Based on the information currently in the police’s possession, Jiang Lizhu’s rural foster mother was the prime suspect. However, finding solid witnesses or physical evidence was very difficult.
Neither Jiang Lizhu nor Xiao Jinzhu was born in Su City itself, but in a gynecology hospital in Jinan, Ruan Yumin’s hometown.
That year, the medical luminary, Old Ruan, passed away peacefully in his sleep. Ruan Yumin, eight months pregnant, took her husband and son back to her hometown of Jinan to attend the funeral.
After the funeral, while many men, including Jiang Yuanbai, transported the coffin back to the countryside cemetery for burial, Ruan Yumin, being pregnant, stayed behind at the old residence in Jinan. However, she went into premature labor that night and was sent by the household servants to the nearest gynecology hospital.
By the time Jiang Yuanbai received the news and rushed back to Jinan from the countryside with his eldest son, it was already three days after his wife had given birth.
By then, Ruan Yumin had used her connections with a doctor friend to transfer from the crowded multi-patient ward to a single room for recovery. But before that, her daughter had already been switched.
According to the file, Jiang Lizhu’s rural foster parents were working as street vendors in Jinan at the time. At the end of the same year, they made their way across provinces back to their hometown, Xiahe Village in Yangguang County, Shanxi.
The most suspicious detail was in April, eight years ago, when Jiang Lizhu’s foster mother traveled alone by train to Jinan. Her whereabouts in Jinan were difficult to trace, but she stayed for a full month before returning.
According to the villagers’ testimonies, after returning from Jinan, the foster mother had a violent argument with Jiang Lizhu’s rural foster father. In the end, both of them brutally beat Jiang Lizhu.
If the village chief hadn’t promptly taken Jiang Lizhu to the county hospital, the child might have been beaten to death by that unscrupulous couple.
During multiple interrogations by the Yangguang County police in Shanxi, she insisted she had come to Jinan to visit former girlfriends and had nothing to do with the baby switching, let alone admitted to switching the child.
As for the accusations of the couple’s long-term abuse of Jiang Lizhu, the case was ultimately dropped due to “insufficient evidence.” Yangguang County and even Xiahe Village were very poor; every household lacked surplus food. In the countryside, there were countless girls who fared worse than Jiang Lizhu. If they were to be punished for this, the county police station’s jail wouldn’t be big enough to hold them all.
Entrusted by Jiang Yuanbai and his wife, the Su City police were continuing their investigation. However, both Jiang Lizhu and Xiao Jinzhu were born in February 1951, during the early years of the founding of the nation. Household registration management wasn’t as strict then, and population movement was chaotic, making investigation and evidence gathering very difficult.
Without finding clearer evidence, the police couldn’t do anything about Jiang Lizhu’s foster mother.
Xiong Dongjun glanced out the window of the small meeting room. Apart from those on duty, his colleagues were either out on field assignments or on lunch break. He still lowered his voice as he continued explaining to Gu Mingyan.
“Actually, back then, Professor Jiang had already asked the police to accompany him to send Xiao Jinzhu back to her hometown. But in the end… our comrade couldn’t bear her pleas and brought Xiao Jinzhu back to Su City.”
Seven years ago, Xiong Dongjun had transferred to the Su City police based on his wife’s original household registration. He was essentially a witness to and participant in Jiang Lizhu’s family recognition incident, knowing more inside details than Jiang Lizhu herself.
Jiang Yuanbai and Ruan Yumin were already considered sensible parents. However, Xiao Jinzhu’s biological parents were truly despicable. Not only were they planning to sell their foster daughter for bride price, but they also intended to sell their biological daughter.
Of course, in their telling, it wasn’t selling, but an engagement. With the relationship formalized, they were simply sending the girl to her future husband’s family to be raised beforehand. They were poor, and this was to give the child a chance to survive.
According to Xiao Jinzhu herself, she had escaped on the way to being sent to a remote mountain village. Not daring to trust anyone else, she could only seek help from the Su City police who had accompanied her back to find her family. She was in a miserable state, and they couldn’t just look away, so they brought her back to Su City.
Having raised Xiao Jinzhu for so many years, Jiang Yuanbai and Ruan Yumin couldn’t bear to see such a young girl suffer.
And so, Xiao Jinzhu stayed in Su City to continue her studies. Soon after, she voluntarily moved out of the Jiang household and into school dormitories.
After that, Xiong Dongjun didn’t pay much attention to Jiang Lizhu or the Jiang family’s affairs, until last year… when Jiang Yuanbai was reported by several of his students and taken away by the Revolutionary Committee.
Jiang Yuanbai wasn’t the first professor at Su City University to be ousted, nor was he the one who suffered the worst fate. Aside from a private sigh, Xiong Dongjun couldn’t do anything.
But then, his comrade Gu Mingyan married Jiang Lizhu, Jiang Yuanbai’s biological daughter and one of the parties involved in the family recognition case.
At a dinner gathering, when Gu Mingyan introduced them, Xiong Dongjun saw Jiang Lizhu again, now grown up.
“It’s not that I, as a brother, didn’t want to tell you back then. Matters like these really need to be brought up by the sister-in-law herself,” Xiong Dongjun said. Even he, with all his experience at the police station, had to sigh at Jiang Lizhu’s troubled and hardship-filled life.
Since Jiang Lizhu hadn’t mentioned these things herself, he, as the handling officer, couldn’t proactively disclose them to Gu Mingyan due to professional ethics.
Now that Gu Mingyan had come to him, whether he had learned about it from Jiang Lizhu or heard it through the grapevine, he could retrieve the file and honestly tell Gu Mingyan about it.
“I understand,” Gu Mingyan nodded slightly. His gaze lingered for a moment on the testimonies provided by various villagers in the documents before he finished reading the case file.
Currently, the Su City police investigation had reached a stalemate. To find a new breakthrough, they would need to start from the hospital in Jinan where the incident occurred.
Gu Mingyan used the police station’s phone to call two comrades who had transferred back to Jinan. One worked in the security department of a large factory, the other in a government security section.
Although neither was a police officer now, both had served as reconnaissance soldiers and were locals from Jinan. Entrusting them with the investigation might yield better results than going directly through the police.
“Lin Tianlei was also a student of Old Ruan, a senior fellow apprentice to Dr. Ruan. Logically, he shouldn’t act this way,” Xiong Dongjun continued, telling Gu Mingyan what he knew about Vice President Lin Tianlei’s situation.
Lin Tianlei had managed to defeat numerous competitors with comparable medical skills and family backgrounds to become vice president. It was hard to say he didn’t have the backing of being Old Ruan’s student – it wasn’t just a guarantee of medical skill, but also a guarantee of connections.
But people’s hearts change easily. Old Ruan had been gone for nearly twenty years. Lin Tianlei might not be willing to acknowledge that teacher-student bond anymore, or perhaps he felt that his son Lin Mujia marrying Jiang family’s foster daughter Xiao Jinzhu was already repaying that debt of gratitude.
“Neither my wife nor I want a private settlement. Lin Mujia should be punished according to the law, whatever that entails.”
Gu Mingyan understood Jiang Lizhu’s meaning, and he shared the same thought. Compared to any money they might get from a settlement, they would rather see Lin Mujia receive the punishment he deserved.
“Alright, got it. If there’s anything else you need, don’t hesitate to ask your old company commander,” Xiong Dongjun said. He had been Gu Mingyan’s company commander when Gu Mingyan first enlisted. Gu Mingyan was exceptionally gifted and willing to work hard, quickly earning merits and promotions. Within two years, he was noticed by leaders from other military regions and transferred away.
But their bond of comradership had always remained. Gu Mingyan trusted Xiong Dongjun’s character and ability, and Xiong Dongjun was optimistic about Gu Mingyan’s future. Some things didn’t need to be said at length.
“Then I’ll make one more call,” Gu Mingyan said with a smile. He continued using the phone to call his military unit, confirming the progress of Jiang Lizhu and the baby’s military dependents’ relocation procedures and the matter of the train sleeper tickets.
The unit could secure through sleeper tickets for Gu Mingyan at the earliest seven days from now. After a brief pause to consider, Gu Mingyan agreed.
He also borrowed Xiong Dongjun’s bicycle, rode to the train station, and picked up two first-leg soft sleeper train tickets. After returning the bicycle, he said goodbye to Xiong Dongjun and left.
…
At the East Small Courtyard of the family compound.
Jiang Lizhu and the little one had both woken up after an hour-long nap.
After changing the baby’s diaper and feeding him, Jiang Lizhu remained lying in bed, playing with him – no, helping him exercise.
The little one would occasionally roll over, prop up his little head, and happily flap his limbs against the bed, babbling “ah ah” to get Jiang Lizhu’s attention.
“Baby is so good!” Jiang Lizhu would lean over every now and then to kiss the little one, wiping away his drool as she did so.
“Thump thump!” Two knocks on the door, followed by an unfamiliar middle-aged woman’s voice from outside: “Xiao Jiang, Comrade Gu, are you there? I’m Mujia’s mother, Fan Xue. Could we talk?”
Jiang Lizhu rolled her eyes elegantly upon hearing this, then replied lazily, “I’m here, but I’m busy. And there’s nothing to talk about anyway.”
The person outside was clearly rendered speechless by Jiang Lizhu’s words. She took several deep breaths before speaking again: “I’m here to apologize to you on his behalf.”
Jiang Lizhu sat up, adjusted the pillow she was leaning against, and rolled the tired little one back over before speaking again: “Oh, is that so? Message received. You can piss off… ah, I mean, you can leave now.”
Jiang Lizhu had always been quick to act cute, but also very good at infuriating people.
From Dean Qin’s reaction, Jiang Lizhu could tell that the influence Gu Mingyan represented far exceeded the hospital’s expectations, and was greater than she had originally thought. This being the case, she had even less reason to care about anyone’s face.
Outside the door, Vice President Lin’s wife, Fan Xue, raised her right hand high, clenching and unclenching her fist several times… before finally lowering it.
Her gaze turned cold, the maintained smile on her face fading. She took two steps back and slightly raised her voice: “Xiao Jiang, you’d better call your mother, Ms. Ruan, back soon. Given the relationship between our two families, are you sure you want to do this?”
In this family compound, Jiang Lizhu was the first person to so thoroughly disregard her face, showing her no respect in her words, and insisting on talking to her through a closed door!
Inside the room, Jiang Lizhu finally felt a flicker of interest. This Fan Xue truly lived up to her reputation as the old witch who made Xiao Jinzhu’s life miserable in the book, the one who knew exactly how to manipulate the original owner.
Sliding back the metal bolt, Jiang Lizhu pushed open the window shutter. Her porcelain-white, enchantingly beautiful face appeared in the dean’s wife’s field of vision. She curled her lips into a brilliant smile tinged with a hint of Jiang Lizhu-style mischief.
“Ms. Ruan? Shouldn’t you be calling my mother ‘Little Junior Sister,’ just like Vice President Lin does? What relationship between our two families? Ah… I remember now. My grandfather almost arranged an engagement between my mother and Vice President Lin back then.”
Jiang Lizhu continued, still smiling brightly: “I also heard about Ms. Fan’s inspiring story of bravely pursuing love back in the day while at the hospital.”
Not really, but there were certainly many people who knew about that generation’s stories involving Ruan Yumin.
She, Jiang Lizhu, was someone who had transmigrated into a book – she hadn’t read those two novels for nothing. She knew a lot of information the original owner didn’t, though it might not all be accurate, being just the female lead’s perspective from the books, not necessarily equal to the facts.
And this Ms. Fan Xue before her, as the female lead’s mother-in-law, had quite a significant role.
The man she married, Lin Tianlei, was both a fellow disciple of Ruan Yumin and the almost-engaged childhood sweetheart. Lin Tianlei, Jiang Yuanbai, and several others were all childhood friends who grew up together in the same compound. But in the end, the good friend married his own childhood sweetheart…
The elements were too numerous and complete, leaving Jiang Lizhu with a vivid impression of this plotline.
“People’s hearts have degenerated, and moral values have declined! Back in the day, my grandfather gave Lin Tianlei everything, tirelessly teaching and guiding him. And Lin Tianlei? He raised such a fine son, who mocked, insulted, and even attacked his mentor’s granddaughter and great-grandson with fists and feet!”
Jiang Lizhu’s gaze grew increasingly sharp. If Fan Xue dared to use Ruan Yumin against her, she would use Lin Tianlei’s mentor, Old Ruan, against them.