When Wu Tingting discovered that Wu Xueya had run off to Li Ru's side, the string of reason in her mind snapped instantly.
"Calm down..." Wu Hao tried to persuade her.
But at this moment, Wu Tingting couldn't listen to any advice, especially when she saw Wu Xueya hiding behind Li Ru. This scene deeply stung her eyes, making her feel a surge of anger at being betrayed.
"...Lin Bowen, you come here!" She cursed and swore as she rolled up her sleeves and walked towards Xu Gui and the others, yelling, "Have you forgotten who fed you, clothed you, and fed you all these years? If I had known you were an ungrateful wretch, I should have strangled you the moment I brought you back!"
Wu Xueya was already afraid of her, and seeing her expression made him even more panicked, his face turning pale.
But just then, a voice suddenly shouted.
"...Help! Child traffickers are snatching children!" A clear, melodious female voice was like the tinkling of a spring, but Wu Tingting had no time to appreciate its beauty. Her eyes, bulging with anger, stared at the young woman behind Li Ru, who was shouting to the surrounding crowd:
"Big brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts, come quick! This child trafficker is trying to steal a child!"
Xu Gui looked at everyone with bright eyes and said earnestly, "She wasn't satisfied with secretly abducting someone else's child thirteen years ago; now she's trying to steal another! Uncles and aunts, big brothers and sisters, can you bear to see this mother and child, who have finally reunited, separated again by child traffickers?"
Everyone was stunned for a few seconds by her shout, but when it comes to enthusiasm, the Chinese are the most enthusiastic. Hearing Xu Gui's words, a kind-hearted man immediately stepped forward.
The older brother, showing off his impressively muscular physique, glared fiercely at Wu Tingting and her brother, saying, "Don't worry, little sisters, if these human traffickers dare to come near, these big arms and legs of mine aren't to be trifled with!"
His strong and tall body made his words quite convincing.
Most Chinese people share a key characteristic: without someone taking the lead, their courage is as small as a grain of rice; but if someone steps forward, their courage instantly multiplies several times over.
Sure enough, seeing the muscular older brother step forward, the other onlookers began to chime in with their support.
"That's right, little sister, don't worry, with us here, this child trafficker won't be able to touch you! If she dares to come any closer, we can each punch her to death."
"Pah, if this child trafficker dares to come any closer, my fists aren't for show!"
"Little sister, take the child and come to the back first, don't let the child trafficker get close, this child trafficker is very cunning, who knows if she will snatch the child and run away!"
...
Aunt Tuanzi looked at the crowd that surrounded the three of them and couldn't help but feel a little excited, she could only say repeatedly, "Thank you, thank you everyone!"
As for Xu Gui, he had already pulled Wu Xueya to hide behind the crowd - lol, if the child they finally managed to snatch was snatched back by Wu Tingting, how embarrassing would that be?
Watching Wu Tingting stand there, raging and screaming hysterically, she couldn't help but look at Wu Xueya beside her, hesitant to speak, and asked him, "This person... your adoptive mother, has she always been like this?"
She originally wanted to say "human trafficker," but considering that Wu Xueya had called her "Mom" for so many years, she chose to call her "adoptive mother."
Wu Xueya nodded slightly, "Her emotions have always been unstable..."
Xu Gui felt that he was being too euphemistic; this wasn't just unstable, it was clearly a ticking time bomb.
Xu Gui hesitated, then couldn't help but reach out and pat Wu Xueya's head.
Looking into her eyes, Wu Xueya felt that although she hadn't said anything, it was as if she had said everything—her whole being screamed, "You're so pitiful."
Wu Xueya opened his mouth, as if wanting to explain something, but seemed unsure how, so in the end, he chose silence.
After a while, he suddenly asked Xu Gui, "...Why do you call her Aunt Tuanzi?"
Xu Gui snapped out of her reverie and asked him, "Are you curious?"
Wu Xueya pursed his lips and stubbornly replied, "I'm not that curious."
Xu Gui smiled and said, "Well, that's a long story..."
Before Wu Xueya's face could fall, she changed her tone and said, "So, I'll make it short. This matter is actually related to you."
Wu Xueya was bewildered: "...Related to me?"
Xu Gui looked at him gently and said, "You don't know, do you? I grew up in an orphanage. After you got lost, Aunt Tuanzi probably thought that you might one day end up in an orphanage too, so one day, she came to our orphanage." She softly
told Wu Xueya about Aunt Tuanzi's volunteer work at the orphanage. Wu Xueya listened carefully, squatting on the ground with his knees drawn up to his chest, touched by what Xu Gui was saying, but at the same time, he was also very confused.
He said, "...Actually, I always heard my mom and the others talk about my aunt. They said she was foolish, that she was willing to dedicate her whole life to a child she couldn't find."
Back then, he only felt sorry for his aunt and her child, but he never imagined that the poor lost child would be himself.
The impact of this was too great for him, leaving him completely bewildered. On one side was his birth mother, who had been searching for him for thirteen years; on the other was his adoptive mother, who, despite having taken him away, had undeniably raised him for thirteen years… Even if she was a human trafficker, he had undeniably called her "Mom" for over ten years.
Wu Xueya murmured, "I don't know what to do."
Xu Gui looked at him, gently patted his head, and said, "It's okay, you can do whatever you want. You're a child, you have the right to be willful. You don't need to listen to anyone telling you what to do; just listen to your heart."
She said, "Do whatever you want."
Hearing this, Wu Xueya seemed to understand.
*
With the support of the onlookers, Wu Tingting and her brother couldn't get close to Xu Gui and his group at all. Later, Wu Hao tried to leave, but was also stopped by the crowd. The situation remained deadlocked until the police arrived.
The police were startled by the standoff, thinking a violent conflict had occurred, and rushed in. However, upon entering, they found the conflict wasn't serious; after all, the other side only had two people, so a fight wasn't likely to break out.
Seeing the two police officers arrive, the onlookers exclaimed:
"Officers, it's them! This brother and sister are child traffickers! They secretly abducted someone's child and lied that the child was lost, making the child's mother search for thirteen years! This behavior is absolutely outrageous!"
"Yes, and these two are especially shameless. Even after being exposed as child traffickers, they still tried to snatch the child back! Officers, please arrest them quickly!"
"And I suspect the woman might have mental problems. Officers, please be careful!"
...
Everyone was talking at once, their voices overlapping, but the matter remained unclear, leaving the police even more confused.
The police had to speak up to quiet everyone down before asking, "Who called the police?"
At this moment, Xu Gui, who had been standing in the crowd, suddenly raised her hand and said, "Me, I called the police!"
She pulled Aunt Tuanzi and Wu Xueya to the police and said, "These two are the parties involved, and also the victims! This Ms. Li's child went missing thirteen years ago, and she searched tirelessly for thirteen years..."
Xu Gui clearly and logically explained the entire story to the two police officers, and most importantly, she didn't go on and on.
The two police officers listened, looking at her with admiration, and couldn't help but think: if every person reporting a crime could explain their case so quickly and clearly like this person, much of their work wouldn't be so slow.
After listening to Xu Gui's explanation, the police officers roughly understood the situation and said, "...You'll all come with us to the police station."
Wu Tingting, who had seemed arrogant and irritable before, instantly quieted down when the police arrived. Clearly, she wasn't truly mentally unstable; she was just playing hard to get.
Hearing the police say they had to go to the police station, Wu Tingting's first reaction was reluctance. She instinctively turned to her older brother, "Brother..."
Wu Hao looked helpless. After all, he was just an ordinary person; how could he refuse when the police wanted them to cooperate with the investigation?
And so, Xu Gui and his group, along with the Wu siblings, were taken to the police station. The old man was elderly, so Xu Gui told him to go home first and ask him to watch his stall to prevent it from being damaged by some careless person.
The old man couldn't help but think to himself: ...So, I'm just here to watch your stall, huh?
Although he said that, his actions betrayed him; he had already strolled back home with his hands behind his back.
The filming did reach the police station, but live streaming isn't allowed there, so he could only sit on a bench next to the station with his camera, the lens pointed at the entrance.
Meanwhile, the story of Aunt Tuanzi and her son had become a trending topic, and the netizens who came to investigate saw the police station entrance.
One netizen asked in confusion: "[Is the streamer in jail?]"
Others: ?!
You dare to imagine that?
*
This matter, in truth, didn't have much to do with Xu Gui, so after the routine questioning, she finished.
Aunt Tuanzi and Wu Xueya, as the parties involved in the case, took up more time.
Aunt Tuanzi told Xu Gui to leave first. Her weathered face now held a firm expression. She said, "Don't worry, I'm an adult now, I'll handle this myself..."
She added, "Aren't you filming a show? You can't waste your time here, can you? Be careful the production team doesn't complain."
At the mention of the production team, Xu Gui's gaze flickered for a moment, a slight guilty feeling creeping over him.
Her filming schedule was inconsistent, sometimes she worked on it, sometimes she didn't…
"Well, then I'll head back now?" She looked at Aunt Tuanzi.
Aunt Tuanzi nodded: "Okay, go ahead."
Xu Gui, still worried, repeatedly reminded her: "If anything happens, be sure to contact me, okay?"
Aunt Tuanzi smiled and nodded: "Okay." Her tone was rather helpless.
After watching Xu Gui leave, Aunt Tuanzi's eyes gradually hardened, as if she was about to rush to the battlefield—but, she was about to fight that group of villains from the Wu family, how could this not be a battlefield?
…
Xu Gui came out of the police station.
The cameraman was looking at his phone, but suddenly looked up and saw Xu Gui come out, so he quickly picked up his camera and went to greet him.
"Teacher Xu, how are you? Are you alright?" the cameraman asked. "What did the police say about this?"
Xu Gui glanced at him and said, "I'm fine. The police said this matter needs further verification. Only if it's confirmed will they officially open a case for investigation."
The cameraman said, "I just watched the live stream. A netizen who lives in the same community as the Wu family said that Ms. Li's former mother-in-law has been notified by phone to come to the police station to cooperate with the investigation."
Xu Gui's eyes lit up.
Yes, there was another person involved in this matter, and that was Ms. Wu, the mother of the Wu siblings. She was the one who took the child out to sunbathe, but came back saying the child was missing. She was also one of the culprits in this matter.
The cameraman, who had been following the conversation in the live stream, learned quite a bit about the inside story. He sighed, "According to that netizen, although Ms. Li is divorced from Mr. Wu, she still visits the elderly couple from time to time, calling them 'Mom' and 'Dad' repeatedly, acting very affectionately towards them..."
At this point, the cameraman couldn't help but exclaim, "This family is so heartless!"
Ms. Li even calls them Mom and Dad. Seeing Ms. Li frantically searching for her child, don't they feel any pity or guilt?
They even have their child call Ms. Li 'Auntie'—aren't they afraid that one day Ms. Li will discover the truth?
Thinking of the suffering Aunt Tuanzi has endured over the years, Xu Gui's face turned cold. She said softly, "They probably think that Aunt Tuanzi will never know about this, so they're fearless..."
After all, no normal person would imagine that their lost child would be taken away by their own grandmother and aunt, and then openly raised as their own.
They might even feel a wicked pleasure watching Aunt Tuanzi search for her child.
But thinking about it made Xu Gui even angrier.
*
Meanwhile, Wu Hao and Wu Tingting's mother received a call from the police station in front of countless people in the neighborhood. She was boasting to everyone about how filial her children were, and how good her former daughter-in-law was to her.
"...So, if you want family harmony, you have to treat your daughter-in-law well," she said with an air of experience. "Look at me, not only is my current daughter-in-law very filial, but even my previous daughter-in-law always thinks of me and calls me during holidays."
While saying this, she completely forgot what she had done to her former daughter-in-law, as if they were truly a loving mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, until the police called.
She was elderly, and her phone was on very loud. Everyone present heard the police officer speak, and they immediately noticed Wu's mother's expression change. When the officer said, "You are suspected of child abduction," Wu's mother nearly collapsed.
After all, only she knew what she had done.
After hanging up, she tried to remain calm, turned to everyone, and said with a forced smile, "It's a scam call, a scam call!"
This excuse convinced many people, as Wu's mother had always maintained a good public image, and no one suspected her of abducting children.
However, after receiving this call, Wu's mother was clearly distracted. After sitting for a while, she made an excuse and quickly went home.
But she didn't know that after she left, the crowd suddenly started talking:
"Look at this trending topic! Isn't that Zhou Fang's son and daughter?"—Zhou Fang was indeed Wu's mother's name.
"Wow, am I seeing things? This says Zhou Fang's grandson is actually her lost grandson? Actually, that grandson wasn't lost at all; Zhou Fang took him to raise for her daughter, Wu Tingting!"
"...This is truly heartless! Li Ru was so good to her mother-in-law! She just said Li Ru calls her during holidays. Doesn't she feel guilty saying that?"
"This family is so cruel!"
"I told you long ago they're no good. If they were truly good people, how could they raise someone like Wu Tingting? And why did they let Wu Hao divorce Li Ru just because she insisted on finding the child? Only you're blind to think they're a harmonious family."
...
Unbeknownst to many, the story of the Wu family abducting a child had climbed to the top of the trending searches. Countless relatives and friends from the Wu family, even Wu Tingting's in-laws, and the neighbors saw this trending topic.
Countless people also learned of the evil deeds committed by this family.
At this moment, Wu's mother was unaware of all this. She took her phone and hurried home. It wasn't until she entered the house that the panic on her face became fully apparent.
"Old Wu, Old Wu!" she shouted as she rushed into the house, "I just received a call from someone claiming to be from the XX Police Station. They said I'm suspected of child abduction and need to go to the police station to cooperate with the investigation!"
She anxiously asked, "You mean... this doesn't mean Bowen's affair has been discovered?"
Mr. Wu, sitting in the living room, was taken aback by her words and then asked, "...You received this call too?"
This question left Mrs. Wu somewhat bewildered. She instinctively asked back, "Did you receive it too?"
Mr. Wu nodded, saying calmly, "Don't worry, it's definitely a scam call. If you actually did what they said, they'd be swindling our pensions!"
Mrs. Wu sat down, frowning, "But I'm so worried, I feel like something's going to happen... Do you think it's possible Bowen's affair has been discovered?" Mr. Wu
rolled his eyes, saying, "It's been thirteen years. If it could be discovered, it would have been discovered long ago. The child is all grown up now, everyone... " "I think he's Tingting's biological son, so there won't be any problems."
Wu's mother sighed and said, "I just feel like we were too impulsive back then. It would have been fine if Tingting had just taken one from outside. It didn't have to be Li Ru's child, did it? Li Ru is quite filial to us."
Wu's father said, "The child we brought back from outside has no blood relation to our family. Can we raise him properly?"
At this point, Wu's father snorted coldly and said, "We've discussed it with Li Ru before. It's not like she and Wu Hao can't have children. What's wrong with giving the first child to Tingting? An aunt raising a nephew, what a good thing. The Lin family is so rich, all the Lin family's property will belong to that child in the future. But she just wouldn't agree!"
He said, "If it weren't for her, why would we have taken the risk and taken the child away behind her back?"
If it weren't for the fact that Wu's father and Wu Tingting were father and daughter, their thought processes would be the same. They both thought it was Li Ru's fault, that she was heartless, but they didn't mention the evil deeds their own family had done.
Recalling what happened back then, Wu's mother couldn't help but nod, saying, "We didn't give that child up for adoption without a reason. It's just that Tingting can't have children. Wouldn't it be better to adopt our own brother and sister-in
-law's child than to keep her on an outsider's clinic?" Wu Tingting had an abortion when she was young and developed a habitual miscarriage problem. After marrying her current husband, she had been pregnant several times, but she couldn't keep any of them. In desperation, she decided to consider adopting Aunt Tuanzi's child.
Wu's mother concluded, "Li Ru is just too stubborn!"
As the two elders were discussing this, they suddenly heard a loud banging on the front door, followed by the voices of their in-laws.
"Oh, it's Tingting's in-laws..." Wu's mother stood up and went to open the door. "Why are they here?"
Before she could even greet them with a smile, the people on the other end shouted, "Look at what your family has done! Now the whole world knows your daughter is abducting children!"
They then bluntly declared, "Divorce! We must divorce!"
Wu's mother was stunned by this barrage of words. She couldn't help but ask, "In-laws, what do you mean by that?"
The two elderly people from the Lin family looked at her, and seeing that her expression seemed genuine, they said, "Haven't you seen today's trending topics?"
Lin's mother opened her phone, clicked on the relevant trending topics, and handed them directly to Wu's mother, saying, "Look at this! All the dirty deeds your family has done have been exposed... Now the whole country knows your family are child traffickers!"
"Hmph, I can't let my son's reputation be ruined by your daughter. I shouldn't have let my son marry your daughter in the first place... Not only is she bad-tempered, but she's also a barren hen. What's the point of marrying her?"
Lin's mother's words were full of disdain, clearly showing deep resentment towards Wu Tingting. Her words were laced with uncontrollable anger and contempt.
Wu's mother, however, was completely absorbed in the news trending on social media.
[...Ms. Li searched for her son for many years, only to find out thirteen years later that her son was being held by her mother-in-law and sister-in-law...] As
Wu's mother read, only one thought crossed her mind: It's all over, everything is over!
Suddenly, her eyes rolled upwards, and her body fell straight backwards with a thud to the ground.
*
Xu Gui was unaware of the Wu family's farce, but she knew that the Wu family was now infamous.
Although she was preoccupied with the matter, as Aunt Tuanzi had said, she was filming a program and couldn't wander off, so she could only obediently return to her stall under the bridge to earn money.
When there were no customers, she would chat with everyone in the live stream about Aunt Tuanzi—the more pitiful Aunt Tuanzi was, the worse the Wu family's reputation would become. She didn't mind adding fuel to the fire for the Wu family's reputation.
The program director watched her chatting with everyone in the live stream, his lips twitching slightly, and asked the assistant director next to him, "Has she switched careers to become an internet celebrity to make money?"
Assistant director: Don't ask me, I don't know.
Mainly, they didn't expect to see such an oddball among so many guests. The other guests were all from all walks of life, each doing something new and interesting. Some were involved in the stock market, some were doing construction work to attract attention, and some were doing street vending... Anyway, no matter who they were, everyone was working hard to win first place in the program.
However, among all of them, only Xu Gui, from some unknown day, seemed to have the words "giving up" written all over her body. She did her live streams every day like clocking in for work, and even left early from time to time.
The director stroked his chin, deep in thought. "I already paid her 500,000 yuan for the appearance, and she's so unmotivated! (This leisurely and carefree attitude won't do! I need to think of something!)"
A glint of cunning gleam flashed in the director's eyes. The assistant director, watching, knew the director was about to cause trouble for the guest again. Realizing this, the assistant director felt a sense of relief.
Sigh, it had been so long since the director had pulled any tricks up his sleeve; he wasn't used to it anymore
…
However, the director had truly misunderstood Xu Gui. Xu Gui admitted that she had indeed been somewhat lazy before, but since realizing her predicament, she had resolved to work hard to earn money.
She had already calculated that a fortune telling session would earn her 500 yuan, and if she told ten fortunes a day, she could earn 5,000 yuan, which would amount to 150,000 yuan a month. In that case, she could save enough for Dongzhi's surgery in just six months.
But things never always go as planned. First, the landlady treated everyone, and then there was Aunt Tuanzi's matter. She couldn't just ignore Aunt Tuanzi's situation, could she?
However, now that she was back, she would work hard.
Thinking this, Xu Gui tried to keep her eyes open and watch the customers coming and going. But in their line of work, she hadn't been wrong before; it really depended on fate, especially since many people didn't believe in it anymore, so the number of customers coming for fortune telling was very limited.
By the time she closed up shop in the afternoon, Xu Gui had only served five customers that day, but she didn't mind.
Before packing up, she took out her earnings notebook and wrote down her earnings for the day. Halfway through, she suddenly remembered something, looked up, and asked the cameraman beside her, "Hey, do I need to pay taxes on the money I earn from fortune telling?"
The cameraman was speechless.
"Good question!" the cameraman said. Just when Xu Gui thought he could answer her question, he changed his tone and said, "I'll ask the director later."
Xu Gui nodded obediently, "Okay."
She continued recording her earnings.
The cameraman watched her actions curiously and asked, "Ms. Xu, do you mind if I film you?"
Xu Gui nodded and generously showed him her notebook.
She currently had over 700,000 viewers in her live stream, peaking at nearly 1.5 million. However, most of these viewers came because of Aunt Tuanzi and the others; once they saw there wasn't much excitement, many left. But a considerable number remained, and the final viewership stabilized at around 700,000.
Everyone looked on curiously and saw that she had written down her income and expenses for the day in detail. The most eye-catching item was—the landlady treated us to lunch, so it didn't cost any money. The food at the landlady's house was so delicious! (Expenses: 0).
Her accounts were also very clear and easy to understand.
Xu Gui had never kept accounts before. Remembering what she had said earlier, the paparazzi couldn't help but ask, "Teacher Xu, are you short of money?"
Xu Gui nodded, "Very short, so I have to work hard to earn money."
"...If Teacher Xu can win first place in our program, then you'll definitely have money." The paparazzi casually said, "The first place winner of our program not only gets a million-dollar prize, but also endorsements from various big brands."
These endorsements would come with endorsement fees, which would be another large sum of money.
The paparazzi estimated, "...In the end, the first place winner will at least earn one or two million, right?" Not to mention the series of benefits that would follow, the earnings would definitely be more than now.
Xu Gui gasped, letting out a sound of utter ignorance: "One or two million?"
She calculated what she could do with one or two million... there were so many things she could do! Not only could she get Dongzhi's surgery, but she could also renovate the orphanage; much of the equipment there was outdated and long overdue for replacement.
Xu Gui, Xu Gui was starting to dream.
"...How do I get first place?" she humbly asked the cameraman.
The cameraman pointed at him: "You're asking me?" A guest asking a cameraman? This was practically turning the world upside down!
Xu Gui nodded seriously and said, "I want to get first place!"
The haters in the live stream, hearing her words, finally couldn't help but mock her.
—That's right, besides having quite a few fans, Xu Gui now also had a significant increase in haters.