From Broken Family to Life Winner: A Reborn Mother's Journey

Tang Yuanxiao left the hospital yesterday.

He’d gotten two days off after returning from his hellish training, but that was it.

After he went back yesterday, he was only able to make time to visit again today.

Tang Yuanxiao was relieved to see Su Li recovering, but the look he gave her was incredibly complicated.

He found himself looking into her eyes, trying to decipher her emotions.

Her gaze was a mixture of gratitude and complexity. The hatred from before was gone.

But the hatred in her eyes from before, along with that one phrase she’d uttered—whether in her sleep or not—had plunged Tang Yuanxiao into a world of nightmares.

He’d had the same nightmare again last night. No, it was even clearer this time.

He could even feel his own ragged breathing from the exertion, could see his own enraged, murderous face reflected in the wide-open eyes of the Su Li he was strangling.

Tang Yuanxiao had woken from the nightmare with a jolt and hadn’t been able to fall back asleep.

Thinking about the dream, Tang Yuanxiao’s hands at his sides clenched unconsciously. ”Su Li, have I ever...”

He wanted to ask her if he had ever choked her, or if she’d had any nightmares like his, but he couldn’t bring himself to say the words.

”What is it?” Su Li found it strange that he had stopped mid-sentence.

”It’s nothing.” Tang Yuanxiao forced a smile. ”My new orders came in today.”

He was leaving the research team for a new post. It was definitely a promotion.

”Congratulations,” Su Li said sincerely.

”I won’t be going on as many missions in the future. It’ll be a much more stable position.”

After he spoke, Tang Yuanxiao paused. ”Su Li, you’ll be discharged in a few days, but there’s been no progress on the case. I feel like there’s something strange going on.”

Su Li knew something was strange even without him saying it.

After Tang Yuanxiao left, Su Li returned to her room and thought for a moment. She borrowed the notepad and pen hanging around Little Tang Mo’s neck and carefully tried to sketch a portrait of Yang Jiu.

Su Li was decent at drawing cartoons and simple things, but she had never drawn a portrait before.

She wasted several sheets of paper before she finally produced something that looked a little like him.

Just as Wu Sheng came in, he saw the portrait Su Li had drawn.

He froze, the photo in his hand wrinkling from the sudden force of his grip.

When Su Li saw Wu Sheng, she handed him the drawing. ”Wu Sheng, this is what that Yang Jiu person looks like. Do you think this will work? Or should we find a professional sketch artist?”

Wu Sheng looked at the portrait in her hand and shook his head. ”There’s no need. It’s a good enough likeness.”

Even though it wasn’t a perfect resemblance and Su Li’s drawing wasn’t that great, he recognized him instantly.

He was too familiar with him—he knew him down to his bones.

Wu Sheng sat down and handed Su Li a photograph.

”See if this is the man.”

Su Li took the photograph, and her eyes widened as soon as she looked at it.

”This is the face, but... they feel like two different people. Are they twins? Or... the same person?”

Su Li looked at Wu Sheng, who was standing beside her, and her heart sank.

Wu Sheng looked at her and nodded.

”They’re the same person.”

Wu Sheng hadn’t wanted to needlessly suspect and wrongly accuse a friend he’d grown up with. He had investigated cautiously and rationally before finally showing the photo to Su Li.

Su Li’s confirmation shattered the last shred of hope in Wu Sheng’s heart.

Perhaps because he had been mentally preparing himself, Wu Sheng felt terrifyingly calm.

Looking into his eyes, however, Su Li felt a pang of anguish for him.

”Wu Sheng, you know this man?”

Su Li asked softly.

Before Wu Sheng could answer, someone knocked on the door.

”Come in,” Su Li called out. Mr. Zhang entered.

He saw Su Li sitting up in bed, looking to be in decent spirits, and breathed a sigh of relief.

”Su Li, take a look at this picture.”

There was a glint in his eye. After nodding a quick greeting to Wu Sheng, he eagerly handed the picture to Su Li.

Su Li took the picture, glanced at it, and paused.

From the angle, it looked like a candid shot, but she recognized him instantly. It was Yang Jiu’s face again.

”Is this the man?” Mr. Zhang asked, looking Su Li in the eye.

Su Li nodded.

Mr. Zhang let out a breath. ”I knew my gut was right. Taking this picture was the correct move.”

”This kid’s name isn’t Yang Jiu at all. He’s Ge Ba, the one who was driving that little white car.”

Mr. Zhang had his people search for Yang Jiu, but they couldn’t find anyone by that name. However, the department store was indeed a business of the Yang Family.

They investigated everyone in the Yang Family, generation by generation, and eventually followed the lead to the daughters who had married out of the family.

That led them back to Ge Bayi, one of the first people they had investigated.

”Ge Ba’s surname isn’t Yang, but his grandmother’s is. She’s a grandaunt of the Yang Family and controls a number of their businesses.”

”What’s more, Ge Ba’s ranking among the cousins of his generation in the Yang Family is indeed nine.”

Mr. Zhang rattled off the details of his investigation, only then realizing belatedly that the expressions on Su Li’s and Wu Sheng’s faces were strange. That was when he saw the other photograph in Su Li’s hand.

”Huh?” He took it, let out a sound of surprise, and looked at Wu Sheng. ”You know him?”

Wu Sheng gave a slight, humorless laugh. ”You could say that.”

”Su Li, I’ll be right back.” With that, Wu Sheng shot up and rushed out like a gust of wind.

He vanished in an instant.

Mr. Zhang snapped out of it and hurriedly chased after him.

”Don’t do anything rash! We don’t have any evidence yet!”

Su Li opened her mouth, but she couldn’t get a sound out in time.

She looked at the two photographs left on the bed. Picking them up, her brow furrowed deeply.

’The name ’Ge Ba,’ Su Li had heard it before.’

’Wu Sheng had brought food made by him on two separate occasions. Wu Sheng had asked him to cook, and the dishes had been delicious.’

’Wu Sheng had mentioned ”Little Eight” twice. Su Li remembered it clearly.’

’If they weren’t close, Wu Sheng would never have called him that, let alone mention him or ask him to cook for her.’

’But if they were so close, why would he use the alias ”Yang Jiu” to do all this?’

’Thinking back, Yang Jiu had appeared right when Wu Sheng left for his closed-door selection trial, and then he started pursuing her.’

’That pursuit, which was basically a campaign of throwing money at her, had stopped for a while after Wu Sheng returned, only to resume on the eve of Wu Sheng’s proposal... ’

’Looking back now, it all made sense—why she had found Yang Jiu’s supposed ”love at first sight” so strange, why she always had a feeling that something was off.’

’Yang Jiu wasn’t genuinely interested in her. He was just trying to drive a wedge between her and Wu Sheng, to steal her away... ’

’That thing Yang Jiu had said—”You think you’re worthy of kissing him?”—surfaced in her mind again.’

The more Su Li thought about it, the stranger her expression grew.

”Mama?” While Su Li had been sketching, Little Tang Mo had been sitting quietly to the side, studying. He had been so quiet this whole time that his presence was almost completely overlooked.

After processing everything he’d heard and waiting for the others to leave, he saw his mother’s strange expression and quickly spoke up.

”Mama, what’s wrong?”

Su Li looked at Little Tang Mo, unable to hide the panic in her heart. ”It’s nothing... I just have a bad feeling.”

She glanced at the half-open door. ”Little Mo, can you push Mama’s wheelchair so I can make a phone call?”