"You were the one who called the police, you were the one who asked them to arrest Shen Yu, weren't you?"

In my heart, which had been filled with despair, a spark seemed to ignite again. I looked up at him, hoping he would answer "yes."

In that case, I should be able to find a little comfort on this cruel and bleak winter night.

The streetlights illuminated his dark, deep eyes, which twinkled like stars. He looked at me, his thin lips pressed together, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down. Then, he looked away and started smoking.

"I called the police." He exhaled a puff of smoke, looked at me, and said calmly.

Upon hearing this, my nose tingled with emotion.

He continued, "I've been keeping an eye on your fake mother. Shengshi is in imminent danger, and she's been going around trying to find help."

“She wants the Shen family to help her out, how could I let her have her way?”

His tone grew increasingly cold and sarcastic, and as he spoke, the pad of his thumb ground against the bulging veins on his forehead.

"This time, we have evidence to arrest her."

I pondered the meaning behind his words carefully, and my heart grew colder and colder until finally, the last spark of hope was extinguished.

He knew in advance that my mother was going to give me to Shen Yu, and he coldly watched as my mother pushed me into a pit of fire. He only called the police in when Shen Yu was torturing me.

Only in this way can my mother be convicted.

In his revenge plan, I was just a pawn.

He didn't consider that if the police had arrived any later, the disgusting instruments that Shen Yu was wearing would have been inserted into my body. He also didn't think about the torment and despair I felt while being tortured.

He only wanted to find evidence of my mother's crimes to avenge his unrequited love.

After all the twists and turns, in the end, I am still just a tool he uses, just like in my previous life.

I looked up at the aloof and indifferent man in front of me and wanted to ask him, "Does he really feel any guilt for using me like this?"

Even just a little bit?

I hesitated for a moment, but ultimately didn't ask.

Why invite further humiliation?

Even my mother, who raised me for over twenty years, could push me into a pit of fire, so how could I expect her to have any genuine feelings for me?

I turned around, walked down the steps one by one, and looked up at the dark night sky.

High in the sky, a few cold stars twinkled, as if mocking me.

I walked out of the police station gate numbly.

"Sister Qiao, what's wrong..." A familiar male voice pulled me back to my senses.

Wearing a long trench coat, a black baseball cap, and a mask, completely covered up, Makino stood in front of me. Under the brim of her hat, a pair of beautiful black eyes looked at me with surprise.

At that moment, I was wrapped in a green military overcoat, my long curly hair was frizzy and messy, and my face was covered with dry tear stains. Underneath the overcoat, I was even more disheveled.

A few months ago, I met Makino for the first time. At that time, she was a proud and radiant young lady who had been reborn.

now……

"Get in the car quickly." Muye took my hand and led me towards his car.

I asked him to take me to the Sheng family's house.

Late at night, the Chinese-style villa was brightly lit.

As soon as I entered the house, I heard my parents arguing from the second floor.

"I did all this for the sake of a prosperous era, for you and me! Who would have thought that someone would dare to arrest people from the Shen family! And even kidnap Shen Yu!"

"Dai Xiufen, now you've finally stopped pretending to be a loving mother and shown your true colors! I know everything now. Qiaoqiao was someone you deliberately hired to impersonate my and Qiao Wan's child back then!"

The father's roar echoed throughout the entire villa.

What does he mean?

Who is Qiao Wan?

I don't know where I got the strength, but I quickly climbed the stairs and reached the second floor in one breath.

In the small living room, Mom sat on the sofa, covering half of her face, a strand of hair hanging down her cheek, as if she had just been hit by Dad.

Dad stood in the center of the living room, his back slightly hunched, exuding a fierce aura.

When my mother saw me, she was slightly taken aback. In an instant, her phoenix eyes, with their smudged makeup, flashed with a venomous look.

"Yes! She's just a wild girl I had someone buy! Sheng Minghui, do you really think I'm a saint? That I'd tolerate the child you had with your white moonlight?!"

My mother pointed at me, looked at my father, a cold smile on her lips, and said through gritted teeth.

Hearing her words, my body swayed.

Wasn't I switched at birth by the hospital? How did I become the wild child my mother bought?

Dad turned his face and looked at me.

"Dad, what exactly happened?!" I asked in a hoarse voice.

Dad let out a sigh, looking utterly helpless. "It's all her fault!"

"I committed a sin? Sheng Minghui, isn't the culprit you, you scumbag? To inherit the company, you abandoned your white moonlight, married me, and after reaping all the benefits, you even brought your illegitimate child back to raise. You are truly shameless!"

Mom jumped up, pointed at Dad's nose, and yelled at him.

"You know best how Qiao Wan and I broke up! You're the one who made her misunderstand me and deliberately broke us up... If I had known she was pregnant, I would never have married a poisonous woman like you!"

The father retorted angrily, and as soon as he finished speaking, he raised his hand and slapped the mother across the face.

This was the first time I had ever seen them fight in my entire life.

In my memory, they were a loving and respectable couple.

Mom collapsed onto the sofa, covering her face. "Sheng Minghui, stop trying to glorify yourself! You're a selfish and scumbag. If you didn't want to marry me, why didn't you go and ask Qiao Wan for so many years? You married me for your own benefit, while still clinging to your white moonlight. You're so despicable!"

Listening to their tearful exchange, I roughly understood.

It turns out that the "white moonlight" my father once told me about wasn't my mother; it was his ex-girlfriend, Qiao Wan.

It should also be the woman in the photo that Dad kept tucked in his book.

"So, I wasn't switched at birth in the hospital? I was hired by you to impersonate Qiao Wan's child? You've always known I'm a fake heiress?"

I belatedly rushed to the sofa, looked down at the disheveled woman inside, and angrily questioned her.

"Yes!" She rolled her eyes at me, her gaze filled with disgust, and replied coldly.

I was jolted, and my brain was buzzing.

I always thought that after Beichen's crush on me was exposed, my mother found out I wasn't her biological son by doing a DNA test.

The truth is, I was a child she switched with, bought to impersonate my father's beloved child!

She didn't want her father to raise a child born to another woman!

She always knew about my background!

"Qiaoqiao, I've been kept in the dark by her all these years. However, she deliberately spoiled you, brainwashed you, and deliberately raised you to be a good-for-nothing. She was afraid that you would be outstanding and fight for the family fortune!"

My father's voice brought me back to my senses.

Hearing his words, I subconsciously shook my head, "No, no... Mom loves me!"

I refuted him.

Dad sighed, "The year you went abroad to study, she hired someone to kidnap you, specifying that the kidnappers should kill you and leave no survivors!"

"Why? Because you've grown up, and she doesn't want me to give you any shares!"