Mind reading saves the whole family; I'm firmly in the role of a charlatan.

Chapter 245 Old Gossip from the Older Generation
Du Anrao's words stunned everyone in the room.

Mr. Liu looked at Ms. Qiu questioningly, as if asking her whether she had mentioned their family situation to Du Anrao before.

Ms. Qiu saw through his meaning at a glance, shook her head speechlessly, and thought to herself, I don't even know much about your family situation, so how could I possibly reveal it to Ms. Du in advance?

Mr. Liu, having received affirmation, looked at Du Anrao with more caution and expectation.

“We did consider this before, but then we thought about it and realized that my brother’s children are all quite old, so it might not be appropriate to adopt them. Besides, my wife and I both love children and want to experience the hardships and joys of being parents from beginning to end, so we are more inclined to adopt a younger child.”

[Sure enough, it was because you refused to adopt your relatives' children that you brought this upon yourselves. What talk of blood ties? Sometimes, family members can be far more ruthless to their own kind than strangers.]

Xi Jingyue was somewhat surprised, but not entirely surprised.

Outsiders won't harm you because there's no conflict or shared interests, but if family members do harm you, it's mostly because they have ulterior motives.

Throughout history, how many families have turned against each other for power and wealth? The saying "People die for money, birds die for food" is not just an empty phrase.

Du Anrao remained silent for a while, until Mr. and Mrs. Liu became somewhat uneasy, before sighing and carefully saying, "What I am about to say may overturn your understanding. You can choose to believe it or not."

"This..." Liu and Qi exchanged a glance and quickly said, "Please tell us, we believe you."

"Judging from your appearances, you were originally destined to have two children, a harmonious family, and happiness and good health."

"Two...two children?" Upon hearing this, the two could no longer remain calm and stood up excitedly.

"This, how is this possible? We're all so old, and this child..."

"So, you two should have been blessed with both a son and a daughter, and should have had children much earlier, but because..."

"Why?" Upon hearing the words "having both a son and a daughter," the two middle-aged people, who both loved children, couldn't help but tear up.

Ms. Qi, in particular, felt as if two pieces of her heart had been ripped out of her chest at the thought that she should have had two adorable children who called her "Mom" but had been taken away for no apparent reason.

"What exactly is the reason?"

"Because someone changed your fate."

"What?!" Mr. Liu and his wife's expressions changed drastically, and Ms. Qiu and her son were also taken aback.

"This...this person's fate can be changed?"

"It's possible, but the conditions are harsh, and doing such a thing damages one's karma; it's an evil and crooked path. If it can be concealed from the Heavenly Dao, that's fine, but once it's discovered, not only will the beneficiary of the swapped fates suffer a backlash, but the person who helped them swap fates will also bear the karmic consequences. At best, their vital energy will be severely damaged; at worst... they will die on the spot."

"Who is it? Who is it?"

Mr. Liu didn't care what miserable fate these people would suffer; he only cared about who the culprit was who had caused his wife so much pain for so many years.

Du Anrao met Mr. Liu's sorrowful gaze with pity in his eyes: "You already have the answer in your heart, don't you?"

Mr. Liu was startled by what he heard, and Ms. Qi turned to look at him in even greater surprise: "Who is it? Tell me who it is?"

Mr. Liu initially looked hesitant, but seeing his wife's expression, he gritted his teeth and asked, "Is it my brother?"

"It's him?" Ms. Qi's hand trembled, her face filled with disbelief. "How could it be him? How could it be him? Are you sure you're not mistaken?"

Mr. Liu turned his face away without speaking. If he could, he would have preferred to be wrong more than anyone else. But sometimes, one can't see things clearly just because of a single leaf. No matter how much evidence was laid out in front of him, he was willing to deceive himself and turn a blind eye.

Once someone breaks through that barrier, no one can see as clearly as he did.

Ms. Qiu never expected that things would turn out to be a family matter, but since she had already been involved, she had to give everyone present a clear answer.

"Xiao Liu, does that mean you already noticed something was wrong with your brother?"

Mr. Liu reached up and scratched his head, looking as if he were in unbearable pain: "My brother and I, actually, weren't..."

Qiu Jichen, with a look of surprise, blurted out, "Not blood brothers?"

Mr. Liu: "..."

Ms. Qi: "..."

Ms. Qiu's lips twitched slightly, and she called out warningly, "Qiu Jichen!"

"To!"

"Shut up! If you don't speak, no one will think you're mute!"

"Oh~~~" Qiu Jichen silently sewed his mouth shut, not daring to utter another word.

His interruption actually lifted Mr. Liu's spirits.

"He is indeed my younger brother, but we are half-brothers, not born to the same mother."

"You two are half-brothers? Why have you never told me this before?" Ms. Qi had always thought that her husband and his brother were full twins, even if they didn't look very alike, it was only because they were fraternal twins.

Who would have thought that the reason they don't look alike is because they didn't come from the same womb at all!
Mr. Liu looked bitter: "It's not a very honorable thing to begin with, so how could I possibly tell you?"

If it weren't for what happened today, he originally planned to keep this matter buried in his heart for the rest of his life.

It turns out that Mr. Liu's father and his younger brother's biological mother were lovers who fell in love on their own back then.

Unfortunately, Mr. Liu's grandparents disapproved of their son's girlfriend, believing that her appearance and family background were not good enough for their outstanding son. So they broke up the couple and brought in Mr. Liu's biological mother, who also had feelings for Mr. Liu's father and was a good match for their family.

With the careful arrangements of the two elderly people and the deliberate cooperation of Mr. Liu's biological mother, Mr. Liu unexpectedly had a relationship with her, thus betraying his girlfriend.

However, what no one expected was that Mr. Liu's father had already had a relationship with his girlfriend before this, and coincidentally, both women became pregnant at the same time.

Mr. Liu's father already deeply resented the actions of his parents and Mr. Liu's biological mother. Even though he was forced to take responsibility and marry Mr. Liu's biological mother, he still had no feelings for her and never forgot his beloved girlfriend.

Upon learning that his girlfriend was pregnant, the man was overjoyed and even considered abandoning everything and running away with his girlfriend and child.

Unfortunately, before he could put his plan into action, his family discovered it and imprisoned him, causing him to miss the time he had planned to elope with his girlfriend.

Not only that, Mr. Liu's grandparents also went to the place where the two had agreed to meet, humiliated his girlfriend, and made her go and have an abortion.

(End of this chapter)