nucmednet Chapter 337 The Ning Family Past
Chapter 337 The Ning Family Past
My mother was kind-hearted and took good care of her, seeing her loneliness and suffering. Who knew she harbored such evil intentions, poisoning her food daily until my mother died from severe poisoning! Afterwards, she feigned kindness, crying to my father every day, saying she missed my mother and wanted to be buried with her, thus gaining my father's pity and ultimately securing her position as his second wife!
The whole hall was in an uproar.
Ning Dechang suddenly stood up and looked incredulously at Old Madam Ning, who was lying on the ground bound hand and foot.
"Impossible, elder sister. I know you've suffered a lot and endured many injustices over the years, but what evidence do you have to prove that all of this was done by my mother?"
"Hmph! Evidence? You can ask your mother why all her children died young after she married into the Ning family."
The room fell silent!
"They say even tigers don't eat their cubs, but what about her? She doesn't even spare her own children! Those children who died young weren't killed by fate, but by human hands; she killed them all using various methods! She only spared you—not because she was soft-hearted, but because if there were no male heirs, the clan would take back the property. And you are nothing more than a 'tool' for her to preserve this great family fortune!"
Ning Dechang swayed, and Qin quickly supported him, her own hands trembling slightly.
"Dechang! Dechang! You are a man of great talent and outstanding ability. You have brought glory to the Ning family. None of us siblings are as good as you. Father must be very proud of you in the afterlife. But you shouldn't be deceived by her. You are so filial, but how has she treated you?"
Ning Huiying turned her gaze to Qin Shi with pity: "To prevent you from marrying a noblewoman and getting out of control, she deliberately spread the idea that 'the Ning family only values money,' and personally chose a wife for you with the largest dowry but an ugly appearance."
Qin's face turned deathly pale, as her old, hidden pain was brutally torn open.
"That's not enough." Ning Hui's tone turned cold: "She was afraid that you two would have a loving and intelligent child, and even more afraid that you would use your in-laws' power to escape her control. So, your own mother bribed the most trusted nanny by Qin's side to put contraceptive drugs in her food every day! Why is your eldest son born with congenital defects and mental impairment? It's because of that potent drug that damaged his very foundation!"
"No...impossible!" Qin cried out in shock, looking at the nanny beside her who had watched her grow up since childhood.
The old woman knew long ago that she was doomed today. Years of guilt had emptied her heart. She had no excuse. If her only son hadn't accidentally killed someone, how could she have helped an outsider poison her own young lady and done such a heinous thing!
Karma! She deserved to die!
She knelt down and kowtowed three times to Madam Qin, then collapsed to the ground, already dead!
Qin was terrified; everything that had happened today felt like a nightmare! She remembered her eldest son's mentally challenged state, the bitterness of her years of unsuccessful attempts to conceive, and the old lady's sarcastic remarks about how an ugly woman couldn't hold her husband's heart…
So, she could give birth to a healthy son! So, her son didn't have to be mentally challenged... And all of this today was a scheme!
Ning Haochen ordered his servants to drag the old woman's body away, and to deal with the matter later!
The elder of the Ning family asked in bewilderment, "But Qin still gave birth to Haokun later, and Ye also doted on him. How come that's the case?"
Ning Dechang suddenly turned to Ning Haokun, who was lying on the ground bound hand and foot like a worm, and hid behind the old lady Ning.
This is hardly Ning Dechang's son! Even his stupid son who only knows how to eat wouldn't be as cowardly as him!
He then turned to Qin Shi and questioned her sternly, "He's not my son, is he? Humph! I suspected it before. He doesn't resemble a member of the Ning family at all. Tell me, whose bastard is this!"
Qin slumped to the ground, unable to express her suffering.
Ning Huiying merely sneered, offering no explanation to the crowd. Instead, Ning Haochen stepped forward and said, "Father, you have misunderstood Mother. She did not have an affair; she was faking a pregnancy!"
Ning Haochen laid out all the evidence he had gathered over the years in front of everyone, especially showing it to Ning Dechang.
Ning Huiying understood the hardships Qin had endured over the years. She spoke up for Qin: "Ever since Qin gave birth to her eldest son, she has suffered daily humiliation and insults from her mother-in-law. She herself felt guilty for giving birth to a mentally challenged son, and she desperately wanted to have another child. I bet she tried everything to please her husband, but unfortunately, she couldn't conceive. She must have been terrified of being divorced, so she thought of faking a pregnancy!"
Looking back, Ning Dechang also felt guilty towards the Qin family. He knew about the Qin family's suffering, but he couldn't deceive himself. He simply didn't like it.
He turned to Qin and angrily rebuked her: "Tell me the truth now! If you keep hiding it, I will divorce you. Our Ning family will never accept a poisonous woman who contaminates our bloodline!"
Qin Shi turned pale with fright and burst into tears, trembling as she said, "That year, when you first left home, I was afraid you would never come back, so I lied and said I was pregnant, hoping you would change your mind. But you didn't come back, so I had to keep a pregnant woman outside, waiting for the day she gave birth, so I would also pretend to give birth and have the nanny bring back a boy from outside."
The Ning family was once again in an uproar! Including Ning Dechang!
Ning Haochen said, "Mother thought she had covered her tracks perfectly. Little did she know, the nanny who held the child was already one of Old Madam Ning's people! The baby boy she brought back had already been switched. That baby was already over three months old at the time, and he was Ye's own brother's grandson! Their Ye family bloodline!"
"what?"
"No, it's impossible!..."
Ning Dechang and Qin Shi exclaimed in unison!
When Madam Qin recalled that she had doubts when she saw the baby, Granny Ke said that perhaps it was because Madam had given enough money and the pregnant woman had taken good care of herself that the fetus would grow up to be healthy, which dispelled her concerns!
Ning Dechang was even more incredulous: "My mother has no maternal family, so where would she get a younger brother?"
Ning Huiying said unhurriedly, "As I said, she has been scheming to have the Ye family replace the Ning family's century-old foundation without anyone noticing!"
"Years ago, after the Ye siblings were separated, her brother was sold to a family to work as a stable boy. Many years later, Ye became my mother's maid. While visiting a friend with my mother, she accidentally encountered her brother again..."
Layers of fig leaves were torn away, revealing the dirtiest and most rotten truth inside.
Everyone realized the drug in today's food and the pile of firewood doused with kerosene under the wall! Cold sweat broke out on their backs.
Ning Dechang's eyes were bloodshot as he stared at the old woman who was bound hand and foot, lying on the ground with her eyes closed and not uttering a sound.
He couldn't help but ask in a trembling voice, "Mother! Mother, why... Even tigers don't eat their cubs! Am I not your son? Why are you treating me like this!..."
Knowing that the situation was hopeless and her years of pretense had been shattered, Madam Ning calmly raised her head, revealing an almost insane indifference and mockery on her wrinkled face!
"Of course you're my son?" She sneered, her cloudy eyes devoid of any warmth. "But who gave you the surname Ning? I spared your life only because I need you to make money for the Ye family. You're nothing but a dog I keep! A dog guarding the Ye family's money! Today, I should have taken your dog lives and made you make room for the Ye family!"
"You're insane! You're absolutely insane!" An elder was trembling with rage.