Chapter 5: Family Secrets Must Not Be Exposed, Yet I Yearn to Reveal Them

Li Fengying pulled this same stunt on him, clinging on relentlessly.

But that trick was already useless on Zhao Qiang. Even if the King of Heaven himself came today, no one would make him play the fool and raise another man’s child.

“Somebody help! Will no one put a stop to this heartless brute?”

“My daughter gave birth to twins for him, and now he’s doubting her!”

“Good heavens, why are you doing this to my daughter? What on earth did she do wrong?”

Li Fengying’s wails rang out one after another, drawing a crowd so thick it was packed three layers deep.

People loved a spectacle, and the onlookers were already casting Zhao Qiang looks of open contempt.

Whenever a womanizer was mentioned, everyone wanted to drag him into the street and beat him.

He was a womanizer?

Zhao Qiang nearly laughed out of anger. In order to find her daughter a scapegoat, Li Fengying was resorting to every dirty trick imaginable.

Lies came tumbling from her mouth without hesitation, and she kept splashing filth all over him.

Her performance was so heartbreakingly convincing that Zhao Qiang almost wanted to hand her an Oscar on the spot.

“Dad, have you called the police?”

“Qiang, won’t this get too big?”

Zhao Hai asked worriedly. If this blew up, Zhao Qiang’s reputation would be ruined.

“Dad, trust me. They wouldn’t dare agree to a paternity test.”

“Your father and I believe you. Go ahead and do it boldly.”

He Fen had also thought it through. The Liu family had never treated them like in-laws at all.

She had given so much, caring for her every day during Liu Ruyan’s pregnancy, and in the end she had not even been allowed to touch the two children.

She felt bitterly chilled. She had once thought Zhao Qiang should not be so extreme, but now she was supporting his decision too.

All the signs pointed to something being wrong with the Liu family.

But getting a paternity test felt harder than reaching the heavens.

Her son was her own, but she could no longer be sure about her grandchildren.

At first, when Liu Ruyan married into the Zhao family, she had already been suspicious.

How on earth had her son managed to bring home such a beautiful wife, and one already carrying a child?

If Zhao Qiang had not insisted again and again that the child was his, He Fen would never have believed it so readily.

“Dad, Mom, step aside. I can handle this alone. Just don’t let the Liu family pin anything on you.”

Since they wanted to play games, Zhao Qiang would play with them to the end. The barefoot are not afraid of the shoed.

Since Liu Ruyan dared to pick him as a scapegoat, she had better be ready for the revenge that would follow once he found out.

He had no direct evidence to prove Liu Ruyan anything yet, but he would keep insisting on a paternity test.

No matter what tricks the Liu family tried, he would say only one thing: paternity test.

They could call him a womanizer all they liked; he did not care at all.

“Don’t be afraid. I’m an influencer.”

“I’ll expose this heartless man for your family right now and make sure that trash is dragged through the internet.”

At that moment, a woman named Chu Siqi, holding up her phone to film, pointed it at Zhao Qiang and recorded him in a flurry.

She despised irresponsible men the most. Wherever she saw one, she would expose him.

Filming was not enough. She was even planning to start a livestream and let everyone condemn him.

Seeing someone recording, the Liu family grew even more excited.

Now let’s see whether Zhao Qiang would still be afraid. Once he was exposed to the public, he would never be able to lift his head again.

“Zhao Qiang, I’m giving you one more chance.”

“Come back with us now and take good care of my daughter.”

“What happened before, our Liu family will let it go. We’ll act as if nothing ever happened.”

“Otherwise, our Liu family will ruin you completely.”

“You don’t want to lose your job and your dignity, do you?”

Li Fengying spoke softly, her tone carrying a thread of supposed compromise.

“You’ll let it go?”

Zhao Qiang asked with a probing smile at the corners of his mouth.

At this point, they had even learned to shrink a big matter down to calm him.

“Yes. After all, we’re family. Any grudge can be settled inside the family.”

“I know it’s because our Liu family hasn’t treated you well, so you want to vent your anger.”

“There’s no need to let outsiders laugh at us. Family shame should not be aired in public.”

“How about this: our Liu family will treat you a little better from now on. Isn’t that enough?”

In her view, Zhao Qiang definitely was not suspecting her daughter of cheating.

If he had evidence, he would have brought it out long ago.

The fact that he kept refusing to produce any meant he simply had no proof.

It must be that their family had been a little too strict with him lately, so he was deliberately making trouble.

Just now, when the matter of the two children’s names came up, she had seen Zhao Qiang’s expression change.

It had to be because of the children’s names. He wanted a paternity test to prove the two children were his.

He was using this to make demands of the Liu family, hoping to get the children’s names entered into the Zhao family registry.

The more Li Fengying thought about it, the more certain she became that this was the only possibility.

“Is that all?”

Zhao Qiang did not immediately expose the old woman’s act. He wanted to see what other tricks she still had.

Whatever tricks they played, the children belonged to that man.

The paternity test would only show that they had no blood relation to him.

“After bullying me for so long, is that really all you have to offer?”

Have the Liu family be a little nicer to him, comfort him a bit, and then let him continue wearing a green hat.

What a shrewd bargain.

“Do you want to change the children’s names? Don’t even think about it.”

The moment she heard the topic of the children’s names, Li Fengying changed her face at once.

Those were not Zhao Qiang’s children. Changing their names later would be a troublesome affair.

“If you agree, I’ll tell everyone right now that this was all just a misunderstanding.”

“Otherwise, if our Liu family makes a scene, you won’t get any good out of it.”

Li Fengying still thought Zhao Qiang was as easy to bully as ever, unwilling to suffer even the slightest loss.

Zhao Qiang gave a cold snort, his eyes full of disdain.

This old woman had said so much, yet not once had she mentioned the paternity test.

As if that topic had never existed at all.

“Family shame should not be aired in public. Is it my shame, or yours?”

“Zhao Qiang, what do you mean by that? Why are you speaking so sourly?”

“What do I mean? Don’t the Liu family understand perfectly well?”

He was pretending to be confused when he understood everything. Zhao Qiang was only one step away from tearing down the last scrap of decency between them.

“What if I just want to air the family shame?”

Li Fengying did not want to make a scene, but he did.

Even if he would surely be mocked by his former university classmates, at least he would know the truth.

With a clear conscience, he could start a new life and face the world openly.

“Zhao Qiang, I’m really giving you face here, and you still refuse to listen to reason.”

Li Fengying abruptly seized Chu Siqi, her whole body trembling as she turned toward the camera and cried out.

“Miss, my daughter is still in the delivery room, and this heartless brute is too vile.”

“During my daughter’s pregnancy, he was flirting with other women.”

“And now he’s even planning to run off and live a double life with that woman, cutting my daughter off completely.”

“My poor daughter had just given birth to two children and now has to suffer the blow of being abandoned.”

A whole string of lines, clearly made up on the spot, poured out of Li Fengying’s mouth with alarming ease.

Even Zhao Qiang had to admire her shamelessness. It was truly unbelievable.

A tired old script about falling in love with the new and despising the old, with a woman fabricated out of thin air.

And then there was the sheer thickness of her skin. He would never be able to compare.

He Fen and Zhao Hai wanted to speak up for their son, but they could no longer bear to listen.

Li Fengying was going too far. When had their son ever done such a thing? She was obviously slandering him.

“Dad, Mom, don’t say anything. Let the Liu family keep performing.”

“Relax. I know what I’m doing. A straight tree does not fear crooked shadows.”

His parents were old. If they started a fight and got hurt, it would not be worth it at all.

“Auntie, don’t worry. I’m livestreaming right now. I’ll help you and the viewers call out this trash together.”

Chu Siqi already had ten thousand people in her livestream room. This was a great chance to gain followers.

Catching a piece of trash in the act and helping society get rid of harm at the same time.

“Trash, go die!”

“Heartless scum like him will get their retribution sooner or later!”

“Have the police lock him up so he can’t continue harming society.”

“If you ask me, a man like that should be shot a hundred times.”

“The country should change the law. Trash men should all be cut apart.”

By now, the comments had exploded, each one more venomous than the last.