Lin Xinyao struggled awake from pain in the afternoon, only to realize her hands and feet were bound, and she had been left in a dilapidated, abandoned house.
Terrified, she screamed for help, but the only response was the squeaking of rats. Refusing to give up, she called out several more times, but still received no answer.
Damn it—who had kidnapped her and left her here? Her mind cursed the culprit endlessly. And then she thought of her family—had they already left?
No, that couldn’t be. She was so spoiled at home; her family must be waiting for her.
Despite her attempts to calm herself, tears of panic flowed uncontrollably, first silently, then turning into full-blown sobs.
The rundown, remote house was at least two to three hundred meters from the nearest neighbors. Fortunately, Lin Susu had eventually removed the cloth gag from Lin Xinyao’s mouth—otherwise, she might have cried herself to death with no one knowing.
“Who’s there? Who’s crying?”
The commotion must have been loud enough to draw attention. A passerby finally noticed something was wrong. In the abandoned house, they heard the cries and cautiously called out.
“Help! Someone, please help me! I’m a Lin family daughter!”
Terrified that anyone might leave, Lin Xinyao immediately revealed her identity. Seeing someone actually enter, she finally quieted down.
At that moment, the sharp pain in the back of her head worsened her discomfort. Her panic and tension relaxed just enough that she fainted again.
“Oh dear, it’s a little girl. She fainted! Quick, help untie her and take her to the hospital.”
By sheer luck, Lin Xinyao was taken to a hospital for treatment. She remained unconscious longer than Lin Susu had, so they missed each other that afternoon.
As soon as she arrived at the hospital, Lin Xinyao woke up. After the doctor dressed the wound at the back of her head and asked her identity, she anxiously insisted on being discharged—she wanted to go home.
Only to find her pockets completely empty, Lin Xinyao had never felt so embarrassed or unlucky in her life. Covered in dirt and grime, she had even lost all the money on her.
“Doctor, I have no money on me. Can I call my family to bring some?”
In the 1960s, telephones were rare, usually only in workplaces, but the Lin family had been wealthy for generations and already had one. Lin Xinyao skillfully dialed the Lin estate’s number—but got no response.
It seemed no one was home. Holding back her fear, she tried another number, calling her uncle at his workplace.
“Uncle… it’s Xinyao. I’m at the Chengdong People’s Hospital. Could you… could you come get me?”
“Xinyao, how come you’re at the hospital? Don’t worry, I’ll be there to pick you up right away.”
Hearing his niece’s choking voice, Director Liang grew anxious. Hanging up, he immediately summoned his secretary.
“Secretary Qian, my niece has been found. Send the people outside back, and give each of them two yuan for their trouble.”
With that, Director Liang grabbed his briefcase and rushed past the secretary to the hospital to pick up Lin Xinyao.
The first thing Lin Xinyao asked upon seeing her uncle was about her family. She had always believed she was the most cherished child—how could her parents leave her behind?
However, Director Liang’s hesitant answer slapped her in the face: all thirty-plus members of the Lin family had left. Only she, the Lin family’s young lady, had been abandoned.
“Uncle, do my parents not want me anymore? Will I never see them again? Waaaah…”
At this point, Lin Xinyao was filled with regret and anger. If she hadn’t been so calculating, if she hadn’t gone to see Li Yanbing, she might have left with the family.
In the 1960s, China was in a severe food shortage; even high-ranking officials tightened their belts. And she had missed the chance to leave with her family in time.
What was she supposed to do now? Thinking of this, her crying only grew more intense.
“Xinyao, don’t cry. Your parents left a note instructing me to take good care of you. They also left a note for Secretary Wang, asking him to find a way to send you out. Your parents will wait for you in Gangcheng to reunite.”
Lin Xinyao felt a bit comforted. She now knew her parents had entrusted someone else to get her out safely. Secretary Wang, who had arranged her family’s departure, surely had the ability to ensure her safety.
“Uncle, did you see Lin Susu? Did she do this to me?”
Although she had gone with the matriarch in the evening to deliver the green bean syrup, Lin Xinyao was more suspicious and resentful than the matriarch. If anything bad happened, her first instinct was to blame Lin Susu.
“What happened? Are you saying Lin Susu harmed you?”
The abrupt question puzzled Director Liang and reminded him that he still didn’t know what had happened to his niece the night before.
“Last night I went out to meet a classmate. Then my classmate took me to the back yard gate. As I watched my classmate leave and prepared to go home, someone suddenly hit the back of my head, and I lost consciousness.
I woke up in an abandoned, broken house, tied with rope. I called for help for a long time before someone found me. Finally, I woke up here in the hospital.”
The facts were as Lin Xinyao described. She dared not lie, though she still suspected Lin Susu had hit her.
“All right, I’ll get to the bottom of this. Xinyao, your family has left, which has caused quite a stir. You should stay low for now.”
Both of them tacitly agreed to investigate privately rather than report to the police. Until the Lin family’s departure was no longer a hot topic, Lin Xinyao planned to stay put.
“Uncle, how is my home now? Can I still go back and see it?”
She worried that asking directly might attract attention, but Director Liang assumed she wanted to live at home. He hurriedly explained:
“Xinyao, you’ll stay at your uncle’s house from now on. Anything you need, just tell me. Your house has been sealed by the street office, so it’s better not to go there.”
Sealed? Just like she had heard before—during the national crisis, the Lin family’s departure still had negative repercussions. They had donated most of their wealth but couldn’t stop the gossip.
“Uncle, did Uncle Wang promise to find a way to get me out?”
When her uncle had said her parents left a note asking Uncle Wang to help send her away, she hadn’t thought deeply about it. Now, after the Lin family’s departure caused trouble, would Secretary Wang still risk it?
Lin Xinyao wasn’t sure. If Secretary Wang refused, she would have to go to Guangzhou herself, then use connections to reach Gangcheng.
In her previous life, the movement lasted a full ten years. Her uncle’s family suffered: her uncle was demoted for alleged foreign connections, her aunt divorced him and cut ties, her eldest cousin in the military was unaffected, and her second cousin went to the countryside as a “sent-down youth.”
No, she had to leave. If Secretary Wang couldn’t send her, she would go to Guangzhou herself and find a way to Gangcheng.