Qin Yuan followed the group back toward the village.
The ice was hard and slippery, and none of them dared stop walking. Standing still would only make it easier to lose their footing. Before long, they arrived at Xia Family Bay.
Hu Yinglian’s house stood at the entrance of the village, so they reached it first.
She shoved Xia Min through the courtyard gate, then abruptly spun around and glared viciously at Qin Yuan, her eyes brimming with resentment and malice.
Qin Yuan didn’t retreat even half a step. She simply returned her gaze coldly.
Under Qin Yuan’s stare, Hu Yinglian inexplicably felt uneasy. In the end, she was the first to look away. She entered her house resentfully and slammed the door shut behind her.
Xia Kunshan and Xia Shugen were uncle and nephew from the same clan. The two had been whispering to each other the entire way, still discussing what had happened at the clinic. As they talked, they eventually went their separate ways and returned home.
Qin Yuan’s house was at the far end of the village.
As outsiders who had settled there later, the Qin family’s house stood beside a large drainage ditch, isolated from the rest of the village. They had always lived somewhat apart from everyone else.
Qin Yuan had barely reached the entrance when the wooden door creaked open from inside.
Ming Shuangfeng and Qin Wang poked their heads out from either side of the doorway. Without saying a word, they grabbed Qin Yuan and pulled her inside.
“Sis, why are your hands so cold? I’ll get you some hot water!” Qin Wang exclaimed worriedly.
Ming Shuangfeng reached out to feel Qin Yuan’s forehead, her brows tightly furrowed.
“You must be exhausted. Do you still have a fever? What a terrible ordeal you’ve been through!”
Qin Yuan lowered her mother’s hand and dragged her exhausted body farther into the house. Only then did she let out a long sigh of relief.
“I spent most of the day fighting with Hu Yinglian and worked up a sweat. I’m definitely exhausted, but my fever has mostly gone down.”
Ming Shuangfeng was still most concerned about one thing.
She nervously asked, “Xia Junsheng… what happened to him in the end?”
Qin Yuan tugged at the corner of her lips, revealing a bitter smile.
“The man rescued by the forest farm wasn’t Xia Junsheng at all. I suspect Xia Junsheng is deliberately hiding somewhere.”
For now, Qin Yuan had no intention of telling her mother about her rebirth in detail.
Her mother was far too timid and softhearted.
If she learned that Qin Yuan had been bullied to death in her previous life and that Qin Wang had eventually disappeared without a trace, she wouldn’t be able to bear it.
Sure enough, merely hearing that Xia Junsheng hadn’t been found was enough to drain the color from Ming Shuangfeng’s face.
“It wasn’t Xia Junsheng? Then won’t Hu Yinglian and the others keep causing trouble? What are we going to do…?”
“Cause trouble? They’re probably too busy worrying about themselves right now.”
To reassure her mother, Qin Yuan deliberately gave a cold laugh, making herself appear completely confident.
“When they saw the injured man at the clinic, they were both shocked and terrified. They panicked so badly they didn’t know what to do. My guess is that they had arranged a time and place to meet Xia Junsheng and were waiting for him to come back.
“But instead of Xia Junsheng, they heard that a stranger had been pulled from the river, suffering from frostbite and broken bones. That frightened them senseless. Now they’re probably imagining all sorts of possibilities.”
She paused, her gaze sharpening.
“I think they’ll secretly go out to look for him very soon. Xiao Wang—”
Qin Yuan immediately called out to her younger brother, who had just returned with the hot water. She didn’t even bother taking a drink before hurriedly instructing him,
“Put on some warmer clothes and go keep watch outside Xia Min’s house right now. They’ve discovered that the man at the forest farm isn’t Xia Junsheng, so they’ll definitely make a move. Watch carefully and see where they go and who they meet.”
“Okay!”
Qin Wang was utterly disgusted by the way Xia Min’s family had cried, screamed, and tried to extort them.
He immediately agreed and ran outside.
The house fell silent once more.
Qin Yuan turned to her mother.
“Mom, when you carried me back from the river yesterday, none of the things in my wet clothes went missing, right?”
Ming Shuangfeng quickly took out everything she had found on Qin Yuan the previous day and placed each item on the table.
“Take a look. Nothing is missing. But didn’t you go there to collect your university admission notice? Why didn’t I see it? Xia Min and the others were already there when I went to carry you home. Could Xia Min have taken it?”
Qin Yuan shook her head.
“No. When I reached the Bureau of Culture and Education yesterday, they told me I had to bring our household registration booklet before they’d give me the admission notice. I left in such a hurry that I forgot to bring it.”
She opened a drawer, took out the household registration booklet, and showed it to her mother.
“See? I’d originally put it here because I planned to take it with me. When I couldn’t collect my admission notice yesterday, I was so frustrated on the way home. I even blamed Xia Min for coming over and delaying me for no reason. She made me rush so much that I forgot it.
“But thinking about it now, that mistake turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Maybe it was fate.”
Ming Shuangfeng finally breathed a sigh of relief.
At the mention of fate, Qin Yuan’s expression suddenly became serious.
She lowered her voice.
“Mom, there’s something else important I need to tell you—I found the person who really saved me!”
Qin Yuan told her mother everything she had discovered at the clinic, including how a simple hair tie had led her to conclude that someone else had been her true rescuer.
After hearing everything, Ming Shuangfeng said nothing.
Instead, she immediately knelt beside the window.
“Thank heavens! Thank the Bodhisattva! Thank your father’s spirit in heaven for protecting you! Please protect that kindhearted young man too!”
She bowed several times before finally rising to her feet, wiping tears from her eyes.
“Then let’s hurry! We need to go take care of that young man!”
Qin Yuan quickly stopped her.
“Mom, you can’t go. You need to stay home. If Hu Yinglian comes back and starts causing trouble again, you’ll be here to help keep things under control. I’ll go by myself.”
She paused, her brows knitting slightly.
“The problem is, I don’t have enough money. And that man’s identity is unknown. He doesn’t have any identification documents on him. The doctor said that if we want to transfer him to a larger hospital, we need a referral letter issued by our production brigade.
“Mom, do we have anything to eat? I’ll eat something quickly, then go to the brigade and ask them to issue the referral letter. I’ll also ask whether they’ll let us receive an advance against our work points.”
Ming Shuangfeng quickly brought over the leftover porridge from that morning.
Qin Yuan had absolutely no appetite.
But when she remembered the man lying on the hospital bed, barely clinging to life, she forced herself to swallow the porridge one mouthful at a time.
She had to hold on.
She had to stay strong.
Only then could she pull her savior back from the gates of death.
Just then—
Bang!
The courtyard gate was suddenly thrown open.
A burst of hurried footsteps headed straight toward the house.
Qin Yuan’s heart jumped. She immediately opened the door.
“Xiao Wang? Why are you back so soon?”
Qin Wang was panting heavily, his face both nervous and excited.
“Sis! I really did catch Xia Min sneaking out! She went straight to find the village security director. She even called him Second Uncle!”
Ming Shuangfeng froze with the bowl of porridge still in her hands.
“Second Uncle? But Director Fan’s surname is Fan. He doesn’t even share Hu Yinglian’s surname. How did he suddenly become her second uncle?”
Qin Yuan frowned deeply.
In her previous life, after she married into the Xia family, Hu Yinglian had never treated her as one of their own, much less allowed her to interact with their relatives.
But once, after Hu Yinglian got into a fight with someone, Qin Yuan had overheard her saying to Xia Min,
“So what if your second uncle married into his wife’s family? He’s still from my maternal family! If something really happens, he’s the village security director. Of course he’ll speak up for us. No one should even think about walking all over our family!”
“They really are relatives,” Qin Yuan said solemnly. “Director Fan married into the Fan family of Production Team Seven. The Fan family has connections in the commune, and that’s how he became the village security director.”
Ming Shuangfeng immediately grew worried.
“Then… weren’t you counting on Director Fan to help us investigate whether someone deliberately cut that hole in the ice? Will he still be of any help?”
Qin Yuan remained calm.
She gestured for Qin Wang to continue.
“Did you hear what they were saying?”
Qin Wang recalled what he had just witnessed, his voice filled with unease.
“The walls around his house were too high, so I only heard bits and pieces. I clearly heard Director Fan say two things.
“First, he said, ‘What do you mean, deliberately cut open? An entire night has passed. The surface would’ve frozen over again by now. Who could possibly tell whether someone cut the hole or not?’
“Then he said something else…”
Qin Wang swallowed nervously before continuing.
“‘A stranger pulled out of the river? What if he’s a wandering criminal? All we have to do is label him one, and we can arrest him immediately. Xiao Min, don’t worry. If that Qin girl dares bully you, I’ll tell the brigade she’s colluding with a wandering criminal. I’ll teach the Qin family a lesson for you!’
“Once I heard that, I didn’t dare stay any longer. I hurried back.”
Qin Wang anxiously looked at his sister.
“Sis, the person they were talking about… could it be that injured man they just pulled out of the river near the forest farm? What does any of this have to do with our family? How can that man just make up accusations like that?”
Qin Yuan’s heart sank.
If someone was determined to condemn you, they would never lack an accusation.
Director Fan and Hu Yinglian truly were birds of a feather.
One was a weasel, the other a wild fox.
No wonder they were family!
But no matter what tricks you try to play…
I will protect my savior.
I will never let you succeed!
Today’s Mini Theater
Qin Yuan: “Hey, Wang. They’re planning to label you a wandering criminal.”
Little Wang-Wang, unconscious but angrily clutching the hair tie: “Who? Who said that?! You’re the wandering criminal! Your whole family is full of wandering criminals!”