Chapter 10

When the officer handling the household registration came in, they directly wrote down the three characters “Qiao Xinyi” in the name field. Chen Yubing watched with tears welling in her eyes; even Chen Dachuan felt happy for the “silly girl.” From this moment on, the silly girl had a name—a very beautiful name—and she would have a good future.

“By the way, I’m already an adult this year. Can I have a separate household registration booklet? I just want my registration to be attached to a collective household,” Qiao Xinyi suddenly requested.

Chen Yubing’s expression stiffened, and she blurted out, “Are you upset that Mom didn’t protect you, so you don’t want to go home with me?”

“My household registration being independent has nothing to do with whether I go home or not. I will go home, but I like having my own independent registration. I’m used to being on my own,” Qiao Xinyi explained.

The registration officer glanced at the team captain, who was considering it. Then Fu Qingshan spoke up and said a few words in support of Qiao Xinyi. It wasn’t a difficult matter, and with Fu Qingshan’s backing, the team captain nodded.

Half an hour later, Qiao Xinyi received her own household registration certificate. The actual household registration booklet would take some time to make; she would have to come back in a few days to pick it up with the certificate.

Qiao Xinyi asked for Li Jun’s home address and agreed that after she returned to the Qiao family and had some free time, she would go to Li Jun’s house to look at the place.

Before they separated at the police station entrance, Qiao Xinyi also asked for the address and phone number of Fu Qingshan’s unit, and borrowed some money and train tickets from him to keep on hand as backup.

“I’ve been well taken care of by the police these days. If you ever come to the provincial city, remember to contact me. I will definitely treat you well. If I get the chance to return to the small county town, I will definitely visit you,” Chen Dachuan and the senior police officer still needed to catch their train back to the unit, so Qiao Xinyi could only say goodbye at the police station entrance.

As for Fu Qingshan, her 5,000-yuan savings passbook was still with him. She still owed him money and tickets, and would be going to see him in a few days. Such a handsome and kind man—she would definitely visit him several more times.

When the group came out, the He family members had already disappeared from sight near the police station.

After saying goodbye, Chen Yubing insisted on taking Qiao Xinyi to the best hospital in the provincial city for a medical checkup.

The doctor told her to take medicine and rest at home. Although it cost extra money for no clear reason, Chen Yubing felt much more at ease.

After leaving the hospital, Chen Yubing held one daughter’s hand and headed to wait for the bus.

During a lull while waiting, Qiao Xinyi asked, “Where’s my biological dad? On such an important day, why did only Mom come?”

The He couple was unreliable, but at least both had shown up.

Qiao Xinyi asked with a mischievous tone, “Is my biological dad already dead? Am I left with only you as my elder relative?”

Chen Yubing and Qiao Baihe’s expressions changed slightly—one sighed, the other shook her head.

Before either spoke, Qiao Xinyi continued, “Am I a posthumous child? When Mom gave birth to me, all the elders in the family were already dead. That’s why Mom had the baby alone in the hospital. From labor to delivery, there wasn’t a single family member to accompany her. That’s why Chen Daniu and his wife dared to swap the children.”

When Qiao Xinyi asked this earlier, Chen Yubing hadn’t realized she was being deliberate. But when she said “posthumous child,” Chen Yubing finally caught on.

Qiao Xinyi knew she had a younger brother named after a tree, so these words had to be intentional.

Chen Yubing curled her lips mockingly, “When you were born, your grandma said your dad had to work the next day and didn’t sleep that night so he’d be energetic for work.”

Chen Yubing had a difficult labor back then. After hearing the baby cry, she was so exhausted she didn’t even have time to look at the child before she sighed in relief and fell asleep.

So before receiving the police call, she didn’t even know that the daughter raised by her side wasn’t her biological child.

“Today it was your grandma who said, since your dad has to support the family, he can’t just take a day off without losing half a day’s pay. She said to pick you up, a girl, no need for the whole family to go—just send someone to bring you back,” Qiao Xinyi couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “My dad’s really filial, huh? He listens to whatever grandma says. If he’s so filial, why doesn’t he just live with his good mom alone? Why get married and have kids? Once he’s married, has a wife and children, wouldn’t that take away the time and energy he can devote to his good mom? He’s not filial enough~”

“If you ask me, it’d be best if he didn’t even go to work, just be a full-time filial son to his good mom, twenty-four hours a day, always by her side, ready whenever she calls.”

At first, these sounded like compliments, but every word was actually sarcasm.

Chen Yubing and Qiao Baihe both laughed—it was the first time they had smiled all day.

The child was going to be brought home, so Chen Yubing didn’t plan to hide from her that the family relationships were far from harmonious.

“Your dad is filial. Ever since I married him, after he got paid each month, he handed over every cent to your grandma. In all these years of marriage, your grandma never took a single penny herself.”

Chen Yubing handled the entire household, raising the kids, covering all living expenses for the family, including social interactions, plus the food and expenses of that supposedly filial mother and son pair—all paid for with Chen Yubing’s salary.

Chen Yubing could shamelessly say that all these years, the entire family had been supported by her alone.

To earn more money, whenever there was work at the factory, she worked hard. Whenever there were overtime shifts, she never missed one. If the factory had no overtime for her, she took odd jobs at other factories, doing handwork like gluing matchboxes without complaint.

“Your dad, in the eyes of outsiders, has a good temper. He never loses his temper with anyone, doesn’t drink, doesn’t gamble, has no bad habits, lives frugally, and is a good husband.”

But in such a marriage, it’s like drinking water—only she knew how hard her life had been over the years.

Outsiders said Qiao Laiwang was an excellent man, a rare find.

Outsiders saw Chen Yubing as a hardworking woman—just a pity her temper wasn’t great and she wasn’t very filial to her mother-in-law.

“Some men have three faces: one for their parents and siblings, one for their friends and colleagues, and another for their wife and children.”

Whether Qiao Xinyi or Qiao Baihe, both were already nineteen and of marriageable age, so Chen Yubing laid out this humiliating marriage truth for them clearly.

She hoped that when they married in the future, they could avoid men like Qiao Laiwang.

To outsiders, Qiao Laiwang was a good man, so Chen Yubing was the one who looked ungrateful and unfilial. The only praise they could give her was that she was hardworking.

Since these were family secrets, Chen Yubing stopped talking after they got on the bus.

The weather in the provincial city in July was very hot. After getting off the bus, Chen Yubing busily held an umbrella over the still-injured Qiao Xinyi to shield her from the sun, and the three walked step by step toward the textile factory’s family housing compound.

The police had initially contacted Qiao Laiwang and Chen Yubing through their workplace, so everyone in the family compound already knew about the biological daughter who had been swapped at birth.

It was just after the morning shift ended and everyone was going home for lunch. The moment the three entered the compound, they were immediately surrounded, and people started asking all kinds of questions.

Chen Yubing finally managed to get rid of the onlookers and took Qiao Xinyi and Qiao Baihe back home.

Qiao Xinyi knew her biological grandmother was not a good person, but she hadn’t expected the old lady to be this terrible.

No sooner had the three entered the door than they were greeted by Chen Ju’s glaring eyes and curses.