Evening, the setting sun sank in the west.
Inside the woodshed.
With an anxious heart, Chu Ling pressed the play button on the old tape recorder.
The next second, familiar voices entered her ears.
.......
"Head of the house, I feel like that wretched girl is a bit different."
"She not only dared hit me just now, she even said to my face that I'm not her biological mother."
.......
"Impossible! That wretched girl can't possibly know—absolutely impossible!!!"
"We were so secretive back then! We even avoided contacting our biological daughter for these eighteen years to reduce the chance of exposure."
"Apart from the two of us, there can't be a third person who knows! I'm ninety-five percent absolutely sure—absolutely impossible!!!"
.......
"Head of the house! Do you think that wretched girl might have overheard our conversation?"
"How could that be?! Whenever we talked about that matter from back then... it was always deep in the night, or when that little brat wasn't home. There's no way she overheard."
.......
"I think you're overthinking it—the wretched girl probably just said it offhand....."
"Otherwise, she would have run away long ago! How could she have stayed in this home for more than ten years? Asking to be abused?"
"That little brat's got stomach cancer; under the pressure of death, she'd be paranoid to begin with. And normal parents indeed wouldn't act like we did—having doubts is normal....."
.......
"Hmph! That little bastard almost scared me to death?!"
"She even dared hit me earlier?! Just wait till I beat her to death later!"
.......
"Mm, that wretched girl really does deserve a beating! If you hadn't stopped me last night, I would've had a good time of it!"
"Hey, wasn't I afraid you'd really beat her to death? What about the old village chief... did you forget?"
.......
"That wretched girl won't live long; if that's the case, we might as well trade her for some money."
"If the village chief torments her to death afterward, that's even less to worry about for us! We've wanted her dead anyway, haven't we?"
"Forget it—let's not lay hands on that wretched girl for now. She looks so sickly that if we really beat her to death, it would be troublesome, and we'd lose 10,000 yuan......"
.......
"Wife, it was your quick thinking eighteen years ago—seizing the chance to swap the two babies—that gave us a chance to cross class lines."
"Of course... our daughter is extremely favored in the Tang family now! Once that little wretch Chu Ling dies, we can start trying to contact Xiao Rou and live a life of wine and luxury. Hahaha...."
.......
When the recording finished, Chu Ling, who now knew the whole truth, was already in tears.
So.... she really wasn't the child of Chu Xiong and his wife!!!
This tragedy of a life swapped by mistake was actually a man-made conspiracy in private; no wonder those two had no familial affection for her and had loathed her since childhood.
Now they even wanted to sell her to a sixty-year-old old man for a bride price, and even cursed her to hurry up and die.......
The reason, it turned out, was that they feared she would affect their biological daughter's wealth and glory?!
But all of that was originally hers!!!
"The Tang family...."
Chu Ling muttered to herself; from the bits revealed in the recording, she roughly learned that her biological parents were from the Tang family and were either rich or noble.
As for the "fake heiress" who took her place.....
Right now, she was enjoying wealth and luxury in the Tang family, receiving every kind of pampering from parents and relatives, while she could only struggle to survive in the village......
Unforgivable!!!!!
Recalling the tragic years, Chu Ling gnashed her teeth after learning the truth, her eyes filled with blazing anger.
Revenge! She wanted revenge!
As long as she found a chance, she would definitely take revenge!!!
Flushed with anger, Chu Ling panted, her chest heaving violently.
Under the sway of rage, she clutched her stomach in unbearable pain, coughing nonstop.
"Cough cough...."
Two and a half minutes later, after she steadied herself, Chu Ling wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth.
She took several deep breaths and forcibly calmed down.
Then she staggered into the pigsty, braving the stench, reached into the thick straw mat, and deftly pulled out a wooden box.
When she opened it, there were more than a dozen hundred-yuan notes inside—savings Chu Ling had secretly squirreled away over the years.
"1,500 yuan—enough for me to leave Chu Family Village!"
"Unfortunately, the sun has already set; I can't buy a ticket out of the village now, so I can only wait until tomorrow morning...."
"I can't let anything slip in the meantime, otherwise those two demons will never let me leave."
"....."
If she had a choice.....
Chu Ling truly didn't want to stay in this demonic home for even a moment.
She only wanted to rush back to Magic City, return to her biological parents' side, and make public Chu Xiong and Tao Yan's 'swapping the princess with a civet cat' conspiracy.
But after glancing at the deepening dusk, Chu Ling at last resentfully hugged the wooden box and returned to the woodshed.
After bolting the door, she finally lay back on the bed to rest and took a business card from her pocket—the one Lin Xuan had given her at the hospital.....
It's not that she hadn't thought of calling him for help; it's just that Chu Xiong had never been willing to spend a penny on her, let alone buy her a phone.
So, the awkward thing happened..... having just a phone number is damn useless!!!
She could only wait until she returned to Magic City tomorrow and then find a way to contact him.
"That person may really be my cousin...."
"It's just strange... he seems to foresee things and knows about the future. Could it be......"
"He, like me, also has a special ability—only mine is [Eavesdrop on Heart-Voices], while his is [Foresee the Future]?"
"........"
After all that had happened today, Chu Ling now firmly believed the contents of Lin Xuan's heart-voice.
At the same time, she took him as her greatest reliance for the future.
There was no helping it....
Chu Ling discovered that her special ability [Eavesdrop on Heart-Voices] only worked in front of Lin Xuan; it couldn't be activated in front of anyone else?!
She calmed herself and recalled everything from the past two days; suddenly a flash of insight crossed her mind.
"Could Cousin be like those rebirth urban novels I've read—a reincarnator?"
"So, he can foresee the future, a so-called son of destiny? The protagonist?"
"No! I can eavesdrop on his heart-voice; the child of fortune should be me!"
"And Cousin is my golden finger, the backing I'll rely on to slap the fake heiress's face and climb to the pinnacle of life!!!"
"........"
The more Chu Ling thought about it, the more it made sense, and the brighter the light in her eyes grew.
Especially when she remembered some of the real-and-fake heiress novels she'd read before.....
Without exception... after the real heiress returned to the wealthy family, father didn't love and mother didn't care; even the seven domineering CEO brothers..... all doted solely on the "green tea" fake heiress and joined forces to persecute the real heiress.
At this thought, Chu Ling couldn't help swallowing, cold sweat breaking out on her forehead.
She felt that part of those plots seemed very similar to her own experience; could it be that in the future she would also.....
Fortunately, she had a golden finger!!!
If she was the protagonist, then Lin Xuan was her golden finger.
So, she had to find a way to stay by Lin Xuan's side and eavesdrop on his heart-voice.
That's right—she was the legendary.... daughter of fortune!!!
.......
Late at night, the moon was bright and the stars sparse.
All of Chu Family Village slept in deathly silence and darkness.
Outside the woodshed, a very soft footstep sounded.
The footstep was very, very small—almost negligible compared to the pig snores coming from the pigsty.
But after realizing she was the "protagonist" with a golden finger, Chu Ling had been too excited to sleep all night and noticed it instantly.
She instinctively rolled her eyes toward the window.
She wouldn't have known if she hadn't looked—one look and she was shocked!!!
A human-shaped upper-body shadow was quietly standing outside the window......
Who???
Who is that?!!!!!!
In the dead of night—is that a person??? Or.....
Inside the dark woodshed.
Chu Ling's body trembled uncontrollably, her heart pounding crazily as if it would leap out of her throat the next second.
She squeezed her eyes shut, clutched the quilt over her, tried her best to quiet her breathing, and strained her hearing to sense any movement outside.
Silent~~~
After who knows how long, Chu Ling, slightly calmer, took a deep breath, furtively cracked her eyes, and looked toward the window again.
In the next moment, her breath hitched.
Still in the same spot... the shadow hadn't left at all!!!
It was still pressed against the window, staring at her through the crack.....
Chu Ling could even feel a greedy and evil gaze sizing her up back and forth.
"Ahhhhh w(?Д?)w!!!!!!!"
At last, Chu Ling couldn't hold back her fear and let out a startled scream.
And her scream seemed to startle the shadow outside too, which let out an angry curse of "cao."
Huh???
The moment that familiar curse sounded, Chu Ling's terror froze on her face, because she recognized......
That was Chu Xiong's voice!!!
Once she understood that the person outside wasn't a "ghost," the fear on Chu Ling's face vanished in an instant, replaced by anger and lingering dread!!!
Now that she knew the couple's conspiracy, she had only resentment left for the two of them.
If she weren't worried that exposing her knowledge would keep her from leaving, she would have already confronted them and cursed that vicious couple out.....
Thump thump thump!
Just then, the woodshed door was knocked, and Chu Xiong's drunken voice came through the door.
"Girl, it's me! I want to talk to you about something—open the door! hic~~"
Hearing the boozy hiccups outside, Chu Ling shuddered all over, and suddenly remembered the heart-voice she'd overheard from Lin Xuan.....
[First violated by a drunken adoptive father, then sold to the sixty-year-old village chief as a wife.]
Thinking of this, how could Chu Ling dare open the door in the middle of the night???
What terrified her most upon reflection was.....
Had Chu Xiong done this kind of peeping before as well?!
Only she hadn't noticed at the time???
No matter what, after getting through tonight safely, she had to leave Chu Family Village tomorrow.....
With a cold face, Chu Ling tried to send Chu Xiong away.
"Dad! It's too late—whatever it is, talk tomorrow!"
"No, this is very important! I have to tell you face to face right now!"
"But I'm not convenient right now! I... my stomach's upset—I'm having diarrhea......"
"No problem! I'll wait till you're done, then open the door for me!"
"......."
Seeing that Chu Xiong wouldn't let it go, Chu Ling's face completely fell.
But she knew the door absolutely could not be opened, or the contents of Lin Xuan's heart-voice... might really come true.....
Fortunately, judging by the paling sky, dawn was near.
As long as it reached early morning, Chu Xiong presumably wouldn't dare harbor dirty thoughts so brazenly.....
To buy time, Chu Ling got out of bed and plopped herself down on the chamber pot at the bedside.
Two and a half minutes later, Chu Xiong's voice came again from outside the woodshed door.
"Are you done?"
"No!"
"......"
As the seconds ticked by, after another new two and a half minutes, the door was knocked again and Chu Xiong's voice came into the room.
Only this time there was a hint of impatience in his tone.
"Are you done yet? How can one dump take so long?"
"Uh... I'm constipated."
"What? Didn't you just say you had diarrhea?"
"Uh, I had diarrhea just now, and now I'm constipated....."
"......."
Chu Ling began spouting serious-sounding nonsense, dragging things out as much as possible.
At this point, Chu Xiong obviously noticed something wrong; he quietly moved to the window and strained to peer inside through the cracks.
Sure enough, the expected white bare butt didn't appear....
Chu Ling was sitting fully dressed on the chamber pot.
"Didn't you say you were taking a dump?"
"Yeah!"
"Yeah my ass! Who the hell takes a dump without taking off their pants???"
"Uh... I like to poop in my pants—warm, with a sense of unbridled freedom."
"........"
Facing Chu Xiong's sinister questioning, Chu Ling tried to remain calm and kept making things up.
"You fart!!!"
"Wretched girl, I order you! Open the door for me right now!!!"
Even a fool could tell he was being toyed with; outside the door, Chu Xiong raged and threatened.
Seeing that Chu Ling still didn't move, emboldened by wine and lust, he started ramming the door.
"Wretched girl, open up immediately! Hurry, or don't blame me for being rude!!!"
Outside, Chu Xiong kept slamming the door as he shouted.
Bang!
Bang!!
Bang!!!
The dilapidated wooden door of the woodshed couldn't withstand that kind of impact; it shook nonstop, as if it would be smashed to pieces at any moment!!!!