After the four of them finished their meal, Cheng Maixiang said to her mother, "Mom, Jiayu and I will take Xiaoyan to the county. You go back to the garment factory first. If you have anything to deal with, I'll come back this afternoon."

Cheng's mother knew that her daughter and son-in-law were going to deal with Fang Xiaoyan's matter, so she didn't ask any more questions and turned around and went back to the garment factory.

The three of them took a tractor in the town and arrived outside the county steel plant. Lin Jiayu greeted the gatekeeper and entered smoothly.

The weather in May was already quite hot, but there was not even a place to shelter from the sun in front of the steel factory. Cheng Maixiang felt as if she was being burned all over.

Fang Xiaoyan remained silent all the way and didn't care why the two men brought her to the county town. She just followed them silently. It was not until this moment that she seemed to be awakened by the scorching sun.

"Sister Maizi, what are we doing at the steel mill?"

The weather in May was already quite hot, but fortunately there were several big poplar trees outside the steel plant. Cheng Maixiang sat on a stone under the shade of the trees. The cool breeze blew on her body, making her feel refreshed.

"We have a friend in Jinguang Town. He came to the steel plant to borrow a phone and ask for details about Peng Wenshen's family situation for you."

There were no private telephones in that era. If you wanted to make a phone call, you could only go to your workplace or go to the post office and pay to make one.

But the tractor just now was going to the county agricultural machinery station, passing by the steel plant but not the county post office. Lin Jiayu had no choice but to borrow a phone at the steel plant.

Although Fang Xiaoyan had decided to follow her parents' arrangements and marry into Lingqiu, she also wanted to know more about the Peng family. After hearing what Cheng Maixiang said, she couldn't help but stand up and look at the gate of the steel plant opposite.

More than half an hour later, Lin Jiayu hurried out of the steel mill. Before Fang Xiaoyan could speak, he asked, "Xiao Fang, are you sure the man proposing marriage is called Peng Wenshen?"

Fang Xiaoyan saw that he looked serious and solemn, unlike when he was eating, when he was smiling. She knew that the news from Lingqiu was very bad, and her heart suddenly skipped a beat.

"Yes, his name is indeed Peng Wenshen. I remember it very clearly."

Lin Jiayu sighed, "You've been deceived. There's no such person in Jinguang Commune."

Cheng Maixiang smiled slightly. Just as she expected, this matter was a scam from beginning to end.

Fang Xiaoyan was shocked and stammered, "Lin, Brother Lin, have you found out everything?"

"Maizi and I have a good friend in Jinguang Commune. He just told me that he grew up in Jinguang Commune and had never heard of this name. There are only three families with the surname Peng in the entire commune, and there is no one named Peng Wenshen.

Of these three families, only one had an unmarried child, a six-year-old boy. Furthermore, all three families were extremely poor and could not possibly afford the 1,000 yuan betrothal gift for a marriage.

Fang Xiaoyan couldn't believe what he said and said in shock, "Since he is not from Jinguang Commune, why did he lie and spend so much money to propose marriage?"

Cheng Maixiang took her hand and said, "Let's go to Linwen High School and find out about the person you mentioned, Su Ningning."

Fang Xiaoyan stopped immediately, grabbed Cheng Maixiang's hand and begged, "Sister Maizi, you can't go to school. Once the teacher finds out about Su Ningning, my brother will be finished. He won't be able to study anymore. He has always had good grades. Maybe he can go to college like Sister Maizi in the future. I can't ruin his future."

Cheng Maixiang shook her head helplessly.

Her younger brother didn't study hard at school and did such a thing behind his family's back, without caring how his family would deal with the aftermath. Such an ignorant child, no matter how good his grades were, did not deserve to go to school.

However, since this matter seemed suspicious, she would naturally not alert the enemy easily, otherwise she would not be able to find out anything.

"Xiaoyan, don't worry. I won't mention anything about them. I'll just ask the teacher indirectly."

Linwen High School is Cheng Maixiang's alma mater. Because of her outstanding performance in the college entrance examination, the whole school is proud of her. As soon as the three of them arrived at the school gate, the old man guarding the gate recognized her. When he heard that she came back to visit the school teachers, he praised her for being grateful and hurriedly let the three of them into the school.

Su Ningning is a student who just enrolled this year. The teacher who saw off the graduates must have taken over their class. I think her head teacher Wei Jinyuan should know her.

The three of them came to the teacher's office. Classes were in session at the time and there were not many teachers in the office. Wei Jinyuan happened to have no classes and was busy writing lesson plans.

"Hello, Teacher Wei."

When Wei Jinyuan heard the voice, he looked up at the three people and recognized that it was Cheng Maixiang. A smile immediately appeared on his face.

"Maizi is here, come and sit down. How are you doing at the provincial university? Are the teachers teaching you well?" Wei Jinyuan kept asking.

"I'm fine. Thank you, Teacher Wei, for your concern," Cheng Maixiang said with a smile. She pointed at Fang Xiaoyan and said, "Teacher Wei, this is Fang Xiaoyan, the older sister of Fang Weidong, a freshman in Class 1-2 of Senior High School. She wants to know how her brother is doing in school."

"Fang Weidong, what a coincidence! I'm his homeroom teacher," Wei Jinyuan said to Fang Xiaoyan with a smile. "This kid is very hardworking and doesn't like to talk much. Every day after school, he reads and studies in the classroom. All the teachers have a good impression of him."

This was completely beyond Cheng Maixiang's expectations. When she heard Fang Xiaoyan say that her brother got a girl pregnant, she thought he was a gangster. But after hearing Teacher Wei's description of him, he seemed to be a role model who loved learning.

Would a child like this do such a stupid thing?

But it's hard to say. At this age, it is adolescence, and people are curious and ignorant about the opposite sex. In addition, the school's education in this aspect cannot keep up, so many children will go astray, including many students who seem to be extremely outstanding in normal times.

This kind of thing is common, both in this era and in the future.

Cheng Maixiang thought for a moment and then asked in a more tactful way: "Teacher Wei, is Fang Weidong just focusing on studying at school? Does he have any friends?"

"Friends?" Wei Jinyuan smiled. "Weidong is a good kid in every way, except that he doesn't like to talk much. He's been in school for over two months, and I haven't seen him get close to anyone."

"So, he has no friends at school?" Cheng Maixiang asked.

Wei Jinyuan saw that it was Cheng Maixiang who was asking questions all the time, as if Fang Weidong was her younger brother, and he couldn't help but look at Fang Xiaoyan strangely.

Cheng Maixiang immediately smiled and said, "Teacher Wei, Xiaoyan is my good friend, but she is shy by nature and embarrassed to talk to the teacher alone, so she pulled me over to ask about her brother's performance in school."

Wei Jinyuan nodded in understanding.

This kind of introverted parents was not the first time he had seen them, especially those from the countryside. When they saw city teachers like them, they would fidget as if they were facing some important person, and often they couldn't even say a decent word.

It seems that Fang Xiaoyan is the same.