Chapter 96 : The Truth

After reading the interrogation confessions, the two brothers discovered a lot of new information. If the news didn’t leak and they continued digging deeper, the enemy would surely suffer heavy losses this time. Realizing the seriousness of the matter, they quickly called their superiors to report to the leadership and awaited instructions.

Nangong Ruoyi thought of the confessions from Li Gang and his wife. He glanced at his younger brother and asked, “Should we tell Siying what we found out from interrogating the Li family?”

“We should tell her the truth. She probably already guessed some of it. I just don’t know how much she’s figured out.” Nangong Ruochen didn’t want to see her sad or upset. After all, the ones who had abandoned her and hurt her were the very people who were supposed to be closest to her. How could she possibly face that?

“Come on, let’s go wake Siying for dinner. I already had someone pack food from the state-owned restaurant,” said Nangong Ruoyi. He had specifically applied for this mission with the intention of checking in on Yun Siying. She was his lifesaver. It wasn’t about repaying a life debt with marriage but at least, as her brother, he owed her.

There was a knock on the door. Yun Siying was washing up and quickly finished in just a few seconds. She responded, “Who is it?”

“It’s me. Siying, it’s time to eat,” Nangong Ruochen’s voice came from outside the door.

“One moment.” She quickly got dressed and glanced at the clothes she had taken off earlier. They seemed to have a strange smell. Fortunately, Nangong Ruochen had thoughtfully prepared two new sets of clothes and some toiletries for her.

When Yun Siying opened the door and came out, she still looked a little dazed. Ruochen had the urge to reach out and touch her but held himself back. Instead, he asked with concern, “Siying, did you rest well?”

“I did. But I probably won’t be able to sleep again tonight,” Yun Siying replied with a small complaint, frustrated that her sleep schedule was completely upside down.

“Siying, you’re up come eat. I specially ordered braised pork for you. I don’t know if you’ll like it?” Nangong Ruoyi served her a bowl of rice with a warm smile.

Yun Siying quickly accepted it and smiled. “Thank you, I like it very much.”

The three of them ate quickly and were full in no time. Nangong Ruoyi laughed and said, “Little Siying, I didn’t expect you to eat as fast as we soldiers do.”

“It’s from training,” Yun Siying said with a smile. But in her heart, she was thinking it came from her previous life, where eating fast was a necessity. Back then, you never knew when zombies might appear. If you didn’t eat fast, you might not get to eat at all or worse, have your food snatched. She had trained herself to eat quickly out of survival.

“Siying, we interrogated the Li couple. From what they said, it’s confirmed that you’re not their biological daughter, and neither is Shu Ruxue. But you are definitely the biological daughter of Shu Guofeng and Tang Lingxue, there’s no doubt about it,” Nangong Ruochen said, watching her closely for any reaction.

Yun Siying looked a bit surprised, but mainly because of Shu Ruxue’s background. She asked, “Then who are Shu Ruxue’s biological parents?”

“Tang Lingxue had a twin sister, Tang Lingshuang. She was targeted by enemy spies in Mayun County, Lingyang Province. They tricked her into giving birth at a villager’s home in the Wuli Brigade. After the baby was born, the child was swapped by that same family.”

“That villager’s family was also working for the enemy. The wife gave birth to twins, and one of them was switched with Shu Ruxue. Because the mother didn’t have enough milk for both babies, Shu Ruxue was sent to Li Gang and his wife, who had just given birth to a stillborn. They were instructed to raise her and train her to become one of them.”

Yun Siying thought of Tang Lingshuang, who looked exactly like Tang Lingxue, except for a small red mole on her earlobe.

“Didn’t Tang Lingshuang notice anything strange?” Yun Siying wondered to herself. The plot of this situation felt exactly like the classic “switched daughters” trope in fake vs. real heiress novels. She felt like complaining out loud.

“Tang Lingshuang fainted after giving birth, and the baby from that family had only been born three days earlier than Shu Ruxue, so Tang Lingshuang didn’t suspect a thing,” Nangong Ruochen continued explaining.

“Tsk, I’m really looking forward to seeing Tang Lingshuang’s reaction when she finds out Deng Miaomiao isn’t her biological daughter.” Yun Siying thought about how Tang Lingshuang had been so affectionate and close with Shu Ruxue after she joined the Shu family. Could it have been some kind of subconscious blood connection? Then why hadn’t the Shu family felt anything like that toward her?

“Shu Ruxue is becoming more and more like her mother and Tang Lingxue. And since Tang Lingxue looks identical to her twin sister, Tang Lingshuang, everything had been planned out carefully. That’s how the whole story of the real and fake daughters came to be. Shu Ruxue was deliberately placed in the Shu family. She had a mission to carry out, but someone signed her up to go to the countryside, which disrupted her assignment.”

“But they didn’t give up. They arranged for Li Yanyan to infiltrate the Shu family and continue the mission. Of their group, only Li Minglang is still too young and hasn’t participated in any missions yet.”

“So that’s how it is,” Yun Siying said. Her face showed no emotion neither sorrow nor joy. It was as if she were listening to someone else’s family drama. No, when listening to someone else’s family drama, at least you’d comment or criticize. She didn’t even wonder whether the Shu family would be implicated. She felt nothing.

—

The next day in the Hongxing Brigade, some villagers noticed that the homes of Li Gang and Xue Qipin (Xue Zhigang’s father) were empty and locked up. Concerned that something might have happened to the families, they reported it to the brigade leader.

The brigade leader tried to appear calm and said, “The Li and Xue families have gone to Kyoto. Don’t worry.”

The police had instructed him not to reveal what had happened to the two families at the station. What the brigade leader hadn’t expected was that the three educated youth were actually military officers and Yun Siying had also helped the police with the investigation. What truly worried him was that both the Li and Xue families had committed serious crimes. He hadn’t slept well at all the night before.

Shen Subai heard that Shu Ruxue’s money had been stolen again, and she had come down with a strange illness that county doctors couldn’t treat. However, since separating from Shu Ruxue, the 200 yuan his family sent him hadn’t gone missing. It seemed his suspicions had been correct but he couldn’t say them out loud. These days, promoting feudal superstitions was not allowed.

Before the brigade leader could even catch his breath, several policemen suddenly arrived and arrested three more people. One was a known loafer, and the other two were orphans who had grown up eating at neighbors’ homes. The police shared no information.

Under the large locust tree, the older women began their daily gossip session.

“Who knows what really happened to the Li Gang and Xue families? I don’t believe they both just went to Kyoto.”

“The brigade leader is lying. The Li family was taken away by the police in the middle of the night and I think the Xue family was too.”