The moment she uttered the words "wild child," Shen Zhenwu, who had always been endlessly patient with her, suddenly exploded.
"If you dare call her that again, I’m done with you!"
He shot to his feet, his voice suddenly rising.
Yao Yuzhen was stunned, speechless for a long moment.
Shen Zhenwu had been holding it in for too long.
All the grievances that had built up over the years finally burst through his defenses.
"Yao Yuzhen! Who are you calling a bastard? Huh? The daughter I, Shen Zhenwu, fathered, is just some common stray in your mouth? The brats from the Yao family are precious treasures, but mine isn’t even worthy of being treated like a person? What am I to you? An outsider? A beggar? Or a fake husband?"
He fired off one question after another, his voice filled with anger and resentment.
"I was excitedly waiting for your call, wanting to share the good news that I’d found our daughter who’s been lost for over twenty years! It’s a happy occasion! But you? The first thing you do is call her a filthy bastard?"
"If she’s so beneath contempt, then what does that make me? Don’t tell me you have another man? You’re hiding someone else in your heart, thinking he’s the one you can rely on, that he’s your real man, while I’m just some redundant old beggar?"
Yao Yuzhen’s breath hitched, and she could barely breathe.
"Shen Zhenwu, how dare you question my fidelity?"
Shen Zhenwu was burning with rage.
"You’re the one stomping on my dignity! How many times have I told you? Our child was swapped at birth! I’d bet my life she’s the real one! Why won’t you believe me? Why are you trying to stop me from acknowledging her? What is it you’re really after?"
"You don’t even care about this daughter, do you? Is it because you have someone else, huh?"
On the other end of the line, the woman’s voice trembled, full of shock and indignant grief.
"Shen Zhenwu, have you no shame!"
After she spoke, there were a few seconds of silence on the other end.
Then, she began to sob.
"I’ve poured twenty years of my life into this family, while you’re nowhere to be seen all year. Whenever there was a problem at home, with the old or the young, wasn’t I the one holding it all together alone? When our child had a fever and was hospitalized, and I was running to the hospital with her in my arms in the middle of the night, where were you? When my father was dying and calling for you, did you even come back?"
"When Shuangshuang and I had no one to turn to, you didn’t even offer a single word of comfort! Shen Zhenwu, I was blind to have married you! What have you ever given me? If I had known it would be like this, I’d rather have died back then!"
Yao Yuzhen SLAMMED the phone down.
Shen Zhenwu clutched the receiver, a heavy weight pressing on his chest.
’I shouldn’t have said that...’
’With Yu Zhen’s temper, what if she does something rash?’
His mind was in turmoil at the thought.
Images of her raising their child alone through all those years, braving the wind and rain, flashed through his mind.
Just as he reached out to dial the number for Beijing, the phone on the desk suddenly rang.
He snatched it up.
"Hello?"
Before he could finish, Yao Yuzhen’s icy voice pierced his ear.
"Shen Zhenwu, don’t think you can scare me by turning the tables. I have only one daughter, and that is Shen Shuangshuang. I don’t acknowledge whatever girl you’re talking about!"
"If you insist on acknowledging her, I’ll take this to the higher-ups! I’ll let everyone judge for themselves how you had an affair and fathered a bastard, and I’ll have the organization seek justice for me and Shuangshuang! If you dare bring her into our home, you can sign the divorce papers immediately!"
With that, the phone was hung up again.
Shen Zhenwu’s face was ashen. He raised his arm and hurled the receiver against the wall.
"Unreasonable! Absolutely unreasonable!"
He paced back and forth in the room, his mind buzzing, not knowing what to do.
"KNOCK KNOCK."
There was a knock at the door.
He roared irritably.
"What is it!"
His aide replied softly from outside.
"Sir, Shen Shuangshuang refuses to leave. She says if she can’t see you, she’d rather die than go back to Beijing."
Shen Zhenwu was extremely irritated right now; the last thing he wanted was to see her.
"I’m not seeing her! She won’t leave? Then let her stay! When she’s had enough, she can get the hell out on her own!"
"Yes, sir!"
「That night, after receiving his orders, Xiao Li set off by car for Shunping Village.」
Before leaving, he called the county office ahead of time.
He stated his identity and explained that the purpose of his visit was to verify an individual’s background.
The staff member on the other end said they would report it to their superiors immediately and arrange for local cooperation.
The county quickly notified the Hedian Town police station.
The relevant personnel held an emergency meeting and decided the deputy town mayor would lead a few cadres to the town entrance to greet him.
They didn’t know the specific rank of the person who was coming.
But since he was sent from above, it was bound to be a matter of great importance.
Everyone changed into clean clothes and arrived at the designated location twenty minutes early to wait.
A car slowly pulled to a stop, and a young man got out from the driver’s seat.
The town mayor was the first to approach, extending his hand.
"Sir, you’ve had a long journey! We’re from Hedian Town, waiting for you on orders from our superiors."
The others also nodded in greeting, their words filled with respect.
Xiao Li gave a brief response, stating that he was on official business and there was no need for excessive pleasantries.
He glanced at his watch. It was already past eleven at night.
He mentally calculated whether he could still press on with the rest of his itinerary.
Hearing that Xiao Li was in a hurry, they quickly offered to lead the way.
After a moment’s consideration, Xiao Li nodded in agreement.
The cadres quickly divided the tasks.
One person stayed behind to coordinate communications, while the rest got into the car.
Xiao Li took them with him, and the car continued deeper into the mountains.
By the time they reached Shunping Village, it was the middle of the night.
The car’s headlights set all the village dogs barking.
Villagers living nearby were woken by the noise and began to open their windows to look outside.
"Comrade, you should stop here. The car can’t go any further."
said the cadre in the passenger seat, pointing ahead.
Just ahead was a steep, narrow path, only wide enough for a single person to pass.
Xiao Li hit the brakes and pushed open the car door.
The deputy town mayor walked quickly to a house in the center of the village and knocked firmly on the door a few times.
From inside came the sound of a cough, followed by the shuffle of slippers on the floor.
The door creaked open, and an old man with grizzled hair peeked out.
Upon seeing who it was, he immediately bowed and scraped, inviting them inside to talk.
On the way there, one of the cadres gave him a quick briefing.
"A leader is here to claim a relative, a girl named Song Yao. She’s lived in your village for over ten years. You know her family’s situation best, so when we get inside, tell this Mr. Li everything you know."
The village secretary didn’t dare hide anything and immediately spilled the beans.
He said that Song Shunqiang and his wife had two daughters and didn’t care for either of them.
They were especially harsh toward the older one, Song Yao.
From the time she was five, they made her work in the fields, collect manure, carry water, and feed the pigs—she did everything.
When she was seven or eight, she was forced to wash clothes and cook for her younger brother.
One time, she had a high fever for three days, but Song Shunqiang and his wife accused her of faking it to get out of work and still made her go up the mountain to chop firewood.
Xiao Li stood by, listening, his brow furrowing deeper and deeper.
The situation was more or less as Song Yao had described. The Song Family had despised daughters from the very beginning,
treating her like livestock since she was a child, never letting her eat her fill or wear warm clothes.
Finally, the village secretary sighed.
"Any other child wouldn’t have survived in a household like that. It’s a miracle she’s still alive. That girl, Song Ni, she’s tough..."
"It’s not that she’s tough."
Xiao Li interrupted him.
"It’s that she has a strong backbone."
The village secretary was taken aback for a second, then nodded vigorously.
"Yes, yes, yes! That’s exactly the spirit! In any case, the girl finally pulled through. A while back, word was that Song Shunqiang and his wife were going to marry her off to Zhang Laosan for a bride price. The whole village exploded, calling them black-hearted. I even gave them a piece of my mind to their faces. What kind of parents treat their own child so horribly?"