Qin Yuxuan had never once wished for Wang Lingxuan's death. But the moment her eyes fell on her own son, lying there motionless, breathing yet empty, trapped in a silence that felt worse than death, something inside her began to rot. Her heart twisted with grief, dark and unbearable. And every time she saw Wang Lingxuan eating at the table, speaking with ease, existing as though life had spared him no true cruelty, it felt like a merciless mockery of her pain.
How could she not resent him?
If he had walked away from that accident completely unscathed, whole and untouched, the hatred in her heart would have swallowed her long ago. It was only his crippled legs that softened her, if only by a fraction. Seeing him bound to that wheelchair stirred the faintest trace of pity within her, just enough to restrain the bitterness from spilling over. But pity had its limits too….
Because compared to her son, who could only lie there in endless stillness… Wang Lingxuan was still alive….
He could think, he could speak, he could laugh, marry, and dream of a future.
And now... He… He wanted to return to the Wang family business?
To Qin Yuxuan, it felt as though a man who had once stood at death's doorstep and been spared to live was now reaching out to claim everything life had to offer - comfort, power, wealth, and a future bright with promise. While her own son remained imprisoned in an endless abyss of silence and darkness.
How could she not burn with fury?
How could she bear to watch the one who had survived - step so effortlessly back into the light, reclaiming the world as though nothing had happened, while her son remained abandoned in the shadows, with no way back?
Everyone in the room understood the source of Qin Yuxuan's resentment, and not one of them could truly fault her for it. If their own child had been the one lying unconscious day after day, suspended between life and death, while another lived freely beneath the sun, they knew their hearts would not remain untouched by bitterness. Pain like that was enough to breed resentment in anyone.
Wang Shenghao had seen it clearly: the way Qin Yuxuan's grief often sharpened into cruel words, and how those barbs almost always found their way to Fang Liyun. Unable to bear watching his wife endure it time and time again, he had once suggested that they leave for a while, go abroad and distance themselves from the suffocating tension and unspoken blame. But Fang Liyun had refused. "If it were my son lying in that bed instead of hers," she had said softly, her voice calm yet heavy with understanding, "I would resent her too." Her fingers tightened slightly at her side before she lowered her gaze. "Perhaps… I would hate her even more than she hates me now."
Fang Liyun had never been a woman who tolerated insults lightly. Anyone who dared provoke her would be met with a fierceness just as sharp, her pride unwilling to yield to anyone. And yet, before Qin Yuxuan, she never once argued back. No matter how cold the accusations became, no matter how cruel the words hurled at her were, Fang Liyun endured them all in silence. Because deep within her heart, she knew the truth…
If Wang Chenrui had not thrown himself into danger that day? If he had not used his own body to stand between death and her son? Then… Then Wang Lingxuan would never have survived to return home alive.
That debt was carved too deeply into her soul to ever forget it.
So even when Qin Yuxuan's grief sharpened into resentment, and resentment into cruelty, Fang Liyun accepted it quietly, carrying every word without complaint.
Before Wang Shenghao could stop Qin Yuxuan from speaking further, Old Madam Wang's voice rang through the room first. "Enough." Her tone was calm, neither raised nor harsh, yet it carried an authority that instantly silenced the tension in the air. She lifted her gaze toward Qin Yuxuan, her sharp eyes filled with warning. "Whatever resentment you harbour, keep it within your own heart. Do not let it spill out in front of Wang Lingxuan's bride."
The room fell deathly quiet.
Old Madam Wang's expression remained steady as she continued, each word deliberate and heavy. "What has already happened cannot be undone. No matter how unwilling you are to accept it, the past will not change for anyone." Then her gaze hardened slightly. "And tell me this—if the one lying unconscious today were Wang Lingxuan instead…" She paused, her voice lowering with quiet gravity. "Would you truly be at peace?"
The question fell like a heavy hammer, striking directly at Qin Yuxuan's heart. Her lips parted slightly, as though she wanted to argue, but not a single word emerged. Under Old Madam Wang's stern and unwavering gaze, she could only lower her head in silence. The atmosphere in the room grew tense and suffocating. Only after Qin Yuxuan finally quieted down did Old Madam Wang shift her attention toward Wang Shenghao. "Tell your wife to come home for dinner."
Wang Shenghao immediately nodded. Without delay, he pulled out his phone and sent Fang Liyun a message, asking her to return to the old residence before dinner. But the moment he read her reply on the screen, his movements abruptly stilled. The air around him seemed to freeze. His fingers tightened unconsciously around the phone as he stared at the message, disbelief slowly spreading across his face. The shock he felt at this moment was even greater than when he had first received Wang Lingxuan's earlier message. For a long while, Wang Shenghao remained motionless in his seat, his eyes fixed on the screen as though he could not comprehend the words before him. No matter how many times he read the message, he still could not believe what Fang Liyun had just told him.
Old Madam Wang, seated beside him, frowned deeply at his strange reaction. "What happened?" she asked sharply. "What did your wife say?" When Wang Shenghao still failed to respond, her expression darkened further. "Is she still upset about what happened earlier? Don't tell me she's refusing to come home for dinner now?"
But Wang Shenghao remained silent. He sat there motionless, his gaze locked onto the phone in his hand or rather, onto the message displayed on the screen. The shock on his face only deepened with every passing second. Old Madam Wang's patience finally wore thin. With a cold snort, she reached over and snatched the phone straight from his hand. "I asked you a question." Lowering her eyes, she looked at the message herself and the instant she finished reading it, her expression froze.
The composure she had maintained all evening cracked visibly, the shock in her eyes mirroring the disbelief Wang Shenghao had shown moments earlier. The room instantly fell silent. Seeing the rare reaction from the old matriarch, everyone present grew restless with curiosity. Even Old Master Wang could no longer remain calm. He frowned and impatiently nudged his wife beside him. "What did she say?" His brows knitted tightly as he urged again, "Read it out loud."
Old Madam Wang remained silent for several long seconds, her eyes fixed on the screen as though the words written there were too unbelievable to say aloud. The room grew increasingly tense. Old Master Wang frowned impatiently and urged again, his voice firmer this time. "What exactly did she say?"
Only then did Old Madam Wang slowly lift her head. No… she did not answer in her own words. Instead, she simply read the message exactly as Fang Liyun had written it. Her calm voice echoed through the silent room.
"Can't you leave me alone with my daughter-in-law for a while? And don't you dare disturb me again while I'm with her."
"Do you even know what she thought of our Wang family? She believed we abandoned Lingxuan. It took me so much effort to convince her that we truly love our son."
"If she hadn't believed me, I would have left you and the entire Wang family without hesitation."
"You should consider yourself fortunate that she trusted my words. Otherwise, you would have lost me forever."
"And tell me, what kind of husband and father-in-law are you?"
"You didn't come to give them your blessings. You didn't accompany them while they registered their marriage, and now you don't let me spend more time with my daughter-in-law?"
"Impossible."
"Disturb me again, and tonight you can sleep in the guest room."
The moment the final sentence fell, the entire room descended into dead silence.
For a long moment, no one moved. It was as if Old Madam Wang's words had struck them all speechless, leaving the air heavy with shock and disbelief. They exchanged glances, each face mirroring the same stunned expression. No one could quite process what they had just heard. Fang Liyun, the very woman who had opposed the bride swap so fiercely not long ago, refusing to accept it no matter what… was… was now calling that girl her daughter-in-law? Not only accepting her, but protecting her? Staying by her side? Accompanying her to register the marriage? Even scolding her own loving husband for interrupting them!!!!!
That alone was enough to leave everyone reeling. But as the initial shock settled, something else began to surface. Something subtle. Something deeply wrong. The message felt… strange. It didn't sit right. The more they thought about it, the more unnatural it seemed, like a piece of a puzzle forced into the wrong place. A strange tension began to creep through the room, slow and oppressive, like a shadow stretching silently across their minds and then, almost at the same time, the same realisation struck them all - something else was wrong….