Chapter 125 - 86: Paternity Test Report, Negotiation

"COUGH, COUGH, COUGH, COUGH, COUGH, COUGH..."

Wang Chao bent over, hands on his legs, coughing so hard that tears squeezed from the corners of his eyes. His mind was a blank, ringing buzz.

He looked pathetic, but he still managed to raise a hand and give a thumbs-up.

"This tobacco’s got a kick!"

Old Zhou glanced back at Wang Chao, a smile spreading across his face.

"Heh heh."

Then, he ignored him and stopped, looking at the house before them.

"We’re here."

Old Zhou said quietly, staring at the self-built concrete house.

The four of them were on the edge of the village. There were no neighbors around.

The houses here were sparse, located closer to the fields. It was like a lone yurt on a vast, endless grassland—utterly conspicuous.

The house itself was built from concrete bricks, not much different from a typical self-built home in a small town.

"This is Tao Ming’s house. I’m heading back to roll some more tobacco. I won’t be joining you young folks in your business."

With that, Old Zhou turned around slowly. He put a hand on his lower back and started walking back the way they came.

Xu De retracted his gaze and mulled it over for a moment.

After a moment, he walked up and knocked on the door.

"KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK~!"

The crisp sound echoed.

Xu De waited for a moment, but there was no response. A short while later...

"KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK!"

He knocked again. Several times over several minutes, but still no one answered.

Wang Chao couldn’t take it anymore. His eyes gleamed, and he was itching to move, feeling that his time to shine had come.

"Lawyer Xu, why don’t you let me handle this!?"

His eyes quickly scanned the surroundings, and in just two seconds, he had locked onto a spot where he could easily scale the wall.

At the same time, his mind was already figuring out what kind of lock was on the inside of the door and how to pick it.

"We’re here to gather evidence. Do you understand what that means?"

Xu De shot him down immediately, giving him no chance to show off.

Wang Chao was a bit disappointed and sighed deeply. ’All those moves I learned in law school are useless here,’ he thought.

As for Xu De, he just kept knocking.

Judging by the main door, the lock wasn’t on the outside, but on the inside. Someone was most likely home; they just weren’t answering.

’If they don’t answer, I’ll just keep knocking!’

"BANG, BANG, BANG!"

He knocked continuously for over ten minutes.

As if moved by his unwavering persistence, the person inside finally couldn’t take it anymore. A sharp, angry voice pierced through the door.

"Knock, knock, knock! Go knock your own damn head in!"

"Is this ever going to end!?"

Lin Yue reflexively squeezed her eyes shut and covered her ears.

The voice was like a high-frequency sound wave, making her eardrums ache.

The next second,

"CREAK~!"

The iron door opened, and a figure appeared in the crack.

"Are you crazy!?"

the person snapped, their attitude belligerent.

’This person...’

Xu De paused, instinctively sizing them up.

She was about five-foot-three, thin and wiry. The fine wrinkles on her face suggested she was around thirty-six years old. As for her looks...

She was above average in appearance, but there was an unmistakable hostility in her eyes.

Her upturned eyes were narrowed, the whites showing on three sides as she glared at Xu De. With her hands on her hips, she demanded unkindly:

"Who are you!?"

Her attitude was awful, but Xu De paid it no mind.

He stared at the woman, suppressing the storm raging inside him, and glanced back at Lin Yue and Wang Chao.

’She looks like...’

’The resemblance is uncanny!’

The woman looked at least eighty percent like Liu Jingqi!

She was a grown-up version of Liu Jingqi, just older, and the hostility in her bones was even more pronounced.

"Hello, you must be Sun Miaohua, right?"

Xu De chose to be polite first. He spoke slowly as he looked at the woman before him.

But Sun Miaohua just frowned and shot back, "Who are you?"

"I don’t remember seeing you in the village before."

"Who I am isn’t important."

Xu De shook his head. Instead of introducing himself, he pulled out a photo of Liu Jingqi.

"What’s important is this person. Do you know her?"

Sun Miaohua’s eyes rolled over to focus on the photo.

It was...

a blurry portrait.

"Don’t know her."

Sun Miaohua glanced at it, then waved her hand impatiently and started to close the door.

"If you’re looking for someone, go ask someone else."

"I have to work tonight, don’t bother me!"

Just as the door was about to slam shut,

Lin Yue, who was standing to the side, acted quickly. She jammed a branch into the door gap.

Seizing the opportunity, Xu De spoke again.

"Ms. Sun, this is a photo of Zhang Yueyue. Please, take a good look. I’m sure you’ll remember."

"Zhang Yueyue has killed someone. She..."

He expected this to provoke a strong reaction, or at least some hesitation, but unfortunately...

"Whatever crime she committed has nothing to do with me! Don’t even think about making me pay for it!"

Sun Miaohua’s reaction was even more vehement, her face full of suspicion.

’Pay... Pay money?’

’Her first reaction is that she doesn’t want to pay...’

A glint flashed in Xu De’s eyes, and he suddenly spoke again.

"We’re not here to ask for compensation!"

"We’re here to give you money! Ms. Sun, you could receive at least one hundred thousand yuan!"

’Not asking for money, but giving it away...’

’One hundred thousand yuan?’

「In that instant.」

The immense force on the door vanished. And then...

With a CREAK, the door in front of them was thrown open.

Sun Miaohua’s face was now wreathed in an enthusiastic smile. She stepped aside to make way for the three of them to enter.

"Oh my, you should have said so earlier! If you’d just said so, everything would have been fine."

"My goodness, what a terrible misunderstanding! We’re all friends here."

"It’s cold out here. Let’s talk inside. Come on."

She was incredibly welcoming, hastily ushering the three of them into the house.

The ferocious expression she wore just moments ago... it was as if she were a completely different person now.

「Inside the living room.」

Xu De sat on a stool, his eyes sweeping across the dark, cluttered room.

The house wasn’t exactly crude; the floor was tiled, and the overall decor was decent for its time. There was even a bulky CRT television on a table. It was clear how much care Tao Ming had put into building this house.

"Here, here, have some water, have some water..."

Sun Miaohua grabbed a cup, filled it with some plain boiled water, and offered it to Xu De with a fawning smile.

"So... uhm, about that one hundred thousand you mentioned earlier... what did you mean?"

Xu De took the water but didn’t drink it. Instead, he said slowly:

"About that one hundred thousand... we won’t be the ones giving it to you."

Sun Miaohua’s expression changed in a flash. But before she could react, Xu De continued:

"But someone else will!"

Hearing this, Sun Miaohua relaxed a bit and asked again.

"What do you mean? Who’s going to give me one hundred thousand?"

"Zhang Yueyue!"

Xu De held out his hand and pointed to the photo in it, which was a picture of Liu Jingqi taken twelve years ago.

This time, with the proper motivation, Sun Miaohua stared at it intently, then said in surprise:

"She’s not dead yet?"

"I thought she died a long time ago... But I have nothing to do with her. You can’t blame me for her killing someone."

The three of them froze.

"You don’t have any questions?" Xu De frowned.

"What’s there to ask?"

Sun Miaohua waved her hand dismissively. "Her father went to prison for murder. She’s his seed. Isn’t it normal for her to kill someone?"

She continued, her tone turned nasty as she started cursing:

"Son of a bitch. That bastard was with me for years, said if I followed him I’d live the good life..."

"But not even two years later, he was gone. He couldn’t even steal a kid without messing it up. He got caught, killed someone, and after all that, the fucker still couldn’t get away..."

Lin Yue’s brow furrowed, and she looked like she wanted to say something but held back.

’It’s obvious Liu Jingqi’s biological father committed a serious crime, he was probably sentenced to death...’

’As for Sun Miaohua...’

’She must have remarried and moved with Liu Jingqi to Taocun Village in that province only after he was sentenced.’

’Then she ran into Tao Ming, who ultimately met a tragic end.’

’As for what his fate had to do with Sun Miaohua...’

’You could say it had a lot to do with her.’

’But if you look at the root cause... it was still Liu Jingqi herself.’

’Even if Sun Miaohua hadn’t left, it doesn’t mean Liu Jingqi wouldn’t have abandoned Tao Ming’s biological child. A leopard can’t change its spots. She would have very likely done something else to cause Tao Ming to suffer the same fate.’

’Just like how Liu Jingqi, even without Sun Miaohua, found Liu Hao and was still just as vicious, persecuting Yang Jiale to death.’

So...

Sun Miaohua said:

"Let me make it clear: what that bad seed does has nothing to do with me. If you’re here for money, don’t come to me."

’Bad seed...’

’It’s hard to imagine the mindset of a woman who calls her own child a "bad seed".’

’But clearly, she was right. And she had no feelings for the girl. At the very least, back when she committed marriage fraud... she never even considered taking Liu Jingqi with her!’

She never even looked for Liu Jingqi after she disappeared.

However...

these flaws were now working in Xu De’s favor!

"Don’t worry, we absolutely won’t make you pay."

"Here’s the thing. We came to see you today mainly for one reason..."

A smile appeared on Xu De’s face. His demeanor was calm and composed as he said slowly:

"To have you prove... that she is your daughter."

"Or, to put it another way..."

Dragons beget dragons, phoenixes beget phoenixes, and the son of a mouse knows how to dig holes.

Xu De had never believed in that old folk saying.

After all, were kings and nobles destined by birth?

But it was obvious.

At the very least...

Liu Jingqi’s cold-blooded nature was inherited from this woman!

Xu De said:

"We want you and Liu Jingqi to complete a DNA test to confirm your blood relationship!"