Chapter 195 - 183: Back to Respective Homes
Chapter 195: Chapter 183: Back to Respective Homes
When Mo Guoqiang and Liu Fengying walked in, Tang Yaxuan immediately stopped crying and coughing. She shrank into Wu Xiaowen’s arms, not making a sound.
The commune’s militia battalion commander had come in person, bringing not only Mo Guoqiang and his wife but also Mo Laoer and his wife. The two families shared a courtyard and were familiar with each other’s lives, so everyone needed to be questioned. Besides, Mo Laoer’s daughter, Mo Xiaosu, had been part of a hooligan gang that plotted a roadside robbery. She should have been arrested and taken to the commune, but Mo Laoer had beaten her unconscious, so she was temporarily spared.
The group sat on low stools, and the questioning began with Mo Guoqiang and his wife. It was like a courtroom interrogation, led by two stern-faced public security officers. Mo Guoqiang and Liu Fengying were so intimidated they didn’t dare lift their heads, meekly answering every question. The dates and details of their trip to Wancheng Hospital, the birth, and how they took the wrong baby home all matched the hospital’s records. With Tang Qingyun and Wu Xiaowen present to corroborate their statements, everything was confirmed to be accurate. The questioning then turned to how they raised the child, specifically addressing the public’s reports of abuse. Mo Guoqiang and Liu Fengying tried to offer a few excuses, but they wilted under the officers’ sharp questioning. With the crowd outside shouting accusations and confirming their misdeeds, the couple had no choice but to confess. They admitted to abusing Xiao Man from a young age and persecuting her, hoping to ruin her. Their motive was to prevent Xiao Man from ever returning to her biological parents, which would force their own daughter to come back to the countryside and live a hard life.
Although most of the villagers outside already knew Xiao Man was abused, hearing Mo Guoqiang and Liu Fengying confess in person still filled them with outrage. They began shouting and cursing, "How could our village produce such scum, worse than animals? And they call themselves parents?" Someone even picked up clods of dirt and rocks and threw them inside, hitting Mo Guoqiang and his wife. Secretary Mo stood up and worked with the militia to maintain order.
But no one mentioned the imposter Mo Xiaoman, and Mo Guoqiang and his wife didn’t bring her up either.
Xiao Man sneered inwardly. ’The only reason an imposter Mo Xiaoman showed up in the first place is because Tang Qingyun and Wu Xiaowen were such hypocritical fools. It gave Liu Fengying and Tang Yaxuan the perfect opening to exploit. The biological mother and daughter colluded, one on the inside and one on the out, and ran them in circles. Just like in my previous life, they were ready to bleed them dry for a lifetime, while the Tangs would have just kept giving, happy and willing to the very end!’
’They must be avoiding this topic on purpose. They have to protect Tang Qingyun and Wu Xiaowen’s reputation. After all, they can’t have people thinking they’re so foolish they were outsmarted by a couple from the countryside!’
Perhaps even Grandpa and Grandma Tang had tacitly approved of this. Xiao Man decided not to pursue it, but she was one of the main parties involved and had the right to voice her opinion. So, she raised her right hand high.
The people at the long table saw her. Mr. Ye said, "Young lady, if you have a question, you may ask it."
Xiao Man stood up. "I’d like to ask: in what year did Mo Guoqiang, Liu Fengying, and Tang Yaxuan first connect? On average, how many times a year did they meet? What did they talk about? Did Mr. and Mrs. Tang know about any of this? Also, when did Mr. and Mrs. Tang find out the babies had been switched? Why didn’t they immediately try to find me and switch us back? These are very important, critical questions. Why aren’t they being brought out into the open?"
The room fell silent. Tang Qingyun kept his head down, pretending to be studying the official record. Wu Xiaowen’s face went white as she clutched Tang Yaxuan tighter.
Mr. Ye cleared his throat. "That is indeed an important question. Let’s discuss it later, shall we?"
Secretary Mo tried to smooth things over, speaking as an elder. "Xiao Man, you’re still a child, a junior. You shouldn’t speak and act like a grown-up. What is this ’Mr. and Mrs. Tang’? Even if nothing is decided yet, you can start by calling them Dad Tang and Mrs. Tang. And you shouldn’t call Mo Guoqiang and Liu Fengying by their full names either. No matter what, they raised you until you were ten. They gave you your name, and you drank Liu Fengying’s milk..."
Xiao Man replied, "Secretary Mo, by your logic, should I be thanking them? You heard the testimony just now: neither mother was producing milk right after giving birth, so the Tang family hired a wet nurse. It was Liu Fengying who, envious that another baby had milk to drink, took her own child over to beg for a few sips. One time wasn’t enough, so she went again, and that’s when the switch happened! If they hadn’t mistakenly brought me back to Gongdao Village, would I have been in their house for them to raise? They abused me like that, wished I were dead! They don’t deserve to be called my elders, and they don’t deserve my respect!"
Hearing this, Secretary Mo sighed, at a loss for words.
Grandma, who had been sitting quietly the whole time, stood up. "I’m Xiao Man’s grandma," she said, "and I have something to say. No matter where Xiao Man ends up, her grandpa and I will always love her and worry about her! And one more thing, Xiao Man never drank a drop of Liu Fengying’s milk as a baby! Back then, during the hottest part of summer, Liu Fengying had a huge boil on her leg. She moaned and groaned all day as if she were dying and was in no state to care for a child. Her milk never came in, and the baby was always crying from hunger. During the first month after the birth, an aunt from Liu Fengying’s side of the family came to help for a few days. After she left, I, a half-blind old woman, was the one who looked after the child. Every day, I had to carry her around the village to find someone to nurse her. You can ask Zhen Ma, Yao Ma, and Mrs. Yong—they all fed her many times. When I brought her back, I would feed her rice water I’d prepared. And as for her name, Mo Xiaoman, I was the one who gave it to her!"