Chapter 43 Jiang Xiaohong Returns Home
At this time, after Jiang's mother finished making breakfast, she called her family members to get up and eat breakfast. After eating, those who needed to go to work went to work.
Since her daughter went missing, all the housework has fallen on her shoulders. After her eldest daughter-in-law came into the family, she thought she would be able to relax a bit.
Not long after, her eldest daughter-in-law became pregnant. With her son protecting her, she couldn't let her daughter-in-law do the housework, so she still did all the housework herself.
She used to be a workshop worker in a hardware factory, just like her husband, but last year her youngest son graduated, and in order to prevent him from going to the countryside, she gave her job to him.
Now, I spend my days at home cooking for my family, doing housework, and occasionally collecting matchboxes to glue together to supplement our household income.
Her eyelids had been twitching non-stop since she woke up today, making her feel very uneasy. The last time her eyelids twitched this badly was when her daughter went missing.
Thinking of her daughter, Jiang's mother felt another pang of sadness. She didn't know where Xiao Hong had gone. She had searched for a while but couldn't find her, and she had reported it to the police for so long but still couldn't find her.
But not finding her daughter's body, Jiang's mother comforted herself, thinking that her daughter must still be alive, but she didn't know where she had gone, or perhaps she had been kidnapped.
Downstairs at the hardware factory's staff dormitory, Ning Xuan asked Jiang Xiaohong in a low voice, "Are you ready?"
Jiang Xiaohong wiped away her tears and nodded heavily.
While worrying about her daughter, Jiang's mother did housework with a troubled mind.
Suddenly, a knock on the door startled Jiang's mother, who was working. Who was it, knocking so early in the morning?
Afraid of disturbing others so early in the morning, Jiang's mother didn't ask loudly, but seeing no one outside speaking, she opened the door anyway.
Upon hearing this, Jiang's mother froze on the spot, not even noticing the rag in her hand fall to the ground. She wanted to say something but couldn't open her mouth.
Jiang Xiaohong looked at her mother, who had aged considerably in the year she hadn't seen her, and tears welled up in her eyes again. She called out "Mom~" and then rushed into her mother's arms.
Holding her daughter's warm body, Jiang's mother finally realized that this was not a dream, and that her daughter had truly returned.
Then Jiang's mother finally regained her ability to speak, "Xiao Hong, it really is you, you're back! You brat, where have you been? I couldn't find you anywhere, and you didn't even send a message home!"
Jiang's mother cried as she spoke, and as she spoke, she couldn't help but pat Jiang Xiaohong with her hand. After patting her, she noticed that her daughter's body was all bones, and she didn't know what kind of suffering her daughter had endured, so she couldn't bear to hit her.
Seeing that the two were getting more and more excited, Ning Xuan quickly spoke up to remind them not to attract everyone's attention.
Jiang's mother then noticed that there was an old lady behind Xiao Hong. Upon hearing the old lady's words, she didn't bother to greet her, first pulling everyone into the house, then closing the door, before looking at Xiao Hong and asking, "And who is this?"
"Mom, this is Grandma Liu. I'm so glad I came back safely, thanks to Grandma Liu. We'll talk about the details later. Have Dad and the others gone to work yet?"
Jiang's mother shook her head, then immediately said to Ning Xuan, "Then I'll call you Aunt Liu. Please sit down, Aunt Liu. I'll go get you some water."
Hearing the commotion, the rest of the family finally woke up completely and opened their doors one after another. The first to come out was Jiang's father, followed by Jiang's eldest brother and younger brother, and finally Jiang's sister-in-law.
The difference was actually less than half a minute.
But everyone who came out and saw Jiang Xiaohong thought they were still asleep and dreaming.
"Mom and Dad, I think I saw Xiaohong. Am I dreaming?"
"Brother, I think I saw it too!"
Seeing the incredulous looks on her family's faces, Jiang Xiaohong quickly spoke up, greeting them one by one, "Dad, brother, younger brother, sister-in-law, it's me, it's Xiaohong, I'm home!"
Next, the family started to fuss over Jiang Xiaohong again, making sure that she was real and not a dream, before asking her where she had gone and why she hadn't come back.
Then Ning Xuan and Jiang Xiaohong walked around everyone and sat down. The two of them then told the whole story according to their agreed-upon statements.
Jiang Xiaohong was accidentally injured and hit her head. She was then rescued by Grandma Liu, who happened to be passing by.
However, after waking up, Jiang Xiaohong suffered from amnesia due to her injuries. She couldn't remember her own name or where her home was.
Grandma Liu was illiterate and lived deep in the mountains, so no one knew she had taken in a child. When she saw that Jiang Xiaohong had amnesia, she decided to raise Xiaohong as her own granddaughter, so she would have a companion...
According to the original plan, Xiao Hong eventually regained her memory, so Grandma Liu decided to send her down the mountain and home, which led to today's scene.
To portray an illiterate, lonely old woman, Ning Xuan spoke the dialect of her hometown in the modern world. This made her accent more believable, as it was not from the surrounding area.
Because Ning Xuan speaks a dialect they can't understand, Jiang Xiaohong mainly speaks it herself.
Although there might be some loopholes, the Jiang family automatically overlooked some details when they saw their long-lost relative suddenly return.
Because she had to recount her own experiences and answer questions from the Jiang family, Jiang Xiaohong spoke for almost an hour before she had finished explaining the whole story.
Because Jiang Xiaohong said she was found by Grandma Liu on a mountain road, which matches what Zhang Xiuying said when she asked her earlier—that a group of people went to the mountains to collect folk songs and Xiaohong got lost—everyone basically believes this fabricated story.
Finally, Jiang's father concluded, "But Xiao Hong has been missing for so long, and the neighbors know about it. How are we going to tell others what Xiao Hong said? Will they believe us?"
Jiang's mother said loudly, "Whether they believe it or not, Xiao Hong was just lucky to be rescued, but she also happened to lose her memory. Otherwise, she would have come back long ago. Grandma Liu is here too. What's there to disbelieve?"
Jiang's mother was initially very worried and couldn't believe it, but after observing her, she found that Xiao Hong was only thin and had no injuries. She was sure it was just because she and Grandma Liu hadn't been eating well.
The main reason was that the Rejuvenation Pill given by Yunxi was too powerful. All of Jiang Xiaohong's internal and external injuries were completely healed and no longer visible. Jiang Xiaohong's complexion and condition also returned to health. However, she still needed to gradually regain the weight she had lost.
It was precisely because of Jiang Xiaohong's condition that the Jiang family believed Ning Xuan's statement, if not 100%, then 80% or 90%, and that was enough.
Jiang's eldest sister-in-law, Wu Meili, spoke up after everyone had finished chatting, "Hey, Mom and Dad, Xiao Hong and the others came back early this morning. They probably haven't had breakfast yet. Let's eat first!"
Jiang's mother then realized what was happening and said, "Then I'll go make some more noodles, you guys eat first~"
Ning Xuan didn't refuse the Jiang family's breakfast, but while she ate, she mentally gave instructions to Zhang Qiang and his son: in a little while, a big show would be staged at the Commune Department Store.
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