Chapter 83: Li Xiuli's Despair

Dinner.

Husband and Ning Tian chatted and laughed, and the monster called Ning Chao also blended in perfectly, occasionally interjecting, always drawing Ning Tian's admiring gaze and Husband's approving nod.

The three of them were harmonious and happy.

Only Li Xiuli, like an outsider, silently scooped the rice in her bowl.

The food in her mouth tasted like chewing wax.

No.

I can't hold it any longer.

She can't wait any longer.

If she keeps waiting, she'll truly go mad.

Li Xiuli set down her chopsticks, forced out a smile she thought was still natural, and looked at her little son Ning Tian.

"Tiantian, do you remember, when you were seven, I and Dad took you to the zoo, and you were terrified by a peacock spreading its tail, crying loudly, clinging to my leg and refusing to let go?"

Ning Tian's hand, which was picking up food, froze, and his face flushed instantly.

"Mom! Why bring this up out of the blue!"

He was somewhat annoyed, embarrassed, and angry.

Husband heard that, burst into hearty laughter, pointed at Ning Tian: "You kid, you were so cowardly back then!"

Li Xiuli's heart steadied a little.

Look, they all remember.

In this household, there is no trace of Ning Chao.

However, the next second.

Husband shifted his tone, looked at Li Xiuli, "But speaking of that, if it weren't for Ning Chao's quick eyes and hands, grabbing a branch to tease that peacock and divert its attention, Tiantian would still be crying endlessly."

The color in Li Xiuli's face drained completely in an instant.

Sitting beside Ning Tian, Ning Chao also gave a perfectly timed nostalgic smile and took over the conversation.

"I remember. Tiantian was crying so hard his snot bubbles came out, clinging to Mom's thigh, his face buried in it, it was so fun."

As he spoke, he reached out and rubbed Ning Tian's flushed face.

Ning Tian became even more embarrassed, muttering, "Brother! You still say that!"

Boom!

Something exploded in Li Xiuli's mind.

Her memory, the whole family's memory, right before her eyes, was subtly altered and overwritten by this monster!

That monster was not just a disguise.

It was devouring!

It devoured everything that originally belonged to this home, then fitted itself in with seamless precision!

"No... that's not right..."

Li Xiuli trembled, unwilling to give up, and brought up another matter.

"And... that time we went to Grandma's and Tiantian fell into the creek! Do you remember?"

She remembered that incident vividly!

At that time only the three of them were present; she was terrified to the point of losing her soul, and Husband jumped in to pull the son out!

This time, without waiting for Husband to speak, Ning Tian himself, with a baffled look, blurted out, "Mom, what's wrong with you today? Your memory is so bad! Of course it was brother who first noticed I fell, and he pulled me out of the water! You were stunned, standing on the bank shouting!"

Husband also nodded, echoing, "Yeah, I was inside, only ran out when I heard Ning Chao shout. If Ning Chao hadn't reacted quickly, the consequences would have been unimaginable. How could you forget even this?"

Their tones were no longer simple teasing.

It already carried a reproach of "how could you be so clueless".

An invisible wall was gradually pushing Li Xiuli out of this home, bit by bit.

She became the confused, abnormal, superfluous person in that memory.

"Enough!"

Li Xiuli could no longer endure, slammed the table hard and stood up!

The bowl and chopsticks rattled.

The living room fell silent instantly.

Husband and Ning Tian stared at her in astonishment.

Li Xiuli pointed at Ning Chao, her fingers trembling violently from extreme anger and fear.

Her voice became sharp and altered in tone.

"Haven't you all noticed?!"

"This family has had only one son all along! Ning Chao is not our son!"

She used all her strength, hoarse and exhausted, to shout the truth hidden in her heart!

However.

The expression on Ning Chao's face, whom she pointed at, froze instantly.

Then, on that face, a deep hurt and grievance appeared.

His eye sockets reddened visibly fast, his lips trembled, wanting to say something but unable to.

Finally, he lowered his head, his voice hoarse to a heartbreaking degree.

"Mom..."

"Did I... do something wrong, making you angry?"

"If you don't like me... you can hit me, scold me... but please... don't say I'm not your son..."

A pea‑sized tear slipped from his eye corner, hit the tabletop, and fell silently.

That pitiful look, wounded by the cruelest words from a close relative, could soften anyone's heart.

Li Xiuli's accusation, under his flawless acting, appeared so pale, feeble, even… unreasonable.

"Li Xiuli! Have you fucking had enough of this!"

Her husband erupted in fury!

He slammed the table hard, rose to his full height, and glared at her with eyes blazing.

"Look what you've scared Ning Chao into! He's so sensible! So filial! What the hell are you doing!"

The younger son Ning Tian was also terrified; he looked at his mother, who seemed frantic, then at the trembling "brother" filled with grievance, and tears instantly welled up.

"Mom... don't do this... don't scold brother..."

Li Xiuli was stunned.

She stared at her angry husband, the crying younger son, and the monster that was "silently shedding tears".

She understood.

In this household, she was truly completely isolated.

I... I am just...

Under her husband's almost predatory stare, Li Xiuli's fiery spirit dwindled bit by bit.

She weakly sat back down, her voice hoarse.

"I'm sorry... I might... just be too tired..."

Her husband's expression remained sour; he suppressed his anger, sat down, and said coldly, "I think you're not just tired; you have a mental problem! I'll take you to see a psychologist another day!"

"Even a psychiatrist!"

He pronounced the last few words with great emphasis.

It was a warning.

The family storm subsided there.

But the atmosphere in the house had already dropped to freezing.

After the meal, no one spoke again.

Li Xiuli numbly cleared the dishes, feeling like a walking corpse.

At night.

Li Xiuli lay on the bed, back to her husband, pretending to be asleep.

In the darkness, her husband's cold words still echoed in her ear.

Psychiatry...

They all thought she was insane.

Perhaps... she really is crazy?

Once that thought arose, it coiled around her heart like vines, wildly suffocating her.

Wait!

Li Xiuli's body suddenly stiffened!

A thought, like lightning slashing the night, instantly cleaved through all the chaos and self‑doubt in her mind!

Wrong!

The logic is wrong!

If she truly were ill, diagnosed with a mental disorder, and hallucinating.

Then why does her husband still look like her husband? Why does her younger son Ning Tian still look like Ning Tian? Why does the house still look like the house?

Why does her hallucination not turn her husband into a stranger or a ghost, nor her younger son into a demon, but precisely, and only, cast Ning Chao as a "monster"?

That doesn't fit the logic of a mental disorder!

This is not a hallucination!

This is an incredibly precise deception!

Thinking that, Li Xiuli felt not a hint of relief but a deeper, colder chill rising from her tailbone, instantly spreading through every limb and bone!

She is not mad.

She is clearer than ever.

Because that monster is indeed real.

And she, a lucid person, is being treated as a lunatic by her own family, and forced to live under the same roof with that monster masquerading as her son.

In the darkness, Li Xiuli slowly opened her eyes.

Endless fear and despair, like a tide, completely engulfed her.