Chapter 261: Chapter 261: Caught Stealing Banknotes Chapter 261: Chapter 261: Caught Stealing Banknotes Ning Xueling stood up and went upstairs, walking toward Luo Jianing’s room door, wanting to console her adoptive daughter, but she heard Luo Jianing’s curses coming from the room: “Not a single one of you is any good, all a bunch of cold-blooded people.
You just want me gone, don’t you? As if I’m keen on you people. If it weren’t for the little use you have, who would care to be part of your family? I curse you all to have a wretched end.”
Ning Xueling had not expected Jianing to say such things. Just now downstairs, she thought Jianing was just being impulsive, which she could understand, but now there were no others in the room, and these must be her true thoughts. How could she curse her own family like that?
She let her raised hand fall and turned back to her own room without turning on the light, lying down on the bed fully clothed.
She had a special feeling for Jianing, as years ago, due to her negligence, her eldest son and second son suffered those consequences, almost causing her and her in-laws to fall out.
She and Luo Haotian almost couldn’t make it through either, but could she blame herself? She never wanted anything like that to happen, yet it happened under her watch that day.
In the following years, her relationship with Luo Haotian hit rock bottom, and if it hadn’t been for their little daughter, they might have ended up as a couple full of resentment for life. The arrival of their little daughter, however, thawed the icy relations in the family.
So she devoted all her attention to Jianing, and now she was told her child had been switched at birth—something no one could easily accept.
Thinking of her husband saying their daughter hadn’t had a single good day since she was little, her eyes welled up with tears. Then thinking of Jianing’s words in the room, a chill settled in her heart.
Who knows how much time had passed, when she heard a knock on the door: “Mom, are you there? Can I come in?”
Upon hearing Jianing’s voice, Ning Xueling instinctively didn’t want her to come in, so she remained silent. However, unexpectedly, Luo Jianing opened the door and came in.
The room being too dark, Ning Xueling was just about to ask what she needed,
when she heard Luo Jianing say, “You forced me into this, so don’t blame me. If you had even once considered my feelings, I wouldn’t have done this.”
Luo Jianing thought Ning Xueling was still downstairs and had not expected Ning Xueling to be silent out of vexation. After entering, she didn’t turn on the light for fear of being discovered, and instead walked familiarly to the writing desk, found the keys in the dark, and fumbled to open the drawer.
Only then did Ning Xueling realize what Luo Jianing intended to do, and with a sigh in her heart, she said, “What are you doing?”
At her sudden voice, Luo Jianing was genuinely startled, and perhaps driven by some impulse, she grabbed the desk lamp and threw it. The people downstairs, hearing the crash, hurriedly ran upstairs.
Upon entering and turning on the light, what they saw was Ning Xueling, who had just been startled and was now shielding her eyes from the intense light, and Luo Jianing, who was standing on the floor near the open writing desk drawer, holding the iron box Ning Xueling usually used to store banknotes.
Now everyone was clear about the situation. Luo Siyan stepped forward and slapped Luo Jianing, snatching the iron box from her hand, “You really have some nerve, trying to steal before you leave. Such an ungrateful wretch.”
Luo Haotian too expressed his disappointment, “Go back to your room and pack up, we’ll send you away first thing tomorrow morning.”
Luo Jianing had not expected Ning Xueling to be in the room; she thought she was still downstairs, so she brazenly came in to take some money and banknotes from the drawer.
Caught red-handed by the whole family, she fled in shame and embarrassment.
Meanwhile, Ning Xueling on the bed stared blankly at the retreating figure at the door, thinking about Jianing’s immediate actions, her heart completely chilled. This was the child she had wholeheartedly tried to protect.
But that child had intended to hurt her gravely. She turned to look at the lampshade-less desk lamp, her eyes filled with desolation—it was an iron lamp base, after all.
The next morning, Luo Siyan managed to move Luo Jianing’s household registration and school status, changing her surname as well. The documents now all read Zhao Jianing, and Luo Siyuan also took leave from work, planning to accompany them to Ji City to visit their sister.
Arriving early at the train station, through a friend, they purchased tickets for the eleven o’clock morning train to Ji City.