With this thought in mind, Ding Xiulan had a brief idle chat then got straight to the point.
"All these years, we’ve been searching for that granddaughter. To tell you the truth, after all our hard work, we ended up with a son who’s nothing but trouble. The daughter-in-law we got has a difficult temper too, making our home utterly chaotic."
Having said this, Ding Xiulan sighed, her wrinkled cheeks evoking genuine sympathy.
Lin Chunju joined in with a sigh, "No matter how wrong the children are, it’s always us parents who haven’t taught them well. I can understand how Sister Ding feels."
Ding Xiulan was caught off guard by Lin Chunju’s response.
She had planned to quickly shift the blame for abandoning the child onto Zhuang Rouhui.
Then play the emotional card and portray themselves as helpless victims.
But with Lin Chunju blocking her move so skillfully, wasn’t she essentially saying that their lack of proper guidance was to blame, and that whatever happened then also bore their responsibility?
This was practically cutting off their path to play the victims.
Ding Xiulan tried to speak again, "What Sister Lin said is true, we were somewhat negligent back then, and so we made irrevocable mistakes, didn’t we? Now my husband and I are old, we don’t know when we might die. We just hope to see our child once more before that happens. Even if we die then, we would be able to rest easy."
Their conversation, after taking many twists, inevitably circled back to the main issue—they still wanted to acknowledge Yue Qingqing back into the family.
Lin Chunju asked bluntly.
"If that’s the case, let’s be frank here. Yue Qingqing was indeed found by us at the hospital. Such a small child, and to think she had been heartlessly abandoned."
"Finding the child back then wouldn’t have been difficult if you truly wanted to, my eldest specifically left contact information at the hospital when he left. There should have been a way to find the child, so why didn’t you manage to find her at the time?"
She pinpointed the core of the issue directly.
Even if the Li Family’s elderly couple blamed all the faults on their daughter-in-law or son, if they really had wanted to find Yue Qingqing back then, it couldn’t have been impossible.
They were simply pretending to be unaware of the clear path.
In the end, they valued having a male heir more; Zhuang Rouhui’s actions were merely a matter of convenience.
They could easily relieve themselves of any guilt, claiming ignorance, without having to shoulder any feeling of wrongdoing.
Now, Ding Xiulan and Li Jiaguo could no longer underestimate Lin Chunju.
Indeed, how could someone capable of raising such a child be simple-minded?
Ding Xiulan had no choice but to admit, "Back then, we were careless. Now, all we can do is try to make amends."
"Why exactly?" Lin Chunju’s gaze was intense as she looked at them, demanding the most truthful answer, "Is it because you only realized now that the younger generation in your family is incompetent, so you want to bring back the child from back then to preserve the family fortune?"
Like thunderclaps bursting abruptly, Li Jiaguo and Ding Xiulan sat up straight on the couch.
Lin Chunju’s words struck directly at their most hidden thoughts.
Yes, over the years, if the Li Family had wanted to find Yue Qingqing, it wasn’t that they couldn’t.
Why would they rather engrave the girl’s name on a spiritual tablet and keep it in the family shrine instead of holding onto a glimmer of hope to search for her?
Because they actually didn’t care for the girl at all.
Only when they realized that Li Ruyun and Li Ruyu were getting out of hand, becoming useless,
and that Li Ruyu’s health had suffered from some unknown affliction, never knowing when he might die,
and Li Ruyun was even worse, being defiant and unfilial to them, showing no affection at all for the Li family,
did they find themselves with no other option.
The child that Jiao Lei brought back seemed good on the surface but had a scheming mother like Jiao Lei; who knows whether the property would end up with the Lis or the Jiaos.
In such a situation, Ding Xiulan and Li Jiaguo could only gamble.
Gamble that the girl from back then could still be found, could take over the Li family’s responsibilities, and could preserve these family assets!