Chapter 3: Irreversible
"Master, don't you know what kind of person I am?" The young mistress knelt down, her face pale as tears streamed down her face. She kowtowed repeatedly, her forehead hitting the floor with dull thuds.
"The Mu family has never mistreated anyone. If you truly bore a child for our family, you'll receive what you deserve, that goes without saying," Mu Lichuan said with a smile. "Right, Mother?"
The Mu family lacked many things, but money wasn’t one of them. What they truly lacked was talent, at least that was what the old antiques of the family believed. Since he had taken over as CEO, Mu Corporation's assets had multiplied beyond measure.
[老古董 (lǎo gǔ dǒng): lit. old antique; fig. stubborn traditionalist, resistant to change.]
The middle-aged matriarch nodded. "He’s right. What the Mu family needs is talent." She understood the situation well, but to spare her son’s feelings, she had kept it hidden all these years.
Mu Changnian also found it hard to believe the young woman would deceive him, but once doubt took root, discomfort festered. "If that’s the case, let’s conduct a DNA test first."
"Master!" The young mistress' face turned deathly pale. Never had she imagined it would come to this. "This...this is nothing but humiliation!"
Mu Lichuan’s lips curled into a faint, mocking smile. "How is this humiliation? Besides, who do you think you are? Just an ordinary woman, what status do you have to speak of humiliation? If fairness is what you want, I’ll take the test as well."
"Lichuan!"
"My son!"
Mu Changnian and Zhang Xiao spoke simultaneously, their voices clashing in alarm. If the Mu family’s young master were subjected to a paternity test, it would be an unprecedented disgrace, a scandal that would make the Mu family a laughingstock.
Mu Lichuan blinked innocently. "Father, she said I humiliated her."
"If Xiaolin is proven to be my son, he’ll naturally receive the finest education. What exactly are you afraid of?" Mu Changnian frowned, his tone turning displeased.
The young mistress bit her lip. "Master, it’s not that I’m afraid. But even if it’s proven, how will Xiaolin ever hold his head high in the Mu family? He’ll always be the child his own father doubted, the one his elder brother and the main wife rejected. How could he possibly—" Her voice broke into sobs, rendering her unable to continue.
As expected, Mu Changnian’s expression darkened. He knew exactly what kind of family they were. If Xiaolin were tested and found to possess spiritual roots, the boy would only grow to resent him.
"This isn’t some shameful secret. Why the fuss? In the Mu family, tears solve nothing, isn’t that right, Father?"
"We can conduct the test discreetly. There’s no need to make it public." Mu Lichuan knew full well that the Mu family had its own private medical team.
Mu Changnian looked at his eldest son, his expression complicated. If only Lichuan had spiritual roots, even the weakest five-element mix, he would have nurtured him with care. But fate had been decided the moment the boy was born.
He had once considered divorcing Zhang Xiao, but the Zhang family’s status as a cultivation clan specializing in alchemy made that impossible. Zhang Xiao was the Zhang patriarch’s beloved daughter, a connection they couldn’t afford to sever.
"Lichuan is right. If he’s proven to be of my blood, he’ll receive the best treatment. Stop spouting nonsense." In the end, suspicion won out. Mu Changnian’s decisive words sealed the fate of Mu Xiaolin and his mother.
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