The maid’s voice exploded like thunder in the ears of the couple.

After a moment of thought, their faces turned pale.

“What young master? What do you mean ‘the young master wasn’t thrown away by you’? Explain yourself clearly!” Mrs. Tang, thinking something had happened to their son who was being raised at home, immediately stood up.

“Quick, quick, bring the young master here!”

“Yes, madam.” A maid immediately rushed out the door.

But Mr. Tang had more on his mind.

Firstly, he believed that their son was always surrounded by people, making accidents less likely, let alone something as serious as being ‘thrown away’. Their son was only five years old and spent all his time at home. Where could he possibly be ‘thrown’ to?

Secondly, there was the timing and expression of the maid.

As a successful businessman, Mr. Tang was accustomed to being observant and attentive to his surroundings at all times, never missing any profitable opportunities. This habit extended to observing people and situations around him.

If he remembered correctly, this maid had entered while he and his wife were discussing the contents of a storybook. Initially, her expression was normal, but gradually, she began to sweat and turned pale.

Being married, he knew that some women experienced severe pain during their menstrual cycles, and his wife had been the same. So, he hadn’t paid much attention at the time and even averted his gaze.

But now, what had he said then?

It seemed to be…

‘…a wet nurse in the family took the opportunity to swap Mr. Wang’s son with her own grandson…’

That was it!

At this thought, Mr. Tang’s face turned pale.

He also remembered that this maid’s sister-in-law was one of the two wet nurses for his son. Moreover, when his wife was in labor, he had also been away from the estate!

Mr. Tang’s heart raced, and he shouted, “Did you swap my son?!”

“Speak!”

His shout shattered the maid’s composure.

The maid knelt and begged for mercy, “It wasn’t me who swapped him, it wasn’t me, master. Please spare me. I really didn’t swap the young master, nor did I throw him away.”

“He, he, he…”

The maid’s eyes widened in fear, “When I went back yesterday, he was gone…”

A bolt from the blue!

Not only Mr. Tang, but even Mrs. Tang, who had just realized what was happening, felt her vision darken.

Did this mean that not only had they swapped the real Tang family young master, but they had also thrown him away?!

Realizing this, chaos erupted in the room.

“Madam, madam, what’s wrong?”

“Quick, help madam sit down!”

“Master, master, what should we do?”

…

Finally, the experienced Mr. Tang was the first to calm down. In a short moment, he thought of many things. Combining what had just happened with the maid’s revelations, he suspected that they had hidden the child earlier, but upon returning, they found him missing. This made the maid nervous.

Coincidentally, he had mentioned ‘swapping children’, and the maid, thinking he had discovered the truth, panicked and revealed everything under pressure.

Thinking this, Mr. Tang gritted his teeth and said fiercely, “You, tell me everything clearly. If you hide anything, I will make sure your entire family suffers a fate worse than death!”

To ensure her full cooperation, he added, “Don’t think about hiding anything. Your deeds have been written clearly in a storybook by a wise man.”

“Everything is written clearly!”

The maid, who had initially thought of hiding something, upon hearing the words ‘wise man’ and ‘storybook’, spilled everything like beans pouring out of a bamboo tube.

The maid, surnamed Huang, came from a family who were all indentured servants of the Tang family.

Five years ago, just like in Fu Wenyu’s storybook, Mr. Tang was away on business, and Mrs. Tang, nine months pregnant, went into labor early. But unlike Mrs. Wang in the storybook, Mrs. Tang suffered a massive hemorrhage after giving birth to her son.

At that time, the entire Tang estate was in chaos.

The most challenging part was that the Tang estate had no elders; apart from Mr. Tang, Mrs. Tang was the highest authority. Even the most capable steward had gone out on business with Mr. Tang, so the estate was left without direction, shrouded in gloom.

As for the newborn young master, he was handed over to a wet nurse.

Since Mrs. Tang had a premature birth, only one wet nurse was suitable at the time—the maid’s sister-in-law, Mrs. Huang. Having recently given birth herself, she had come to the Tang family as a wet nurse but missed her own son dearly. Seizing the opportunity of the Tang family’s lack of supervision, she had her family bring her son over.

Everyone was preoccupied with Mrs. Tang’s critical condition and didn’t pay much attention to the young master’s quarters, allowing her to secretly raise her own son for half a month. When Mr. Tang hurriedly returned half a month later, Mrs. Huang, preparing to send her son back home, looked at the Tang family young master and then at her own son, and in a moment of madness, swapped the two infants!

How unbelievable, yet it happened!

The maid stammered, “At, at that time, madam was hanging by a thread, several doctors said she wouldn’t make it, the estate was in, in chaos, no one was paying attention to, to the young master.”

“Big, big sister-in-law, she, she made a mistake, she…”

The maid glanced up and saw that both Mr. and Mrs. Tang, as well as the surrounding maids and servants, looked as if they wanted to devour her, and quickly changed the subject.

“Later, later the master returned.”

“But the master, but the master returned in a hurry, and what he saw was actually my sister-in-law’s son. She said she was holding the young master inside, feeding him, and when she came out, she saw the master holding her son, saying she had raised him well. Then the master, he, he was in a hurry to find a doctor for madam, so, so he didn’t, didn’t notice.”

Mrs. Tang couldn’t hold back any longer and slapped the maid.

“You wretch!”

“I, I will make your entire family suffer a fate worse than death!”

The maid screamed in fear, “Madam, spare me, madam, spare me!”

Mr. Tang quickly stepped forward to stop the furious Mrs. Tang. It wasn’t that he pitied the maid, but he felt that the matter wasn’t fully explained yet, and she couldn’t be allowed to come to harm.

He ordered people to arrest the entire Huang family and made the trembling maid continue her story.

To ease her worries and ensure her full cooperation, Mr. Tang even gritted his teeth and promised, “Continue, what happened later? Where is my real son?”

“You know my character, and our family has always done good deeds, repaying kindness. If you tell me the truth, you will have done a favor to the Tang family. As long as we safely recover my biological son, I will have madam release your indenture and give you a hundred taels of silver, sending you away to another place.”

Mrs. Tang was shocked, “Master!”

Learning that her son had been swapped and was now missing, Mrs. Tang wished she could devour these audacious servants. How could she agree to release their indentures and give them a hundred taels?

Mr. Tang gave her a look, “The child is the priority!”

Having been in business for years, he knew all too well the despicable acts of petty people.

As long as they could recover their son, what was a hundred taels?

Mrs. Tang fell silent.

Indeed, the maid, who had been scared out of her wits, upon hearing about the release of her indenture and the hundred taels, quickly regained some color in her face and continued haltingly, “…my, my parents, my brother only found out later.”

“I, I also only found out later.”

“At first, we were very scared, but later, seeing that the master and madam hadn’t noticed, we, we, we just continued living as usual.” The maid hesitated, finally saying, “But yesterday, when I went back, I found the young master was gone!”

“I asked my sister-in-law, and she said they had thrown him away.”

“I, I was so scared, master, madam, I am innocent…”

Hearing this, Mrs. Tang’s tears could no longer be held back, “My child, my child…”

She collapsed into Mr. Tang’s arms, sobbing, “He’s only five years old, my child is only five years old, how could they bear to, how could they bear to throw away my child…”

“Master, you must find him, find him!”

Mr. Tang tightly held Mrs. Tang’s hand, promising, “I will, I will send people to look for him immediately. No matter the cost or effort, I will find our son!”

…

The events at the Tang family only became known to outsiders a few days later.

The reason was that Mr. Tang had made a big scene arresting the Huang family, including the fake young master who had been raised in the Tang estate for five years. All four members of the family were brought to the county office, and Mr. Tang personally beat the drum to announce his grievance.

When Magistrate Hu saw the complaint, he was shocked.

A child-swapping case had actually occurred.

Just like in the storybook!

Indeed, Magistrate Hu had read the Liuzhou Tabloid.

At only twenty-one years old, he had passed the imperial exams four years ago. Due to his lively and justice-seeking nature, his family didn’t trust him to stay in the capital and found him an opportunity to be posted elsewhere.

After three years, he received a top evaluation and was assigned to Liuzhou as a magistrate.

Liuzhou was a good place, with good governance and no troublesome figures. Even those with ulterior motives behaved themselves upon learning of the new magistrate’s background. So, within half a month of arriving in Liuzhou, Magistrate Hu resumed his hobby of wandering the streets and alleys, listening to gossip.

Thus, he had read the Liuzhou Gazette, which published many street anecdotes, early on.

Currently, the story “The Real and Fake Young Master” in the Liuzhou Tabloid was reaching a climax, where Zhang Gousheng, at thirteen, was taken into the city by his father.

This trip to the city resulted in Zhang’s father kowtowing to Wang Fugui, an act against moral principles, and also led to Wang and Zhang Gousheng meeting without recognizing each other, a regrettable event.

Magistrate Hu never expected that just as he was lamenting this, a case exactly like the one described in the storybook would occur in his jurisdiction, and the discovery of this case was also related to that story.

Thinking this, Magistrate Hu slammed his gavel.

“Explain the details truthfully.”

Mr. Tang, standing below, looked pained.

He abandoned his usual habit of always smiling and spoke in a hoarse voice, “Your Honor, I accuse the Huang family of five people of conspiring to swap my child…”

Through Mr. Tang’s tearful account, both Magistrate Hu and the onlookers who had gathered to watch the spectacle learned the truth.

Mr. Tang’s child had been swapped!

Moreover, the two children had been swapped shortly after birth, and a full five years had passed since then—so long that the elderly Huang couple, who had been involved in the incident, had already passed away due to illness.

Upon realizing this, the onlookers erupted in excitement. They clamored with questions: “Who swapped them?” “How did it happen?” “How could it go unnoticed for so long?” “Has the child been returned now?” and so on.

It wasn’t until the magistrate’s gavel struck twice that the crowd gradually quieted down.

Here’s how it happened.

Mr. Tang had already investigated the matter thoroughly and proceeded to explain it in detail.

It all began when Mrs. Huang, the eldest daughter-in-law of the Huang family, missed her own son. Taking advantage of the Tang household’s preoccupation with Mrs. Tang’s illness, she secretly had her family bring her biological son into the Tang estate.

Since Mrs. Tang had given birth earlier than expected, one of the originally planned wet nurses had not yet given birth herself, leaving Mrs. Huang as the only available wet nurse at the time. This allowed her to carry out the scheme. Of course, some of the Tang household servants had noticed, but with Mrs. Tang critically ill and the Huang family offering bribes—especially since Mrs. Huang was the wet nurse of the Tang family’s only young master—they chose to help conceal the matter.

Next came Mr. Tang’s return.

When Mr. Tang came to see his son, he only saw the Huang family’s child. Unaware that the Huangs had brought their own child into the estate, he assumed that child was his own. He held the baby, kissed him, and wept with emotion. Seeing the child plump and healthy, he even praised Mrs. Huang for her care.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Huang, fearing that her secret of feeding her own child would be exposed, dared not tell the truth. Thus, the matter became a case of mistaken identity.

“Did you not notice anything?” Magistrate Hu couldn’t help but ask.

Mr. Tang’s expression turned bitter as he explained, “Your Honor, when I saw the child, he was just a tiny bundle. Moreover, I was deeply worried about my wife at the time and never imagined that another child could have been brought into the household. The child was even wearing the clothes my wife had prepared for our son and sleeping in his crib.”

“How could I have recognized the difference?”

At the time, seeing the child at home, he naturally assumed it was his own son. How could he have guessed that the wet nurse would be so audacious as to secretly bring in her own child and, when her son wet his pants, even swap him into the young master’s clothes and swaddling?

Magistrate Hu thought of his own nieces and nephews when they were newborns and nodded. “It’s indeed difficult to distinguish newborns.”

And so, the matter continued to unfold.

Originally, Mrs. Huang could have secretly returned her own child, and the matter would have been quietly resolved. But in the end, she couldn’t resist the temptation of a life of wealth and luxury. When she sent her child away, she swapped the two children, sending away Mr. Tang’s biological son instead!

Later, when the rest of the Huang family learned the truth, instead of returning the child, they helped cover it up. This deception lasted a full five years. Over time, as no one discovered the truth, they even began to entertain a dark thought.

They believed that if the real Tang young master were to die, even if Mr. Tang eventually discovered the truth, he would never recover his biological son. Perhaps he would simply accept the situation and acknowledge the fake young master as his own.

A ridiculous notion, but the Huang family truly believed it!

Mrs. Huang even insisted, “When Mrs. Tang gave birth to the young master, she suffered a massive hemorrhage. The doctors said it would be difficult for her to have more children. If she couldn’t conceive in five years, she likely never would.”

“As long as the young master is gone, my son will become the young master!”

Although this wasn’t the first time he had heard this, Mr. Tang still jumped to his feet and shouted in fury, “Nonsense!”

Magistrate Hu: “…”

He didn’t reprimand Mr. Tang but instead flipped through the complaint Mr. Tang had submitted and the other documents signed by the Huang family. After a careful review, he realized that they truly believed this.

The reason was that such a thing had happened in the Tang family’s history. Of course, in that case, the biological son had died, so the family adopted the son of a servant as a foster son and eventually passed the entire family fortune to him.

Magistrate Hu discreetly rubbed his forehead, utterly baffled.

This is just too stupid!

Adopting a foster son to inherit the family fortune after the death of a biological son is one thing, but knowingly passing the family fortune to the person who caused the son’s death is entirely different. Are the Huang family’s brains made of tofu?

The onlookers shared Magistrate Hu’s sentiments.

They buzzed with discussion.

“…Are the Huangs stupid?”

“They’re planning to kill Mr. Tang’s son, yet they think that even if he finds out, he’ll not only forgive them but also adopt their son as his own?”

“That’s really stupid!”

Although both Magistrate Hu and the onlookers found this absurd, what was hard to understand was that the Huang family, especially Mrs. Huang, genuinely believed it.

She thought that since Mrs. Tang couldn’t have more children and her own son had been raised under Mrs. Tang’s care since infancy, with both Mr. and Mrs. Tang doting on him and praising his intelligence, it was highly likely that her son would be adopted as a foster son.

Of course, if the truth ever came out, they would never admit to intentionally swapping the children. Instead, they would insist it was an accident or that they had no knowledge of it, in order to absolve themselves of blame.

Mr. Tang’s face darkened. “Ridiculous!”

“Elderly folks among you may know or have heard from your families that my great-grandfather, the benevolent Mr. Tang, did indeed adopt a foster son. But that was the son of a lifesaver—a guard who died protecting my great-grandfather and his son. How can that be compared to this?!”

“Moreover, my great-grandfather didn’t pass on the family fortune to his foster son simply because he was a foster son. It was because the foster son worked diligently, was grateful for my great-grandfather’s upbringing and guidance, and served him faithfully until his death. Only then did he earn the approval of my great-grandfather and the rest of the family to inherit the Tang estate.”

“This is a story every Tang descendant knows!”

A story remembered by the Tang family, about gratitude and filial piety, and how good deeds are rewarded, had been twisted into something so distorted. Mr. Tang was so furious he nearly spat blood.

But Mrs. Huang didn’t see it that way. She insisted that the foster son wasn’t a biological son either. Since neither was a biological son and both were servants’ children, her son also had a chance.

Mr. Tang was beside himself with anger.

Magistrate Hu also found the matter unbelievable and couldn’t help but glance at the mastermind, Mrs. Huang. He found her attitude unusually calm.

Among the Huang family members brought to the court, she was the most composed.

The Huang daughter, the maid who had initially revealed the truth, had a heavily swollen face, clearly beaten after the truth came out. Her eyes were bloodshot, filled with terror, and it was evident that she had been living in fear for a long time. Any more pressure, and she would break.

As for the only adult male in the Huang family, Huang Dalang, his expression was similar to his sister’s, clearly aware that disaster was imminent.

But Mrs. Huang was different—completely different from the others.

Why was she so confident?

If Fu Wenyu were here, he would have recognized this as a classic case of “delusional disorder.” To such a person, the world isn’t as others see it but as they wish it to be.

The cause might have been postpartum depression from being separated from her son, the psychological pressure of swapping the children, or the shock of being separated from her son again. Whatever the reason, this woman, whom Mr. Tang had described as “cautious and reserved,” had developed severe delusions on a psychological level.

Normally, she was fine, but when it came to matters involving her son, she changed.

If Mr. Tang praised, “My son is so well-behaved,”

she would think to herself, “That’s not your son, that’s my son. You’re right, Master, my son is indeed well-behaved.”

If Mrs. Tang said, “My son is so filial,”

she would also think, “Yes, since Mrs. Tang can’t have more children, and my son is raised by her, isn’t he her son? In other families, there are cases where childless wives raise the children of concubines as their own.”

As for the fact that her son shared no blood relation with the Tang family, she rationalized it by thinking, “One of the Tang ancestors was also a foster son and had no blood relation to the Tang family. If he could do it, so can my son.” Over time, she completely convinced herself, believing her version of the truth.

Then she proceeded to brainwash those close to her.

In modern times, similar examples include, “The streamer replied to my private message; she must like me,” or “That girl smiled at me twice; she’s willing to marry me.”

Unfortunately, people in ancient times didn’t understand these things, so Magistrate Hu was left puzzled, repeatedly tempted to ask questions. Fortunately, he remembered that he was no longer Hu Buqi, the man who wandered the streets chasing gossip, but Magistrate Hu, the head of the prefecture, so he restrained himself.

Next, he inquired about a few more points of confusion.

For example, why had everything been fine before, but they suddenly decided to abandon Mr. Tang’s biological son?

This question was answered by Huang Dalang, who said tremblingly, “A couple of days ago, I was running an errand for the master and stopped by a teahouse to rest. I ordered a bowl of tea.”

“At the time, the storyteller on stage was telling a story.” He shuddered, as if recalling something terrifying. “The story was about a wet nurse who swapped her master’s son!”

“I know that story!”

As soon as he finished speaking, someone in the crowd excitedly chimed in, “I know that story! It’s called ‘The Real and Fake Young Master.’ Yes, that’s the name.”

“What ‘Real and Fake Young Master’? It’s called ‘The Cuckoo Occupies the Magpie’s Nest’!”

A wave of excited discussion erupted outside, making it difficult to hear Huang Dalang. Magistrate Hu had no choice but to strike his gavel again, demanding silence.

Then Huang Dalang continued.

“That, that story was also about a wet nurse who swapped her master’s child. I, I was terrified. After returning, I hurriedly discussed it with my wife.”