Chapter 51
The mountain roads were difficult to navigate, so the three of them hurried as fast as they could, finally arriving in Dongxiang Village, Yongmiao County, before dawn. Few restaurants were open after dark, so Yu Lei asked the hotel front desk to make him three bowls of instant noodles.
It's called a hotel, but its specifications are similar to a guesthouse. The three-story building has long white tiled walls. The lights in front of the door flicker, and the air conditioner is covered in black dust. If it weren't for the many cars parked in the open space in front, Tang Ruxin would have suspected it was a shady business.
While waiting for his instant noodles, Yu Lei casually struck up a conversation with the receptionist, discussing the weather, business, local specialties, and local customs.
"Eh? Your last name is Yu, and that young man's last name is Chen. How can you say you are his brother?" The lady at the front desk asked curiously while registering his identity information.
"He was adopted by my family. We've been together for more than 20 years, just like a married couple. But he's been married for only three years and his wife ran away without even having a child. As his elder brother, I can't just ignore him. I had no choice but to go with him to my sister-in-law's hometown to try my luck. Maybe she'd come home." Yu Lei made up a coherent story, and his sad expression looked real.
When Chen Jingzhou, who was married, heard for the first time that his wife had run away, the shock on his face did not show up before he met his eldest sister's sympathetic gaze.
"Uh, eh! Haha..." He nodded awkwardly at his elder sister, looking silly.
Tang Ruxin sat aside, looking down at her phone, with the corners of her mouth trying to turn down, as if she was born not to smile.
"Who is that?" The receptionist looked at Tang Ruxin.
"My wife has a good relationship with my brother and sister-in-law. Maybe I can persuade her to come home." Yu Lei answered casually, then took out a photo of Tong Jiayu's family and showed it to her, asking, "Sister, do you know this family? The surname is Tong."
The lady at the front desk handed him the instant noodles, then took the phone and carefully identified the photo.
"Isn't that Tong Qiguai? Qiguai! I recognize him. His son, Tong Weizhong, got married last month, and the banquet lasted three days! I even gave him a pretty good portion."
Yu Lei showed a surprised expression and turned to ask Chen Jingzhou, "Why haven't I heard you mention it before? Is your sister-in-law coming back to host a wedding for her brother?"
"She, she didn't tell me. How would I know..." Chen Jingzhou decided to stick to his character of a fool to the end and be clueless about anything.
"Your wife is Tong Qiguai's daughter, right? Then she definitely didn't come back. I went to the banquet, and Tong Qiguai's daughter wasn't there." The eldest sister handed the phone back to Yu Lei and sighed, "She didn't even come back for her brother's wedding, let alone her mother's burial. She's been gone for more than ten years, and everyone in the village thought she was dead."
Yu Lei's heart sank, and he glanced sideways at Chen Jingzhou.
Chen Jingzhou immediately jumped up and shouted anxiously, "How could they think she was dead? She's so filial, she sends money to her father every month, hundreds and thousands. How come no one in the village has ever heard her father mention her?"
"No, Tong Qiguai seldom mentioned his daughter... Hey, what was his daughter's name? It's been so many years, I can't remember it." The lady at the front desk frowned and tried to recall.
"Her name is Tong Jiayu." Tang Ruxin said.
"Yes, that's the name. It seems he ran away from home when he was a little over ten years old, and there was no news of him since then. Tong Qiguai was so angry that he fell seriously ill at the time. I have some impression of him."
"Why did she run away from home?" Tang Ruxin stood up and walked to the counter, frowning. This was different from what Tong Jiayu had told her.
She hired Tong Jiayu during her freshman year to clean the off-campus apartment she rented. At the time, Tong Jiayu explained that she had recently left her hometown, and her parents wanted her to earn money quickly to support her younger brother's education. That year, Tong Jiayu's ID card indicated she was already seventeen, so she couldn't have been more than ten.
"How would I know? It's just family matters..." The receptionist was evasive. "Hey, it's already late. Take your instant noodles and eat them. I'm going to sleep."
Without waiting for them to ask any more questions, the receptionist quickly went into the lounge behind the counter and closed the door.
Tang Ruxin, who was originally starving, had completely lost her appetite at this time. She stuffed the instant noodles to Chen Jingzhou and said, "Young man, eat more." Then she went back to her room.
Yu Lei felt a little offended. He thought that those who were not young could eat more. He took the bowl of instant noodles that Chen Jingzhou had not been able to refuse and went into Chen Jingzhou's room.
"Don't you 'husband and wife' live together? What if the truth comes out?" Chen Jingzhou kindly reminded.
Yu Lei sat on the edge of the bed, eating instant noodles, and said, "Your 'sister-in-law' is a light sleeper, and I snore."
Chen Jingzhou was disappointed and quickly finished his noodles, washed up and went to bed.
The next morning, the three of them went to Tong Jiayu's father's house and saw Tong Qiguai sitting at the door with his hands in his pockets, smoking. He rolled his own cigarette, and the smoke from the burning tobacco was larger than that of ordinary cigarettes.
"Hello, are you Tong Qi?" Chen Jingzhou asked as he walked forward with a photo.
The old man rolled his cloudy eyes, smacked his lips twice, turned his head and spat out a mouthful of thick phlegm, and coughed a few more times before speaking, "Are you Chen Jingzhou?"
The receptionist had indeed contacted Tong Qi and told him their appearance and purpose. In remote mountainous villages, a single move can affect the entire region. There was no need to hide, and it was impossible to do so.
The old man asked Chen Jingzhou, but his eyes were staring at Tang Ruxin without any courtesy.
Tang Ruxin was startled. The man's gaze made her very uncomfortable. It was as if he wanted to see through her from inside and out, from top to bottom. It was very offensive.
Yu Lei stepped forward, standing between the old man and Tang Ruxin, bowed and greeted politely:
"Hello, Uncle Tong, I am his elder brother. It's just a small gift for meeting you, please don't mind."
Tong Qi spat out the cigarette between his teeth, stood up, pushed the door open and entered the yard without accepting Yu Lei's gift.
After handing the things to Chen Jingzhou, Yu Lei followed him in. After entering the courtyard, he quickly glanced at the general furnishings within the white courtyard wall. It was pretty much as he expected. The Tong family was not poor, otherwise they would not be able to hold a three-day banquet.
There is a two-story brick house in the yard. The room is bright and clean, and is fully equipped with furniture and appliances. There is even a treadmill in the corner of the living room.
Hearing someone coming home, Tong Qi's son, Tong Wei Zhong, slowly came down from upstairs, twirling a pair of car keys with his fingers raised in the air. He glanced at the people in the living room downstairs and whistled in a frivolous manner when he saw Tang Ruxin.
"Old man, where did this beautiful girl come from?" Tong Wei Zhong quickened his pace as he went downstairs and came to Tong Qi and asked.
What a "simple folk custom" - Tang Ruxin smiled and nodded at him as a greeting.
Tong Qi's answer was simple, "Get lost."
Tong Wei Zhong shrugged, turned the car keys and walked out.
"I've seen you." Tong Qi pointed at Tang Ruxin, then sat down on the sofa and lit a cigarette.
No wonder he was staring at her just now. Tang Ruxin smiled and said, "Tong Jiayu mentioned me to you."
Tong Qi responded and said, "Many years ago, she sent me a photo of you. She said that if you ever found your home, it would mean she would never be able to return home."
Tang Ruxin was stunned and looked at Yu Lei. What did this mean?
"Don't lie to me, is she dead?" Tong Qi stared at Tang Ruxin with his cloudy eyes, the same look that made people feel creepy from the bottom of their hearts, just like when he was at the door just now.
Tang Ruxin said hurriedly, "How is that possible! She's fine... well, she was slightly injured, but it's not serious. She'll recover soon. If you don't believe me, I'll call her right now."
Tong Qi waved his hands. "No need. I thought she was dead a long time ago. If she hadn't sent me money every month, I wouldn't even bother asking."
Chen Jingzhou frowned and said, "She is your biological daughter after all. She sends you money every month, which proves that she still cares about you."
Tong Qi sneered, revealing a mouthful of black, yellow, and incomplete teeth.
"She ran away, and you're still speaking for her. You're a fool, too. Just as foolish as I was back then." He pointed at Chen Jingzhou, cigarette in hand. "I heard she ran away without leaving you with a child. You're luckier than me. When her mother ran away, she left me this wild clock."
Tang Ruxin's breathing grew heavier. She had guessed why ten-year-old Tong Jiayu had run away from home. She tucked her fingers into her sleeves to hide the trembling she could no longer control.
How could Tong Jiayu, so cheerful and playful, have such a life? Tang Ruxin didn't dare to imagine the hardships and sufferings a ten-year-old girl, who had left home alone, would have endured on this journey. She clenched her fingers tightly, digging her nails into her palms, the pain so intense that her eyes began to burn.
"Can you please let me see the photo she sent you?" Yu Lei stopped pretending and took out a notebook and pen to start taking notes. Based on the old man's IQ, he probably didn't need to act so seriously.
"It's been so many years, it's long gone. If the girl in the photo wasn't really pretty, I wouldn't have remembered it until now." Tong Qi crossed his legs and said nonchalantly, "That was the last time she contacted me. There's no other letter. If you want to get news about her from me, you've come to the wrong person."
"Do you still remember which year it was sent to you?" Yu Lei asked.
Tong Qi looked up and thought for a moment, then said, "About eleven or twelve years ago. Why are you asking this? What does it have to do with finding her? Hey, you just said you could call her. So you can find her? What does that mean? What are you doing here?"
Yu Lei calculated the year, which should have been the year Tong Jiayu and Tang Ruxin met. He frowned, thinking. Tang Ruxin was only eighteen, and Tong Jiayu only seventeen. They'd only just met, so why would Tong Jiayu think Tang Ruxin might be going back to her hometown? What did it mean to never be able to return home?
Yu Lei couldn't figure it out for a moment. He took out his phone, opened the album, pulled out a photo of Tong Jiayu, put it in front of Tong Qi, and asked:
"Can you recognize who she is?"
Tong Qi's questioning was interrupted by him, his attention drawn to the smiling girl on the phone screen. He leaned in and looked at her carefully for a long time, then shook his head and said, "Who is it?"
"Your daughter." Chen Jingzhou's face was gloomy, he didn't even recognize his own daughter.
"Hey, she looked like a bean sprout when she left." Tong Qi sneered at the photo and said, "Don't tell me, she really looks like her bitch mother. She smiles like a bitch."
Upon hearing this, Yu Lei immediately put away his phone and stood up. He stopped Tang Ruxin from jumping up and rushing towards Tong Qi, and with his other hand pressed her shoulder to restrain her. He said to Tong Qi expressionlessly:
"Sorry to bother you. If we have any other questions in the future, we will come to you again." As he said that, he gestured for Chen Jingzhou to leave.
Chen Jingzhou seemed to want to say something, but was stopped by Yu Lei's look.
After leaving the house, Tang Ruxin cursed angrily, "What a piece of shit! Is he still a human being? Is he still a human being?! I #￥%* his eight generations of ancestors, what a beast..."
Chen Jingzhou was stunned. He had never expected Director Tang, who usually seemed gentle, graceful, and well-spoken, to be so aggressive when he threw a tantrum. Was this just adapting to local customs?
Yu Lei didn't stop her now and let her curse as much as she wanted.
He flipped through his phone and asked Chen Jingzhou, "Is this the only photo of Tong Jiayu we can find? Are there no ID photos of her as a child?"
Chen Jingzhou also started looking through his phone and said, "Her high school diploma was forged. The photo on it was photoshopped from her adult life. Her ID card was also a replacement from later on, and there's no ID card from before that. Looking back now, it seems very likely that she didn't even go to school at all."
"From a ten-year-old child to a twenty-eight-year-old adult, appearance will indeed change a lot. Tong Qi doesn't look like he is very smart, and he has no feelings for Tong Jiayu, so I guess he really won't be recognized." Yu Lei said.
Tang Ruxin was tired of scolding, so she stood there with her hands on her hips, panting. After calming her breath for a while, she took out her phone and said:
"I have."
Yu Lei and Chen Jingzhou came over to watch her flipping through the photo album on her phone.
After a moment, Tang Ruxin exclaimed, "Huh?"
"Why is it gone?"
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