After seeing the police arrive, the Jones couple instinctively felt a flicker of guilt.
But thinking of the “kind and friendly” image they had deliberately maintained all along, they quickly calmed down again.
What they didn’t expect was that Xu Xiu would suddenly shift from her earlier sharp composure into a fragile, helpless demeanor—so much so that it stunned them into silence.
Xu Xiu was very thin. The oversized shirt hung loosely on her body, and her long hair, casually tied back, looked slightly messy.
When she lowered her gaze and hugged her son tightly, a tear still clung to her eyelashes, making her look heartbreakingly pitiful.
It should have been a somewhat worn-down, defeated image—but combined with her strikingly beautiful face, it instead carried a fragile, almost delicate kind of beauty.
The kind of precarious vulnerability that made people instinctively want to protect her.
Even the British police stepped forward to offer a few words of comfort.
Xu Xiu took the tissues they handed her and continued crying while holding Xu Zhirang tightly, fully committing to the image of a poor single mother.
Xu Zhirang, like a doll, allowed himself to be held and positioned however she wanted, which satisfied her greatly.
She had even worried that this “little genius protagonist” might expose her act.
Thankfully, that didn’t happen.
After firmly occupying the moral high ground and condemning the Jones couple, the police began questioning them.
Of course, they refused to admit anything and argued back with “reasonable” explanations.
When the situation reached a stalemate, Xu Xiu timely interjected through her sobs:
“Actually… I don’t want much. It’s just getting colder, and I don’t even have a warm coat. Could I… at least get my leather coat back? So I can survive the winter.”
With her “casual reminder,” the police immediately went to search the Jones couple’s home.
As expected, they found many of the items she had described as being “borrowed.”
When questioned about the origin of these items, the Jones couple stammered and couldn’t provide answers, eventually admitting those things did indeed belong to Xu Xiu.
Following the investigation, Xu Xiu went inside and reclaimed all her belongings.
In the end, under police mediation, she also recovered nearly a thousand Y-pounds in cash.
The Jones couple were taken away for further investigation.
After closing the door, Xu Xiu happily arranged all the recovered items on the sofa like trophies.
Little Zhirang followed behind her, also carrying a pile of things in his arms.
He stared at her back thoughtfully, his small face full of confusion.
Something about what she had said earlier felt… off. But when he thought about it carefully, it also didn’t seem wrong.
Before he could figure it out, Xu Xiu reached into his pocket, pulled out two eggs, and took a few vegetables.
“Be good and wait. I’ll cook noodles for you.”
She was also starving and didn’t want to go out to buy food anymore.
So when she went to retrieve her belongings from the Jones house, she had secretly stuffed some food into Xu Zhirang’s pockets.
Xu Xiu rushed into the kitchen, and soon two bowls of noodles with vegetables and eggs were ready.
By then, Xu Zhirang had already washed his hands and was sitting obediently at the table, his eyes fixed intently on the bowl of noodles.
“Eat up,” she said, placing the chopsticks in front of him.
The little boy had clearly been hungry for a long time, but he still ate with elegant restraint, like a little prince.
So small, yet already very skilled with chopsticks. He picked up a few strands of noodles, puffed his cheeks, and carefully blew on them.
After swallowing a few bites, his usually expressionless face suddenly showed a hint of surprise. He couldn’t help but glance at her.
But when he noticed she had been watching him, he quickly looked away, a bit shy, and continued eating properly.
Only his movements became noticeably faster, stuffing noodles into his mouth until his cheeks puffed up.
He seemed very satisfied with her cooking.
Xu Xiu chuckled softly, instantly struck by how adorable he was.
This little dumpling really had a face designed to be liked.
But as she looked at him more closely, she realized something else.
He didn’t only resemble his powerful CEO father.
Fair skin, a straight nose, and a slightly pointed chin—all of it looked uncannily like her.
Except for his phoenix eyes, the child seemed to resemble her even more.
In the novel, there were very few descriptions of her as the “villainess,” only that she was a beautiful but shallow woman who nearly corrupted the genius child. So naturally, the story never mentioned that he looked like her.
Facing a child who resembled her so closely, Xu Xiu felt something unfamiliar stir in her chest.
In her original world, she had always been alone, with no attachments.
Suddenly having a child connected to her by blood—one who looked so much like her—made her feel something she couldn’t quite name.
But thinking of the novel’s plot, she fell silent and lowered her gaze, continuing to eat.
According to the story, in just three months she would return to her home country.
The photo she saw online yesterday had become the trigger, prompting the original owner—who had planned to wait five more years—to suddenly decide she couldn’t wait anymore.
The original owner knew very well that her identity made it impossible for her to marry the child’s biological father.
So she had intended to raise Xu Zhirang well, let him recognize his father, and then have him insist on keeping his mother close—so she could naturally attach herself to the male lead.
It sounded perfect in theory.
But in this story, the true protagonists were someone else entirely.
So once the genius child returned to his biological father, he would naturally become a catalyst for the male and female leads’ relationship.
Xu Xiu remembered clearly that in the beginning, his appearance did hurt the heroine. But in the end, the heroine still won the child over with her intelligence and sincerity.
Thinking that her son might one day call someone else “mom,” Xu Xiu felt an inexplicable tightness in her chest.
Forget it. She’d deal with the future later.
She quietly finished her noodles.
Just as she stood up to clean up, Xu Zhirang had already very naturally taken both bowls to the kitchen and was wiping the table with a rag.
Watching his small figure climb onto the chair and carefully clean the surface, a sudden thought arose in her mind.
She didn’t want to follow the original plot anymore.
In her previous world, she had been a successful makeup artist with a stable career. She could easily raise a child here in the UK on her own. She was confident she would never let him go hungry.
But that impulse quickly cooled.
In the novel, the male lead came from a powerful and wealthy family. As his only son, Xu Zhirang would be pampered and protected by everyone. No one would dare let him suffer.
And the male lead’s parents—his grandparents—would dote on him endlessly.
The child had already suffered for years with the original owner. Even if she had changed, she still wouldn’t be able to suddenly become wealthy overnight.
Staying with her might actually hold him back from a better future.
Xu Xiu sighed inwardly and looked at him.
“Do you want to see your father?”
Xu Zhirang’s lips pressed together. After a moment of hesitation, he nodded slightly.
She had told him about his father many times and even showed him photos.
In her version of the story, his father was tall, handsome, and someone who loved him and would treat him well.
Sometimes, he secretly wondered if that was really true.
If his father loved him, why hadn’t he come to see him?
But he never dared ask too much. He could only keep it to himself.
Seeing the longing in the child’s eyes, Xu Xiu said softly:
“Alright. We’ll go see him in a while.”