Lin Xi had already stopped paying attention to the two new members in the group chat. She hadn't slept well all night, and the next day, as soon as the sky began to lighten, she got up.
Chi Xiangping hadn't slept well either. While Lin Xi was washing up, Chi Xiangping went to Da Mingbao's house and brought back a crate of fruit, two boxes of milk, and two bottles of liquor, placing them in the trunk of Lin Xi's car.
Not long after, her neighbor from the lower courtyard, Grandma, brought over two chickens with their feet tied.
Lin Xi just sat there, watching Chi Xiangping busily going back and forth. Yao Yuran prepared the meal. After eating breakfast, Lin Xi was sent off on her errand. Today was New Year's Eve. Visiting relatives shouldn't be done later than noon.
Lin Xi's mother, Xue Min, lived in a village below Wangjiaping, called Bazi Village. Because Xue Min had married well over the years and helped her family a lot, her house was the best built in the entire village.
A five-story western-style villa. Xue Min's family was also a large clan. She had eight siblings in total: five sisters and three brothers. The three brothers lived together, making the entire family exceedingly large.
As Lin Xi parked her car at their gate, the children from her uncles' families came running out. Some were very young, some were much older.
Lin Xi had no connection with them. She got out of the car and had no intention of taking down the holiday gifts Chi Xiangping had prepared.
The Xue family didn't deserve them.
A woman wearing a dark red floral-patterned padded jacket came out of the house. Compared to their meeting over a decade ago, she had aged considerably. Wrinkles covered her face and body.
Her eyesight wasn't great either. She took a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped the corners of her eyes.
"You're Lin Xi, right? Your mother wants to see you. Follow me." Li Xiuchun showed no intention of catching up with Lin Xi.
She had many children, and even more grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She hadn't thought much of Lin Xi in the past, and it was the same now.
If it weren't for her youngest daughter insisting on seeing her and considering the substantial help she had provided the family over the years, Li Xiuchun wouldn't have sent word to Lotus Village.
Seeing Lin Xi nod and walk straight into the courtyard, bypassing the children, Li Xiuchun's frown deepened enough to crush a fly.
As she grew older, Li Xiuchun's temperament had become even pettier. She could look down on any of her grandchildren, but she would not tolerate her grandchildren looking down on her.
This was Lin Xi's first visit in many years, and on New Year's Eve no less, yet she hadn't arrived brimming with gratitude and laden with generous gifts! This undoubtedly touched Li Xiuchun's raw nerve. As she led Lin Xi to the master bedroom on the east side of the second floor, she fumed inwardly.
She didn't even say a word to her or address her properly! Such a rude, ill-bred little beast. Who knows what her daughter wanted with her!
"Well, your mother's inside." Li Xiuchun opened the door, said this to Lin Xi, and then clattered down the stairs. Before this house was built, her youngest daughter had said she wanted the second floor. Li Xiuchun, thinking Xue Min's husband was capable and owned many properties in the city, so they'd hardly ever come back to live with her, had agreed.
Who knew that agreement would trap her? As soon as the house was finished, the locks on the second floor were changed. Not long after, Xue Min moved back in with her son and daughter. If it weren't for the fact that Xue Min still had some money, Li Xiuchun would have cursed her out long ago.
The villa was well-lit. Lin Xi stood in the living room, furnished entirely in white European-style furniture. Many oil paintings and watercolors hung on the walls.
A woman walked out of the east bedroom. She bore a thirty percent resemblance to Lin Xi. Dressed in a white fleece nightgown, her voluminous wavy hair was half-tied at the back. She looked Lin Xi up and down, then said, "Have a seat."
Lin Xi sat down on the sofa. Xue Min poured water for both Lin Xi and herself using a European-style coffee cup with pink roses and gold trim.
Lin Xi didn't drink. She also had no intention of reminiscing with Xue Min. She looked at her and said, "Grandma said you wanted to see me?"
Xue Min's gaze rested on Lin Xi. Lin Xi resembled her by about thirty percent, yet Xue Min felt Lin Xi looked more like her father, Lin Zhongxun, especially with this unsmiling expression, which was eighty percent similar to the Lin Zhongxun in her memory.
"I did want to see you. Xiao Xi, I was diagnosed with cancer a while ago." Xue Min's voice was slightly hoarse as she said this.
Lin Xi's eyes fell on her. She was very thin, her complexion somewhat pale. "Aren't you getting treatment?"
"The surgery is already done. But the doctor said my tumor was malignant. Even after a complete hysterectomy, there's still a risk of the cancer cells spreading later." Xue Min was only nineteen when she gave birth to Lin Xi. Lin Xi is now twenty-four, so Xue Min is only forty-three this year.
Although the doctor said the risk of spread after the hysterectomy was small, she didn't dare gamble on that slim chance. Xue Min didn't want to die. After much thought, the only solution she could see lay with Lin Xi.
Lin Xi was baffled. She'd already had the surgery, so what was the point of telling her this now? She hadn't sought her out when she needed the surgery, so why look for her after it was done?
As soon as this thought arose, she remembered the pile of items submitted to Chu Qianmo and the others, and suddenly understood.
So, she knew about her father's special circumstances, and was also testing if anything special had happened to her?
The memory of being driven away over a decade ago was still vivid. Lin Xi felt this trip today was truly a waste of time. Since the group chat system had said it would upgrade step by step, the things she wanted to know would surely be revealed once the permissions reached a certain level. Why be fixated on this moment?
She had been too naive. What kind of feelings could Xue Min, who hadn't seen her for so many years, possibly have for her?
"Get straight to the point of why you asked for me. I don't want to listen to your ramblings." From the moment she entered until now, Xue Min hadn't asked once how she was doing, not even the basic "have you eaten" one might ask a casual acquaintance.
Lin Xi didn't believe she had much affection for her. She had no desire to reminisce. She was long past the age of needing a mother. And after all these years of neglect, there was no need for her to maintain that utterly false mother-daughter bond with Xue Min now.
Xue Min, who had rehearsed her speech for a long time, was caught off guard by Lin Xi's bluntness. She was beautiful. After marrying her second husband, he doted on her immensely, and her two children were obedient and filial. Her natal family, coveting her money, had always flattered her. Lin Xi's lack of courtesy was very unfamiliar to Xue Min, who was used to smooth sailing.
She took a deep breath and said directly to Lin Xi, "Xiao Xi, I know you resent me. But all these years, your mother has had her own difficulties."
"When your uncle married me, his only condition was that we not have children. Your father disappeared, and your grandparents only had your father as their child. Your father left only you behind. Your grandmother didn't stop me from remarrying, and she agreed to let me take you away."
"Your uncle never wanted me to contact you, but every year I had your grandmother buy you clothes and delicious food. Have you forgotten all that? How can you treat me with this attitude?" Xue Min was truly furious. She felt that while she might not have been a perfect mother, how could Lin Xi refute her like this?
"For all these years, even though I haven't seen you, whenever your grandmother asked me for your tuition or living expenses, did I ever refuse?"
Lin Xi laughed: "Why don't you go ask your mother if she ever really bought me clothes or food over the years? And as for tuition and living expenses, have I ever used a single cent of yours? My schooling costs were paid for by my grandparents farming, digging lotus roots, and doing odd jobs. Every single payment can be traced. Before accusing me, didn't you even bother to check the facts?"
Lin Xi finally understood why, since meeting Xue Min today, she had spoken to her with such a sense of entitlement. So she thought Lin Xi had been spending her money all these years?
Because she believed she had provided for her, she naturally felt that Lin Xi should obey her arrangements now that she was grown.
Xue Min had never doubted her parents. It never occurred to her that they would pay lip service to her wishes while doing the opposite behind her back! All these years, how much money had she given her parents every month! How could they be so short-sighted as to even embezzle the little bit meant for Lin Xi.
But having been a wealthy wife for many years, Xue Min suppressed the churning anger in her heart: "I will look into this matter and give you an explanation."
"An explanation is unnecessary." Lin Xi had never expected any money from Xue Min, and her grandparents hadn't either. She even felt somewhat grateful that Li Xiuchun and the others had taken the money Xue Min intended for her.
Otherwise, accepting favors would put her at a disadvantage. Xue Min clearly wanted something significant. Not having taken or used anything from her all these years made it easier to refuse her outright now with a clear conscience.
"My grandparents said that it was my father who suddenly disappeared and wronged you. That you leaving me behind before remarrying was already very good of you. No one has ever blamed you for not giving things or money over the years."
Seeing Lin Xi speak like this, Xue Min in her heart hated Li Xiuchun and the others to death. She had treated them with genuine sincerity, almost granting their every request, never expecting them to play such tricks behind her back!
Her carefully laid plans over the years were now completely ruined, all because this crucial link was missing! She was unwilling to accept it, but she couldn't let Lin Xi see even a hint of it.
She closed her eyes for a moment: "Alright then, Xiao Xi, let me be frank with you. Back when I was with your father, he had a black pager. After he left, that black pager was placed on the wooden beam above our bedroom."
"Ever since I fell ill, I've often thought back to those days with your father. Xiao Xi, to be honest, that period was the happiest time of my life. Even though we were young then, your father was truly good to me. From meeting him to giving birth to you, he never once made me suffer."
"That pager has many messages we sent each other. Can you get it for me? I really miss your father so much." As Xue Min spoke, her eyes even reddened.
Watching this scene, Lin Xi didn't know why, but she felt no emotional ripple inside. Perhaps it was because while Xue Min spoke of missing and remembering her father, her face showed sorrow, but her eyes held not a trace of grief.
Moreover, from what she knew, her father and Xue Min were practically together every day before his disappearance; long-distance separation never happened. How could they have sent messages to each other on a pager?
Even without her current chat group, back when she didn't have it, she was still a person with normal intelligence. Was Xue Min trying to fool her like she was an idiot?
But Lin Xi didn't plan to expose her: "Was your relationship with my father really that good? Then could you tell me, what kind of person was he really?"
When Lin Xi asked this, she kept her eyes fixed on Xue Min.
She clearly saw Xue Min's expression stiffen. Though her gaze didn't waver from Lin Xi's, it held a certain unnaturalness.
She quickly became aware of her own odd reaction. She lowered her eyes, her thick, delicate, upturned eyelashes casting shadows on her fair face, also exposing the fine lines at the corners of her eyes.
After a moment of silence, Xue Min thought back to her memories of interacting with Lin Zhongxun. She was quiet for a long while before saying: "Your father was a good man. In the years I was with him, he never once let me feel wronged. Those years with him were also the happiest years of my life."
Xue Min's voice was soft and gentle, but her fingers unconsciously began to twist the fabric of her sleeve.
"Your father listened to me in everything. Whatever I said, he did. Xiao Xi, your father later disappeared. I searched for him for a very, very long time but couldn't find him. I originally wanted to stay and wait for him with you."
"But your grandmother and the others were right. I was still young, my life still had many possibilities. I hadn't even seen the wider world yet. I couldn't live my whole life just for you."
"Before being your mother, I had to be myself first, wasn't that right?" As she reached this point, Xue Min's voice grew more confident: "All these years I didn't dare see you, because I was afraid that once I saw you, I wouldn't be able to let go. Your grandparents are old now, and they were very good to me in the past. I didn't want to cause trouble with them over you."
"You are all people I care about deeply. Hurting any one of you would pain me greatly. And I haven't neglected you all these years either. But I never imagined your grandparents would act one way in front of me and another behind my back."
Xue Min smiled bitterly: "I thought that no matter what, your grandparents wouldn't withhold the money I gave for you. Because what I gave them was already more than enough."
"Xiao Xi, please forgive your mother. On this point, your mother was wrong." Only now did Xue Min's tears finally fall.
"Xiao Xi, it was only after going through this cancer that I truly understood what is most important to me. I still can't let go of your father. When I was on the operating table, my mind was filled with memories of those years with him." Xue Min covered her face with her hands, hiding her expression.
Lin Xi had seen too many displays of genuine emotion. The feeling Xue Min gave her was just like what she'd seen on TV dramas. Unable to cry, forcing it out.
It felt discordant, extremely discordant.
Xue Min's explanation simply didn't convince her. She looked at Xue Min for a while before saying, "When you say all this, where does that leave your current husband? I heard he treats you very well too. He divorced you before his family declared bankruptcy, dividing and giving you all the assets you were entitled to."
This matter had spread far and wide; practically everyone in the surrounding villages knew about it. It was Li Xiuchun who had spread the word, so its credibility was rock-solid.
Xue Min's fake crying stopped abruptly. Lin Xi didn't press further: "A few years back, our house underwent a renovation. If you left that pager on the roof beam, then don't even think about it—it's definitely been cleared out."
Xue Min's face turned extremely grim in that moment. Her hands dropped, and the forced tears dried up.
Loud, unpleasant voices drifted up from downstairs, full of indirect insults and innuendo. Lin Xi understood immediately from just one sentence: her aunts thought she had come visiting empty-handed on New Year's Eve, just to freeload a meal.
She stood up. "It's getting late. My grandmother is waiting for me to come home for New Year's. I should head back. Take care, and look after your health." After saying this, Lin Xi turned and left without another look at Xue Min's expression.
Walking out into the stairwell, Lin Xi's face was expressionless. Judging from Xue Min's whole performance of weeping and talking, she knew something about the anomaly concerning Lin Xi's father. But she definitely didn't know everything, otherwise she wouldn't have been so composed.
Lin Xi silently reminded herself to be even more careful in the future. With the pager gone, Xue Min might very well start keeping an eye on her. Being cautious and prudent was never a mistake!
On her way downstairs, she passed a brother and sister. They were the children Xue Min had later. Lin Xi had no desire for any interaction with them.
In the first-floor living room, Li Xiuchun's whole family was gathered, sitting around eating oranges and cracking sunflower seeds. Their voices grew louder with each sentence. They had truly mastered the art of speaking with sarcasm and insinuation.
Lin Xi ignored them. Once outside, she got in her car and drove off. On the road home, Lin Xi became one hundred percent certain: her father, Lin Zhongxun, had also once been a member of a chat group.
But whether her father had been a middleman was harder to determine.
The medium through which her father had joined the group was that pager. Xue Min knew about this too; perhaps she had even seen her father retrieving things from the pager.
For some unknown reason, when she remarried and left, she hadn't taken the pager with her, instead hiding it on the roof beam. All these years, she had never gone back to check on it.
Lin Xi was lost in thought, but her driving remained steady. Midway, she stopped in a deserted spot, moved the items from the trunk into her space, and directly transferred one chicken to Xu Huixin and the other to Xiang Qianlan.
In other eras, chickens weren't particularly scarce supplies, but in those two stories set in past decades, they were valuable goods. She thought they probably needed them.
By the time Lin Xi arrived home, Chi Xiangping was chatting with someone at the gate. As Lin Xi drove into the courtyard, she could hear them still discussing last night's Spring Festival Gala.
Not long after Lin Xi entered the yard, Chi Xiangping came in too.
"What did your mother want with you?" Chi Xiangping was still curious. For many years, Xue Min had shown no concern or asked after Lin Xi. While this neglect had actually suited Chi Xiangping and the family's wishes, sometimes, seeing Lin Xi yearn for a mother or a father, she would still feel resentment towards the pair in her heart.
"She said she recently had surgery to remove her uterus due to cancer." Lin Xi pulled a box from under the family altar in the living room, took out a few mandarin oranges, and started eating them. Little Yue, seeing Lin Xi eating something tasty, ran over to her.
Lin Xi peeled one and put a segment in the little girl's mouth. The child ate it with great delight. Yao Yuran was inside with Little Fang, learning pinyin. The sounds of the mother and daughter studying drifted out—one teaching earnestly, the other learning diligently.
In recent years, the rate of women developing uterine cancer had increased significantly. Chi Xiangping had heard of several people who had contracted the illness.
"How is her recovery now? Is she doing okay?" During the time Chi Xiangping and Xue Min were mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, they got along quite well without any major conflicts. Hearing this news, she felt somewhat concerned for her.
"She seems to have recovered quite well. Grandma, what kind of person was my mom like before?"
Chi Xiangping poked at the fire in the hearth. "Your mom? She was a good kid. Your maternal grandparents were terribly biased in favor of sons over daughters. Your mom was their youngest daughter. They only let her study until primary school graduation, then wouldn't allow her to continue."
"At twelve, she went to work as a child laborer in a restaurant in the city, earning fifty yuan a month. She handed all of it over to your grandparents." Because Xue Min had been her daughter-in-law, Chi Xiangping knew Xue Min's life story inside out.
Xue Min started working as a waitress in 1990. Fifty yuan was a significant wage back then.
"With that money, your grandparents managed to find wives for your second and third uncles. The year she turned sixteen, your father went to the restaurant where she worked for a meal with his classmates. Since they had been classmates since childhood, they started talking and one thing led to another."
"Your father hated studying. He barely made it through junior high and absolutely refused to go any further. Your grandfather and I beat and scolded him, but he still wouldn't go. What could we do? When he wanted to go work, we let him. Who knew he'd take your mother with him when he left?"
"He worked for a year, then came back to the village to grow lotus roots. His contact with your mother became even more frequent. Sometimes your mother would even bring her whole string of nieces and nephews over to our house. At eighteen, they wanted to get married. We figured they'd been together for over two years, liked each other, so let them marry."
"Back then, your father had made some money from the lotus roots. The bride price he gave your mother was two thousand yuan. Your grandparents were awful—they didn't even give her a single quilt as a dowry."
"As for your mother, her nature was soft, and she lacked strong opinions. Whatever your father said, she would listen, waiting on him hand and foot like he was some kind of emperor. Sometimes even I couldn't stand to see it. But I spoke my piece; your mom was my daughter-in-law, not my daughter. It wasn't good for me to say too much. After a while, I just learned to turn a blind eye."
"When your father went missing, she took care of you at home with all her heart, and accompanied us every now and then to search. She searched for two years, waited for two years. The last time she came back from Guangyue Province, she said she wanted to remarry."
Lin Xi nodded. Four years. Xue Min had waited for her father for four years before remarrying. That was already going above and beyond.
Lin Xi wasn't sure exactly how she felt. She knew Xue Min wasn't wrong. Cutting ties for the sake of her new family wasn't a major fault either.
But she just felt awkward and uncomfortable about it in her heart.
But thinking about today's meeting with Xue Min, Lin Xi truly hadn't seen a hint of a soft personality or lack of assertiveness in her.
That faint, flickering arrogance when speaking to her, however, was something Lin Xi had indeed sensed.
Thinking further about how Xue Min spoke of her father with full-mouthed nostalgia and longing, yet her eyes showed not a trace of change, Lin Xi's mind sharpened with alertness: "Was she any different before she remarried?"
Too much time had passed, and Chi Xiangping's impression of Xue Min was entirely based on those old, rigid stereotypes.
Looking at her granddaughter's expectant eyes, she thought carefully and said: "Would becoming more particular count? In the morning, she had to have eggs for breakfast, and even said she wanted bread and milk. For lunch and dinner, she demanded four dishes and a soup, and would be somewhat unhappy if they weren't made."
"If you said anything to her, she'd say she had gotten used to the eating habits over in Guangdong Province while working and looking for your father. That does happen sometimes. It's just like your Aunt Cuixiang; after coming back from working away, she couldn't handle any spice at all. Said her mouth would swell if she ate anything spicy."
Chi Xiangping continued: "That time, your mother went out to work for five months. When she came back, you didn't even recognize her. She wasn't as affectionate towards you as she used to be when returning from work trips before. Most of the time, she just stayed in her room."
Remembering this, Chi Xiangping said: "Your mother must have already decided to remarry by then. Otherwise, given her nature, she wouldn't have ignored you like that."
Lin Xi didn't speak, but she increasingly felt that Xue Min's "core" might have already been swapped out.
"So how did she meet the man she later married?"
"That year after the New Year passed, your mother didn't go work out of town anymore; she worked in the city. The man she later married was someone she met while working there. They got their marriage certificate not long after." When Xue Min was with her son, they were too young and hadn't registered their marriage.
Later, after Lin Xi's father went missing, Xue Min's household registration was never transferred over. By the time Xue Min had already gotten the certificate with that man, Chi Xiangping and the family only then found out.
For their wedding, Chi Xiangping even pooled two hundred yuan to have someone from the village take over as a gift.
Lin Xi nodded and didn't speak further.
Today was Lunar New Year's Eve, and it was time to start preparing the feast. Chi Xiangping went to the kitchen to busy herself.
Lin Xi went to her room. The room she lived in now was her father and Xue Min's old wedding chamber.
Lin Xi moved a bamboo ladder over to climb up and check, but there was nothing on the roof beam. Just as she had said, that pager had disappeared years ago when their house was renovated.
"Xiao Xi, Xiao Yu, come down and cook the rice." Chi Xiangping called from the kitchen. Lin Xi moved the ladder to behind her door, opened it, and walked out.
Yao Yuran also came out of her room. Lin Xi carried her wheelchair downstairs.
In the kitchen, Chi Xiangping had already started the fire. Lin Xi went to chop the meat, Yao Yuran picked the vegetables. The three of them were all busy preparing the New Year's Eve dinner. Fang led Yue playing with snap poppers in the yard, each pop making a crack, intertwining with the sounds from outside—a truly lively scene.
At half past seven in the evening, the sky was fully dark. Channel One was broadcasting the news, and the food was finally ready, brought to the table dish by dish.
Although there were only a few people, the dishes that should be there—chicken, duck, fish, meat—were all present. Yao Yuran couldn't drink alcohol, so she and her two daughters drank juice. Lin Xi brought out a bottle of "Pear Blossom White" that Xu Huanhuan had sent her, pouring a cup for herself and for Chi Xiangping.
"Come, let's wish everyone a happy New Year. May everyone be healthy, safe, and have wealth rolling in next year."
The three raised their glasses, clinking them together with smiling faces. Fang and Yue joined in the clinking too.
At eight o'clock, the Spring Festival Gala began. The Gala was getting worse year by year nowadays. Da Mingbao called, inviting Lin Xi to go play in the city later; there were many people celebrating the New Year at the small square downtown.
Idling was just idling, and it was boring anyway. Lin Xi agreed. After eating and drinking her fill while waiting for Da Mingbao to arrive, Lin Xi took out her phone to check the group chat messages. She had been too busy today to say much in the group.
The two new members also hadn't made a peep.
Everyone knew Lin Xi was celebrating the New Year, so they understood. Since morning, Lin Xi had been receiving gifts they sent over.
Da Mingbao arrived quickly. They were staying in the city tonight. Lin Xi took the jar of "Pear Blossom White," still more than half full, and got into Sun Xianquan's car with Da Mingbao.
In Beijing, Professor Gu Anbang's family was also preparing their New Year's Eve dinner. Unlike the south, the Gu family's New Year's Eve dinner followed his hometown tradition—eaten at midnight.
Gu Anbang had a son and a daughter. His son and daughter-in-law were supporting national construction in the border regions. Although his daughter was married into the same compound, on such a New Year's Eve, she was also busy at her in-laws'. But his grandchildren were there, and his grandchildren from his daughter, fearing the elders might be lonely, had come early to keep them company.
Gu Anbang looked at his two grandsons roughhousing, then at his two granddaughters curled up on the sofa looking at their phones. The smile on his face simply wouldn't fade.
"Yaoyao, Lulu, come here. I have something good for you." Gu Anbang brought out four small boxes from his room.
Gu Xingyao and Zhu Pinglu exchanged a glance and walked over. Gu Anbang opened the purple and pink boxes, taking out two watches.
These watches weren't shaped like children's watches but were elegant ladies' wristwatches. The watch faces were pink and purple, with different nebulae drawn inside using varying light effects.
The watchbands were interwoven pink and silver, exquisitely and beautifully crafted. The two cousins were in high school; they weren't allowed to bring phones to school normally, so they relied entirely on watches to tell time.
Their own watches were expensive and also quite elegant, but compared to these two before them, they paled considerably.
"Yaoyao, Lulu, you must remember what I say. This watch is different from ordinary ones. Once you put it on, don't take it off lightly. This watch is waterproof. You must remember this." Gu Anbang instructed his granddaughters with great seriousness.
As he was speaking, the two roughhousing grandsons came over. The black and navy blue wristwatches were instantly snatched up by the two boys.
Having grown up in a family like the Gu's, with such admonitions from Gu Anbang, the four siblings exchanged a look and nodded in unison.
The watches sent by Comrade Lei Feng were children's smartwatches. The technology within wasn't particularly hard to decipher. The location service was also an upgrade based on existing services. The only difficult part was the positioning needle technology.
Because the positioning needle was very small, it required higher-level technology. It also needed to ensure that after the needle was inserted into the human body, it would have no side effects, and that it could be removed with 100% certainty, leaving no residue behind in the body.
This technology was simply too advanced and intricate. Yet everyone who knew of its existence understood just how significant its impact could be across various fields—especially in combating child trafficking.
The researchers involved in this project were acutely aware that they were making history, changing history. So no matter how busy or exhausted they were, not a single complaint about hardship or fatigue was heard. Their perseverance paid off. After countless adjustments and experiments, they finally managed to produce a batch of finished products just before the Lunar New Year. Among these products were not only watches but also various types of accessories, differing in price and quality. As the liaison between the "Red Scarf Comrade" and Comrade Lei Feng, Gu Anbang was allocated four watches.
When selecting them, he simply chose based on his grandchildren's favorite colors.
With her cousin's help, Gu Xingyao fastened her watch and then said, "Grandpa, when I came back from outside today, I ran into Brother Song Ping. He said there was a package for our family, so I brought it along."
It was just past nine in the evening. Meat was still stewing in the pot, filling the whole house with its savory aroma. It wasn't yet time to make dumplings. Gu Anbang had wandered into the kitchen, but seeing there was no help needed, he came back out.
"Where was it sent from? What's the sender's name?" Gu Anbang, being older, didn't shop online much. Usually, if the family needed anything, they'd just buy it from local stores.
Normally, Gu Anbang wouldn't receive a single package in a month. The only one this month had been the smartwatches.
The joy Gu Anbang felt when he first received that package was now replaced by a slight tremble in his legs at the very thought of another one.
"It's from Yunnan Province. The label says 'ointment and simple drawings.' The sender's name is something like '□□'," Gu Xingyao said, then took a bite of an apple. "How can someone be named '□□'? Grandpa, do you have a friend with that name?"
Gu Anbang was just taking a sip of his goji berry tea. Hearing that familiar yet utterly absurd name, the water meant for his mouth missed entirely and spilled onto his trousers.
His wife happened to see this and instantly flared up. "Gu Anbang! I just swept and mopped this floor! Can't you open your mouth properly? Even drinking water you manage to spill on yourself? Look at this mess you've made!"
Under normal circumstances, Gu Anbang would have bantered with his wife a bit. But now, he had no mind for it. He sprang up from the sofa like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. Without even changing his clothes, he threw on his coat, grabbed the package marked with "□□," and dashed outside.
His wife chased after him, calling his name, but he didn't even bother to reply.
On Lunar New Year's Eve, snowflakes began to drift down again, already forming a thin layer on the roads.
Gu Anbang called the security office. Soon, a team of soldiers in uniform arrived. Their waists bulged slightly, and their eyes scanned the surroundings constantly, maintaining absolute vigilance at all times.
Under escort, Gu Anbang was rushed to the research institute. The institute was brightly lit, and Director Yang and others had already arrived, waiting anxiously.
Ever since receiving the weapon blueprints from the "Red Scarf Comrade," they had upgraded their offensive weapons. A few days prior, that batch of modified and upgraded weapons had been taken out for field exercises.
The exercises proved that the modified weapons were vastly superior in both accuracy and destructive power compared to their un-upgraded counterparts.
This news had spread among weapons research institutes across the regions. All the calls Director Yang had received these past few days were tinged with envy.
While the jealous remarks weren't pleasant to hear, they sure felt satisfying! Then, take the second batch of children's watches sent by Comrade Lei Feng. The design of the positioning needle was absolutely ingenious. Director Yang had witnessed the tests himself: if anyone dared to forcibly remove an item containing the positioning needle, the needle would automatically eject from its chamber and embed itself into the person's body.
Then, by opening the tracking website, the person could be located regardless of whether they were in an area with signal or not.
This technology was absolutely revolutionary. The leaders at □□ had already spent four or five days in discussions about it. They ultimately decided not to publicly release the technology for now and to implement a technological blockade against foreign countries.
Until every primary and secondary school student, infant, young child, woman, and elderly person in the country was equipped with such items, this technology must not be leaked.
The nation had suffered from human traffickers for far too long. Previously, they operated in the shadows while the military and police were in the open. Now, it was time to turn the tables!
Let them run rampant for all these years, with the military, police, and even the judiciary often feeling constrained. But starting next year, things would be different. History was about to be rewritten!
"Old Gu, what is it this time?" The moment Gu Anbang entered, Director Yang pounced on him with the question.
"The shipping label says simple drawings and ointment." But Gu Anbang racked his brains and couldn't figure out which relative or friend would send him such things. He didn't have any young children at home. And as for the sender name "□□"... he had no relatives surnamed Liu with that name.
"Open it and see."
Gu Anbang stepped aside. Personnel from the security office, armed to the teeth, carefully opened the package.
The item description on the shipping label hadn't lied to them. It really was ointment and simple drawings.
But inside was also a printed A4 sheet of paper detailing the functions of the two items.
Upon seeing the two small, light-green bottles, Gu Anbang and Director Yang exchanged a look.
Director Yang made a call to the biology research institute.
Gu Anbang called his wife to inform her he wouldn't be home for dinner. This year during Qingming Festival, he absolutely had to go back to his hometown and check if his family's ancestral graves were smoking. Otherwise, how could such incredible luck keep falling into his lap one after another?
Once again entering the interrogation room, Gu Anbang was now an old hand. He stared wide-eyed at the ceiling. Just which ancestor up there was blessing him with such immense fortune?
Couldn't they even let up during the New Year? He had been craving those shrimp dumplings for so long! He had spent the whole day peeling shrimp and deveining them, and he hadn't gotten to eat a single one!!! At over sixty years old, always considering himself hale and hearty, Gu Anbang felt for the first time that life wasn't worth it. His chive and shrimp dumplings!!!
