Chapter 67

Chapter 67

Being abruptly summoned and told about his true parentage was never part of Su Shengli's plans.

His ability to stay peacefully in the Su family relied entirely on his background.

No one understood Su Shengli’s true parentage better than he did himself!

Hearing Old Master Su's sarcastic tone, Su Shengli instinctively looked at Song Manman.

His face twisted with fear—he had a bad feeling about Old Master Su's intentions today.

And he wasn't wrong.

Old Master Su sneered, "I only knew Su Shengli's blood type didn't match the Su family's. I never imagined anyone would still insist he’s our Su family’s bastard."

He sneered, glancing at Song Manman and Su Wanlin.

"So tell me—if Su Wanlin isn’t my son, how does this brat, some other man’s bastard, get passed off as a Su?"

His words were harsh, but no one dared to refute him.

Su Linyuan guiltily averted his gaze, while Su Wanlin looked between Song Manman and Su Linyuan, already understanding the situation.

Su Wanlin forced an awkward laugh.

"Dad, why say such things? You’ve known for a long time that Shengli isn’t my child."

He shot Su Shengli a faux-affectionate look, ice flashing in his eyes.

Old Master Su scoffed. "For all I know, you’re deluded enough to claim him anyway."

"To make sure you don’t entertain any foolish ideas, I had Su Shengli’s genes and DNA tested. His DNA screams he’s no son of yours. Do you understand now?"

Su Wanlin’s eyes widened, his expression darkening. He turned to look at Song Manman, whose face had paled, a cold glint flashing in his gaze.

Still, Su Wanlin maintained a gentle tone, lowering his eyes as he spoke softly.

"Dad, since you insist on getting to the bottom of this today, I’ll be completely honest with you."

"Shengli really isn’t my child. But... his biological mother was once my lover."

He had the decency to look ashamed. "Before I married Manman, I was already involved with Liao Wei, Su Shengli’s mother. Manman and Liao Wei were childhood best friends—thick as thieves. I... screwed up, and Liao Wei dumped me to spare Manman."

"Manman and I married, and within the first year, we had Linyuan. By then, Manman and Liao Wei had drifted apart. Liao Wei went abroad, but years later, when we ran into her again, we found out her life had gone to hell. After we separated, she’d gotten pregnant but lost the baby—her health was shot. All these years, she never disturbed me or Manman."

"I felt guilty, so when we met again... I took Liao Wei as my mistress."

Su Wanlin had cheated on his wife.

Song Manman must’ve suspected. She and Liao Wei had been best friends since middle school, inseparable until after college.

When Liao Wei suddenly went abroad, Song Manman had been confused and asked why, but Liao Wei left without a word.

Years later, when Liao Wei returned, she was sleeping with Su Wanlin.

Old Master Su glanced at Song Manman and noticed tears in her eyes, her face contorted with hatred.

He immediately understood—Song Manman must have known about Su Wanlin’s affair with her best friend. That’s why, even when Old Master Su froze her out, Su Wanlin always stood by his wife.

Old Master Su nodded. "So later, for Song Manman’s sake, you broke it off with Liao Wei?"

Su Wanlin nodded. "When Manman sensed something was wrong, Liao Wei and I separated. But I never expected she’d give up on life after our breakup—she fell in with trash, got hooked on gambling, and hit rock bottom."

"Soft-hearted Manman couldn’t cut ties and helped her several times. Then, Liao Wei got pregnant—though the child wasn’t mine. Manman stashed her away with caretakers."

"At the time, Manman was also pregnant. In an accident, Liao Wei saved Manman but went into premature labor. The child she gave birth to was Su Shengli, but she died in childbirth. Manman was battling prenatal depression, and guilt-ridden, I hovered over her. But one day, when I wasn’t watching, Manman slipped away and had the baby alone in another city."

"When she returned with the baby, I kept my mouth shut. Later... My guess? Manman kept fudging Shengli’s blood tests. That’s why no one noticed anything unusual about his origins all these years."

Su Wanlin’s tone was indifferent. "But so much time has passed—Shengli’s been a Su for years now. Even if he isn’t my biological son, I’m willing to treat him as my adopted child."

"So why dredge up this bastard business now?"

Su Wanlin was clearly falling on his sword.

And indeed, he had been the one to betray Song Manman first. Old Master Su’s eyes turned flinty as he sized up Su Wanlin for a long moment, his peripheral vision catching Su Linyuan’s stunned expression before turning to Song Manman.

Old Master Su’s cane thumped against the floor.

"Is that how it happened?"

Song Manman’s eyes were filled with terror and disbelief. Only when Old Master Su spoke did she snap out of her daze.

She stammered out, "I... I—it’s my fault."

"Back then... when Wanlin betrayed me, I was ready to divorce him on the spot. But then I found out I was pregnant with our second child. Later, Liao Wei, feeling guilty for ruining our friendship, broke things off with Wanlin. But she went off the rails and got pregnant with Su Shengli. We were due around the same time, but during the accident, she went into early labor saving me and... died in childbirth."

"I wasn’t in my right mind at the time and didn’t notify Wanlin before leaving. Shengli was being fostered out elsewhere, so after I gave birth unexpectedly in the hospital... I brought him home as if he were the Su family’s child."

Truth was, Shengli was premature—he had been raised outside for over a month.

Age-wise, he actually edged out... the True Young Master.

Song Manman: "Dad, if anyone’s to blame, it’s me. I was in a bad place—mentally and physically."

As soon as she finished, Su Wanlin took her hand. "If we’re looking for the real culprit, the buck stops with me. Everyone else is innocent—including Shengli. He knew nothing."

Song Manman looked at Su Wanlin with guilt and gratitude.

Her face said it all—Su Wanlin’s earlier account had glossed over some of her actions.

Old Master Su sneered.

Their sob story meant nothing to him—he just wanted to clean up this mess once and for all.

Old Master Su: "We’ll see about that."

His son and daughter-in-law had screwed up royally, leading to the Su family’s current chaos. Watching them play the devoted couple now, if he didn’t forgive them, people would call him a heartless old monster.

If their story was true, then strictly speaking, Song Manman hadn’t stolen someone else’s child.

But she’d broken the law—dumping her own flesh and blood.

Old Master Su’s patience snapped. He said coldly, "So according to you, nobody’s to blame in this clusterfuck—just my poor grandson got shafted?"

His gaze returned to Song Manman, who couldn’t meet his gaze and instinctively shrank behind Su Wanlin like a scared rabbit.

The old Su patriarch let out a derisive snort: "Linyuan, as someone on the outside, what do you think—are your parents and Su Shengli at fault or not?"

----

Su Linyuan was completely lost at this point.

What kind of outsider was he? He was clearly the biggest chump in this whole fiasco!

Su Linyuan wasn’t buying for a second that the old Su patriarch hadn’t picked up on what they were really implying in the couple’s words.

He had personally heard Song Manman shouting at Su Wanlin in the office, claiming Su Shengli was his illegitimate son!

This alone proved that before the old Su patriarch confronted them, Su Wanlin genuinely believed Su Shengli was his actual son, despite the lack of any biological connection.

Su Linyuan found this logic bizarre—how could someone with no blood ties be considered a real son? Some quantum physics bastard or what?

As for Song Manman, she had definitely lied just now.

That morning, she had been screaming about Su Shengli being Su Wanlin’s illegitimate child, so why had she suddenly changed her story to match Su Wanlin’s version, claiming she had always known Su Shengli was the child of her best friend’s promiscuous flings?

That woman... Liao Wei must have been Su Shengli’s biological mother.

But her relationship with Su Wanlin and Song Manman was a complete clusterfuck—best friends, lovers, and the other woman all at once. And yet, Su Wanlin felt guilty toward her, and so did Song Manman. Now that's some next-level mistress game.

Su Linyuan thought with bitter amusement.

From this alone, he could deduce there had to be more to the story.

Fortunately, the old Su patriarch, determined to get to the bottom of this clusterfuck, had gone straight to the source—Su Shengli’s blood, genes, even cells—to scientifically sever any biological connection between him and the Su family.

Hearing the old Su patriarch’s question, Su Linyuan lowered his eyes, putting on an act of helplessness.

"Grandfather, even if I said my parents were at fault, what're you gonna do, have them arrested?"

These were his biological parents—the ones he shared blood with. Aside from hiding Su Shengli’s true identity from him and favoring Su Shengli more, they had still been decent parents to him.

He couldn’t—no, he shouldn’t—go full no-contact like Gu Yihong had.

Gu Yihong... he couldn’t do that.

Su Linyuan lowered his gaze.

The old Su patriarch was struck dumb at his eldest grandson’s retort. He didn’t blame Su Linyuan, only himself for failing to raise him with a firmer hand.

With a cold laugh, the old Su patriarch said, "I’m an old man with one foot in the grave—I don’t care about your ridiculous mess. It’s not my son who was thrown aside while some random kid got brought home. It’s not my husband who cheated with my best friend, only to be ‘saved’ by the mistress and then feel grateful to her."

"As long as the Su family has no shady bastards, that’s enough for me."

Song Manman flushed red, bowing her head in shame and fear, too afraid to speak.

Su Shengli hadn’t dared utter a word the entire time. Now, hearing the old Su patriarch’s seemingly final dismissal, he let out a quiet breath of relief.

Unfortunately, today was destined to be his shitty day.

The old Su patriarch said coolly, "Now that we’ve ruled out any connection between Su Shengli and the Su family, let’s discuss his ties to the Song family."

He hadn’t believed a word of Su Wanlin and Song Manman’s bullshit story earlier.

Su Wanlin shrugged and chuckled.

"Su Shengli’s mother was Liao Wei—she’s been dead for years, and I’m not his father. Manman only has an elder sister, no brothers, so why would you randomly check Su Shengli’s connection to the Song family? Unless... Su Shengli is the illegitimate son of my long-deceased father-in-law?"

He was mocking the old man—after all, his father-in-law had been in his eighties when he passed. If not for Song Manman’s capable elder sister, the Song family might not even exist in Mingcheng today.

Su Wanlin’s eyes flickered briefly, a trace of regret flashing through them.

The old Su patriarch cut him a look, then turned to Song Manman—who had been shrinking in shame just moments ago—only to see her face now contorted with fear.

His heart sank. Glancing at the documents in his hand, he let out a cold laugh.

This was anything but "no relation."

The old Su patriarch’s voice was icy. "Your wife’s reaction isn’t exactly shouting ‘no relation.’"

He mocked, "If not for the doctors confirming back then that your wife only had one in there, I’d have thought Su Shengli was hers too."

At this, Song Manman jerked her head up.

Her earlier guilt and shame had transformed into pure panic, her forehead now drenched in cold sweat.

Now, no one could miss that something was seriously wrong with Song Manman.

Remembering his own joke earlier, Su Wanlin’s expression darkened, a bad premonition settling in his chest.

Su Shengli... wasn’t just Liao Wei’s bastard with some other man?

But what did that have to do with Song Manman? She had already been pregnant at the time—that child couldn’t have been Su Shengli!

Su Wanlin had already accepted that Su Shengli wasn’t actually his kid.

But he wasn’t ready for something even worse.

Su Shengli hadn’t been afraid at first.

As long as no one in the Su family linked his real mom, Liao Wei, to Liao Anyang, it didn’t matter whose son he was.

He was already the Su family’s foster kid.

In fact, if the old Su patriarch learned the truth of his origins, he might even cut him some slack for the tangled mess of his parents’ generation.

But Song Manman’s reaction hit him with a bolt of panic.

He... might not even be Liao Wei’s child, could he?

What fresh hell was this?!

For the first time, Su Shengli felt his whole identity unraveling, his life a total trainwreck, his future completely fucked.