Lu Jiaguang had previously suspected that Ding Jing had been behind his sister’s disappearance, but he’d never imagined it had anything to do with Fan Yinuo. “Xinxin, tell us exactly what happened.”
Lu Jiaxin had called them all here precisely to talk about this. She composed her thoughts before speaking. “Two days before the exam, I went to the bathroom and heard Zhao Siyi sweetly say ‘Brother Yinuo’ into the phone. Then she went outside, and I followed her, uneasy. Out in the alley, the moment Zhao Siyi saw Fan Yinuo, she threw herself at him, hugging and kissing him…”
Liao Xiangmei said nothing. The moment she’d noticed Lu Jiaxin’s distant attitude toward her, she’d known this couldn’t be kept hidden any longer.
Lu Jiaguang’s face darkened like storm clouds.
Lu Jiajie was furious, he’d never imagined this whole thing had been caused by Zhao Siyi and Fan Yinuo. And the two of them had even anxiously helped search for Jiaxin after she went missing. Looking back now, it had all been an act.
The more he thought about it, the sicker it made him, and he couldn’t help turning on Lu Hongjun. “Third Uncle, how could you not notice something this big happening right under your nose? What kind of father are you?”
While the original owner’s mother had been alive, she’d been close with the relatives back in the old hometown, always helping whenever she could, and had been especially good to him. But once Ding Jing married in, she’d put on one face in public and another behind closed doors, looking down on the relatives from the old hometown and on him. Still, no matter how much he disliked this mother and daughter, he’d honored the original owner’s mother’s dying wish and visited a few times each month.
Lu Hongjun felt wronged, his daughter had never told him any of this.
Lu Jiaguang, no less sharp for being a leader in his own right, immediately zeroed in on the key issue. “Xinxin, two days before the exam you sprained your ankle, and you said at the time it was because you didn’t see the path clearly. Tell me honestly, how exactly did you hurt your ankle?”
Lu Jiaxin repeated the same account she’d given Auntie Xue. “I was so angry I wanted to hit Zhao Siyi, and she shoved me and I twisted my ankle.”
Lu Hongjun looked utterly disbelieving. Not seeing the path clearly and spraining your ankle was an entirely different matter from being shoved down by Zhao Siyi and getting hurt.
Lu Jiaguang asked, “Xinxin, why didn’t you say anything at the time about something this serious?”
Lu Jiaxin lowered her head. “Brother Yinuo begged me not to tell anyone, saying Uncle Fan and Auntie Liao would beat him to death if they found out. I softened and agreed.”
Lu Jiaguang kept pressing. “Xinxin, you said you were in the bathroom and overheard Zhao Siyi calling out ‘Brother Yinuo’ on the phone, which is what made you suspicious. Was she speaking loudly at the time?”
Lu Jiaxin thought to herself, no wonder he’d worked in reconnaissance in the military, he went straight for the key point. She nodded, then repeated the same account she’d given the housing complex crowd earlier.
Liao Xiangmei’s face turned pale green. She’d only known that Jiaxin had walked in on her son and Zhao Siyi, delaying her exam preparation as a result, she’d never imagined that Jiaxin’s ankle injury had also been Zhao Siyi’s doing. And not only that, but her own son had been the one to beg Jiaxin to keep quiet about it.
Lu Jiajie ran over and pounded hard on the door. When Ding Jing opened it, he demanded, “Where is Zhao Siyi right now?”
Seeing him look ready to devour someone whole, Ding Jing put on a pitiful expression. “Siyi thought Jiaxin wasn’t home at the time, so she spoke a bit louder than usual, she didn’t mean anything by it.”
Lu Jiaxin sneered. “Didn’t you just say you had no idea they were seeing each other?”
Lu Jiaguang said, his gaze sharp, “If you’re carrying on with your stepsister’s fiancé, you’d be desperate to keep it hidden, you wouldn’t be shouting his name at home. Zhao Siyi was clearly jealous of Jiaxin’s grades and didn’t want her getting into university, so she used this despicable tactic to ruin her.”
Lu Jiaxin wanted very much to give him a thumbs up.
Lu Jiajie turned his fire directly on Lu Hongjun. “Third Uncle, we told you long ago that this mother and daughter were harboring evil intentions toward Jiaxin, but you refused to believe us. Look at this now, Jiaxin was practically guaranteed a spot at university, and now she can’t even get into a vocational college.”
Lu Hongjun was also grieved by his daughter’s failed exam, but he felt the two brothers were being too rash in their conclusions. “This hasn’t been fully investigated yet, we shouldn’t jump to conclusions.”
Hearing this, Ding Jing felt considerably more at ease.
Lu Jiaxin laughed and said, “So you’re saying I’m slandering Zhao Siyi? I’ve often wondered lately, which one of us is actually your biological daughter, me or Zhao Siyi?”
She had the original owner’s memories and knew that Lu Hongjun always tried to smooth things over whenever conflicts arose. But it wasn’t until she experienced it firsthand that she understood just how stifling it truly was. Even she, who felt nothing for Lu Hongjun, found this grating, how much more painful must it have been for the original owner!
Lu Hongjun explained, “Jiaxin, that’s not what I meant. Siyi has always treated you like her own sister, how could she possibly not want you to get into university? She must have thought you weren’t home at the time, she didn’t mean to let you find out.”
Lu Jiaxin shot back, “Fan Yinuo is my fiancé, and she knew that perfectly well, yet she still got involved with him, and from the looks of it, they’ve probably even slept together. Dad, do you think this is also just a misunderstanding?”
Lu Hongjun was both shocked and furious. “Jiaxin, is that something a young lady like you should be saying?”
Lu Jiaxin shot back, “She had the nerve to do it, why can’t I have the nerve to say it?”
Seeing father and daughter about to argue again, Lu Jiaguang cut in. “Xinxin, did someone say something to you that made you suddenly run off to the old hometown alone?”
If Zhao Siyi had been capable of using Fan Yinuo to sabotage Jiaxin’s exam, she was surely capable of manipulating her into running off to the old hometown alone too. He’d sensed from his very first meeting with this mother and daughter that they weren’t easy to deal with, it was just a shame his third uncle hadn’t believed him.
Ding Jing’s heart trembled.
Lu Jiaxin felt a pang of regret, if the original owner had told Lu Jiaguang about this at the time, she wouldn’t have lost her life. She said, “Zhao Siyi bragged to me that Dad had promised to throw her an enrollment celebration once her acceptance letter arrived. I was so upset, and right then my uncle called to comfort me, saying that winning and losing were just part of life, and if I didn’t get in I could just retake the exam. I didn’t want to see them, so I bought a ticket, wanting to go stay at the old hometown for a while.”
Lu Jiaguang was so angry he couldn’t speak. His own daughter had been sabotaged by her stepsister into failing her exam, and not only had the father not noticed, he’d been about to throw the stepdaughter an enrollment celebration, who could stand for that?
Lu Jiajie asked Lu Hongjun, “Jiaxin suffered such a grave injustice, and you were still going to throw that vicious girl an enrollment celebration? Third Uncle, which one is actually your daughter?”
Lu Hongjun denied it. “Your Auntie Ding wanted to throw Siyi an enrollment celebration, but I refused. Although when the Zhao family found out, they said they’d host a few tables themselves, and I didn’t interfere with that.”
Lu Jiaguang calmed himself and continued questioning. “I found out you were taken away by an old woman, and the police concluded she was a trafficker. Xinxin, was that old woman really a trafficker?”
Ding Jing nearly cursed out loud, what was he implying, that she’d arranged for someone to kidnap Lu Jiaxin?
Lu Jiaxin confirmed the woman had indeed been a trafficker. “She spoke in the old hometown’s dialect, and could accurately call out the names of my uncle and aunt. So I believed her and got off the train with her. But once we left the train station, I saw she was heading toward a guesthouse to check in, and when I resisted, she dragged me along and covered my mouth when I tried to call for help. While I struggled I hit her chin, and the moment her grip loosened I ran…”
Hearing that she’d only briefly stopped breathing before escaping, Ding Jing cursed inwardly without end. If only she’d died, or been sold off to some remote mountain village by the trafficker, none of this current mess would exist.