Zhao Xiaoman…
That was truly a name she hadn’t heard in a long time.
It was the name Liu Xiuhe had given her, saying it followed her ex-husband’s surname.
In truth, Liu Xiuhe herself didn’t even know which man the child in her belly belonged to.
Back then, she had slept her way through men while drifting along until she stumbled into Guangcheng. Eventually she was abandoned at a train station and survived by begging—playing up her pregnancy and pitiful appearance.
At the time, Xu Sangluo’s real mother, Xu Xiangyu, also happened to be pregnant. As a mother-to-be, she pitied the miserable Liu Xiuhe.
So she hired her as a maid in the house.
But Liu Xiuhe was nothing but an ungrateful wolf. Not only did she set her sights on the male master of the house, she also coveted the mistress’s wealth.
Xu Xiangyu was then the only daughter of the president of the Guangcheng Chamber of Commerce—a true rich young lady. In the future, the Xu family’s fortune would naturally be inherited by her.
To seize that wealth, Liu Xiuhe—whose pregnancy was clearly behind Xu Xiangyu’s—deliberately staged a fall, causing both of them to give birth on the same day.
Afterward, she bribed a nurse to switch the two babies.
At first, in order to please Xu Xiangyu, she pretended to be a loving mother.
But once the Xu family met with misfortune, she revealed her claws—openly seducing Xie Feng and angering Xu Xiangyu to death.
After that, she treated Xu Sangluo with extreme cruelty and abuse.
In her previous life, Xu Sangluo only learned the truth at the age of twenty-eight.
At that time, she was preparing to open a farmhouse resort when her “Little Uncle Xu”—the son her grandfather had later with a second wife overseas—came looking for her.
He arrived with her grandfather’s will.
Only then did she learn that her grandfather had discovered the truth by accident several years earlier.
But by then, all his business and influence were overseas. Meanwhile, Xie Huaishu—Liu Xiuhe’s real biological daughter—had already married into the Zhao family, one of the ten great powers of the capital, giving her a powerful backing.
Not only was her grandfather unable to take revenge, but the ordeal also dealt him a heavy blow. In the end, he died in depression and resentment.
Over the years, Little Uncle Xu had been searching the country for her, hoping to fulfill his father’s last wish.
When Xu Sangluo learned the truth, what she felt most was relief.
For years, the biggest knot in her heart had been the harsh treatment from her so-called biological mother.
Now that she knew the woman wasn’t her real mother at all, everything finally made sense.
Of course, relief didn’t mean she felt no resentment or hatred.
Xu Sangluo tugged at the corner of her lips slightly and looked around with her arms crossed, smiling faintly.
“Are you sure you want to talk about Xie Huaishu here?”
Liu Xiuhe’s voice immediately caught in her throat as she looked at Xu Sangluo with uncertainty, sensing something different about her.
In the past, this useless girl wouldn’t dare threaten her like this.
Had she been pushed too far?
Frowning, Liu Xiuhe finally pulled the door open unwillingly.
Xu Sangluo curved her lips faintly and stepped inside.
As her so-called “biological mother,” Liu Xiuhe showed not the slightest concern that her daughter had been gone for so long. Instead, she asked impatiently, “Why are you back? Don’t tell me you ran away.”
Xu Sangluo slowly glanced around the house—both unfamiliar and oddly familiar.
Hearing that, she turned to Liu Xiuhe and smiled.
“Of course I came back because I can’t survive anymore. I’m here to ask for living expenses.”
“In your dreams! A married daughter is like water that’s been poured out. Let me tell you—don’t think about coming here to sponge off us. I won’t give you a single cent!”
Xu Sangluo’s words made Liu Xiuhe instantly jump up, firing off threats like a string of cannon shots.
Xu Sangluo raised her brows. “Oh? Then there’s nothing I can do.”
Seeing her sigh, Liu Xiuhe snorted smugly.
Sure enough, she must have misjudged earlier—this useless girl was still easy to control.
But before she could enjoy her triumph for more than a few seconds, Xu Sangluo spoke again in a faint voice.
“Then I’ll have to think carefully… should I go to Xie Feng’s workplace to demand money, or go to the school and ask Xie Huaishu for hush money? Of course, reporting it would work too—I just wonder if there’s a reward.”
“You dare!” Liu Xiuhe exploded instantly.
Xu Sangluo didn’t let her rant. Her voice turned cold and sharp, her gaze like a blade.
“Why wouldn’t I dare? I have nothing to hope for in life anymore. If I can drag a few people down with me, dying would still be worth it. Don’t you think so?”
Liu Xiuhe was frightened by the vicious expression and resolute eyes on her face. Her heart pounded wildly as she unconsciously stepped back two steps.
“Y-you…”
“What? Do you think I wouldn’t dare, or that I don’t have the ability? At worst, I’ll grab a loudspeaker and shout it out on the streets. Let everyone see how Xie Huaishu stole someone else’s identity, and how Xie Feng knowingly broke the law. I’ve got nothing left to lose anyway—I’m not afraid of going all out.”
After saying that, she turned to pull open the door, as if she truly intended to carry it out.
Liu Xiuhe was horrified and quickly rushed forward to grab her.
“No! You can’t do that—you’ll kill your sister!”
“So what? She’s not my real sister anyway. Let’s stop wasting words. I’ll give you two choices: either I drag Xie Huaishu down to hell with me, or you honestly pay her hush money for me. I’m not afraid of mutual destruction—it just depends on whether you are.”
“You… I…” Liu Xiuhé hadn’t expected this wretched girl to turn out like this.
But right now, she didn’t dare gamble.
Still, asking her to give money to this little bastard—she felt upset even giving a single cent.
All the money in this family belonged to her Xiaoshu.
“You—how can you do this after everything the Xie family has done raising you for eighteen years?!”
“Hah?” Xu Sangluo sneered.
“Kindness? What kindness? The kindness of barely letting me eat enough to survive? I worked too. I was the Xie family’s maid for more than ten years. Isn’t it fair to exchange that for a few meals? Even if there was kindness, it’s a debt you owe, not me.”
Seeing Xu Sangluo’s expression turn fierce again, Liu Xiuhé felt a chill in her heart.
“How did you become like this? If the Xie family’s kindness doesn’t count, then what about me? I gave birth to you and raised you—does that mean nothing?”
As she spoke, she covered her face and began to cry sadly, as if she had truly been wronged.
Xu Sangluo lowered her gaze, watching her performance. Suddenly she murmured,
“Sometimes I even wonder… between Xie Huaishu and me, who is actually your daughter?”
Liu Xiuhé’s face changed abruptly. She jerked her head up and stared at her uncertainly.
“You… what do you mean by that?”
The mockery in Xu Sangluo’s eyes deepened.
“Ask yourself. Have you ever treated me like your real daughter? If anything, Xie Huaishu looks more like your biological child.”
“How could that be! Don’t talk nonsense—you are my biological daughter!”
Watching Liu Xiuhé desperately conceal her panic while trying to sound fierce, Xu Sangluo seemed as if she had only spoken casually.
She waved her hand tiredly.
“I don’t want to argue about the past anymore. Five thousand yuan, and I won’t report Xie Huaishu.”
“Five thousand?!” Liu Xiuhé nearly jumped up. Her shrill voice was sharp enough to pierce someone’s ears.
Xu Sangluo curled the corner of her lips and said nothing more. She turned and pulled the door open.
Liu Xiuhé’s heart almost leaped out of her chest. She hurriedly pressed down on the door that had opened a crack.
Xu Sangluo looked at her expressionlessly, her eyes filled with mockery.
Liu Xiuhé’s chest rose and fell violently for a while. Seeing that the wretched girl had truly made up her mind, she could only compromise.
“I can give it, but five thousand is too much. The family doesn’t have that much money. At most, five hundred! Five hundred is already a lot—enough for you to live comfortably for a year!”
Xu Sangluo didn’t even bother looking at her. She pushed Liu Xiuhé aside, pulled the door open again, and stepped forward to leave.
Liu Xiuhé was so angry her chest hurt, but to stop her she quickly grabbed her arm.
“Fine! Five thousand!”
Xu Sangluo turned her head and stared at her.
Liu Xiuhé was nearly furious to death, but she had no choice now.
She could only calm her down first and think of a way to get the money back later.
“Five thousand it is. Remember what you said—if you dare go looking for Huaishu or reveal even the slightest thing, I won’t let you off.”
Xu Sangluo pulled up the corner of her lips coldly.
“Even if I make a scene now, I can’t go back to school, so it wouldn’t change anything. As long as the money arrives, I don’t want to hurt the enemy by a thousand while harming myself by eight hundred.”
“Fine!” Liu Xiuhé almost ground her teeth to dust. She told Xu Sangluo to wait there, then turned and went back to her room to get the money.
The moment Liu Xiuhé shut her bedroom door, Xu Sangluo’s lips curled upward.
Then she looked around.
She first went to her former room.
Sure enough, all her belongings had been removed, and the room had been turned into Liu Xiuhé’s walk-in closet.
Naturally, all her things had been thrown away.
But there hadn’t been anything valuable anyway, so she didn’t really care.
Still, as she looked at the closet, a dark glint flashed through her eyes.
She quickly searched several places and indeed found some jewelry and private savings Liu Xiuhé had hidden.
She didn’t take the jewelry.
As for the private stash of money, she didn’t even bother counting it—she simply tossed it straight into her space.
After seeing Liu Xiuhé, more and more related memories had become clear, including many of her old habits.
After emptying several of Liu Xiuhé’s hidden stashes, she quickly went to Xie Huaishu’s room.
Compared with her own tiny, bare room,
Xie Huaishu’s room was countless times better.
Although Xie Feng only earned about eighty or ninety yuan a month, his department and position brought in plenty of extra benefits.
So Xie Huaishu had never lacked material comforts growing up.
For example, the wardrobe packed tightly with beautiful clothes.
But Xu Sangluo had no interest in taking those things.
She purposefully pulled open the wardrobe and used a universal key to unlock the small copper lock on a cabinet inside.
The cabinet had two layers.
When she opened the first one, it was filled to the brim with red envelopes.
All the lucky money Xie Huaishu had received since childhood—
Something she had often flaunted in front of Xu Sangluo before.