Chapter 40
The next day, when the paparazzi came to find Xu Gui with their equipment, they noticed that she had a child with her, and the child looked somewhat familiar.
No, he looks very familiar.
"...This child, isn't she the same one from yesterday?" The paparazzi looked at Xu Gui with surprise and confusion. "How did she end up here?" And she even looked like she had already spent the night in Xu Gui's room.
"Oh, that?" Xu Gui said casually and calmly, "Because something happened, she slept at my place last night."
The person filming said: "...I suspect you've kidnapped someone else's child."
The person filming had the illusion that even though only one night had passed, he had missed a year's worth of information. He was curious about how the child ended up with Xu Gui, but seeing that Xu Gui didn't seem to want to explain, he didn't ask any further questions.
Actually, Xu Gui originally wanted to ask the old lady to take care of Zhao Di, but perhaps because the old lady's stern image last night had left a deep impression, Zhao Di became somewhat timid and afraid when she saw her.
Therefore, under the old woman's disappointed, dejected, and even somewhat resentful gaze, she could only continue to keep Zhao Di by her side and have her follow her.
However, around noon, the two policemen from last night arrived.
When Xu Gui received the call, he was having dinner at the landlady's house with Zhao Di. The landlady and her friend were sitting next to him, chatting animatedly about Aunt Tuanzi's family.
Wu Xueya's school was not far from the restaurant owned by the landlady. The farce that day had spread far and wide in their area. It was truly shocking that Grandma Bi and her sister-in-law took the child away and lied to his wife that the child was lost. Most people would not do such a thing.
So for a while now, the topic of conversation after meals in the area has been all about Aunt Tuanzi's family.
However, as more people discussed it, the story was passed around and changed, eventually becoming quite absurd.
"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 heard, speaking with absolute certainty. "As a mother myself, I can't stand hearing this kind of thing."
"...It's clearly thirteen years." The proprietress corrected. She had been following Xu Gui's live stream, and later she even asked her son to find the replay for her. She knew the whole story.
The proprietress'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..."
As Xu Gui watched the landlady's friend talk on and on, he couldn't help but wonder: Was the landlady's friend just trying to scold the Wu family?
Zhao Di was shoveling rice into her bowl while listening intently to the elders' gossip, 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 and told them her address. After hanging up, she looked up at Zhao Di and saw that the child, who had been so happy and energetic just moments before, had now wilted and even seemed to have lost her appetite for the food in her hand.
Xu Gui didn't say anything, but simply reached out and gently touched her head.
The police arrived shortly after, accompanied by a man and a woman, a middle-aged couple. Upon seeing Zhao Di, the two said nothing. The woman darted forward and slapped Zhao Di across the face.
"Smack!"
The middle-aged woman clearly didn't hold back with that slap; Zhao Di's face was turned to the side by the blow, and her cheek instantly turned red.
"Hey!" The two policemen's expressions changed, and they hesitated to speak.
Upon seeing this scene, Xu Gui's expression 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 more trouble!"
"If you're so capable, then don't come back after you leave. Just die out there!"
The woman was cursing and swearing, and her pretty face looked mean and sharp.
"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 yelled at the woman, "Are you sick? If you're disciplining a child, just discipline the child. Why hit someone? Can't you talk things out?"
Facing the proprietress, the woman's face was full of smiles. She said, "Sister, you have no idea how troublesome this child is. Tell me, we haven't let her lack food or drink for a single day, and she's still run away from home! Tell me, how can we not teach her a good lesson?"
The proprietress touched Zhao Di's flushed cheeks and said with heartache, "Even so, you can't hit the child like that. You've really gone too far this time."
Woman: "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 pity. Instead, she showed some impatience. She took a step over, grabbed Zhao Di's hand, and roughly pulled her over.
"Cry, cry, cry! You still have the nerve to cry? I'm not dead yet, are you wailing here?" the woman scolded irritably, pinching Zhao Di's hand hard. "Alright, stop causing trouble for others and come back with us."
Beside her, a middle-aged man took out two cigarettes from his cigarette case and offered them to the two policemen. When they waved them away, he smiled apologetically and said, "Officers, I'm so sorry. My child is so immature and has caused you trouble! Don't worry, we'll teach her a lesson when we get back, and she'll never dare to do it again."
Neither of the two policemen looked at Zhao Di. Zhao Di didn't say anything, but tears kept flowing silently down her face. As she cried, she kept shaking her head, her refusal was very obvious.
“When disciplining a child, a few words are enough,” the police officer said, disapprovingly adding, “The kind of violent discipline we just did is absolutely unacceptable, understand?”
The man hurriedly said, "Yes, yes, the police officer is right. The child's mother was really anxious this time. You don't know, last night when we found out the child was missing, the child's mother was so scared that she almost lost her soul. Now that she has seen the child, she is really too anxious and angry!"
The police officer smiled politely, but inwardly he couldn't help thinking: You didn't seem to notice at all that you were in such a hurry.
If they were really in a hurry, why didn't they call the police after a whole night? In fact, when they went to look for them, the couple were still at work as usual, and even the people around their house didn't know that Zhao Di had run away from home.
No matter how you look at it, you can't tell that they're that anxious about their child running away from home.
Over there, the woman was pulling on Zhao Di's arm with such force that the proprietress next to her was afraid she would dislocate the child's shoulder, and couldn't help but keep shouting, "Gently, gently, pull gently..."
"Alright, stop causing trouble for others and 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 and calmly dropped a bombshell: "Because I suspect that Zhao Di is not your child, but someone you kidnapped."
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.
When the woman came to her senses and saw this scene, she was furious. Pointing at Zhao Di, she said, "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 for a moment, then he looked at the police officer and laughed, "Look at this kid, he talks like a child!"
The woman's expression was rather unpleasant. She reached out to grab Zhao Di again, but an arm stretched out and blocked her way.
The woman turned her head slightly, looking at Xu Gui's young and beautiful face. A flash of anger and irritation crossed her eyes. She couldn't help but say, "What exactly do you want to do? What business is it of yours if I'm disciplining my own child?"
Xu Gui slightly raised her chin, her expression arrogant, and said in a cold voice, "Didn't I say that I suspect you are not Zhao Di's biological parents, and that you abducted her..."
She looked at the two police officers and said earnestly, "Officers, I'm reporting these two people now. They are suspected of being child traffickers!"
Upon hearing Xu Gui's words, the reactions of the people present varied. The proprietress and her group 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, raising his bulging biceps and looking coldly at the other man, asking, "What do you want to do?"
It has to be said that the biceps are incredibly threatening. The middle-aged man, who was full of anger, suddenly froze when he saw the extremely intimidating biceps on the arm of the person filming him. He stood there, motionless.
...I dared not move.
Xu Gui peeked out from behind the camera and whispered, "You're reacting so strongly 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 looking at them with suspicion, 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 our hometown can all testify to this. If you don't believe me, you can go and ask the people in our hometown."
"Really?" Xu Gui smiled. "In that case, you wouldn't mind getting a paternity test with Zhao Di, would you? With technology so advanced these days, whether you and Zhao Di are related by blood or not can be determined with a paternity test, and everything will be clear."
Zhao Di's parents were stunned, their faces showing signs of panic.
"Why should we do a paternity test with you?" the middle-aged woman said in a panic. "Who are you? You say we have to do a paternity test, and we have to? Why should we?"
The middle-aged man said, "Officer, this woman's words are all slander! Don't believe her."
However, the police, observing their reactions, keenly sensed something was amiss—were their reactions a bit excessive? Their gazes immediately sharpened, making the two men sweat profusely and cold sweat drip down their backs.
"Zhao Di, of course, of course she's my daughter. I'm her mother, don't I know that?" The middle-aged woman was sweating profusely, but she still stubbornly insisted.
The police officer asked her seriously, "Are you sure this child is really your biological child? You need to understand that 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 could lead to a lawsuit."
Zhao Di's parents: "..."
Under the sharp, stern gazes of the police officers, 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 we didn't abduct her either; we found her!"
Fearing the police wouldn't believe her, she quickly explained, "It's true, we really found her, she was on the bench in the hospital."
This happened twelve years ago.
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