The fifth piece of gossip: what gossip? Take five bites

The sight of Ye Zhipeng instantly brought a few words to Ye Mo's mind:

"Five percent of the shares."

Ye Mo's eyes lit up. "...Now that's my real dad!" No matter who came along, he was her real dad.

She immediately followed behind Ye Zhipeng and his wife. Seeing how eagerly she attended them, Ye Miao couldn't help letting out a very audible sneer.

Ye Mo: "..."

Don't get angry, don't get angry. No one can take your place if anger ruins your health. Don't get angry with an idiot.

Ye Mo silently repeated this to herself several times before she finally felt a little better.

[888! Help me check whether this third brother I got on the cheap has any gossip for me to feast on!] Ye Mo silently told 888, a trace of wicked amusement flashing across her face.

888: [On it!]

Ye Mo glanced at Ye Miao beside her and sneered inwardly. Hmph, Ye Miao, you'd better not let me get any dirt on you! Otherwise, I'll be sure to stomp on your sore spots a few extra times!

At that very moment, Ye Miao suddenly shivered.

He looked around in bewilderment, unsure why a chill had run through him... as though something bad was about to happen.

Everyone followed Ye Zhipeng and his wife into the living room and sat down. Once they were seated, the gazes of everyone present naturally settled on the Ye couple and Ye Mo.

Ye Zhipeng quietly studied Ye Mo and asked, "Secretary Chen should have explained the situation to you, right?"

"More or less." Ye Mo nodded. "He told me I'm the Ye family's daughter, but someone deliberately switched me with another child at birth and dumped me in a trash can at a train station in Y Province, a thousand miles away..."

Ye Zhipeng sighed. "That is indeed what happened. We only discovered this recently. Otherwise, we would have brought you home long ago, rather than leaving you out there to suffer for so many years."

He looked at Ye Mo with a hint of heartache in his eyes.

Unaccustomed to being looked at like that, Ye Mo scratched her cheek. "...It wasn't that bad. I didn't really suffer much. All the girls in the village grew up like that anyway."

She had simply been the same as the other village girls, with, at most, an additional adoptive father who liked to get violent when drunk.

"...What could she possibly have suffered?" Ye Miao said disdainfully. "She's so arrogant and overbearing. Who could make her suffer?"

Although Ye Mo thoroughly disliked Ye Miao, she couldn't help nodding in agreement at his words-a rare occasion when she and this idiot brother she'd gotten on the cheap shared the same opinion.

"Shut up!" Ye Zhipeng glared at Ye Miao and said in frustration, "You don't know anything, so stop spouting nonsense."

Unlike Ye Miao, who knew nothing, Ye Zhipeng had already read the investigation file on Ye Mo before coming downstairs, so he knew very well what she had endured over the years.

An abusive adoptive father, a cowardly adoptive mother who liked to hit and berate her... In middle school, she had earned admission to the best high school in their county with the highest score on the entrance exam, yet her adoptive parents had refused to let her attend.

Later, after Ye Mo became a celebrity and gained fame, her adoptive parents pestered her relentlessly, demanding money and repeatedly tearfully complaining to reporters about her "lack of filial piety." The couple had done more than their share to fan the flames of her current bad reputation-all because Ye Mo had not paid them "support money" after becoming a celebrity and earning money. They had said those things solely to destroy her.

Thinking of all this made Ye Zhipeng angry.

He had imagined many possibilities, including that his biological child might not have lived very well. But once he actually discovered the truth, as a father, he could not control the surging fury rising within him.

"...Are you really sure I'm your child?" Ye Mo suddenly asked, tilting her head slightly. "I don't want you to turn around later and tell me it was all a mistake."

888 immediately said, [Host, rest assured. 888 never gets its gossip wrong. You are absolutely the Ye family's child!]

Ye Mo replied, [Of course I know you wouldn't get it wrong. I'm just reacting the way a child who's been "found" ought to react.]

888 understood. [Is that so? Host, you're so smart.]

Ye Mo: "..." That counts as smart? Your definition of smart is pretty low for a system.

"Of course we can be certain of that!" Ye Zhipeng said, handing Ye Mo a report. "These are the DNA test results. When we saw what you looked like online, we suspected you were a member of the Ye family, so we used a few methods to get a DNA test done."

Naturally, they had already read the DNA test results long ago, which was why Ye Mo was sitting here now.

Ye Mo took the DNA report and briefly leafed through it, paying particular attention to the final results. When she saw the words confirming a parent-child relationship, she let out a soft breath.

"No issues on my end!" Ye Mo said, closing the report. "Then I only have one question now."

She looked at Ye Zhipeng and his wife. "Who switched me with Ye Baozhu back then, and who dumped me in the trash can at the train station in Y Province...?"

Apparently not expecting this to be her question, Ye Linquan and Ruan Xianyue both froze.

"This was my fault," Ye Linquan said heavily.

[I know this one!] 888 told Ye Mo loudly. [Host, you can ask me about this. 888 knows! To talk about this, we have to go back twenty-five years and start with the love and grudges between your biological parents...]

Ye Mo: The love and grudges between my biological parents??

Without realizing it, Ye Mo's gaze settled on Ye Zhipeng and his wife.

Just then, a servant of the Ye household approached Ye Mo and handed her the tea she had poured. "Miss Ye, your tea..."

[Host, look out!!! This servant is going to scald you to death with boiling water!!]

888 suddenly shouted inside Ye Mo's mind.

Chapter 5: The fifth piece of gossip: what gossip? Take five bites

Almost the instant she heard 888's shout, Ye Mo reflexively dodged to the side.

The next second, a cup of scalding water splashed onto the spot where she had been sitting. Steam billowed upward, giving off heat visible to the naked eye.

At the sight, the emotion in Ye Mo's eyes instantly turned cold.

"Ye Mo?!" Shen Yan, who was sitting beside Ye Mo, was startled and hurried to check her over to see whether she had been scalded.

"Ah! Miss Ye, I'm so sorry!" The servant who had made the "mistake"

immediately apologized to Ye Mo over and over, her face filled with deep remorse. "I really didn't do it on purpose!"

[She did do it on purpose!] 888 shouted angrily inside Ye Mo's mind. [She's close to Ye Baozhu, so she wanted to teach you a lesson, Host. She deliberately aimed that cup of water at your head!]

Ye Zhipeng abruptly stood. "Sister Wu, what are you doing?"

"Sir, I didn't do it on purpose!" the servant called Sister Wu explained to Ye Zhipeng, then turned to Ruan Xianyue. "Madam, believe me. It really was an accident!"

Ruan Xianyue reassured her, "Sister Wu, we know you didn't do it on purpose..."

Frowning, Ye Zhipeng had already walked over to Ye Mo. He looked at her with concern and asked, "Ye Mo, are you all right?"

Ruan Xianyue followed close behind him and was now looking at Ye Mo as well.

"..." With everyone watching her, Ye Mo blinked, then nodded emphatically and declared with ringing conviction, "No!"

Her tone was grave. "Something is terribly wrong inside my heart."

Everyone, who had never imagined she would answer like that: "???"

"Inside your heart," Ruan Xianyue asked hesitantly, "what's terribly wrong?"

Ye Mo said, "I'm a timid person. When I get frightened, I exhibit all sorts of uncontrollable stress responses. For example, right now..."

As she spoke, she snatched up the cup Shen Yan had placed on the coffee table, raised her hand, and poured the entire cup of water straight over Sister Wu's head.