Chapter 196: Upheaval
Zhu Chen couldn't help but ask, "Mr. Xiao, I have a question. Did you get the DNA report at the stables?"
Xiao Ye nodded. "Getting a strand of hair from someone's head couldn't be simpler."
"In other words, everything was planned. The competition at the stables... Liu Loulan's poison..."
As he spoke, Zhu Chen gave Xiao Ye a deep look, his eyes filled with immense relief. "Mr. Xiao, it's a good thing we're friends, not enemies."
With that, Zhu Chen drove off.
Xiao Ye, for his part, got into Shishi's car and headed back to the villa.
After a long day, he deserved a good rest.
He, for one, slept very well.
But back at the Xiao Family's estate, things had descended into utter chaos.
Liu Loulan had originally hidden the fact that she was poisoned, precisely to avoid being discovered.
But once the news from the Zhu family spread, certain people couldn't sit still.
They selected one person to go see Liu Loulan, using the pretext of having an important matter to report.
But as soon as he reached her pavilion, he was stopped by a guard.
"I'm sorry, the Patriarch is resting. No one is allowed inside!"
The Xiao Family member glared and roared, "Who do you think you are to stand in my way!"
"I have crucial news to report. If there's a delay, can you bear the consequences? Now, get out of my way!"
The guard hesitated, which earned him a kick. He took the opportunity to back away.
'Fine,' he thought. 'I tried to stop him. I just couldn't.'
He was just a subordinate, after all, not a master.
The Xiao Family member entered without further trouble and immediately saw Liu Loulan.
She seemed to be fast asleep.
He approached and gave her a gentle shake. "Patriarch, I have something important to report!"
At the sound of his voice, Liu Loulan slowly opened her eyes.
Seeing her gray pupils, the Xiao Family member stumbled back in fright.
"Patriarch, your eyes..."
The world was pitch-black to Liu Loulan. She cried out frantically, "Turn on the lights! Quick, turn on the lights!"
The Xiao Family member looked up. The lights were on—the room was as bright as day.
"Patriarch, the lights are on. What's wrong?"
'The lights are on?'
'Doesn't that mean I'm blind?'
'No!'
'It can't be!'
Liu Loulan scrambled to her feet, but as she tried to get out of bed, she fell flat on her face.
She scrambled up again and fumbled her way to the light switch.
She flipped the switch on and off, but not a single glimmer of light reached her eyes.
She was truly blind!
In disbelief, Liu Loulan groped her way to the door.
'Even late at night, there should be at least a little bit of light outside.'
'Failing that, there should be a moon!'
But now, there was nothing but pitch-black darkness!!
As if possessed, she began smashing everything she could get her hands on.
But in a short time, her strength gave out, and she collapsed to the floor. She opened her mouth and coughed up another spray of fresh blood.
The Xiao Family member watched this scene unfold and swallowed hard in fear.
'She really looks like she doesn't have long to live.'
"Patriarch, are... are you all right?"
Liu Loulan had recovered her composure by then. 'I have to hide this,' she knew. 'I must!'
'Xiao Ming hasn't secured his position yet. I can't let anything happen to me now!'
"When you leave, keep your mouth shut. Don't let anyone know about my condition."
"Just say I'm feeling a little under the weather, that there's nothing seriously wrong."
'She's blind and coughing up blood. How could nothing be wrong?'
But the Xiao Family member was smart. "Yes, rest assured. I won't say a word."
He hurried away.
When he returned to the main hall, he realized something was off.
"You all know?"
'If they didn't know, why would they all look so grim?'
"Take a look at this." A report was tossed to him.
He snatched it, and when he saw the contents, he almost threw the report down in shock. "What? Xiao Ming has no blood relation to the Xiao Family?"
"That's impossible! His features are clearly so similar to ours in the Xiao Family!"
"I've already sent someone to verify if it's true or not. We should have news soon. What about you? What did you find out?"
The man fell silent for a moment. Under everyone's gaze, he decided to tell the truth. "The Patriarch is in very poor health."
"She... she seems to have gone blind. She can't see anything. And she was coughing up blood. I suspect she really doesn't have long to live!"
The room fell silent.
Finally, the Grand Elder among them spoke. "Go and get some rest for now. As for what happened today, every one of you keep your mouths shut. Not a word of this gets out."
"We'll decide what to do after our own DNA report and investigation results come in!"
"Yes, sir!"
The crowd gradually dispersed.
The winds of change were about to sweep through the Xiao Family!
「The next day.」
The investigation results were in.
The new report confirmed it: Xiao Ming truly had no blood relation to the Xiao Family.
If he had Xiao Ling's blood running through his veins, then logically, he should be related to the rest of the Xiao Family, especially Xiao Ling's younger brother.
Since there was no relation at all, there was only one possibility.
Xiao Ming was a bastard!
He wasn't Xiao Ling's son at all!
Liu Loulan had had an affair and given birth to another man's child!
Most of them had sided with Liu Loulan, not because of her brilliant tactics, but for their own personal gain.
Furthermore, they had also played a part in Xiao Ling's death back then; it wasn't just Liu Loulan's doing.
Liu Loulan held that over their heads, which is why they had been willing to support an outsider as the Patriarch.
But deep down, they still wanted someone from the Xiao Family to be the Patriarch.
If it hadn't been for her son, Xiao Ming, they would have stopped listening to that woman long ago.
"Damn it! To think we were played by a woman!"
"And for so many years!"
"Even Xiao Ming's eyes were the result of plastic surgery!"
When Xiao Ming was ten, his features had started to set, and he naturally bore no resemblance to the Xiao Family.
When Liu Loulan noticed this, she immediately sent Xiao Ming off to "summer camp."
The excuse was that he was going to Country M for a better education, but in reality, it was for plastic surgery.
Sure enough, when Xiao Ming returned a month later, his features already resembled those of the Xiao Family.
That's why they never suspected anything afterward. To think it was all that woman's scheme!
It was one thing for so many of them to be kept in the dark, but for it to go on for more than a decade without anyone noticing a problem was infuriating!
One of the Elders spoke with resentment, "I knew something was off when Liu Loulan first married into the family."
"Xiao Ling wouldn't even touch her!"
"Didn't Liu Loulan say she drugged him and it worked once?"
"Hit the jackpot on the first try? You really think Liu Loulan was that lucky? My guess is, since Xiao Ling wouldn't touch her, she went and found someone else!"
"This won't do! We have to find her lover! The Xiao Family can't just raise another man's child for free!"
For all these years, they had been painstakingly grooming Xiao Ming.
They never gave up on him, even though he wasn't particularly bright.
The thought of all their hard work going to waste was infuriating!
"Let's go! We're going to find Liu Loulan!"
"Since she didn't give birth to the Xiao Family's eldest son, and she's about to die anyway, we absolutely cannot let her keep the position of Patriarch!"
"That's right. She probably killed her lover long ago. You all know how ruthless that woman can be."
"She might have even conspired with outsiders to scheme against our Xiao Family! We'll only find out if we can make her tell us who the man was!"