Ch43 – Disturbance During The Welcoming Banquet

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The Wei family smiled.
“Shu Ning, is it? It’s rare to have guests here.
Sit, sit, sit.”

Yin Mingzheng pulled Shu Ning to sit on a white leather sofa. 

Shu Ning breathed a sigh of relief.
Regardless of what they were all thinking, everything looked peaceful on the surface at least.

Madam Wei was very proud when her son was able to greet everyone with ease.
She went forward to chat with everyone.

After chatting for a bit, Wei Shanhe, Li Yongna, and Yin Mingzheng’s biological father, Wei Yuanning, walked down the spiral staircase from the second floor.
Everyone on the ground floor stood up one after another and respectfully greeted them.

“Dad, Mom, Yuanning.
This is Yin Mingzheng.” Su Muli hurriedly introduced her son to the head of the Wei family.
She casually introduced Shu Ning as well.
“This is the son of Mingzheng’s adoptive parents, Shu Ning.” 

Wei Shanhe’s gaze lingered on Yin Mingzheng for a bit.
When his eyes finally landed on Shu Ning, he was slightly startled.

 

Back then, Shu Ning had given him Yin Mingzheng’s information.
They had met once, and he still had an impression of him.
At that time, Wei Shanhe hadn’t cared.
He had thought it was some illegitimate child who hired a student to stop his car.
He forgot about it soon afterwards.
He hadn’t expected it to be true.

His eyes darted back and forth between Yin Mingzheng and Shu Ning.

Shu Ning knew what he was thinking.
Two years ago, he told Wei Shanhe that Yin Mingzheng had been switched at birth.
Now that Yin Mingzheng had returned, it was inevitable for him to have some doubts.

 

However, Shu Ning wasn’t worried at all.
If Wei Shanhe happened to ask him about it, he would just say that someone hired him to hand the information over.

If Wei Shanhe tells Yin Mingzheng about it and Yin Mingzheng confronts him, he would just tell him that he knew the truth a long time ago.

As for the issue of transmigration, it was simply too unbelievable, so he decided not to say anything about it.
Plus, it felt a little taboo to speak it out loud.
Transmigrating into a novel was simply too fantastical and bizarre, and Shu Ning was someone with a healthy dose of fear for the supernatural.
He was afraid that, if he said it out loud, it would affect the world, the villain, his own destiny and so on.

 

The reason why Shu Ning chose to help Yin Mingzheng was because he believed that he had transmigrated in order to change Yin Mingzheng’s fate. 

Otherwise, why would he suddenly transmigrate after reading The Big Shot’s Sweetheart: Overbearing President’s Infatuation?

He still remembered just how angry he was about the villain’s ending.
He felt super disgusted by the male and female leads.
Plus, he transmigrated into the villain’s neighbor and classmate.
He also transmigrated when the villain was only a few years old.

What else could it be if not fate?

He’d never cared about getting rewarded or anything like that.
After spending a few years with him, his relationship with the villain was even deeper than before.
It was similar to the feelings a parent would have for their children.
He just wanted him to be well.
He didn’t care about getting anything in return. 

“Quickly greet your grandparents and father.” Madam Wei quickly introduced the three most important people to Yin Mingzheng.

The little villain stepped forward.
His voice was neither servile nor overbearing.
“Hello, Grandpa! Hello, Grandma!”

Wei Shanhe gave him a nod.
Li Yongna scrutinized him.

Then, Yin Mingzheng walked up to Wei Yuanning.
He called out in a quiet voice, “Dad.” 

This made Wei Yuanning’s expression change slightly.

“It’s good that you’re back,” Wei Shanhe said.
“It’s about time.
I’m sure everyone is hungry.
Let’s have dinner.”

 

The entire family walked into the spacious dining room and sat down.

This was the first time Wei Yuanning had seen Yin Mingzheng.
He looked him up and down for a moment.
His eyes revealed a look of satisfaction.
Wei Yuanning said, “Don’t use the name Yin Mingzheng anymore.
You should call yourself Wei Mingzheng.” 

The first thing Wei Yuanning said to Yin Mingzheng was for him to change his surname.
Anyone could see just how satisfied he was!

Everyone had their own thoughts in their hearts.

Madam Wei was a little worried at first.
When she heard what Wei Yuanning said, she was both happy and surprised.
She gently tapped Yin Mingzheng’s arm and said, “Quickly tell your dad thank you.”

Yin Mingzheng seemed a little puzzled, but he still stood up and said, “Thank you, Dad.” 

Shu Ning knew the villain very well.
His thoughts were probably something along the lines of, “Isn’t that what he should do? Why should I say thank you?”

Shu Ning didn’t understand either.

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Wasn’t it very natural that he would change his name after reuniting with his birth parents? Why did he need to say thank you? It’s not like a name change was some kind of huge favor or anything.

Shu Ning decided to brush it off as a weird rule of the Wei family.
He tried his best to ignore the surprise in his heart. 

Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at Wei Ximing and found that Wei Ximing’s expression was very dark.
Shu Ning felt even more surprised.
Was it that big of a deal for the villain to change his surname?

Fine.
Since he got to see Wei Ximing’s ugly expression, he’ll let this strange rule slide, hehe!

The family sat down, and the servants began to serve the dishes in an orderly manner.

“Mingzheng, I heard that your life was very difficult in the past.
Is this true?” The third branch’s second daughter, Wei Zilan, asked curiously. 

Yin Mingzheng looked over at her and nodded.
“I had a really hard time with the Yin family.
Things got a lot better after I was taken in by my adoptive parents.”

He turned to look at Shu Ning next to him.
“I’m really grateful to Shu Ning and his family.”

Wei Zilan was even more curious.
“So, you had two families?”

Yin Mingzheng said, “No.
Yin Qiang and Zhou Juan abused me.
Yin Qiang hit me every day, and he almost beat me to death.
They abandoned me because my hospital fees were too high.
After I was discharged from the hospital, I cut off ties with them, and I’ve been living with my adoptive parents ever since.” 

“I don’t consider Yin Qiang or Zhou Juan family.”

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection.
If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

Wei Zilan expressed her understanding.
“I see.
You’re really pitiful.”

 

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Tlc Zlcuhtfcu xfqa vlrqjgjulcu tlr ylbibulmji ojwlis.
Lf xfqa rjslcu atja Itbe Aejc jcv Tlc Hljcu jyerfv tlw.
Qtja kjr tf qijslcu ja? Qjr tf agslcu ab reqqgfrr tlw?

“It wasn’t an accident.
It was intentional,” Yin Mingzheng corrected her.
His expression was calm.
It was as if he wasn’t aware of what kind of a bombshell he just dropped!

Wei Ximing felt a shock run through his body.
His calm demeanor almost cracked.
Yin Mingzheng was clearly trying to push him into a corner!

He just said that the two of them were intentionally switched at birth.
Was he trying to kick him out of the Wei family? 

The others also showed surprised expressions.

Wei Yuanning and Madam Wei said in unison, “Really?!”

Wei Ximing can no longer stay quiet.
He didn’t want to say anything at first.
He wanted to strengthen his relationship with the family after things had blown over.
However, Yin Mingzheng had clearly come with a goal.
He was targeting him right away! If Wei Ximing let him keep talking, he wouldn’t even have a snowball’s chance in hell of turning things over!

“Really?” He asked with surprise, “Mingzheng ge, are you sure what you said is true? Do you have evidence?” 

Yin Mingzheng finally shifted his gaze towards him and smiled.
“I don’t have any evidence.”

Wei Ximing breathed a sigh of relief.
He put on a sad expression and said, “Since there isn’t any evidence, why would you say that? You keep slandering my biological parents.
Are you trying to drive me away?”

Yin Mingzheng slightly raised an eyebrow.
“I didn’t have that intention.
I was just telling the truth.”

“Can you really call that the truth if you don’t have evidence?” Wei Ximing said sorrowfully, “I know that Mingzheng ge doesn’t like me.
Don’t worry.
I’ll leave the Wei family tomorrow.
I won’t keep taking your place.” 

Li Yongna frowned.
“What are you talking about? Ximing was my grandson before, and he is still my grandson now! It’s not like our Wei family can’t afford to keep him!”

Then, she gave Yin Mingzheng a dissatisfied look.

Madam Wei, who was already a little nervous to begin with, secretly glanced at Yin Mingzheng.
She echoed Li Yongna, “Yes.
Ximing, don’t say such things.
Your grandmother will be sad.”

When Li Yongna saw Wei Ximing’s sad appearance, she rebuked Yin Mingzheng, “The Wei family attaches a lot of importance to our relationships.
Ximing saved my life.
Even if he isn’t related to us by blood, Ximing is still a part of our Wei family.” 

A year ago, Li Yongna accidentally used the wrong insulin medication and almost died.
Fortunately, Wei Ximing discovered her in time and saved her life.
Since then, Li Yongna had especially liked this grandson of hers in particular.

Madam Wei didn’t want Wei Ximing to leave either.
Wei Ximing was the son that she had raised herself.
Within these past two years, he had been even more considerate and kind than before.
If he were really to leave, she would be very upset.

 

“The actions of the parent have nothing to do with the child.
The Yin family abused a child of the Wei family.
We will naturally settle accounts with them, but we are all reasonable people.
We can’t vent our anger on an innocent person,” Li Yongna said.

Wei Shanhe didn’t say anything.
This could be considered as him approving Li Yongna’s statement. 

Shu Ning was bristling with anger.
These people didn’t even know anything about what the villain had been through, yet they were all siding with Wei Ximing! It was really pissing him off!

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However, there really wasn’t any evidence that the children were switched intentionally.
The little villain had even gone to Wuxian Hospital to investigate and didn’t find anything.
There really wasn’t anything they could say.

“Grandma Li, Mingzheng suffered a lot back then.
Zhou Juan and Yin Qiang refused to send him to preschool.
They wouldn’t buy any clothes for him.
Instead, they picked clothes out of the trash can for him to wear.
Yin Qiang would hit him at the drop of a hat.
What kind of biological parent would abuse their own child like this?”

“A few years ago, Yin Qiang and Zhou Juan admitted that Mingzheng wasn’t their biological son.
They claimed that they had just picked him up.
Yin Qiang beat Mingzheng into the hospital and Mingzheng almost died.
They didn’t want to pay his hospital fees, so they told everyone that he wasn’t their biological kid and refused to help him.
Everyone in our community knows about this!” 

“Where did they pick him up? Do you really think they picked up the Wei family’s child off the side of the road? You know damn well that’s not possible!”

“We don’t have any evidence to prove it, but that’s the truth!”

Shu Ning spoke up a storm, and his words rained down like bullets.
He didn’t give them the chance to refute him at all.

Everyone was stunned when they heard what he said. 

Wei Ximing couldn’t bear it any longer and said, “It might have been the hospital that made a mistake.
It could’ve been the hospital that made the switch.”

Shu Ning rolled his eyes at him.
“Look at you.
In that case, let me ask you a question.
If the hospital switched the children, why would Zhou Juan and Yin Qiang claim to have picked him up off the street?”

“They were the ones who claimed that their child died young so they took in another child to raise.
It was Zhou Juan and Yin Qiang who said this, not me.
If you don’t believe me, you can go to Chuzhou and ask around.
Literally everyone in the community heard about it! Ask any one of them and you’ll know if I’m telling the truth.”

“Young Master Wei, you better listen clearly.
Zhou Juan was the one who said that her child died, and Zhou Juan was the one who said Yin Mingzheng was adopted.
If her child died, how can you still be sitting here alive and well? If Yin Mingzheng was adopted, where did she adopt him from?” 

Wei Ximing’s face was pale.
He couldn’t find the words to refute him.

When it came to the villain, Shu Ning was extremely protective.
He wasn’t afraid of being rude, and he wasn’t afraid of offending people.
He huffed, “Nobody here is dumb.
You all should understand what happened now, right?”

“The truth is that Zhou Juan had malicious intentions from the very beginning.
She took advantage of the fact that Madam Wei was asleep and secretly switched the children.
She wanted her own son to take someone else’s spot.”

“They obviously weren’t going to care about a kid that wasn’t biologically related to them.
When Yin Mingzheng needed to be hospitalized, they immediately threw him to the side.
They went and told everyone that he was adopted, that he wasn’t actually their kid.” 

“That’s the logical explanation!”

“We don’t have any physical evidence, but those are the facts! Do you get it now?”

 

Wei Ximing piped up again, “This… It might be because Zhou Juan and Yin Qiang didn’t like Yin Mingzheng.
In order to get out of paying his hospital fees, they lied about Yin Mingzheng being adopted.
The things they said could’ve been because of the medical fees.”

Shu Ning was a little surprised.
He had underestimated Wei Ximing.
This guy reacted really quickly. 

He was right.
If things were explained like this, Zhou Juan and Yin Qiang could escape the responsibility of “deliberately switching the children”.

Things were just too troublesome without actual evidence.

Shu Ning was annoyed.
“Oh, you’re saying that a parent would deliberately abuse their biological child? You’re saying a parent would lie about their kid being adopted for the sake of a little bit of money?”

Wei Ximing said, “Parents like that are rare, but they do exist.” 

Shu Ning bit back, “Young Master Wei, the super rare parents that you’re talking about are your biological parents.
Don’t you think they would feel upset if they heard you saying that about them?”

Wei Ximing’s face first turned red.
Then, it turned green.
He didn’t have any choice.
He had to pick the lesser of two evils.
Rather than admit that Zhou Juan deliberately switched the children, it was better to admit that they were horrible people.

He was clear about what was most important in his heart.

Everyone else was puzzled about what Shu Ning and Wei Ximing were arguing about.
Shu Ning had clearly been very shy and reticent earlier.
They hadn’t expected him to be so combative. 

It was clearly a family gathering for the Wei family, but he had completely stolen their thunder.
However, he was a guest, so, even if he was rude, they couldn’t really nitpick him for it.

The events from ten years ago had become a muddled mess of accounts.
No one could really tell what was true and what was false.

The second and third branches of the family didn’t get involved.
They simply sat on the side and watched the show.
Either way, it had nothing to do with them.
If the main branch made fools of themselves, they might even be able to benefit from it.

Li Yongna frowned. 

After hearing what Shu Ning said, Madam Wei hesitated.
If Zhou Juan had really switched out her child on purpose, how disgusting would that be!?

Speaking of which, how come something like this just had to happen to her!?

If it was intentional, everything would make sense.

Wei Ximing was very good.
However, if the kids were deliberately switched… 

When Madam Wei looked at Wei Ximing, her gaze became very complicated.

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The little villain quietly stared at Shu Ning.
A smile slowly emerged from the corners of his lips.

 

Li Yongna said, “Enough.
We shouldn’t let the grievances of the previous generation bring harm to the next generation.
Regardless, Wei Ximing saved my life.
He didn’t do anything wrong.
He’s innocent.”

Everyone could hear what she meant by this.
Regardless of whether it was intentional or not, Li Yongna recognized Wei Ximing as a member of the family. 

Wei Ximing breathed a sigh of relief.
He stood up and said to Li Yongna with reddened eyes, “Thank you, Grandma.”

Shu Ning was about to die from anger.

Wei Yuanning, who had not spoken, asked Yin Mingzheng, “Mingzheng, what do you think?”

Yin Mingzheng lips curled.
He said, “I was just telling the truth.
As for whether Wei Ximing stays or not, I don’t care.” 

Don’t care?

That was impossible.

This was what everyone was thinking.

Yin Mingzheng asked Wei Yuanning, “Dad, what do you think?” 

Wei Yuanning was taken aback.

Yin Mingzheng asked, “Do you and Mom like me? This is the only thing I care about.
The rest isn’t important.”

Wei Yuanning’s furrowed brows relaxed.
His eyes softened.
“Of course I like you.”

“That’s enough for me.
I don’t really care about anything else, and I don’t need to care.” Yin Mingzheng’s tone of voice was as calm as always. 

Madam Wei almost shed tears.
She realized that the way she was secretly trying to protect Wei Ximing just now might have hurt her own son.

She had always been very upset about the children being switched.
She couldn’t understand how this kind of thing could have happened to her.
Now that Shu Ning suggested another possibility, she was starting to feel that it might be true.
A strong wave of disgust crashed over her and washed away some of her affection for Wei Ximing with it.

However, Wei Ximing didn’t do anything wrong.
In fact, he had made her really proud.
He rescued Li Yongna, so her position within the Wei family improved as well.
He also had a marriage agreement with the Jiang family.
The eldest daughter of the Jiang family liked him a lot and helped promote cooperation between the Jiang family and the Wei family…

Madam Wei suddenly realized something.
That’s right! The marriage agreement! 

The marriage agreement between the Jiang family and the Wei family was supposed to be for her biological son! However, the Old Mr.
Jiang’s beloved granddaughter, Jiang Yao, liked Wei Ximing very much.

Her mind was a mess.
She glanced at Wei Shanhe and Li Yongna, who were sitting at the head of the table.
Then, she glanced at Wei Yuanning, Wei Ximing, and Yin Mingzheng.
It was giving her a headache.
In the end, she decided not to bring it up at this moment.

 

She hadn’t thought about Wei Ximing’s marriage agreement at first.
However, after learning about the possibility that the children were switched on purpose, she thought differently.

If Zhou Juan had really switched the children on purpose, then things were different.
What was her goal in switching the kids? Of course it was so that her own child would be able to inherit the Wei family’s assets and affection.
The marriage agreement was one of the biggest assets. 

She wasn’t clear about the truth right now.
However, Wei Mingzheng was her biological son.
Helping him take back the marriage agreement would be the best course of action.
She couldn’t let her own flesh and blood suffer.
If she let things remain as they were, she may end up letting her enemy get what they wanted.

It was a simple calculation.
Anyone could do it.

Shu Ning’s spiel today put the Wei family on alert, especially Wei Shanhe and Wei Yuanning.
They were not happy.

Rich people didn’t become rich by sitting around and doing nothing.
They weren’t dumb.
They had already seen every trick in the book. 

How come it just so happened to be their child who was switched?

If children were switched that easily, why not just buy a lottery ticket?

Plus, Shu Ning’s remarks also proved that Yin Qiang and Zhou Juan abused Wei Mingzheng.
They abandoned their child over some measly hospital fees.

How could a parent do that to their biological child? Especially considering he’s their only child? Even if they disregarded all familial affection, it still wasn’t in their best interest to do that.
After all, they would need someone to take care of them in their old age.
If they killed their only son, the losses would outweigh the benefits.
It simply wasn’t worth it for them to do that. 

However, if they were sure they could have another child or if they were sure there was someone else to help them, then it was a different story.

Everyone was already starting to believe Shu Ning’s side of the story.

However, what did this have to do with them?

For the sake of their interests, the second branch and third branch hoped that Wei Ximing could stay longer and keep causing trouble for the main branch.
That way, the second and third branches would be able to take advantage of the situation for their own personal gain. 

Today, it was exposed that Wei Ximing may have been deliberately stuffed into the Wei family by Zhou Juan.
In Wei Shanhe’s eyes, he no longer had the right to inherit.
Therefore, he wasn’t a threat to the second and third branches.
They might as well keep him to cause some more trouble for the main branch.
Then, they’d be able to grab some more management rights from them.

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If they could, they would also like it if Wei Ximing could suppress Wei Mingzheng.
If Wei Mingzheng was judged to be incompetent, he definitely wouldn’t be given any management rights.
Meanwhile, Wei Ximing wouldn’t be able to inherit anything no matter how outstanding he was.
They were simply a perfect match!

Furthermore, the main branch still had a son and daughter from the ex-wife.
They had been driven abroad, but there was no doubt that they would also return for a piece of the pie.
When that happened, the main branch would become a chaotic mess, and the ones to gain from it would be the second and third branches.

“Mom is right.
From now on, we’re all a family,” Yin Mingzheng’s second uncle, Wei Yuanan, said lovingly.
“From today onwards, both Ximing and Mingzheng are members of our Wei family.” 

He specifically called out to Wei Ximing, “Ximing, in my heart, you’re still a part of the Wei family.”

Wei Ximing’s expression slightly changed.
He was very surprised.
He couldn’t help but gratefully call out, “Uncle.”

 

Wei Yuanzhi, Yin Mingzheng’s third uncle, also smiled and said, “Ximing, I think so as well.”

Wei Ximing hadn’t expected this at all.
Not only did his grandmother step out to support him, but his second uncle and third uncle did as well.
The rims of his eyes started turning red with emotion. 

Shu Ning wasn’t aware of the Wei family’s internal thoughts.
When he saw this scene, he was stunned.
The second and third branches were actually supporting Wei Ximing.
They were publicly embarrassing the villain.
Shu Ning was furious.

Then, Wei Yuanan and Wei Yuanzhi turned towards the villain and said, “From now on, we are your uncles, and you are our nephew.
Come, let’s have a drink.”

After speaking, they picked up the red wine on the table.

Yin Mingzheng, ah, that’s not right.
It should be Wei Mingzheng now.
Wei Mingzheng maintained indifference from beginning to end.
He raised his glass and stood up.
“Thank you, Uncle.” 

The three of them drank the wine.

Madam Wei was a little anxious.
She wanted to remind him to toast Wei Shanhe and the others first.
Before she had even said anything, Wei Mingzheng had already poured the wine into a glass.
Then, he toasted Wei Shanhe and Li Yongna.

Next, he toasted Wei Yuanning and Madam Wei.

In the end, he actually toasted Wei Ximing. 

“Ximing, you’ve been calling me brother all this time.
We’ll be a family from now on, so let’s get along well.”

Wei Ximing quickly stood up.
He lowered his glass and said, “You’re being too polite.
I should be the one toasting you.”

“I didn’t intend to drive you away at all, really.” A cold look flashed through Wei Mingzheng’s eyes.
“Because I don’t care about you at all.”

Wei Ximing, who was about to say something nice, choked.
“…” 

The Wei family was also stunned.

Shu Ning almost laughed out loud.
Ever since they entered the main building, the villain seemed to be particularly polite and amicable.
Shu Ning almost thought that his personality had changed or something.
However, it looked like his reckless personality hadn’t changed at all.

A look of surprise flashed through Wei Shanhe’s eyes.

Wei Ximing’s face turned green with anger, but there was nothing he could say in response. 

In this kind of situation, Wei Mingzheng was the only one with the right to talk shit.
No matter how rude it sounded, he would have to bear it.
If he started making trouble with Wei Mingzheng, it would be him who was being unsensible.

“Gege, why would you say something like that?” Wei Ximing put on a pitiful face, as if he was being bullied.

 

This was completely inconsistent with his haughty personality, but Li Yongna was completely taken in by him.
She frowned.
“The Wei family should be united and loving towards each other.
We must be tolerant and generous when dealing with others.”

She said to Wei Mingzheng, “You were raised in a bad environment.
It would be best if you studied some etiquette and manners in the future.” 

She might as well have pointed at his nose and started scolding him.

Li Yongna wasn’t too happy.
She didn’t like this new grandson of hers.

The others revealed entertained expressions on their faces.
Wei Mingzheng really didn’t let them down.
He started fighting with Wei Ximing as soon as he returned.

Wei Mingzheng didn’t seem to hear the sarcasm in her voice.
He said, “Grandma’s right.” 

He didn’t express any opposition.

Wei Mingzheng’s welcoming banquet slowly came to an end.
Everyone left with different thoughts in mind.

After dinner, Shu Ning thought that Wei Shanhe might want to talk with him, but he didn’t.

Shu Ning thought, “Since he didn’t look for me, I’ll just do what I need to do and relax.”