"Fine, go ahead and shout. It'll be good to have others come and judge why you're biased towards your son and what's going on here." Fang Jingru came herself because she was afraid that her suspicions would be wrong and she would be disappointed.

But now, she is 90% certain of her guess.

Since she wasn't the one with a guilty conscience, she wasn't afraid of this matter being spread. Only those with a guilty conscience would be afraid!

Sure enough, Lu Xiufen immediately stopped making a scene, but still said confidently, "In short, all three sons were born to me. Everyone in the village can testify to this. If you don't believe me, just go back and ask anyone."

Seeing that Lu Xiufen was stubborn and had no intention of saying anything more, Fang Jingru had no choice but to take her back first.

When Fang Jingru returned home, Qiao Qiqi was sitting in the yard reading a book. Upon seeing her return, she immediately frowned, "Why did you say you were going out for a walk? You've been out for so long!"

Fang Jingru smiled and stepped forward, "I found a river in the northeast of the village with particularly beautiful scenery, so I lingered there for a while."

There are two rivers in the village, one in the northeast and one in the southwest. The river in the southwest is much wider than the one in the northeast. Fishing in the Qinhuai River takes place in the southwest river.

Upon hearing the word "river," Qiao Qiqi suddenly felt a craving for fish.

Although she didn't know how to catch fish and had never done it before, she had seen Qin Huai catch fish, and her family had plenty of fishing tools.

With two hours to go before lunch, she immediately asked Fang Jingru if she wanted to catch fish.

“Great! I’ve never caught one before either. We can give it a try, we’ve got nothing else to do anyway.” Fang Jingru was quite interested.

The two hit it off immediately and set off with bamboo baskets and sieves.

But catching fish is something that looks simple, but it requires skill to do.

The two arrived at the spot where Qiao Qiqi had seen Qin Huai catching fish last time. They did see the fish, but after half an hour, they hadn't caught a single one. Every time they almost caught one, the fish would escape.

"Looks like we're going to go home empty-handed today." Fang Jingru tried a few times and finally realized how difficult it was to catch fish, so she couldn't help but feel a little discouraged.

But just then, Qiao Qiqi suddenly lifted the sieve, grabbed a red thing from it, and excitedly said, "Look what I caught! It's a crayfish!"

Fang Jingru looked over and saw that the thing looked like a shrimp, but it was a species she had never seen before. She couldn't help but ask curiously, "What is a crayfish? Does that mean it's edible?"

"Of course we can eat them! And they're especially delicious!" Qiao Qiqi couldn't wait to throw the three crayfish from the sieve into the bamboo basket in Fang Jingru's hand, and continued to bend down and grab them.

There's grass on the bank here, and lots of crayfish are hiding in it. Although they're not easy to catch, it's much simpler than catching fish.

A sieve is even better for catching crayfish. It's wide, and if you push it forward, the crayfish won't be able to escape.

Soon, the two of them had filled half a bamboo basket.

Qiao Qiqi reached out and weighed it, seeing that it weighed about three jin. Just then, it was getting dark, so she headed home.

I went back and cleaned the crayfish, then made them spicy. Soon, an irresistible aroma wafted from the kitchen.

Just then, a villager passed by the yard and, smelling the aroma coming from inside, couldn't help but stop and exclaim, "What's that smell? It smells so good!"

"Absolutely. I just came back from the fields and I was already hungry. Now, smelling this, my stomach is churning with cravings."

The two women stopped and called out to the courtyard, "Qin Huai's wife, what delicious food are you making? It smells so good!"

After calling for a while, no one came out of the kitchen. The two women immediately realized something and pouted, "They obviously heard us and are deliberately hiding inside, afraid we'll steal their food!"

"That's right, we were just asking, we're not asking for food. Qiao Qiqi is really stingy."

The two women left after talking.

But after leaving, he was puzzled. "Everyone says that Qiao Qiqi is going to be divorced by Qin Huai, but I don't think so. If she really was divorced, why would she still be in the mood to cook delicious food at home?"

"I think so too. Besides, Qiao Qiqi brought someone back from Beijing, probably Qin Huai's family. Since she brought someone back with her, the two of them probably haven't separated."

...

The sound gradually faded into the distance. Qiao Qiqi peeked out from the kitchen before telling Fang Jingru to go back inside and put the table away.

She had indeed heard the two men shouting, but she wasn't worried about them coming in to ask for food. The main problem was that there weren't many crayfish in the pond, and she wanted to eat them a few more times. If the villagers found out that these things were edible, she wouldn't be able to eat her next meal.

So, for the sake of the crayfish in the river, Qiao Qiqi kept quiet.

To accompany the crayfish, she specially cooked a pot of hand-pulled noodles, placed them on two large plates, and then poured the crayfish and broth over them. In an instant, two large plates of fragrant crayfish noodles were ready.

Qiao Qiqi's cooking skills are undeniable. The two of them ate until they were stuffed. There was still about a pound of crayfish left, but they couldn't eat any more, so they put it against the wall to eat tomorrow morning.

After the meal, Fang Jingru went out for a stroll again, asked the villagers, and found an 80-year-old midwife.

Although the old woman is quite old and her hair is completely white, she is still sharp of hearing and sight and in good spirits.

When Fang Jingru entered the courtyard, she came up to greet her: "Who are you? I've never seen you before?"

Fang Jingru asked directly, "I heard that you delivered Lu Xiufen's three sons, do you remember?"

Without hesitation, the old woman replied, "It was me. I delivered most of the babies in this village. I remember that after Lu Xiufen gave birth to her first child, another child died at birth. Then she gave birth to two more sons. She wanted a daughter for her last child, but unfortunately, it was another son."

Seeing that the old lady was clear-headed and not confused at all, Fang Jingru immediately asked, "Then do you know that Lu Xiufen's three sons all belong to him?"

A hint of doubt flashed across the old woman's eyes, clearly not quite understanding. "What do you mean? Of course her child is hers. How could it be someone else's? Although there are people in this village who adopt children, Lu Xiufen is impossible. She doesn't even treat her own son well, so how could she adopt someone else's?"

Fang Jingru was somewhat disappointed that she hadn't gotten the answer she wanted, but she still asked, "Do you remember if Lu Xiufen's three sons had any birthmarks that could prove their identities?"

The old lady shook her head. "I've delivered too many babies. Although many of them had birthmarks, I can't remember them all."

Then he asked, "Whose family are you? Why are you asking about Lu Xiufen's family?"