Huang Meili and her family had never had a good reputation in the village. Now that this had happened, the villagers’ gossip had become even uglier.
Zhou Zhimin was so humiliated he hardly knew where to hide his face, while Huang Meili felt deeply wronged. She kept insisting that everything had happened because of Chuntao, and that if Chuntao had never existed, none of this would have happened to their family.
Back when they were in the village, Liu Cuilan had stirred up trouble, and the sisters Zhou Zhaodi and Zhou Pandi had joined in. Huang Meili had at least had allies—people who would stand with her and give her someone to share her grievances with.
But Liu Cuilan had been sentenced to a heavy punishment and had no future left.
Zhou Pandi had married into another village, and Zhou Zhaodi had become paralyzed. Now Huang Meili was all alone, without even anyone to talk to or vent her anger on.
The resentment clogged her chest, making her miserable. At home, she threw things around and picked fights, finding fault with everything she saw.
Chuntao was not the only person upsetting her. Zhou Dana and Shi Yanhua irritated her just as much.
She had clearly caught the two of them in a scandalous situation, yet she had failed to gain any advantage from it. The frustration was driving her mad.
The rapeseed in the fields had ripened, but she could not be bothered to harvest it. Zhou Zhimin had taken their two daughters and worked for most of the day, yet there was still no sign of her.
“Go home and get your mother. If we don’t harvest the rapeseed soon, the seeds will drop!”
Zhou Zhimin sent Zhou Xiaomei home to call Huang Meili. Only then did she reluctantly emerge from the house, cursing and grumbling the whole way.
When she reached the main road and saw Zhou Zhijun coming toward her with a cart, she immediately turned off and took a narrow path instead.
What rotten luck—she had run straight into Zhou Dana and Wang Jinzhi at the edge of the fields. They were carrying sickles and coming up from the plot by the eastern ditch.
Ever since she had run into Wang Jinzhi at the brigade office last time, Huang Meili had felt uneasy, even though Wang Jinzhi had not gotten a clear look at her face.
She forced herself to remain calm, turned her face away, and hurried past them.
Once she had gone some distance, she spat viciously on the ground.
“Bah! What a bunch of lowlifes. Sooner or later, you’ll be the ones crying!”
Li Family Village.
Li Dazhuang and Wang Lanhua were in the fields, weeding the seedlings, when Li Xiaolian came running over in a panic.
She began shouting from far away, “Dad! Mom! Someone’s come to our house!”
“Who is it?” Wang Lanhua turned to look at her. “Where’s your little brother?”
“He’s at home. We have a relative visiting—my maternal great-uncle!”
“Your great-uncle?” Wang Lanhua’s heart jolted. She hurriedly asked, “Which great-uncle?”
“He’s dressed so smartly! And he bought me candy!”
As she spoke, Li Xiaolian pulled two White Rabbit candies from her pocket.
Wang Lanhua’s heart sank.
“What did he say?” she asked.
“I told him you and Dad were working in the fields, and he told me to come call you home!”
Liu Haitao had never been to Li Family Village before. Why had he suddenly come here?
Then she remembered the funeral they had attended last time, and her heart tightened. Could this really have something to do with Li Chun Tao?
“You go on home first. Tell your great-uncle that your father and I will be back right away.”
After sending Li Xiaolian away, Wang Lanhua walked over to Li Dazhuang and lowered her voice.
“Li Dazhuang, Uncle Haitao is here!”
Li Dazhuang had been working at the other end of the field and had not heard their conversation. He had been too busy concentrating on pulling weeds.
When Wang Lanhua told him, his heart clenched as well.
“Why is he here?”
He wiped the sweat from his forehead and continued, “Lanhua, when he asked about Grandma last time, I already thought something was off. Maybe he really does have some connection to Chuntao…”
Before Li Dazhuang could finish, Wang Lanhua cut him off.
“Li Dazhuang, don’t say anything foolish when we get home. If he asks about the ring, I’ll do the talking!”
Li Dazhuang frowned, his face full of worry.
“If Chuntao really is related to your uncle, there’s no way we’ll be able to keep it hidden!”
Wang Lanhua rolled her eyes and said dismissively, “You’re overthinking it. What kind of relationship could the two of them possibly have?”
As soon as she said this, her eyes suddenly shifted. She turned to him and said, “Don’t come home with me. Go hide by the eastern slope. I can handle things at home myself.”
“Why?”
“No reason!”
Wang Lanhua glared at him, tossed out a final “I’m going home,” and hurried toward the village.
All the way there, she repeatedly tried to figure out why Liu Haitao had come. Her heart was filled with unease.
The moment she stepped through the courtyard gate, she arranged a polite smile on her face.
“Uncle, what a rare visitor!”
Liu Haitao was standing in the main room. He was not wearing his military uniform today, but a slightly worn Sun Yat-sen suit.
When he saw Wang Lanhua return alone, he asked, “You were out weeding? Where’s Li Dazhuang?”
“He went into town to buy fertilizer!”
Li Xiaolian had just seen her father pulling weeds in the field and was about to say something, but Wang Lanhua shot her a fierce look. Frightened, the girl immediately fell silent.
“Take your little brother outside and play,” Wang Lanhua ordered sternly.
Li Xiaolian pouted, grabbed Li Shitou by the hand, and obediently led him out.
Wang Lanhua quickly brought over a chair for Liu Haitao, then poured him a mug of hot water and handed it to him with both hands.
“Uncle, when did you get back?”
“Lanhua, I was passing through today, so I stopped by to take a look.”
Liu Haitao’s expression was solemn. His sharp gaze fixed directly on Wang Lanhua’s face.
“I’m looking into some old matters that were left unresolved years ago, and the investigation happened to lead me to your grandmother. Before she passed away, did she leave behind any old keepsake that she carried with her, or give any special instructions?”
Wang Lanhua’s heart gave a violent jolt.
She had never been willing to believe what Grandma Shen had said to Li Dazhuang before her death. But after hearing Liu Haitao’s question, she was nearly certain that this was exactly what he had come for.
But what was the relationship between Li Chun Tao and Liu Haitao?
“Our grandma had suffered from the same old illness her whole life. It flared up every year. She’d already said everything there was to say in everyday life. By the time she passed, she was delirious and didn’t leave any instructions. She didn’t leave a single thing behind, either.”
Liu Haitao had managed to find Li Family Village because he had already made inquiries at Grandma Shen’s family home. On his way through the fields, he had also asked the villagers about Chuntao.
Wang Lanhua had inherited her mother Liu Cuilan’s tendency to lie and conceal things. Liu Haitao knew her nature well and could tell that she was lying, but he did not expose her.
Seeing him remain silent, Wang Lanhua quickly asked, “Uncle, did you know my grandma?”
“I’d heard of her.” A complicated emotion flickered across Liu Haitao’s face, and he let out a soft sigh. “The old woman spent her whole life as a widow. She had a hard time of it and never got to enjoy any real happiness before she passed.”
A flash of panic appeared in Wang Lanhua’s eyes.
“Uncle, it’s almost noon. Why don’t you sit and rest for a while? I’ll go pick some vegetables from the garden and cook lunch.”
“No, I still have things to do. I should be going.”
The tension in Wang Lanhua’s body instantly eased.
She put on a show of trying to keep him there.
“Uncle, it’s already mealtime. At least stay for lunch before you leave!”
“No need.”
Wang Lanhua did not press him any further. She escorted him to the road on the western edge of the village and watched until his figure disappeared into the distance. Only then did she finally let out the breath she had been holding.
She turned around and went back to the fields to pull weeds.
When Li Dazhuang saw her coming, he hurried over and asked, “Why are you back? Has he left?”
Wang Lanhua ignored him and bent down to continue weeding.
“What exactly did he come to our house for?” Li Dazhuang asked, unwilling to let it go.
“Nothing. He was just passing through and stopped by for a look.”
Li Dazhuang knew she was brushing him off, so he asked bluntly, “Lanhua, did he come to ask about Grandma’s last words?”
Wang Lanhua turned and glared at him, her brows tightly knit. “Last words? What does he have to do with them? I just don’t understand what goes through your head all day. You really think your little sister is some kind of rich heiress? Ridiculous!”
“I’m not making things up. I just think there’s something fishy going on. Your maternal uncle definitely knew Grandma. I have a feeling this has something to do with Chuntao’s background!”
“You’re just letting your imagination run wild, poking your nose into things!”
Wang Lanhua moved closer to Li Dazhuang and lowered her voice as she warned him, “Listen to me. Don’t tell a soul a word about what the old lady said before she died—or about that ring.”
“But I can’t help feeling that keeping this secret is letting Grandma down, and letting Chuntao down too…”
“Letting them down how? Li Chun Tao is living the good life now. When has she ever spared a thought for how much you’ve done for her as her brother?”
The more Wang Lanhua thought about it, the more convinced she became that Chuntao’s origins were far from simple. Perhaps she really was connected to Liu Haitao.
Along with her hatred, a trace of jealousy had begun to stir in her heart. So she was determined to keep the truth hidden to the bitter end. She would never allow Chuntao to be reunited with her birth parents.
