Chapter 144: Player 16

It was bad enough that the child was suddenly snatched away, but the woman even had the audacity to claim she was the biological mother. Tang Shiyu narrowed her eyes at the woman, ready to see which shameless person dared to pull such a stunt. But when Nan Xu’s smiling face came into view, Tang Shiyu’s brow furrowed ever so slightly. “You came back this quickly?”

Nan Xu looked up with a gentle smile. “CEO Tang, do you think it was quick?”

Little Tang Yu was nestled in Nan Xu’s arms. She glanced at Tang Shiyu, then at Nan Xu, pouting her small red lips. In the end, her aggrieved gaze landed on Yu Liuxue. Mom, what are you doing again? Are you out there flirting around again?

Yu Liuxue, suddenly accused by her daughter: “…” That’s not true! I didn’t! Don’t slander me like that!

Nan Xu took out a gold bracelet she had prepared in advance and offered it as a gift to the child. Tang Yu blinked in surprise but didn’t take it. Seeing this, Nan Xu calmly slipped the bracelet onto Tang Yu’s wrist with one hand and said to Tang Shiyu in an even tone, “But for me, these 1,000 days felt like a lifetime.”

Tang Yu immediately perked up. “?” Gossip alert!

Nan Xu smiled faintly. “CEO Tang, I imagine these past three years have been quite comfortable for you? You’ve monopolized Xiao Yin for so long. Isn’t it time to let go?” She paused, then added, “But even if you’re unwilling, it doesn’t matter. Because once I set my sights on someone, I always get them.”

Tang Shiyu knew this all too well. Nan Xu was clearly a love-crazed maniac who would stop at nothing for romance. Jian Yin had already been teetering on the edge of cheating on her, and now that Nan Xu was back, the two might just hit it off and turn the whole situation into a full-blown Hulunbuir Grassland.

Mi Rou opened the car door and walked over to Yu Liuxue. She crossed her arms and watched Nan Xu and Tang Shiyu with a look of amused anticipation. “So, what are you going to do?”

She expected Yu Liuxue to deny everything, but instead, Yu Liuxue’s face lit up with excitement. “Of course, I’ll gladly accept!”

Mi Rou: “?” That’s not how that idiom is supposed to be used…

Sparks flew between Tang Shiyu and Nan Xu as they locked eyes. Tang Yu, caught in the middle, didn’t dare move a muscle. She shrank her little head and sighed deeply. Here we go again. It’s starting again. This kind of scene had played out at least a hundred times before. Each time, Tang Shiyu would be driven half-mad by the fox spirits. But Tang Yu was no ordinary child—she was used to big scenes like this. So not only was she unafraid, she even had the leisure to examine Nan Xu’s face in detail.

Unlike Tang Shiyu, this woman who claimed to be her real mother had smiling eyes and a friendly demeanor. She seemed approachable and kind, but her smile never reached her eyes. Though her features were gentle and harmless, her aura was anything but. She was clearly someone formidable.

Tang Yu swung her legs and began silently wondering: I wonder if Mom can win this time.

This love rival was far more dangerous than any of the aunties she’d dealt with before.

While Tang Yu was sizing up Nan Xu, Nan Xu was also studying her. After a careful look, her expression remained calm, but her heart quietly sank. Yu Liuxue pulled Mi Rou forward. “Xiao Xu just returned to the country. We haven’t seen each other in three years, and I’ve missed her so much. So today, I’m throwing a welcome banquet for her.”

Tang Shiyu immediately looked at Yu Liuxue with a pitiful expression. She’s clearly up to no good, coming back like this.

Nan Xu didn’t put Little Tang Yu down, so the child stayed in her arms as they got into the car. Tang Shiyu, Yu Liuxue, and Mi Rou each took separate cars and headed to the hotel Yu Liuxue had booked. Tang Yu set down her little backpack and took out the book her deskmate had lent her. As she pretended to read obediently, Nan Xu, holding the steering wheel, glanced at her and spoke first. “Yuyu, I held you when you were just born.”

Tang Yu immediately put the book down and looked at her blankly. “But I don’t remember.”

Nan Xu smiled. “You were still very little then. Back when it was me, Tang Shiyu, and Mi Rou, you used to like me the most.” She paused, then smiled again. “Do you know why?”

Here comes the melodrama. Tang Yu steadied herself and replied with an innocent face, “But Tang Shiyu is my mom.”

“And she married my other mom. Everyone knows they’re a couple, and everyone knows I’m their child.” Tang Yu blinked her big eyes and asked innocently, “Big Sister, were you tricked by my mom?”

“See, my last name is Tang, and I’m registered under the Tang Family. Besides that, I don’t look anything like you.” She pointed to her face. “My face shape is like Tang Shiyu’s, my eyebrows too, and my eyes are exactly the same. Even my nose…”

“And my mouth looks just like my other mom’s.”

Although Nan Xu had already started to suspect after seeing the child, being so bluntly pointed out by the girl still stung. She should’ve realized it sooner. Jian Yin had deliberately told everyone she was pregnant with multiple men’s babies just to muddy the waters and throw her off.

And it worked. She’d been fooled for three whole years.

Maybe Tang Shiyu sending her off to Africa was Jian Yin’s idea too.

Nan Xu suddenly floored the gas pedal, gripping the steering wheel tighter and tighter. Tang Yu noticed the shift in her mood and instinctively shrank her neck. After thinking for a moment, she turned her head and looked seriously into Nan Xu’s eyes, her voice soft and babyish. “Big Sister, my mom really loves tricking pretty women like you. Actually, you’re not even the first one she’s fooled.”

Nan Xu glanced at her, unsure where this was going.

Then the little girl gave a shy smile. “Big Sister, you’re different from all the other women my mom has tricked. So…”

“How about I marry you instead, to make up for what my mom did?”

Nan Xu: “?”

The love rival’s three-year-old daughter just said she wants to marry me? Nan Xu tried to process it. If she agreed, wouldn’t that mean she’d have to call Tang Shiyu ‘Mom’ someday?

Nan Xu rejected her with a blank face. “Every debt has its debtor. Grown-up matters have nothing to do with kids.”

Tang Yu scratched her chin. Realizing that plan wouldn’t work, she began to worry. If her mom found out she’d secretly betrayed her… Tang Yu shivered involuntarily. Mom would never forgive her easily.

She steadied herself and decided to shift the blame. “Big Sister, you and Sister Mi seem really close. Sister Mi knew about this, so how come you didn’t?”

Nan Xu turned her head and was met with an innocent, wide-eyed face.

Tang Yu clutched her little backpack, looking troubled. “Sister Mi is my mom’s doctor. Didn’t she ever tell you about this?”

Mi Rou, driving alone, suddenly sneezed hard. She rubbed her nose and thought, Is Tang Shiyu secretly cursing me again?

When the group met up again, the atmosphere was clearly off. Mi Rou seemed unchanged, but Tang Yu—usually a little devil—was acting strangely well-behaved today. She quietly followed behind Nan Xu with her backpack, not saying a word, except for blinking her deceptively innocent big eyes.

Yu Liuxue narrowed her eyes and stared at her with ill intent. Tang Yu immediately shivered and darted behind Nan Xu. “Big Sister, you said you’d protect me.”

Tang Shiyu instinctively looked at Nan Xu. “?” Was she planning to take out her frustration on the child just because she couldn’t have Jian Yin?

Tang Shiyu’s expression darkened. Tang Yu was only three years old!

Nan Xu, suddenly being glared at with such hostility by Tang Shiyu, was confused. “…?”

Yu Liuxue quickly stepped in to smooth things over. She pulled Tang Yu to her side and asked in a low voice, “Did you cause trouble again?”

Tang Yu shook her head innocently. “No, Mommy, I didn’t. Yu Yu is just like Mommy, the best-behaved.”

Yu Liuxue: “…” For a moment, she wasn’t sure whether her daughter was complimenting her or throwing shade.

Yu Liuxue still remembered what Nan Xu liked to eat, so when she confidently ordered all of Nan Xu’s favorite dishes, Nan Xu’s mood grew even more complicated. Midway through the meal, Yu Liuxue went to the restroom. But just as she stepped out, she was cornered by Nan Xu. Yu Liuxue looked at her nervously, forcing herself to stay calm. “Xiao Xu, you’re finally back. I missed you so much.”

“I’ve been raising our child all on my own, bearing a burden no one my age should have to carry. I’m so tired.”

“Is that so.” Nan Xu interrupted her, voice calm.

Yu Liuxue immediately sensed something was off. When she looked up and saw the strange look in Nan Xu’s eyes, she instantly realized what had happened. That little chatterbox Tang Yu must have spilled everything. Nan Xu’s expression was growing colder by the second, and just as Yu Liuxue sensed danger closing in, she had a sudden flash of inspiration. She quickly pulled out her phone and started flipping through her photo album. “Xiao Xu, I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to worry. The truth is, I’m sick.”

“And it’s a mental illness.”

The System, in the middle of munching on gossip, froze. “???”

Was that really necessary…

Yu Liuxue’s eyes shimmered with unshed tears as she pulled up a medical report and showed it to Nan Xu. “Back when Tang Shiyu was fooling around outside, I had already started showing symptoms. At first, it wasn’t obvious, but later on, I just couldn’t help it. I couldn’t control myself. I kept wanting to…”

“Spout nonsense?” Nan Xu finished the sentence for her.

An awkward silence fell.

Yu Liuxue immediately lowered her head and apologized. “I’m sorry, Xiao Xu. I really do love you. No one in this world loves you more than I do.”

“Your daughter said the same thing,” Nan Xu replied, completely unmoved. In fact, she was seriously considering locking both mother and child up.

Yu Liuxue couldn’t help but make the same stunned expression as that old man on the subway staring at his phone. “?”

A moment later, she gritted her teeth. She knew it! That little brat must’ve set her sights on Nan Xu again and deliberately spilled everything to her!

Just then, Mi Rou, who had gotten up to look for them after noticing they hadn’t returned from the restroom, walked in. Yu Liuxue’s eyes lit up. She immediately pointed at Mi Rou and said, “Xiao Xu, actually Sister Mi knows all about everything!”

Mi Rou instinctively froze. “?”

Everything? What everything?

Nan Xu turned around, her red lips curling into a lazy smile. She looked at the utterly confused Mi Rou and chuckled softly. “So, Sister, you deliberately kept it from me?”

Seeing Yu Liuxue visibly relax, Mi Rou instantly realized what was going on.

What the hell does this have to do with me?!