The day Zhou Xiaowei left, everyone in the Zhou family—men, women, young and old—escorted him in a grand procession all the way to the main road at the edge of the village.
Every face wore a smile, though everyone’s eyes burned with tears.
Zhou Zhiguo and Zhou Zhijun accompanied him all the way to the county train station.
Inside the station, several hundred new recruits stood in neat formation before marching aboard the troop train.
Zhou Xiaowei took a seat by the window and thrust his hand out, waving with all his might.
The train began to move slowly, then picked up speed. The figures of those seeing him off gradually shrank into blurry dots along the roadside before disappearing from view.
Memories flooded back like scenes from a movie. This normally sunny, cheerful young man ended up crying like a child.
Meanwhile, over at Wangjia Village, a group of women gathered beneath the old locust tree at the village entrance. As they stitched soles and worked on their needlecraft, they gossiped about Zhou Xiaowei.
“Zhou Xiaowei really went off to join the army?”
“Of course he did. Wang Haiying’s eyes were swollen from crying!”
“How many years will he be gone?”
“Joining the army isn’t that simple. He may not be back for three or five years.”
“Not necessarily. Zhijun only served for two years before coming home, didn’t he? And what good did it do him? He just went back to scraping a living from the fields!”
“Exactly. It would be worthwhile if he could become an officer. But if he serves a few years and then comes back, he might as well not have gone at all!”
“He’s already twenty-two. People his age already have two kids running around. He’s still going off to be a soldier—by the time he gets back, he may have trouble finding a wife!”
At Zhou Zhiguo’s home, the atmosphere was so heavy it was hard to breathe.
Wang Haiying squatted in the kitchen. The firewood in the stove had burned down to ashes, yet her hand remained suspended in midair. She hadn’t added a single stick for a long time.
Her eyes were rimmed red, and she kept murmuring, “That boy Xiaowei… In all these years, this is the first time he’s gone so far away…”
Zhou Zhiguo squatted by the wall, puffing away at his hand-rolled cigarette.
Smoke rings rose one after another, obscuring his expression. Only the knot between his brows could be seen, twisted tight as if it could never be undone.
Seeing that his parents were both unhappy, Zhou Xiaobao neither made a fuss nor caused trouble. He obediently sat on the doorstep, picking at the clods of dirt on the ground. His understanding little face was enough to break anyone’s heart.
Over in Lijia Village, Wang Lanhua had also found out that Wang Xiaoming had failed even the political background check. At last, her heart settled completely.
She sat under the quilt, stitching the sole of a shoe, her needlework dense and precise.
Li Xiaolian was entertaining her little brother, and the sound of their giggles drifted out.
In the kitchen, Li Dazhuang busied himself preparing lunch. Hearing the children’s laughter, he couldn’t help grinning.
A quiet, peaceful life like this might not be wealthy, but it was steady and satisfying. For him, that was enough.
When the meal was ready, he first filled a bowl for Wang Lanhua. He had just picked it up to take it to her when someone shouted from outside the courtyard gate.
“Brother Dazhuang! Is Sister Lanhua home?”
The visitor was a close cousin from Liu Cuilan’s family. Li Dazhuang recognized him and hurried to answer, “She is, she is! You’ve come at just the right time—come in and sit down!”
He ushered the man inside, then turned around and called Wang Lanhua out from under the quilt.
The visitor had come to deliver news of a death. Wang Lanhua’s maternal uncle, Liu Haitao’s father, had passed away, and he had come to ask her to attend the funeral.
The weather was bitterly cold, and the road was nothing but mud, full of potholes and difficult to walk. Wang Lanhua had no desire to go.
But Liu Haitao was an officer in the army. Who knew when she might need his help in the future? Even if she didn’t want to go, she had to.
After lunch, Wang Lanhua set off.
Liu Haitao had returned with his wife and children and arranged a grand funeral for his elderly father.
After the burial, Liu Haitao suddenly asked Wang Lanhua, “Is your grandmother still in good health?”
“Uncle, my grandma passed away!”
At those words, a complicated emotion flashed through Liu Haitao’s eyes—so quickly that no one could quite catch it.
“She’s gone? When did that happen?”
“On New Year’s Eve last year. Her old asthma flared up, and she didn’t make it through the night.”
“Your grandmother’s family was from the neighboring county?”
“Yes. It’s more than a hundred li from here.”
Liu Haitao rarely returned to his hometown, and he had never even been to Lijia Village. How had he known about Grandma Shen’s death?
And why had he specifically asked about Grandma Shen?
A hint of suspicion rose in Wang Lanhua’s heart.
After she returned home, she told Li Dazhuang about it. He was just as puzzled.
“He’s never even met Grandma Shen, has he? How would he know her family was from the neighboring county?”
“Maybe my mother mentioned it to him.” Wang Lanhua still felt that something was off. “But why did he suddenly ask about Grandma Shen?”
Li Dazhuang looked at Wang Lanhua. His gaze unintentionally fell on the ring on her finger, and his heart gave a sudden jolt.
Before Grandma Shen died, she had clasped his hand and told him that Chuntao was not his biological younger sister. But before she could reveal who Chuntao’s birth mother was, she had breathed her last.
Could Liu Haitao know the truth?
Or could it be that he was…
The thought had barely surfaced when Li Dazhuang panicked. He quickly tugged at Wang Lanhua’s arm.
“Lanhua, when are you going to return that ring to Chuntao? Give it back to her, and I’ll buy you a new one!”
The moment Wang Lanhua heard that, her eyes widened.
“Li Dazhuang, what nonsense are you talking about? This ring is mine. Why should I give it to her? That little slut Li Chun Tao stopped treating you like her brother ages ago, and you’re still shamelessly chasing after her. Have you no pride?”
“Lanhua, don’t be angry. I’m just worried that Chuntao’s real parents might come looking for her. Then things could get complicated!”
Wang Lanhua looked at him as if he were a joke.
“Her real parents? You actually believe what that old woman said? Even if she does have birth parents, so what? This ring is mine. No one is taking it away!”
Her voice grew louder and louder, while Li Dazhuang’s grew softer and softer. He looked like a child who had done something wrong.
“Lanhua, don’t you also think it’s strange that Uncle Haitao asked about Grandma Shen? I’m just afraid… that he might be Chuntao’s biological father…”
The moment those words came out, Wang Lanhua burst out laughing.
“Li Dazhuang, have you gone feverish? Uncle Haitao is Li Chun Tao’s father? You really have quite an imagination. What is Li Chun Tao, anyway? Does she think she can become some wealthy young miss?”
“Lanhua, even if he isn’t, I still feel there’s something going on here. We should return it to her. Then we’ll have peace of mind. The ring isn’t worth much anyway. I’ll buy you a gold one in the future!”
“Li Dazhuang, shut that crow’s mouth of yours! You’re giving me a headache!”
Wang Lanhua spoke boldly, but inwardly, she couldn’t stop turning his words over.
Liu Haitao had asked about Grandma Shen. He had sounded casual enough, but could there really be some hidden reason?
What if Chuntao’s birth mother really had something to do with him?
Or what if he was Chuntao’s biological father?
At that thought, Wang Lanhua actually felt even more at ease.
Liu Haitao had married the younger sister of an army commander, and his son was already grown. Even if Chuntao truly were his illegitimate daughter, he would never acknowledge her—and he wouldn’t dare to.
Li Dazhuang wanted to persuade her again, but Wang Lanhua shot him a fierce glare, and the words died in his throat.
From that day on, however, Wang Lanhua stopped wearing the ring and hid it away somewhere no one could find.
While she was out, Li Dazhuang turned the house upside down looking for it. He even searched the rats’ nests, but he found nothing.
As long as Wang Lanhua didn’t wear it, no one would know the ring was in their hands. Even if Chuntao’s birth parents came looking for her, they had nothing to fear.
Thinking this way, Li Dazhuang finally relaxed.
“Lanhua, I noticed you haven’t been wearing the ring these past few days. That’s for the best. We don’t want to cause any unnecessary trouble!”
Wang Lanhua merely snorted.
She didn’t tell him that she had already sold the ring.
After Liu Haitao finished handling his father’s funeral, his wife and child went home ahead of him, while he went alone to the neighboring county.
He stayed there for several days before returning to his unit. No one knew exactly what he had been doing.
