The coastal island weather was slightly muggy, with occasional salty sea breezes drifting in. Along the path stood many palm trees, and after walking a few steps one could see a dense grove of tall coconut trees. Scattered among the lush green low grass were a few yellow, fallen coconuts.
Hidden behind the coconut grove were many households. The houses were more or less the same—small single-story homes built of red bricks.
Jiang Li carried her suitcase and followed the address, circling around once, but still couldn’t find the Jiang family home written on the paper. Helpless, she asked a middle-aged woman who was turning soil in a vegetable garden:
“Comrade, do you know where Jiang Jianhua’s family lives on the island?”
Almost instantly, Huang Guixiang froze.
At the mention of the Jiang family, she stiffened, leaned on her hoe, and scrutinized Jiang Li. Seeing her unusually fair skin—so fair it seemed unnatural—she asked warily, “Who are you to the Jiang family?”
Jiang Li clearly noticed the suspicion in her eyes. To ease her concerns, she chose to be honest and explained the situation of being switched at birth and raised in the wrong family.
Only then did Huang Guixiang relax her guard. After all, Baisha Island rarely had outsiders, and someone suddenly arriving and asking about the Jiang family made her cautious.
“The Jiang family doesn’t live here anymore. Their house collapsed.”
Collapsed?
Jiang Li quickly asked, “Then where are they living now?”
“Where else could they live? With the house gone and no money to rebuild, they had no choice but to move down to the bay,” Huang Guixiang said, putting down her hoe and adjusting her straw hat. “Come on, I’ll take you there.”
Jiang Li lifted her suitcase. “Thank you, auntie.”
But Huang Guixiang took it from her instead. “Don’t be polite with me. I’m your neighbor, and I used to be close with your biological mother.”
Looking at Jiang Li’s delicate appearance, she sighed, “You’re just like your mother—never tanning.”
“The Jiang family… sigh, what a pity. Jianhua passed away early, leaving Shufen to raise three children alone. Just when things were improving and the children were growing up, she fell seriously ill from exhaustion and passed away.”
“Even worse are the two kids. No one knows where Jiang Xiaoxiao heard it, but she insisted her biological parents were in the capital. Not long after her mother died, she left without a word, taking all the valuables from the house.”
Huang Guixiang spat in anger.
At first, people on the island thought Jiang Xiaoxiao was delusional. They had watched her grow up—how could she not be the Jiang family’s child? And yet, it turned out she really had been switched at birth.
The authorities even called the capital to verify—and it was confirmed: Jiang Xiaoxiao was indeed not the Jiang couple’s biological daughter.
The Jiang family had raised someone else’s child for years.
“Poor Shufen… she never even knew the daughter she raised wasn’t her own.”
Huang Guixiang continued bitterly, “Did Jiang Xiaoxiao leave any message for you?”
Jiang Li shook her head.
“That’s right. People like that don’t know gratitude,” Huang Guixiang spat again. “And let me tell you—she never suffered in that house.”
“Shufen worked herself to exhaustion just to send her to middle school, even planned to support her through vocational school. But suddenly she went crazy and refused school, insisting on following a disgraced doctor who had been sent down to learn medicine. A ‘bad element’! The whole island nearly drowned them in criticism.”
“In my eyes, if she had even a shred of gratitude, she wouldn’t have taken everything and left the two children with nothing.”
To feed her younger sister, Jiang Jiayun even went around begging from house to house.
Jiang Li felt her heart tighten painfully.
She couldn’t imagine how two children, with almost no survival ability, managed to live after losing everything.
Soon, they reached the bay.
Jiang Li looked at the dilapidated boat-house floating on the water and fell silent.
The wooden hull was worn and peeling, the planks warped and damaged from years of sun exposure. The paper windows had two large holes, likely letting rain pour straight in.
Calling it a home was generous—it looked more like an abandoned wreck.
Huang Guixiang continued, “The Jiang family used to be wealthy fishermen. They owned a lot back in the day. Now they’ve fallen into ruin.”
“If Jiang Xiaoxiao is gone, I don’t know why you came back either,” she sighed. “The Jiang family is a mess now—two kids left behind. Since you’ve come back, you’d better be prepared.”
She tied the boat rope and said, “Get on first.”
“Alright.” Jiang Li stepped carefully onto the boat, which immediately swayed with the weight.
“Xiaoman! Xiaoman!” Huang Guixiang called out anxiously as she climbed aboard, looking around. “Strange… she’s usually everywhere. Why isn’t she responding today?”
Jiang Li walked into the cabin.
The space inside was extremely cramped. The light was dim, filtering through small wooden windows on both sides. At the far end was a bunk bed, with scattered daily necessities along the sides.
Huang Guixiang rushed forward, touched the child on the bed, and suddenly fell backward in shock.
“Too hot… she’s burning up!”
Jiang Li quickly stepped forward.
A small child lay curled up on the bed, her darkened little face tightly shut, messy short hair sticking together from sweat. Her body temperature was shockingly high—like boiling water.
“Good heavens, Xiaoman is burning so badly! She could become stupid if this continues!” Huang Guixiang panicked. “I’ll go get a car to take her to the clinic!”
“How far is the clinic?” Jiang Li asked.
“Over forty minutes on foot!”
Too far. And transportation on the island was scarce—at best, only ox carts.
Jiang Xiaoman had already been burning for too long.
Jiang Li suddenly remembered from the original storyline that Jiang Xiaoman had died from a severe fever.
Her heart jolted.
She quickly opened her suitcase, searching for fever medicine.
“Do you know medicine?” Huang Guixiang asked in shock.
“No time to explain. Please boil some warm water.”
She mixed the fever-reducing powder and fed it to the child, then used physical cooling methods—wiping her forehead and armpits with warm water.
After that, she gave anti-inflammatory medicine and stayed by the child’s side.
Time passed.
By morning, the fever finally broke.
Jiang Li checked the child’s pulse—normal again.
It was just a simple cold-induced fever. In the original story, the child likely died because no one discovered the fever in time.
Now… it had been avoided.
“Xiaoman, have some rice soup.”
The little girl woke groggily, calling out for her brother. Jiang Li gently comforted her.
“Where’s your brother?”
“He went to work at sea… to earn work points… to feed Xiaoman.”
Jiang Li fell silent.
Such young children, forced to survive alone.
She fed her, changed her clothes, and later took her to buy groceries.
At the market, Xiaoman stared at crabs but refused to eat them, saying they were too expensive.
“I’ll buy you crabs when you’re better,” Jiang Li promised.
Just then, a cold voice interrupted:
“Can’t afford it, so don’t make excuses.”
A thin man mocked them, insulting the Jiang family.
But Jiang Li coldly confronted him, nearly forcing him to admit he was slandering them.
The man quickly backed down.
Afterward, she bought food and returned.
Back at the boat-house, Jiang Li prepared food and cleaned up.
That evening, Jiang Xiaoman’s brother finally returned.
He was thin, wary, and covered in mud. Seeing the unfamiliar woman and the food, he asked guardedly:
“Who are you?”
“What do you want?”