Chapter 143 "Cousin"
The person who opened the door was an aunt in the family. She was very happy to see Lu Yan.
"Oh, young master, it's been a long time since you came."
The aunt turned and shouted into the yard, "Madam, Miss, the young master is here."
"Little Master" is the unique name given to Song Jihe by his mother's family. Because Lu Yan lived with his grandmother for a period of time when he was young, the servants in the family always habitually called him "Little Master".
When Song Jihe heard that Lu Yan had arrived, he immediately came out of the house to greet him.
"...Ayan? Why are you here?" She looked surprised.
As he spoke, he looked behind him and asked, "Are you here alone?"
Lu Yan thought her question was strange. "I came to see grandma. What's the matter? Is anyone else coming?"
Before Song Jihe could open his mouth, his grandmother came out in small steps.
"Oh, my little master, grandma misses you so much~ Oh~ my dear grandson~"
The old man came over and held his hand kindly, his eyes filled with tears of excitement.
"Grandma, A Yan misses you too." Lu Yan said in a friendly tone.
"I was too busy to come see you before, please don't blame me."
Grandma was so amused by his sweet little mouth that she shook with her hands covering her mouth and giggled.
The family entered the house happily. Although it was only afternoon, grandma had already asked the servants to prepare dinner.
"My dear grandson, please sit down and rest for a while. Grandma told them to go cook."
Grandma went to the kitchen, leaving only mother and son in the living room.
"Is Grandpa okay?"
Lu Yan's grandfather had a stroke two years ago and has been lying in the hospital ever since, being cared for by specialized medical staff.
As Song Jihe peeled an orange for him, he said, "I just went to see him yesterday. He's a nice guy."
Lu Yan kept tapping his fingers on his knees, and his face looked worried.
Song Jihe looked at him, and her expression began to become a little unnatural. She knew that Lu Yan came this time not only to see his grandmother, but more importantly to find out about Li Qingqing's life experience.
Sure enough, the next second Lu Yan asked directly, "Have you asked grandma?"
Song Jihe placed the peeled orange in front of him, looking a little embarrassed.
"...Qingqing...Is she sure it's Hualan's child?"
Originally, Song Jihe didn't know Li Qingqing's true background, but she found out through a distant relative that Li Hualan did have a child.
It was just that the Li family didn't want their daughter to suffer unnecessary humiliation, so they deliberately concealed the matter.
But good news doesn't travel far, but bad news travels far and wide. There are always people who spread such things as gossip.
Originally, Song Jihe thought that the jade lock might have been picked up by Li Qingqing by accident, because everyone said that Li Hualan's child died at a very young age.
But the subtle sense of intimacy that Li Qingqing brought to her made her feel that she was indeed related to her.
When Song Jihe asked this, Lu Yan remembered that he had not yet told Song Jihe about Li Qingqing's true life experience.
"Mom, Qingqing is indeed Aunt Li's child. It was Wei Jingzhe who abandoned Aunt Li, so Qingqing was born under those circumstances."
"Wei Jingzhe..." Song Jihe muttered silently.
She was not unfamiliar with this name. Because Li Hualan, like her, had married to Haicheng from Xiangcheng and they were cousins, they had had a brief interaction.
But she remembered that Li Hualan and Wei Jingzhe's marriage lasted only three years. After the divorce, Li Hualan returned to her parents' home to recuperate for a while, and the two gradually drifted apart since then.
She really didn't know what happened afterwards, but she remembered that they didn't have any children at the time, and according to Li Qingqing's age, the time didn't match.
"That's right, Wei Jingzhe is Aunt Li's ex-husband and Qingqing's biological father."
Lu Yan briefly explained to Song Jihe the specific circumstances of that year, and Song Jihe suddenly understood.
She couldn't help but sigh for Li Hualan's fate, "My cousin has such a miserable life."
The word "cousin" immediately hit the nerve in Lu Yan's heart that was so tense that it was about to break.
He knew that the word "cousin" meant that Li Qingqing was of the same generation as him, and his grandmother had only one daughter, his mother, so he and Li Qingqing were indeed relatives for four generations.
Lu Yan's clenched heart finally bloomed again. The corners of his mouth rose unconsciously, and he didn't know how to be happy.
He really wanted to tell Qingqing the news immediately, even though she didn't know what kind of torment he had been going through in the past two days.
Fortunately, the clouds have been cleared and everything is back on the right track, but he still confirmed it with Song Jihe just in case.
"Mom, are you sure Aunt Li is your cousin?"
Song Jihe was a little slow to react to the purpose of his question. She only saw Lu Yan's originally gloomy face suddenly become relaxed.
"Yes, she is the daughter of your great-grandmother's youngest child, and the daughter of your grandmother's sister. But after all, she is not a biological sister. Your great-grandmother had several husbands and many children, so the calculation is a mess."
Lu Yan had also heard of his great-grandmother's deeds. She was also a free and easy woman who had the courage to break through the shackles of feudalism.
She was born in 1911, which was also the last year of the reign of Puyi, the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty, that is, the third year of Xuantong.
My great-grandmother was married four times and had four husbands, and she had children with each husband.
Lu Yan only knew that his grandmother was the child of his great-grandmother and her first husband. Not long after his grandmother was born, his great-grandmother's first husband contracted malaria and died.
Later, my great-grandmother's family found her a second husband. Her second husband was a soldier, and after marriage they had a pair of twin boys.
But this marriage only lasted ten years, and my great-grandmother's second husband died in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.
From then on, people spread the rumor that my great-grandmother was unlucky in marriage. My great-grandmother's family could not stand the rumors, so they had to take my great-grandmother and her children back home to raise them and never let her remarry.
But my great-grandmother was a strong-willed person and pursued free love all her life. When she met her third husband, she resolutely entered into marriage.
She is the only daughter in her family, so they have no choice but to spoil her. Even if her marriage fails, they will continue to support her.
Unfortunately, the third husband who made my great-grandmother feel the most like love actually betrayed her. So, in that era and with that identity background, my great-grandmother still chose to divorce her third husband.
The three children she had with her third husband were all left to her husband's family.
From then on, my great-grandmother decided to seal her heart and lock away her love, but God was determined to unlock her heart, and later she met a man who treated her very well.
The man did not mind that she had been married three times, nor did he care that she had given birth to six children. He just loved her wholeheartedly.
Great-grandmother was moved by him and chose to get married again. Her fourth husband was Li Qingqing's great-grandfather.
Later, the two had a daughter, who became Li Qingqing's grandmother.
Li Qingqing's grandmother had only one daughter, Li Hualan, so of the two jade locks, one was passed to Song Jihe and the other to Li Qingqing.
Song Jihe took out the two identical jade lockets from his bag and murmured, "Although we are not from the same family, Qingqing is still your distant cousin. Before..."
She sighed, as if to comfort herself.
"Oh, the past is the past. Now that I know, it's a good time to break up with him. After all, you and Yaoyao are getting married soon."
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