Chapter 23
When the staggering Mr. Chu regained his balance, he pointed at Chu Xinyue with a trembling hand, shaking with rage.0
"She\'s your sister! How could you bring trouble upon yourself and then sling mud at your own sister?" Mrs. Chu exclaimed in disbelief, tightly embracing Chu Xueqi as if fearing Chu Xinyue might harm her precious daughter.0
[Tsk tsk tsk, such favoritism, it\'s far too blatant. When those indecent photos first appeared, the Chu couple only looked at Chu Xinyue with disgust, secretly blaming her for not listening to her parents and bringing trouble upon herself. But now that it\'s said to be Chu Xueqi, the parents\' reaction... hmm, this is how real parents should react, isn\'t it? If they didn\'t have the same face, one might doubt whether Chu Xinyue was truly their biological child.]0
Hearing Ji Fei\'s inner thoughts, the Qin Family also shook their heads. The Chu couple\'s differential treatment was far too obvious.0
It was as if they treated one like the apple of their eye and the other like dirt beneath their feet. How could there be such parents?0
Chu Xinyue had long since become numb to such situations and merely watched her parents\' outburst with an expressionless face.0
[Judging by Chu Xinyue\'s expression, she\'s clearly used to this. It seems the Chu couple often behaves this way. They\'ve decided not to use their brains and instead save them as a family heirloom for Chu Xueqi. I can only scoff. How could someone favored by their parents possibly be harmed? It\'s always the one neglected by their parents who ends up getting hurt.]0
The Qin Family secretly nodded in agreement with Ji Fei\'s words.0
Qin Zhao, meanwhile, recalled various past incidents.0
Many times, he had witnessed the same scene.0
Chu Xinyue standing to the side with a cold expression, Chu Xueqi crying with red eyes, looking wronged, and the Chu couple shielding Chu Xueqi while angrily berating Chu Xinyue for being mean and vicious to her sister.0
It seemed he had never seen the Chu couple take Chu Xinyue\'s side.0
How could someone favored by their parents ever need to compromise?0
But in the past, Qin Zhao had only thought that Chu Xinyue was jealous and resentful because that bit of favoritism hadn\'t fallen on her, and that\'s why she targeted Chu Xueqi.0
Qin Zhao felt dazed, as if all his past memories were no longer real.0
Chu Xinyue looked at Chu Xueqi and said coldly, "Chu Xueqi, tell me who\'s in those photos?"0
Chu Xueqi cowered helplessly in her mother\'s arms, trembling all over, yet determinedly putting on a pitiful expression. "Sister, what are you talking about?"0
"You truly are beyond redemption," Chu Xinyue said with a cold laugh.0
Hearing Chu Xinyue speak this way about their precious daughter, the Chu couple gasped in anger, continuously cursing about family disgrace and unfilial behavior.0
Wu Tian angrily stepped forward and said, "Chu Xinyue, I see you won\'t believe it until you see the coffin. Fine then, I\'ll make you face reality!"0
He sneered and tapped his phone one last time.0
The intimate photos on the projection disappeared, replaced by various pictures of hospital visits. The images kept changing until finally settling on an abortion consent form.0
Name: Chu Xinyue.0
"You were pregnant with my child! But you had an abortion behind my back! Chu Xinyue, you owe me, so you can\'t escape today!"0
At this, even Chu Xinyue\'s eyes widened in disbelief. She then turned to look at Chu Xueqi incredulously.0
Chu Xueqi was already trembling all over, clearly showing the fear of having a secret exposed, but she quickly composed herself.0
Qin Zhao\'s face, however, turned a new shade of pale.0
He stared intently at that form, his world shaken regardless of who he imagined had gotten pregnant and had an abortion.0
[Finally, it\'s all come to light.]0
Ji Fei almost laughed out loud.0
The Qin Family also understood. This was the big news Ji Fei had mentioned, and indeed... it counted as evidence. Now it just depended on... whether certain people dared to verify it.0
The murmurs of discussion throughout the venue drowned out Chu Xueqi\'s momentary look of guilt.0
"Ah, I think I know about this. She was my senior in university. There were rumors back then that she had messy relationships with men. Photos of her going for an abortion even circulated on the campus website."0
Hearing this, everyone\'s hearts immediately swayed.0
"So it seems it\'s true? I can\'t believe she\'s still denying it so stubbornly!"0
"If you ask me, what\'s wrong with marrying Wu Tian? She almost had his child already."0
"Didn\'t they say she had messy relationships? Maybe there was more than one man involved!"0
Wu Tian thought he had won and smugly tried to grab Chu Xinyue\'s arm.0
Chu Xinyue stepped back and turned to look at the person who claimed to be her junior, saying, "You should know that if the posts were slanderous, our school\'s forum would have deleted them. Why didn\'t you mention that those posts were long since removed and the poster was banned?"0
The young master was immediately at a loss for words, lowering his head in embarrassment.0
[What else could it be? He pursued you, you rejected him, and men are just like that. If they can\'t have you, they want to find a chance to destroy you. He was the most active in jumping around in the comments of those posts, nothing but a clown.]0
Ji Fei criticized. The Qin Family looked over in that direction, making note of which family he was from. People with such poor character should be avoided in the future.0
Qin Zhao instinctively looked over as well, memorizing that face, a flash of ruthlessness in his eyes.0
The young master suddenly felt as if he were being pricked by thorns.0
Chu Xinyue, however, couldn\'t be bothered with such a person. She calmly said to Wu Tian, "I\'ll say it again, how can you prove it\'s me? Using the same face and reporting my name is a simple trick, isn\'t it?"0
"Even now, you still won\'t admit it?" Wu Tian laughed in anger.0
But those angrier than Wu Tian were the Chu couple.0
"You\'ve even been pregnant, done such a filthy thing, and you\'re still trying to push it onto your sister?!" Mr. Chu was beside himself with fury.0
"What a sin! How did I give birth to such a shameless daughter! Chu Xinyue, if you continue to be so obstinate, we\'ll disown you as our daughter!" Mrs. Chu warned, heartbroken and indignant.0
As if such threats could force their rebellious daughter to back down and stop this madness.0
Chu Xinyue let out a derisive laugh and said, "I\'ve long since not wanted to be your daughter."0
This statement left the Chu couple frozen in place.0
"You... what did you say?!"0
"How dare you! This is utterly outrageous, completely lawless."0
Chu Xinyue finally allowed resentment to creep into her voice. "What\'s so good about being your daughter? You can\'t even tell who\'s in the photos. And why are you so surprised? Haven\'t you ever had suspicions? Others might not know, but how many times has she done things under my name since we were young? Is one more instance really so strange?"1
The Chu couple were both taken aback. Thanks to Chu Xinyue\'s reminder, they seemed to finally recover their memories, and their expressions became peculiar.0
They were afraid Chu Xinyue might accidentally reveal something, so they tried to change the subject.0
But this time, Chu Xinyue didn\'t give them the chance.0
"When Grandmother was critically ill, I went to the Buddhist temple to pray for her. I climbed the mountain gate on my knees, bowing nine times. But then the media widely reported that it was Chu Xueqi who did this. In fact, at that time, my sister hadn\'t even visited Grandmother\'s hospital room once. She was only hospitalized because she ate too much ice cream at home and got sick."0
The onlookers were shocked. What was going on? Wasn\'t this touching story about Chu Xueqi?0
At the time, it was widely reported that the frail younger sister had prayed for her grandmother\'s health and fainted from kneeling, ending up in the hospital. Everyone praised her filial piety, which helped establish her reputation in high society circles after she returned to the country.0
Meanwhile, the elder sister who had been raised by their grandmother remained silent, leaving people perplexed.0
When they met the Chu couple, they often brought up this topic, and the Chu couple had never denied it.0
Qin Zhao also remembered. At that time, he had specifically gone to see Chu Xueqi. She had smiled with a pale face, saying it was just what she should do.0
That was an important moment when his heart was moved.0
And now he was being told that it was actually Chu Xinyue who had done it?0
"At that time, you told me that since the media had misunderstood, there was no need to argue. It was all about filial piety and sincerity, and making a fuss for the sake of fame would only cause trouble." Chu Xinyue said self-mockingly, "I really wanted to ask, was that truly what you thought, or did you just want to use my hard work to add glory to my sister? You clearly couldn\'t bear to let her suffer even a little, yet you wanted her to have a good reputation?"0
The Chu couple\'s faces turned ashen, and Chu Xueqi\'s eyes widened in disbelief that Chu Xinyue would bring up old grievances like this.0
"What... what nonsense are you talking about? It was all for your grandmother. What does it matter which sister did it? Your sister\'s health is poor. If she were well, wouldn\'t she have done it? You only went because you\'re in good health," Mr. Chu immediately retorted, flushed with anger and shame.0
"So you\'re also this calculating, doing all this just to show off and pray for your grandmother\'s blessing?" Mrs. Chu immediately raised her voice.0
[Damn, how can they twist logic like this? Whether it\'s for show or sincere, it\'s all Chu Xinyue\'s achievement. How can they let others take credit for her work? It\'s a wonder Chu Xinyue can endure this. It\'s probably because Grandmother Chu\'s health declined later on, otherwise they wouldn\'t have let Chu Xinyue suffer such mistreatment in the Chu family!]0
This was the first time Qin Zhao and the onlookers clearly saw how the Chu family used twisted logic to show favoritism, and many people began to agree with Ji Fei\'s thoughts.0
Isn\'t this ridiculous? It\'s fine if no one praises or reports on the things I\'ve worked hard for, but they can\'t just let others steal the credit.0
However, Mr. and Mrs. Chu were self-righteous, thinking Chu Xinyue was being too petty.0
Chu Xinyue then said, "So you admit that Chu Xueqi has been impersonating me?"0
Everyone came to their senses, wondering if this could be considered a prior offense.0
Mr. and Mrs. Chu said, "That wasn\'t Xueqi\'s intention at all, it was an accident..."0
"What about the car accident then? She broke a child\'s leg, causing a minor disability. Even though the other party was willing to settle, she was afraid it would become a scandal after her debut. During the investigation, she pretended to be me and gave my name. Afterward, Chu Xueqi put on an act of being mentally confused to shut me up, making me feel sorry for her, thinking she only gave my name out of fear. Now that I think about it, she was faking it. And you didn\'t say anything, just told me not to let it slip outside. You said you\'d take care of the child\'s situation, but you forgot about it, and so did Chu Xueqi. The child\'s parents came directly to me, and in the end, I was the one who resolved it."0
The crowd was in an uproar again. This was one of the negative rumors about Chu Xinyue, but it turns out it was also a case of impersonation?0
Qin Zhao\'s expression changed instantly.0
Because of that incident, he had publicly criticized Chu Xinyue. While the accident might have been unintentional, failing to provide proper compensation afterward was a matter of character.0
That was the key point when he started to despise Chu Xinyue.0
At that time, Chu Xinyue seemed to want to say something, but he was pulled away by Chu Xueqi. He only saw Chu Xinyue\'s eyes turn red for a moment before leaving.0
Qin Zhao gritted his teeth. Was this... also fake?0
"No... Sister, why are you..." Chu Xueqi finally panicked and started crying.0
Seeing Chu Xueqi like this, Mr. and Mrs. Chu worried their daughter couldn\'t handle it and immediately wanted to force Chu Xinyue to retract her words.0
But Chu Xinyue directly said, "Do I need to provide evidence? That day I attended an academic conference."0
Mr. and Mrs. Chu were stunned, shocked at Chu Xinyue\'s disregard for consequences.0
Chu Xueqi also didn\'t expect Chu Xinyue to go this far. Hadn\'t she always kept quiet before? No matter how much Chu Xueqi bullied her, Chu Xinyue always took the blame, because for Chu Xinyue, the most important thing was her parents\' approval and her sister\'s dependence.0
But now it seemed like Chu Xinyue didn\'t care about any of that anymore. Was she determined to expose everything, regardless of what happened to Chu Xueqi?0
Before Chu Xueqi could panic further,0
Chu Xinyue let out a breath, as if trying to rid herself of all the shackles on her body.0
"Representing the Chu family in disaster relief and charity work, it was me who went, but your name was credited."0
"The Century Music Competition, you worked hard to get the qualification to participate, but right before the competition, knowing your skills weren\'t up to par, you deliberately injured yourself, forcing me to go in your place."0
"When you offended the Chu family\'s business partner, knowing you had caused trouble, you also gave my name. The Chu family relatives all blamed me for causing huge losses to the family, stripping me of my right to inherit shares."0
"After I distanced myself from you all, you still occasionally went to school impersonating me, messing up my relationships with friends, mentors, and classmates, also ruining my reputation at school."0
"..."0
After Chu Xinyue finished listing all these incidents in one breath, she saw Chu Xueqi\'s tear-stained face, knowing she was trying to use tears to salvage the situation again. She couldn\'t help but ask, "What have I ever done to wrong you, for you to treat me like this? You come to steal my honors, I take the blame for your mistakes, but do I have to take the blame for this kind of thing too? I\'m sorry, I can\'t bear it anymore! And I don\'t want to bear it anymore!"0