Chapter 157: The Real and Fake Daughters Who Were Switched at Birth (Arc End)

Jiang Yu didn’t spare a single thought for the baby. Xie Hui noticed that he hadn’t even lifted the blanket wrapped around the child before he was already craning his neck, impatiently peering into the operating room.

The nurse had never seen anything like it before—a father who didn’t even reach out to take his newborn. Holding the baby awkwardly, she forced a stiff smile, unsure of what to do next.

“Your wife should be out in about half an hour.”

It was only then that Yuan Yu, who had been anxiously worrying about her sister, realized the nephew she’d been so eager to meet had just been delivered to her—literally. Seeing her brother-in-law not even glance at the baby, she hurried over to take the child from the nurse.

“Thank you so much.”

“No, not at all.”

Yuan Yu sat down with the baby in her arms, mimicking Jiang Yu by peeking toward the operating room.

If there had been anything wrong with the baby, the nurse would’ve said something. Since she hadn’t, it meant the child was healthy.

Giving birth was like walking through the gates of hell. Yuan Yu couldn’t relax until she saw her sister come out of the operating room safe and sound.

Time flew by. Before the baby turned ten months old, Xie Qianjin stayed home to care for him. But once he hit ten months, she returned to work.

She couldn’t bear to let her aging father continue shouldering responsibilities that were rightfully hers.

They hired a nanny, Yuan Huan helped out, and Xie Hui also pitched in. Her father remained by her side through it all.

The little one took after Xie Qianjin more—he was born nearly bald, with just a few tufts of hair sticking up.

Thankfully, he was a boy, so there was no need to tie up those wispy strands into tiny pigtails thinner than a hair tie.

It was Jiang Yu who had insisted the child take the surname Xie. Partly because, before they married, Xie Qianjin had told him her family needed an heir.

But more importantly, after seeing Jinjin lying weak and pale in the hospital bed post-delivery, Jiang Yu had been overwhelmed by a terrifying sense of loss—as if he’d almost lost her for good.

That kind of suffocating fear was something he never wanted to feel again.

So when Xie Qianjin had once mentioned the idea of each family having one child, Jiang Yu had no interest in that whatsoever.

One child was enough. One child to receive all their love and grow up well—that was more than enough.

From the moment he started kindergarten, Xie Huai began to sense the difference between how his father treated him versus his mother.

He could tell that both his parents loved him, but somehow, it always felt like he wasn’t quite as important to his dad as his mom was.

Luckily, he still had his grandpa, his aunt, and his mom—so he wasn’t exactly a pitiful little thing.

One day, Xie Hui had plans to go hiking with an old friend. Jiang Yu was at home preparing breakfast. Since Xie Qianjin had to leave early for work, he made hers first.

After she left, he went to his son’s room to help him change out of the clothes he couldn’t manage on his own. Once the boy had washed up and come downstairs with his little backpack, he sat down at the table.

Seeing the crusts and scraps of bread on his plate, Xie Huai sighed and plopped down on his little stool.

“Dad, did you cut little apple shapes out of my bread again for Mom?!”

With his freshly washed hands, Xie Huai picked up the crust and shook it. He peered through the round hole in the middle of the bread with a look of righteous indignation aimed squarely at his father.

Jiang Yu, who was just bringing over a glass of milk, turned at the accusation and quickly explained, “Yours has little apples too. They’re underneath.”

“The slice with the apple cutouts for Mom is right here. Now hurry and eat so you’re not late for school.”

Xie Huai poked around with his fork and found the slice with the jam-covered apple cutouts underneath. His little face wrinkled up.

“Dad, does cutting little apples into the bread make it taste better?”

“No, but your mom really likes it.”

Hearing his father’s confident reply, Xie Huai wanted to say, “Well, your son doesn’t like it.”

But after thinking it over, he realized… maybe he kind of did.

As a proud kindergartener with a diploma to prove it, Xie Huai felt that, for the most part, his parents were pretty great.

The only thing that gave him a bit of a headache was his aunt. She’d bring him his favorite toys—but also made him cry sometimes.

And every time she visited, his carefully saved-up allowance would mysteriously vanish, spent entirely on buying her street barbecue and fried snacks.

He really wanted to rescue his poor wallet, but his aunt was just too pretty. Plus, she bought him toys. A real man couldn’t just freeload toys without giving something in return.

In this life, both Xie Qianjin and Yuan Yu lived happily. The only slight regret was that Yuan Yu never got married.

Yuyu, ever laid-back and a bit lazy, poured all her passion into dance and didn’t care much for anything else.

She thought her sister’s marriage was a happy one, but even then, she occasionally had to deal with her brother-in-law’s family—and that always left her in a foul mood.

When she thought about it, she realized that having a sister and a little nephew who’d treat her to barbecue anytime, anywhere, wasn’t such a bad deal. Maybe she didn’t need a partner after all.

After Xie Hui returned to the system space, the Entruster had already left.

“Host, is raising two kids the same as raising one?”

“No. It’s harder.”

Xie Hui sat in his chair and answered the system’s question.

At first, he’d found the system pretty annoying. But after working together through so many worlds, he didn’t mind it so much anymore. He wasn’t stingy with his answers.

Back when he finished his tasks too quickly and got bored, he even played system for a while.

Though being a system looked easy, Xie Hui preferred being a tasker. He really couldn’t stand writing those system reports.

“Host, why is it harder?”

“Because of fairness. That’s probably the hardest part for most families with two kids—trying to find a balance, a fair point between them.”

Though he didn’t hate the system like before, Xie Hui still wasn’t one for long-winded explanations.

“What’s the next task?”

“Host, the next world is a farming world.”

“Alright.”

Xie Hui had done farming worlds before. They were tough, no doubt about it—but in this world, most people had it tough anyway.

A man walked in, barely clothed. Xie Hui saw him and immediately pulled a cloak from his space, handing it over so the man could cover himself.

The man clearly hadn’t had enough to eat for a long time. His posture was hunched, and he seemed nervous and withdrawn.

“What do you want me to help you with?”

“Help me raise my son… until he’s old.”

That request left Xie Hui a bit baffled. What did he mean, raise his son until he’s old? How long would he have to live in this world to do that?

Not to mention whether he even had the ability to raise someone for that long—he didn’t know the original body’s health condition yet. He couldn’t guarantee he’d live to a ripe old age.

“My son… when he was born, my wife died in childbirth because my mother didn’t want to spend money on a midwife… and the child turned out to be mentally disabled.”

“I don’t know why, but I suddenly went crazy—stopped caring about my own child and started doting on my niece instead. I even thought about abandoning my own son for her.”

“Even if Ningning is slow, he’s still my flesh and blood…”

Xie Hui was used to it by now. Every person who came here would first pour out their heart, venting all their regrets.

The truths they couldn’t see in life became crystal clear after death.

“I don’t want to spoil my niece anymore. Even an old ox pulling a plow gets to eat some grass. I can’t even fill my own stomach.”

“And in the end, she still wanted to eat pheasant in the middle of winter. I went up the mountain to find one, slipped, caught a chill, and she wouldn’t even spend money on medicine for me…”

“She even said, ‘You’re going to die anyway, feeding you is a waste.’”

“But Ningning—he may be slow, but he understands everything. When I was on the brink of death, everyone else avoided me like the plague, but he grabbed a handful of dirt and tried to stuff it in my mouth…”

“Ningning’s a simple boy. He believes whatever people tell him. Once, when he had a fever, my niece said eating dirt would make him better—and he believed her. He tried to feed me dirt because he thought it would help me live a little longer.”

By this point, Xie Hui understood everything. But seeing that the man still had more to say, he chose to keep listening.

“My niece even said I should save up money to find a wife for my idiot son. If I died, his wife could take care of him.”

“If I had the chance, I swear I’d go back and rip her mouth off. Would she be willing to marry someone like him? A girl didn’t get along with her, so she came up with that idea. What a black-hearted little thing!”

When the man finally fell silent, Xie Hui asked,

“So what do you want? Do you want your son to get married?”

“Ningning can’t even take care of himself—what’s the point of getting him a wife? I just want him to live a peaceful life. Even if he’s a fool, as long as he’s happily silly every day, that’s enough…”

“Do you have any other requests? Like… getting revenge on your niece?”

Before entering a new world, Xie Hui had a habit of clarifying everything upfront. Only after understanding the basic request could he figure out how to complete the mission.

“If you can get revenge, then do it. Even if I had just a single coin, I wouldn’t want that heartless girl to get a cent of it!”

Xie Hui wasn’t the type to play the martyr—especially seeing how shabby the Entruster looked, clearly not living a good life. If he managed to earn some money, why should it go to someone else instead of improving his own situation?

“Ningning might be a bit slow, but he’s a good kid. I hope… you’ll treat him well.”

“I will. I promise.”

After giving his word to the Entruster, Xie Hui stood up and stepped into the new mission world.

(Arc End)