Chapter 61.1

Li Xiao and Zhou Jian returned early the next morning—around five o’clock, they were accompanied by a dirty middle-aged woman.

The middle-aged woman was wearing Li Xiao’s coat over her own tattered clothes. Her hair looked like it hadn’t been tended to for a long time, with knots scattered throughout. Her face was mottled with patches of black and yellow, and she mumbled unclearly, “Dapeng… I want to find Dapeng…”

Her eyes were empty, and she appeared to be in poor spirits.

Li Xiao walked ahead, while Zhou Jian helped the woman walk. Hearing her words, Zhou Jian quickly reassured her, “Auntie, Dayou will be here soon. Please don’t worry; you’ll see him shortly.”

Li Xiao knocked on his own door. The neighbor, Mother Zhou, heard the knock. Being older and often waking up early, especially since her son and Li Xiao hadn’t come back the previous night, she had gotten up even earlier today out of worry.

Upon hearing the knocking, she came directly to open the door and saw Zhou Jian and a filthy, dazed woman standing there. Seeing Li Xiao still knocking, she quickly said, “Stop knocking. Come to our house. Jiang Rou and the child are probably still asleep.”

Li Xiao withdrew his hand.

Mother Zhou recognized Jin Dayou’s mother, and her eyes immediately filled with tears. Her voice trembled slightly as she asked, “How did she come to this?”

Zhou Jian also felt distressed and said, “Let’s talk inside.”

—o—o—o—

Inside the house, Wang Yan was dressing her younger son. The child went to bed early at night and woke up early in the morning. Zhou Hong was still asleep, and Wang Yan had covered him with a blanket without waking him up.

When she heard the commotion outside, she realized the men had returned and quickly went out with the child to see what was happening.

Although Zhou Jian’s house was a little small, both Mother Zhou and Wang Yan were clean people. They kept the house tidy and organized.

Fearing that he might dirty their home, Li Xiao suggested to Mother Zhou and Wang Yan that they should give the woman a bath and wash her hair. “I’ll go out and buy some clothes for her and then take her to the hospital later.”

Mother Zhou quickly stopped him: “There’s no need. I have clothes. Xiao Yan bought me several new outfits for the New Year. She can wear mine. You should go back and get some rest; you two must be tired. We can take her to the hospital in the afternoon.”

Li Xiao heard the door open next door and guessed that Jiang Rou must have gotten up. He nodded, glanced at the disoriented middle-aged woman, and went out.

As he reached the door, he could still hear the woman inside calling for “Dapeng” and Mother Zhou gently asking her questions.

Jiang Rou was about to knock on the door when Li Xiao opened it and nodded to her, saying, “Let’s go home first.”

Jiang Rou followed Li Xiao back home.

Li Xiao had not slept all night; his eyes were bloodshot, and stubble had started to grow on his chin. Jiang Rou suggested he take a shower while she prepared breakfast.

When Li Xiao went to his room to get clothes, An An was still asleep in bed, sprawled out with one foot on her pillow.

He took his clothes to the bathroom, quickly took a shower, and washed his hair. When he came out, Jiang Rou had not finished preparing breakfast yet. Li Xiao leaned against the kitchen door, drying his hair with a towel while watching Jiang Rou busy in the kitchen.

His heart softened, and the heavy mood he had been carrying all night began to lift upon seeing her and An An.

Originally, after hearing about Aunt Shi over the phone had put both him and Zhou Jian in a low mood. They had assumed that Aunt Shi was out searching for Dapeng, and regardless of whether she found him, she should be alright. However, they had not expected that, upon arriving at the police station in J City County in the middle of the night, they would see Aunt Shi in such a condition—they could barely even recognize her. Both Li Xiao and Zhou Jian felt a knot in their hearts.

If Jin Dayou had seen this, he would have been heartbroken.

Despite the fact that Jin Dayou rarely spoke well of his parents, he was a person who valued emotions deeply. Once, after getting drunk, he had said that it didn’t matter if his father stopped looking for him (Da Peng); he would continue searching and bring his family home, no matter how his brother changed.

Li Xiao even wondered what he and Jiang Rou would do if one day An An went missing.

They would probably search for the child just as desperately as Aunt Shi did.

Jiang Rou cooked a pot of egg noodles, adding scallions, oyster sauce, soy sauce, salt, and sesame oil to the bowl, then mixed in some broth.

Since An An was still asleep and Jiang Rou had rarely woken up so early, she washed up in the bathroom and then came back to have a bowl of noodles with Li Xiao.

Li Xiao, having a large appetite, took another bowl from the pot and added a spoonful of chili sauce.

The two of them ate their noodles in silence, enjoying a warm and peaceful atmosphere.

After eating, Li Xiao made a phone call to the factory and then went to his room to sleep.

He slept straight through until the afternoon, waking up around three o’clock.

Jiang Rou heard the sound of the door opening, looked up, and said, “I left some food in the pot for you.”

Li Xiao patted his stomach. He wasn’t very hungry but still went to the kitchen. For lunch, Jiang Rou had cooked three dishes: pepper-salt shrimp, sweet and sour ribs, and potatoes with green beans, all of which Li Xiao liked. There was also a bowl of steamed egg custard in the pot, but it had already been half eaten.

In the living room, Jiang Rou said, “The egg custard is what An An didn’t finish. You can have it.”

Li Xiao decided not to use a separate bowl and simply poured the rice into the egg custard bowl. Though he hadn’t felt hungry, the sight of the food made him serve himself a full bowl of rice and place all the dishes onto a plate, which he then carried to the dining table.

After sleeping, he felt much better, and Jiang Rou asked about what had happened the previous night.

Li Xiao did not hide anything from her and recounted the events in detail. That night, as it got dark, he and Zhou Jian were not very familiar with J City, so they ended up taking many detours. By the time they reached the county town under J City, it was already past one in the morning.

“The neighbor used to live behind Jin Dayou’s house. A few years ago, he made some money in the timber business and bought a house in the county town. He was quite familiar with Jin Dayou’s family. This time, he came here to buy timber, purchasing two large trucks’ worth of wood. Just as he was about to leave, he unexpectedly saw Aunt Shi being chased and shouting ‘Dapeng—’ as she ran.”

“At first, he didn’t recognize her, but he did recognize the accent. Upon inquiring, he found out that there was an old bachelor in the village who had brought a madwoman from somewhere, always shouting for someone named ‘Dapeng.’ The neighbor quickly realized it was Aunt Shi and went up to stop her. He took her in his car and tried to drive away, but they were stopped by a group of people before they could leave the county town. The old bachelor had quite a few people at home, so in the end, the neighbor drove the car to the police station and held his ground.”

When he and Zhou Jian arrived, no amount of negotiation worked. The other side, seeing their good clothes and car, demanded 20,000 yuan. Li Xiao’s face immediately turned cold.

Previously, when he had helped the police in G Province crackdown on a pyramid scheme, he had some connections with them, so he called them directly to ask if these villagers were breaking the law.

The villagers, seeing that he was not someone to mess with, eventually backed down.

As Li Xiao spoke, he felt a deep discomfort. Jin Dayou’s mother, whose surname was Shi, had been called “Aunt Shi” during his childhood. Back then, Li Xiao didn’t understand much and had called her “Stone Auntie.” She was a kind person, and young Li Xiao envied Jin Dayou for having such a gentle and beautiful mother, and a father who would carry him on his shoulders. This envy led him to secretly bully Jin Dayou.

Looking back now, Jin Dayou must have known about it at the time, which is probably why he often tolerated Li Xiao’s behavior.

After finishing his meal, Li Xiao went next door with Jiang Rou and An An.

Next door, Zhou Jian was still asleep. In the living room, Mother Zhou was combing Aunt Shi’s hair. Jiang Rou, who hadn’t seen her in the morning, didn’t know what she had looked like earlier. Seeing her now, dressed in clean clothes and with a face somewhat resembling Jin Dayou’s, Jiang Rou could tell she had been quite good-looking in her youth, despite the signs of age and weariness.

Aunt Shi, who was holding Zhou Hong in her arms, asked dully, “Is that Dapeng?”

Zhou Hong seemed a bit scared but managed to respond calmly, “Yes.”

Aunt Shi appeared not to have heard, repeated her question: “Is that Dapeng?”

Zhou Hong responded patiently.

When Jiang Rou and the others arrived, Mother Zhou sighed, “Li Xiao, take her to the hospital and have her checked. She completely doesn’t remember anyone and has no idea how she has been living these past years.”

Li Xiao nodded walked over, and said: “Auntie, I’m Li Xiao. I used to fight with Dapeng when we were kids, and you used to give me candy. I’m going to take you to the hospital now, okay? Your younger son, Dayou, remembers you, and he’ll be here soon.”

Upon hearing “Dapeng,” the woman showed some reaction, mumbling, “Dapeng…”

Li Xiao paused for a moment and said, “Dayou has come to find you. Let’s go to the hospital first.”

“Dapeng?”

The woman turned her head, looking around but not seeing anyone. She then withdrew, lowering her head, and fell into a state of quiet numbness.

Suddenly, Aunt Shi stood up from the sofa and said, “No, I need to find Dapeng. Dapeng?”

Li Xiao looked at her and forcefully pulled her along. “Alright, I’ll take you to find Dapeng.”

The woman, initially reluctant, stopped resisting when she heard that Li Xiao was taking her to find Dapeng.

Jiang Rou, worried that Li Xiao might not be able to handle the situation alone, left An An at Zhou Jian’s house to play with Zhou Hong for a while and followed Li Xiao.

An An, behaving especially well at this moment—seemed to sense something was wrong and asked, “Is this Grandma sick?”

Jiang Rou patted her head and said, “You play with your brother for a while. Mommy and Daddy are taking Grandma to the hospital, but we’ll be back tonight.”

An An nodded seriously, “Okay, Mommy and Daddy, go quickly. An An will be good.”

Jiang Rou felt a surge of tenderness, kissed An An on her little face, and then went downstairs with Li Xiao.

—o—o—o—

They took Aunt Shi directly to the G University Affiliated Hospital, where they registered and had a full-body examination done. The doctor, after reviewing the results and tests, said that Aunt Shi had been greatly traumatized and had been in a constant state of fear and anxiety, which had led to this state.

In addition to these issues, Aunt Shi’s physical health was also poor.

Li Xiao completed the hospitalization procedures and stayed at the hospital to take care of her, while Jiang Rou drove back home. She had recently gotten her driver’s license and could now drive Li Xiao’s car.

Jiang Rou bought groceries and prepared several additional dishes for dinner. Mother Zhou came over to inquire about Aunt Shi’s condition.

Jiang Rou only mentioned that Aunt Shi was hospitalized for observation and that the doctors would do their best to treat her, without going into further details.

Earlier at the hospital, Jiang Rou had seen the test results, which revealed that Aunt Shi was in a serious condition with several troubling illnesses.

It was not hard to imagine what a disoriented woman might have endured while she was out.

Mother Zhou sighed, “It would be great if we could find that child, Dapeng. Perhaps seeing him would trigger her memory. I remember a woman from my hometown whose child drowned in a river, and she went mad. It wasn’t until she became pregnant again that she gradually recovered.”

Jiang Rou didn’t know what to say.

She prepared the meal and took An An to the hospital to deliver dinner to Li Xiao and Aunt Shi.

—o—o—o—

Lucia: I really really feel bad for Aunt Shi. The author didn’t go into details, but with just that info, we can guess how much suffering she had encountered. I hope she finds Dapeng soon.