“You… you…”
Qian Chunyun looked at Bai Lan and Xu Jianbei standing outside her door, desperately forcing out a smile.
Bai Lan looked at her stiff smile and gave her one ten times brighter. “Hello there, Auntie Qian!”
Qian Chunyun’s hand trembled as she reached out. “You… Bai Lan, how come you’re here?”
Bai Lan kept smiling. “I came to Haicheng to buy some things, so I thought I’d drop by and see you, Auntie Qian! What’s the matter, Auntie Qian? Don’t you welcome me?”
Calm down. Calm down. Hearing Bai Lan’s words, Qian Chunyun took a deep breath and tried to steady herself. She had hidden this secret for twenty years. She wasn’t going to let this young girl in front of her find out. This secret was crucial to her future. Bai Lan was just a teenager, hadn’t seen much of the world, and should be easy to fool.
With this thought, the smile on Qian Chunyun’s face became more genuine.
“Of course not. Look, it’s almost mealtime. Let me take you out to eat…”
As she spoke, Qian Chunyun tried to close the door to prevent Bai Lan from entering the house.
But how could Bai Lan let her have her way?
With a face full of smiles, Bai Lan said, “Hold on, Auntie Qian! Let me tell you something first!”
Qian Chunyun was taken aback. She thought to herself, was the youngest Bai girl out of her mind? Why couldn’t she just say everything at once?
Bai Lan ignored her reaction and continued, “Isn’t it a small world? As soon as I arrived in Haicheng, I happened to meet a young man who looks just like my eldest and second maternal uncles!”
Hearing this, Qian Chunyun’s heart tightened. It felt like someone was squeezing it.
Bai Lan smiled again. “So I went right over to say hello. Isn’t it a coincidence? He turned out to be your son, Auntie Qian! Auntie Qian, you’re really something! Your son looks so much like my uncles. What a remarkable connection! Why haven’t you brought him back to visit in all these twenty years, at least to let everyone see this rarity? Don’t you agree?”
This was bad. This was really bad.
Qian Chunyun looked at Bai Lan’s smiling face and felt like her world was crumbling. She licked her dry lips and lowered her voice. “This… this is quite a coincidence. But people can look alike…”
Bai Lan cut off her excuses directly. “Then how about I go and spread this news to everyone at your factory, and to all the neighbors in our courtyard?”
Seeing the unmistakable malice in Bai Lan’s eyes, Qian Chunyun felt that this girl was truly a demon. But she couldn’t, she couldn’t let Bai Lan spread this news. She wasn’t even forty yet. She still had a long future ahead. She couldn’t let this secret come to light now.
If Old Fang found out, he would never forgive her. That stepson of hers, that ungrateful wretch, would immediately ruin her reputation. Baowei, this son, would never take care of her in her old age. And as for Bai Ping, her daughter, she still needed a good reputation to marry well. She couldn’t drag her down.
Thinking this, Qian Chunyun immediately said, “Come in, come in… Xiao Lan. Whatever it is, let’s talk inside, let’s talk inside…”
Bai Lan had known it would come to this. This wretched Qian Chunyun was trying to shut her up.
Even though she had gotten through the Fang family’s door without any effort, Bai Lan still felt indignant. Especially after seeing the television, the radio, and the soft, comfortable sofa in the Fang family’s living room, she found Qian Chunyun even more detestable. Qian Chunyun’s comfortable life had been bought with her brother.
—
“Xiao Lan…”
“Stop. Don’t call me that. We’re not close.”
As soon as they sat down, Qian Chunyun put on a fawning expression. Bai Lan found it nauseating.
“Your mother is so kind-hearted… Why aren’t you anything like her?”
Bai Lan shot back unapologetically, “And why are you exactly like your daughter?”
At these words, Qian Chunyun instantly choked. She knew her secret was completely exposed.
“Why are you saying this?”
Bai Lan said, “Don’t beat around the bush. I didn’t come here today to waste my time. Either you tell me clearly what happened back then, or I’ll go spread the news in your residential area right now.”
This struck at Qian Chunyun’s vital point.
“I… all these years, I’ve raised Baowei very well. He’s now a skilled technician at the textile factory.”
Seeing that Qian Chunyun was still trying to evade, Bai Lan immediately stood up. She signaled to Xu Jianbei to follow. She looked ready to go outside and start spreading the news.
This resolute attitude startled Qian Chunyun. She completely dared not play any more tricks.
“Don’t… don’t go outside. I’ll talk, I’ll talk, alright?”
Seeing Qian Chunyun’s complexion turn ashen, Bai Lan sat back down.
“Talk. My patience is limited.”
Seeing how aggressive Bai Lan was, Qian Chunyun gritted her teeth in resentment. During those days in the courtyard, she hadn’t realized that the youngest Bai girl was such a difficult person. Her own Pingping had grown up sharing a room with someone like this—she must have been bullied since childhood.
Bai Lan watched Qian Chunyun’s expression shift and change and really wanted to give her a piece of her mind. But before she got the truth out, she decided to hold back a little longer.
—
Fortunately, Qian Chunyun could see Bai Lan’s firmness. She knew she couldn’t beat around the bush. She began to talk about Fang Baowei’s situation, glossing over the most important parts.
“The truth is quite simple. I didn’t realize that Baowei looked like your eldest and second uncles until he was over ten years old. That’s when I suspected he might have been swapped at the hospital back then. You know, newborn babies all look pretty similar…”
Bai Lan had finally run out of patience. She could see clearly now—Qian Chunyun was the type who wouldn’t shed a tear until she saw the coffin.
So she called out directly toward the door, “Fang Baowei, come in.”
Qian Chunyun was still racking her brain for excuses. Hearing this, she completely lost it.
The front door, which was supposed to be shut, had somehow been left half-open. And the son she had raised for twenty years, Fang Baowei, was standing there looking at her with a face full of shock and anger.
“Baowei… Baowei… let Mom explain…”
“Enough, Mom. Just stop.”
Fang Baowei had actually come with Bai Lan and Xu Jianbei. But when they reached the door, Bai Lan had stopped him and told him to hide behind it. So he had heard everything his mother said when she opened the door, and all the excuses she made afterward inside the house.
Those words, aside from further proving that his background was problematic, had no other effect.
“You ask her. I think Auntie Qian might have a problem with me.”
Bai Lan shrugged, acting as if she had no idea how to handle Qian Chunyun.
Qian Chunyun shot Bai Lan a hateful glare. She reached her hand out toward Fang Baowei, but he immediately pulled away.
Fang Baowei looked at the woman who had raised him for twenty years, whom he had called “Mom” for twenty years, his emotions in turmoil.
Earlier, he had been searching for excuses in his mind, telling himself there might have been a mistake. But the way his mother had just tried to cover things up had wiped away any trace of wishful thinking.
Still, the truth was truly hard to accept.
The woman he had called Mom for twenty years was not his biological mother, fine. But on top of that, she was the very culprit who had swapped him. How could Fang Baowei not feel both angry and sad?
—
“Baowei, let Mom explain—”
Bai Lan was sick of Qian Chunyun’s victim act.
“I’m asking you one last time. Do you want to talk now, or do you want to talk later in front of the entire textile factory and everyone in Courtyard Number Three?”
Qian Chunyun looked pleadingly at Fang Baowei, but he just kept shaking his head.
“Mom, I need to know the truth about what happened back then.”
Qian Chunyun closed her eyes in pain. When she opened them again, she finally began to speak. “You really aren’t my biological son. When your mother and I gave birth, we were in the same delivery room. But I truly didn’t swap the babies myself. I was completely out of it after giving birth. When I came to, you were right next to me.”
She was really washing her hands of the matter quite thoroughly.
Bai Lan mercilessly exposed her hypocrisy. “Even if you didn’t swap the babies yourself, later on, when you realized the child looked like my mother’s relatives, why didn’t you say anything?”
“I…”
Bai Lan cut off any possible excuse Qian Chunyun might make. “Don’t tell me you didn’t notice. You were friends with my mother. You had seen my eldest and second uncles many times. And besides, you’ve been married and living in Haicheng for twenty years now. Have you ever once brought Fang Baowei back to Beicheng? That one fact alone proves you knew long ago! Even if you didn’t swap the child yourself, you must have known about it!”
Qian Chunyun looked at Bai Lan, speechless. This girl was too aggressive, nothing like what she had heard.
“Let me guess. You’re not going to say that the person who swapped the babies was your mother, and you found out later but were too afraid to say anything because you didn’t want your mother to take responsibility?”
Bai Lan had hit the mark. Qian Chunyun grew even more wary of her.
But then, she saw another smile appear on Bai Lan’s face.
“Since you say you’re innocent and everything was your mother’s doing, fine. We’re not unreasonable people. Come back with us. Face to face, confront your mother.”
That was the best solution Bai Lan could think of. Of course, it was also because she wanted to give Bai Ping a big gift. Wasn’t Bai Ping about to get married? Bai Lan wasn’t going to let her get married under the Bai family name.
“No way…”
Qian Chunyun immediately realized what Bai Lan was trying to do and shook her head.
Bai Lan said, “I’m not here to ask for your opinion. I’m here to inform you. If you don’t agree, that’s fine. I’ll just go talk to Factory Director Fang myself.”
“Talk about what—”
—
A familiar male voice sounded from outside. Qian Chunyun looked toward the door again. Her husband, Fang Liye, was standing there.
The sunlight fell behind the man, his tall figure casting a shadow into the room. It was as if that shadow had fallen into Qian Chunyun’s heart.
“Lao Fang… Lao Fang… I… let me explain…”
Fang Liye walked over to Qian Chunyun and pressed down on her shoulder, looking like a husband supporting his wife. Then he turned to look at Bai Lan, his gaze sharp and hostile. Seeing this, Xu Jianbei immediately stepped in front of Bai Lan.
Suddenly, the atmosphere was tense and strained.
But then Fang Baowei stepped forward himself. In a few sentences, he laid out the entire sequence of events.
“So, Dad, I need to know the truth about this matter. You need to know the truth too. Since Mom says the whole thing was Grandma’s doing, then please, Mom, confront Grandma about it. I don’t want to live under a lie.”
Fang Liye clenched his fists, then relaxed them. His youngest son in front of him was still that straightforward. He had always thought this boy’s personality wasn’t like his own, but he had never once suspected the boy’s background.
After all, who would imagine that a mother would swap her own daughter for another woman’s son? Especially when her own conditions were better than the other family’s. He had heard of the reverse happening—swapping a daughter for a son—but he had never actually seen someone send their own daughter off to suffer.
So Fang Liye looked at Qian Chunyun, who had been wearing a pleading expression ever since he appeared.
“Talk. Tell me the whole thing again, properly. And remember, don’t lie…”
Seeing this, Bai Lan let out a cold laugh.
Before meeting Fang Liye, she had already asked around about him at the textile factory. This man had worked his way up from director to deputy director—he was no fool. Now that Fang Baowei’s true background had come to light, she didn’t believe Qian Chunyun’s good days would continue.
In fact, Qian Chunyun’s regrets were eating her alive right now.
Not regretting that she had concealed the child-swapping. No, she regretted ever going back to Beicheng recently. It was all her mother’s fault for secretly writing to her, telling her that Bai Ping had found a good match. That was why she couldn’t help herself and used the excuse of attending a wedding to run back.
She had endured for twenty years. If she had endured just a little longer, maybe things would have been more stable.
Now, not only did her son know, but Lao Fang knew too.
Qian Chunyun knew that her good days were over.
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