Surveillance Part 1

Xiao Man sat in the car, looking outside at the train station.

The weather was too hot, and Xiao Man didn’t really want to stay here, but she had a feeling that Lin Chengshan would arrive today.

There were so many people coming in and out of the station. Even if Xiao Man and the others were waiting at the exit, it was still difficult to find Lin Chengshan among so many people.

“Mom, why don’t we go back?” Xiao Man turned to her mother. “Waiting for Lin Chengshan like this isn’t going to work. Let’s just wait for him to come to me.”

“This matter needs to be resolved as soon as possible,” Mother Xiao said. “The sooner you two get divorced, the sooner you can remarry. The Dong family is very particular about these things. Unlike other families, they won’t proceed without making sure you’ve divorced the previous husband.”

Mother Xiao wasn’t dissatisfied with Dong Weixin because of this. She even thought Dong Weixin was a responsible and considerate person.

“If Lin Chengshan comes to see me, I can talk to him about the divorce. We don’t have to wait here,” Xiao Man said. “It’s so hot, my clothes are getting soaked.”

Xiao Man regretted burning Lin Chengshan’s photos too soon. She should have waited until after the divorce to burn them.

“Can’t handle this?” Mother Xiao said. “When you used to work in the countryside…”

“It wasn’t this hot in the countryside,” Xiao Man said.

Xiao Man hadn’t worked long in the countryside before marrying Lin Chengshan, so she hadn’t suffered much. When it was hot, she could stay home and cool off, unlike other educated youths who had to work in the fields and get tanned. Xiao Man remained fair and tender.

“There were more trees in the countryside, so it was cooler,” Mother Xiao reminisced about their time on the farm. “When we worked on the farm, there were big trees to provide shade. But we had to work quickly. There wasn’t much time to rest in the shade, and there were supervisors watching.”

Mother Xiao’s health had deteriorated while working on the farm. She thought that if she had suffered, her daughter, who had been pampered from a young age, couldn’t handle it either. Their family used to have servants, so Xiao Man never had to do chores.

“Let’s go back,” Mother Xiao said. “Let others keep an eye on him. Just look for a man with a three-year-old child.”

“Right,” Xiao Man agreed. She didn’t want to waste more time on Lin Chengshan. Thinking of him made her face show disgust.

Lin Chengshan and Lin Qingqing boarded the train around 8 a.m., and they wouldn’t arrive in Rongcheng City until around 2 p.m. Lin Chengshan, seeing his daughter looking sleepy, told her to rest against him.

“Don’t worry, take a nap. I’ll wake you up when we get there,” Lin Chengshan said.

“I’m not sleepy, I’m not,” Lin Qingqing said, even though she was clearly tired.

On the train, Lin Qingqing tried to stay awake, fearing that if she fell asleep and her father left, she wouldn’t know and couldn’t find him. She had no sense of security, fearing her father might abandon her.

Lin Qingqing blinked her big eyes, tightly gripping Lin Chengshan’s sleeve.

Seeing his daughter like this, Lin Chengshan sighed. Ultimately, it was their fault as parents for not giving her enough security, making her constantly anxious and afraid of being abandoned.

In his previous life, Xiao Man abandoned Lin Qingqing, and Lin Chengshan realized he had also abandoned his daughter by not keeping her with him when searching for Xiao Man. If he had kept her with him, she might have survived. But given how he had groveled to Xiao Man before, his daughter might still have faced issues.

Lin Chengshan had figured it out in this life. He wouldn’t entangle himself with Xiao Man or seek revenge. He just wanted to take good care of his daughter, which was the most important thing. Other matters could wait.

“If you don’t want to sleep, just lean on me,” Lin Chengshan said.

Lin Qingqing nodded and leaned against her father. Soon, she dozed off despite telling herself not to.

While his daughter slept, Lin Chengshan stayed put. They had used the restroom before boarding, planning to avoid needing to go during the trip. If they had to go, it wouldn’t be while the child was asleep, leaving her alone.

Despite the train’s noise, Lin Qingqing slept soundly.

New passengers boarded, and one sat opposite Lin Chengshan.

“Is this your daughter?” the passenger asked.

“Yes,” Lin Chengshan replied, not wanting to say more and disturb his sleeping daughter.

Seeing Lin Chengshan’s reluctance to talk, the passenger didn’t continue the conversation.

Xiao Man’s cousin, Liu Shufeng, was still at the train station. The Liu family, though not sent to the countryside during the special period, had also been affected. When the Xiao family was rehabilitated, the government returned their property, and the Liu family got closer to them again.

When the Xiao family needed someone to keep an eye on Lin Chengshan, Liu Shufeng volunteered. He also enlisted some friends, three or four of them, to help watch the train station. They also checked the bus station next door.

“Without a photo, how can we find him?”

“It’s like searching blindly.”

“It’s too hot, we’ve drunk a lot of water.”