Lin Jingwan looked at Li Zhaoye in surprise. Why had they come to the Public Security Bureau when everything had been going perfectly well?
Facing her questioning gaze, Li Zhaoye didn’t explain much. He simply raised a hand, motioning for her to follow, then walked into an office with practiced familiarity.
“Comrade Li is here!”
“Captain Gao, sorry to trouble you!”
“Why be so polite between the two of us? The matter you asked me to handle is already taken care of.”
“Xiao Zhao!” Captain Gao called loudly toward the doorway.
“Coming! Coming!”
A young police officer named Xiao Zhao immediately answered from outside and hurried into the room, several portraits in his hands.
Li Zhaoye handed the portraits to Lin Jingwan.
“Take a look. How accurate are they?”
The moment Lin Jingwan’s eyes landed on the portraits, her entire body froze.
This… was her mother!
It looked at least eighty percent like her!
“After your mother threw herself into the river, her body was never found. Her whereabouts and whether she was alive or dead remained unknown.
“On the day we got married, I asked around and gathered information about her appearance. Then I asked Captain Gao to have someone draw these portraits.”
Li Zhaoye continued, “Next, I’ll have people post these portraits in the villages along all the nearby rivers.
“I’ve left contact information and an address beneath the portraits. If anyone has seen the woman in the portraits or discovers any relevant clues, they can contact us immediately.
“Besides that, I’ve also asked Li Zhanfeng from the County People’s Armed Forces Department to help. He’ll arrange to have a missing-person notice published in the newspaper to expand the search area. We won’t overlook even the slightest clue.”
Lin Jingwan looked at the man before her, her emotions tangled.
Originally, she had planned to find her grandmother first, settle her younger brother and sister, and then start looking into her mother’s whereabouts.
She had never expected Li Zhaoye to have already made all these arrangements quietly.
She raised her eyes to the tall, straight-backed man before her, and her heart felt soft and warm.
Lin Jingwan took out the small notebook she always carried in her bag.
Inside were detailed notes about her mother’s appearance far more detailed than the information they had previously collected.
Some descriptions were based on what her mother looked like in Lin Jingwan’s own memories.
Others were based on descriptions of her mother when she was young, which Lin Jingwan had gathered from the elderly women in the village.
She had originally planned to have someone draw the portraits as a gift for her grandmother, hoping to give the old woman some comfort.
Xiao Zhao, who was standing nearby, glanced at the notebook and his eyes immediately lit up.
“Wow! You recorded everything in such detail. I can use this information to revise the portraits!”
Xiao Zhao was extremely efficient, and the new portraits were completed in no time.
One depicted her in her early twenties, youthful and radiant.
Another showed her at around thirty, gentle and mature.
The third portrayed her as a woman in her forties, with the appearance of a middle-aged woman.
Three portraits, spanning thirty years of changes.
“It’s Mom… They’re all Mom.”
Luoluo came over, her little face filled with amazement.
“This one looks exactly like Mom! Brother Xiao Zhao, you’re amazing!”
Xiao Zhao scratched his head shyly.
“It’s mainly because the information you provided was detailed enough!”
Lin Jingwan carefully put the portraits away and sincerely thanked him.
“Thank you, Comrade Xiao Zhao!
“Could I trouble you to draw a few more portraits of her at around forty?”
As she spoke, she reached for her money.
“Take this and buy some paper and ink.”
Xiao Zhao hurriedly waved his hands and refused.
“No, no! We can’t accept private gifts. That would violate regulations!”
Captain Gao also smiled and declined.
“Comrade Xiao Lin, don’t be so formal. A few sheets of paper won’t cost much. Besides, anything involving Comrade Li is also my business! My younger brother serves under Comrade Li, and he’s received plenty of care from him. This little favor really isn’t anything.”
After going back and forth for a while, Lin Jingwan finally stopped insisting.
She planned to mail them some local specialties from Beijing later. That way, they probably wouldn’t be able to refuse.
Once everything concerning the portraits had been settled, the group said goodbye and left.
The daylight outside was warm and gentle.
After walking out of the Public Security Bureau, Lin Jingwan gazed steadily at Li Zhaoye beside her, her eyes soft.
“Li Zhaoye!”
“Hmm? What is it?”
“Thank you. Really.”
Seeing the genuine gratitude in her eyes, Li Zhaoye’s gaze softened slightly.
“It’s my duty.
“Finding Jing Shuning is part of my official duties in the first place. Besides, she’s my mother-in-law. It’s only right that I put some effort into finding her.”
Lin Jingwan’s heart warmed at his words.
The longer she spent with this man, the more she realized that she truly liked him.
“Mm. Let’s go. We’re heading back to Beijing.”
The group successfully boarded the train back to Beijing.
The platform and carriages were packed with people, with passengers squeezing past one another everywhere.
Li Zhaoye carried little Luoluo in one arm and shouldered the luggage with the other as he cleared a path forward.
Lin Jingwan held Hanhan’s hand and followed behind.
Fortunately, Li Zhaoye had booked sleeper berths, so there were far fewer people once they boarded.
Lin Jingwan put down her backpack, reached into her pocket, and handed a handful of things to Li Zhaoye.
“Is there anything here that you wanted?”
Li Zhaoye: “……”
He looked at a wristwatch, a fountain pen, and a copper cigarette holder, and the corner of his mouth twitched.
“Where… did these come from?”
“There were a lot of people getting on the train just now. Someone tried to pick my pocket, so I simply picked their pocket right back.”
She then looked at Hanhan.
“You didn’t lose any of your things, did you?”
Hanhan shook his head.
“No. I put all the important things in the little pocket inside my underwear.”
“Mine aren’t missing either!” Luoluo immediately chimed in. “I stuck mine against my little tummy.”
Li Zhaoye: “……”
Alright, then.
Having a little vigilance was a good thing.
The train rumbled steadily onward. It was an old-fashioned steam train, and each compartment had six berths arranged in three levels: upper, middle, and lower.
The two children were fascinated by the upper berths and eagerly chose the top bunks. Li Zhaoye chose a lower berth so he could keep watch at night, while Lin Jingwan took the middle berth.
With nothing else to do, she lay on her bunk, closed her eyes, and began planning for the days ahead.
Once they arrived in Beijing, the first thing she needed to do was naturally to cling tightly to her grandmother’s support.
But she couldn’t depend on her grandmother forever.
She had two younger siblings to raise, a missing mother to find, and placing newspaper advertisements to search for her mother would probably cost quite a bit. All of these things required money, so she needed a way to earn a living herself.
She began sorting through her own advantages.
The spiritual power she had brought from the apocalypse was already almost completely depleted, and the spatial ability she had once relied on for survival had disappeared altogether.
Compared with ordinary people in this world, she was still pretty capable physically and could easily handle regular people. But she was nowhere near someone like Li Zhaoye, a special forces soldier.
This was a peaceful era, and there wasn’t really a profession for bodyguards or private security. She didn’t want to join the military and endure harsh training either.
In this life, all she wanted was to be a happy freeloader and live peacefully and comfortably.
Speaking of a peaceful life, she did have a decent appearance fair skin, pretty features, and long legs and she had successfully married Li Zhaoye.
So far, she was quite satisfied with this man. She had no plans to replace him anytime soon. For now, she just wanted to settle down and live a good life.
But while a fixed salary of 100 yuan a month was enough to cover food and basic necessities, it would be difficult to live in real comfort on that alone.
Reforms had not yet fully opened up the economy, and there were limited ways to make a living.
The so-called “Eight Categories of Personnel,” jobs at supply and marketing cooperatives, or positions within the state system she didn’t want any of them!
She didn’t want to be restricted!
She admitted it.
She was lazy, materialistic, and a little fussy.
But that was simply who she was!
All she wanted was to stay at home, look up at the blue sky, lie comfortably in bed, and quietly watch the clouds drift and the seasons change.
Lin Jingwan thought about it again and again.
It seemed the only option left was to cling tightly to her grandmother’s support!
Sigh!
How about learning cooking from Grandma? She could make use of her excellent inherited genes and then recruit a few helpers to do the hard work for her?
Wait!
She had it!
Lin Jingwan suddenly sat upright on her bunk.
How could she have forgotten about this?!
There was still a ginseng root in her bag!
Although her spiritual power was pitifully weak, the foundation was still there!
Medical care in this era was relatively underdeveloped.
Western medicine was good at treating external injuries and performing surgery, but it wasn’t as effective when it came to internal health and long-term conditioning. Meanwhile, many masters of traditional Chinese medicine had suffered through the upheavals of the times, resulting in a serious break in the transmission of their knowledge.
She could rebuild her spiritual power and then use it to process medicinal herbs. When it came to screening herbs and removing impurities, her spiritual power would give her a tremendous advantage.
It was almost as if she had X-ray vision. She could easily see through the surface of medicinal herbs, precisely extract their medicinal properties, and maximize their effectiveness.
She could carefully process them into medicinal wines and other preparations, then sell them at a high price!
Yes!
She could sell them to people in the upper echelons of society!
Her husband Li Zhaoye’s superiors, her grandmother’s clients, and those influential figures suffering from chronic deficiencies and hidden health problems!
She would even have a legitimate lineage to back her up.
Her grandfather had been a herb gatherer, while her grandmother and father had both been barefoot doctors. On top of that, her grandmother’s family had a tradition of imperial chefs.
With all these things put together, she could reasonably claim to have inherited a legitimate tradition of medical and culinary knowledge!
No, she was already getting impatient.
She had to study this properly!
This was far better than becoming a cook!
Lin Jingwan smiled.
Her eyes curved into crescents, and her mood became incredibly light.
She had found her goal for the next stage of her life!
Now she finally had something definite to work toward.
“Jingwan, what’s wrong?”
Li Zhaoye heard the movement and asked.
“Nothing. I just suddenly figured something out. I’m going to sleep for a while.”
“Alright.”
With her thoughts settled, Lin Jingwan closed her eyes and tried to activate the faint trace of spiritual power within her.
But the moment she tried to mobilize it, that tiny strand of energy hadn’t even had time to gather properly before it scattered away as lightly as a fart…
Sigh!
This era didn’t have the abundant, violent energy of the apocalypse, nor did it have the shortcut of absorbing crystal cores to rapidly increase her strength.
Fortunately, places like forests, fields, and areas covered in morning dew contained purer natural energy and spiritual essence.
After thinking everything through, she adjusted her mindset.
She decided to circulate her spiritual power a little every day. With enough time and accumulation, she would eventually make progress.
She could only make up for her lack of resources with diligence and slowly polish and strengthen her abilities.
Once she had figured everything out, she peacefully drifted off to sleep.