Xiao Wenqiang ran at full speed for more than five minutes, feeling extremely grateful for the decent physical condition of Zhu Qingyan's body. She slowed down and looked back, finding that the minibus and the people were no longer in sight. Only then did she gradually reduce her pace.
However, before she could catch her breath, she encountered two very similar forks in the road ahead. Xiao Wenqiang was bewildered, but there wasn't much time to confirm. She took a deep breath and quickly chose the right path, hoping for a stroke of luck.
Unfortunately, fate was not on her side. After running for another eight minutes, the path underfoot became increasingly rugged. It narrowed significantly, clearly unsuitable for vehicles. After careful consideration, Xiao Wenqiang decided to return.
Meanwhile, Aunt Zhang and the others, after noticing Xiao Wenqiang's escape, quickly contacted another contact person in their group, Ah Mao, to come with a small electric scooter. Since the bus wouldn't wait, Aunt Zhang first took the pregnant woman, Liu Feiyun, to the buyer's house. After Ah Mao arrived, he picked up Zhang Ju, who was familiar with the original owner's face, and chased after Xiao Wenqiang to the fork in the road. They decided to lie in wait there, like a hunter waiting for a rabbit to stumble into his trap.
Thus, when Xiao Wenqiang finally managed to run back to the fork, she was caught by Zhang Ju and Ah Mao, who had been waiting for her.
Ah Mao held Xiao Wenqiang tightly. Zhang Ju reached out to slap her, but Xiao Wenqiang dodged, and the blow landed on her arm. Zhang Ju continued to scold, "You little brat, why did you run? Come back with me quickly, your mother is worried sick!"
Ah Mao had already called Aunt Zhang, and soon Aunt Zhang arrived with Liu Feiyun and two other unfamiliar men in a car.
Once Xiao Wenqiang was pulled into the car, she knew her first escape plan had failed. Although she hadn't given up hope, she feigned a submissive demeanor.
"You little girl, why did you run? You've messed everything up when we were just going to visit relatives," Zhang Ju was still furious and squeezed her arm again.
Xiao Wenqiang flinched in pain, lowered her head, and murmured, "If I didn't run, Mom, were you and Grandma going to sell me?"
Liu Feiyun's face turned pale. "What did you hear?"
Zhang Ju glanced sideways at Liu Feiyun and patted Xiao Wenqiang's hand. "Don't listen to your mother's nonsense. We've found you a good husband's family, and you'll be enjoying a good life from now on!"
"Grandma, I'm still young, I don't want to get married, I want to go to school," Xiao Wenqiang said aggrievedly.
"Silly girl, what's so good about school! The most important thing for a woman in this life is to find a good husband's family, and then you can help your younger brother. You have such a great opportunity now, much better than those classmates who only spend the family's money!"
Zhang Ju spewed out her twisted logic. Unfortunately, Xiao Wenqiang was not as easily fooled as the original owner, who was a real child. Even though she was internally disgusted to the point of wanting to vomit, she still pretended to look at Liu Feiyun blankly and asked, "Mom, is that true?"
Liu Feiyun stammered a few times, then finally nodded. "Yanyan, just listen to your grandma. We wouldn't harm you."
As they spoke, they arrived at the mute old man's house. The old man's cloudy eyes emitted a disgusting, lecherous gleam as he saw the girl being brought to him. He repeatedly nodded and made satisfied "ah ah ah" sounds.
Aunt Zhang had a brief conversation with a man named Gou San who was guarding there. Then, she took out the agreed-upon thirty thousand yuan and gave it to Zhang Ju. "Sister, please count this money. We originally asked for an obedient girl. Yours ran away, causing us a lot of trouble. But since she's quite pretty, I won't deduct any money from you." She acted as if Zhang Ju and the others had gotten a great deal.
"Amu, didn't you tell Awen the dowry was one hundred thousand yuan? Why is it only thirty thousand now? And why is he a mute old man?" Liu Feiyun, standing beside her, looked at her mother-in-law in disbelief.
"One hundred thousand, one hundred thousand, do you think your girl is worth that much? Besides, what does it matter if he's mute? It will save us from arguing loudly with her in the future!" Zhang Ju lectured her daughter-in-law. She then glanced at the mute old man and whispered to him, "It's even better that he's old. To put it bluntly, when he dies, the remaining money will all be Yanyan's. And Yanyan's money will all be our Xiao Bao's?"
"But... Yanyan is still so young, and he's really ugly, and he looks older than Awen!" Liu Feiyun still found it hard to accept.
As an actress, it was Xiao Wenqiang's instinct to constantly observe her scene partners' reactions. She sensed Liu Feiyun's reluctance and quickly moved to hug her arm. "Mom, I don't want to marry him, please take me away. I can stop going to school, and I promise I'll work hard to support my brother in the future!"
Seeing this, Liu Feiyun couldn't bear it and muttered, "But Amu, we told Awen we were getting one hundred thousand yuan in betrothal gifts before we left. It will be hard to explain if we go back like this. Why don't we just forget it!"
Zhang Ju saw her daughter-in-law wavering again and finally revealed the truth. "To tell you the truth, Awen already knew it was only thirty thousand yuan. We said one hundred thousand only because we were afraid you'd be reluctant! I never expected you to come and see. If it weren't for the precious grandson of our Zhu family that you're carrying, I wouldn't indulge your whims!"
Liu Feiyun's eyes widened as she stared at her mother-in-law, tears almost falling. "You mean Awen knew all along? Impossible. Yanyan is his own flesh and blood, he wouldn't do this to her!"
"Xiao Yun, at this point, I can only tell you this secret." Zhang Ju looked at her daughter-in-law and dropped a bombshell: "This girl, she's actually not our Zhu family's biological child!"
"How is that possible! Yanyan is my child!" Liu Feiyun couldn't even cry anymore and stood there, stunned.
"How is it impossible? I'm the one who switched her!" Zhang Ju revealed the truth of the child swap from years ago. "Don't you remember? There was another woman in the same delivery room as you, and she also gave birth to a baby girl."
"But Amu, why did you switch my baby?"
"Why? It's because you were useless then! I was already unhappy to have a girl, and she didn't even cry much. Fortunately, I later heard the doctor whisper that she suspected some congenital problems, which would require expensive treatment. I figured she was just a debt collector from birth and would eventually be married off anyway. So, while no one was paying attention, I secretly swapped her with the baby from the next bed." Zhang Ju seemed a little proud.
Zhang Ju had intended to keep this secret until her death. However, this time, when Aunt Zhang found her and introduced such a good business opportunity, she told her son Zhu Wen about it.
Zhu Wen was initially shocked, but the person who did such a thing was his own mother! Thinking about the precious son he would soon have, did it even matter if this daughter was his biological child? Girls couldn't continue the family line! So, he hardened his heart and agreed to the plan of selling the original owner.
When Zhang Ju revealed this, Xiao Wenqiang was also stunned. In "The Perfect Life of the Fake Heiress," the original owner's switch was only mentioned in a single sentence. She never imagined the details would be so absurd. Zhang Ju's abhorrent preference for boys had started from the moment the original owner was born.
Liu Feiyun's reaction to hearing this was also peculiar. She stopped focusing on the fact that the child she had raised for over a decade was about to be married off to a mute old man. Instead, she kept pestering her mother-in-law, "Amu, what about the child I gave birth to? Where is she now? How is her health?"