Chapter 39: The Truth Revealed

The woman’s wails and tears drew an ever-growing crowd into the alley.

Sheng Qiming stood frozen, watching her sprawled on the ground, throwing a tantrum. His heart turned to ash. The shouting, the accusations, the public spectacle—it was exactly as it had been nineteen years ago.

“Brother Sheng…”

The woman’s soft call reached his ears. Sheng Qiming felt as if he were returning from a different lifetime, abruptly jolted out of his memories. Nineteen years had passed; Liu Cuixi had not improved in the slightest, but he—he was no longer that helpless coward.

“Enough! Just how much longer do you intend to make this scene, you shrew?”

Sheng Qiming’s rebuke cut her wails short. She looked back in disbelief at the man she had bullied for over a decade. “A shrew? You call me a shrew? Fine! Today, I’ll show you exactly what a shrew is!”

“Besides making unreasonable demands, throwing tantrums, and hitting people, what else are you capable of?” Sheng Qiming’s eyes were filled with mockery, his tone as cold as frost. “You were imprisoned because you offended a nobleman and showed disrespect. What does that have to do with me?”

“The reason I ran away was for nothing more than to survive.” Sheng Qiming rolled up his long sleeve, revealing a right arm covered in scars and bruises.

Wang Jinlan covered her mouth in shock as she gazed at the dark welts on his arm. Even the surrounding townspeople gasped.

“You beat me daily, nearly to death. Have I ever fought back?” Sheng Qiming stared intently at Liu Cuixi, who sat on the ground, and questioned her in a low, heavy voice. “If I had even a shred of defiance in me, I wouldn’t have ended up with so many scars—marks that haven’t faded even after half a month.”

Noticing the change in the onlookers’ gazes, Liu Cuixi scrambled to her feet and brushed off her backside. “Don’t you dare splash your filth on me! You’re the one who committed adultery, not me!”

“You’re talking nonsense!” Wang Jinlan could no longer contain herself. She raised her voice to defend herself and Sheng Qiming. “It was clearly us who had the marriage contract back then. You were the one who forced your way in and stole what wasn’t yours! If not for your wicked heart, how could Brother Sheng have fallen to this state?”

“What a joke!” Liu Cuixi sneered, her tone disdainful. “The man beside you spent a night with me. I carried his child; what was wrong with coming to his door and demanding he marry me?”

“Shut up!” The veins on Sheng Qiming’s forehead throbbed; his patience had reached its limit.

“You dare to do it, but you don’t dare let people speak of it? I was an innocent maiden back then, and you forced yourself upon me. Do you think you can escape responsibility now?” Liu Cuixi did not fear the scrutiny of the crowd; she dragged the shameful events of that old, ruined temple back into the light.

Sheng Qiming’s mind was a chaotic mess, yet he could not find a single word to refute her.

That day, nineteen years ago, had been filled with freezing rain. Soaked to the bone and running a high fever on his way back to the village, he had been forced to take shelter in a dilapidated temple. His fever had clouded his mind, and his memories were hazy; he had no recollection of ever touching Liu Cuixi.

Yet, when the sun rose the next morning, he had indeed seen Liu Cuixi lying beside him, disheveled and half-exposed, while his own collar was merely stained. He had fled in a panic, only for Liu Cuixi to track him down later. She had been pregnant, and her claim seemed ironclad. Unable to settle the matter privately, Sheng Qiming had been forced to take her in.

“Your tricks haven’t improved at all.”

A voice suddenly cut through the crowd, causing them all to stiffen and turn toward the source. The townspeople blocking the alleyway instinctively parted to let the person behind them pass.

“You…” Liu Cuixi looked at the person who had suddenly appeared before her, her hatred undisguised. “You little wretch! I hadn’t even gone looking for you, and yet you come to ruin my day!”

Sheng Mingyue watched her quietly, her expression surprisingly calm. “There is no need for you to look for me. What you owe me, I will take back, bit by bit.”

Liu Cuixi froze for a moment, then let out a laugh of pure fury. “You pathetic girl, you really are just like your deadbeat father! I provided you with food, clothing, and shelter, and not only are you ungrateful, but you think I owe you?”

Sheng Mingyue did not reply. She simply stepped aside, revealing the person behind her.

“You… you wretch…”

Liu Cuixi’s voice came to an abrupt halt. Her eyes widened as she stared at the person behind Mingyue, and she involuntarily stumbled back two steps.

Liu Juan was shoved into the alley, bound hand and foot. Seeing Liu Cuixi, she began to writhe and struggle violently, as if begging for help.

“Mingyue…” Sheng Qiming frowned, terrified that Liu Cuixi’s rage might lead her to hurt his daughter. “Why did you come here? Leave, quickly!”

Sheng Mingyue looked at him, the corners of her lips curling slightly. “Father, your daughter promised she would help you escape this predicament.”

Sheng Qiming did not understand, his eyes fixed intently on his daughter.

“Liu Cuixi, have you seen this person before?” Sheng Mingyue glanced at the woman on the ground, staring at her opponent with a half-smile.

Liu Cuixi instinctively shook her head, muttering, “No… I haven’t seen her! What kind of trick are you trying to pull, you wretch?”

Sheng Mingyue lowered her head and let out a soft, bitter laugh. Though her chest was filled with resentment, her eyes inevitably welled up with tears. “I always thought I was a girl, and that was why you didn’t like me. I never imagined that I wasn’t your daughter at all.”

“From the time I was small, you beat and kicked me, humiliated and cursed me, and even conspired with your accomplice to sell me to an old widower—all because you didn't want to raise someone else’s child.”

The crowd erupted in an uproar, whispers breaking out from every corner.

“You… you are spouting nonsense!” Liu Cuixi turned pale with panic, howling at the top of her lungs, “I raised you for so many years, and this is how you repay me by slandering me?”

“Mingyue…” Sheng Qiming was utterly stunned, staring blankly at the daughter he had cherished for nineteen years. In both appearance and temperament, Mingyue was the spitting image of him. How could two people so similar not be father and daughter?

Seeing that Liu Cuixi refused to admit the truth, Sheng Mingyue scoffed coldly. “The one who spent the night with you in that temple was someone else, not my father. The only reason you framed him was because you saw that he was handsome, a scholar, and a village teacher with a decent family background.”

“The baby boy you gave birth to back then was stillborn. You couldn't accept it, so you emptied your savings to have Liu Juan help you swap the child.”

“My father is Sheng Qiming, and my mother is Wang Jinlan!” Sheng Mingyue cried out, her eyes red. “I should have grown up under the protection of my real parents; I should have had a complete family!”

Having laid out the truth, Sheng Mingyue could no longer hold back, and tears streamed down her face.

Hearing her words, Sheng Qiming felt as if he had been struck by lightning. His legs gave way, and he collapsed onto the ground.

Wang Jinlan stood completely rigid, staring in a daze at the young woman at the entrance. Finally snapping out of her trance, she rushed forward like a madwoman, grabbed Liu Cuixi by the hair, and slapped her face with all her might.

“You did it on purpose… you did it on purpose, didn’t you!”

Wang Jinlan’s eyes were filled with tears, her blows landing harder each time. “In the past, whenever I passed your door, you would grab that child and beat her. You were doing it just to show me, weren’t you?”

“You abused my daughter for nineteen years! How could your heart be so cruel!”