Chapter 101: The Crying Voice, A Mother-Daughter Bond

Li Jinhua lied again.

There was indeed a village called Shilin Village near the military camp, but it wasn’t located at the foot of the mountain like she claimed. Instead, it was halfway up the mountain on the adjacent ridge.

The reason Li Jinhua lied about it being at the foot of the mountain was twofold: first, to deliberately mix truth with lies and mislead them; second, because villages at the base of the mountain were closer to the city and generally had better living conditions. She hoped that by implying the child was given to someone in such a place, Wang Chunling might give up searching, thinking the child had found a decent home.

But what Li Jinhua didn’t expect was that even after revealing the child’s supposed whereabouts, Chu Yue would drag her along the entire way. Even though Li Jinhua was injured and howled in pain the whole time, Chu Yue didn’t let her go.

When the group finally reached the foot of the mountain, they realized the village didn’t match the name she’d given—they had been lied to again.

Without hesitation, Chu Yue grabbed her by the hastily bandaged wound and demanded the truth.

“Li Jinhua, if you lie again, don’t even think about keeping that hand! I, Chu Yue, don’t make empty threats!”

The searing pain radiated through Li Jinhua’s entire body.

Trembling and terrified, she finally gave up the real location of the village.

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At the same time—

From the occasional bits of conversation and the tense expressions on everyone’s faces during the ride, Song Qi finally pieced together what was happening. Now she understood why even Lu Zhanlin had left on New Year’s Eve—it was this serious.

“Pah! You won’t even recognize your own granddaughter? Are you even human?!”

Now that she knew the truth, Song Qi erupted in fury, cursing Li Jinhua without holding back.

The longer things dragged on, the more panicked Wang Chunling became.

“The child… will she be gone? It’s been so long. If she’s really lost… where will I ever find her?”

“She won’t be. I promise she won’t be. We’re almost there—we’ll find Nuan Yang soon.”

Chu Yue held Wang Chunling tightly, doing her best to comfort her.

During this, Chu Yue’s worried gaze met Lu Zhanlin’s in the rearview mirror. Even though everyone was on edge, the snowy roads were slippery, and Lu Zhanlin didn’t dare speed up. He could only suppress his own anxiety and drive as steadily as possible.

The mountain roads were rugged and winding. Soon, they reached a point where the military vehicle couldn’t go any further, and everyone had to get out and walk.

Song Qi pulled Li Jinhua to the front, forcing her to lead the way.

Chu Yue never let go of Wang Chunling, carefully supporting this frail, tormented woman. Lu Zhanlin followed close behind, flashlight in hand, lending help when needed.

“Which house? Which one did you leave the child at? Speak up!” Song Qi barked.

Li Jinhua shivered, terrified, freezing, in pain—nearly unable to keep moving. But she had no choice but to press on, forcing herself to squint and try to identify the houses in the pitch-black village after dawn.

This village had no electricity. The villagers were too poor to light kerosene lamps, so there was not a single light in sight—only the faint glow of the moon.

“I can’t see… I really can’t… Let me look… let me try… it might be this house… or that one… I only came here once, and it was during the day… now I can’t tell at all in this darkness…”

She looked left and right, panicked and disoriented. After all the lies she had told earlier, no one in the group believed a word she said anymore.

Better to trust themselves than a liar.

Lu Zhanlin spoke up, “If it’s a blacksmith, the house wouldn’t be in the middle of the village. They need open space for a forge.”

Chu Yue agreed, and they didn’t go toward the center of the village, but instead started from the outskirts, checking houses one by one.

And maybe there really was such a thing as the invisible bond between mother and daughter.

As they passed a run-down house, Wang Chunling suddenly became emotional.

“It’s here! This is it! Nuan Yang is here! I heard her voice… I heard her calling for me… she’s looking for me…”

A child not even a month old couldn’t possibly speak, let alone call out for “Mama.” Wang Chunling’s words were essentially unbelievable.

But Chu Yue believed her.

She closed her eyes slightly and listened carefully to the sounds around them.
“Waa waa…” “Waa waa…”
Sure enough, there was a faint crying sound—it was coming from inside this house.

“There’s a baby crying in there. Let’s go take a look!”

Chu Yue wasn’t sure if it was Wang Chunling’s child or not. They had to see for themselves to confirm.

Lu Zhanlin gave Chu Yue a surprised glance, sensing her hearing was unusually sharp.

Earlier, when Wang Chunling came knocking at their door, Lu Zhanlin hadn’t heard a thing—Chu Yue was the first to notice the knocking.

That time, he could blame it on being distracted by work.
But now, in this quiet village, even at this very moment, Lu Zhanlin still couldn’t hear any crying. Yet Chu Yue could.

Still, he chose to believe her.

Lu Zhanlin stepped forward and knocked on the door—thump thump thump, thump thump thump, thump thump thump—the urgent knocks echoed eerily in the dark night.

After quite some time, someone finally came to open the door.

“Who is it? It’s the New Year’s Eve—what are you doing knocking at this hour?”

With a creak, the wooden door opened a crack, revealing the face of a middle-aged man.

He looked to be in his early forties. Because he had rushed to open the door, he was still putting on his thick cotton coat. Judging by his strong build, he was likely a blacksmith or someone who did hard labor.

However, he wasn’t very tall. In front of Lu Zhanlin, he seemed insignificant.

Lu Zhanlin got straight to the point:

“I’m a soldier from a nearby military unit. May I ask if there’s a baby in your home?”

As soon as the man heard the word baby, his expression immediately changed. He grew flustered and stammered:

“What baby? There’s no baby here—you’ve got the wrong house. Please leave.”

He said this while trying to shut the door.

But Lu Zhanlin was ready. He stuck a foot in the doorway, preventing it from closing.

“You… you… what are you doing? This is my house!”

“Apologies.”

Lu Zhanlin’s voice was low and firm. With a furrowed brow, he pushed the wooden door open and walked in.

Once the door was fully open, the crying inside became much clearer.

Upon hearing the sound, Wang Chunling grew even more emotional. A surge of strength exploded from within her, and she rushed into the house.

“Nuanyang!”

The house was simple and bare, with nothing but four plain walls. Not even decent furniture—dark, dirty, clearly the home of a very poor family.

The house was divided into a front room and a back room.
Since the baby wasn’t in the front room, it had to be in the back.

Wang Chunling followed the sound of the crying into the back room.

“Nuanyang! Mommy’s here! It’s Mommy—Mommy’s here!”

Chu Yue followed right behind, and in the dim room, she saw a thin, small middle-aged woman curled up in a corner.

In her arms was a baby wrapped in a cloth bundle—crying loudly.

That baby was Wang Chunling’s daughter, Nuanyang.