Chapter 18

The dinner was simple, tomato egg drop soup with pancakes. Each person had a bowl of soup and a pancake, and they were full. Just after finishing the meal, Gu Yiran came over with Song Zhen. It turned out that after they returned to the Song family, the Song family started to make trouble. Unable to stay any longer, Gu Yiran brought Song Zhen here to stay overnight. As for why they didn’t stay overnight at Songjiawan, it was because there were mostly relatives there, and no one wanted to offend anyone, so Gu Yiran suggested going to Li Yannian’s house, after all, they were comrades.

After knowing that Gu Yiran was Li Yannian’s comrade-in-arms, Zhang Xiumei agreed immediately and cleaned up a side room for the two of them to stay in. When she heard that they hadn’t eaten yet, she prepared two bowls of noodles. Li Yannian and Song Ci couldn’t stop them, so they could only watch as the whole family warmly entertained the couple. It was hot in the summer, and most rural people would cool off in the yard after eating. Seeing that everyone was sitting in the yard, Gu Yiran and Song Zhen couldn’t go back to the house to rest. They sat there, and Song Ci and Li Yannian had to accompany them. If they had nothing to do while sitting there, they would chat.

“Little Gu, I heard from A Nian that you are the team leader. You are younger than my A Nian, right? But you are really awesome.” Zhang Xiumei said to Gu Yiran first.

“Auntie, it’s the deputy head of the group.” Gu Yiran explained.

“The deputy commander is also very capable. I can tell at a glance that you are educated. You are much better than my son A’nian, who is blind. He has been a bad student since he was young. After graduating from junior high school, he refused to continue studying. I chased him with a stick, but he refused to go.” Zhang Xiumei glared at her son as she spoke.

Li Yannian: “Mom, this happened so many years ago, why are you still bringing it up?”

Zhang Xiumei: “I was just saying this to stop you from studying hard. If you could have gotten into university a few years earlier, I wouldn’t have found someone like you if I were Ah Ci. I heard that soldiers need to be educated these days, so you should learn from your wife.”

Song Ci smiled and said, “Mom, don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye on him.”

Zhang Xiumei nodded and looked at Song Zhen again. “I heard that you, Song Zhen, were admitted to university. You and your wife are both well-educated, and you have such a good-looking child. Are you really the Jin Tong in the play?”

“Golden boy and jade girl.” Song Ci said on the side.

“Yes, yes, they are a perfect match.” Zhang Xiumei said happily.

“Thank you for the compliment, Auntie. I think Brother Li and Song Ci are a good match.” Song Zhen said with a smile.

Zhang Xiumei nodded. “They’re both lucky. Song Zhen, don’t blame me for being nosy. Lately, there’s been all sorts of rumors about your family. If this isn’t true, you should clarify it sooner rather than later, otherwise it’ll be hard to explain.”

Shi Yan was coaxing her little daughter to sleep with “oh oh oh”, but she pricked up her ears when she heard this.

Song Zhen was silent for a moment before speaking, “Auntie, what’s been said is true. My parents are still alive, and Erya is not dead. I don’t know why they did this. Everyone has seen how I’ve lived all these years. I always thought the Song family was indebted to me, so I silently endured whatever they did to me. If I hadn’t met Yi Ran, I don’t know what I’d be living now. They keep saying how much I’ve spent on them, but in reality, my parents have been sending money to them for years, and their daughter has taken my place and is living a good life in Beijing. What’s worse, they even want me to marry Song Dazhu. When my parents called me, I didn’t believe them. I figured, no matter how bad they were, they raised me. Who knew that when I came back today, they’d come clean, asking me to beg my parents not to pursue the substitution and to persuade them to keep Erya at home. If I disagreed, they’d call me an ungrateful person. If Yi Ran hadn’t been there, they would have definitely hit me. They’ve beaten me plenty before.” After saying this, Song Zhen burst into tears.

“This is my fault. I shouldn’t have asked you. My child, you have suffered a lot. Don’t cry. Don’t feel sorry for those people.” Zhang Xiumei patted her hands hurriedly.

“This old Song family is too shameless. Not only did they switch the child, but they also treated the child harshly.” Shi Yan murmured.

Isn’t that just shameless, Song Ci thought. The reason why the old Song family dared to be so shameless is because they had spoiled Song Zhen. If it was the Song Zhen before Song Zhen traveled here, maybe she would really agree. That Song Zhen was a typical people-pleasing person, afraid that everyone would be dissatisfied with her in the slightest, otherwise she would be in a state of panic all day long. Fortunately, this Song Zhen is not that Song Zhen. When she read this part of the book, she felt so relieved. Thinking of this, she wondered if she should go to the old Song family tomorrow to take a look. If the plot didn’t change, Song Zhen’s parents would be here tomorrow.

“Don’t worry about this matter, and don’t care about them in the future. They raised you, and your family also raised Erya. As for whether your parents will pursue them for swapping their daughter, and whether you still want to keep Erya, let your parents deal with it.” Zhang Xiumei had heard a little about Song Zhen’s temper, and she couldn’t help but give her a few words of advice for fear that she would make a mistake. What she didn’t say was that parents are also confused, how could they mistake other people’s children for their own. Song Zhen was already a few years old when he came to the Song family, and he was not a baby. She wondered if this family didn’t care about their daughter at all, otherwise why didn’t they come to pick up their daughter in person, and whoever they sent back was considered their daughter.

Song Zhen nodded and said nothing more. She knew that while the Song family’s actions were shameful, their kindness in taking her in remained. Some would say that if the Song family hadn’t taken her in, she might never have grown up, considering the famine hadn’t lasted long when she arrived. If she had been sent to the farm with her parents at that time, she might not have survived. She could secretly avenge the original owner; publicly, she only needed to sever ties with the Song family.

Song Ci thought to herself, the heroine is no pushover. As for the heroine’s parents, they naturally couldn’t be relied upon; the slapping of their faces would have to be up to the hero and heroine. If Gu Yiran hadn’t broken the window paper, those two would have even considered making the best of a bad situation. There are quite a few top-notch people in this book.

Seeing Song Zhen’s sad face, Zhang Xiumei didn’t know what to say. She said to her, “You must be very tired after sitting on the train for a whole day and a night. There’s hot water in the pot. I’ll go get some for you. Wash up and go to bed early.”

Song Zhen hurriedly said, “Auntie, please sit down. We can handle this ourselves.”

“That’s fine. Yi Ran and An Nian are comrades-in-arms. They’re a life-and-death relationship, so don’t be embarrassed.” Zhang Xiumei said with a smile. Then she urged Song Ci to go back and rest, as she hadn’t slept during the day.

Song Ci was swatting mosquitoes and immediately agreed. Who would be willing to buy mosquito coils at this time? Besides manually killing mosquitoes, the only other options were to use wormwood fumigation. But this was in the yard, so fumigation wouldn’t have much effect.

Li Yannian was fine; he had a tough, sturdy skin and didn’t even care about mosquito bites. He was chatting animatedly with his father and older brother. As for Xiaoshu, perhaps tired from playing all day, he dozed off in Li Yannian’s arms. Song Ci went over, picked up Xiaoshu, and went back to the house.