The next day, when the paparazzi arrived with his equipment to find Xu Gui, he noticed a child beside her. The child looked somewhat familiar?
No, very familiar.
"...This child, isn't she the one from yesterday?" The paparazzi looked at Xu Gui with surprise and confusion. "How did she end up here?" And it seemed she had already spent the night in Xu Gui's room.
"Oh, this one," Xu Gui said casually and calmly. "Something happened, so she slept here last night."
The paparazzi: ...I suspect you've kidnapped someone else's child. The paparazzi
had the illusion that only one night had passed, but he had missed a year's worth of information. He was very curious about how the child ended up with Xu Gui, but seeing that Xu Gui didn't seem inclined to explain, he didn't ask further.
Actually, Xu Gui had originally intended to ask the old lady to take care of Zhao Di, but perhaps the old lady's stern image from the previous night had left a deep impression, as Zhao Di became somewhat timid and afraid upon seeing her.
So, under the old woman's disappointed, disheartened, and even somewhat resentful gaze, she could only continue to keep Zhao Di by her side, letting her follow her.
However, around noon, the two policemen from the previous night arrived.
When she received the call, Xu Gui was having lunch at the restaurant owner's house with Zhao Di. The owner and her friend were sitting nearby, chatting animatedly with Xu Gui about Aunt Tuanzi's family's situation.
—Wu Xueya's school was not far from the restaurant owner's house, and the farce from that day had completely spread throughout the area. Grandma Bi, colluding with her sister-in-law to take the child away, while deceiving his wife that the child was lost—this was truly appalling; most people wouldn't do such a thing.
Therefore, for the past few days, the after-dinner conversation in the area had revolved around Aunt Tuanzi's family's affair.
However, with so many people discussing it, the rumors spread, and the story became quite outrageous.
"I heard that the mother has been searching for her child for over thirty years, it's so pitiful!" This was the version the landlady's friend had heard, her tone full of conviction. "As a mother myself, I can't stand hearing this kind of
thing." "...It's clearly thirteen years." The landlady corrected her. She had been following Xu Gui's live stream, and later she even went out of her way to find the replay for herself. She knew the whole story.
The landlady's friend, however, didn't care: "That's not the point. The point is that this family is truly heartless, utterly devoid of conscience, and hypocritical..."
Xu Gui, watching the landlady's friend's incessant chatter, couldn't help but wonder: Was the landlady's friend just trying to criticize the Wu family?
Zhao Di was shoveling rice into her bowl, listening intently to the elders' discussions, her eyes sparkling. She was clearly very interested in this kind of gossip. It was at this moment that the police called.
Xu Gui answered the phone, gave them her address, and after hanging up, she looked up at Zhao Di. The child, who had been so happy and spirited just moments before, was now listless, even her food seemed unappetizing.
Xu Gui didn't speak, but simply reached out and gently patted her head.
A short while later, the police arrived, accompanied by a middle-aged couple. Upon seeing Zhao Di, the couple said nothing. The woman darted forward and slapped Zhao Di hard across the face.
"Smack!"
The middle-aged woman clearly hadn't held back; the slap sent Zhao Di's face turning to the side, her cheek instantly turning red.
"Eh!" The two policemen's expressions changed, and they hesitated, unable to speak.
Xu Gui, seeing this, her face turned cold.
"You've really gotten yourself into trouble, haven't you? You've even run away from home, haven't you?" After hitting Zhao Di, the woman launched into a tirade of abuse, yelling, "Your father and I work so hard every day to feed and clothe you, and you're still causing us trouble? You don't know how to be grateful, and you just keep causing us trouble!"
"If you're so capable, then don't come back after you leave, just die out there!"
the woman continued cursing, her pretty face now appearing harsh and sarcastic.
"Ouch!" The proprietress couldn't stand it anymore and rushed over, shoving the middle-aged woman aside. She then pulled Zhao Di into her arms and scolded the woman, "Are you sick? If you're going to discipline a child, then discipline her! Why hit her? Can't you talk things out?"
Facing the proprietress, the woman's face was full of smiles. She said, "Sister, you don't know how troublesome this child is. Tell me, we haven't let her lack food or drink for a single day, and she's even run away from home! Tell me, if we don't discipline her properly, what will become of her?"
The proprietress touched Zhao Di's red cheeks and said with heartache, "Even so, you can't hit the child like that! You've gone too far!"
The woman said, "Sister, you don't understand. This child just needs to be disciplined!"
After saying that, she coldly looked at Zhao Di's tearful face, but she didn't feel any heartache. Instead, she showed some impatience. She took a step forward, grabbed Zhao Di's hand, and roughly pulled her away.
"Cry, cry, cry! You still have the nerve to cry? I'm not dead yet, and you're wailing like this?" the woman scolded irritably, gripping Zhao Di's hand tightly. "Alright, stop causing trouble for others and come back with us."
Beside her, the middle-aged man took out two cigarettes from his pack and offered them to the two policemen. Seeing them wave their hands in refusal, he smiled apologetically and said, "Officers, I'm really sorry, my child is being naughty and causing you trouble! Don't worry, we'll teach her a lesson when we get back, and she'll never dare to do it again."
The two policemen's eyes didn't fall on Zhao Di. Zhao Di didn't speak, but tears kept flowing silently down her face as she shook her head, her refusal very clear.
"When disciplining a child, a few words are enough," the police officer said, disapprovingly adding, "That kind of violent discipline is absolutely unacceptable, understand?"
The man hurriedly replied, "Yes, yes, yes, you're right, officer. The child's mother was really panicked this time. You wouldn't believe it, last night when we found out the child was missing, she was terrified! Now that she's seen the child, she's so anxious and angry!"
The officer smiled politely, but inwardly thought: They didn't seem worried at all.
If they were really worried, why didn't they call the police all night? Even when they went to look for them, the couple were at work as usual, and even the people around their house didn't know that their child, Zhao Di, had run away from home.
No matter how you looked at it, they didn't seem to be that worried about their child running away.
Over there, the woman was pulling on Zhao Di's arm with such force that the shopkeeper next to her was afraid she would dislocate the child's shoulder, and kept shouting, "Gently, gently, pull gently..."
"Alright, stop causing trouble for others, come back with us!" the woman said irritably, pulling Zhao Di over forcefully.
Just then, a hand as white as jade gently landed on the woman's wrist, and the somewhat fleshy fingers firmly grasped her wrist.
The woman was immediately stunned.
"I'm sorry, Zhao Di can't go with you." Xu Gui smiled, calmly uttering a shocking statement: "Because I suspect that Zhao Di is not your child, but someone you trafficked."
The woman was stunned by Xu Gui's words, and her grip loosened involuntarily. Zhao Di immediately darted behind Xu Gui, her eyes brimming with tears.
The woman, regaining her senses and seeing this, flew into a rage, pointing at Zhao Di and yelling, "You brat, get over here right now!"
Zhao Di clung tightly to Xu Gui's clothes, her face showing fear, but her eyes were incredibly stubborn. She said, "No, I don't want to go back with you! You killed Da Huang, I hate you!"
The middle-aged man's eyes flickered, and he looked at the policeman, laughing, "Look at this child, always so childish!"
The woman's expression darkened. She reached out to grab Zhao Di again, but an arm shot out, blocking her way.
The woman turned her head slightly, looking at Xu Gui's young and beautiful face, a flash of anger and irritation in her eyes. She couldn't help but say, "What exactly do you want? I'm disciplining my own child, what's it to you?"
Xu Gui slightly raised her chin, her expression arrogant. She said coldly, "Didn't I say I suspect you're not Zhao Di's biological parents? Zhao Di was abducted by you..."
She looked at the two policemen and said seriously, "Officers, I'm reporting these two people now. They are suspected of being child traffickers!"
Hearing Xu Gui's words, the people present reacted differently. The proprietress and her family were surprised, while Zhao Di's parents were terrified.
"You brat, what are you saying?" The middle-aged man rolled up his sleeves and was about to rush over.
Just then, a tall, strong body blocked Xu Gui's path. The man behind the camera raised his bulging biceps, his gaze coldly fixed on the man, and asked, "What do you want?"
It must be said, the biceps are incredibly threatening. The middle-aged man's angry expression froze when he saw the man's intimidating biceps; he stood there, motionless
… too afraid to move.
Xu Gui peeked out from behind the man behind the camera and said softly, "Your reaction is so strong because I hit the nail on the head, and you're feeling guilty?"
She spoke in the gentlest voice, but her words were incredibly powerful for Zhao Di's parents. When they saw the two policemen's suspicious gazes on them, they panicked even more.
"Bullshit!" the middle-aged woman shouted. "Do you think I don't know whether Zhao Di is my daughter or not? She stayed in my belly for ten months, and I definitely carried her for ten months before giving birth to her. People in my hometown can testify to this. If you don't believe me, you can go ask them." "
Is that so?" Xu Gui smiled. "In that case, you shouldn't mind doing a paternity test with Zhao Di, right? With technology so advanced now, whether you and Zhao Di are related by blood or not can be clarified with a paternity test."
Zhao Di's parents were dumbfounded, their expressions showing panic.
"We, why should we do a paternity test with you?" the middle-aged woman said in a panic. "Who are you? You say we should do a paternity test, and we have to go? Why should we?"
The middle-aged man said, "Officer, this woman's words are slander! Don't believe her."
But the policeman, observing their reactions, keenly sensed something was amiss—were their reactions a bit excessive? Their gazes immediately sharpened, making the two women break out in a cold sweat.
"Zhao Di, of course, of course she's my daughter! I'm her mother, don't I know that?" The middle-aged woman, sweating profusely, still stubbornly insisted.
The police officer asked her sternly, "Are you sure this child is really yours? You need to understand, once the paternity test results come out and it's confirmed that she has no blood relation to you, then we will have ample reason to suspect that you abducted her…that would be a legal matter."
Zhao Di's parents: "…"
Under the police officers' sharp, solemn gazes, the middle-aged woman was the first to give in.
"I…I'll talk," the middle-aged woman began, her face contorted with grief, "Zhao Di is indeed not our biological child, but she wasn't abducted either, we found her!" Afraid
the police wouldn't believe her, she quickly explained, "Really, we really found her, on the hospital bench."
This happened twelve years ago.