Chapter 83: Evidence

Countless microphones were thrust in front of him. The reporters’ mouths behind the microphones opened and closed like blood-sucking locusts. Xu Lingjia clenched his fists, his face contorted in an expression of anger.

“You reporters, for the sake of traffic, you can really make up any lie! My mom is standing right next to me, and you dare to find such a fraud to cause trouble! And what’s this about swapping children, what switching? Have you watched too many short dramas and fried your brain?”

He kept telling himself in his heart, “I can’t admit it, absolutely can’t admit it.”

But he felt an inexplicable panic. How did this woman come back to life? No, could it be that she never died in the first place? She’s really got a strong life!

He had fallen down in the middle of the night back then, and then had that precognitive dream, learning in advance that this woman named Zhuo Suli would expose the matter of her having swapped him with Cheng Ningyu’s biological son. Since fate had given him this opportunity, how could he allow this to happen again?

After Zhuo Suli contacted him, he had been very kind and polite, even enduring the disgust to meet her once. This ugly and poor woman was indeed as easy to deceive as he had imagined. He had just treated her to a meal, bought her a cheap set of clothes, and said some nice words, and this woman was crying and laughing, completely devoted to him, wishing she could pluck the moon from the sky for him.

Then, he deliberately brought up how difficult his life had been growing up in the entertainment industry, how he was often bullied and cursed by anti-fans. This woman, as expected, cried again, her face full of heartache, and kept telling him to quit this job, saying that with his excellence, he would succeed in whatever he did.

He found it amusing in his heart. Quit this? This circle was floating with lots of money and fame. Otherwise, why would so many people be scrambling to get in? This woman didn’t know a thing.

But of course, he couldn’t say that. He said that his dream since he was a child was to be a good actor, and he had been working hard for it for more than ten years. For this goal, he needed the help and connections of Cheng Ningyu and the others, so the fact that he was not Cheng Ningyu’s biological son could absolutely not be exposed.

This woman nodded repeatedly, swearing and vowing that she would definitely keep it a secret and not say a single word.

After stabilizing the person, Xu Lingjia saw that this woman’s motherly love for him was a bit overflowing, so he began to constantly exert mental pressure and psychological suggestions on her in their daily phone calls and voice messages.

“Cheng Ningyu and the others have never been good to me since I was a child. I thought I was an unloved child. It turns out there’s a mother in this world who loves me so much.”

“I haven’t been by Mom’s side for so many years. Will Mom only like Shen Xici and not me?”

“The path of being a star is so difficult. It was Mom who chose it for me.”

“But I still don’t believe it. Mom, prove it to me. To what extent can you go for my future and prospects?”

“Mom loves me so much, you’d be willing to do anything for me, right?”

At first, he just made Zhuo Suli swear a deadly oath that she would absolutely not like Shen Xici and only feel sorry for him. Later, Zhuo Suli willingly gave him all her money.

Step by step, when he felt it was about time, he said, “Unless Mom dies for me, only then will I believe that Mom, you truly love me, and didn’t abandon me and not want me.” To his pleasant surprise, this woman actually did it!

On the desolate riverbank, he stood in a hidden spot, watching the non-swimmer Zhuo Suli jump into the water. Her arms struggled randomly for a while before she slowly sank, and then there was no more movement.

At that moment, his heart was completely at ease, an unprecedented sense of relief. He knew that his fate would be completely different from the one in his precognitive dream.

No second person would know that he was not the biological son of Cheng Ningyu and Xu Yuanjin, nor would anyone know that he and Shen Xici had been swapped. The secret would forever remain a secret!

Now, the person who should be dead had come back to life. But so what? As long as she wasn’t a ghost, could she still harm him?

Xu Lingjia calmed down.

This kind of stupid woman, even if she really wasn’t dead, what was there to be afraid of?

He took a few steps forward and stopped not far from Zhuo Suli. With his hands in his pockets, he stared at the woman with a hunched back, messy hair, and eyes swollen from crying. With a contemptuous gaze, he looked her up and down from head to toe and said impatiently, “You, yes, I’m talking to you. I don’t have this much free time to waste on you. Do you dare to say, in front of my face, that you are my real mom?”

When Zhuo Suli saw Xu Lingjia walking over, her eyes lit up. Afraid that Xu Lingjia would despise her for being dirty, she quickly wiped the tears from her face with her sleeve. However, before she could finish wiping, she heard those words, and her movements stopped.

She looked helplessly at Cheng Ningyu, who was standing behind Xu Lingjia, looking well-fed and well-dressed, wearing fur and sunglasses, rich and beautiful. Then she looked at her own tattered and old cotton clothes and her rough, dark hands from working, her eyes avoiding contact as she stammered, “I… I…”

Xu Lingjia sneered at the people around him, “Alright, disperse. Next time you want to make a big news story, remember to find a smarter fraud. This one can’t even speak clearly. Better not come out and embarrass herself.”

Turning around, facing Cheng Ningyu, Xu Lingjia changed his tone. “Mom, are you cold? Let’s get in the car. It’s warmer in the car.”

Hearing this “Mom” and these words of concern, Zhuo Suli looked at the figures of Xu Lingjia and Cheng Ningyu walking together. She suddenly ran forward like a madwoman and grabbed Xu Lingjia’s arm.

“It was me who carried you for ten months and gave birth to you through all the suffering! That day, your dad was out gambling and wasn’t home. I held onto the bedpost in pain all night before I gave birth to you. I even cut your umbilical cord myself with scissors I had sterilized with an oil lamp. You were so small in your swaddling clothes then, so good, not crying or making a fuss. Jiajia, how can you call someone else Mom? I am your mother. Didn’t you say you loved Mom the most?”

Zhuo Suli’s strength was immense, and she held on tightly, her hand like an iron clamp. Xu Lingjia struggled several times but couldn’t break free. He got annoyed.

“Are you sick? What? You lost your own child, so you’re going around claiming other people’s children? If your brain isn’t right, go to a mental hospital. If you don’t let go of me, I’m calling the police!”

“My child isn’t lost, not lost…” Zhuo Suli shook her head, her face covered in tears as she looked at Xu Lingjia before her. “Jiajia, Mom listened to you. Mom went to jump in the river. I didn’t want to stand in your way. For you, Mom is really willing to give everything… Believe Mom, Mom really loves you…”

Xu Lingjia lifted the corner of his mouth. “What are you talking about? I don’t understand!” He showed her the emergency call number displayed on his phone screen. “If you don’t shut up, this call will really be made.”

Seeing Zhuo Suli dazedly let go, Xu Lingjia snorted and walked back to Cheng Ningyu’s side.

Unexpectedly, a strong hatred suddenly appeared on Zhuo Suli’s face. Wearing a bulky cotton coat, she stumbled a few steps forward and raised her hand high towards Xu Lingjia!

Thinking this woman was about to hit him, Xu Lingjia couldn’t dodge in time and subconsciously closed his eyes. However, a crisp “smack” sound came from the side.

The raised palm did not land on his face.

Xu Lingjia opened his eyes a beat later and saw Cheng Ningyu’s exquisitely made-up face, the right side swollen high. The sunglasses with the conspicuous logo had been slapped to the ground.

Cheng Ningyu covered her face in disbelief. “You crazy woman, you dare to hit me?”

Undeniably, at this moment, Xu Lingjia felt very satisfied in his heart. Who was it that, at home that day, in front of Ye Mei, slapped him across the face? Now, she had a taste of her own medicine, didn’t she?

“You rotten-hearted bitch, I’m hitting you! It must have been you who taught my Jiajia to be bad! Give me back my Jiajia!”

Zhuo Suli lunged forward and slapped Cheng Ningyu again. She had done farm work all year round, and her hands were extremely strong. Cheng Ningyu’s face immediately swelled up with another clear handprint.

After hitting her, Zhuo Suli grabbed Cheng Ningyu’s exquisite curly hair and cursed like a madwoman, “My Jiajia is so good. He was considerate of his mom as soon as he was born, never crying or making a fuss. Later, on TV shows, he was also smart, kind, and polite! He was so good to me, bought me clothes, took me out to eat. How could he bear to force me to die?”

Her tear-swollen eyes were filled with terrifying blood vessels, the hatred within burning like a flame. “It must have been you who made him force me to die, it must have been you who forced him! You are the culprit who destroyed the bond between mother and son! My poor Jiajia, Mom will get revenge for you… Mom will beat this bad woman to death!”

Cheng Ningyu screamed in pain, her neatly manicured long nails trying to pry Zhuo Suli’s hands off. Just then, Xu Yuanjin rushed over from the car and kicked Zhuo Suli in the side of her waist. The pain forced Zhuo Suli to let go.

Cheng Ningyu quickly hid behind Xu Yuanjin, no longer looking exquisite and beautiful. She cursed angrily, “You crazy woman! Do you know who I am that you dare to hit me!”

Zhuo Suli’s hands were covered in bloody scratches from the nails. She looked at Xu Lingjia, who was standing by as if stunned, and forced a gentle smile. “Jiajia, don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid. Mom will protect you! Mom knows you must love Mom. It’s all because of this wicked couple. They taught you to be bad and forced you to do things you didn’t want to do. That’s why you said those words. Mom understands!”

She wiped the endless stream of tears with the back of her hand. “Mom shouldn’t have secretly swapped you with them back then. If you had stayed with Mom, you definitely wouldn’t have turned out like this!”

After Zhuo Suli jumped into the river, she regretted it the very next second. Who wants to die? Besides, she had just been reunited with the biological son she had missed for more than twenty years. How could she bear to die?

She thrashed about desperately. Perhaps even heaven couldn’t bear to let this mother and son be separated again. After being carried a long distance by the river water, her clothes got caught on a dead tree on the bank, and she narrowly survived.

She wanted to go back and find Xu Lingjia, but she had no money at all. She had to find a job washing dishes in a restaurant in the town closest to the riverbank to make a living and save money for a bus ticket.

Every day, she pondered why her Jiajia was like this. Finally, she figured it out. How could her good and kind Jiajia bear to let her die? It must have been those two bitches, Cheng Ningyu and her husband, who were vicious and sinister. They were afraid she would take Jiajia away, so they forced Jiajia to drive her to her death!

She was anxious. It wasn’t until a kind person found out her son was in Ningcheng and was a big star that they were willing to buy her a bus ticket and give her directions on where to find reporters and how to expose the true colors of that couple, Cheng Ningyu and Xu Yuanjin.

Forcing a son to drive his own mother to her death was unjustifiable anywhere!

She brought the reporters, vowing to expose Cheng Ningyu’s true self.

Cheng Ningyu, listening from the side, felt that the matter of the baby swap was most likely true. Xu Lingjia’s appearance was ordinary, not resembling her side or the Xu family’s side. Many marketing accounts had even used Xu Lingjia to say that she must have had plastic surgery to give birth to such an ordinary-looking child.

A little spooked by this crazy woman, Cheng Ningyu didn’t dare to come out from behind Xu Yuanjin and only sneered, “Does Xu Lingjia need me to teach him? I certainly didn’t teach him to give Zhong Yue starfruit juice after knowing about his allergy, and then wait until Zhong Yue was about to go into shock before saving him with an antidote! You didn’t know, did you? This good son of yours is very self-taught!”

The reporters nearby, who had backed off to protect their cameras when the fight broke out, heard this and thought this trip was really not in vain! The mystery of the Zhong Yue incident was actually solved here! Wasn’t this a guaranteed hot search?

Cheng Ningyu tidied her disheveled hair. “And, don’t you go spouting nonsense. I knew nothing about this baby swap! Don’t you pin it all on me!”

How could it not be them who forced Xu Lingjia?

“Impossible, impossible… I have evidence, I have evidence!”

With that, Zhuo Suli, with trembling hands, took something out of her tattered cotton coat. After unwrapping a layer of plastic bag, and then another, inside was an old, brick-like phone for the elderly. She carefully and lovingly opened it, tapped on a voice message, and Xu Lingjia’s voice came out from the noisy speaker.

“Mom, you went to so much trouble to swap me back then. Wasn’t it because you wanted me to have a good life? If you make this known to everyone now, wouldn’t it have all been in vain?”

The moment his voice came from the phone, Xu Lingjia immediately turned to snatch it, but he hadn’t expected Zhuo Suli, who had done farm work all her life, to be stronger than him. He failed to get it after several attempts.

Xu Lingjia said angrily, “Turn it off! Turn it off now! Don’t play it!”

Zhuo Suli held onto the old phone tightly. “Jiajia, this is evidence. Evil will beget evil. What this couple did is a wicked deed that deserves to be struck by lightning! Don’t be afraid. Didn’t you say you were very tired and in pain? We won’t be a star anymore. Mom will work to support you in the future!”

In their struggle, the old phone was accidentally thrown into the bushes nearby.

A reporter, with quick eyes and hands, picked it up and quickly pressed a random voice message.

“I know Mom loves me very much, and I love Mom very much too. Mom definitely wouldn’t want me to be looked down upon and mocked because of my birth, right? But what if such a big secret is discovered? I have a way, but I don’t know if Mom’s love for me is that much, whether you’re willing to give everything for me…”

From the earpiece, Xu Lingjia was clearly speaking in a coquettish, seductive, honey-like voice, but hearing it made one’s hair stand on end.

As the voice messages he had sent to Zhuo Suli were played, Xu Lingjia knew it was all over. His anger flared up. He raised his hand and, with a “smack,” slapped Zhuo Suli hard across the face, squeezing out a few words from between his teeth, “I watched you sink into the river. Why didn’t you just die!”