Be Careful, Scum Dad! Mommy Is Back!
Chapter 377: It’s Not the Former Subordinates of the Chu Family, It’s You!

Chapter 377: Chapter 377: It’s Not the Former Subordinates of the Chu Family, It’s You!

Chu Yan was already pregnant with Shang Qing’s child when she left him.

If she hadn’t accidentally discovered the truth he was hiding, what awaited her would have been a grand wedding.

Shang Qing had long known he had a daughter.

Lu Xining would never believe that someone as meticulous as him wouldn’t arrange a paternity test after meeting his biological daughter.

When he publicly announced the return of his daughter, it meant that Shang Yueling had successfully passed the paternity test. Back when Lu Xining first heard the news, she thought Shang Yueling was Shang Qing’s daughter with another woman and didn’t give it much thought.

But later, she overheard that Shang Yueling’s mother was Chu Yan, the eldest daughter of the Chu Family who had vanished for over twenty years, and an uncontrollable fury welled up within her.

Her mother only ever had one daughter — Xining herself — and she knew this better than anyone.

Moreover, her mother had always hated any entanglements with the Shang Family.

From childhood, she’d heard one consistent warning: never set foot in Beicheng.

Because the demons living there would devour her life.

The matter of Shang Yueling impersonating another identity—how much of this deceit originated from Shang Lvxing? Lu Xining didn’t have the time to investigate thoroughly. But what he absolutely shouldn’t have done was bring Shang Qing in front of her.

"You’re not going to tell me that Shang Yueling impersonating my mother’s daughter was also part of your promise, are you?"

She had the ability to discern that Shang Yueling’s fraud also stemmed from his machinations. The look in Shang Lvxing’s eyes carried a hint of admiration, but his words still struggled in their final breath of denial.

"Xining, don’t you think you’ve given me a bit too much credit?"

The corner of his lips curled into a faint smile. He continued, "I admit that fulfilling the promise I made to Aunt Chu Yan as a teenager was part of the reason I pursued you. But more importantly, I was drawn to your charm."

Faced with Shang Lvxing’s blunt and honest praise, Lu Xining returned a smile. But her gaze remained cool, caught in a conflict between calm and rationality.

This man was exceptional at weaving webs.

If one wasn’t careful, they’d easily fall into his traps.

"Since I’ve decided to lay everything bare today, I don’t intend to hide anything."

Lu Xining did not dismantle the man’s falsehoods directly.

She maintained a clear logic, laying out all the information she had investigated and the relevant details she had learned.

"A few months ago, Shang Qing forced his longstanding rival off the stage. But given his current position, it’s impossible for him to reassume that role. You thought he’d push you to that position, but in reality, he has his sights set on another younger kin in the family."

Just moments ago, when Lu Xining slid the voice recorder across the table toward Shang Lvxing, he had taken it and carefully ran his fingers over it in his palm.

"Shang Lvxing, you’re smart. You knew that using a fake heiress would evoke Shang Qing’s longing and guilt toward my mother, and also remind him of your existence, as a witness of their cherished relationship during their loving years together."

Lu Xining’s tone shifted abruptly: "But you made a fatal error."

"My mother Chu Yan indeed suffered from a hereditary condition, presenting with symptoms similar to a heart ailment, but it was never life-threatening. Moreover, it isn’t guaranteed to pass down in every generation; its inheritance depends heavily on chance."

"Most importantly, the renowned doctors and carefully prepared remedies Shang Qing arranged for her had already cured her condition before she even got pregnant, making it impossible for it to be passed on to her daughter."

The grip Shang Lvxing had on the voice recorder noticeably tightened, and the composed expression on his face showed a fleeting moment of rigidity as he comprehended the deeper meanings of Lu Xining’s words.

Shang Yueling conveniently manifested the same hereditary illness as Chu Yan.

Looking back on it now, it all seemed too forced, more like it had been deliberately orchestrated to heighten Shang Qing’s guilt toward Chu Yan.

The two of them fell silent, and the atmosphere in the living room grew oppressively tense.

Shang Lvxing lifted his gaze, his deep, dark eyes meeting Lu Xining’s, as if trying to discern her true motives behind saying all these things.

Seeing the naked ambition in his eyes, coupled with the indifference and determination in his demeanor, Lu Xining felt that only now they had truly laid everything bare.

Yet Shang Lvxing was remarkably adept at disguising and concealing his emotions — she needed to deliver another hard blow.

Lounging lazily on the sofa, Lu Xining glanced at the voice recorder clenched tightly in his palm and grinned. "Squeeze any harder, and this object that invokes my longing for my mother might end up broken."

She locked her gaze onto the man just a meter away, a nameless emotion stirring in her chest.

"I suggest you hold onto it. You might still have a chance to use it again in front of Shang Qing when the time comes."

Shang Lvxing: "..."

The tension in his body began to ease, and he finally let his true emotions show before her. His voice, stripped of its earlier tenderness and care, was now colder than the temperature outside.

Shang Lvxing looked at her, saying, "You don’t hate him?"

The "him" naturally referred to Shang Qing.

"Hate? Of course, I hate him. But hate is not the most important thing my mother left me."

If Lu Xining truly had revenge as her sole purpose, she would have already used the resources around her to attack the Shang Family.

Ji Muye, Song Henian, Zhou Jiawang, Fu Junhang, Jing Zheng, Haozi — whether it was seduction, self-harm, or schemes of palace intrigue, she could have turned to any one of them. Even if she couldn’t completely destroy Shang Qing, she could make him suffer immensely.

"Then what’s most important?"

His voice was low, laced with perplexity, unable to grasp her meaning.

Lu Xining’s tone was cool and calculated: "When one’s own abilities aren’t sufficient for revenge, holding onto hatred only leads to self-destruction."

Rather than trapping her child’s early years in a prison woven out of hatred, Chu Yan hoped her daughter could experience a peaceful and joyful life instead.

Love and hate were chains of the previous generation, ones that shouldn’t be passed on to the next.

Shang Lvxing picked up on the underlying implications of her words and replied with calculated intent, "But you’re not happy, are you?"

From his perspective, during her four years in university, Lu Xining probably hadn’t had a single decent night’s sleep. Every day was spent juggling classes and part-time jobs, without even enough energy to maintain friendships.

Unexpectedly, Lu Xining shifted her tone sharply, catching him off guard as she fired back, "So you live on hate? Who do you hate, exactly? The Shang Family, or... the Chu Family?"

While her earlier words merely teased out some emotions, the tremor in Shang Lvxing’s lowered gaze now, brought on by her pinpointing his innermost secrets, was unmistakably genuine.

His mind momentarily blanked, breathing abruptly tightened, as his sharp gaze locked on her.

He couldn’t figure out how she had seen through him.

Lu Xining stared into Shang Lvxing’s obsidian eyes, deliberately probing, "Actually, the one who took Haozi away, was you, wasn’t it?"

While Fu Junhang had searched tirelessly for Haozi and even planted people within the Zhuang Family, Lu Xining had never seemed overly anxious, almost as if Haozi didn’t matter much to her.

"And you were the one who guided me to the Royal Cruise banquet, weren’t you?"

"Shang Lvxing, the one who wants the ’Heart of the Deep,’ isn’t the remnants of the Chu Family — it’s... you!"