My Livestreaming Metaphysics & Gossip Became an Internet Sensation Ch. 52

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Seeing her fall silent, Jiang Yiqing seemed satisfied. He rested his chin on his hand and said in a lazy, drawn-out tone, "Xu Fang, Xu Faxi—twenty years ago, you left the village under the pretense of going to the south to work. But the truth is, you weren't working at all. You were part of a child trafficking ring."

"The police had been tracking your group back then. The other traffickers you worked with were arrested, and you two got scared. You took the money you made from selling children and ran back home. I guess after twenty years, with your money running low, you decided to start targeting kids again."

Twenty years ago, tracking technology wasn't as advanced. Xu Fang and Xu Faxi had only been low-level members of the trafficking ring, so when they returned to the village, they managed to slip through the cracks.

But they had never had any other source of income in all these years. Now that their money had run dry, they had resorted to their old ways.

The problem was, this time, they got caught red-handed.

As Jiang Yiqing spoke, the livestream chat went wild.

"Holy crap, I thought this was their first time. Turns out they've been at this for decades? And they've just been living free all this time? Meanwhile, the kids they sold might still be out there, never having made it home."

"Absolute monsters. Death penalty, please and thank you."

"They put on such a good act. I actually thought they were innocent at first. Guess you can't judge people by appearances—you gotta be careful."

It wasn't just the livestream audience. The villagers were also shocked and furious.

Keeping Xu Xiaobao locked up at their house could be chalked up to a moment of madness. But finding out that they had actually been trafficking children twenty years ago? That changed everything.

The way the villagers looked at Xu Fang and Xu Faxi shifted instantly. The ones who had just been defending them now regretted it deeply—they wanted nothing more than to beat the couple up themselves.

Everyone in the village remembered how, twenty years ago, Xu Fang and Xu Faxi had been working out of town.

When they first came back, they had been loaded with bags and boxes of expensive things. People had even joked that they must have gotten rich. But back then, everyone had found it odd—how could simple labor work make that much money? After all, plenty of other villagers had worked outside the village, and none of them had returned rich.

Some had asked them where exactly they had worked, but the couple had always been vague, dodging the question. At the time, the villagers had just assumed they were being stingy and didn't want to share job opportunities. They never imagined it was because their work had been something so unspeakable.

And now, twenty years had passed, and Xu Fang and Xu Faxi had never had any other jobs. They had been living off that old money all this time.

If they had truly just been honest laborers, could they really have made enough to survive without working for two whole decades?

"You're lying!" Xu Fang suddenly shouted, her voice shrill. "Where do you even come from, spouting nonsense? Do you think you can just slander us like this? We'll sue you for defamation!"

But the more she yelled, the more it was obvious that she was panicking.

Just then, the door to the Xu family's house swung open.

The villagers assumed the police had arrived, but instead, they saw a young man in his twenties standing in the doorway.

The expressions of the villagers changed slightly. They recognized him.

This was Xu Fang and Xu Faxi's son—Xu Xiang.

Xu Xiang stepped in, his gaze sweeping over the scene. The house was crowded with people, his parents were sitting on the floor looking like they had been bullied, and the atmosphere was tense.

Immediately, he strode over to them, positioning himself in front of them protectively. His expression was wary as he looked at everyone. "What are you all doing?"

"What are we doing? You should be asking what your parents did!" a villager snapped.

Everyone started talking at once, and within moments, Xu Xiang had pieced together the whole story.

He was stunned. "No way. My parents would never do something like that."

"Whether they did or not, they know the truth themselves. But the fact remains that Xiaobao was found in their house," someone said, pointing at the child. "Look at his wrists—see how swollen they are from the ropes? How could they be so cruel?"

Xu Xiang still looked doubtful. In his memory, his parents had always been honest, simple farmers. How could they possibly be involved with child traffickers?

Hearing the villagers speak so confidently, Xu Xiang couldn't help but turn to his parents for confirmation.

Xu Fang, with tears streaming down her face, wailed, "Son, don't believe them! We've lived honestly for half our lives, and now they're just throwing dirt on us!"

Xu Faxi chimed in, "This is slander! We have a son of our own—why would we ever think of stealing someone else's child? We could never do something like that!"

Hearing them still trying to argue, Wang Dahong was furious. "Whether it's slander or not, the police will find out soon enough. Surely you're not saying the police would falsely accuse you?"

For a moment, the couple had nothing to say. They wanted to run, but with so many villagers surrounding them, where could they possibly go?

Jiang Yiqing, having had his fill of their performance, took another leisurely sip of tea. His gaze landed on Xu Xiang. "And this son of yours... he's not your biological child either, is he? You stole someone else's kid and raised him as your own. What, did you even manage to fool yourselves?"

Xu Xiang nearly thought he had misheard.

Impossible. There was no way he wasn't their real son.

The villagers erupted.

"I knew it! Xu Xiang doesn't look anything like Xu Fang and Xu Faxi, but I never said anything before."

"Wasn't he 'born' while they were working in the south? But did anyone ever actually see Xu Fang pregnant?"

"Come to think of it... no one did. Poor kid, he's been calling a couple of traffickers his parents all these years."

Xu Xiang's tall frame swayed slightly. His face went pale. He didn't want to believe it, but he still turned his eyes toward Xu Fang and Xu Faxi, seeking denial.

Xu Faxi panicked completely. His voice grew harsh as he yelled, "That's nonsense! Why would I steal someone else's child? Can't I have my own? I have a wife! Son, don't listen to them—you're our flesh and blood!"

All credit goes to the original author
Feel free to pinpoint us if there are any grammar error or typos
Please don't use Guazi's translations to re-translate in other languages

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