The next day, Yan Sui drove to Evergreen Village.
She was driving Jiang Yeling’s car.
She had planned to buy a car herself, but wanted to wait until she’d settled on a place to live before deciding what kind to get.
On the way, Jiang Yeling sent her a string of voice messages.
“I can’t even keep up with all the cursing! Do you remember Yan Sen? He actually went online and spread rumors that you led the bullying in high school—that you ostracized him!”
“He’s pretty clever. He knows you’re getting a lot of attention right now, so he’s come out to ride your coattails and grab some traffic.”
Yan Sui raised an eyebrow. She certainly remembered Yan Sen.
Yan Sen had been one of the poor students she’d sponsored.
She had started supporting him even before Fu Qingci.
There was something wrong with his head. Somehow he’d found out she was his benefactor and decided Yan Sui had a crush on him.
He came up to her and said a whole lot of utterly baffling things.
After she turned him down, he kept pestering her to no avail, then even declared his love for her in public.
Yan Sui rejected him again, of course.
She remained polite throughout, for the sake of appearances.
But in Yan Sen’s eyes, her good manners meant: “She likes me. She’s just shy. She’s absolutely crazy about me.”
Yan Sui had no choice but to stop sponsoring him.
That made Yan Sen so furious and humiliated that he hurled abuse at her and spread sexual rumors about her.
At the time, Yan Sui had a good reputation at school. When she confronted Yan Sen in public, her classmates all took her side.
That was probably what Yan Sen was now calling “bullying” and “ostracizing.”
“Don’t get mad. Lend me your lawyer, and I’ll gather evidence and sue him.”
“Okay! I’ll contact the lawyer for you right now!” Jiang Yeling replied.
Yan Sui parked the car at the entrance to the village and got out with her bag.
She was dressed casually that day, in a simple T-shirt and jeans.
But her face naturally drew attention, and with Jiang Yeling’s understated luxury car, it was hard not to notice her.
The elderly men and women sitting beneath the ginkgo tree at the village entrance were whispering among themselves, occasionally pointing at her.
Yan Sui knew they were talking about her without even going over.
As soon as she stepped out of the car, she sensed a dense surge of spiritual energy.
Her beautiful eyes narrowed slightly as she looked toward the mountain peaks in the distance.
This was it. She’d decided.
“Ma’am, could you tell me how to get to Yan Shunzhong’s house?”
At that, the elderly men and women fell silent.
“Who?”
“Yan. Shun. Zhong.”
One of the women stood up, hands tucked into her sleeves, and looked her over in confusion.
“Where are you from? What do you want with our village secretary?”
“My biological father was Yan Shunguo. Yan Shunzhong is my eldest uncle.”
The woman’s mouth fell open in shock.
Just then, the old man beside her slapped his thigh.
“That’s right! Second Uncle Yan had a daughter, didn’t he? Wasn’t she given away by her own mother?”
The woman suddenly understood and nodded repeatedly. “Yes, yes, there was a daughter like that.”
But everyone said Yan Sui had been adopted by a rich family and gone to live a comfortable life in the city.
People were supposed to move up in the world. Why had she come back?
“Ruan, take the girl to the secretary’s house.”
Yan Sui knew that Yan Shunzhong was the secretary of Evergreen Village.
Aunt Ruan hesitated. “All right, then. Come with me.”
Yan Sui looked puzzled. The woman seemed to have something she wanted to tell her.
Sure enough, before they’d gone far, Aunt Ruan spoke up.
“Dear, why don’t you come back another day?”
Yan Sui was even more confused. “Why, Auntie?”
Aunt Ruan twisted her fingers. She was torn, unsure whether she should tell Yan Sui what had happened.
The girl had finally come all this way. What if she frightened her off and the Yan family blamed her for it?
“Something’s happened at your eldest uncle’s house lately.”
From Aunt Ruan, Yan Sui got a rough idea of what was going on in Yan Shunzhong’s household.
After Yan Shunguo passed away, only the brothers Yan Shunzhong and Yan Shunxia remained.
Tian Xiangjuan had kidney disease and had to go to the hospital for dialysis every week. Medicine and treatment cost a lot each year.
But both brothers were hard workers, so they managed to get by.
The trouble started when a group of children went to play at the fishpond at Yan Shunxia’s house. They fell in and nearly drowned.
“Nearly drowned?”
Aunt Ruan sighed. “Your younger uncle found them in time and pulled them out.”
It really wasn’t Yan Shunxia’s fault.
This wasn’t the first time those children had gone to play at the fishpond. They’d taken firecrackers to blow up the fish, and snuck out at night to steal them when no one was around. Yan Shunxia had caught them several times.
First he tried talking to their parents, but that got nowhere, so he even called the police.
But the children were all underage. At most, they got a verbal warning, and within a few days they’d gone right back to their old ways.
“From what you’ve told me, it doesn’t sound like my younger uncle was much at fault.”
Aunt Ruan shook her head. “Oh, the child nearly drowned in your uncle’s fishpond. He has to pay compensation no matter what. Your uncle is willing to pay, but the child’s family says it isn’t enough. They come to the village to cause trouble every day.”
The child’s Big Brother was a local thug in town who knew plenty of people from the underworld.
He kept showing up with a gang of thugs to blockade the house.
“How much do they want my uncle to pay?” Yan Sui asked.
“A million.”
Yan Sui scoffed. That was going too far.
“Auntie, take me there.”
Aunt Ruan was surprised and suspicious. She wondered if Yan Sui meant to pay the money for the Yan family.
After all, she looked like she had plenty of money.
Yan Shunzhong and Yan Shunxia’s families lived side by side. Their single-story houses stood close together, with a large courtyard in front.
At that moment, seven or eight thugs were crowding the otherwise empty courtyard, cigarettes dangling from their mouths as they filled the air with smoke.
Facing them were members of the Yan family, led by Yan Shunzhong.
Even Tian Xiangjuan, who was ill, had a spatula in her hand, looking ready to fight.
As soon as Aunt Ruan and Yan Sui walked in, everyone turned to look.
“Shunzhong, this young woman’s here to see your family.”
The Yan family stared at Yan Sui in astonishment.
Only Tian Xiangjuan, holding the spatula, suddenly reddened around the eyes. She recognized Yan Sui almost at once.
Her voice trembling, she asked, “I-is that Suisui? Are you Yan Sui?”
Yan Sui’s name had been chosen by Xu Mozun.
After Yan Zhaohua and his wife adopted her, they hadn’t changed her name.
Yan Sui nodded slightly, looking sweet and obedient.
“Grandma, it’s me, Yan Sui.”
Tian Xiangjuan immediately wiped away her tears and went to her.
“My granddaughter! Old man, come and look—our granddaughter is even prettier in person than in the pictures!”
Yan Sui stared blankly at the hand clasping hers. It was rough and calloused, yet dry and solid, and so warm.
When she was little and went to school, she would sometimes envy the other students.
She envied them for having parents who picked them up after school, and for being able to hold their parents’ hands.
When she grew up, she decided she’d been too greedy.
But deep down, she still longed for it.
And now she understood: an elder’s hand could be so warm.
“You’ve seen pictures of me?”
Tian Xiangjuan was laughing and crying at once. “Yes. Your grandpa and I don’t know how to use the internet, but your two younger brothers come home on weekends and show us your pictures.”
Yan Sui pressed her lips together. Her reputation online wasn’t very good. If the old couple had seen what people said about her, it could only have made them sad.
Seeing that they’d already started reminiscing as though no one else were there, the yellow-haired thug in charge had had enough.
“Well? If you don’t give us an answer, my boys here are going to stop being nice.”
Then he leered at Yan Sui with a sleazy grin.
“Or she could sleep with me for a few nights to cover ten or twenty thousand. That wouldn’t be so bad.”