Extra 2

It is easy to change the country, but difficult to change one's nature.

Has Xu Zhenmei really changed?

Zhao Xiangwan's eyes darkened. Xu Songling didn't even tell him such an important thing.

Counting the time, Xu Zhenmei was eleven years old in 1991. Nine years later, she is now twenty years old. She should have studied to become a kindergarten teacher and started working after graduation.

A child who once maliciously abandoned her sister has now become a kindergarten teacher. The recruitment of kindergarten teachers within the public security system has a strict political review process. How did Xu Zhenmei get in?

For the safety of his child, Zhao Xiangwan called Xu Songling immediately.

“Beep…beep…”

After two rings, the phone was picked up.

Xu Songling asked: "Xiang Wan, what's the matter?"

Zhao Xiangwan didn't hesitate and went straight to the point: "Meimei is a teacher in our Public Security Kindergarten. Did you arrange this?"

Xu Songling was stunned for a moment: "I don't know about this."

Zhao Xiangwan said in a cold voice: "You'd better find out. My daughter said that Xu Zhenmei is her kindergarten teacher."

Xu Songling immediately agreed: "Okay, I'll call you back later."

After hanging up the phone, Zhao Xiangwan turned to look at the dining table.

The food on the table was rich and delicious.

There was laughter and joy around the table.

The whole family gathered around Ji Qingping, who had just entered kindergarten.

——This is all she wants in her life, and she will never allow anyone to destroy it.

Half an hour later, Xu Songling called.

"Xiang Wan, I was careless. Meimei was admitted to a college after graduating from high school, majoring in early childhood education. She said I didn't need to worry about her graduation assignment, so I didn't. I didn't expect that she would directly enter the kindergarten in our system as my daughter and become an ordinary teacher."

At this point, Xu Songling said embarrassedly: "I'll talk to the headmaster and ask her to change Meimei's school."

Of course he knew why Zhao Xiangwan made this call. Ji Qingping was Zhao Xiangwan's dearest, so it was reasonable for him to be a little worried.

Working in the public security system is very risky.

It is the duty of the police to punish evil and promote good. While gaining trust and gratitude, they may also create hatred. In order to ensure the safety of every police officer's children and prevent retaliation from criminals, the system's kindergarten teachers are strictly reviewed and are generally family members of the public security system.

As the adopted daughter of the director of the provincial department's investigation bureau, it was not surprising that Xu Zhenmei was assigned to a kindergarten within the system.

After all, nine years had passed since Xu Zhenbao went missing. Xu Songling did not choose to destroy or abandon Meimei, but sent her to a boarding school, consulted a psychologist, and gave her more care and tried to guide her onto the right path. Therefore, the fact that Xu Zhenmei had abandoned her three-year-old sister did not ferment, and not many people remember it until now.

Zhao Xiangwan nodded: "Okay."

Let's be frank. Zhao Xiangwan was worried about handing his daughter over to Xu Zhenmei.

That night, Xu Zhenmei took the initiative to contact Zhao Xiangwan and asked her to meet.

The two met at the entrance of the kindergarten.

As he grows older, Zhao Xiangwan becomes more calm in his uniform, and his amber eyes sparkle under the street lights, making him look even more charming.

Xu Zhenmei has a slim figure, an oval face, big eyes and a kind smile, which fits the general impression of a kindergarten teacher.

Xu Zhenmei took the initiative to speak: "Officer Zhao, do you still hate me?"

Zhao Xiangwan glanced at her and said nothing. Holding a grudge? Not really, just preparing for a rainy day.

[Once wrong, is it always wrong? ]

[I already know I'm wrong, but you still don't want to believe me.]

The past came flooding back to her mind, and Xu Zhenmei smiled bitterly: "At that time, I was only eleven years old and was adopted by my parents from an orphanage. I wanted to have all the love in my hands. I was very jealous and couldn't stand seeing my sister interact with my parents. I felt that they truly loved my sister and only showed pity to me."

"Then, I deliberately left my sister at the snack shop, wanting to give her to someone else. I lied to my parents and said that I accidentally let go of her. Yes, I also pretended to be pitiful to make my parents feel resentful and cover up my selfish motives."

"I never thought that the owner of the snack shop would feed my sister alcohol. I really didn't think so. I used to go there to buy peanuts and heard them say they wanted a daughter, saying that daughters are good and that daughters are their parents' little cotton-padded jackets. But they gave birth to three sons and they wanted to have a daughter to raise."

"I really didn't..."

Zhao Xiangwan raised his hand and interrupted her defense: "They want to raise a daughter, and their motives are not pure. Do you think it's right to leave the baby to a pair of parents who force the child to drink liquor to prevent the child from crying?"

Although Zhao Xiangwan didn't say much and her voice was neither fast nor slow, Xu Zhenmei's heart skipped a beat and she didn't dare to meet her eyes. "I was still young at that time, I was still in elementary school, and I had never been to the countryside, so I didn't know these things."

Zhao Xiangwan's eyes flashed, and his gaze became sharp: "There are four "I"s in one sentence. Haven't you noticed? In your world, there is only yourself."

Xu Zhenmei felt that her breathing was a little difficult, and tears rolled down her red eyes: "Officer Zhao, I admit that it was my selfishness and jealousy that made me commit an unforgivable mistake. But I really want to correct my mistakes, really! After graduating from college, I chose to return to the public security system to teach in the kindergarten. I just want to make up for it. I want to watch these children who are also children of police officers like me grow up together, and teach them culture and knowledge."

At this point, Xu Zhenmei took out a piece of handkerchief from her pocket to wipe her tears, her voice choking with sobs: "I really just want to make up for the mistakes I made, work hard to be a good person, be a qualified police child, and let my father and mother be proud of me. Really, one mistake determines the rest of your life, can't you give me this opportunity?"

[Is it fair that my dad asked me to transfer my job after only one day of class?]

[Will the mistake I made when I was eleven years old be forever marked by it and never forgiven? ]

Zhao Xiangwan's tone became serious: "One mistake determines your life? The mistake you made almost ruined your parents' lives and almost made your sister's fate bumpy, but what about you? You didn't go to jail, you weren't abandoned by your parents, and you didn't endure the spit and blame of the world. Instead, you finished college smoothly and have a decent job. You are lucky enough at the age of 20. Your mistake did not determine your life, because you have a pair of responsible parents and a tolerant sister. They chose to forgive you, so you can stand in front of me. Now, you come to me to ask for a chance to continue staying in the Public Security Kindergarten. Do you think... it's appropriate?"

Zhao Xiangwan's words were like a whip that lashed Xu Zhenmei's heart.

She pressed her chest and took a half step back.

Forgiving yourself is always the fastest.

Although she knew that the consequences of her mistakes were serious, Xu Zhenmei had successfully convinced herself. After all, everyone makes mistakes, and if she corrects them, she is still a good comrade, right?

Therefore, when the head teacher and her father called her and told her that she didn't need to go to the kindergarten the next day and had to wait for work notification, Xu Zhenmei was unwilling in her heart.

Thinking about it, my father was too busy with work to care about where I worked. The reason he called to ask about my situation must be because there was a kid named Ji Qingping in my class.

This little guy looks a lot like Zhao Xiangwan. His eyes are exactly the same.

During class, Xu Zhenmei wrote the word "Mei" on the blackboard and asked the children to call her Teacher Meimei. Only Ji Qingping stood up and asked, "Teacher, what is your full name?"

At that time, Xu Zhenmei asked back: "Why do you want to ask the teacher's name?"

Ji Qingping was not afraid of the teacher at all. Instead, he calmly replied, "Because the teacher knows the names of each of us, so... to be fair, I also want to know your name."

The facial features of Zhao Xiangwan and Ji Qingping gradually overlapped. Xu Zhenmei knew that any struggle she made would be in vain when facing Zhao Xiangwan, who had once ruthlessly exposed her.

Xu Zhenmei bent down slightly and choked up, "I'm sorry, I was reckless. I, I will leave tomorrow, don't worry, I will not stay in the Public Security Kindergarten."

Zhao Xiangwan said coldly: "Sincere repentance does not need to be deliberately expressed. The more deliberate it is, the more false it is. You can take care of yourself."

Having said that, Zhao Xiangwan turned and left, leaving Xu Zhenmei with only his tall and handsome back.

Xu Zhenmei stared blankly at Zhao Xiangwan's back, feeling unspeakably aggrieved.

Wasn't her confession sincere?

Is she acting very deliberate and fake?

Obviously...she has been trying very hard to mend her ways and has been performing very seriously.

At night, lying on the bed in the single dormitory, Xu Zhenmei had a dream.

Time was pulled back to the age of eleven.

She successfully threw the annoying Xu Zhenbao to the parents who were selling roasted nuts, and no one noticed. The annoying Zhao Xiangwan was studying in some corner, anyway... Zhao Xiangwan was not a student of the Public Security University, and he did not become the apprentice of his father Xu Songling.

In her dream, Xu Zhenmei did not get the joy she expected.

I have my parents all to myself, but I am not happy.

Mother Zhou Qiaoxiu cried all day long, and father Xu Songling also had a gloomy face. Apart from going to work, their daily routine was to look for people, constantly searching for Xu Zhenbao.

Countless photos were posted.

Countless hunting trips.

Countless calls were made.

Countless hopes arise, and countless disappointments accumulate.

Zhou Qiaoxiu lost her appetite from then on, and ate cold food in the cafeteria every day. She didn't say a word to Xu Zhenmei all day long, and she didn't care about her at all. She held the photo album and cried every day looking at Xu Zhenbao's photos.

Xu Songling devoted himself to the child trafficking case. Although he rescued hundreds of abducted children, he never found Xu Zhenbao. He was busy every day, on business trips every day, and rarely appeared at home.

This once warm family of four became cold and strange because of the disappearance of Xu Zhenbao.

Until fifteen years later.

My mother is ill and has stress-induced cardiomyopathy, commonly known as broken heart syndrome. The doctor said that this is a condition that occurs when a person is extremely sad or angry after a major external event, which can cause chest pain, shortness of breath, and other symptoms similar to heart disease.

Zhou Qiaoxiu was lying on the hospital bed, gasping for breath.

She refused to receive treatment at all and spent the whole day looking at the door pitifully, hoping that her daughter would show up.

Xu Zhenmei knew that the daughter she was longing for was Xu Zhenbao, not her, Xu Zhenmei.

Xu Zhenmei was busy with work and needed a nurse to look after Zhou Qiaoxiu. The head nurse recommended a girl from the countryside named Wu Yanzi to her.

This girl has a round face very similar to Zhou Qiaoxiu's, with long delicate eyebrows and big eyes. There are shallow old scars on her cheeks, her hands are rough, and she looks very honest.

As soon as Xu Zhenmei saw Wu Yanzi, her heart started beating wildly. She asked, "Where are you from?"

Wu Yanzi glanced at her cautiously and answered obediently, "I'm from Province S."

"What do your parents do?"

“They are farmers.”

“Only farming?”

“I used to run a snack shop.”

"How many people are there in your family?"

"There are five of us in the family. I have three older brothers."

"Why do you have to work outside? Have you never been to school?"

Wu Yanzi looked at her anxiously, "I didn't finish junior high school, so I went out to work. My eldest brother is married, but my two brothers are still unmarried. My family is short of money. If I don't go out to work, my parents said they would have to marry me off. I don't want that, so please don't dislike me. I'm not afraid of hardship, really, I'm not afraid of anything. I will take good care of the patient. I've been good at housework since I was a child, and I will definitely take good care of Auntie."

Xu Zhenmei felt depressed and couldn't breathe. She wanted to ask Wu Yanzi if she still remembered what happened before she was three years old. She also wanted to ask Wu Yanzi if she remembered that she was the one who abandoned her.

But she didn't dare to ask.

These were all the sins she committed because of her momentary lapse of judgment.

Originally, the simple and kind-hearted Xu Zhenbao should have studied happily, grown up carefree, and lived a happy life with his biological parents.

However, because of Xu Zhenmei's malicious abandonment, Xu Zhenbao became Wu Yanzi, a rural girl who was not cherished by her adoptive parents. In order to earn money for her brother's dowry, she dropped out of school early and went out to work. She came to the hospital as a nurse, and her personality became timid, inferior and cowardly.

And then?

Xu Zhenmei, a guilty thief, tried her best to prevent Wu Yanzi from meeting Zhou Qiaoxiu's family. However, the gears of fate had already started turning and she was powerless to change it.

After many twists and turns, Wu Yanzi became the nanny hired by Zhou Qiaoxiu.

Perhaps it was really because of blood ties, as soon as Wu Yanzi arrived at the Xu family, she quickly gained the trust of Zhou Qiaoxiu and Xu Songling, and they got along very well.

Until one day, when Wu Yanzi was cleaning the bathroom, she saw the family album. Some forgotten memories suddenly came to her mind and she fainted.

Zhou Qiaoxiu sent her to the hospital. The people in the hospital thought they were mother and daughter. They said they looked very similar. This made Zhou Qiaoxiu suspicious. She asked someone to do a DNA test, and the truth was revealed.

Xu Zhenmei was despised by everyone.

Zhou Qiaoxiu and Xu Songling almost collapsed after finding out that their biological daughter was deliberately taken to Wu Kee Fried Food Shop and abandoned by their adopted daughter.

Zhou Qiaoxiu shook Xu Zhenmei's shoulders: "How can you be so cruel? You watched us searching desperately without saying a word. How dare you?! Get out of here! I never want to see you again!"

The gaze that Xu Songling gave Xu Zhenmei was like a knife, cutting flesh.

Having dealt with traffickers countless times and going deep into the mountains to rescue abducted children, Xu Songling tried his best to find his daughter, but to no avail. When his wife suspected that Meimei had abandoned her on purpose, he even blamed her for being partial. Thinking of the past, Xu Songling was filled with remorse and waved his hand: "Get lost!"

Fifteen years had passed since the incident, and Xu Zhenmei was only eleven years old at the time. Even if the police were called, they could not punish Xu Zhenmei. Xu Songling hated her so much that he broke off all ties with her and made her character and deeds public.

Xu Zhenmei originally worked as a kindergarten teacher in a public security kindergarten and she also had a boyfriend. The two were planning to get married at the end of the year.

Now her crimes of selfishness, jealousy and malicious abandonment were exposed. She was soon expelled from the kindergarten and her boyfriend broke up with her. Overnight, Xu Zhenmei's life turned upside down.

No matter where she went, people were always talking behind her back.

"It was her. After being adopted, she was not grateful. Instead, she took over the adopted parents' home and threw their biological daughter to the kidnapper. As a result, Old Xu's family was almost destroyed."

"How cruel! My foster mother has been ill for years, and my foster father's career has not improved at all, all because of this ungrateful person like her!"

"You are naturally cold-blooded, like a snake with a scorpion heart, you can't even warm me up."

Xu Zhenmei was too ashamed to stay in Xing City any longer, so she had to leave. She never married again in her life. When she closed her eyes, she seemed to hear Xu Zhenbao crying, "Sister, sister..." and her parents' cold voice, "Get out!"

One wrong step leads to all wrong.

Xu Zhenmei was filled with regret. Why did she think that as long as she drove her sister away, she would be able to gain her parents' unconditional love? She was a living person, a sister who had grown up under her care. How could her parents not feel guilty, heartbroken, and sad about her departure?

A family was destroyed by her just like that.

The lives of four people were ruined by her.

"Ding-a-ling..."

The sound of the alarm woke Xu Zhenmei from her nightmare.

When she opened her eyes and touched her face, it was full of tears.

The pain of palpitations made it hard to breathe.

At this moment, Xu Zhenmei suddenly understood.

If Zhao Xiangwan had not discovered the truth and stopped it in time, things would have developed just like in the dream.

She was wrong!

She made an inexcusable mistake.

Such mistakes, which hurt loved ones, cannot be made up for with a simple "I'm sorry" or forgotten with a little confession.

Getting up from the bed, Xu Zhenmei tidied herself up, looked at the young face in the mirror, and said softly, "Xu Zhenmei, you are so lucky."

Yes, it's good luck.

Fortunately, Zhao Xiangwan discovered it in time and rescued the baby who was drunk from Wu Kee Fried Food Shop.

Fortunately, her adoptive parents were kind, tolerant and generous, and did not give up on educating and caring for her.

Fortunately, my younger sister Xu Zhenbao is kind and innocent. She does not bear any grudge and still calls me sister sweetly.

The funny thing is that Xu Zhenmei had previously thought that as long as she said sorry, everyone in the world would forgive her without any grudges.

How could she have the nerve to ask Zhao Xiangwan to accept her confession, trust that she had changed, and allow her to continue to be Ji Qingping's kindergarten teacher?

Xu Zhenmei obediently accepted the arrangement of the kindergarten principal and went to another kindergarten to work as a kindergarten teacher.

She devoted herself to early childhood education and was loved by the children.

She is filial to her parents, friendly to her younger sister, and quietly makes up for the mistakes she has made.

Xu Zhenmei feels that the person she should be most grateful to in her life is Zhao Xiangwan.

No one is perfect.

However, some mistakes are just one wrong step, and they continue to happen step by step until they are so wrong that there is no way back.

If there is someone who can catch the person who has made a mistake in time and stop him with thunder and lightning.

This is salvation.

So, thank you.