Chapter 4 — One DNA Test, Two Truths

Truong Dinh stared at me, his lips trembling, utterly devoid of words while his eyes burned with a blazing, impotent fury. With a sudden, frenzied lunge, he threw himself toward me, attempting to snatch the phone right out of my hand.

Smack!

A crisp, resounding slap echoed through the quiet living room. A bright red handprint instantly flared across his cheek. The sheer force of the blow left him utterly stunned, freezing him dead in his tracks.

Truong Dinh.

I straightened my posture and looked down at him.

You are a coward and an egoist, using weaponized obedience to exact a twisted revenge on your own mother while keeping this entire family shackled in misery.

From the very moment you tacitly allowed your mother to force me into that paternity test, you should have anticipated that this day would inevitably arrive.

This is the conclusion that both you and your mother richly deserve.

You... you...

He pointed a shaking finger at me, utterly incapable of stringing together a single coherent sentence. I crossed my arms, gazing coldly at the chaotic scene unfolding before me. Without another word, I turned on my heel and picked up my handbag.

Where is Loc Loc?

I asked the domestic helper standing frozen nearby. The woman had turned completely pale with fright, pointing timidly toward the children’s bedroom upstairs.

He is... he is sleeping.

I gave a curt nod and turned to walk up the stairs. As I passed by Truong Dinh, I paused for just a fraction of a second.

Truong Dinh.

He raised his head, his eyes hollow and vacant.

Tomorrow morning at nine o'clock, meet me at the entrance of the Civil Affairs Bureau.

Remember to bring your household register and your identity card.

We are getting a divorce.

With that final declaration, I spared him no further glance and walked straight up to the second floor. Pushing open the door to the nursery, I found my young son, Loc Loc, sleeping soundly, his little face flushed a healthy, peaceful pink. I bent down and pressed a tender kiss to his forehead.

My sweet boy, it is time for us to go.

Mommy is taking you away from this place.

I carefully wrapped him in a warm blanket and scooped him into my arms as I carried him back downstairs. In the distance, the wailing sirens of an ambulance were growing closer by the second. Paramedics rushed through the front door carrying a stretcher. Truong Dinh had dropped to his knees beside his father, sobbing uncontrollably. Not a single person noticed my departure. Cugging my son tightly against my chest, I stepped out of that suffocating house. The outside air felt wonderfully fresh and clean.

By the following morning, the news had exploded across the media. A scandal of earth-shattering proportions! The primary heir to the Truong Corporation, Truong Dinh, was not the biological son of the chairman! A dark elite secret: the chairman’s wife had engaged in marital infidelity, swapping bloodlines and deceiving the family for thirty straight years! The shares of the Truong Corporation plummeted to their lower limits the moment the market opened, instantly vaporizing tens of billions in market value. Every single news outlet featured clear, uncropped photographs of the DNA test results. My phone rang incessantly, buzzing and flashing without a single moment of rest. Calls poured in from Truong Dinh, Tran Tu Lan, and an assortment of frantic relatives. I ignored every single one of them, blocking them all without a second thought.

At precisely nine o'clock in the morning, I arrived punctually at the steps of the Civil Affairs Bureau.

Truong Dinh did not show up until nine-thirty. In the span of a single night, he had aged decades. His hair was a wild, tangled mess, his eye sockets deeply sunken, and his face covered in rough, unkempt stubble. Catching sight of me, he hurried forward with desperate steps.

Van Van.

His voice was raw and hoarse.

Please, withdraw the petition, will you?

Tell the media that this was all a misunderstanding, that the test reports were entirely fabricated.

I am begging you.

I looked down at him with utter detachment.

Impossible.

Why!

He grabbed frantically at my arm.

Do you have to completely ruin me before you are finally satisfied?

I ruin you?

I violently shook his hand off my arm.

You and your mother were the ones who sought to ruin me first.

I was wrong! I truly know I was wrong!

He dropped heavily to his knees right there on the pavement, directly in front of the Civil Affairs Bureau where crowds of pedestrians hurried past.

Van Van, I am a scumbag! I had no right to doubt you, and even less right to force you to take that test!

Please forgive me this once. Let us call off the divorce and try to live a good life together.

Tears and snot streamed uncontrollably down his face. Passersby turned their heads repeatedly, pointing and whispering among themselves. I watched him groveling on the ground, feeling not even the slightest ripple of emotion in my heart.

Truong Dinh, you are not begging me because you love me, nor are you doing this because you feel genuine remorse.

It is because you have been cast out by the Truong family, your company is on the verge of total collapse, and your wealth is slipping through your fingers.

You are like a leech, entirely accustomed to latching onto others to suck their blood. Now that there is no one left to feed upon, you desperately want to crawl back and latch onto me once more, is that not right?

I reached into my bag, pulled out a thick folder of documents, and tossed them down right in front of him.

Your divorce agreement.

He stared blankly at the bold words printed across the cover. I reached back into my bag and pulled out a second folder.

And here is something else.

Over the past two years, you used your official position to siphon off and transfer dividends from corporate shares along with proceeds from several investment properties held under your name, all of which legally constituted our shared marital property.

Through a series of fictitious transactions and other covert methods, you covertly funneled away seven million.

I have meticulously investigated every single transfer and traced where every penny went.

A portion was handed over to your mother’s maternal relatives to purchase a house.

Another chunk was funneled directly to a female confidante who goes by the name of Xiao Ya.

And the remainder sits comfortably in your own offshore accounts.

The frantic expression on his face instantly drained of all color, shifting to a sickly, ashen gray.

You... how could you possibly know all of this...

Moving marital assets during the subsistence of a marriage with conclusive, irrefutable evidence.

I stared straight into his eyes.

Truong Dinh, you will leave with absolutely nothing.

He collapsed backward, sitting flat on the cold ground.

No... please, no...

Van Van, you cannot treat me this way...

I turned my back on him, refusing to offer another glance, and stepped through the doors of the Civil Affairs Bureau.