Chapter 231 Mystery of My Origins

Yu Junsheng and Ren Xiaosheng also excitedly came over.

"Where is it!"

"This, this, this is the one from 25 years ago!"

The pages of the record book were yellowed and the edges were slightly curled, giving it a very old look.

This is it!

Cheng Jiajia opened it and quickly found Guan Ailian's birth records from that year by following the timeline.

Sure enough, when Guan Ailian gave birth, there were three other women giving birth in the same ward.

Two of the babies were boys, and the other was a girl.

After reading it, Cheng Jiajia handed the notebook to Ren Xiaosheng, saying, "Brother Xiaosheng, you should take a look too."

Ren Xiaosheng took it with mixed feelings and began to read:

Guan Ailian, a new mother, gave birth to a baby boy. The man, Ren Wenhua, lived in courtyard number 35, Xiaohuaihua Hutong.

Wang Cuihua gave birth to a baby boy, Zhang Dazhu, who lived in Sanshan Brigade, Hongxing Commune, Beidagou.

The woman, Chen Hongyun, gave birth to a baby girl. The man, Cui Jianmin, lived at No. 23 Xiangzhang Hutong.

Another woman, Shen Manqing, gave birth to a baby boy. Her spouse and address are both unknown.

After a long pause, he asked the couple, somewhat bewildered, "Am I their child?"

Based on Guan Ailian's unusual reaction after his last test, Ren Xiaosheng had some idea that he was not Guan Ailian's child. But could he really be the child of one of the three mothers mentioned above?

Ren Xiaosheng didn't know how to describe his feelings at that moment.

Like a leaf drifting in the air, not knowing where to go, nor finding a place to land.

Seeing the tense atmosphere, Yu Junsheng deliberately lightened his tone and joked, "That's not necessarily true. It's also possible that she lost her own child and you were just someone she picked up along the way to make up the numbers!"

He was trying to liven things up, but Cheng Jiajia and Ren Xiaosheng both fell silent after hearing it.

Yu Junsheng looked at the two of them in disbelief. "No, I just said it offhand. You didn't actually believe me, did you?"

Cheng Jiajia pondered, "This situation is not impossible."

She was just making assumptions. As soon as she heard about Ren Xiaosheng's situation, she immediately thought of a baby swap, but there are other possibilities, aren't there?

Seeing that the two of them were starting to seriously consider this possibility, Yu Junsheng was speechless for a moment, but then he suddenly realized what was going on.

"Come on, look at this family. Do they think they don't know that Ren Xiaosheng isn't their biological son? So, what's the point of taking him back to make up the numbers?"

The other two fell silent again.

Too.

After all, the way Ren Xiaosheng was treated by Ren Wenhua was not like how one would treat a biological son.

Going back even further, when the old lady of the Ren family, Ren Wenhua's mother, was still alive, she never seemed to care much for Ren Xiaosheng; she was always indifferent.

Everyone says that the youngest son and the eldest grandson are the old lady's lifeblood, but it's very strange that Old Lady Ren has never said a word about how the Ren couple tormented their eldest grandson, Ren Xiaosheng.

They reasonably suspected that the old lady also knew that Ren Xiaosheng was not her biological grandson.

Surely they can't just pick you up, raise you for a while, and then suddenly change their attitude after discovering you're not their biological child?

This doesn't make sense. After all, they never seemed to treat Ren Xiaosheng well when he was a child.

That shouldn't be the case.

But Yu Junsheng's words also reminded Cheng Jiajia, who suggested, "I think we should first find the doctors and nurses from back then and ask them what happened!"

Perhaps we can glean some clues from it.

In short, it's definitely better than the three of them blindly staring at a few names.

That being said, 25 years ago, their country was in the midst of war. Over the years, some people have left forever, some have been transferred, and very few staff members remain in the northern city. How easy is it to find the old people who stayed behind back then?

Ren Xiaosheng was a little worried.

This was no problem for Yu Junsheng. He smiled smugly and said, "Dr. Hu's mother was transferred to this hospital after the war and has worked here for more than ten years. She should know some of the older staff. I'll ask her for help."

Just as Yu Junsheng had expected, Dr. Hu readily led them to his mother, and the group introduced themselves. Ren Xiaosheng then solemnly thanked the aloof head nurse.

Then, with the help of Dr. Hu and his mother, they found the nurse who delivered the baby in that delivery room that year.

Time flies, and the young Nurse Li of yesteryear has become the experienced Head Nurse Li.

Nurse Li may not look young anymore, but she is full of energy and no less so than a young person.

She's almost retired, but she still vividly remembers what happened back then.

My eyes welled up with tears when I mentioned it.

"Oh dear, you don't know, that was when the 'little devils' were rampant, and we ordinary people suffered terribly! Every day, countless wounded were sent to the hospital. Everyone was terrified by the 'little devils' bombardment, and no one knew if they would be able to open their eyes tomorrow."

"It's quite a coincidence, the day you asked, the hospital was hit by a massacre. Everyone in the hospital was in a panic, and there were so many wounded people coming in and out. Our department sent a lot of people to help out, it was chaotic. In the ward I was in charge of, three babies were born all at once, I was so busy I was practically running around like crazy! Oh dear, there was also a pregnant woman whose mother-in-law was arguing with the doctor, insisting that the doctor ignore the other pregnant woman and deliver her daughter-in-law's baby first, which made things even more chaotic!"

"I can't forget it to this day!"

For some reason, they felt this was something worth paying attention to, and the three of them exchanged glances.

Cheng Jiajia immediately chimed in with a very considerate comment: "Oh, there are people like that? That's really causing trouble, they don't understand your work at all!"

"Why can't we just wait for the doctor to come and deliver the baby? Why do we have to cut in line!"

"They don't care about the lives of others at all!"

It's just dealing with elders, right? That's her specialty, hehe~

Sure enough, seeing how well Cheng Jiajia understood her, Head Nurse Li nodded vigorously, looking like she had found a kindred spirit. "That's right! That's exactly how it is! You're such a reasonable young lady!"

“You know, her daughter-in-law only has stomach pains, her water hasn’t broken yet, and childbirth isn’t something that can be done in a short time. It’s impossible for everyone to stay with her the whole time! So naturally we’ll prioritize other pregnant women who are in more urgent situations!”

"I've never seen such an unreasonable old woman before. She sat on the ground and threw a tantrum, insisting on dragging the doctor to deliver her grandson's baby!"

"She's already calling him 'grandson' so affectionately before he's even born. It's lucky her daughter-in-law gave birth to a boy, or she'd be in real trouble!"

The head nurse still rolls her eyes when that old woman is mentioned.

It's clear that he really dislikes this old woman.

Cheng Jiajia's eyes widened slightly in surprise. "Then what happened next? How was it resolved? Did the doctor really deliver her daughter-in-law's baby first? What about the other women in labor?"

Head Nurse Li snorted, "How could that be? Later, the doctor called two soldiers over, and they chased the old woman out before things calmed down."

“It’s not that we’re heartless. Although her daughter-in-law was having a difficult labor, her cervix wasn’t dilated yet. How could she give birth? There was already another woman in labor whose water had broken. Of course, we had to take care of her first. How could we abandon her just because the old woman was being unreasonable?”

"This family is so unreasonable, could they be from the countryside?" Cheng Jiajia asked seemingly casually.

Head Nurse Li looked over in surprise.

Cheng Jiajia smiled somewhat embarrassedly, "Please don't take offense. It's not that I discriminate against people from the countryside. I come from the countryside myself. Some old ladies in our village are like that, prone to tantrums and unreasonable. So when I heard this person's name, my first thought was that she was from the countryside."

"Hehe, no! They are city people, but what kind of culture do the men in that family have? Look at what they do, tsk tsk, they're not even as good as the comrades from the countryside!" Head Nurse Li curled her lips, as if she looked down on this family.

Cheng Jiajia and the two people listening nearby both lit up.

Needless to say, this family must be Ren Wenhua and his gang!

But judging from the nurse's expression, it seems there's something else going on inside.

Yu Junsheng gave Cheng Jiajia a wink, and Cheng Jiajia returned his look with a "Do you need to tell me?" look.

Then continue to pretend to be curious and ask,

"Aunt Li, judging from your disdain for this family, is there perhaps some other story behind this?"

Otherwise, if it were just an old woman causing trouble, Nurse Li would have dragged her whole family into it.

As if she had finally found someone to complain to, Head Nurse Li said excitedly, "Hey, when I told my colleagues this, they didn't believe me! Let me tell you, this family is no good! The baby was just born, and the mother refused to breastfeed him, letting the baby lie on the bed crying until his face was red and irritating her. I've never seen such a heartless mother. She was talking about her son a lot before she gave birth."

"The father didn't care and just let the baby cry. I couldn't stand it and picked up the baby to comfort him. But this couldn't go on. I saw that he didn't look particularly poor, so I told him that if his wife didn't want to breastfeed, he should try to get some formula. Guess what he said? He said he didn't have any money!" He looked down on Ren Wenhua very much.

She spat, "I saw it clearly, he was wearing leather shoes! What? He has money to buy himself leather shoes, but not money to buy baby formula?"

"Even if you don't have money, you have to find a way to feed the baby. You can't let a newborn baby go hungry forever, can you?"

"This family is so selfish, they only care about themselves!"

"Exactly! This family is so selfish!"

Cheng Jiajia nodded vigorously, but she knew perfectly well that Ren Xiaosheng had probably already arrived at the Ren family home.

Because the baby wasn't their biological child, the family didn't want to put in any effort for it.

Head Nurse Li suddenly spoke kindly to Ren Xiaosheng, whose eyes were red, "Child, if you really were switched at birth, you should belong to this family, right?" Otherwise, it doesn't make sense why this family would treat a newborn baby like this.

Seeing Ren Xiaosheng nod, she sighed, feeling a pang of sadness in her heart.

"I felt something was off at the time, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. I never imagined that someone would do something so heinous."

If she had been more careful back then, would this have been avoided?

This child won't suffer anymore?

Ren Xiaosheng wasn't ungrateful, so he quickly said, "It's not your fault. In that situation, the hospital was short-staffed and couldn't afford to worry about so many things. Besides," he smiled bitterly, "like you said, who could have imagined that someone would be so utterly heartless?"

Cheng Jiajia comforted her, "That's right. If a bad person is determined to do something bad, how can you stop them?"

This matter is definitely not Nurse Li's fault.

If the Ren family had this intention, anyone else would likely have gotten the same result.

Before leaving, Cheng Jiajia suddenly asked, "Aunt Li, may I ask one more question? Which pregnant woman was almost cut in line by the Ren family?"

Head Nurse Li was taken aback for a moment, then quickly replied, "It's Shen Manqing."

"Her husband seemed to be a soldier. There was a war going on outside at the time, and only an old woman accompanied her."

...

Leaving the hospital,

Ren Xiaosheng looked at Yu Junsheng and Cheng Jiajia and thanked them solemnly: "Junsheng, sister-in-law, it was all thanks to you two that things went so smoothly. If I had come alone, I don't know how long it would have taken to find out."

He meant it sincerely. If it weren't for the relationship between Yu Junsheng and Dr. Hu, Nurse Li might not have told them the truth.

Yu Junsheng chuckled and patted him on the shoulder, "Who are we talking to? Why are you being so polite?"

Cheng Jiajia also said, "Yes, Xiaosheng, you and Junsheng are brothers. He just hopes you can be alright. Besides, it's really nothing."

Ren Xiaosheng felt a warm glow in his heart, a feeling he had never experienced before in the Ren family.

Perhaps this is what home feels like?

Ren Xiaosheng said earnestly, "Junsheng, you've helped me so much, I will definitely do my best to help you in the future!"

This was his promise.

Seeing that he really wanted to do something, Yu Junsheng grinned mischievously:

"If you really want to thank me, treat my wife and me to a meal at a state-run restaurant after you receive payment for your batch of mountain goods?"

Ren Xiaosheng smiled and said, "Absolutely! Don't be shy, you and your sister-in-law, order as much food as you want!"

"Hehehe, when have I ever been polite?"

Cheng Jiajia smiled as she glanced at the two bickering, feeling that life was getting better and better.

-----------------

They now know that besides Guan Ailian, there are three other women who have given birth in the same ward.

Cheng Jiajia felt that the chances of Guan Ailian exchanging children were slim; if she really wanted to, she wouldn't send her own child to the countryside to suffer.

Therefore, the target is tentatively set at the remaining two households.

The woman, Chen Hongyun, gave birth to a baby girl. The man, Cui Jianmin, lived at No. 23 Xiangzhang Hutong.

Another woman, Shen Manqing, gave birth to a baby boy; other details are unknown.

Cheng Jiajia privately thought that Shen Manqing was more likely. After all, based on her understanding of that family, it was impossible for them not to harbor resentment towards the pregnant woman who had taken away their eldest grandson's "priority right to give birth".

Moreover, judging from what Head Nurse Li said, Shen Manqing's family must be quite well-off.

The two phases came down.

What could be a more satisfying way to get revenge than swapping your own child with your enemy's child and tormenting them?

However, this is just Cheng Jiajia's suspicion; the specific situation still needs to be verified.

Yu Junsheng and Ren Xiaosheng decided to split up. Tomorrow, one of them would go to the countryside to investigate Wang Cuihua's family, while the other would go to Xiangzhang Hutong to investigate Xu Hongyun's family.

But before they could even set off, a piece of news caused an uproar in the compound that afternoon.

Ma Gaosheng is in trouble!

He was in a car accident while driving and is now seriously injured and in a coma, receiving treatment in a hospital in another city!

A young man from the transport team ran into the compound to deliver the message.

"Sister-in-law, where is she? Someone needs to go and take care of Brother Ma!"

The young man was covered in sweat and his face was flushed red from running around in the dead of winter. As soon as he entered the courtyard, he shouted "Hu Mei!"

Everyone was shocked when they heard the news.

Oh no, oh no, this is really bad!

Everyone was thinking of quickly informing Hu Mei, but when they went to the front yard, they found that the Ma family's gate was closed.

I can't find Hu Mei anywhere.

The young man was almost in tears, "Oh no, oh no, Brother Ma is waiting for someone! Where did your wife go?"

Everyone assumed Hu Mei had gone out and offered him advice: "She's probably visiting relatives. Kid, go look for her in Aunt Wang's courtyard; she might be there."

"If that doesn't work, we should ask Aunt Wang to go over there. She's Ma Gaosheng's mother, and she's more suitable to take care of the patient than Hu Mei, who's pregnant."

Only Jiang Qiubai's expression changed drastically.

She forcefully pushed through the crowd, stumbled forward, grabbed the collar of the young man who had come to deliver the message, and asked urgently, "Where is your captain?"

The young man looked bewildered, but Jiang Qiubai was still gripping his collar, his face contorted with rage. "I'm asking you, where's your captain? Is he still here?!"

The young man, his neck constricted, stammered, "The...the captain isn't at work today!"

Jiang Qiubai was stunned. He wasn't at work? He wasn't at work?

No, isn't the focus now on the team leader?

The young man felt that this person was a bit confused, so while she was in a daze, he quickly pushed her away and ran away.

He still had to go to Brother Ma's parents' house and didn't have time to waste with her. If his sister-in-law wasn't there, going to Brother Ma's mother would be the same.

Jiang Qiubai suddenly had a bad feeling.