He Tiantian waited in the station lobby for her train.
When the train arrived, she carried her heavy luggage, squeezed through the crowd, and finally managed to board the carriage.
By the time the train reached the Provincial City, it was already evening.
The Zhou Family’s home wasn’t close to the train station, buses had stopped running, and at that time there were hardly any taxis.
On the empty streets, aside from a few sporadic bicycles passing by, there was hardly anyone around.
After struggling for half the day, He Tiantian was exhausted and didn’t have the energy to drag her luggage for over an hour to walk back to the Zhou Family’s home.
He Tiantian walked around the train station and found a guesthouse, she shook her introduction letter, secretly slipped a yuan to the waiter, and easily got a room.
"Little girl, be careful, your aunty thinks you’re pitiful, and you don’t seem like a bad person, that’s why I let you stay for the night." Don’t get me into trouble.
The latter half of the sentence wasn’t spoken by the plump, middle-aged female waitress, but He Tiantian understood her intention.
He Tiantian smiled sweetly and cutely, "Aunty, rest assured, I’m just a student who missed her train, I’m not any unidentifiable crook!"
Seeing how adorable He Tiantian was, the waitress took a liking to her and unusually warmly provided her with a pot of hot water, also reminding her to stay safe while being on her own.
He Tiantian thanked her repeatedly, washed up a bit with the hot water, then fell asleep on the bed still clothed.
When she woke up in the morning, He Tiantian had a quick meal at the guesthouse, took her luggage, and hurried home.
Zhou Chuanguo and Feng Mingjie had not returned yet.
However, from the plot that followed, He Tiantian knew the couple would be home in the afternoon.
Zhou Zixuan, who also knew the plot, would likely come to confront the Zhou couple at the first opportunity.
He Tiantian had made up her mind; she wouldn’t replace Zhou Zixuan in attending university, nor would she continue being the Fake Lady.
Regardless of whether Zhou Zixuan would come looking for Zhou Chuanguo herself, He Tiantian was determined to come clean with the couple.
So, when Zhou Chuanguo and Feng Mingjie, carrying their luggage from a business trip, pushed open their front door, they discovered their daughter, who was supposed to be at university, sneaking out.
She was carrying nothing on her person or in her hands, and as she continued to walk out, she kept looking back, clearly reluctant to leave.
Upon opening the door, they coincidentally ran into each other, and her eyes clearly flickered with surprise, panic, and shame.
What is this situation?
"Tiantian? Why are you still at home? Didn’t your Uncle Zhang say he bought you yesterday’s train ticket and even personally saw you off at the station, how come you—"
Feng Mingjie was full of concern, and a series of questions burst forth from her.
Before she could finish her questions, she realized her daughter, upon seeing them, showed neither joy nor moved back home with them, but continued to run outside.
The appearance was somewhat suggestive of escape.
Feng Mingjie and Zhou Chuanguo exchanged glances, growing even more puzzled.
What on earth had happened?
Why had their Tiantian become so strange?
Fast as lightning, Zhou Chuanguo caught He Tiantian as she tried to squeeze through the door crack.
He Tiantian bit her lower lip on purpose, her face filled with defeat, followed by a somewhat resigned sigh.
With her head down and shoulders slumped, she went back into the living room with them, following the force of Zhou Chuanguo’s pull.
As they entered, Zhou Chuanguo immediately noticed a stack of money and bills placed on the eight immortals table in the middle of the room.
Additionally, over the years, the valuable items the couple had bought for their daughter were neatly arranged on the table.
In the corner stood neatly packed bedding rolls and bags of luggage.
"Speak up! What exactly happened?"
Zhou Chuanguo sat down heavily in a chair, his finger pointing at the money and bills, his expression serious, his voice deep.
"Yes, what happened, Tiantian, please tell us!" Feng Mingjie’s voice was more urgent, even tinged with a hint of crying.
He Tiantian looked at Zhou Chuanguo and then at Feng Mingjie, hesitating and torn, filled with a mix of shame and reluctance.
Finally, she gritted her teeth, as if finally making up her mind, and began, "Dad, Mom, I’m sorry, I, I lied to you!"
"I, I didn’t get into college, I took someone else’s admission notice, planning to go to college under their name!"
At this point, He Tiantian visibly paused.
A fierce struggle flickered in her eyes, and as Zhou Chuanguo and Feng Mingjie looked on in astonishment and disbelief, she dropped another bombshell, "I am not your biological daughter. Your daughter is He Zixuan, we were switched by my real mother Seo Xiulan when we were little!"
"What? What did you say?"
Zhou Chuanguo suddenly stood up, his eyes wide, radiating a fierce light.
Men indeed value blood ties more than women do.
Although children are born of women who carry them for nine months, for a mother who has raised a child, years of affection can rival blood-related kinship.
Feng Mingjie was conflicted in her heart, on one hand, she certainly ached for her biological daughter, but on the other, she could not ignore the bond and feelings she shared with her foster daughter over more than a decade.
"Two years ago, when Seo Xiulan came to the city to bring us things, she couldn’t hold back and revealed mine and Zixuan’s origins."
Now that He Tiantian was confessing, she was sure to reveal the entire truth.
Seo Xiulan and Feng Mingjie were second cousins, almost the same age, married in the same year, and became pregnant at the same time.
As they were nearing their due dates, an elder in their hometown passed away, and Feng Mingjie, heavily pregnant, returned to her hometown to mourn.
After much exertion, both Seo Xiulan and Feng Mingjie gave birth prematurely, and both had daughters.
Feng Mingjie stayed at Seo Xiulan’s house due to their close relationship.
Seo Xiulan had always been jealous of her cousin Feng Mingjie, a city woman with a job and a well-off husband.
Their daughters, being city residents from birth, were eligible for food rationing upon registration.
Not to mention the prestige of the Zhou Family.
Look at their daughter, wrapped in brand-new cotton cloth and provided with powdered milk.
While her own family couldn’t even afford basic grains.
She got to eat eggs and brown sugar only because she piggybacked on the benefits of her cousin Feng Mingjie.
Jealousy and discontent, in a moment of impulse, Seo Xiulan switched the two girls while Feng Mingjie wasn’t paying attention.
Ironically, due to the anguish Feng Mingjie suffered during childbirth, being somewhat pampered, she fell ill after the delivery and had no energy to care for the baby.
She only took a quick glance at the child before entrusting her relatives to look after her.
But the newborns, having a bit of a blood relationship, did bear some resemblance to each other.
Feng Mingjie wasn’t aware when Zhou Chuanguo took her back to the Provincial City that her own child had been switched...