DASFAM_70
"……"
This sentence was like a thunderclap from the heavens, stunning every guest at the banquet into speechlessness.
What?
Whose illegitimate child?
Shang Keyi's breath trembled. Before she could collect herself, Wu Wei beside her snapped first, "Sister-in-law! What nonsense are you spouting!"
He shed his usual reserved and taciturn demeanor, his face full of grievance, "Even if I can't manage to rescue your son right away, how could you slander me like this in front of everyone, without even asking for the facts!"
"Slander?"
Wu Jiu had injured his lower back, the pain so severe he couldn't straighten himself up.
He shuddered, drawing in two sharp breaths, and spoke to his wife, "You, Wu Wei— have you lost all your conscience? You…"
"You two, don't say I didn't warn you—"
Shang Qishun cut in. He looked toward the Wu Jiu couple still collapsed on the ground, his tone seemingly calm but laced with an undercurrent of threat, "Trespassing a private banquet and publicly spreading slanderous lies, we can absolutely have our lawyers sue you!"
"……"
The Wu Jiu couple had never dealt with lawsuits before, so the moment they heard words like 'lawyer,' they were easily intimidated.
Shang Qishun raised his voice slightly, as if deliberately speaking for everyone to hear, "My parents have been married for many years, their relationship is stable. Not only does the whole family know this, it's well known throughout the entire imperial capital."
Wu Wei seized the moment to lean close to Shang Keyi, pleading in a low voice, "Wife, you have to believe me."
Shang Keyi looked at her husband upon hearing this, and seeing that Wu Wei's eyes were fixed entirely on her, the chaos in her mind settled somewhat.
Shang Qishun continued, "Of course, I understand that you two are desperate to save your son and that's why you'd grasp at anything, but always leave room in any situation, and there will be a chance for things to turn around. Don't you think?"
"I…"
Wu Jiu's wife choked up, and looked uncertainly at her husband, "Old Jiu, what do we do?"
Wu Wei seized the opportunity to speak up, "Assistant Xiao, what are you all standing around for? Hurry and show them out! Whatever it is can wait until after the banquet."
His words had barely fallen when Shang Keshu stepped out at just the right moment, "Brother-in-law, what's the rush?"
She swirled her wine glass lightly, as if speaking on behalf of the elder branch, "Big Sister, these two just threw mud at brother-in-law's name in front of everyone and started spreading rumors that he has an illegitimate child."
"If you ask me, if we don't get to the bottom of this today, who knows what kind of gossip will start flying around outside."
Bai Xu shot Shang Yanxiao a glance, and the latter smoothly picked up the thread, "Little Aunt is right. We should just call the police."
Shang Queyan was sharp as well, and deliberately said something harsh while looking at the Wu Jiu couple, "Exactly. Otherwise, does everyone really think our Shang family is such a pushover? That just anyone can come and try to extort us?"
"……"
What does this have to do with your third branch?
Wu Wei looked toward Shang Yanxiao and Shang Queyan, a flash of genuine displeasure crossing his eyes.
He worked hard to keep his expression steady, still putting on the appearance of someone thinking of everyone's best interests, "Today is the anniversary banquet for Keyi and me. Whether intentional or not, I don't want everyone's mood to be spoiled by something like this."
Wu Jiu saw through Wu Wei's act and felt his anger rising, "Wu Wei, if you dare, say it again— did we slander you or not!"
Wu Wei didn't answer directly, "Assistant Xiao, show them out!"
"Wait!"
Shang Keyi suddenly stopped them.
Wu Wei was startled, "Wife?"
Shang Keyi pulled a thread of reason from the chaos in her mind and stared fixedly at the Wu Jiu couple, "Explain yourselves clearly."
Shang Qishun frowned, "Mom, what is there to even say to two crazy people?"
Shang Keyi did not look at him, nor did she look at her husband, "Both of you, father and son, shut your mouths!"
"……"
Shang Keyi stepped closer and closer toward the Wu Jiu couple who had come to her door, "What do you mean you raised his illegitimate child? Wu Wei has been with me nearly every moment of every day all these years, where would he even get an illegitimate child from?"
It was not that Shang Keyi didn't trust Wu Wei. On the contrary, it was precisely because she trusted her husband too much that she refused to let these two poor relatives spread a single false rumor in front of outsiders!
The marriage she was so proud of— she would not allow it to be tainted by even the slightest blemish!
A stubborn light flickered in Shang Keyi's eyes, determined to get to the bottom of who was right and who was wrong, "If you two dare to utter a single false word, I will make sure you rot in prison!"
"False words? Let me tell you—"
Wu Jiu had already slowly gotten to his feet with his wife's support. Even though he couldn't read the situation clearly, he knew that as long as he wasn't lying, he had the truth on his side.
"That Wu Wei has an illegitimate child outside, already thirty-three years old, named Wu Chengwang!"
Wu Jiu's voice still carried a tremor of pain as he spoke, but his sworn and resolute expression once again stirred a great uproar among those present. The guests couldn't hide their eager desire to gossip at all—
"Did I hear that right? The illegitimate child is already thirty-three? Hasn't Madam Shang and Mr. Wu's marriage only just hit thirty-four years?"
"Wait, I think Shang Qishun is around that age too?"
"Oh my, if this is true, doesn't that mean Mr. Wu already had someone on the outside both before and after the marriage?"
If others could think of it, how could Shang Keyi not?
Her eyes reddened at the rims, yet she chose not to believe it outright, "Then who is that woman! And where is that child! Words alone prove nothing, where is the evidence!"
Wu Wei had completely lost his former honest and simple-minded appearance, his expression stiff and dark, "Even at this point, you're still full of lies? Chengwang is clearly your eldest son!"
Wu Jiu had grown up with him since childhood and knew his true face better than anyone else present, "Hmph!"
"I wasn't good at studying when I was young, but you had decent grades. My father treated you like his own son, giving you every penny earned from a year of farming to fund your education in the imperial capital. I graduated high school and went straight to work, and even so, I never complained once!"
"You made something of yourself in the capital, and when you came home for the New Year, you told me that the daughter of your company's chairman thought highly of you."
Wu Jiu looked toward Shang Keyi, laying bare the truth, "You said that if you could get close to her, never mind marriage— even just dating her for a year or so would bring in plenty of benefits."
"You said you bought her a fake bag, deliberately pretending you'd been cheated out of the money you spent on a real one, and she believed it and felt sorry for you, thinking it was hard for you to save up money."
"You also said she had a bad temper and was proud and arrogant, but you'd been patient your whole life, and that a little coaxing would be enough to keep her in line."
"……"
Wu Jiu looked at Shang Keyi, "Do you know what my cousin was scheming back then?"
"He wanted to use tricks to get you pregnant before marriage, but you were an educated young lady of standing with principles, and you were level-headed in that regard, so he never got his way."
The blunt, unadorned words drilled into everyone's ears, yet they felt more like a series of slaps, each one striking Shang Keyi until she swayed on the verge of collapse.
Bai Xu raised an eyebrow slightly and commented in a low voice to Shang Yanxiao, "What a disgusting piece of work."
To attempt to control an unmarried woman through 'pregnancy' and 'a child' was utterly shameless beyond words!
It was just a pity that although Shang Keyi had held firm on this bottom line, she still couldn't resist the pull of her lovesick heart, and in the end ignored Old Master Shang's advice and insisted on marrying Wu Wei.
Shang Keshu quietly moved to Shang Keyi's side, offering support through a silent, invisible presence.
"Later, Wu Wei called to say he was going to marry into your Shang family, and that sort of thing is considered very shameful back in our hometown. My father had raised him for so long, and with his old-fashioned thinking, he objected."
To put it plainly, the old man simply felt that the children born later would have no way of carrying the "Wu" surname, and that in the end it would cut off Wu Wei's own birth parents' family line.
Wu Jiu brought up what happened back then, "But Wu Wei said he had already figured everything out."
Shang Keyi's last line of defense in her heart was hanging by a thread, yet she still struggled to keep her expression calm, "Figured what out? Who did he have a child with?"
Wu Jiu's wife picked up the thread, "I don't know where he found her, only that she was a mute woman of rather plain looks."
Come to think of it now, he must have just paid someone to get the job done.
"The child was handed over to us the moment it was born. He even had someone register the child under our household, and most importantly, made us swear to keep it secret."
Wu Jiu's wife looked toward Shang Keyi, and alongside her candor crept a trace of guilt and sympathy that only a woman could understand.
"I hadn't had a child of my own at the time, and I didn't want to raise it at first, but he promised us two hundred thousand a year in child support."
In the eyes of the Shang family, that sum was no more than a sesame seed, but over thirty years ago, to ordinary people it was an enormous fortune— far better than the two of them hauling bricks at a construction site!
The couple figured the child was still Wu family blood after all, and besides, the child support was far better than going to work as a nanny or confinement nurse for strangers. So they gritted their teeth and agreed.
Three parts family ties, seven parts the lure of money.
All these years, the Wu Jiu couple had lived quite comfortably on the money Wu Wei sent them, and they had never wanted to disturb the other side.
Had it not been for their own son landing in trouble and Wu Wei turning his back on them so heartlessly, one thing had led to another, word after word, until it all finally came to a head and everything fell apart.
"……"
Shang Keyi's eyes had gone completely red, and she even unconsciously stepped back half a pace.
Shang Keshu was quick-eyed and swift-handed, reaching out to steady her. Gone was the old hostility of their usual bickering, replaced instead by a faint tenderness that only family could carry, "Big Sister."
Shang Keyi closed her eyes briefly, then still refused to give up and pressed on, "Evidence? Are there photos?"
Wu Jiu's wife glanced at her husband, then hurriedly searched through her phone, "Yes, I kept a few."
"Chengwang only found out about his origins when he turned eighteen, and then Wu Wei sent him abroad. We haven't seen him since, all these years."
As she said this, she dug out the photos she had kept hidden away and walked forward, handing them to Shang Keyi.
Wu Wei tried to move to intercept them, but Shang Keshu swatted his hand away in one stroke, "Brother-in-law, what is true cannot be made false, and what is false cannot be made true. The more you act like this, the more it shows you have a guilty conscience!"
"……"
Wu Wei was left speechless, and could only turn his pleading gaze toward his biological son.
Shang Keyi had already seen the photos on the phone screen clearly. In just an instant, her tears were forced out once again.
Although they were photos of Wu Chengwang at sixteen or seventeen, the pixels already blurred with time, she still recognized his face at a single glance.
Shang Qishun's looks took strongly after his birth mother Shang Keyi, whereas Wu Chengwang's appearance took strongly after Wu Wei in his early twenties!
Shang Qishun finally spoke up, "Mom, you can't trust something like this."
He swept his gaze across the guests whose expressions all varied, and finally let it settle on Bai Xu and the others, "Someone scheming and plotting behind the scenes is nothing new. It's happened more than once or twice."
"First someone was hired to deceive my former fiancée and ruin my engagement banquet. Now today, two people are dug up from who knows where, and the plan is to ruin our parents' wedding anniversary banquet as well?"
"I'd actually like to ask, where is the black-and-white evidence? If a paternity test is being claimed, there should be a proper medical paternity test to go with it."
Wu Wei seemed to be suddenly jolted awake, and immediately found his footing again, "Exactly! Ever since the Old Master fell ill, your third branch has schemed against our first branch again and again!"
"Isn't it all just to destroy our first branch's reputation, so you can take over the entire group's inheritance fair and square?"
The gazes of those present shifted without exception toward the third branch, who had been watching the drama unfold. Dissenting voices also began to emerge:
"That's right, this one spectacle after another all looks like it was carefully calculated."
"The first branch has a point too. Photos can be faked, words can be faked, but a paternity test genuinely can't be falsified."
"Everyone knows the Shang family is caught up in fierce internal strife right now. Who's to say it isn't all the third branch scheming?"
Faced with the first branch's sudden accusations and the tide of opinion partially turning against them, Bai Xu and Shang Yanxiao appeared remarkably composed.
Bai Xu drained the last of his fruit wine, and his lips, still glistening with moisture, parted lightly, "Interesting."
Shang Yanxiao followed with a cold laugh, "Indeed interesting."
Bai Xu set his glass back on the table and asked in return, word by word, "When your first branch stirs up this kind of embarrassment, your first instinct isn't to think about how to verify the truth, but to point the finger at us?"
"Shang Qishun, your father has an illegitimate child outside and you're not the least bit surprised? How is that– it seems you knew about this far earlier than your own mother?"
"……"
Shang Keyi was stunned.
Shang Qishun flatly denied it, "Bai Xu, stop spouting nonsense here! I simply believe my father would never betray my mother! I'm asking you, do you dare say this couple wasn't brought here by you people?"
Wu Wei, seeing his biological son backing him up, turned vicious and shifted the focus, "If you don't explain yourselves clearly today, I'm not done with you!"
"Wu Wei, if you have a guilty conscience then stop trying to change the subject."
Bai Xu's reply was equally blunt, cutting straight to the point, "Didn't you want a paternity test? Aunt, why don't you take another look at the gift we just gave you?"
"……"
An answer nobody had anticipated— and the moment it was spoken, the hardness on Wu Wei's face froze once again.
Shang Keyi's heart lurched.
She felt as though she were walking along the edge of a cliff, knowing full well that one more step forward was an abyss of no return, yet still unable to stop herself from jumping.
She hurriedly picked up the gift bag she had set aside earlier and opened it, only to find inside a single, weightless sheet of a certification document.
Bai Xu spoke without mincing words, "This paternity test is between Wu Wei and Wu Chengwang, they are biological father and son!"
"Impossible!"
Wu Wei immediately cried out, his true nature fully exposed.
Wu Chengwang had never returned from abroad all these years, his whereabouts drifting and unpredictable between eating, drinking, and making merry. There was no way they could have obtained a paternity test for the two of them!
Shang Queyan could no longer hold back, "Do you know how this paternity test came about? Grandfather had someone investigate it!"
At this, even the second branch couple who had merely been watching from the sidelines were shaken.
Shang Yun hurried over, "Queyan, what did you say? The Old Master knew about this? When did he find out?"
The fury pent up in Shang Queyan's heart erupted all at once, "Wu Wei, you ungrateful wretch! How much longer are you going to keep up this act!"
"Grandfather found out that you have an illegitimate child outside!"
A single stone stirred up a thousand waves.
"He knew you had wronged our aunt, and fearing that aunt would be heartbroken upon learning the truth, he sought you out alone to confirm it. And yet you turned around and put an old man through such suffering!"
Shang Yun's anger surged, "Queyan, is this true? Father was pushed down by Wu Wei?!"
Bai Xu stated it with absolute certainty, "Every word is true. If you don't believe it, go ask the Old Master yourselves. He has been conscious all along, he simply finds it difficult to speak."
"……"
Shang Keyi's tears finally fell completely, and her whole body crumpled to the ground.
Only now, at this very moment, did she fully understand. Wu Wei had been scheming from the very beginning, plotting to use her as his stepping stone to rise through life!
The man she had married all those years ago, even at the cost of damaging her relationship with her father, the marriage she had been so proud of all these years— it had turned out to be a complete and utter joke from start to finish!
All these years, had Wu Wei ever had any genuine feelings for her? If he had, how could he have secretly harmed her father?
"……"
Shang Keyi felt as though she had plunged into an icy abyss. The face and pride she had once valued above all else felt, at this moment, laughably insignificant and meaningless.
"Big Sister, are you alright?"
Shang Keshu had never once seen her eldest sister wear such a look of utter despair, and felt both heartache and fury burning together inside her.
Without a second thought, she stormed forward and slapped Wu Wei across the face twice, "You ungrateful traitor who bites the hand that feeds him! I'll beat you to death on behalf of my father and my sister!"
—Slap!
—Slap!!
Both slaps landed with full force, sending stars bursting before Wu Wei's eyes.
Both slaps had landed with full force, sending stars bursting before Wu Wei's eyes.
He could no longer hold up the honest mask he had maintained for so long. His eyes turned vicious in an instant, and by instinct he moved to raise his hand and strike back.
Shang Yun, from some unknown well of courage, charged forward and kicked him squarely, "Wu Wei, you dare lay a hand on my sister and see what happens! The Shang family is not yours to bully!"
Fang Yuhua was startled, and the guests present were left completely dumbstruck.
Wu Wei was caught off guard and sent sprawling to the ground, his whole body curled up with his hands clutching his stomach, unable to produce so much as a single word through the pain.
Shang Qishun's expression shifted again and again.
Before he could think of any way to respond, a squad of police officers walked in from outside.
The captain leading them came straight to the point, "Is Wu Wei, Shang Qishun, and Shang Keyi here?"
Shang Yanxiao pointed them out with cool indifference, "Right here."
"……"
The guests were utterly overwhelmed, exchanging bewildered glances, "Why have so many police officers shown up? Who called them?"
The Wu Jiu couple assumed someone had called the police to arrest them, and anxiously shrank back in a panic.
Little did they know the officers had taken stock of the situation and zeroed in directly on Shang Qishun as their target, producing their credentials and explaining the matter.
"We have received notification from overseas law enforcement. Following a reported investigation, a car accident that occurred on Doney Road in Australia this past March has been determined to involve suspected premeditated murder."
The cold light in Shang Yanxiao's eyes grew sharper, while Shang Queyan clenched his fists tightly.
Good!
It had finally come to this!
The lead officer's voice rang out firm and resolute, "One of the suspects, Wu Chengwang, has been arrested and apprehended, and has given testimony implicating your family. You are currently under strong suspicion of involvement in the crime. Please cooperate with our investigation!"
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