Chapter 21

The next day, Gu Nian didn’t put in as much effort as before—she completely slacked off. Seeing this, Helen was so happy that she couldn’t stop smiling.

First, they set their plan in motion. Taking advantage of the crowd, Gu Nian secretly scattered Truth Serum, and both Helen and the vice principal fell into the trap.

“I colluded with Helen with the sole purpose of helping Country M win.”

The vice principal’s words shocked everyone. He seemed completely out of control, revealing everything he had done.

Helen, too, spilled how they had been scheming against China for years. Xie An knew this was a serious matter and didn’t dare to be careless.

He immediately reported to the relevant authorities, who took the vice principal, Helen, and their associates away.

Since the two of them had ruined everything, Xie An still had work to take care of.

Gu Nian greeted him briefly and returned to the residential compound.

As soon as she got home, before she could even take a sip of hot water, Sister-in-law Xu arrived.

“Gu Nian, have you heard about Jin Qingyun and her husband?”

“What happened? You know I just got back from the city.”

“Jin Qingyun’s husband is a traitor! He leaked confidential information, and the punishment from above has already been decided.

He won’t be coming back—ever.”

Gu Nian only had a vague impression of Jin Qingyun and her husband from when they had given her a gift.

“This Jin Qingyun… She says she wants to remarry. But what about her two sons? What will happen to them?”

Sister-in-law Xu had been enthusiastically gossiping about others, but in the next second, the drama hit home.

Li Pandi knocked and entered. Seeing Sister-in-law Xu chatting excitedly, she sighed silently.

“Sister-in-law Xu, you’d better hurry home—your mother-in-law just brought Jin Qingyun’s two sons to your house. She said you and Brother Luo must adopt them.”

“She even announced in front of everyone that these two kids will be living with your family from now on.”

“What?!”

“Uh, Gu Nian, I need to go. I have to deal with this!”

Sister-in-law Xu ran off faster than a rabbit. When she got home, sure enough, her mother-in-law was at the dinner table with Jin Qingyun’s two sons, feeding them.

Her three daughters stood aside, watching. She strode over and demanded:

“What is the meaning of this? Why did you bring them home?”

This time, Sister-in-law Xu was truly angry. She had her limits, and she absolutely refused to adopt them.

“Why are you yelling? You can’t have sons, so I brought you two to raise. And you dare talk back to me? Listen to me—Da Hu and Xiao Hu will live with us from now on. Let’s see who dares to disagree!”

Ever since Chen Lixia’s daughter got married, she had nothing to do all day. So, she put all her focus on her son.

“We can’t afford to raise them! We’re already struggling to support our three daughters. You know our financial situation—how can we take in more kids?”

“That’s your fault. Who told you to give birth to three worthless girls?”

Sister-in-law Xu was beyond furious. Especially when it came to her daughters—she had tolerated this kind of talk for too long.

So, right then and there, she and Chen Lixia started fighting. The neighbors in the residential compound heard the commotion and rushed over to break it up.

Chen Lixia was old and no match for the younger, stronger Sister-in-law Xu, so she took a solid beating.

Everyone in the compound knew Sister-in-law Xu as someone who always smiled. This was the first time they had seen her fight.

Someone immediately ran to the military district to call Luo Dazhu back. Meanwhile, Sister-in-law Xu took her three daughters to Gu Nian’s house.

Since Jiang Huaijing was on duty and wouldn’t be home for a few days, it wasn’t inconvenient for her to stay over.

“Gu Nian, do you think it’s my fault that I can’t have a son?”

“Of course not. Sister-in-law Xu, have you had a doctor check it out?”

“I did. The doctor said I got injured when I gave birth to my third child. They don’t know when—or if—I’ll recover.”

Seeing her so downcast, Gu Nian deeply sympathized. Not just in this era—even in the future, countless women would suffer discrimination for not being able to conceive or not giving birth to sons.

People talked about gender equality, but in reality, it was far from equal.

Gu Nian knew the spiritual spring water in her system had healing and nourishing properties. She handed Sister-in-law Xu some pills made from it.

“Sister-in-law Xu, these are for your health. Try them out.”

“Alright.”

Sister-in-law Xu didn’t have much hope. After so many years, nothing had worked.

But since Gu Nian had given them to her, she would take them seriously.

Meanwhile, Luo Dazhu also refused to adopt the children.

First, he couldn’t afford it. Second, they weren’t his kids, and he didn’t want to raise them.

But Chen Lixia wouldn’t give up. Left with no choice, Sister-in-law Xu sought the military district leaders for help.

After some discussion, the leaders summoned Chen Lixia.

It turned out she didn’t genuinely want to adopt the kids—she just wanted sons who could take care of Luo Dazhu in his old age. Her motives weren’t pure.

So, the military district decided: Chen Lixia couldn’t adopt them, and neither could Luo Dazhu and Sister-in-law Xu.

Until a proper adoptive family was found, the two boys would temporarily stay in the military dormitory.

For meals, they would eat at the canteen.

Seeing the children’s situation, some people felt sorry for them. At the same time, many cursed Jin Qingyun for being heartless—how could she abandon her sons so easily?

Chen Lixia, furious that she couldn’t adopt them, got so worked up that she fell ill and couldn’t move.

Fearing that Sister-in-law Xu would mistreat her, she sent word for her daughter to come.

Luo Heimei arrived in a hurry, shocked to see her mother bedridden.

“Mom, how did this happen? Did Sister-in-law bully you?”

“Yes! She wouldn’t let me adopt sons, and that’s why I got sick!”

Luo Heimei had already heard about the situation.

In her opinion, her mother was just being foolish.

Adopting someone else’s children was risky—they could turn on you one day.

“Mom, don’t be mad. Sister-in-law has always been like that.”

“Heimei, I can’t move now. Your brother and sister-in-law are unreliable, so why don’t you take me in for a while?”

Luo Heimei instinctively wanted to refuse.

She didn’t want to take care of her mother. No way.

“Mom, I live in a pigsty. How could I let you stay there? You should enjoy a good life with Brother and Sister-in-law. I’ll be fine in my pigsty!”

“Oh, and Mom, I have other things to do, so I’ll be going now.”

Luo Heimei ran off as fast as she could, afraid her mother would cling to her.

Back at the military district, they were still waiting for someone to adopt the children.

When the adopter finally arrived, everyone was shocked at who it was.