of people.

It was as if, overnight, the whole world fell in love with the child who used to be an object of loathing.

Shu Ning looked at each of their concerned faces and felt a little complicated. At that moment, he couldn’t really describe how he felt.