Strike Back, Proud Goddess!

“Dad, don’t stand outside talking. Let’s go in,” Xiao Hongli said with a smile. “Rourou’s just out of the hospital. She can’t keep standing the entire time.”

“Rourou is sick?” Grandpa Xiao immediately caught the implication. He looked at his second son with cloudy but sharp eyes and asked, “What’s the matter?”

Xiao Hongyi glared at Xiao Hongli and hurriedly explained, “Dad, Rourou was brought up in the mountains and ill-fed, so she is not very strong. She was ill the day we came to pick her up, so we sent her to the hospital to recuperate.”

Xiao Hongli sneered, helped Grandpa Xiao to walk inside and took a look at the tearful Tang Xi as he said, “Rourou, if you don’t have a room there, you can live in my house. My house is quite spacious. Besides, we don’t keep anything valuable at home, so no one will be blamed for anything ‘lost'”

He was ridiculing Xiao Hongyi and his wife who had kicked Xiao Rou out of their home just because Xiao Jinning ‘lost’ something.

Flushing, Xiao Jinning couldn’t help but cast a resentful glance at Xiao Hongli.

As someone who built great businesses, Grandpa Xiao was a sophisticated man—he immediately figured out what happened upon hearing Xiao Hongli’s words. He angrily struck his crutch against the floor and snapped, “You’d better give me an explanation!”

Tang Xi walked up to him, held his arm and said affectionately, “Don’t be angry, Grandpa. I want you to be happy.”

Lin Ru also scowled at Xiao Hongli, but he didn’t care about it at all. Glancing at Xiao Hongyi and Lin Ru, he supported Grandpa Xiao and walked into the mansion.

Tang Xi looked at the mansion, which was of the Suzhou garden style and appeared quite special. She had, however, seen many buildings of such style in her past travels, so she was not quite surprised. She went straight into the mansion’s hall with Grandpa Xiao and stood by his side.

After everyone had sat down on the sofa, Grandpa Xiao said solemnly, “Since Rourou and I have both come back, it’s time to disclose the real identities of Rourou and Jinning. They should swap their identities. We should tell the world that Rourou is the real descendant of our Xiao Family!”

Xiao Jinning turned pale. As she had expected, the old man wanted to kick her out of the family!

Tang Xi looked at Grandpa Xiao with a deadpan expression. It seemed that in the future, her backer in the Xiao Family would be Grandpa!

“I don’t agree!” Lin Ru said with a straight face. “Jinning has been our daughter for so many years. How can we just let her go like this! If Jinning is going to leave, I’m going to leave!”

Xiao Hongyi also nodded and said, “Yes, Dad, Jinning has been so filial to us all these years. And because of her, our company’s business has improved a lot. How can you say such a thing? Jinning is my daughter. I won’t let her leave the Xiao Family!”

“I didn’t say drive Jinning out of our family, but she should change back to who she really is!” Grandpa Xiao glanced at Xiao Jinning and said seriously, “Have we ever mistreated Jinning over the years? Do you mean to say I’m being cruel to her?”

“Dad, I didn’t mean that!” Xiao Hongyi said. “I think it would be nice to maintain the status quo. We know Rourou is our daughter, but we don’t need to make it known to the public.”

Tang Xi raised her eyebrows. In the end, he still didn’t want to admit that he had a country bumpkin daughter who grew up in the mountains.

Lin Ru also nodded. “Yeah, isn’t it unfair to Jinning by exposing her real identity?”

“So you think it’s fair to Rourou?” Xiao Hongli sneered at them. “You only think of the girl brought up by you, but never think of your biological daughter who had a miserable childhood because of this girl?”

A fatal blow!

Xiao Jinning suddenly looked up at Xiao Hongli, a resentful gleam flickering across her eyes. Xiao Hongli elegantly smiled at her and continued, “I agree with Dad. Disclose Rourou’s identity! Restore her to her true identity—a descendant of our Xiao Family!”

“This is my family’s matter! Can you keep your nose out of it?” Lin Ru shouted. “Easier said than done! If you really want to restore her identity, why don’t you acknowledge her as your daughter?”

Tang Xi clenched her fists. No wonder Xiao Rou would run away from home like she did. Seeing her back, her biological parents didn’t give her a hug, but abhorred and vilified her instead. This was truly saddening.

Fortunately, she was Tang Xi and didn’t care about the love of Xiao Hongyi and Lin Ru.

Feeling a burst of sadness coming from her heart, Tang Xi tried to suppress it.‘Xiao Rou, don’t be sad. Such people don’t deserve to be your parents. If they don’t want you as their daughter, you don’t need their acceptance either.’

Perhaps her words had worked, as Tang Xi felt the sadness in her heart slowly dissipating.

“Fine!” Xiao Hongli sneered. “Having three sons, I always wanted a daughter.”

“You!” By saying what she did, Lin Ru had only wanted to hush Xiao Hongli up, but it never occurred to her that Xiao Hongli would accept it!

Xiao Jinning was also stunned. How could Xiao Hongli accept it?

Naturally, Xiao Hongli’s wife and three sons were also shocked, and Grandpa Xiao, Tang Xi and Xiao Hongyi were no exception.

‘Second Uncle, what are you doing? Do you want to be my father instead?’

Tang Xi turned her eyes to Xiao Hongli’s face. Different from Xiao Hongyi, who had an oppressive aura, Xiao Hongli had very soft facial lines though he also had a chiseled face, which made him look elegant and agreeable.

It took her by surprise that such an elegant person would do something so willful!

Grandpa Xiao struck the floor with his crutch again and said angrily, “What’re you talking about?!”

“Dad, I’m serious. Sister-in-law and Brother don’t want to acknowledge their daughter, so let me take her home. Anyway, her costs will still be afforded by our Xiao Family,” Xiao Hongli said casually.

Xiao Yan, who had kept silent from the very beginning, suddenly said, “Second Uncle, Rourou is my sister. How can we trouble you?”

Tang Xi took a look at Xiao Yan and then lowered her eyes again. Was this Rourou’s biological elder brother? She hadn’t seen him before.

“Dad, let’s settle this matter like this,” Xiao Hongyi said. “We’ll make it up to Rourou, but we’ll claim Rourou is our foster daughter and we took her back because her parents died. What do you think?”

“Great!” Xiao Hongli applauded as he said, “You’re really awesome, Brother. In order to not acknowledge Rourou, you are even willing to tell people that you died.”

Tang Xi could hardly keep herself from laughing. She had never expected Xiao Rou’s second uncle to be so humorous despite having such a gentle and cultivated appearance.