Luo Yuan deliberately emphasized the words “the three brothers.”
Seeing that Xi Yu had already finished playing his cards in just a few quick moves, Lu Zhixing gathered his own cards and covered the bomb in his hand. He stood up. “It’s getting late. Auntie Qing, Uncle Luo, I’ll be going first.”
“Leaving already?” Luo Yuan said. “Stay a little longer.”
“No need, Uncle Luo.” Lu Zhixing spoke with gentlemanly manners, courteous and respectful. “There are still some things at the company that I need to go take care of this afternoon.”
Luo Yuan said, “Then I won’t see you out.”
Shen Qing secretly glared at Luo Yuan, then smiled at Lu Zhixing. “Take care on the way. Now that our two families live so close to each other, come over and play whenever you have time.”
After exchanging a few pleasantries, Lu Zhixing left.
Seeing him leave, Shen Qing punched Luo Yuan and warned him, “Xiao Lu is such a good kid. Don’t be so wary of him.”
Luo Yuan awkwardly rubbed his nose and denied it. “I’m not wary of him.”
Besides, what was so good about him?!
How come he couldn’t see what was so good about Lu Zhixing?!
His own son was better!
Luo Yuan looked at his two sons.
Luo Cheng’an was teaching Xi Yu a clip of himself that had made the trending searches these past two days.
Ever since he became popular, netizens had been enthusiastic about digging up his old embarrassing moments.
Today’s trending topic was about a fool he had played in a drama as a guest actor.
The netizens’ ruthless review was that there was no trace of acting whatsoever when he played a fool.
“It’s seven with the left hand and eight with the right.” Luo Cheng’an did it again, rolling his eyes and sticking out his tongue. One hand showed seven and the other showed eight, while both hands kept twitching.
It looked so real!
Xi Yu thought he was practically a real fool. Xi Yu imitated him, and although it was somewhat stiff, it was already quite abstract.
Luo Yuan: “……”
“I suddenly feel that Xiao Lu really is pretty good,” Luo Yuan said. “We can have him come over a few more times.”
Even if Lu Zhixing coveted Xi Yu, he accepted it.
At worst, he could just marry Lu Zhixing into their family. That would still be better than letting Luo Cheng’an teach someone into becoming an idiot.
Luo Yuan simply couldn’t bear to look anymore. He smacked Luo Cheng’an on the head. “Someone like you would still drool even after being cured.”
“Dad! That hurts!”
Shen Qing was laughing uncontrollably. She asked Xi Yu, “Are you feeling better?”
“I’m completely fine now.”
Xi Yu stood up and spun around once in front of Shen Qing, letting her see that he was no longer uncomfortable at all before sitting down and asking, “Why did you come over so late?”
If Shen Qing and Luo Yuan had nothing to discuss, they almost never came to his room.
Luo Cheng’an rubbed his head as he stood up, giving his seat on the sofa to Luo Yuan and sitting beside Xi Yu instead.
Only when Xi Yu asked did Shen Qing remember why she had come. She lowered her voice and said to Xi Yu, “Liu Tanghuan was sent to prison by the Liu couple.”
…………………….
Shen Qing was still wearing her evening gown. Xi Yu knew that she had attended a banquet today.
Shen Qing had originally wanted to bring Luo Cheng’an and Xi Yu with her, but one was unwell and the other had to stay behind to accompany him. If she hadn’t found it difficult to refuse, she wouldn’t have wanted to go at all.
She had not expected that she would hear such a huge piece of gossip as soon as she arrived.
Shen Qing did not know about the matter of the real and fake daughters. She had only seen Liu Tanghuan in Qingliang Village. Xi Yu had never explained the reason, and neither she nor Luo Yuan had asked, assuming there must have been some secret behind it.
Moreover, Liu Tanghuan had not participated in the previous banquet, so they had assumed that the person in Qingliang Village was Liu Tanghuan.
Xi Yu had never mentioned being kidnapped, and Luo Cheng’an had not said anything either for fear that his parents would worry.
Shen Qing had originally thought that other people’s affairs had little to do with them, but she had never expected that in such a short time, the person had ended up in prison.
And…
Shen Qing lowered her voice even further. “They say she poisoned her parents. The evidence is conclusive.”
It was exactly what had been expected.
Heaven had acknowledged Xiao Man and Madam Liu’s mother-daughter relationship, but Liu Tanghuan’s destined trajectory would not change.
Xi Yu had healed Madam Liu’s wound, but the matter that could still establish guilt was the poisoning.
Too much time had passed for it to be investigated, but fortunately, the Liu family had always had surveillance cameras.
If things had followed the original trajectory and Xiao Man had not transformed into human form ahead of time, that surveillance footage would have been destroyed by Liu Tanghuan, and it would not have been easy for Xiao Man to find the evidence.
But because the trajectory had shifted, Shen Linchuan had restrained Liu Tanghuan at the time, and the surveillance footage had been preserved intact.
Previously, Xiao Man had used two lives to save the Liu couple, and she had also taken Liu Tanghuan’s identity. She and Shen Linchuan had concealed the poisoning incident, so the surveillance footage had been useless.
But Shen Linchuan had kept it in his hands all along. Now that Xiao Man no longer needed to use Liu Tanghuan’s identity, this time it was probably Shen Linchuan who had produced the surveillance footage and let the Liu couple handle it.
The Liu couple already had no affection for Liu Tanghuan. On top of that, she was now insane and behaving erratically, so putting her in prison was actually safer.
That surveillance footage must have been edited before being handed over to the police. It would not have been the complete recording.
After all, it contained not only evidence of Liu Tanghuan’s attempted murder, but also the process of Xiao Man transforming into human form.
Xi Yu nodded, his expression showing little reaction. But Shen Qing and Luo Yuan blinked as they stared at him and Luo Cheng’an.
Seeing the expectant expressions on their faces, Xi Yu paused. Hesitantly, he put on an expression of great surprise and interest and said, “Oh my god, really?”
Luo Cheng’an immediately pricked up his ears as well, looking as though he wanted to hear the story, but the corner of his eye landed on Xi Yu.
Luo Cheng’an knew the ins and outs of the Liu family’s affairs. Not to mention that he had been kidnapped—even if he had not been kidnapped, he would have known about this matter.
But Xi Yu getting injured had been beyond his expectations.
That cat demon had revealed the whereabouts of Zhuohua, so Xi Yu was bound to repay the favor. He simply had not expected Xi Yu to take this ordeal upon himself in Madam Liu’s place.
For a mortal to go through such an ordeal would inevitably shorten their lifespan. A demon could not heal a wound that Heaven had decreed.
If that mother and daughter wanted to get their wish, they had to pay some price. Otherwise, how could there be any order?
But Xi Yu was unwilling to let even this small price be borne by Madam Liu, and would rather suffer the injury himself.
That was not like something Xi Yu would do.
Xi Yu was soft-hearted, but he strictly adhered to cause and effect to an almost rigid degree.
The reason he was good to “Luo Cheng’an” now was merely because he was bearing the cause and effect of this body having survived.
Madam Liu being injured was also part of cause and effect. If she wanted Xiao Man to live, she had to exchange half her life for it.
Xiao Man had merely revealed Zhuohua’s whereabouts. In exchange, Xi Yu had already given her a way to save her life, which was more than enough.
But Xi Yu would rather be injured himself than let that mother and daughter suffer any harm. Why?
He couldn’t figure it out.
Could it be that after all these years of being a mortal, Xi Yu had changed as well?
Luo Cheng’an’s eyes flickered.
No one noticed the fleeting change in Luo Cheng’an’s expression.
Shen Qing’s face was animated as she slapped Luo Yuan on the thigh. Luo Yuan grimaced in pain but didn’t dare say anything, quietly moving farther away from Mother Shen.
Seeing both sons looking at her expectantly, Shen Qing was filled with satisfaction. As she spoke, she gestured animatedly. “Truer than real gold. It was Madam Liu who said it herself.”
“Oh my god,” Xi Yu sighed. “How could this happen?”
Luo Cheng’an blinked. “She said it herself? Is that something she can just say?”
Shen Qing clapped both hands together and gave Luo Cheng’an a look that said, You understand me.
“Exactly! That’s what I thought at the time too. Is this something she can just say?”
“Mom, tell us properly.” Luo Cheng’an shook Madam Liu’s arm. “That’s such huge gossip.”
Xi Yu nodded.
The two sons gave her plenty of emotional validation, and Shen Qing was delighted.
There was plenty of gossip among the various prestigious families, but this was the first one this explosive.
“Mr. and Mrs. Liu were both at the banquet today. They even brought along a girl with an especially good bearing. Someone asked who she was, and Madam Liu said she was her biological daughter who had been lost outside and had only just been found these past two days. She said her name was Liu Xiaoman.”
“Because of our family.” Shen Qing blinked. “You understand, right?”
Xi Yu immediately understood.
The Luo family was one of the top enterprises in A City. Because Xi Yu had refused at the time, they had not held a grand recognition banquet, but Luo’s parents had not kept it a secret.
People had talked about it for quite some time.
Today, there would certainly be people wondering whether this was the same situation as theirs.
Shen Qing did not keep them in suspense. “Although Liu Tanghuan did quite a few outrageous things in the past, after marrying Shen Linchuan, she lived in seclusion. Every time she appeared, she was dignified and elegant, completely different from before. On top of that, she had held a charity banquet every year, and her reputation had been very good these past few years. So someone who was close to the Liu family asked, ‘Where’s Huanhuan?’”
“Madam Liu’s expression changed immediately. She said Liu Tanghuan had poisoned people at home in an attempted murder, and the evidence was conclusive. She had already been taken into custody.”
Luo Cheng’an hurriedly asked, “And then? What happened next?”
“What else could happen? Once those words came out, who would dare ask?” Shen Qing shook her head. “You really can’t judge a person by their appearance.”
Shen Qing felt that a lot must have happened during the years Liu Tanghuan had lived in seclusion, but no one knew what those things were.
She had never considered that Madam Liu might deliberately be smearing Liu Tanghuan.
It was no secret within their circle that Liu’s father was infertile. After all these years, Liu Tanghuan was the only child he had. Although a child had now appeared claiming to be his biological daughter, there was not the slightest resemblance between them.
Shen Qing said, “I think this Liu Xiaoman might very well have been adopted from one of their relatives.”
Otherwise, how could a biological daughter suddenly appear right after Liu Tanghuan went to prison?
Shen Qing thought of Liu Xiaoman, whom she had seen tonight. “That girl’s clothes and bearing were exactly like the Liu Tanghuan I’ve seen these past few years. Maybe it’s a replacement story.”
“Of course, all of this is just speculation. But one thing is certain: the Liu couple has completely disowned Liu Tanghuan.”
Otherwise, why would they send her to prison?
She must have committed some enormous mistake. Otherwise, considering how much affection the Liu parents had always had for Liu Tanghuan, Shen Qing felt they might not have been so ruthless over nothing more than attempted murder.
But these were other people’s affairs. If they did not want to talk about them, she would not go digging either.
…………………..
Luo Cheng’an put on an expression as though his jaw had dropped in shock.
Seeing this, Shen Qing was immensely satisfied. After finishing her story, she chatted with them for a couple more minutes before leaving.