Shu Ning had also heard the conversation between the two. He quickly put the glass of water aside and asked Hu Mei, “Wei Ximing instructed you to tell us a bunch of nonsense on purpose?”

Hu Mei nodded. “I don’t have any grievances with Young Master Mingzheng, and I definitely wouldn’t harm him. I only did that because Young Master Ximing ordered me to. I’m just a servant, so, naturally, I must obey the master’s orders.” 

Wei Mingzheng had been looking for a servant in order to ask about what Jiang Yao and Wei Ximing had been up to today. He hadn’t expected the truth of the matter to be delivered to him so easily. He smiled. “In that case, who’s your master now?”

Hu Mei was someone who could tell where the tide was going. She hurriedly said, “Of course it’s Young Master Mingzheng!”

Shu Ning felt that this person was way too duplicitous and untrustworthy.

Wei Mingzheng seemed to be a little interested in Hu Mei. “I heard that you’re from my mom’s side of the family. I’m not your master. I’m your relative.” 

Hu Mei was taken aback. She was a little surprised.

“Regardless of whether it’s a familial relationship or a work relationship, you should be on my side, got that?” Wei Mingzheng said softly.

Hu Mei said quickly, “I understand! I understand!”

“Jiang Yao came to see Wei Ximing today, right?” Wei Mingzheng asked.

Hu Mei said, “Yes.”

Without even being asked, she told the two of them about everything Jiang Yao did after arriving at the Wei family villa.

After Jiang Yao entered the villa, she anxiously asked about Wei Ximing’s whereabouts. Once she learned that Wei Ximing was in his room, she rushed over to him. After that, the two walked out of the room together and chatted in one of the parlors.

It wasn’t until Madam Wei returned with Wei Mingzheng and Shu Ning that Jiang Yao finally left the parlor. She walked over to the corridor and announced that she didn’t want to change the marriage agreement. 

With Hu Mei’s testimony, the two of them could pretty much confirm that Wei Ximing had instigated Jiang Yao to do that.

Moreover, Wei Ximing had already started causing trouble for them since yesterday.

Wei Mingzheng narrowed his eyes. “I’ve already told him that I don’t care about him, but he seems to care a whole lot about me.”

Shu Ning fumed, “This kind of person is so disgusting!” 

Yesterday, Wei Ximing had Hu Mei tell them incorrect information so the villain would embarrass himself before the entire family. Today, Wei Ximing instigated Jiang Yao to cut off any future possibility of a relationship with the villain.

When he was reading the novel, Shu Ning always felt that the male lead didn’t have his head on straight. He was obviously the one who’d benefited the most from the entire ordeal, yet he still regarded himself as a victim. At the time, Shu Ning felt that, since he was the male lead, his personality couldn’t be that bad. Now, he was starting to realize that Wei Ximing didn’t just benefit from the situation. He was actively trying to trip others up! He was really vicious! He was exactly the same type of person as Zhou Juan!

Wei Mingzheng didn’t look angry at all. He continued to speak with Hu Mei in a pleasant manner. “There are a lot of things I still don’t know about the Wei family. I’ll have to rely on Aunt Mei in the future.”

Hu Mei had already been punished by him once. She didn’t have the guts to keep putting on airs, so she quickly said, “Young Master Mingzheng, you’re too polite. I will definitely tell you everything I know.” 

Yin Mingzheng pointed at the stool next to him. “Aunt Mei, please take a seat.”

Hu Mei cautiously sat down.

Yin Mingzheng sat next to Shu Ning. He indolently asked, “There’s something I want to ask you about. I heard that Grandma accidentally took the wrong insulin medication a year ago and Wei Ximing was the one who saved her?”

Hu Mei said, “Yes, something like this did happen. Ever since then, she’s been doting on Young Master Ximing a lot.” 

“In that case, why did she take the wrong medication?”

Hu Mei was taken aback. She shook her head. “I’m not entirely sure why.”

Wei Mingzheng continued, “Was Wei Ximing the only one by Grandma’s side at that time?”

Hu Mei nodded. “Yes.” 

Shu Ning listened as Wei Mingzheng spoke. The more he listened, the more he realized something was wrong. A terrible possibility popped into his head, and he couldn’t help but glance at Wei Mingzheng.

Wei Mingzheng continued to ask Hu Mei, “Does Grandma usually take her insulin by herself?”

Hu Mei was also starting to realize something was wrong. She shook her head and said, “No, the main building has its own doctors and nurses. The doctors don’t stay overnight. They only come if a problem arises, but the nurses are always there. On the day of the accident, the nurse prepared the medicine, but she mistakenly used the wrong medication and didn’t check the dose. She was derelict in her duty and ran off, so the old lady injected the insulin herself.”

“The insulin that the old lady usually uses is long-acting and mild, but the nurse prepared the short-acting insulin and increased the dose. As a result, the old lady nearly died. It just so happened that Young Master Ximing came to visit the old lady. When he entered her room, he saw her lying on the ground, so he quickly gave her some sugar water and saved her life.” 

“Young Master Ximing then called emergency services and sent the old lady to the hospital as quickly as possible. The nurse was fired because of this and almost went to jail.”

Wei Mingzheng nodded. “I see.”

Hu Mei asked carefully, “Young Master Mingzheng, is there a problem?”

Wei Mingzheng said, “For now, no. Give me the nurse’s information later.” 

He pulled out his phone and exchanged phone numbers and WeChats with Hu Mei.

Hu Mei quickly agreed.

Wei Mingzheng asked a couple more questions. After Hu Mei left, Shu Ning asked, “Mingzheng, are you suspicious about the incident with the insulin? Was it intentional?”

Wei Mingzheng said, “It’s just a guess.” 

Shu Ning didn’t know anything, but Wei Mingzheng was very clear about the timeline of things. Two years ago, he forced Zhou Juan into a position where she had no choice but to go to Beijing and find Wei Ximing. In that kind of situation, Zhou Juan had only one way out. She needed to ask her biological son for money.

Qfl Wlwlcu wera’nf obecv bea jybea tlr agef lvfcalas atfc. Vbbc joafgkjgvr, Ol Tbcucj jiwbra vlfv joafg erlcu atf kgbcu lcreilc wfvlmjalbc jcv kjr gfrmefv ys Qfl Wlwlcu. Dfmjerf tf rjnfv tfg ilof, Ol Tbcucj qgbafmafv tlw ktbiftfjgafvis veglcu atf kfimbwlcu yjcdefa. Snfc lo atf mtlivgfc kfgf vfilyfgjafis rklamtfv, rtf ralii lcrlrafv bc xffqlcu Qfl Wlwlcu.

These two incidents occurred very close together. Was there really no connection between them?

Wei Mingzheng’s senses were very sharp now. He was able to pick out a lot of issues from the tiniest of clues. 

He had said before that he didn’t care about Wei Ximing. This was true. He just wanted to earn his parents’ love. That was the thing he was lacking the most. It was hard for him to resist. Who cared about Wei Ximing? He had never taken Wei Ximing to heart at all.

However, if Wei Ximing were to offend him, that was another matter entirely.

Soon, Hu Mei found information on the nurse and handed it over to Wei Mingzheng.

The nurse had received professional training. She was very strict. It was precisely because of her strictness and attentiveness that she was hired to be a private duty nurse for the Wei family. She had never made a mistake before. However, in the end, she was expelled from the Wei family. 

Wei Mingzheng read over the nurse’s resume. The contact information led to an out-of-service phone number. After the nurse left the Wei family, her whereabouts were unknown.

Wei Mingzheng couldn’t confirm that Li Yongna was given the wrong medication on purpose. However, he was a little suspicious. There wouldn’t be any harm in checking, so he contacted a detective agency in Beijing. He sent them the nurse’s information and told them to investigate her.

Since Wei Ximing had already made his move, he couldn’t keep sitting around.

Maybe he could use Zhou Juan here. 

Where could she be right now?

Within an ordinary apartment complex, a woman in a floral dress and heavy makeup was walking with a somewhat attractive middle-aged man. The hand that was holding onto him was missing a pinky finger.

“Do you live here?” the man asked. “Is it really your apartment?”

“Of course it’s mine!” Zhou Juan said quickly. 

The man said, “Let’s head up first.”

Zhou Juan hurried into the elevator with the man and pressed the button for the seventeenth floor.

Her hard times were finally over.

The past two years had been a living hell for her! 

The loan sharks had been pressuring her to give them the money. She had no choice but to come to Beijing and find Wei Ximing. Wei Ximing refused to acknowledge her at first, but, fortunately, she had come prepared and showed him a photo of Yin Qiang.

Wei Ximing was still reluctant to admit it, so she secretly used Wei Ximing’s hair to perform a DNA test. Then, she threw the evidence in front of him. There was nothing else Wei Ximing could do but face the facts.

It was rather ironic, but, without the help of the loan sharks, she would’ve never been able to get Wei Ximing to accept it. The loan sharks were the ones to find Wei Ximing’s school and address. If it wasn’t for the loan sharks, she wouldn’t have even been able to catch a glimpse of him. Wei Ximing avoided her everywhere. He wouldn’t even give her the chance to do a DNA test.

After a long struggle, she finally managed to get a hair sample. The loan sharks also helped her get the DNA test done. Finally, they took her to find Wei Ximing once more and forced him to accept the reality. 

The entire process had dragged on for a month. At first, she was incredibly afraid of the loan sharks. She hated them for cutting off her finger. However, towards the end, she felt very grateful to them.

Wei Ximing had nothing but disgust for her. He didn’t have a shred of affection. He could not wait to throw her back to Chuzhou and never see her again.

Zhou Juan could not accept this. She sacrificed so much for Wei Ximing, but he ended up being an absolute ingrate. If it wasn’t for the loan sharks, Wei Ximing, this ruthless bastard, would have left her to fend for herself!

After being driven out by her parents, she was entirely penniless. She was being chased by loan sharks, her fingers had been chopped off, and the son whom she’d pinned all her hopes on turned out to be an ungrateful prick. Zhou Juan was in complete despair. 

Now, she only wanted money. Forget love.

In order to force Wei Ximing into submission, she cooperated with the loan sharks. She used their power and connections in order to oppress Wei Ximing. The loan sharks asked Wei Ximing for ten million yuan in exchange for the recording. Zhou Juan let them do as they pleased because she would be getting two million yuan from it.

She had completely given up on all familial affection, so she might as well throw it all away. She started shamelessly demanding all sorts of things from Wei Ximing.

She knew that, if the truth were to get out or if Wei Ximing figured something out, she definitely wouldn’t be able to get any more money from him. She needed to squeeze as much as she could out of him while she still could. 

She was still young. There were people who were still having children at the age of fifty. Why couldn’t she?

She was definitely going to make it to the top!

As long as she had money, she would be able to find a new man and live a decent life. She would have another child and raise him herself. Her child would be the one to take care of her in her old age.

She wanted to let everyone in her hometown know that pZhou Juan wouldn’t be defeated! She was going to stand above the rest! 

She wanted to let her parents know that driving her away was their biggest mistake!

She wanted to let her sister know that she was the better sister!

The Wei family loved Wei Ximing a lot. They gave him an RV and a store despite his young age. He also had a large amount of savings sitting in his bank account. Zhou Juan and the loan sharks worked together to blackmail him, and it paid off.

Wei Ximing sold one of his properties and gave ten million yuan to the loan sharks. Then, he gave her another sum of money and told her to get lost. 

When Zhou Juan saw the money, her eyes went red.

Even the tiniest bit of the Wei family’s leftovers was enough for her to live off of for the rest of her life. Wei Ximing clearly had all this money, but he wasn’t willing to give it to her. He wasn’t even willing to meet her. Whenever they did meet, his eyes were full of disgust. He refused to acknowledge her!

At this point, Zhou Juan absolutely hated Wei Ximing.

After falling into despair, Zhou Juan completely gave up on everything from the past. 

So, she asked Wei Ximing for money without any qualms. Her continuous demands forced Wei Ximing into a difficult position. The apartment she was currently living in belonged to Wei Ximing. Beijing required residents to have five years of social insurance before they were eligible to buy a house. She had only been here for two years. Once she hit the five year mark, she would force Wei Ximing to give her the house. Then, they would cut all ties with each other.

The two of them had already discussed this matter.

“Let’s go, let’s go.” Zhou Juan led the man into her apartment with a smile on her face.

The apartment looked ordinary from the outside, but it was a full one hundred and twenty square meters. In a place like Beijing, a one hundred and twenty square meter apartment was like a luxury villa. Even if it was old and dusty, an apartment like that was worth its weight in gold. 

The Wei family was truly very generous towards Wei Ximing.

“The apartment isn’t bad.” The man nodded. “You know me. I’m a Beijing local, and I also own a house. The reason I never got married was because I wanted to find a wife who suited me. The one I like is you, not the house or the savings. However, a good relationship needs to be built on a sturdy foundation. It’s best if the two of us are from similar backgrounds. Even though you’re not from Beijing and disabled, I don’t mind.”

Zhou Juan’s eyes lit up when she heard this. Oh my god! She couldn’t believe a man like him existed! He was from Beijing, and he owned a house. However, he wasn’t looking down on her because of her age, her disabled hand, or her residency status!

This was great! 

If she brought this man back to her hometown, it would make her look so good!

Zhou Juan couldn’t help but imagine the envy and jealousy in everyone’s eyes.

“Let’s find some time and get a marriage certificate. As for the money for the wedding…”

Zhou Juan quickly said, “Money isn’t a problem. My son will pay.” 

The man nodded in satisfaction. “That’s good. You know, this is your second marriage, but this is my first marriage. I’m going to be the one losing out here.”

Zhou Juan nodded in agreement. “Don’t worry. You won’t lose out if you marry me.”

After all, she had a cash cow.

The Wei family. 

Wei Ximing and Jiang Yao were chatting with each other. The two of them were as sweet as honey.

He was very clear about how Jiang Yao felt. She was completely infuriated by Wei Mingzheng, and she didn’t like Wei Mingzheng at all.

Wei Ximing confirmed this over and over again. He was very satisfied. He just needed to please his grandmother and keep Jiang Yao firmly within his grasp. This way, even if he isn’t from the Wei family, he would still be able to come out on top.

Wei Mingzheng wasn’t even a worthy opponent. 

Wei Ximing spoke sweet words like they were water. His words delighted Jiang Yao a lot. After a while, both of them happily hung up the call.

Wei Ximing was in high spirits. He was imagining his life after marrying Jiang Yao when a phone call ruined his good mood.

Two words were displayed on his phone screen—”Zhou Juan”.

Wei Ximing rejected the call in disgust, but the phone kept ringing. 

Wei Ximing thought for a moment. Then, he picked up the phone with a sneer, “What do you want this time?”

Zhou Juan’s voice rang out from the other end. “Son, I’m getting married. Give me one million yuan for the wedding expenses.”

“One million yuan for wedding expenses? Keep dreaming!” Wei Ximing was so disgusted that he wanted to vomit. This woman had blackmailed him again and again, yet she still had the gall to call him her son?

He wanted nothing more than to crush up her bones and throw them into the sea. If it weren’t for the loan sharks around her, Wei Ximing might have actually tried to kill her. 

Zhou Juan sneered, “You don’t want to give it to me? Don’t tell me you actually think you’re some young master. Have you forgotten who you really are?”

After repeated confrontations, their conversations had already lost all sense of camaraderie between a mother and son. The only thing left was exploitation, money, ridicule.

In the past, this sentence was like a trump card. In order to maintain his current status within the Wei family, Wei Ximing would have bent over backwards in order to fulfill her request. However, this time, Wei Ximing scoffed, “Zhou Juan, I won’t give you money this time, and I won’t be giving you anymore money in the future. You can get out of my apartment as well. Otherwise, I’ll have someone kick you out in person.”

Back then, Zhou Juan had brought loan sharks straight to his door and caught him by surprise. He would never forget the shame of having his pride trampled on. Wei Ximing suddenly felt a strong urge to show up at Zhou Juan’s door and throw her out. 

An eye for an eye.

Wei Ximing’s breathing was rough. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that it would be a good idea.

Zhou Juan was extremely surprised. She said angrily, “You aren’t afraid of me showing up in front of the Wei family?”

Wei Ximing took a deep breath and said with a grin, “Zhou Juan, you might not know this, but Yin Mingzheng, no, his name is Wei Mingzheng now. Did you know that he’s returned to the Wei family?” 

“What?” Zhou Juan didn’t know. She was incredibly surprised to hear that.

Wei Ximing felt a thrill in his heart. He said, “The Wei family knows about the children being switched, and they even brought Wei Mingzheng back.”

“Then what are you going to do?” Zhou Juan blurted out. If Yin Mingzheng returned to the Wei family, Wei Ximing would be kicked out. If she lost this cash cow of hers, she wouldn’t be able to get money out of him anymore!

This was bad! 

Wei Ximing said proudly, “Me? I saved Grandma’s life. Even if I’m a fake, Grandma is willing to treat me like her real grandson. She allowed me to stay in the Wei family, so you can forget about threatening me with my identity!”

Wei Ximing’s face darkened. “Get out of my house and never show up in front of me again, understand?”

Wei Ximing had been blackmailed by her for two years. He didn’t want to deal with Zhou Juan any longer. He had been planning this for the past two years. All of his scheming was for this day, the day he would break away from Zhou Juan. Now, he would be able to stay in the Wei family even with his identity as a fake young master.

“Wei Ximing! I’m your mother! I did so much for you! You can’t abandon me!” Zhou Juan shouted anxiously. The only card she had in her hand wasn’t working anymore. What was she supposed to do from now on? 

The relationship between Zhou Juan and Wei Ximing had long since dropped to a freezing point during the past two years. There was no way Wei Ximing would take care of her in her old age or give her any money.

However, she needed money to get married, to have a child, to restart her life again.

She couldn’t just let things be like this!

Wei Mingzheng and Shu Ning had been with the Wei family for a while now. Madam Wei took Wei Mingzheng back to Chuzhou to transfer his household register to Beijing. Since Zhou Juan disappeared, the transfer process was a little more complicated. However, the Wei family had the power and the money to open all kinds of doors. Plus, Wei Mingzheng’s situation was well-known in the area, and they had a paternity test to back it up. This was a special case, so it received special treatment. Everything naturally fell into place. 

Since then, Yin Mingzheng officially changed his name to Wei Mingzheng. He had become the real young master of the Wei family, both legally and by blood.

Wei Ximing was still listed under the Wei family’s household register. He didn’t end up getting kicked off the register.

First of all, Li Yongna would not allow it. Second of all, Madam Wei and Wei Yuanning did not consider it.

The two young masters had been relatively well-behaved for a while now. On the surface, Wei Ximing rarely clashed with Wei Mingzheng, and Wei Mingzheng was too lazy to bother with him. As for what they did in private, it was anybody’s guess. 

On the day the register was transferred, Wei Ximing moved into the main building. He claimed that he was going to take care of Grandma, but everyone knew what this was really about.

Madam Wei was furious. She felt like her years of affection had been wasted on this son of hers. Wei Ximing, on the other hand, felt like she was being too partial.

Wei Mingzheng comforted Madam Wei and said, “Isn’t it better this way? At least everyone’s happy.”

Madam Wei thought about it for a while. What’s done is done. It was useless for her to say any more, so she might as well let him go. 

In the blink of an eye, it was time for school to start.

Wei Ximing and Wei Mingzheng were the same age. Wei Ximing was currently in his second year of high school. However, Wei Mingzheng started school late because of Zhou Juan and Yin Qiang, so he was only just starting his first year of high school with Shu Ning.

Wei Ximing attended Sai Yao International High School. This high school was extremely difficult to get into. Its students were either outstanding students with excellent grades or the children of powerful people. Wei Ximing didn’t get into the school through family connections. Rather, he was admitted because of his excellent grades.

He had a great reputation at school. After all, his status as a child of the Wei family was already enough to make him stand out. However, that wasn’t all there was to him. His grades were also good, and his appearance was outstanding. He was like everyone’s fantasy of a rich and handsome prince come to life. 

This time, Madam Wei managed to get Wei Mingzheng and Shu Ning into Sai Yao through her connections. She did this because she felt that the education provided by the middle schools in Chuzhou were too different from those in Beijing. There was no point in taking the entrance exams. Besides, the entrance exams were already over. They didn’t really need to do more than necessary.

So long as her son got into the school, then it was fine.

Wei Mingzheng didn’t care, and Shu Ning simply considered himself as the villain’s plus-one. He also didn’t care. Thanks to Madam Wei, the two of them enrolled in Sai Yao without any worries.

As soon as the three of them arrived at the school gate, another car also showed up. Two people got out of the car. It was Wei Ruoyang and Wei Ximing. 

Madam Wei’s face became very dark.

Before school started, she had sought Wei Ximing out and asked him if he wanted her to send him to school. Wei Ximing had declined. However, here he was arriving at school with Wei Ruoyang from the second branch. Wasn’t this a slap in the face?

If others were to see this, they would probably assume that she was favoring one child over the other.

There were already rumors like this flying around because of how Wei Ximing had moved in with his grandmother. People were saying that she no longer cared about Wei Ximing. 

Madam Wei had been in a low mood about this for a long time. Now, Wei Ximing was even behaving like this at school. Who knows what kinds of rumors this would kick up.

However, she couldn’t even pick out a single fault.

Wei Ximing seemed to have just caught sight of her. He walked over with a smile. “Mom.”

Madam Wei forced a smile and said, “Ximing, you just got here as well?” 

Wei Ximing nodded. He glanced at Wei Mingzheng. Then, he said to Madam Wei, “Mom, I miss you a lot these days.”

Madam Wei was taken aback.

Wei Ximing suddenly hugged her in front of everyone. He said in a quiet voice, “I miss you very much.”

Madam Wei’s heart softened. She sighed and patted him on the back. “You silly boy. I miss you too.” 

She suddenly had a realization. Wei Ximing must’ve moved out as a temper tantrum. He must have been trying to get her attention. Perhaps she really did ignore him too much?

“It’s not good to keep bothering your grandmother. When are you coming back?” Madam Wei asked.

Wei Ximing shook his head. “I’m fine staying at Grandma’s place.”

After they finished speaking, he waved at Wei Mingzheng and Shu Ning. Then, he turned around and elegantly walked towards the school gates. 

When Wei Ruoyang saw this, he gave his aunt a greeting and shot Wei Mingzheng a cold look. Then, he followed Wei Ximing into the school.

The adults hadn’t revealed any of their thoughts, so the children had to come to their own opinions. Someone a little more mature might be able to notice something, but the younger ones, such as Wei Ruoyang, got along well with Wei Ximing and had a deep relationship with him.

Even if Wei Ximing wasn’t a child of the Wei family, they had still grown up together. Wei Ruoyang had only just met Wei Mingzheng, who popped out of nowhere. Wei Mingzheng naturally could not compete with Wei Ximing.

If it was just that, it’d be fine. They could just treat each other as strangers and get along. However, Wei Mingzheng didn’t show Wei Ximing any respect, and he embarrassed Wei Ximing in front of everyone during the welcoming anquet. Later, Wei Mingzheng drove Wei Ximing out of his house. His aunt was really way too biased. How could she throw away ten years of a relationship just like that? 

See? School was just starting. His aunt was even able to bring Wei Mingzheng’s follower, Shu Ning, but she refused to bring Wei Ximing along.

Wei Ruoyang’s impression of Wei Mingzheng instantly worsened.