CH 49

The Zhao family understood that this matter must be resolved as soon as possible. Zhao Zhanhuai's company suffered a heavy loss last time and it had yet to recover its vitality until now. If Zhao Hongzhi's reputation is also stigmatized, then Zhao Enterprise will encounter a very severe crisis of trust in this industry!

Fame and reputation were trivial matters. The key was that the raging scandal would affect the evaluation of Zhao's upstream and downstream cooperative enterprises. If it is not resolved, the loss will not only be the tens of millions!

Therefore, instead of letting the chairman of the Zhao family become a cheater who had an affair with the nanny, it was better to include the Zhao family— to declare to the public that the Zhao family's daughter was swapped back then and that the Zhao family did not know it. The Zhao family was also a victim!

So after Li Ye came to the school, Mr Zhao immediately ordered someone to send an email to the company's shareholders, trying to explain the matter with his utmost efforts.

On the one hand, Zhao Zhanhuai also asked someone to check the IP of the school forum and keep an eye at the company's door to see who was deliberately exposing this matter. On the other hand, he made Li Ye bring Zhao Yuan back from school first, and then asked him to find the fired Zhang Yufen.

This time, the Zhao family will personally send them both to do the DNA test!

…

While the Zhao family was struggling to clean up the mess, the students in A High could be said to have heard the biggest piece of gossip in three years! A group of people were held back by the gossip that they could not find their sense of direction anymore. Even the teachers looked at each other and didn't know what to say.

Now the Zhao family was going to do a DNA test again. The results of the second test have not yet come out, but the matter of the real and fake daughter of the Zhao family has been settled.

"I'm so shocked that I can't speak, let me breathe a bit... What only happens in TV dramas actually happened in real life..."

"If it’s really as Zhao Hongzhi’s assistant said, then the Zhao family and Zhao Mingxi are too pitiful! The Zhao family raised a child for another family for no reason and spent so much money on people who have nothing to do with them. Have you seen what Zhao Yuan wears? Although they are not luxury items, they are all the trendiest famous brands. I heard that she spends hundreds of thousands in summer and winter camps abroad during every winter and summer vacation. If it was me— I would feel really hurt. I would even want Zhao Yuan and her biological parents to pay me back!"

"What's so pitiful about the Zhao family? Based on what the assistant said, they discovered that Zhao Yuan was not their own two years ago, yet they continued to raise them. Who can be blamed for this decision?! And their family is rich, so you don't need to worry about it. Zhao Mingxi is the only miserable one! For no reason, she became an abandoned baby at birth! And why do I feel that the Zhao family did not treat Zhao Mingxi as well as they did to Zhao Yuan before?!”

"You're not wrong on this..." This was said by a girl from the Evergreen Class. The expression on her face was incomprehensible as she said, “Last year at the parent-teacher conference, it seemed that they only attended Zhao Yuan’s conference and there was no one with Zhao Mingxi. I remember it very clearly."

"And now Zhao Mingxi is still living in school, right? Is it because the Zhao family didn't want her to live at home and drove her out to live in school?!"

As they talked about it, everyone felt more sympathy for Mingxi.

"My God, the Zhao family is really poisonous. I take back the sympathy that I had just given them. Everyone in their family except Zhao Mingxi has a hole in their brains! They treated their non-biological daughter so well yet they treated their actual daughter like trash?!”

"You don't understand. After all, they must have developed feelings for the child who they have raised for many years, and it is inevitable that they would feel unfamiliar with the child who has just returned.”

"So the most pitiful person is Zhao Mingxi..."

The whole school was discussing this matter.

The three key words "the Zhao family", "Zhao Yuan" and "Zhao Mingxi" appeared in various places in the school. Those in the classrooms, the dormitories for boys and girls, canteens, playgrounds, and even the teacher's office couldn't help but mention a word or two.

Although Zhao Yuning was ordered by the family not to be distracted, leave these things alone and study hard, how could he possibly be in the mood to study hard?

Even the first years were talking about it after they got out of class.

People kept asking him various questions enthusiastically, such as how they found out that Zhao Yuan was not their biological child, how did they find Zhao Mingxi, and what were his parents thinking when they raised the two children together for the past two years instead of sending Zhao Yuan back.

Zhao Yuning was irritated and threw a book.

Now these people's questions were like continuous slaps on his face.

Look. Even these people knew that the most innocent party was Zhao Mingxi, but why didn’t he and his family know?

It was precisely because of their family's preference for Zhao Yuan in the past two years that Zhao Mingxi was now at odds with them.

Aside from that, it was recently discovered that Zhao Yuan was most likely the daughter of the nanny Zhang Yufen?!

Zhao Yuning was so angry that he almost threw up.

The classmates around him only knew to gossip. They didn’t know how Zhang Yufen acted in the Zhao family home, but Zhao Yuning knew.

This nanny relied on the fact that she had worked for the Zhao family for more than 10 years to bully the other employees— the driver, Nanny Wang and the others. She always liked to boast that she came to the Zhao family when Zhao Yuan had just been born.

Zhao Yuning never liked her very much because she only cared for Zhao Yuan. Every time Zhao Yuan was out of school, she would take off Zhao Yuan’s school bag and carry Zhao Yuan upstairs, for fear that Zhao Yuan would be tired.

She didn't dare to treat Zhao Yuning badly, but there were inevitably some differences between the two.

But after all, she was just a nanny. She was hardworking and did her job well. Zhao Yuning, a careless boy, wouldn't have trouble getting along with her because of such a trivial matter.

So this nanny has been spending the Zhao family’s money for so many years, enjoying a high salary.

If it hadn't been for the fact that her collision with Zhao Mingxi was coincidentally seen by the assistant of their eldest brother, she would probably still be staying at the Zhao family’s house right now.

But it is precisely this nanny that could possibly be Zhao Yuan's real mother???

So her preference for Zhao Yuan was not out of conscientiousness, but out of maternal love?

So all the bad things she did to Zhao Mingxi were out of maliciousness?

Zhao Yuning now recalled those details. The more he thought about it, the more he was terrified, and the more he thought about it, the more it seemed that his stomach was being twisted by a hand. He was so disturbed that he became nauseous.

If this is true.

Then what kind of criminal has their family hired at home for so many years?!

Zhao Yuan didn't come back after being taken away by Mr Zhao’s assistant Li Ye. they all heard that she had asked the school for seven days off. It just so happened that the time required for the production of the DNA results was seven days.

As for the other party, Mingxi received sympathetic glances from the teachers and students of the school all day long.

As for the followers in the International Class, due to Fu Yangxi’s influence, they have always been protective of Zhao Mingxi.

Now that the matter has been exposed, this group of followers looked at Zhao Mingxi as if they were looking at Disney’s poor wandering princess. They did Mingxi’s class duty, refilled Mingxi’s water, and there were even people who bought some snacks and fed it to Mingxi. Of course, Fu Yangxi almost thought that he wanted to chase Zhao Mingxi, so he got scared away by Fu Yangxi’s angry expression.

It may be that the two words "abandoned baby" mentioned by Li Ye were really shocking. The teachers and students in the school added a lot of their own imagination into the plot of Mingxi's displacement from childhood. There may even be people who would add in the plot when Xiao Yanzi was beaten up by those in the Hanxuan Chess Club.* They couldn’t help but come to the International Class to see if there was any scar on Mingxi—

*This is a plot point from the famous Chinese drama ‘My Fair Princess’.

In the end, all they saw was a Zhao Mingxi who was fair and beautiful, and her wrists were pale white. What kind of scars could she possibly have?

So a group of girls couldn't help but whisper about what skin care products Zhao Mingxi used. Someone said, “The environment she grew up in must have been very difficult. She probably didn’t use any skin care products. The fact that she is still so beautiful, it seems that it is indeed due to genetics."

Lu Wangwei and the teacher in charge of the sixth class were also very uneasy. With a look of affection, they called Mingxi to the office to comfort her during the break.

At noon, Mingxi went back to the dormitory to pick up the textbooks left in the dormitory. The lady in charge of the dorms also poked her head out to stop her, tearfully handing her two pieces of cured bacon that she had marinated so that she could replenish her body.

Mingxi: …

This matter continued into the evening. Even the Evergreen Class started to come over to apologize. They said to Mingxi outside the classroom, “Sorry we laughed at your grades before. We were too arrogant. In reality, the fact that you have experienced those things and yet you could reach the standard of the Normal Class when you first come to A High is very inspirational."

Someone from the Gold Medal Class also came over to give her refills for her mechanical pencil. It was a girl with glasses who went to the preliminary training camp together and did not participate in Pu Shuang and the others in throwing her school bag. Her way of giving her a heart gesture was also very cool. She said to her, “Zhao Mingxi, I’m looking forward to meeting you in the final exam.”

A new School Beauty Support Club was created in the forum.

Although it was not as strong as Zhao Yuan's support club, it was also gradually beginning to take shape.

Mingxi was so confused!

"Is over-imagining things a tradition of the people in your school? How can there be so many versions of tragic stories extended from Li Ye’s one sentence?"

Ke Chengwen wiped his eyes with a tissue and asked through choked sobs, "So were you really an abandoned baby?"

"It wasn’t that miserable." Mingxi was a little speechless as she looked at Ke Chengwen's non-existent tears. She continued, “I don't remember what happened when I was a child, but it's not like I was beaten by Zhao Yuan's biological mother as the forum said. In fact, I have been with my grandma ever since I could remember. There is no such thing as me not having enough food or clothes to dress warmly in the winter."

It was just that her resources were indeed less than one-thousandth of those rich children in the city.

But of course grandma wouldn't let her freeze and go hungry. Grandma had a small grocery store. She repaired shoes, made deliveries and would occasionally buy her meat after paying her tuition. Therefore, Zhao Mingxi's childhood was quite relaxed.

Mingxi had no impression of Zhang Yufen at all. So now that the Zhao family was doing a DNA test again, she was also waiting for the result.

If what happened back then is really related to Zhang Yufen, then Zhang Yufen must go to jail.

Fu Yangxi looked at Zhao Mingxi and didn't speak for a long time.

He felt bitter and wanted to comfort her, but he had never had any comforting experience. So he suddenly stood up, compiled all the snacks bought by the followers and put a lot of them on Mingxi’s table. He said with a cool tone, "Yours."

Then, he put his noise-canceling headphones on Mingxi's ears.

The moment the silver noise-canceling headphones covered her ears, the world went quiet.

No sound could be heard in her ears. She fell into an absolute vacuum-like silence. She could only feel the soft touch of the earphones, and her eyes fell on Fu Yangxi's face.

Mingxi looked at Fu Yangxi. She felt a little bit dumbfounded. She wanted to say that these things were over, that there was really no need to treat her like a fragile vase.

But then she thought about it.

Don't boys always have a protective desire for weak girls? She should let Fu Yangxi sympathize with her. Then, he’ll realize that she is a girl with a chest, not a follower who can run 30 laps at will. Maybe this will make him like her as soon as possible.

With this thought in mind, Mingxi lay down on the table, buried her head in her arms and stopped talking.

…

???

Is she crying?

Fu Yangxi looked at her in shock.

Fu Yangxi was anxious.

Oh no, except for that one time she was drunk, I haven't seen Little Mask cry before.

Fu Yangxi stood there, completely at a loss. He wanted to touch Mingxi's shoulder, but Mingxi didn't wear a coat, she only wore a thin sweater. This girl's shoulders were weak and slender, like a butterfly flapping its wings. It seemed to exude a little fragrance.

He didn’t need to place his hands on them to know that it was soft and warm.

Fu Yangxi didn't dare to touch her at all.

The followers were hustling in the classroom, some even boldly came over and handed her tissues.

Fu Yangxi pulled his face irritably. He glared at the people who had approached them and said in a low voice, “What are you guys trying to do? Do you guys only know how to gossip all day? If you have nothing to do, go and drive away those people outside! From now on, our class is not allowed to talk about this matter anymore!”

"It’s all your fault. You’re not allowed to talk about it either!" Fu Yangxi turned his head and said angrily at Ke Chengwen.

Ke Chengwen: “...”

Thanks to Fu Yangxi.

Mingxi was finally able to regain some peace for a moment. The International Class dared not mention the issue of real and fake daughters anymore.

After a while.

Fu Yangxi was still racking his brains.

The noise-reducing earphones on Mingxi's head were suddenly lifted up a little bit, and Fu Yangxi's voice could be heard.

"Little Mask, don't cry. Shall I tie your shoelaces for you?"

Fu Yangxi tried his best to use a gentler tone, but because he has never been gentle, the feeling he gave was still of 'you better let me tie them, or else I’ll hack you down'. It was enough to make a child cry.

Seeing Mingxi's silence, Fu Yangxi was at a loss. He continued to scare the child.

“If not I’ll just run 30 laps. Or is there something you want to eat?”

As Fu Yangxi spoke, he began to grit his teeth, wanting nothing but to beat up the Zhao family.

"If not, do you want to beat up your family? Or beat up that whatever named nanny."

The corner of Mingxi's mouth rose uncontrollably. She continued to lie her head on the table and buried her face in her arms. Her legs moved to the right side, indicating for him to tie it.

Due to his tall stature, it was a bit difficult for Fu Yangxi to squat down from his seat, but he moved the chair away and squatted down anyway. He furrowed his eyebrows, untied the knotted shoelaces for her, and then tied them back into a bow.

Mingxi lifted her head quietly. The lingering light fell on Fu Yangxi's head and on his slender fingers that were never touched by the spring sun. Her heart was beating like crazy. She also felt an unusual satisfaction of being pampered— although she may have obtained it through trickery.

After Fu Yangxi was done and lifted his head up, she quickly buried her head back.

Because she wanted to laugh, Mingxi's shoulders trembled violently.

Fu Yangxi: …

Why the hell is she crying harder?!

Is my way of coaxing people wrong?!

*

Over at the Zhao family home.

Li Ye drove Zhao Yuan back and said to Zhao Yuan, "Don't go to school during this time. One is because the paternity test takes a few days, and the other is because the school rumors are not good for you."

Of course, it was mainly due to the former.

The Zhao family was now in chaos. Besides the Zhao family, even Li Ye couldn’t imagine such a thing. If it was him who had raised a daughter for more than 10 years and gave her the best only to find out that she was the child of the criminal who discarded his own daughter, what would he do?

After hearing what Li Ye said, Zhao Yuan bit her lower lip without saying a word.

She sat in the passenger seat, her vision blackening at the edges throughout the journey. Her heart was pounding and blood rushed to her head.

On the one hand, she did not believe that Zhang Yufen was her biological mother. On the other hand, she recalled the details of how Zhang Yufen had been particularly good to her since she was a child. She became more and more frightened—

So if I really am Zhang Yufen's child, what will the Zhao family do to me?!

I am obviously innocent. My parents and elder brother should not be angry with me.

But Zhang Yufen’s actions of swapping the children, concealing her identity and coming to the Zhao family to be a nanny are nothing but a criminal's behavior! Can the Zhao family let Zhang Yufen go?! Setting aside the question of whether Zhang Yufen is dead or alive, Zhang Yufen deserves it, but once the DNA test results come out, will the Zhao family take care of me as they did before?

Of course not!

Zhao Yuan clearly saw that she was about to lose everything and be beaten back to the original point.

She would no longer have good educational resources, no longer have cards to spend endlessly and will not be sought after by her classmates.

She couldn't accept all this. She couldn't accept that she was just a nanny's child.

At this moment, for Zhao Yuan, it was as if she was witnessing her own destiny falling straight down, returning to the lowest point of poverty.

There will be nothing left.

Zhao Yuan tried to calm herself down. At this point, there is only one way, and that is to prevent the Zhao family from doing this paternity test. I can’t let them find Zhang Yufen!

Assistant Li Ye parked the car outside the courtyard of the Zhao family’s villa. The Zhao family’s villa was deadly silent, full of the aura of impending doom.

As Li Ye kept his eyes on her all the way during their journey from the school to the home, she was unable to operate. When Li Ye got out of the car, Zhao Yuan quickly took out her mobile phone and sent a text message to Zhang Yufen.

‘They have discovered that I am your daughter. For my sake, go far away. The farther you go, the better. Don’t be found.’

After sending this text message, she didn’t know if Zhang Yufen received it.

Zhao Yuan calmed down. She got out of the car and followed Li Ye to the Zhao family home.

*

Regarding the question of who made the post, not only was the Zhao family investigating it, but the school was also discussing it.

"Xi ge, the people on the forum suspect that it was you who made the post!" Ke Chengwen was looking at his phone when he finished eating and couldn't help but burst into laughter. Moreover, the gossipers on the forum did not dare to mention Fu Yangxi's name for fear of being blocked or involving themselves with trouble, so they replaced his name with X.

Ke Chengwen still wanted to read a few funny remarks.

Fu Yangxi raised his eyebrows as a sign of warning. He slammed the spoon on the plate, making a loud sound. “It's interesting, isn't it?”

“Oh no, it’s really boring." Ke Chengwen had to shut up quickly.

Mingxi sat opposite Fu Yangxi. She swallowed the food in her mouth and couldn't help but ask curiously, “What is being said on the forum? Summarize it for me.”

Ke Chengwen looked at Fu Yangxi.

Fu Yangxi said, “Are you dumb or something? She’s asking you about it.”

Ke Chengwen: "..." You just f*cking forbade me to talk about it. Can you not practice such double standards?!

Ke Chengwen said, “The people in the forum are checking who made this post. It was found that the IP address of the post was in the school. Obviously it was sent by someone in the school. Zhao Mingxi, you were at the training camp for those few days, so it definitely has nothing to do with you. Then who could have posted it? They are currently suspecting the people in our class.”

He Yang, who was sitting opposite Ke Chengwen, said, “Obviously, this thing was done by someone else who hates Zhao Yuan. I wonder if it was done by E Xiaoxia, but if E Xiaoxia has the ability to do this she might as well be a spy.”

Mingxi looked at Fu Yangxi. "Do you want me to clarify things for you?"

Fu Yangxi waved his hand. "It doesn't matter, I don't care about these rumors. It's funny, do these people underestimate my taste? If I do this, would I use such an anonymous and cowardly approach??”

"That's right." Ke Chengwen proudly said, "Obviously Xi ge will get someone to fly a helicopter and scatter copies of the paternity test all around town."

Fu Yangxi nodded boldly and agreed triumphantly.

Mingxi: “...”

What's so good about this?!

"Anyway, before they can find out who did this, you’ll have to be the subject of suspicion.”

Mingxi couldn't help taking the beef from her plate to Fu Yangxi.

She had a mentality of ‘since he is the person I like, I just want him to eat more and grow better’.

When Fu Yangxi saw her picking dishes for him, his ears went pinkish, but he immediately picked it up and threw it back to her plate.

Why is she feeding me when she is so thin?

Mingxi glanced at him in surprise. She wanted to give it back to him, but Fu Yangxi stretched out his chopsticks and blocked her.

“Are you trying to give me what you don't like to eat? I don't want it!" Fu Yangxi tried to conceal the burning of his ears. He furrowed his eyebrows and said angrily, “Do I look like someone who will eat leftovers?”

Mingxi had to retract her chopsticks angrily and put the beef into her mouth.

What kind of oblivious straight boy is this? He can't even tell if I like him or treat him well.

Before, Mingxi and He Yang would eat in the cafeteria while Fu Yangxi and Ke Chengwen mostly went out to eat or got take outs from unhealthy places.

However, since Mingxi became one of them, the four of them often ate together.

In most cases, Jiang Xiuqiu ate with different girls.

After lunch, Fu Yangxi stood up and picked up his and Zhao Mingxi's plates.

Mingxi watched him open his jacket, the zipper swaying. She was afraid that the oil from the plate would drip on him, and she was also afraid that the restaurant floor would be too slippery and his balance would be unstable. Thus, she quickly walked over, took her own plate and said, “You don't need to be a gentleman. Just clean up after yourself.”

After she said that, Mingxi took her own plate, quickly went to the plate processing area and dumped it there.

Fu Yangxi who stood behind her: ...

What kind of single-minded straight girl is this? She can't even tell if I like her or treat her well?!

…

He Yang and Ke Chengwen who were further behind looked at each other. They wanted to kick this oblivious couple in front of them.

Although the two of them were not together yet, why did they always feel like they were being forced to witness such scenes of love?