Chapter 24

Xinbei Town, the county hospital.

"Patient number 358, Li Taohua, please come to consultation room number 3 when your number is called."

When Li Taohua came out after her doctor's appointment, she heard her cousin's loud voice from not far away: "Sister Taohua, over here! Over here!!"

A middle-aged woman in a nurse's uniform walked over, grabbed her arm, and led her to sit down in an open space nearby.

"Sister Peach Blossom, what did the doctor say?"

Li Taohua stared at the total cost on the medical bill, her heart aching: "It's nothing serious, just some nodules, some medicine will do the trick."

My cousin took the prescription, went to the warehouse to get the medicine from a colleague, and then handed the pills to Li Taohua: "Sister Taohua, this medicine cannot be taken on an empty stomach. Take it three times a day."

"Yes, thank you, Cuihua."

"Sis, why are you being so polite with me?" My cousin waved her hand, indicating that she shouldn't take this small matter to heart.

"By the way, sister, there's a girl in your village who's really beautiful." My cousin is from the next village, so she doesn't know much about Li Family Village, but she does know that Li Taohua married a poor scholar.

Li Taohua thought her cousin was talking about her adopted daughter, and smiled when she heard this: "You mean Xinyi?"

In the entire Li Family Village, the best-looking women are Zhou Xinyi from her family and Li Xiaohua, the shrewish daughter of Wang Xiaohui.

But Li Xiaohua's appearance was too dark, unlike Xinyi's delicate features.

Li Taohua naturally assumed that her cousin was referring to her adopted daughter, but her cousin shook her head upon hearing this: "No, I know Xinyi."

Who is that?

"It was the one who brought her mother-in-law to the hospital for treatment two or three years ago, along with a rich young lady from the city."

As my cousin spoke, she couldn't help but exclaim, "That girl is so pretty!"

As soon as Li Taohua heard the name of a rich family's young lady, she knew who her cousin was talking about. After all, in the past ten years or so, the only person who had driven to the village in a four-wheeled vehicle was that young lady named Xiang Wan.

Because the other party chose to take away that bastard child but did not provide financial support for her Chengze, she has harbored resentment towards that young lady for the past few years.

My cousin was still sighing when Li Taohua suddenly said, "That bastard is his mother-in-law. She picked him up from the garbage dump at the village entrance. He's a boy."

My cousin was a little skeptical when she heard this: "Really? She's so pretty, and she's a guy. What a pity."

Otherwise, with that kind of looks, if she were a girl, she could easily marry into the richest family in town, or even a family that drives a car.

My cousin was still feeling sorry for her, but Li Taohua suddenly seemed to have a fit, grabbing her arm and refusing to let go: "Do you know where that bastard you just mentioned and his mother-in-law went?"

"Sister Peach Blossom, it hurts—it hurts!" My cousin was frightened by her gloomy expression and blurted out, "That rich girl from the city has transferred them to the best private hospital in the city."

"Cuihua, do you remember the name of the hospital?"

"What are you doing, Sister Peach Blossom?" Her cousin rubbed her arm, clearly annoyed by her sudden outburst, but still told her, "XXXX Private Hospital."

After getting the address from her, Li Taohua took the medicine and went home.

Just now, when her cousin mistook Chen Yan's bastard child for a girl, she had a guess. She wondered if that young lady was also deceived by the bastard's appearance and thought he was a girl, which was why she sponsored him.

The more she thought about it, the more likely it seemed, and even after she got home, her heart was still pounding.

Should we go to Beiyi and sound out that bastard's opinion?

But Li Taohua was still hesitant. She was worried that if she angered that young lady, she would make things difficult for Chengze.

*

On the other side, at the entrance of Lijia Village, is the school.

Although Lijia Village was extremely poor, a school was still preserved at the entrance of the village thanks to the insistence of the previous village chief.

Inside the school, the newly arrived volunteer teacher is teaching the children junior high school math.

Although the conditions were basic, the volunteer teacher was a college student from the city, so his teaching was even better than that of the teachers in the county.

Zhou Chengze listened very attentively, more attentively than all the other children in the room.

He knew that studying was his only way out of this remote mountain village, so he dared not be distracted for even a moment. Only when the bell rang and the volunteer teacher announced the end of class could he relax.

During recess, all the other children rushed out of the classroom to play in the open space outside, but only Zhou Chengze and Zhou Xinyi sat in their seats inside the classroom.

"Brother, did you finish your physics test this morning? Can I borrow it to correct it?"

Upon hearing the voice, Zhou Chengze was initially flustered, then pulled a test paper from the drawer and handed it to her: "Here you go, Xinyi. I'm going to the restroom first."

"good."

Zhou Xinyi nodded, but after her brother left the classroom, she took out the workbook he had been looking at.

He had been staring at that workbook since the end of get out of class, seemingly engrossed in something. Zhou Xinyi had noticed his odd behavior early on, and only after her brother left his seat did she secretly take the workbook.

Among a pile of calculation drafts, the portrait drawn with a ballpoint pen stood out—a beautiful girl in a warm orange dress, with her hair in a bun, her back straight, and her temperament as noble as a white swan.

There is no girl like this in the entire Lijia Village, and even in the entire Xinbei Town, you can't find such an outstanding person.

Except for that young lady who briefly appeared that winter.

Zhou Xinyi knew her brother couldn't forget her. A girl like that, once you saw her, you could never forget her, because she couldn't forget her either.

She was only there for two days, but the impact she had on the two siblings continues to this day.

Zhou Xinyi preferred the convenience of short hair, but because of that one glance that afternoon, she began to grow her hair long, just like her, and also began to clumsily tie her hair into a bun.

In just one week, all the girls in Lijia Village started wearing their hair in buns. Even the farm women at the village entrance would wear their hair in buns when washing clothes by the river.

It is evident how significant her arrival was to the entire Lijia Village.

Therefore, even though she had been gone for almost three years, Zhou Xinyi was not at all surprised when she found that her brother still remembered her.

Some even thought, with a sense of despair, what kind of position the young lady held in Zhou Chengze's heart.

The term "white moonlight" hadn't appeared yet. In Zhou Xinyi's mind, Xiang Wan was the princess in her brother's heart.

In her heart, Zhou Chengze was a prince, and princes and princesses have always been the perfect match.

Zhou Xinyi looked at the portrait. The hem of her skirt was carefully filled with orange highlighter, without any overflow.

She couldn't help but touch the hem of her skirt, realizing that her brother really liked that young lady, and a bitter feeling welled up inside her, making her want to cry.

It wasn't until she caught a glimpse of her brother approaching out of the corner of her eye that she composed herself. Looking at the exercise book in her hand, as if she had developed a covetous desire for the princess's carriage, she ultimately secretly hid the exercise book containing drawings of her brother's beloved.

For the rest of the day, Zhou Chengze didn't realize his exercise book was missing until he was tidying up his desk after school and discovered it was gone.

"Xinyi, have you seen my workbook?"

"No, if you can't find it, I have a new exercise book here."

"No need, I'll look again."

Both of them knew perfectly well what was in that exercise book. Zhou Chengze was afraid of being seen by others, while Zhou Xinyi kept her head down, tidying her desk, letting the jealousy in her heart engulf her.

After school, the two went home together. On the way from school to home, they were both thinking different things, and their expressions were a little strange.

After dinner, Zhou Xinyi went to the yard to wash the dishes, while Zhou Chengze stayed in his room to prepare for tomorrow's lessons.

The next day, while her two children were at school, Li Taohua tidied up their desks. A gust of wind blew through, and the exercise books were blown open, revealing the figures drawn on them.

Although ballpoint pens are nothing special outside, they are considered a luxury stationery item in Lijia Village. Only relatively well-off families would buy ballpoint pens for their children.

In this family, Zhou Xinyi only used pencil leads, and the ballpoint pen belonged to only one person: Zhou Chengze. Therefore, although the notebook was on her adopted daughter's desk, Li Taohua still knew that the real owner of the exercise book was her son.

Just from the charm captured by the ballpoint pen, she quickly guessed who her son had drawn.

She had a pretty good idea of ​​what her son was thinking.

Suddenly, I remembered what Cuihua had said yesterday afternoon.

"I heard that rich girl from the city took him and his mother to the best private hospital in the city. Apparently, their daily medical expenses are equivalent to a whole year's wages from our farm work."

'That kid is so lucky...'

Her cousin's words of envy seemed to have become an obsession, playing on repeat in her ears, and Li Taohua's expression carried a certain resentment.

In her heart, the good life that Chen Yan, that bastard, is living now should belong to her son, Zhou Chengze.

As for that rich girl from the city, she's also blind. She chose that bastard instead of the academically excellent Chengze. That bastard looks neither male nor female; he's clearly no good just by looking at him.

She had been hesitating since yesterday, but after seeing her son's thoughts, Li Taohua finally made up her mind—she was going to Beiyi to expose the true face of that bastard.

Even if it wasn't what she thought, even if that young lady knew Chen Yan was a man, she would still make her sponsor Chengze. Li Taohua would be willing to kneel down in front of everyone as a self-inflicted injury.

She refused to believe that if she knelt down in front of everyone, that city dweller would be able to save face.

She was very confident about this and made all the necessary arrangements to go to the city by the end of the month.

However, after she bought her ticket and went through a lot of trouble to get to Beiyi, she found that things were much more complicated than she had imagined.

Li Taohua only knew that the young lady's name was Xiang Wan, but when she found the Xiang family's company through the newspaper, she was told by the security guard downstairs that she needed to make an appointment to see the young lady as soon as she entered the company gate.

City people are known for their fussiness, requiring appointments even for a simple meeting. She felt a bit disdainful, yet also looked at him with new respect. She had assumed he was a wealthy city dweller, but she hadn't expected him to be so extravagant.

The more she understood this, the more she regretted not following her to the city.

The security guards always treated people differently based on their status, and seeing that Li Taohua was dressed in cheap clothes, they spoke to her with some disdain.

"Does our young lady think she's someone a country bumpkin like you can just see whenever you want?"

Another security guard chimed in with a sarcastic remark: "Probably here to freeload."

The two security guards burst into laughter. Li Taohua, unwilling to tolerate such humiliation, lay down on the company floor and began to play the trick of crying, making a scene, and threatening suicide.

However, her lowbrow tricks were, in a way, successful.

The secretary, who came to the second-floor coffee shop to buy coffee during her lunch break, happened to stumble upon this farce.

He initially thought it was just a peasant woman causing trouble, but when he heard Li Taohua calling out Xiang Wan's name, he took a closer look and, without delay, immediately reported the commotion to Xiang Wan...