Liang Feng ran all the way back at breakneck speed, as if a pack of dogs were chasing him.
The old Liang family house was neither new nor completely dilapidated. After doing something so despicable, Liang Feng’s mother was consumed by anxiety. She had no mind to go out and work in the fields, so she stayed inside, wringing her hands and pacing back and forth.
The moment she saw her son return, she hurried outside.
“Well? Did it work?”
Liang Feng’s face was dark with anger.
“Mom, didn’t I tell you to trick Zhong Yi into going to the little hut by the river? Did you follow my plan or not?”
“I did! I watched her go to the river before I came back. What do you mean? Did it fail?” Liang Feng’s mother asked in a panic.
After thinking it over, she added, “If it didn’t work, then forget it. What we did wasn’t right in the first place. The Zhong family has helped us, a widowed mother and her children, quite a lot over the years. Besides, Yi is a good girl. Why don’t you just marry her?”
Unlike Liang Feng, his mother was a much more honest and straightforward person.
However, Liang Feng immediately became displeased when he heard this. He felt that his mother never considered his interests.
“What do you know? You’ve spent your entire life in Laotianwan and have never seen the outside world! So what if Zhong Yi is pretty? Her family background isn’t even good enough for her to carry Meng Lina’s shoes!”
His words were harsh. Liang Feng’s mother was stunned.
As the old saying went, a son should never think his mother beneath him because of her appearance. Yet here was Liang Feng, speaking so contemptuously.
Unfortunately, he paid no attention to his mother’s reaction. In his eyes, if she hadn’t been so incapable, he wouldn’t have needed to rely on the Zhong family for so much help. Then he wouldn’t have ended up in such an awkward predicament.
As for his admission to medical university, he believed it was entirely the result of his own abilities.
Now that his plan had failed, Liang Feng was extremely irritated.
But then another thought occurred to him. Zhong Yi still hadn’t been found. Perhaps she’d encountered some kind of accident and was already dead.
If that were the case, it would actually be a relief for him.
“Zhong Yi still hasn’t been found. I need to go help look for her.”
As he spoke, he headed outside.
He claimed he was going to search for her, but in truth, he had no desire to find her at all. He would have preferred it if she never appeared again.
As luck would have it, just as he stepped out of his family’s gate, he ran into a villager carrying a hoe on his way to the fields.
It was none other than Aunt Liu, who had helped search for Zhong Yi earlier.
The moment she saw Liang Feng, she greeted him enthusiastically.
“Liang Feng, you haven’t heard yet? Zhong Yi has been found!”
Liang Feng stopped in his tracks, his eyes filled with disbelief.
“She’s been found?”
Aunt Liu found his dazed expression a little strange, but she assumed he was simply overwhelmed with happiness. Excitedly, she explained the situation.
“That girl went to the Zhou family yesterday and stayed with Zhou Yue, the village chief’s youngest daughter. Early this morning, Zhou Yue brought her back and explained what had happened. It turned out to be a misunderstanding!”
As she spoke, Aunt Liu even teased them a little, saying that the two young women had been quite mischievous.
Liang Feng was completely dumbfounded.
Even after Aunt Liu walked away with her hoe, he remained standing at the gate, his brows tightly furrowed and his face dark as thunder.
How had he not known that Zhong Yi and Zhou Yue, the village chief’s daughter, had become so close?
For some reason, he felt that something was wrong. The situation had taken an unexpected turn and was slipping beyond his control.
He took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose hard.
Fortunately, even if the truth came out, he hadn’t been the one to carry out the deed himself. It couldn’t be pinned on him!
With that thought, Liang Feng felt somewhat reassured and went back inside.
“Who were you talking to just now?” his mother asked.
“Aunt Liu. She told me Zhong Yi has been found.”
Liang Feng’s mother’s feelings were complicated. She knew Zhong Yi was a good girl, but no matter how close someone else was to her, no one could matter more than the child she had given birth to.
“So, what are you planning to do now?” she asked.
Liang Feng narrowed his eyes.
“If it didn’t work this time, then so be it. I’ll think of another plan. Originally, I intended to repay her for how well she’d treated our family by finding her a decent man. I even wanted her to live comfortably. Since she doesn’t have the luck to enjoy that, she can’t blame me.”
Seeing the sinister expression on her son’s face, Liang Feng’s mother felt increasingly uneasy.
“Son, what exactly are you planning to do?”
Liang Feng thought to himself that there were plenty of ways to deal with this.
Since his first plan had failed, he wouldn’t be so considerate next time. Zhong Yi was a young and pretty woman. There were plenty of people who would want to buy a woman like her to become their wife after human traffickers kidnapped her.
Every man for himself, and the devil take the hindmost.
He had no intention of showing mercy!
At the same time, Zhou Shu returned to the old Zhou family residence.
The ancestral house was built in a courtyard layout, with three brick rooms in the main building and two side rooms on each side, east and west. In the past, the entire extended family had lived together under one roof. As the sons grew up and started their own families, they gradually moved out.
Zhou’s grandmother had passed away several years earlier, and now only Old Master Zhou lived there.
The house and courtyard were kept spotless. Although the buildings were old, they possessed a simple, dignified air.
Zhou Shu had barely stepped into the courtyard when Gu Qingtang emerged from the eastern side room. Her eyes were red, and she was carrying a suitcase.
The moment she saw Zhou Shu, she froze in surprise.
Remembering the embarrassing thing she had done, she turned her head away and stubbornly bit her lip.
“This girl came back and immediately announced that she wanted to return to the city. I asked her why, but she refused to tell me. It’s a good thing you’ve come back. Talk some sense into Qingtang for me.”
Old Master Zhou looked helpless. As an old man, he genuinely couldn’t figure out what young women were thinking, and he couldn’t be bothered to guess.
Hearing this, Gu Qingtang’s heart trembled. A glimmer of hope rose within her, and she couldn’t help looking at Zhou Shu.
Zhou Shu’s expression remained unchanged. His face was cold and stern, and his lack of expression only made him seem even more serious and unapproachable.
Yet Gu Qingtang was precisely the kind of woman who was attracted to Zhou Shu’s distant, indifferent demeanor.
Her heart pounded wildly, completely losing its rhythm.
“Zhou…”
“Since you want to return to the city, wait until Zhou Duo comes back. I’ll have him accompany you.”
Zhou Duo was his younger brother. Zhou Shu’s parents had three children in total. He had an older sister named Zhou Nan, making him the second child, with Zhou Duo being the youngest.
Gu Qingtang had still been holding on to a little hope that she might be allowed to stay.
But when she heard his words, all the color drained from her face, and her slender body swayed as if she could barely remain standing.
She desperately wanted to tell him that she didn’t need his help and could return to the city on her own.
However, with Old Master Zhou present, she didn’t dare behave so presumptuously. After all, she was merely an adopted daughter of the Zhou family. What right did she have to make demands?
“I understand.”
After saying that, she picked up her suitcase and walked back into the eastern side room.
Old Master Zhou couldn’t be bothered with the trivial affairs of young people. He was getting old, and his temperament had mellowed over the years. All he wanted now was to enjoy a peaceful life.
The village affairs were his younger son’s responsibility. He preferred to live as a carefree old man rather than meddle in other people’s business and risk becoming a nuisance.
This time, however, Zhou Shu had something important that required his grandfather’s personal involvement.
“Grandpa, there’s something I need to discuss with you.”
Old Master Zhou had been relaxed, but when he heard the seriousness in his grandson’s voice, his expression changed as well.
His grandson served in the military and spent most of his time away from home. This time, he had returned on leave and happened to be home for his grandfather’s birthday. Otherwise, the old man might not have had a chance to see him for a long time.
Standing nearly 1.9 meters tall, Zhou Shu possessed an imposing presence and an air of authority that made him impossible to underestimate.
Now that he was speaking with such a solemn expression, Old Master Zhou straightened up and prepared himself to listen carefully.
In the main room, Zhou Shu recounted everything that had happened from the previous night until that morning.
Even Old Master Zhou, who had endured a turbulent life and lived through the most chaotic years of wartime, was furious when he learned that Liang Feng had done something so despicable.
“How dare the Liang family do such a thing? Have they completely lost their conscience? No, they’re worse than pigs and dogs!”
Zhou Shu rarely saw his grandfather this angry, so he found the reaction somewhat surprising and asked a few more questions.
Old Master Zhou then told him more details about the relationship between the Zhong and Liang families.
He learned that the Liang family consisted of a widowed mother and her children, and that most of their living expenses had long depended on the Zhong family’s assistance.
Not only that, but a large portion of Liang Feng’s living expenses during high school and even medical university had also come from the Zhong family.
Liang Feng had devoted himself entirely to his studies. His mother was in poor health, and his younger sister still needed to attend school. Whenever the busy farming season arrived or other important matters arose, Zhong Huilan was the one who stepped in to keep the household running.
When Liang Feng’s mother fell ill, Zhong Yi would stay by her bedside, caring for her and tending to her needs as if she were her own mother.
There were villagers who felt that Zhong Huilan had suffered a miserable fate. Her parents had died, and her husband had abandoned her.
But when it came to how she and her daughter had treated the Liang family, not a single person in the village could honestly say a bad word about Zhong Huilan and Zhong Yi!
Everything Old Master Zhou said was the truth.
After hearing it all, Zhou Shu was deeply shaken.
He had never known there was so much history between the two families.
At that moment, Zhong Yi’s slender figure flashed through his mind.
She had suffered such a terrible injustice, yet she hadn’t said a single word about it.
Zhou Shu felt a heaviness in his chest, an unfamiliar emotion lingering within him that he couldn’t quite put into words.