Chapter 47: I reported you. What can you possibly do to me?

Li Fengying was completely dumbfounded. She could tolerate being beaten by that good-for-nothing Zhao Qiang, but now even He Fen no longer looked at her with any respect.

"So what if I hit you?" He Fen roared loudly. "To marry your daughter Liu Ruyan, we emptied out our family savings to buy a house, a car, and pay the bride price, and now the truth has finally come to light. What on earth are you still pretending for?"

He Fen was consumed by towering rage. That money had been saved coin by coin by the elderly couple, and now it had all been ruined by Liu Ruyan. The Zhao family had become an absolute laughingstock.

"And you, Liu Ruyan! I treated you like my own daughter-in-law. Did I ever let you suffer even the slightest grievance? I cooked whatever you wanted, I did everything I could! Ask your conscience now—do you deserve this? Do you?"

Tears streamed down He Fen’s face as she spoke, and soon she burst into bitter weeping. It wasn't worth it—it was far too not worth it.

"Mom, don't worry. Today I will definitely make the Liu family pay the price!" Zhao Qiang had never seen He Fen cry like this in his entire life; this time, it had truly pierced his mother's softest spot.

"Zhao Qiang, spare us your hypocritical act!" Liu Ruyan had already lost her sanity. She crumpled the paternity test report into a ball and threw it on the ground. "I want to take the test again! This is definitely a conspiracy by your family!"

What Liu Ruyan cared about was her own pride and reputation, not the truth of the matter. Since she had chosen this path, she was going to walk it to the end. She didn't care at all about He Fen's tearful accusations; that was just He Fen volunteering her sympathy, and it had nothing to do with her.

"Still want to take another paternity test? Things have already come to this, and you still refuse to admit it!" Zhao Qiang had underestimated Liu Ruyan's psychological resilience; he hadn't expected her to remain this stubborn under the weight of universal condemnation.

"What on earth am I supposed to admit?" Liu Ruyan stared wide-eyed. "I didn't even do it, why should I admit to it?"

Things had reached this point, yet Liu Ruyan simply refused to confess. What did she do wrong? She just wanted to find a scapegoat to give her twins a nominal father—was that wrong?

Looking at the nearly hysterical Liu Ruyan, Zhao Qiang felt not a shred of pity. "Liu Ruyan, just accept reality. The mistakes you've made will eventually demand a price."

The surrounding crowd pointed and whispered amongst themselves.

"All of you, shut your mouths!" Liu Ruyan let out a hysterical scream, but no one paid her any attention. In the eyes of the onlookers, a woman who had cheated on her husband had no right to act so arrogant.

Liu Ruyan felt as though she had been plunged into an abyss; her reputation was completely in ruins, and her future was pitch-black.

This was terrible. She had gone too far this time. Matters seemed to have completely slipped out of her control.

With Chu Siqi constantly glaring at her exasperated state, Liu Ruyan wanted to hide somewhere and call Zhang Zihao. She was losing her grip; everything was spinning completely out of control.

She turned to run away, but two police officers blocked her path right ahead.

"Liu Ruyan, faking a paternity test report—well, now the police are here for you," Zhao Qiang said with a cold smile.

At Zhao Qiang's words, a guilty panic seized Liu Ruyan, and she turned and scrambled to run in another direction. But it was obviously futile; after just two steps, her path was blocked again.

"You must be Ms. Liu Ruyan!"

"You know Dr. Zhao from this hospital, right? He has already been detained by our police department for accepting bribes. Do you know anything about this?"

The female police officer speaking was someone Zhao Qiang recognized—Da Mei, a colleague of Gao Lan. The only reason Gao Lan hadn't come herself was to avoid idle gossip.

"I don't know him, don't drag me into this," Liu Ruyan blurted out in a rush of denial.

"According to Dr. Zhao's accusation, you paid him to forge a paternity test report. We will investigate this matter thoroughly. Please come with us."

Upon hearing this, Liu Ruyan's legs turned to jelly, and she almost collapsed to the ground. It was Zhang Zihao who had paid to clear the path, but how could she ever dare to rat him out?

"Officers, there must be some mistake! I didn't do it!" Liu Ruyan hurriedly tried to explain, but her words sounded pale and feeble. Once the police showed up at your door, they must have already gathered solid evidence; they wouldn't make trouble out of thin air.

"Liu Ruyan, if you didn't do it, then just come along to the police station. The truth will naturally come to light, and you'll clear yourself of any wrongful accusations."

"Zhao Qiang! Was it you who reported me?" Liu Ruyan instantly concluded that this matter had to be tied to Zhao Qiang; no one else would pull a stunt like this.

"Yes, I reported you. I only suspected that Dr. Zhao might have been bribed by you, though I didn't expect it to actually be true." Zhao Qiang made no effort to hide the fact that he had reported Liu Ruyan, laying his cards right out on the table. Even if he claimed he hadn't done it, Liu Ruyan wouldn't have believed him anyway. Rather than denying it, he might as well admit it openly and generously.

"Zhao Qiang, you're shameless! What right do you have to do this?" Liu Ruyan was driving herself crazy; she never imagined Zhao Qiang would play such a shady trick on her.

"What right? Because I don't trust you!"

"Liu Ruyan, do you know that your credibility with me has hit absolute zero?"

"A cheating woman like you—what qualification do you have to stand here and interrogate me loudly?"

"Where on earth do you get the nerve?"

"You..." Liu Ruyan flushed red down to her neck, completely incapable of spitting out a single word in retort.

"You must have spent quite a bit of money bribing Dr. Zhao. Where did that money come from? Was it given to you by that man?"

Faced with Zhao Qiang's probing interrogation, Liu Ruyan turned pale and stood speechless.

At that moment, another wave of murmuring broke out among the crowd.

"A woman like this deserves to be punished!"

"Abhorrent! Tricking someone's feelings and forging documents on top of that!"

Amidst the condemnation of the crowd, Liu Ruyan was led away by the police. The members of the Liu family slunk along behind them in disgrace, and this farce finally drew to its curtain call.

Watching her streaming view counts skyrocket, Chu Siqi hopped up and down with excitement. This time, not only had she saved her social media account, but more importantly, she had delivered a resounding slap to the face of the Liu family. Since she had livestreamed the entire ordeal, even if the Liu family tried to talk nonsense in the future, nobody would ever believe them again.

"Brother-in-law, look! So many people are cursing Li Fengying and Liu Ruyan!"

"This time, you could say we joined forces to fight the enemy."

"I've made such a huge contribution now—can you please delete that video?"

That video of her ponytail being yanked was her ultimate humiliation; she simply had to get Zhao Qiang to delete it.

Chu Siqi had constantly obsessed over the fact that her weakness was being held by Zhao Qiang, so bringing up the request now meant her chances of success were much higher.

"What video? I have no idea what you're talking about."

Asking him to delete the video was completely out of the question; that was prime leverage to keep a tight hold on Chu Siqi. He might still need to make use of Chu Siqi in the future, so Zhao Qiang deliberately feigned ignorance.

"Brother-in-law, you go back on your word!" Chu Siqi said angrily. They had clearly agreed on a win-win cooperation, yet he was turning around and refusing to honor it.

"I told you already, stop calling me brother-in-law!" Zhao Qiang hurriedly blocked Chu Siqi's mouth. Did this young lady lack basic comprehension of human speech? His parents were still standing right next to them—what else could this make people misunderstand?

*Brother-in-law?*

Both He Fen and Zhao Hai had heard it clearly: Chu Siqi had called Zhao Qiang her brother-in-law.

"Alright, the filming is all done, you can leave now." Zhao Qiang kept pushing Chu Siqi to get her to leave; he didn't plan on revealing the truth about Chu Mengyao just yet.

"Wait a minute." He Fen hurriedly called out to Chu Siqi, wanting to get to the bottom of what was happening. She always felt like Zhao Qiang was keeping something from her.

"Why aren't you leaving yet? Don't you want your video back?" Zhao Qiang shot Chu Siqi a fierce glare, urging her to get lost immediately.

"Qiangzi, did that girl just call you brother-in-law?" He Fen asked.

"Mom, you misheard. She's just an anime cosplayer—"

"No, she definitely called you brother-in-law. Your old mother isn't deaf yet."

"Could it be that she's Gao Lan's younger sister?" He Fen filled in the blanks in her own mind, never expecting that her son had already progressed this far with Gao Lan.

Zhao Qiang intended to offer an explanation, but now it had become impossible to clear up.

Meanwhile, back at the Chu family estate, upon the lush green lawn.

Chu Mengyao sat lazily in a reclining chair, her fair, slender legs stretched out casually as she basked in the warmth of the sun.

"Mommy, mommy! Hurry and tell Aunty to film Daddy! Little Peach wants to see Daddy!"

Beside her, little Peach gripped her phone tightly with her small hands, her tiny face filled with eager anxiety.

"I don't like those three old aunties," the little girl mumbled, pouting as she tugged at Chu Mengyao's arm.

Annoyed to no end by the little girl's fussing, Chu Mengyao reluctantly opened the livestream for her, despite her inner reluctance. Although she acted completely indifferent on the surface, her gaze still drifted toward the phone screen every now and then. Only if Zhao Qiang won this battle would he be qualified to help her tomorrow at the engagement banquet.

"Mommy, why aren't you worried about Daddy?" Little Peach blinked her clear, sparkling eyes, looking up with utter confusion.

"What's there to worry about? He's a grown man," Chu Mengyao scoffed coldly, though an inexplicable irritation stirred deep within her. She really wondered what kind of creature she had raised; this little girl kept chanting "Daddy" over and over, showing complete apathy toward her own mother.