"She asked me where Xiao Tao went, but how would I know? That was the only answer I could give. Then she left, looking disappointed."
Tang Yehuai felt that the story might have just begun and was quite interesting. He smiled, asked the old lady to sit down, and then took out his notebook to take notes.
Fu Hange replied, "Yes, do you know anything?"
“In recent years, a woman has also come looking for him. Although I don’t know what you want from him, he moved out many years ago, so you should just leave. It’s no use.”
Tang Yehuai happened to come out of the bedroom and immediately asked, "Was that woman Qin Menghan?"
The woman thought for a moment, then her eyes lit up: "Yes, that's her!"
Fu Hange truly felt sorry for this woman.
Three people sat in the abandoned house. Fu Hange didn't quite understand and just silently watched Tang Yehuai ask questions.
He said, "Do you remember Tao Yiqiu coming back before?"
"I don't remember. He rarely comes back. His parents passed away a long time ago. Why would he come back?"
It's long gone?
Tang Yehua raised an eyebrow and pressed on, "When did it disappear?"
The woman thought for a moment and said, "It seems like many years ago. He has never come back since then."
Tang Yehuai found it increasingly interesting as he listened. Indeed, when investigating someone's background, why hadn't he thought to start with their hometown?
He immediately became extremely serious: "Please tell me about his previous living environment, and everything that happened when he was a child."
The older woman asked, somewhat puzzled, "Who are you?"
Seeing that Tang Yehuai was taking notes, Fu Hange answered for him, "Who we are is not important. In short, we will not harm him. If you know something and don't tell us, that would be the real harm to him."
At this point, everyone could guess their identities. The woman didn't mince words and said, "I've watched him grow up. Our village is small, and there are only a few children. How could I not know their family? But speaking of their family, it's a sin."
"How so?"
"At first, the couple had a peaceful life after getting married, and soon after, they had Xiao Tao. But not long after, their family changed. It is said that his father was having an affair, and his mother was crying her heart out at home. At that time, I felt so sorry for Xiao Tao, such a young child."
"And then what?"
The older woman sighed, "Later, their relationship continued to deteriorate. Xiao Tao was seven or eight years old then, old enough to think for himself and remember things. It was a crucial time for him to develop his values, but his parents' behavior only worsened. His mother was destined for hardship; she would complain when his father came home late. But she was, after all, a woman—how could she possibly fight against a man? So…"
At this point, she choked up. Fu Hange took out a tissue, and the old woman indicated that it was okay, and continued, "So his father beat his mother severely. At first, the noise was so loud that we could hear the sounds coming from the house when we got up in the middle of the night. We wanted to help, but after all, it was someone else's business, and we couldn't interfere."
"We thought things would calm down after a while, but we didn't expect his father to be so awful. He often beat his mother in front of the children. I think if someone stays in this kind of environment for a long time, their mentality will collapse. But what we didn't expect was that one year, his father got drunk and came home and actually chopped his mother up."
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