I Am Not Their Biological Child
Ning Zhi had no breast milk.
She had suffered from premature birth and kidney hemorrhage, and both her mental state and physical constitution were unable to keep up.
Her body, weakened by massive blood loss and extreme anemia, required gradual recovery over time. This was not the main issue; the real problem was where to buy nutritional supplements. In this era of purchase with ration coupons, only those with jobs had the chance to receive ration tickets. For the Fan Family in the countryside, such things were simply unimaginable.
However,
who could have expected that she would be unable to produce milk?
No matter how hard they tried—whether by massaging or attempting to stimulate lactation—Ning Zhi simply could not produce a single drop of milk. This was undoubtedly related to her premature birth and severe kidney hemorrhage.
She had been injured.
Ning Zhi naturally wanted to breastfeed her daughter herself, but without milk, what could she do? To prevent her daughter from going hungry, the only option was to buy formula. However, formula not only required ration coupons but was also often unavailable even with the coupons. This was the truly heartbreaking part.
Watching her daughter cry from hunger, Ning Zhi’s heart ached, and tears streamed down her face.
She grew to resent the Fan Family, the sister-in-law who had pushed her to the ground and caused her premature birth, and the mother-in-law who had condoned her daughter’s harmful actions.
Ning Zhi was not a strong-willed woman. On the contrary, due to her early-life experiences and the political background of the Ning Family, she and her elder brother had learned to keep a low profile whenever possible, which had shaped her gentle and soft-spoken nature.
But she was not a pushover.
If the Fan Family had only targeted her with words or mistreated her in daily life, she would not have truly come to hate them.
Had she not endured enough in her twenty-six years of life? But she had a husband—a husband who did his utmost to provide her with the best life possible.
When the Fan Family openly or covertly belittled her or withheld her share of food, her husband would immediately retort and then take her to the state-run restaurant for a meal, bringing her roast chicken or duck.
Her husband said that no one was allowed to bully her.
For this reason alone, Ning Zhi knew she had not married the wrong person.
Others often said about them: one was an unmarriageable old maid from a capitalist family, and the other was a thirty-year-old bachelor who could not find a wife. No one knew how fulfilling Ning Zhi’s private life truly was.
Others described her husband as an honest but foolish man, certain to be unable to protect his wife. Only Ning Zhi knew her husband’s true nature behind closed doors.
After marriage, Ning Zhi truly began to open up.
In Jiangtaiba, there were no endless sessions of criticism and struggle, nor was she treated with disdain. Instead, because of her husband, many people showed her respect. Thanks to the Da Duizhang and Zhi Shu, external influences were not allowed to affect the brigade. Even the Fan Family dared not use her background as a reason to cause trouble openly; at most, they would mistreat her when no one was around.
After living with her head bowed for over twenty years, she was finally able to hold her head high after marriage—all thanks to her husband.
Ning Zhi had some confidence.
Although her political background was unfavorable and her in-laws treated her poorly, she had a husband who loved and cherished her, a husband who would go to any lengths for her. For a woman, having a husband’s love was her greatest source of confidence. No matter how great the grievances, she could endure them with a smile.
Especially after she was diagnosed with pregnancy, her husband took on all the work and forbade her from laboring in the fields. The Fan Family had protested over this, but her husband remained firm, and no one could sway his decision.
Not even the old man and old lady of the Fan Family could change his mind.
Not to mention it was just a married elder sister-in-law.
Until she was pushed to the ground by Fan Xiaohua, whose mocking words rang in her ears:
—“So what if you’re pregnant? Does being pregnant mean you don’t have to work, forcing my mother to slave away for your family?”
—“What kind of thing are you? Do you even deserve to have my mother wait on you? Even if you were reborn, don’t think my mother would ever serve you!”
—“You shameless slut, clinging to that useless Fan Tietou, so you can neglect your filial duties to my mother?”
—“I’m going to report you to the Ideological Committee, you daughter of a capitalist! I’ll have you locked up in the cowshed in no time!”
—“You still want to give birth to a son? With someone like you, you’d probably give birth to a worthless creature! The child of a capitalist’s daughter is still a capitalist descendant, fit only to be shot!”
At the time, Ning Zhi wanted to retort, but she couldn’t. She was already feeling the onset of labor pains.
Wave after wave of pain left her unable to straighten up or catch her breath.
She barely managed to call out to Xiao Tiejun from the neighboring Jiang Youtian’s household, asking him to fetch her husband.
What happened afterward, she never knew. She only saw her husband rushing over in a panic, his face contorted with rage.
Naturally, Fan Minghua learned of the incident.
At first, after Ning Zhi’s surgery, he was afraid of upsetting her too much and didn’t dare to ask.
But he had already made up his mind: once Ning Zhi was feeling better, he would start preparing to deal with Fan Xiaohua.
Yes, it wasn’t just Ning Zhi who hated Fan Xiaohua; Fan Minghua despised her too.
Especially when he had rushed home and found his wife lying in a pool of blood, while his elder sister and his mother stood by with smiles on their faces. His fury knew no bounds.
If he hadn’t been in a hurry to take Ning Zhi to the hospital, he would have reported Fan Xiaohua to the police station right then and there.
And that’s exactly what he did.
After learning of Fan Xiaohua’s malicious actions and confirming the details with his wife, Fan Minghua set out to take action.
He went directly to the county public security bureau to file a report. Fan Xiaohua had attempted murder—though unsuccessful, the intent was clear.
The reason he didn’t go to the Ideological Revolution Committee was that Ning Zhi’s background was problematic. Reporting to that committee might have implicated Ning Zhi instead.
But filing a report with the public security bureau was enough to make Fan Xiaohua pay dearly.
Fan Minghua was not one to tolerate even the slightest injustice.
His bottom line was his wife and children.
His wife could not be bullied like this by anyone, even if that person was his elder sister.
As for Old Woman Fan.
Fan Minghua had considered reporting her as well.
The reason he didn’t was that he knew reporting her wouldn’t cause her any harm.
After all, he had no evidence to prove Old Woman Fan’s involvement.
Didn’t the Fan Family dote on his elder sister the most? Then having her arrested would truly strike at their hearts.
After all, the softest blade cuts the deepest.
He would strike where it hurt the most.
Call him ruthless or call him wicked.
He felt no affection for the Fan Family. Not an ounce. All he felt was disgust and hatred.
It would be a lie to say Ning Zhi wasn’t moved.
Her husband had always protected her, even if it meant confronting the Fan Family head-on.
Now that she had nearly lost her life, she completely understood why he was so enraged.
She, too, wished she could report someone like Fan Xiaohua to the police station. People like her were a danger simply by existing.
But at the same time, she was deeply worried.
Her concern was directed at the elderly couple of the Fan Family.
She knew all too well how much the old couple doted on this elder sister-in-law—even more than their own son.
While other families favored sons, the Fan Family was an exception.
This was indeed a strange matter.
If one said they valued daughters over sons, yet their words and daily conversations were filled with emphasis on the importance of sons, treating daughters as liabilities to be married off.
It was only later that she learned the truth.
Because Fan Minghua was not the biological child of the old couple in the Fan Family.
She knew that the Fan Family had not originally been part of Jiangtaiba Brigade. They had fled here as refugees before liberation and settled down.
Back when she married Fan Minghua, she had asked him whether he was worried that her family background would affect him and whether the Fan Family would agree to their marriage.
At the time, her husband had replied self-deprecatingly, “They’d be more than happy for me to marry you.”
She hadn’t understood then, as all parents in the world wanted the best for their children. Her background was too poor, and any parents who truly cared for their child would surely object.
It was also at that time that her husband told her the truth.
Who could have imagined that the truth would be so bloody?
Later, they got married, and just as her husband had said, the Fan Family didn’t seem to care at all about her background. When he mentioned marriage, they agreed without even asking a single question.
However, they didn’t offer any betrothal gifts, and even their wedding room was just a storage space that had been cleared out.
At the time, she had assumed that the Fan Family looked down on her status and was deliberately making things difficult.
Her husband had never told her about the hardships he had endured or the suffering he had gone through.
Now, looking back, that storage room must have been his room all along, right?
The Fan Family clearly had four large rooms. The elder sister-in-law had married off early, and even if she occasionally returned to stay, along with the old couple’s room, there were still two large rooms left. Why couldn’t they spare one for her husband?
But after learning the truth, she thought to herself: No wonder.
Her husband wasn’t the Fan Family’s child at all, so they had done it on purpose.
They had deliberately mistreated him.
How could they do such a thing!
Ning Zhi was fiercely protective of her own. She could endure it if the Fan Family bullied her, but her family was her bottom line.
It must be said that Ning Zhi and Fan Minghua were truly a match—both were extremely protective of their own.
Since the Fan Family had adopted her husband, why didn’t they treat him well?
This was something Ning Zhi couldn’t understand. The Fan Family didn’t have any other sons.
“How could they not have another son? Their son is named Fan Jian, nicknamed A Jian.”
Her husband’s tone was extremely calm at the time, as if he were talking about something unrelated to him. “My mother personally handed me over to the Fan Family, saying that once liberation came, they would come to take me back.”
Did they eventually come to take him back?
Of course they did, but the one they took back was the Fan Family’s own biological son.
Thinking further, when literacy classes spread to the countryside, even Fan Xiaohua managed to graduate from elementary school. If she hadn’t been completely unsuited for studying, she would have gone on to middle school.
Then think of Fan Minghua—illiterate, never having set foot in a school. The more she thought about it, the more chilling it became.
The Fan Family wanted to ruin Fan Minghua.
The old couple thought he didn’t know and were still smug, believing they had sabotaged his future.
They didn’t let him attend school, didn’t allow him to learn any skills, and never gave him any opportunity to rise above his circumstances.
They thought that by doing so, they could confine him forever to the countryside, making him a farmer for the rest of his life.
At that time, Fan Minghua smiled and said, “They think they can destroy me this way, but how is that possible?”
Yet such a lighthearted tone only made Ning Zhi’s heart ache even more.
Yes, how could it be possible?
Only Ning Zhi knew just how brilliant Fan Minghua truly was.
She thought her own life had been bitter enough, but compared to her husband’s, it was nothing.
It was precisely because she knew the truth that she worried.
And it was because she worried that she finally voiced the question in her heart: “You reported your elder sister-in-law. Won’t your parents-in-law be angry?”
Would they go and report you?
This was what Ning Zhi truly feared.
But Fan Minghua replied, “They will naturally be angry.”
Moreover, he knew all too well just how furious the Fan Family would become.
When the time came, they would likely cry and make a scene, but would he soften?
Of course not.
He had long wished he could report the entire Fan Family.
It was precisely because he knew Old Man Fan and Old Woman Fan would be angry that he was even more determined to report them to the public security bureau.
What was the most painful?
It was striking where it hurt the most.
“But won’t it affect you?” Ning Zhi’s first thought was whether it would impact her husband.
If it did, then she could endure a little hardship.
Ning Zhi worried like this because she had been burdened by her family background since childhood, and too many things in life had been unfair.
Now that she finally had a family, a husband, and a lovely daughter, she didn’t want her husband to suffer undue consequences because of her.
Fan Minghua said, “Don’t worry. At most, they’ll go to the Ideological Revolution Committee and accuse me of being unfilial.”
A mocking smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. “They aren’t even my parents. What filial piety is there to speak of?”
If they dared to report him, he would dare to expose the truth.
…
Did Old Man Fan and Old Woman Fan feel pain?
The answer was yes.
It was a pain that pierced the heart.
When the officers from the police station came to arrest them, both were stunned and panicked.
They cried.
[Author’s Note]
Red envelopes for the first three chapters.