A few days later, a triumphant Younger Aunt Xu returned to her parents' home with another DNA test report, showing the same results as before.
This was becoming comical.
Younger Aunt Xu thought to herself, "Now you surely have nothing left to say."
Madam Xu had been waiting for this day. She smiled thinly and said, "I have absolutely never done anything to betray Xu Xing. Is it possible that my little sister mixed up the babies in the delivery room? Such a mix-up happening so many years ago would be understandable."
Younger Aunt Xu nearly choked with anger. She had thought herself the hero, rooting out the family's problem, but now she found herself the suspect. After all her efforts, she had somehow become the one under suspicion.
Seeing Old Mr. Xu's expression growing increasingly serious, Younger Aunt Xu quickly threw herself before her parents. "Dad, I'm your real daughter. You know how much we look alike."
Indeed, Younger Aunt Xu did have the standard Xu family features, with about a 30% resemblance to Old Mr. Xu in his younger days.
However, given that his daughter had now conducted two DNA tests, suspecting her sister-in-law of infidelity, it seemed only fair – and necessary to appease his daughter-in-law's anger – to do one more DNA test.
Considering various factors, Old Mr. Xu, Old Mrs. Xu, Younger Aunt Xu, and Xu Xing all went to the testing facility together.
This time, due to the presence and influence of Old Mr. Xu and Xu Xing, the results came back quickly. All tests showed familial relationships.
If Younger Aunt Xu hadn't tampered with the samples, this proved that something was indeed wrong with Xu Xinxin's parentage.
Old Mr. Xu turned to his daughter-in-law, "Xiu, we certainly believe in your character. I think it's possible this silly girl switched the samples. For the sake of clearing your name, why don't we do one more DNA test? What do you think?"
Both her sister-in-law and husband were Xu family children, and her suspicions had backfired. Now she and her daughter were the ones under scrutiny.
Madam Xu clenched her fists. What on earth had happened? How had things come to this? She truly had never been unfaithful to her husband.
"Alright, I have nothing to hide. I'm not afraid of another test."
This time, Old Mrs. Xu personally collected the sample, plucking a few strands of hair from Xu Xinxin's head and handing them directly to Old Mr. Xu. The entire process was handled by the child's own grandparents, eliminating any possibility of tampering.
In truth, as parents, they were more inclined to believe their daughter. Although their younger daughter could be a bit foolish at times, she understood right from wrong. She wouldn't go so far as to falsely accuse her sister-in-law by claiming her own niece wasn't part of the family.
Then, the results came back rather quickly – there was indeed no blood relation.
Seeing the test report, Madam Xu was stunned, as was Xu Xing.
Xu Yiran had been kept informed of all the recent upheavals in the Xu family. Faced with the possibility that his mother had been unfaithful and his sister wasn't his real sister, he struggled to speak, falling back on his previous theory: "Maybe my sister was switched at birth in the hospital?"
There were only two possibilities left, and he desperately hoped it was a hospital mix-up rather than his mother's infidelity.
The test results were as dramatic as they were unexpected.
Xu Xinxin had no blood relation to Madam Xu either!
This proved that Xu Xinxin must have been switched at birth in the hospital.
Xu Xing broke into a grin. "I told you my wife wasn't that kind of person."
His newly vindicated wife slapped him on the arm. This wasn't about trust anymore – their real daughter was lost, possibly suffering somewhere out there.
He really was clueless sometimes.
Younger Aunt Xu, seemingly oblivious to the family's somber mood, gloated, "I told you she didn't look like one of us, but you wouldn't believe me."
Old Mr. Xu and Old Mrs. Xu were exasperated by their children's behavior. At a time like this, they were still focused on trivial matters.
The crucial issue now was that Xu Xinxin wasn't of Xu blood, and they needed to find their real granddaughter.
"Son, go to Ren'ai Hospital and request the records. Look for any women who gave birth on the same day as your wife, whether it was a boy or a girl."
Xu Yiran, observing all of this, was completely stunned. So the person he had always called sister wasn't his real sister after all? It really was like something out of a TV drama – a baby switched at birth in the hospital?
"Since Xinxin isn't our child, there's no need for us to keep raising her," Younger Aunt Xu declared. "I think once we find her birth parents, we should send her back to them. Oh, and we should demand compensation from her birth parents too. We've spent a lot of money raising Xinxin all these years; we can't be left holding the bag."
Younger Aunt Xu gestured towards her nephew. "The money spent raising one Xinxin could have raised two or three Yirans. If Xinxin were really our family, that would be one thing, but she's not."
Catching his wife's warning glance, Xu Xing said, "That's enough. We've raised Xinxin for so many years. Even if she were a pet cat or dog, we'd have grown attached to her, let alone a child we've raised as our daughter. I can afford the money we've spent raising her."
Younger Aunt Xu scoffed, "Brother, I never knew you were such a bleeding heart. Your real daughter could be suffering in some corner of the world, and here you are worrying about someone else's child."
Madam Xu managed a strained smile. "It's not necessarily true that she's suffering. The family must have been well-off to give birth at Ren'ai Hospital. They probably wouldn't mistreat a child."
Younger Aunt Xu shrugged. "That's not guaranteed. Sister-in-law, don't think too kindly of others. What if that family fell on hard times? What if they favor boys over girls? What if they don't treat their daughter as a person? Even if she was born into a wealthy family, who can guarantee they treat their children as well as we do? Look around – how many families are like ours?"
Considering the possibilities her sister-in-law mentioned, the thought that her own child might be suffering brought Madam Xu to the verge of tears. She gripped her husband's hand tightly. "What are we going to do?"
At this moment, Xu Xing could only try to comfort his wife. "Let's try to think positively. What if her family is even wealthier than ours and treats her even better? Maybe our child hasn't suffered at all these years, right?"
After consoling his family, Xu Xing had to arrange for someone to investigate the hospital records from over a decade ago.
After searching, they discovered that on the day his wife gave birth, there were no other recorded births in the entire hospital.
The investigation had hit a dead end.
As they say, if you want to crack a case, you need Younger Aunt Xu.
After returning to her in-laws' home, Younger Aunt Xu proudly boasted that her guess had been correct – Xu Xinxin indeed wasn't of Xu blood.
She gathered the whole family to criticize Xu Xinxin. "Not only does she not look like our family, but her grades are also poor. Our family hasn't had anyone fail an exam for generations."
While Younger Aunt Xu might lack emotional intelligence, she had been an exceptional student, always ranking first in every subject.
Uncle-in-law Xu wanted to say that academic performance wasn't a reliable indicator of parentage. In real life, there were many cases of children with academically brilliant parents who struggled in school. It wasn't a valid argument.
"There's more, you know. I was too embarrassed to tell you before, but do you think she went abroad for high school just because of her poor grades?"
"No, she was hanging out with thugs and bullies, picking on girls at school. One of the victims' families had some connections. They didn't want any compensation; they just wanted her expelled. My brother and sister-in-law paid money and apologized, but the family wouldn't budge. In the end, she had to leave school, and they sent her abroad to idle away her time."
The family had never heard this story before and was shocked.
Younger Aunt Xu's mother-in-law couldn't help but exclaim, "Your brother and sister-in-law are such kind people. How could they produce such a child?"
Younger Aunt Xu shrugged. "That's why I said she's not of our blood, right? I wasn't wrong."
Such cases of babies being switched at birth seemed unheard of, like a TV drama come to life. Younger Aunt Xu's mother-in-law was quite curious about what would happen next. "Have they found their real child yet?"
Younger Aunt Xu shook her head. "No, there's not a single lead."
Chu Junjun seized the opportunity to speak up. "Aunt, I've been wanting to tell you, there's a girl at our school who looks a lot like you."
