Chapter 60 No Blood Relationship
"Aunt?" Su Cheng stood in front of the open window, shaking the water off her hands. "Aren't you busy in the fields with Uncle Liu? How come you have time to come over at this hour?"
"Oh." Aunt Liu looked helpless and sighed. "Ever since Old Chen was dragged down, the village has been looking for your uncle Liu for all the big and small issues. They all want to recommend your uncle to be the new village chief. There are so many troubles, whether it's someone occupying someone else's land or someone stealing someone else's chickens. Your uncle is so busy that he's running around like crazy. He just went to the fields and twisted his waist as soon as he moved."
"Your uncle's back is an old problem. It recurred a while ago. Grandpa Du gave him some medicine, and it's all right after applying it." Aunt Liu was a little embarrassed and took out a few red eggs from the basket. "Today, I'm shamelessly asking for another can. You can keep these eggs and fry them for Grandpa and the children."
Su Cheng pushed the egg she handed over back, with a look of reproach on her face, "What is the relationship between Auntie and our family? Why are you being so polite?"
"Child, let's get this one thing straight." Aunt Liu didn't argue with her and went straight into the kitchen, placing the eggs she had just taken out of the nest on the stove.
As soon as she entered the door, she saw a man wearing a small apron cutting vegetables at the table. Aunt Liu immediately smiled happily, and her eyes turned back and forth between the two of them. "Oh, Mr. Xie's hands can not only hold a pen, but also a knife!"
Xie Suzhou curled the corners of his lips and smiled shyly, "I'll cook, aunt, please stay and eat."
Du Heng stretched lazily as he walked out of the main hall. He teased the chickens in the pen before looking towards the kitchen. "Ah Cheng, what are we having for lunch today?"
Aunt Liu saw him and hurried over to him, smiling broadly, "Grandpa Du, do you still have the ointment you gave our old Liu to treat his back injury last time?"
"It's you." Du Heng turned around and looked at her, smiling politely, "There are plenty of ointments. I'll get them for you, but your husband's body still needs some treatment. Come to me when you're free, and I'll give him acupuncture."
Aunt Liu responded repeatedly, "That's great, thank you very much, old man."
After getting the ointment, Aunt Liu said hello to the two people in the kitchen and turned to walk out.
"Auntie!"
Hearing the noise behind her, Aunt Liu paused and looked back suspiciously.
Su Cheng was wearing a green short jacket and a moon-white skirt. She had black eyebrows and fair skin, and looked very pleasing.
"Ah Cheng?" Aunt Liu saw her chasing after her and looked confused. "What do you want to talk to me about?"
Su Cheng smiled and nodded, the pendant on her earlobe swaying gently with her movements. "There is indeed something that I can't figure out, and I want to ask my aunt."
Aunt Liu seemed to sense something was wrong and asked in a low voice, "Is it a private matter?"
Seeing the girl nod, Aunt Liu immediately opened the door of her own courtyard and said, "Come over and talk."
After entering the yard, Aunt Liu immediately poured her a glass of water and spoke cautiously, "What's the matter that makes you so anxious?"
Su Cheng smiled faintly and took the cup of water she handed over. "Aunt, our two families live close to each other and have a deep friendship. You watched Suzhou and the others grow up. If we encounter any difficulties, can you please help us?"
"Of course!" Aunt Liu said sincerely, without a trace of pretense. "When we encountered difficulties, you helped us a lot. I'm not someone who doesn't know how to be grateful. If you have any difficulties, just tell me!"
Su Cheng pulled the corner of his lip, stroking the teacup with his fingertips, and said softly, "Auntie, are you willing to tell me the truth about Suzhou's identity?"
Aunt Liu was stunned, as if she had heard something huge, and murmured, "Ah Cheng, you..."
Su Cheng placed the water cup on the table. Although she was smiling, she felt a strong sense of oppression. "Aunt, are you still going to hide this from me?"
Meeting her gaze, Aunt Liu sighed and said in defeat, "When did you know that?"
"When Xie Song was taken away." Su Cheng raised the corner of his lips slightly, his expression easygoing. "I've always had suspicions. Xie Song, the eldest brother, was born ordinary. How could he be so different from his three younger brothers? It wasn't until he was taken away and I accidentally saw that my aunt looked upset that my suspicions were confirmed."
"Alas... Xie Song has really narrowed his own path." Aunt Liu shook her head helplessly, recalling the past. "Besides the deceased old couple, only I know about the affairs of the four brothers. I promised the old woman that I would never tell anyone else. Now that you see through it, there is no need for me to hide it anymore."
"All these years have passed, and I've kept it a secret. I haven't even told your uncle. He's always thought that three wisps of green smoke were coming out of the Xie family's ancestral grave."
"When the Xie family was young, the old couple did a lot of ridiculous things. They did odd jobs like waiters, cockfighting, gambling, and even worked as children. After their parents died, they rushed back to farm. Suzhou was brought back by them at that time." Aunt Liu drank the water in her cup, moistened her throat, and continued, "Xie Song was raised by his grandparents since he was a child. He was lucky not to have been taught a bad lesson."
"After that, it was Jinyu and A Ming..." Aunt Liu recalled, her face showing a hint of bitterness.
"Three?" Su Cheng unconsciously sat up straight, a serious expression flashing across his face. "Does that mean Xie Song has no blood relationship with his three brothers?"
Aunt Liu nodded gently. "I used to think that old woman was fertile. She got pregnant all the time, and they were all sons! It wasn't until she said she was pregnant with her fourth child and I saw blood on her pants that she reluctantly confided in me."
"Suzhou was too young when he was sold, and his clothes were very good. The old couple didn't dare sell him elsewhere, so they took him back home. Jinyu was dressed simply when he was abducted, but he would cough after taking two steps and would die after three. The old couple simply took him home, intending to starve him to death. Who could have imagined that Suzhou would go from house to house begging for food, and he raised Jinyu on rice soup."
"Ah Ming had a bad temper since she was little, so no one dared to marry her. She ended up in the hands of the old couple." Aunt Liu's face was melancholy, and she resurrected the past that had been buried for over twenty years. "Every time the old woman said she was pregnant, she would disappear for a while and then come back with a child. The villagers were used to it and never suspected anything."
"When I caught her that year, she even gave me five taels of silver and begged me to keep it secret, saying she wanted her three children to keep Xie Song company. I never dared to touch the five taels of silver until my son got into gambling and I gave it to him to help him fill a hole."
After learning such a big secret, Su Cheng was a little dazed.
This was too different from the plot of the book she knew.
Xie Song never appeared in the original book, and the three male protagonists always believed that they were descendants of the Xie family and never had any doubts.
"Xie Song has changed so much. Maybe his mother told him the truth before she died. Xie Song didn't spend much time with them before, but the four brothers were quite harmonious. Now..."
"I don't know the identities of the three of them, but the old couple gave Suzhou money for his studies and raised Jinyu and Aming to this age. They still have some humanity."
Su Cheng didn't know how she walked out of the Liu family. She only remembered that the distance from the Liu family to the Xie family was only a hundred steps, but it felt very long to her.
Smoke rose from the Xie family's kitchen, and the doors of the kitchen and the east room were open.
Xie Jinyu covered her mouth and nose with her robe, and stir-fried food in the pot with a wooden spatula in her hand, coughing from time to time due to the fumes.
In the east room, there was a tablet dedicated to the old couple of the Xie family. Xie Suzhou lifted his robe, knelt down in front of the table, clasped his hands together, and bowed devoutly to the tablet again and again, "Dad, Mom, please bless your son to pass the high school entrance exam and have a bright future."
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