The Slacker Stepmother and the Non-Domineering CEO

Chapter 53

Not just those in the chatroom wanted to ask that question, but Nian Suian too. According to what Qiao Peipei had stated, Xiao Zheng was their biological child. Sure, it would appear normal if they were estranged due to just coming back home, but their blatant favoritism now seemed too bizarre.

Nian Suian was truly suffocating. She longed to discuss Xiao family matters with Qiao Peipei, wanted to know if Qiao Peipei had any updated news. However, due to the ubiquitous presence of cameras, she didn't have the chance to ask and had to keep her queries bottled up for now.

But her determination to dig deeper was strong. After scratching her head and fidgeting following the noon break, Nian Suian really did come up with a plan.

“Come with me to Gu Zhijing’s room,” she told Qiao Peipei.

They arrived at the door of Gu Zhijing and Qiao Yan’s room, knocked, and fortunately, they were not resting.

“What are you guys doing?”

“Qiao Yan was helping me with my homework,” answered Gu Zhijing. He was struggling with a math problem and wanted to leave it aside, but Qiao Yan spotted it and offered to help.

Listening to their conversation, Nian Suian curiously approached to observe. Great, she had no clue.

“You can solve high school math problems despite having graduated many years ago, you’re impressive, Qiao Yan,” praised Nian Suian.

“Too kind, too kind.”

The chatroom audience had been discussing just now. They could clearly hear Qiao Yan helping Gu Zhijing with the problem since he was speaking at a normal volume.

〈Qiao Yan is so impressive, once I started college, it’s like all my high school knowledge was wiped clean〉

〈Watching this show and learning at the same time, now my mom won’t complain about me wasting my time in front of the TV〉

Due to Xiao Yan and Xiao Zheng being in their room, it wasn’t appropriate to gossip in front of them, thus Nian Suian decided to stay here,

She walked over to a corner of the table, wrote something on a piece of paper, turned the slip around and handed it to Qiao Peipei, motioning her not to read it out loud.

Nian Suian’s secretive behavior left Qiao Peipei confused, and with caution, she unfolded the note.

【What’s going on in the Xiao family? Can you tell me again?】

Well look at that, so they just wanted to gossip. They could’ve just mentioned it.

【I told you everything I know. I got the information from my brother, his sources are more connected than mine. Let’s ask him.】 After Qiao Peipei finished writing, she first showed Nian Suian and then to Qiao Yan.

The audience in the chatroom was thrown off by this sudden change of interaction.

〈What are they doing? Why have they stopped talking and started passing notes instead?〉

〈Isn’t it obvious? They probably don’t want to be overheard〉

〈Is there something I, as a VIP user, am not allowed to hear? That’s really cold of them〉

〈I wish I could sneak a peek at the note, they’re probably gossiping〉

…

Qiao Yan received the note, glanced at them both weirdly after reading it, sat down, and even asked Gu Zhijing for several fresh sheets of scrap paper. This matter couldn't be thoroughly talked through without additional papers.

Gu Zhijing doesn’t feel like doing more homework today. He had already done quite a bit and decided to continue later at night. Accordingly, he handed over the entire draft paper to Qiao Yan and casually took the paper they were writing on to read.

The atmosphere was quiet for five minutes. Qiao Yan was still writing! It seemed that this matter was far from trivial.

After writing three to four pages, Qiao Yan finally put down her pen and handed over the draft book.

"I want to see it too!" Gu Zhijing also leaned over.

"What exactly did she write, we want to see too!!!"

"Don’t hesitate, sisters and brothers, let us have a look."

The overall situation was not much different from what Qiao Peipei had told them previously. It started off with a cliché real-fake-daughter plot, however, Qiao Yan explained many details.

According to Qiao Yan, Xiao Zheng was kidnapped at an amusement park when she was six. Her parents never stopped looking for her, not only did they report it to the police, but they also quit their jobs to search nationwide. They found many abducted children during the search and even destroyed several criminal organizations, but they still couldn’t find Xiao Zheng.

Xiao’s mother's health started to deteriorate after all these years of persistent searching, and in the end, they had no choice but to go back home.

After they returned home, Xiao’s father and mother would often visit the orphanage. They donated money and goods and visited the children. They pitied these children and hoped to accumulate good karma this way. Meanwhile, they came to know a girl who was of the same age as Xiao Zheng. Since she resembled Xiao Zheng and they perhaps transferred their affection to her, they eventually decided to adopt this girl - Xiao Yan who was nine years old at that time.

The Xiao family adopted Xiao Yan as their own child. Even Xiao Mo, who had already started attending college and seldom came back home, would often come home to visit his sister.

Qiao Yan once overheard Xiao’s mother mention to others about adopting their daughter. Xiao’s mother said then, "I treat Yan Yan well partly because she is a good child. More importantly, I hope there is someone treating my Zheng Zheng well at the place unknown to us."

Qiao Yan felt a touch of sentimentality and hatred towards the kidnapper upon hearing this.

When Xiao Yan turned sixteen, which was ten years after Xiao Zheng's abduction, the Xiaos had spent unknown sums of money searching for Xiao Zheng. Everyone felt that it was impossible to find her, but surprisingly, they received a call from the police station, saying that their daughter might have been found.

Xiao’s father and mother rushed to the police station immediately. The police said that a report came in from Lin City stating a kidnapped girl had turned herself in. They then cross-checked her DNA with the gene bank and it came back as a match. Therefore, they directly contacted the local police station and asked them to reach out to the parents.

No one knew what Xiao Zheng had gone through during the many years since her abduction or how she came to report herself to the police. But in the end, Xiao Zheng identified herself and thus came back to the Xiao family. Nobody questioned the authenticity of Xiao Zheng, after all, one look at her face was enough - she looked so much like Xiao Mo.

After Xiao Zheng returned home, it was needless to mention her parents, Xiao's Father and Xiao's Mother. After missing their daughter for so many years, they couldn't help but treat her with utmost care. However, Xiao Mo's attitude was quite intriguing. It wouldn't be strange if he simply didn't show her any special affection, but it was perplexing when he completely favored another. According to the information Qiao Yan knew, before Xiao Zheng went missing, Xiao Mo was very fond of his sister. At that time, he had already been seventeen or eighteen years old, so it was unlikely that he wouldn't remember his little sister.

Qiao Yan didn't attempt to guess the reason, he only mentioned that he had overheard a quarrel between Xiao Mo and Xiao Yan at his father's birthday party, in Qiao's backyard. The gist of it was Xiao Mo demanding why Xiao Yan chose to study abroad. He asked if it was due to Xiao Zheng's return that provoked her decision to leave and he even claimed that even if Xiao Zheng wouldn't be his sister, she could still be his girlfriend. Yan added in brackets that Xiao Yan was underage at the time, then included a vomiting emoji to signify his disdain for Xiao Mo's comments.

After reading what Qiao Yan had written, Nian Suian and Qiao Peipei exchanged glances for a long time. Even though they didn't say a word, they both shared the same disdain for Xiao Mo through their eyes.

"I’ll go burn these," said Nian Suian, tearing off the pieces of paper that had been written on.

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