Chapter 293: Chapter 293: This World is a Bond
“What is this? Some kind of secret…” Jiang Yunchuan muttered, grabbing the document first to take a look.
He glanced at it and was so startled that he threw the folder back onto the table, exclaiming, “Shit! Is this for real?”
Jiang Zhouye was startled by his reaction, frowning in discontent and looking at him, “What are you freaking out about? You scared me.”
He picked it up and his calm expression changed dramatically, rubbing his eyes in disbelief, “Is… is this true?”
Jian Hemian only then realized the seriousness of the issue, snatching the document from Jiang Zhouye’s hands. He skimmed through it rapidly, his frown deepening as he reached the end before letting out a sigh, “This is seriously messed up.”
Jiang Jingcheng leaned in next to Jian Hemian, looking down at the document, “The Song Family and the Chu Family? How did they get mixed up together?”
Jiang Yisen exhaled a cloud of smoke slowly, a cold light flashing in his narrowed eyes, “I’m also curious. The Song Family and the Chu Family, two families that never crossed paths, are somehow related to Nannan’s disappearance. The things Dad asked me to investigate are almost all in here. We might not be able to let the Song Family go.”
Jiang Jingcheng, clenching the document, was overcome with gloom, “How could they do something like drowning a child and then replacing her with another? What about the nurse who took Nannan away? Have you found her?”
“Mmm, I looked for a while. She was hiding in a village up north, thinking I couldn’t find her after changing her name. I threatened her using her grandson’s life, and then she spilled everything,” Jiang Yisen said slowly. “Dad and Mom don’t know about this, neither do Nannan and Yiyi. Only the few of us know.”
Jiang Yunchuan, ever impatient, clenched his teeth in anger, “Then let’s go tell Mom now, let her see the Song Family’s true face. She was so looking forward to the birth of her sister, if she knew the disappearance was manipulated by the Song Family, she would never forgive them!”
Jiang Zhouye quickly restrained him, “What’s the rush? Big brother said only we know about this. If he wanted to tell our parents, why would he keep it a secret until now?”
Jiang Yunchuan calmed down and looked at Jiang Yisen, “Big brother, what do you mean by this?”
“Heh,” Jiang Yisen uttered a light scoff, “As long as it involves the Song Family, she will defend them. Mom doesn’t even believe in Nannan’s heart of hearts, do you think she will believe me? She might even think I fabricated these pieces of evidence deliberately to take down her maternal home.”
“She won’t reflect that her own family did wrong, but will blame Nannan even more. Because of Nannan’s actions, we investigated the Song Family, and when the Song Family falls, she will put all the blame on Nannan’s head.”
Jiang Yunchuan also thought of Mrs. Jiang’s nature, seemingly easygoing but inherently proud.
She derived a sense of superiority by comparing her lineage, her in-laws, and the children she raised with others, satisfying her vanity.
She compared her own happy family with the unhappiness of others.
She had loving parents and two brothers, nieces, and nephews who respected her.
A husband who revered her, and filial sons and daughters.
Living in a wealthy household.
Who wouldn’t express envy on meeting her?
Jiang Yunchuan remained silent for a long while before looking at his brothers, “What do we do now? It’s not just Nannan’s misfortune that our grandfather caused, but a misfortune for the entire Jiang Family. Le Yi is innocent as well; she doesn’t know anything.”
They had seen Jiang Leyi when she was just a babe in arms.
When they heard that the child was going to be a sister, the brothers had been looking forward to it for a long time.
So, they were particularly fond of Jiang Leyi because she was the only girl in the Jiang family.
But who could have expected that all this was just a huge blunder?
Jiang Yisen smirked, “I also found something interesting. Back then, they wanted to bring in a girl, but that child wasn’t Leyi, it was Chu Muxi.”
“What?” Jiang Yunchuan was shocked.
The expressions of the others grew solemn.
Jiang Hemian kept a straight face, “What’s this all about?”
“I asked that nurse. At that time, it was our grandfather who bribed her using someone else’s identity to give her instructions anonymously. After Mom gave birth, she was too weak, so the baby was taken to the incubator. Since the baby had just been born, you couldn’t really tell what she looked like. Dad glanced at her a few times, and fearing Nannan would get sick from being outside too long, he hurried the nurse to send her away.”
“Actually, the nurse carried Nannan away from the back of the hospital, all just to create the illusion that the newborn had died shortly after birth. Do you still remember where we were that day?”
Jiang Yunchuan’s eyes were bewildered.
Because he was barely over two years old when Jiang Nanshu was born, he didn’t have any memory of it.
Jiang Zhouye, however, remembered it a bit clearer.
He frowned, “I remember grandpa took all of us brothers to the Song Family. They wouldn’t let us go to the hospital to see Mom and the sister. They said they were afraid we would cause trouble, and they looked after us until the next day. So the sister Mom brought back the next day had already become Leyi?”
“Mhm, Leyi. The nurse said that after she threw Nanshu into the ditch, she carried a dead baby back to the hospital to put in Nanshu’s incubator. But when she arrived, there was already a girl in Nanshu’s incubator. Before she could do anything, Dad came with the doctor. And so, Leyi ended up with our family, while the dead baby in the nurse’s hands… was the daughter of Nanshu’s foster mother, a poor child who had lost her breath not long after being born,” Jiang Yisen narrated fluidly.
It seemed that
The Ji couple had lost their daughter.
So, on their way back, they found Jiang Nanshu, who was on her last breath, in a ditch, and Leyi’s arrival happened to stop the Chu family’s attempt to push Chu Muxi into the picture, maintaining a delicate balance.
“No wonder! Every time Yiyi attended a family banquet at the Song family, our grandfather looked at her coldly, and a few times she secretly cried and asked me if it was because she wasn’t studious enough that grandpa didn’t like her, so he knew from the beginning that Leyi wasn’t the Jiang family’s daughter!” Jiang Yunchuan’s eyes nearly spat fire.
He disliked Leyi, the fake heiress, and resented Jiang Nanshu, the real heiress who was brought back from the countryside.
It turned out he didn’t just dislike them, he had swapped for someone he didn’t intend to!
Jiang Jingcheng reflected for a moment before finally saying with a cold face, “So, grandpa’s plan was probably to make Mom experience the pain of losing a daughter, and then let the young Chu Muxi accompany Mom? They would mediate in the middle, getting Mom to agree to acknowledge Chu Muxi as her goddaughter? This way, Jiang Chu would be one family, and the Jiang family’s rise would also promote the development of the Chu and Song families…”
The more Jiang Jingcheng spoke, the more he felt this logic was correct.
Otherwise, Chu Muxi was over two years old at that time; she couldn’t possibly pose as a newborn. They could only establish a godparent relationship, allowing her to comfort Mrs. Jiang’s sorrow over losing a daughter.
He lifted his head, his eyes calm, “One thing is very strange. Why would our grandfather want to help Chu Xin, an outsider? Plotting against his own daughter, doesn’t that seem odd?”