After you sever ties, it's no use crying and regretting it.

Chapter 14: Ulterior Motives?

After Wu Guizhi said that, the surrounding villagers began to point and whisper about Xie Shulan and her family.

Even knowing that Xie Shulan and the others usually doted on Yuan Yutong, they still sided with Wu Guizhi, looking at Xie Shulan as if she were a heinous scumbag.

This situation pierced Xie Shulan's numb heart once again.

Clearly, their family had done nothing wrong and knew nothing about it, yet they were now being subjected to such comprehensive slander and framing. Xie Shulan was on the verge of collapse.

Especially when Yuan Yutong was still in this family, they all doted on her. As a result, Yuan Yutong still harbored resentment and dissatisfaction towards them, wishing they would all die. She even deliberately claimed that they had been abusing her, which was simply blatant lying!

These events initially devastated Xie Shulan to the point of near collapse, but after these past few days of events and being slandered and framed by Wu Guizhi and her associates, Xie Shulan began to understand things better.

It turns out that everything was not just a simple error message.

Yuan Yutong may have known all along, but kept it from them, and finally pulled the rug out from under them, leaving their family in their current tragic situation.

This is why Hsieh Shu-lan is even more worried about her biological daughter, Lü Hsin-yen.

If the Yuan family did this intentionally, then what kind of life did her biological daughter live in the Yuan family?

Still feeling somewhat flustered, Xie Shulan forced herself to remain calm.

This time, having been slandered and had the truth distorted by Wu Guizhi again, Xie Shulan suddenly stood up, looked directly at Wu Guizhi, and said, "I think you all know very well what really happened."

"I'll say it again, we didn't switch the children, we were innocent and unaware of it!"

"You all know what kind of life the eldest daughter of the Yuan family has lived in our house all these years, yet you are now turning black into white and deliberately framing us. You are the ones who have no conscience!"

Xie Shulan's voice was soft and weak, but her tone remained firm, showing that she had long seen through Wu Guizhi's hypocrisy and scheming.

Such a look made Wu Guizhi feel guilty and panicked, but it also made her even angrier.

However, Xie Shulan didn't give her a chance to interrupt, and continued, "Why are you framing us like this, throwing mud at my family? Do you think you can rest easy after getting those benefits?"

"Now, because of some unverified claims, you've kicked my whole family out. Do you really think no one knows what you're up to?"

"The Yuan family is powerful and influential. You've taken the benefits and are now targeting us, so don't stand on your moral high ground and criticize us!"

After saying this, Xie Shulan took the children and prepared to leave.

Staying with these people and continuing to argue about those things to prove their innocence and that they knew nothing about the child swapping—Xie Shulan had already done this before—would only earn her more shameless slander from Wu Guizhi and her ilk.

Now, Xie Shulan has figured it out. She doesn't want to pay attention to Wu Guizhi and the others, but she won't let them continue to smear her family.

Although she still felt a dull ache in her heart and was particularly disappointed by the betrayal of her loved ones, Xie Shulan firmly believed that her daughter, Lü Xinyan, would definitely come back. They would wait here and make sure their daughter returned.

If possible, they can find another way to make a living together.

They could no longer stay in Ningshui Village.

Unfortunately, being targeted by Wu Guizhi and her ilk, even if their family wanted to leave, it probably wouldn't be so easy.

After her daughter, Lü Xinyan, returns, will she also experience the same exclusion, framing, and bullying as they have? This is what worries and troubles Xie Shulan.

Upon hearing Xie Shulan's words, a fleeting look of panic crossed Wu Guizhi's eyes, but she quickly regained her composure.

She already had the upper hand, so there was no need for Xie Shulan to make her lose her composure with just a few words.

Seeing that no one around her believed Xie Shulan's words, and that they had already been brainwashed by her, believing her fabricated story and thinking that Xie Shulan was a bad person who deliberately switched the two children so that Lü Xinyan could live a good life in the Yuan family, Wu Guizhi finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Of course, with the lure of food and drinking water, these villagers dared not betray her at this time.

Even though they knew that what they said about Xie Shulan's family was false, they still had to stand by her side!

For food, for survival, and for not offending the Yuan family, these villagers had no other choice.

With so many people pointing the finger, Hsieh Shu-lan will have no way to escape the schemes they have set up for her!

Hsieh Shu-lan's life is doomed!

Seeing Xie Shulan's indifferent face as she turned to leave, Wu Guizhi sneered coldly and said, "Xie, stop making pointless excuses here."

"When the Yuan family came, they had already investigated everything. There were witnesses and physical evidence. It was all your doing. You wanted your girl to become the Yuan family's daughter and live a good life."

"You say it's good for the real eldest daughter of the Yuan family, but you still made her stick to the marriage contract and marry a cripple. Is this what you call good?"

"Hehehehe... In order to get the bride price from the Tang family and use it as betrothal money for your five sons in the future, you still disregarded Miss Yuan's wishes and insisted on marrying her off to the Tang family's cripple?"

Now that this matter has come up, Wu Guizhi looked at Xie Shulan's bewildered and remorseful expression and continued to mock her, "You think you can keep your family's dirty schemes completely hidden?"

“Miss Yuan is of noble birth; how could a cripple from the countryside be worthy of her?”

"You disregard Miss Yuan's status and wishes, and want her to marry that cripple from the Tang family, isn't it because you're afraid that your biological daughter will suffer after the truth about her birth is revealed?"

Yuan Yutong and Tang Jingting from the Tang family in town were betrothed when they were very young, but Xie Shulan insisted on the marriage even after Tang Jingting became a cripple.

Hsieh Shu-lan had a very good relationship with Tang's wife, Liu Hui-ya, which is why they arranged a marriage between their two children.

Originally, the two families planned to fulfill the marriage agreement and let the two children get married after Yuan Yutong came of age. However, Tang Jingting suffered an accident and became lame. The Tang family was also troubled by other trivial matters and their lives were not very good. As a result, the marriage changed.