"Cough, cough, cough..." Stunned by the shocking truth, Father Du choked and instinctively called out, "An'an..."
Du Anrao looked at him, puzzled and full of concern: "Dad, are you okay?"
"I... I'm fine." Father Du's face was deathly pale. He looked at Bai Xiuqing with a level of severity and suspicion that hadn't been there before.
If he had still held a shred of sympathy for Bai Xiuqing before, now that he knew the truth, he had absolutely no extra patience left. He was even tempted to clean house on behalf of his late, dear friend.
Bai Xiuqing had finished her performance and was intentionally moving slowly, waiting for the couple to compromise and ask her to stay. To her surprise, after waiting for a long time, neither of them made a sound.
Just as she found herself in an awkward dilemma, a figure appeared at the door.
"Junyan?"
"Brother Junyan!"
"Who are you?" Du Junyan cast a cold, indifferent glance at Bai Xiuqing, seemingly failing to recognize her.
Du Anrao worried that this was a corrective deviation from the plot—after all, in the original book, Du Junyan never appeared at this point in the story.
[Why did Big Brother come back at a time like this? What if he believes Bai Xiuqing's lies and acknowledges the child? Wouldn't all our previous efforts be for nothing?]
Mother Du felt a jolt of panic and quickly stepped forward, blocking the space between the two. "This is your Uncle Bai's daughter, she just returned from abroad. Why are you home so early? Don't you have to work?"
"I just went to the police station. Since there was nothing else to do, I came back."
"The police station? What happened?"
Everyone present was startled, and Du Anrao pricked up her ears immediately.
The original book hadn't mentioned this. Did something else happen to trigger a butterfly effect?
"It's nothing, just assisting with an investigation. Last month, when I was on a business trip in City C, someone maliciously installed cameras in my hotel room. They've caught the person now, and the police asked me to come in and give a statement. After all, I am one of the victims."
"What? There were cameras in the hotel room?" Mother Du was shocked, then, as if realizing something, she asked, "What about the recorded footage..."
"They just sent it to me. I haven't had a chance to look at it yet."
As soon as these words were spoken, the living room went deathly silent.
A moment later, a joyous, high-pitched, screeching explosion of thought echoed in the ears of the Du family members.
[Hahahaha, you idiots! There were cameras in the room! How are you going to explain this now? Even in myths, Fuxi’s mother had to step in a giant footprint to conceive him, yet you two managed to create a human life without even holding hands? Was it because you were breathing the same air in that room? Wow, what kind of unknown, high-end, dark technology is this? Advanced, truly advanced!]
The Du family listened to the sarcasm and gloating in Du Anrao's internal monologue; the corners of their mouths couldn't stop twitching upward, yet they had to force them flat.
"It's good that you got it back. It involves your privacy, after all. Even though we haven't done anything wrong, we don't like having our affairs broadcast to the world."
As Mother Du said this, she shot a meaningful glance at Bai Xiuqing—only to see her swaying as if about to collapse.
To be precise, she was falling straight toward Du Junyan. A normal person might have instinctively reached out to catch her, but this Du eldest brother was a unique character.
The moment she fell toward him, he retreated a large, disgusted step.
Bai Xiuqing failed to throw herself into his arms and instead tumbled directly to the floor. She rolled her eyes back and fainted.
Father and Mother Du’s faces went pale—not out of concern for her, but out of fear that if she or the baby really suffered any harm, their family would be completely blackmailed.
Du Anrao hid behind them, looking from one to the other with the look of a spectator eager to watch the chaos unfold.
[Pfft, hahaha! Big Brother, you actually stepped back? Are you serious? And didn't this heroine just say she was leaving? How did she faint just like that? Could she be faking it?]
Faking it? The hand Mother Du had extended paused, and she quickly regained her composure, shouting, "Xiuqing, what happened? Quick, call an ambulance and get her to First People's Hospital!"
This shout perfectly triggered the keyword. Bai Xiuqing realized that faking a faint was a poor move, so she hurriedly "woke up."
"I... I'm fine. It's just low blood sugar. I'll be okay in a moment."
Du Anrao looked at her with an indescribable expression, her disdain undisguised.
[I knew she was faking it. To try and fake a faint with acting skills like that? My eyes hurt.]
The three Du family members: "..."
Bai Xiuqing sat there holding her forehead for a while, only to realize that no one was reaching out to help her.
She had to awkwardly pull her hand back and use the nearby table to slowly pull herself up.
"Are you really okay? You fainted—you should really go to the hospital for a check-up."
At the mention of a "check-up," Bai Xiuqing got a headache. Especially when she realized that even after she fainted, Du Junyan hadn't even looked at her properly. A flash of ferocity crossed her face.
"I'm fine, I've recovered now. I just remembered I have an appointment at the cemetery this afternoon to visit my parents. I'm running late, so I won't disturb you any longer. I'll visit again another time."
With that, she stopped lingering and ran off as if the ground were on fire, her bag in hand, as if she were being chased by a dog.
Du Anrao watched Bai Xiuqing’s retreating back with a touch of regret and shook her head.
[Scared off already? This heroine’s mental fortitude doesn't seem very strong.]
The Du family found it both annoying and funny. They thought to themselves that it was a good thing her mental fortitude was weak, otherwise, they didn't know how they would have been morally blackmailed.
"Sorry about that, An'an. You just got back and you're already running into such a mess." Mother Du said, glaring at Du Junyan.
Du Junyan, feeling like he had been caught in the crossfire for no reason: "..."
"It’s fine, it’s fine. Every family has its share of strange friends and relatives. But I think this whole thing might not actually have much to do with Big Brother. That Miss Bai's story has quite a few holes in it."
Du Anrao said this to test the family's attitude. In the original book, the reason Bai Xiuqing could so easily deceive the Du family was not just because she had help in the hospital, but also because of their guilt toward her late parents and their trust in her character.
Unfortunately, parents are parents, and children are children.
Some children make their parents proud, while others leave their parents’ reputations in ruins, unable to rest even in death.
Seeing Du Anrao take the initiative to stand up for her eldest son, Mother Du felt both moved and emotional: "We know. We just didn't expect that child to turn out like this."
Du Anrao remained silent, but her internal monologue didn't hold back at all.
[There’s so much you don't know! A normal person goes to take revenge on their enemy, but they end up in their enemy's bed? And this woman is notorious for being a love-struck disaster. She registers the child with Big Brother, and the next thing you know, the baby's real father—a criminal with a rap sheet a mile long—shows up to bring our family to ruin. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you.]
The three Du family members: !