Chapter 162 - 161: Slapping the Fake Heiress 62

Chapter 162: Chapter 161: Slapping the Fake Heiress 62

Song Ruyi has been in a good mood recently.

Zhao Han is successful in his career, Anning and Zhao Mingrui are doing quite well in their studies, Song Ruyi feels her life is complete and she has been smiling more than usual.

As the New Year is approaching, she has been busy shopping for the New Year goods.

On a day with good weather, and since everything at home was almost arranged, Song Ruyi invited Tian Mei to go to the beauty salon together.

Since they met during the robot competition, Song Ruyi and Tian Mei had met a few times and they often kept in touch over the phone.

Recently, due to cooperation between both families, their relationship had become quite good.

They decided on a time and met at the beauty salon.

This beauty salon was recommended to Tian Mei by Song Ruyi, and after trying it, Tian Mei felt it was quite good and got a membership card too.

When the time came, they met right at the entrance of the beauty salon.

Song Ruyi got out of the car and upon seeing Tian Mei walking over slowly, she laughed and took Tian Mei’s arm: "I was saying you live farther away and might arrive later than me."

Tian Mei laughed: "You called me just when I was outside, so I rushed right over."

"Have you been busy recently?"

Song Ruyi asked.

Tian Mei shook her head: "I don’t need to worry about Ke’er’s studies, she knows how to work hard, it’s just Yuan Yuan... but recently he’s been studying well too, which really made Old Xiao very happy."

While they were talking, suddenly, someone rushed out from around the corner.

Before Song Ruyi could see clearly, the person knelt in front of her with a thud: "Mom, Mom, please help me, I know I was wrong, I know I was wrong, Mom, please save me, please..."

Song Ruyi was taken aback and stepped back a few steps to get a clearer view, only then did she recognize that it was Liu Mingzhu kneeling in front of her.

Liu Mingzhu looked terrible.

Her hair was messy, seemingly unattended for a long time, her skin was dry and yellow, and she was wearing very cheap clothes.

The worst was that Liu Mingzhu’s face had purple bruises, and she seemed to have lost a tooth, causing her speech to be slightly slurred.

"What happened to you?"

Seeing Liu Mingzhu in such a disheveled state, Song Ruyi was deeply moved.

After all, she was the child she had raised, and it would be a lie to say she wasn’t heartbroken.

Liu Mingzhu was sobbing: "Mom, help me, I can’t continue like this, I... when Dad transferred the household registration, he gave me a house, but, but the people from the Liu family forced me to sell the house, they even said they would sell me. I hid and didn’t go back with them, now I have no money, no house, no one wants to hire me, I can’t go on."

Liu Mingzhu was crying uncontrollably, looking extremely pitiful.

Tian Mei felt a pang of distress.

She tugged at Song Ruyi’s arm: "What is this all about?"

Song Ruyi sighed: "I’ll tell you later."

She bent down to lift Liu Mingzhu up: "Get up first."

Liu Mingzhu stood up with her help, still crying and bowing her head: "Mom, I’m sorry, I... I was too immature before, I did many things that hurt you and Dad, I know I was wrong, I truly know."

Song Ruyi softly said to Tian Mei: "Sorry, I might not be able to accompany you today."

Tian Mei smiled and waved her hand: "It’s okay, you take care of your child first."

Tian Mei went into the beauty salon by herself, while Song Ruyi took Liu Mingzhu to a restaurant to talk.

"Have you eaten?"

Song Ruyi asked Liu Mingzhu.

Liu Mingzhu swallowed hard: "No, I haven’t."

Song Ruyi called the waiter over and had Liu Mingzhu order a meal.

During the wait for the meal, Song Ruyi asked Liu Mingzhu, "I remember when you left, I gave you all your jewelry. It hasn’t been long, how could you be without money?"

One must know, Liu Mingzhu used to be the darling daughter of the Zhao Family. She grew up lavished with jewelry that Song Ruyi bought her. If she really sold them for money, it would have definitely been enough for her to spend.

Liu Mingzhu cried even harder: "They stole them, I... I knew it was wrong, so I hid some. Except for the hidden ones, the rest were all stolen by them."

Song Ruyi knew that Liu Mingzhu was referring to the Liu Family.

Hearing that the Liu Family had stolen the jewelry she had prepared for Liu Mingzhu, her face turned particularly unsightly.

"I’m sorry, I’m so sorry."

Liu Mingzhu, adept at reading expressions, saw Song Ruyi’s anger and kept apologizing.

Song Ruyi took a deep breath, suppressing her rising anger.

"It’s not that we don’t want to help you, but you... you’ve deeply hurt us. You’ve known for a long time that you are not our daughter, and also knew where Anning was, yet you hid it for years letting Anning suffer for those years. Mingzhu, tell me, how can I forgive you?"

This was something Song Ruyi truly cared about.

Every time she thought of when she found the Liu Family and saw Anning lying in a pool of blood, she couldn’t move past that memory.

If Liu Mingzhu had been kind-hearted and disclosed the incorrect child switch when she knew about it, rather than hide it, Anning would have returned to the Zhao Family earlier and could have suffered less.

Perhaps, she wouldn’t have developed psychological issues.

Moreover, with Anning’s intelligence, if she had received a good education earlier, perhaps she could have achieved something great by now.

Thinking all this, Song Ruyi hardened her heart and decided not to deal with Liu Mingzhu anymore.

It wasn’t that she didn’t love Liu Mingzhu.

She had to make choices, and since she chose to treat her real daughter kindly, she couldn’t let Liu Mingzhu appear in front of Anning anymore, lest it upset Anning.

Song Ruyi didn’t want to hurt Anning’s heart, and could only harden her heart to reject Liu Mingzhu.

Liu Mingzhu understood Song Ruyi’s thoughts.

She sobbed softly: "Mom, it’s not that I didn’t want to tell you, I was scared. I was too young at the time, faced with such a situation, I really didn’t know what to do. I was terrified, afraid that you wouldn’t want me, I couldn’t bear to part with you and dad, couldn’t bear to leave home... At that time, the Liu Family found me and told me I was their daughter, I couldn’t believe it, I thought they were human traffickers."

Liu Mingzhu sobbed softly, mumbling something indistinctly.

Song Ruyi furrowed her brow, seemingly catching onto something.

"Wait a minute, you said it was the Liu Family who found you back then, and they told you that you were their daughter?"

Liu Mingzhu nodded and wiped her tears with a tissue: "Yes."

Song Ruyi’s frown deepened.

If the children were indeed swapped by mistake, the Liu Family should not have known about it.

Yet, they found their way to the Capital and directly approached Liu Mingzhu with those words.

What does this imply? It implies that they had known about the swap long before, knowing that Anning was not their child.

And Anning once mentioned that she had been beaten by the Liu Family since she was little, being beaten as far back as she could remember.

Linking all these together, does it not suggest that the Liu Family knew she was not their daughter from her very young age, thus the relentless beatings?

Thinking this way turned really horrifying.

Why would the Liu Family know so early?

Unless...

The child exchange back then was deliberate.