Luo Zhiming, upon hearing Fang Pingying’s words, stared blankly at her with wide eyes, conflicted for a long ti, before finally asking, "Sister-in-law, I don’t understand, what are you trying to say?"
Seeing that she had made herself so clear, yet Luo Zhiming still couldn’t catch on, or perhaps it wasn’t that he couldn’t catch on, but rather he was so desperate to have a child that he didn’t want to believe it, Fang Pingying felt sowhat helpless. She glanced at Luo Zhiming and said irritably, "It’s been laid out so plainly, and yet you still don’t understand. No wonder you can’t even tell if it’s your own son."
"I..." When Luo Zhiming heard this, his complexion worsened, and his eyes fixed fiercely on Fang Pingying, as if he was ready to start a fight if the child turned out not to be his.
Fang Pingying, seeing this obstinate man, couldn’t be bothered to deal with him any longer and glanced at Luo Zhiyong before she walked away a bit.
In the end, it was Luo Zhiyong who pondered a mont and then gave Luo Zhiming the long and short of it, "Zhiming, to put it plainly, the child Xu He was originally carrying wasn’t yours, and the child you have now isn’t the one Xu He was carrying either. That child belonged to Shuanzi the loan shark. Xu He then gave the child to Shuanzi and got a sum of money in return. Whether the child you have now was bought with money or taken from sowhere else to pass off as your own, I do not know."
Now Luo Zhiming finally understood, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to believe it. He scoffed and asked Luo Zhiyong with a hint of self-mockery, "Brother, what you an to say is, all things considered, Luo Zhiming still can’t have children?"
Luo Zhiyong stopped short; he didn’t know if confirming Luo Zhiming’s question would break him.
But Fang Pingying didn’t care about that; she nodded affirmatively and said, "You’re not wrong in saying that. In any case, you and Xu He have no children."
Upon hearing this, Luo Zhiming instantly began to object, "Impossible. Xu He got pregnant with this child in the countryside, long before she even t Shuanzi. How could it be Shuanzi’s child? The child is definitely mine."
Fang Pingying saw that even at this point Luo Zhiming still refused to face reality, so she went further to remind him, "Then think about when Xu He first t Shuanzi."
"It was that ti in the provincial city you all ntioned, originally Xu He was supposed to..." Luo Zhiming glanced at Luo Zhiyong and didn’t dare to continue, so he left out a part and said, "then it got mixed up, and she was taken advantage of by Shuanzi."
After hearing this, Fang Pingying smiled lightly and then said, "Think about it again."
"..." Luo Zhiming thought for a long ti but still couldn’t rember.
So Luo Zhiyong reminded him, "Xu He truly t Shuanzi when you owed those high-interest loans, and Shuanzi ca to the village to collect money from you."
"What?" Luo Zhiming had never dread that Xu He could have gotten involved with Shuanzi at that ti. He really wanted to refute what Luo Zhiyong and Fang Pingying said, but after carefully recalling the situation of those days, he found he couldn’t.
Because, being chased by Shuanzi for debts truly frightened him; therefore, he rembered the events of the preceding and subsequent days very clearly. He rembered that Xu He had not been at ho for several days after Shuanzi ca to collect money; she had gone back to her parents’ ho for quite so ti. And when he went to pick her up, she refused to co back; he didn’t think too much about it then.
Now that he thought about it, sothing did seem off.
Watching Luo Zhiming’s confused and darkened facial expression, Fang Pingying guessed that Luo Zhiming had rembered sothing. So she deliberately said, "Think for yourself carefully about whether or not Xu He was acting strange during those days."
In front of Fang Pingying and the others, Luo Zhiming still struggled as if on his last breath. He imdiately shook his head, "No, nothing was wrong. We were together every day for those few days. There was nothing unusual."
Fang Pingying saw his panic when he said this and couldn’t be bothered to say more, only stating, "Luo Zhiming, if you like deceiving yourself like this or perhaps you enjoy raising soone else’s child, that’s none of my business. The reason I’m telling you all this is that there’s another reason. Your own sister Luo Cuilan’s disappearance might be related to Xu He. We can’t let Xu He just walk away; otherwise, we may never find out whether your sister is alive or dead."
Luo Zhiming, when told that Luo Cuilan’s disappearance might be related to Xu He, was utterly surprised. He never imagined Xu He could be such a malicious person, and coupled with the child’s matter, he was truly aggravated and, as if venting, he yelled at Fang Pingying, "What in the world is this about? Are you jealous of our happiness, or what? Just as I’m about to have a good life, you start making trouble?"
"Nevermind, it’s pointless to argue with such an ignorant person." Fang Pingying grew tired as well and called for Luo Zhiyong, "Zhiyong, let’s go report this to the police. Whether or not we have solid evidence, we have to investigate Cuilan’s situation. She’s been missing for so long without any news; I’m afraid it’s more likely to be bad news than good."
Upon hearing about reporting to the police, Luo Zhiming inexplicably got nervous, his expression becoming agitated, "Are you going to report Xu He to the police?"
Fang Pingying gave him a glance and decided to scare him further, "It may not only be Xu He getting arrested; you could be nabbed too. It’s uncertain whether you and your wife are accomplices. Why else would you cover for Xu He like this? I tell you so many facts and yet you don’t believe."
"Anyway, I’m telling you, it’s not just Xu He now. I find you suspicious too. Don’t even think about leaving this city or I will imdiately accuse you of fleeing from guilt."
"You..." Luo Zhiming, so angry he did not know what to say, pointed at Fang Pingying for a long while but failed to utter a word.
Seeing this, Luo Zhiyong sighed, thinking he was still his own younger brother after all, and spoke to persuade Luo Zhiming, "Zhiming, actually, finding out the truth is simple. Just take the child to the hospital for a test. Start with a blood test; if you’re lucky, you might find out just through blood types."
"Overall, what your sister-in-law and I can assure you is that Xu He’s child is definitely not yours, and Xu He has indeed done a lot behind your back that is disloyal to you. I’ve heard Cuilan talk about it—if Shuanzi hadn’t rejected Xu He, she would probably have followed Shuanzi long ago instead of staying with you. I’m telling you all this because I don’t want you to be deceived."
After a pause, Luo Zhiyong finally added, "Regardless, we are brothers."
This statent managed to touch Luo Zhiming sowhat. He didn’t know how long it had been since Luo Zhiyong had disowned him as his brother.
And he, in fact, had always held respect for Luo Zhiyong, and the present Luo Zhiyong reminded him of when they, as brothers and sisters, had lived together in the countryside.
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