She and her siblings believed it to be true, and none of them ever revealed a word about the family situation to anyone else.

It wasn't until Ms. Luo approached her that she realized the money was given by Mrs. Lu.

The mother and daughter completely fooled Mrs. Lu!

Lu Yaoyao looked at Lu Xinwan and saw that she was very calm. She asked, "Aren't you afraid at all? After you find out the truth, Mrs. Lu will hate you to death."

Lu Xinwan chuckled and retorted, "What do I have to be afraid of?! The Lu family doesn't belong to Mrs. Lu."

Now, Lu Xinwan has finally revealed a little of her true colors.

She used to act pitiful in front of Tang Zhi, saying that she was struggling alone in S City to support her family... Tang Zhi believed her at the time, and his heart softened as soon as she said that she was all alone in S City; but now, looking at Lu Xinwan like this, he felt very unfamiliar, as if he had never known this woman before.

Then, thinking back to the schemes of Ms. Luo, whom he had never met, over the past twenty years, he felt a chill run down his spine: he suddenly felt that women were terrifying, and he wanted to never have any contact with such creatures again!

Chu Nian turned her head and noticed that his face was pale. She asked with a smile, "President Tang, what's wrong?"

Tang Zhizheng looked at Lu Xinwan with a look of horror. When he heard her unique female voice, it was as if he heard a ghost's voice. He couldn't help but shiver.

He turned to look at Chu Nian. To be honest, he used to think that both Chen Nian and Lu Xinwan were good; but at this moment, he suddenly felt that Chen Nian was much better than Lu Xinwan, at least she wasn't as scheming.

But the Chen Nian of today is not the same Chen Nian she used to be. After learning the truth, especially after breaking up with him, and now being compared to someone like Tian Jun, how could Chen Nian possibly retain her initial innocence and beauty?

He had actually sensed long ago that Chen Nian was very different from before.

Even if Chen Nian was angry with him before, she would never really break up with him; even if she was annoyed and hated him, she would never beat him so badly—he finally remembered that he had been badly beaten by the woman in front of him.

For the first time, he felt remorse: he regretted hurting Chen Nian because of Lin Xinwan, which led to Chen Nian breaking up with him.

Then Lu Xinwan asked, "Sister Chen Nian, when did you find out the truth?"

Chu Nian: "Those trolls kept attacking me, so I knew someone was pulling strings behind the scenes, and then I investigated."

Lu Xinwan chuckled and asked curiously, "I don't understand. You have neither family background nor connections, so how did you find out what Ms. Luo did?" There was even a hint of disdain in her words, and it was unclear what gave her the right to be so disdainful—it seemed she had forgotten that she herself was the biggest beneficiary of all this!

Lu Yaoyao, who had always treated Ms. Luo like her own mother, said resentfully after hearing her words, "Ms. Luo is your own mother."

Lu Xinwan turned to look at her and sneered, "What does it matter if she's my biological mother or not? All I care about is being a true young lady of the Lu family."

Lu Yaoyao realized that her words were insulting her, and she immediately felt extremely upset.

Chu Nian calmly said to Lu Xinwan, "There are many things in this world that you can't understand."

After listening to Chu Nian and Lu Xinwan's conversation, Tang Zhi suddenly remembered why he wanted to reconcile with Chen Nian and asked, "Nian Nian, I heard that you have some technical collaborations with the Tian family. Can you tell me about them?"

His company also specializes in technical projects, so why didn't this woman think of collaborating with him? Right, he knows this woman's technical skills all too well; he hasn't discovered anything particularly advanced or sophisticated. What technology exactly attracted Tian Jun?

Chu Nian readily replied, "No."

Tang Zhi's lips twitched slightly, and he said, "I heard that you donated a lot of money to our village."

Chu Nian: "Giving back to my hometown is what I should do."

That's too official a response. Tang Zhi said, "But it seems that my uncle and aunt aren't doing well in the village."

Chu Nian: "Compared to what they've given, they're already living quite well."

Tang Zhi stared at her for a long time before saying, "You're not the Chen Nian I know anymore."

Chu Nian said with a smile, "You just realized that?"

Tang Zhi: "As children, isn't it our duty to be filial to our parents?"

Chu Nian: "I'm very filial. I pay for everything they eat, drink, use, and live in. I also support several of their sons and grandsons..." As she spoke, she smiled again, her eyes narrowing into slits.

Tang Zhi sensed a dangerous aura from the slits in her eyes, feeling that this woman was about to get angry, so he quickly stopped talking.

He wasn't unaware of the Chen family's character; he was just unwilling and angry.

Now, he's already got his hands on her—his girlfriend Chen Nian, whom he'd discussed marriage with several times, just flew away; also, because Chen Nian funded the construction of their hometown while he only built his own house, the villagers have a lot of complaints about him.

He just couldn't understand it. What had he done wrong? He had worked hard to earn the money, and he could give it to whomever he wanted or not. Why were those villagers trying to morally blackmail him?

His questioning just now stemmed from his past habit of taking his anger out on Chen Nian. But now, Chen Nian was no longer the Chen Nian of the past. He fell silent, feeling saddened and short of breath.

He remembered that not long ago, Chen Nian was able to hold a senior management position in the company she worked for because of him; now, after getting rid of him, Chen Nian has become a partner of Tian's. Although he didn't know what project Chen Nian was working on, it sounded much more prestigious than her previous "senior management" status.

If he hadn't broken up with Chen Nian, would Chen Nian be working with him now? By the way, what kind of project is Chen Nian working on? He was very puzzled, but Chu Nian had just said she couldn't tell him, so he could only try to find out for himself and didn't want to ask anymore.

He felt it would be embarrassing to ask again and be rejected again.

He was furious! The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. How could Chen Nian, who was so sensible and considerate, have changed so much?

Lu Yaoyao suddenly realized what Chu Nian meant when she said that it was fortunate Chen Ma hadn't considered looking for her, otherwise her life would have been even worse. She suddenly felt a little sorry for Chu Nian: for the past twenty-odd years, she had only been extorted by Ms. Luo, but Chen Nian had been extorted by several members of the Chen family!

Tian Jun said, "Niannian, are you done eating? If you are, let's go!"

Chu Nian said, "Okay."

She already knew that Tian Jun had come, probably so that the reporter could capture the truth he had revealed. Although she felt that Tian Jun didn't need to get involved in this matter, she was still grateful to him, so her attitude towards him became better than ever before.

The two walked away as if no one else was around.