When the father and daughter set off, they were already more than ten days later than Xiao Che. In addition, they would be delayed on the train for some time. Dong Guangming was afraid that they would not make it in time, so he directly called the people in the organization back in his hometown to make some arrangements.
On the other side, Xiao Che was unaware that the Dong family father and daughter had already boarded the train, but he roughly guessed that it was about time. He felt a sense of urgency and knew that he had to speed up.
Ever since he learned that there was something wrong with Dong Guangming's aunt, he had been trying to find out the truth from Uncle Fugui and Uncle Tiedan, but every time he brought it up, the two of them would remain tight-lipped and refuse to say anything.
Xiao Che had no choice but to give up on getting the information out of them.
However, he wouldn't give up. Men are usually tight-lipped, but there are plenty of talkative aunties and grandmas in the village. Who knows, someone might find out?
So he went to town and bought some candy. In those days, every household was short of food and drink, and the children didn't even have snacks. When they were really hungry, they would go to the mountains to find sour wild fruits to eat.
He took the candy to the aunties and grandmothers who loved children; they were sure they would agree.
Full of confidence, he knocked on the door of a courtyard with candy in hand. He hadn't chosen just anyone; he'd gotten information about Aunt Xu from Uncle Tiedan—she'd been on good terms with Widow Wang back in the day…
Most importantly, she had always been in the village, so there wasn't a single old, trivial matter in every household that Aunt Xu didn't know.
The person who opened the door had a sallow complexion and darted around in the air. Upon seeing him, he asked with some suspicion, "Nephew, whose family are you from?"
Xiao Che scratched his head innocently and smiled harmlessly. "Hello, Aunt Xu. I'm a relative of Dong Fugui. I've come from Kyoto to visit him."
Aunt Xu was also surprised to hear this. Did Dong Fugui have such relatives? She looked Xiao Che up and down and muttered, "That old man has relatives in the capital? I've never heard of that..."
However, let's ask them why they've come. She cleared her throat. "Nephew, what brings you to my house?"
Xiao Che lifted the brown paper package in his hand. "I have something I want to ask Aunt Xu. Oh, by the way, I brought some candy for the kids at home. Can I come in and talk?"
When Aunt Xu saw the candy in his hand, her eyes widened and she swallowed hard. In all her life, she had rarely eaten something as precious as candy. No wonder he was from Kyoto.
Her mind was completely captivated by the candy, and she kept nodding, "Okay, okay, come in, come in quickly."
"Okay, sure."
The two entered the yard one after the other. Everyone in the family had gone to work, and the children had all gone to cut pig feed.
He put down the candy, didn't go inside, and sat down under the eaves.
Aunt Xu poured him some tea and sat down beside him.
"Nephew, have some water. Tell me, what do you want to ask?"
Xiao Che didn't immediately ask about Dong Guangming's family. Instead, he chatted with her about various things to lower her guard.
As he expected, Aunt Xu was a chatterbox. After a few gossips, she quickly relaxed and started talking more.
Xiao Che gradually steered the conversation toward the young men from the village who had enlisted in the army.
"Hey, Aunt Xu, I do know someone from our village who went to serve in the army a few years ago, his name is Dong Guangming, do you remember him?"
"Hey! Everyone in our village knows him! His mother, Widow Wang, was so pitiful! She died so old without ever seeing her son one last time!"
Xiao Che knew immediately that things were looking promising.
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