Mrs. Ji's Discovery

Chu Xiyue asked in return, "Why would I lie?"

Chu Xiyue had indeed not lied. Not long after Ji Guowei returned with Mrs. Ji, he used company business as an excuse to leave and meet Qiu Baizhen.

Chu Xiyue could have directly revealed what she knew, but she knew Mrs. Ji would not believe a single word she said. Some things could only be investigated after Mrs. Ji grew suspicious.

After planting the seed of doubt in Mrs. Ji's mind, Chu Xiyue bid her farewell and left the Ji residence.

Mo Xiang went upstairs. Mrs. Ji sat in the living room for a while longer before Ji Peng and Ji Guowei returned together, chatting and laughing like father and son. But when they saw Mrs. Ji in the living room, the cheerful atmosphere between them stiffened slightly.

In the past, Mrs. Ji would never have noticed such a subtle change. But today, she was especially sensitive. Looking at them and recalling Chu Xiyue's words, she asked, "Old Ji, didn't you say you were going to the company? Why did you come back together?"

"We ran into each other on the way," Ji Guowei said, his hands clasped behind his back and his face stern. "Xiaopeng, come to the study with me. We'll continue discussing that plot of land south of the city."

Mrs. Ji watched Ji Guowei and Ji Peng go upstairs, Ji Peng's little movement from earlier resurfacing in her mind.

As his mother, she knew all of Ji Peng's little habits. When she had questioned them just now, his index finger had scratched at his thumbnail. Wasn't that what he always did when he felt guilty?

It seemed he and Ji Guowei really had gone to see Qiu Baizhen. But why had Ji Peng felt guilty?

Unable to make sense of it, Mrs. Ji thought it over, then called a private investigator she had worked with before.

"Help me find out who Ji Peng and Ji Guowei met tonight." She paused, then added, "Also, find a way to bring me the original copies of Ji Peng's medical examination reports from the past few years."

Mrs. Ji's Discovery

Chu Xiyue learned from the system that Mrs. Ji had contacted a private investigator.

For now, Mrs. Ji had not considered the possibility that Ji Peng was not her biological son. After all, no one would suspect for no reason that the child she had carried for ten months and given birth to was not hers, that her baby had been switched at birth.

The Ji father and son had no idea that Mrs. Ji had begun to suspect them. They had hidden the truth from her for so many years that they had long since let down their guard.

Two days later, Mrs. Ji received the private investigator's findings.

On the night of the cocktail party, Ji Peng, Ji Guowei, and Qiu Baizhen had indeed been together. Chu Xiyue's description that day had not been exaggerated. The private investigator obtained surveillance footage from nearby, and the atmosphere between the three of them was unexpectedly harmonious—as though they were a family of three.

A family of three?

Mrs. Ji shook her head and cast aside the absurd thought. Yet as she looked at the harmonious scene between those three, she still felt uncomfortable.

Her husband keeping a mistress outside no longer stirred any emotions in Mrs. Ji. But Ji Peng was different. Ji Peng was her son—why was he chatting and laughing with his father's mistress?

Mrs. Ji wanted to get to the bottom of it, but just before speaking, she felt that pressing the matter would make it seem as though she cared too much about Qiu Baizhen, that mistress.

After mulling it over, Mrs. Ji ultimately did not ask.

Mrs. Ji was very unhappy. In the past, whenever she was unhappy, she tormented Mo Xiang. But now she had an issue with her son Ji Peng, and Ji Peng was the one making her uncomfortable, so this time, she put all her effort into tormenting him.

The system described just how lively things had been at the Ji residence these past few days: [Mrs. Ji truly has a knack for tormenting people. Early yesterday morning, she dragged Ji Peng out of bed and made him prepare breakfast for the whole family. The moment Ji Peng showed even the slightest reluctance, Mrs. Ji tore into him.]

[At noon, Ji Peng was working from home when Mrs. Ji ordered him to turn over the entire lawn in the garden. He wasn't allowed to use any machinery—he had to dig the soil by hand with a hoe. It nearly broke his back, and his hands were rubbed raw with blisters. But Ji Peng didn't dare stop, because the instant he did, he would be scolded.]

[Even at night, Ji Peng could not rest. Mrs. Ji summoned him to make dinner. Since his cooking was terrible, he was scolded again. In the end, Mrs. Ji and Mo Xiang ate the dinner prepared by the chef, while Ji Peng ate the awful food he had cooked himself. Mrs. Ji's mouth barely stopped the entire day. Ji Peng was physically and mentally exhausted, but he did not dare voice a single complaint. Otherwise, Mrs. Ji would point at his nose and accuse him of being unfilial, then have the company's directors kick him out of the company.]

Ji Group had been founded by Mrs. Ji and her husband together. Although Mrs. Ji had long since withdrawn from managing the company, she still held some of its shares. Moreover, many of the current shareholders had close ties with her. Saying she could kick Ji Peng out of the company was not an empty threat—she really could do it.

Chu Xiyue was thoroughly enlightened. Mrs. Ji truly deserved the system's designation as a vicious mother-in-law; she really had a talent for tormenting people. It seemed that merely verbally mocking Mo Xiang before had been Mrs. Ji going easy on her.

After being tormented by Mrs. Ji for two days, Ji Peng finally escaped on the third day by pretending to be sick. Because he felt guilty, he did not dare ask why Mrs. Ji had been acting so abnormally these past few days.

After Ji Peng "recovered," he found an opportunity to visit his biological mother, Qiu Baizhen. When Qiu Baizhen saw the wounds on Ji Peng's hands, she was heartbroken.

As she applied medicine to his wounds, she cursed, "How could that old hag torment you like this? Did she take the wrong medicine?"

Thinking of Mrs. Ji's constant scowls toward him over the past few days, as well as the several times she had seemed about to say something but held back, Ji Peng's earlier doubts surfaced again. "Mom, do you think she knows something?"

"Impossible!" Qiu Baizhen had fought Mrs. Ji for most of her life and understood her better than anyone. "If she knew about your background, she couldn't possibly be this calm. She's probably hit menopause and feels uncomfortable unless she's tormenting someone."

"Just put up with her for now. Once you get the shares in her hands in a couple of years and take control of Ji Group, you won't need to curry favor with her anymore."

Rankings

Transmigrated into a Book

Entertainment Industry

Female Supporting Character Stories

Time Travel and Rebirth Romance

Tu Yanyan

Cannon Fodder