CHAPTER 18: Covering Her Mouth

Lin Mother had no interest in dealing with Xu Yanqiu. Wasn’t Xu Yanqiu supposed to be some noble lady from a wealthy family? Then let her hire a private investigator to dig up a photo of Yi Xiaoya.

Even if the Yi family was shielding Yi Xiaoya tightly now, back when she was still Lin Xiaoya, it shouldn’t be hard to get a photo of her.

In the first few years, Lin Mother had occasionally sent photos of Yi Xiaoya to Xu Yanqiu. But once Xu Yanqiu started dating someone, she told Lin Mother to stop sending them. She said she was afraid her partner would find out—she was still young and wanted to get married. There was no way she’d live alone her whole life.

Xu Yanqiu even had a reason for it: a lot of men wanted women to be “pure,” to have never had kids with another man.

“Cousin,” Xu Yanqiu specially called Lin Mother, “Where’s the photo? Why haven’t you sent it?”

“She’s your daughter—don’t you have some kind of magical mother-daughter connection?” Lin Mother mocked. “Didn’t you say you loved her dearly?”

“……” Xu Yanqiu was speechless. What kind of mother-daughter connection was that supposed to be? She didn’t even know what Yi Xiaoya looked like. “Just hurry up and send it over.”

“I don’t have one!” Lin Mother snapped. “You’re the one who told me not to send you any back then. What, if I send it now, are you just going to delete it later? Didn’t you say that even if you delete something off your phone, it can still be recovered? Then don’t bother looking at it at all.”

She hung up right after that—she wasn’t about to waste her time arguing with Xu Yanqiu. That woman hadn’t raised Yi Xiaoya at all. In the first year or two, she’d occasionally sent some money and supplies, just to make sure Lin Mother didn’t abandon the child.

Xu Yanqiu thought, even raising a cat or dog could make someone develop feelings—how much easier it would be with a child. As long as Lin’s mother developed feelings for Yi Xiaoya, she wouldn’t abandon her.

At the time, Xu Yanqiu planned that if the Yi family ever came to claim the child, she could still say she was the biological mother, claiming she had made many sacrifices for the child. As for why the child was raised by her cousin—well, that was her cousin, a relative after all.

Now, Xu Yanqiu stared at her phone, seething with anger. That cousin of hers was too much!

“It’s just a photo,” Xu Yanqiu gritted her teeth. After thinking for a bit, she dialed Lin’s mother again. As soon as the call connected, she said, “I’m already at the school gate!”

“You know how those people at the airport pick up strangers?” Lin’s mother said. “They hold up a sign with the person’s name. You can try that too.”

Lin’s mother hung up the call. She knew full well that Xu Yanqiu would never actually do it. Xu Yanqiu wasn’t born into wealth, yet after marrying into a wealthy family, she liked to put on the airs of a high-society lady.

Xu Yanqiu indeed didn’t dare to hold up a sign with a name on it. She was even wearing sunglasses, worried that if she couldn’t find the girl, she’d embarrass herself.

So, Xu Yanqiu went to the security room. She tried asking the guard, “Excuse me, do you know which one is Yi Xiaoya?”

“Who are you to her?” the security guard asked.

“I’m… I’m her aunt,” Xu Yanqiu said.

“You’re her aunt, and you don’t recognize her?” The guard rolled his eyes. What kind of relatives have never even met?

This was the high school division, and the students here were at least in their teens. Sure, kids change a lot as they grow, but didn’t they ever gather for holidays?

There was no way the guard would randomly point out a student to a stranger. Even if the students weren’t from wealthy families, they were all special admissions—high achievers and the future pillars of the country.

There are people trafficking college students, let alone high schoolers.

“I…” Xu Yanqiu hesitated. “It’s like this. For some reasons over the past few years, I wasn’t in touch with the family, so…”

“Then are her family members in this city? You could just go to her home. Why come to the school?” the guard asked again.

The guard reminded himself: he had taken anti-fraud training. He couldn’t carelessly reveal information about students. Their job was to protect the kids. With the high salary they earned, they had to do the job well.

“Who exactly are you? Acting all suspicious,” the guard said with growing doubt.

“I’ll just wait here,” Xu Yanqiu muttered.

But the guard had already called the police. He felt Xu Yanqiu was acting too strangely and feared she might be here to kidnap someone.

Less than ten minutes later, the police arrived.

When Xu Yanqiu saw the police, she thought something had happened at the school. But when she realized they were walking toward her, she panicked.

“What are you doing?” Xu Yanqiu asked.

“Someone suspects you may be a child trafficker. Please come with us,” one officer said, showing his badge.

“I’m here to see my daughter!” Xu Yanqiu blurted out in a panic.

“That’s not what she said earlier,” the security guard interjected. “She said she was here to see her niece.”

“…” Xu Yanqiu’s lips twitched. Why was this guard still here? “Right, right, my niece. I misspoke.”

“Whether you misspoke or not, we’ll find out after the investigation,” the officer said. “As a citizen, it’s your duty to cooperate with the police.”

If she was innocent, they’d naturally let her go.

“I have something urgent to deal with. If you delay me, can you afford to take responsibility?” Xu Yanqiu said anxiously.

The police didn’t care whether she had something urgent. Many people claimed to have emergencies, but when questioned, they couldn’t even explain what it was.

School was letting out, and students were trickling out of the gate. Yi Xiaoya was among them, walking out with her classmates, thinking about whether there would be a feast waiting tonight. Her grandpa and the others seemed to love having the chef cook up all sorts of delicious dishes.

Sweet and sour ribs, kelp pork rib soup, garlic fish fillet…

Yi Xiaoya wasn’t a big fan of beef. Eating a little once in a while was fine, but she couldn’t eat it often.

Lin’s mother used to say that beef and lamb were for grazing animals, and eating too much made people sick. At home, they only had a little occasionally. With everyone sharing a few bites, the small plate of beef or lamb disappeared quickly.

Right, when cooking beef or lamb, you had to coat it with starch; garlic fish fillet needed both starch and egg white…

Yi Xiaoya didn’t know how the Yi family’s chef cooked, but she had seen Lin’s mother cook plenty of times and had occasionally helped out. But Lin’s mother always said she was in the way and told her to stay out of the kitchen. Then she’d turn around and scold her for not knowing how to cook, saying she wouldn’t survive once she got married.

Just as the police were about to take Xu Yanqiu away, she suddenly spotted Yi Xiaoya. She didn’t recognize her as her daughter, but she remembered seeing the girl when visiting the Lin family. Inspiration struck.

“It’s her! She’s my niece!” Xu Yanqiu shouted.

Her voice was so loud that it startled everyone nearby.

“Me?” Yi Xiaoya pointed to herself, stunned. “No, I don’t even know her!”

She thought the woman looked a bit familiar, but she couldn’t place her. Definitely a stranger.

“Please cooperate with the investigation,” the officer said, preparing to escort Xu Yanqiu away.

“Yi Xiaoya!” Xu Yanqiu shouted again. She was about to be taken to the police station. If her husband found out, he’d definitely be furious. She had to come up with an excuse. She had to at least make it look like she really was related to Yi Xiaoya.

Yi Xiaoya glanced at Xu Yanqiu, then turned and walked away.

What use was it knowing someone’s name? Some scammers could not only find out your name, but also your appearance, and even details about your family. And in the end, they were still just frauds.

When Yi Xiaoya was taken home by Yi Yao, he had warned her not to trust people too easily. Some people were just con artists who wanted to kidnap her. He told her their family still had quite a bit of money, so it was very possible they’d become targets.

Maybe her dad was right—their family really was rich, and some people might want to swindle them for their money.

When Xiao Caiyu saw what was happening, she didn’t speak up right away. Instead, she looked at her followers. If it had been in the past, her followers would’ve already shouted, “That’s Yi Xiaoya!”

But now, since they already knew Yi Xiaoya’s true identity, they couldn’t rush up and say anything like that. In the past, they could understand Xiao Caiyu’s glances instantly and would jump into action. Now? Better to stay out of it.

Her followers were all thinking of ditching Xiao Caiyu, but since they couldn’t get close to Yi Xiaoya either, they were just watching how things would play out. If the Xiao family was still holding on, maybe they’d still be a bit nice to Xiao Caiyu. But their parents had already told them not to suck up to her like they used to.

Especially when Xiao Caiyu and Yi Xiaoya were standing together—they should shut up if they could. And if they really had to talk, then they shouldn’t be helping Xiao Caiyu; they should lean toward Yi Xiaoya instead. Even if Yi Xiaoya didn’t need their help, saying a few flattering words wouldn’t hurt.

“She…” Xiao Caiyu opened her mouth, wondering whether or not to speak up.

In the next second, one of her followers covered her mouth.

“There’s a fly. Don’t open your mouth too wide,” the follower said.

“…” What fly? Xiao Caiyu hadn’t seen any fly at all. A fly wasn’t like a flea—it wasn’t that hard to spot.

“We’ll help you catch it,” the other followers chimed in, acting as if there really was a fly buzzing around Xiao Caiyu.

“Caiyu, did you eat something weird today? Why are flies following you?” someone who had some old grudges with her asked deliberately.

Xiao Caiyu was fuming, but her followers were useless. They only let go of her after Xu Yanqiu was taken away in the police car.

“There really was a fly just now. Everyone saw it,” said the follower who had covered her mouth, and the others nodded in agreement.

Xiao Caiyu felt so wronged. These people insisted there was a fly, and she had no way to argue against them.

Damn it, these people were just too good at switching sides.

“You all have such great eyesight!” Xiao Caiyu gritted her teeth.

“Eh, not bad.”
“It’s not that great, just sometimes a little better than average…” and so on.

Listening to them, Xiao Caiyu felt even more stifled. These people had changed. They no longer sided with her or made her feel supported like before.

Meanwhile, once Yi Xiaoya got into the car, she remembered who Xu Yanqiu was—that was the woman she had encountered near the new Lin family residence.

Heh. Xu Yanqiu’s attitude back then had been terrible. Yi Xiaoya thought to herself that she clearly wasn’t a good person.

At the police station, Xu Yanqiu kept trying to explain, but the police had already seen the surveillance footage—her behavior was indeed suspicious. “My cousin can explain! She knows everything! She can vouch for me!”