Chapter 1523: Chapter 1523: Why Did She Lie to Chaomu
Not long after the wedding, Shen Di and Qin Chen left the Shen Family and went abroad.
Xu Chaomu and Shen Chi accompanied them to the airport, reluctantly bidding farewell.
After they left, Xu Chaomu quietly said to Shen Chi, "Don’t you feel that Big Sister seemed to be in a rather bad mood this time?"
"Yeah." Shen Chi had noticed it too.
"Especially after our wedding, Big Sister returned to the Shen Family earlier than expected, saying her chest was hurting."
"I asked Qin Chen, and he said Big Sister was feeling unwell this time around."
"Darling, can you find a good doctor for her? You’re so capable, you’ll definitely find someone."
"When it comes to medicine, I’m ultimately an outsider. Wen Zhiyuan has been searching all this time; if even he couldn’t find anyone, I wouldn’t be able to either."
"Speaking of Dr. Wen, he didn’t say much at the wedding last time," Xu Chaomu remarked.
"Everyone has their own concerns; don’t bother. You can’t manage everything. If you’re free, we could take our son to the aquarium later."
"Alright then." Xu Chaomu decided not to think about it anymore.
After taking a few days off, Shen Chi returned to Shen’s to resume work, only to find his desk piled high with documents.
He casually flipped through them and, aside from some important matters, found a surprising number of trivial ones.
Frowning, he called Ruan Hang via the internal line, "Why are files like the tax summary report sent to my office?"
Ruan Hang hurriedly explained, "President Shen, those files were supposed to be signed and processed by President Xiao, but since he’s unavailable, only you can make decisions on them."
"Where is he?" Shen Chi hadn’t seen Xiao Mo for several days—was he absent? Where did he go?
"He’s gone on a business trip to A City."
"For what?"
"I’m not clear on that either."
"Alright, got it."
A business trip without notifying him? And Ruan Hang didn’t even know what sort of trip it was?
A City?
Shen Chi chose not to concern himself with Xiao Mo. In fact, he had already noticed that Xiao Mo had visited A City significantly more frequently this past year compared to previous ones.
He casually dealt with a few files, flipping through them page by page with care.
Just then, there was a knock on the office door, and a female secretary escorted Miao Xiu in.
"President Shen, long time no see, congratulations on your marriage."
"Mm, long time no see," Shen Chi replied without looking up, continuing to sign documents.
Miao Xiu noted Shen Chi seemed to be in good spirits today—his newlywed life must be going well.
"If you’ve got something to say, say it. Don’t ramble." Shen Chi’s voice deepened.
"President Shen, I’ll get straight to the point. Initially, this was something I planned to tell you before your wedding, but since it’s a major matter, I weighed the situation and decided now would be better."
Shen Chi noticed Miao Xiu’s rare seriousness and realized how earnest his tone was, prompting him to set down his pen and look at him.
Miao Xiu sat on the sofa, his brows slightly furrowed, with a document bag placed beside him.
When Miao Xiu got serious, he displayed a rare calm and prudence.
"Go ahead, I’m listening," Shen Chi said, his hands lightly crossed as he looked at him.
"Previously, I told you I’d make another trip to Xu Mengxi’s house, and last month, I did just that," Miao Xiu said. "But, as expected, I came back empty-handed."
Shen Chi remained silent. He knew that, with so many years having passed, the difficulty was immense.
Otherwise, he and Xiao Mo wouldn’t have been chasing leads for so long.
"However, not long ago, I suddenly received a call from my senior in Qing City, who told me he had found someone whose fingerprints matched," Miao Xiu paused.
Shen Chi’s nerves tightened like a bowstring; his pupils shrank instantaneously!
"Found someone? A woman?" Shen Chi tried his best to maintain composure and calm.
He didn’t know what kind of answer Miao Xiu would bring, but he remembered what Zhou Ran had said—if the truth were unearthed, chaos would likely follow.
Qing City was not far from C City, but being surrounded by mountains on three sides made it extremely inaccessible, while also quite obscure.
"Yes, a woman, about fifty years old," Miao Xiu confirmed.
"You went to Qing City?"
"Of course. When my senior called me, I went there immediately. However, this woman had already passed away. My senior learned about her because, before she died, she had wanted to donate her organs. Unfortunately, her illness was too severe, making her organs unusable. But during fingerprint collection for the system recording, they matched the sample I had given him."
As they had guessed, this woman was too ill to reappear, and now she was deceased.
"And then?" Shen Chi asked. "What did this woman look like? Did you learn anything?"
"President Shen, do you want to see the photo?" Miao Xiu reached for the document bag beside him.
Shen Chi felt a pang in his chest, a strange emotion spreading through his limbs, making his chest tighten slightly.
It was a peculiar sensation—he hesitated unexpectedly.
Should he look...
If what Zhou Ran said was true and chaos ensued, would he regret his decision at this moment?
But since the woman was now dead, the chances of such chaos seemed slim.
"Give it here," Shen Chi resolved.
Miao Xiu nodded, stood up, took out a paper and handed it to Shen Chi.
The moment Shen Chi received the photo, he froze, his fingers instinctively clutching the picture tighter.
This woman...
Seeing Shen Chi’s widened pupils and slightly dazed gaze, Miao Xiu sighed and said, "That’s right, this woman is Xu Mengxi."
No one had expected this answer...
It turned out Xu Mengxi had been alive all along, living all these years.
"She wasn’t dead..." Shen Chi gritted his teeth, his emotions a tangled mess inside him.
At this moment, Shen Chi experienced feelings he had never encountered before—an outpouring of shock, anger, and relief, a kaleidoscope of emotions.
He tightly clutched the photo, staring at the image of Xu Mengxi.
The woman in the photo was dark-skinned, gaunt, with dry yellowed hair. She looked gravely ill, but the photo revealed she had deliberately dressed in clean, beautiful new clothes for the picture.
This woman was Xu Mengxi, Xu Chaomu’s biological mother.
"Indeed, President Shen, no one could have predicted it—Xu Mengxi was still alive. The woman standing in front of the tombstone was her as well," Miao Xiu added. "If not for this lucky coincidence, this answer might have remained hidden forever."
"Why did she lie to Chaomu..." Shen Chi’s gaze chilled like frost, his tone heavy and steely.
She had deceived Xu Chaomu for so many years, and had also fooled everyone else.
Perhaps only his mother, Zhou Ran, had been lucid all along.
"President Shen, if you want an answer, you can ask Mrs. Zhou directly. Or, you can listen to this," Miao Xiu said, pulling out a small recorder from the document bag.
Instead of pressing play, he addressed Shen Chi, "President Shen, this was found in her room. It contains recordings of Xu Mengxi speaking. I’ve listened to them all and made a backup. Now I’m passing this to you. If you ever want to hear it, use it—it spans a wide timeline and reveals a lot of truths."
After placing the recorder down in front of Shen Chi, Miao Xiu stayed silent.