"Nobody really knows. It just exploded and disappeared. Because it was beyond the understanding of people at the time, it's understandable to consider it a supernatural phenomenon."
"I support the alien theory. I think there must be aliens whose civilization is much, much more advanced than ours. They couldn't stand what the Japanese were doing, so they casually dropped two bombs, and bang! That solved everything."
At this point, Ding Qiangguo stood up and pointed to the area on the world map behind him that should be the Japanese islands, and continued, "Look, if there really was another country here, how annoying that would be! They might even secretly dump sewage into the ocean. Otherwise, where would they dump all that garbage given their small area?"
Upon hearing Ding Qiangguo say that there must be aliens, Zhou Shuya had a sudden flash of inspiration and got upstairs to retrieve a small sandalwood box.
"Wow, Grandma, this box looks so old, is it an antique?"
Ding Qiangguo had only asked casually, but to his surprise, Zhou Shuya nodded and said, "This really is a genuine antique." She then opened it, revealing a jumble of letters inside. Zhou Shuya searched through them one by one until she finally found the one she was looking for.
Ding Qiangguo leaned over to take a look and saw that the letter, which was already a little yellowed, was addressed to Ms. Zhou Shuya, who was twenty-three years old.
"Wow, it's so well preserved, Grandma, could it be a love letter from someone?"
Zhou Shuya rolled her eyes at him. "This was given to me by your great-grandfather when I went to study abroad. But I didn't open it because it said to be for me to open at the age of 23. Later, when I actually turned 23... sigh, so many things happened after that, and I forgot about it. I don't know why I suddenly remembered it today."
"Then open it and see what's written there."
It was supposed to be a letter, but there was no envelope. It was just a piece of paper folded up and sealed with something. Zhou Shuya simply tore open the seal and unfolded the paper.
"Ugh! This handwriting is so ugly." That was Ding Qiangguo's first comment.
"Huh? Why does this character look so much like my handwriting?" This was Ding Qiangguo's second sentence.
The two of them huddled together, carefully examining the letter.
Dear Ms. Zhou, you don't need to know my identity. We will definitely meet when the time comes. I am writing to you to tell you that you will be with a Mr. Ding Qing this year. You don't need to doubt his feelings for you. He loves you very much. You will have a son in the future. However, it is best not to follow the trend and name him something like "Building the Nation" or "Building the Party". Of course, I have no objection if you really want to name him that. But please remember, after your grandson is born, please do not name him "Strong Nation". He should be named Ding Liufeng!
——
Zhou Shuya and Ding Qiangguo looked at each other in shock, then locked eyes.
"Did you write this?"
"Did Grandpa really give this to you?" they both asked in unison, their voices filled with disbelief.
“It really was given to me by your great-grandfather,” Zhou Shuya said.
"It really does seem like something I wrote, and this is indeed the name I wanted, but I really haven't written it before!" Ding Qiangguo felt like his brain wasn't working properly.
After a long silence, the two looked at the paper repeatedly.
"Grandma, you said that Great-Grandpa disappeared mysteriously for twenty years, and when he came back, he didn't seem to age much. Even though he's older than Second-Grandpa, he looks younger than him?"
Zhou Shuya nodded.
"And after you came back from studying abroad, you found that your great-grandfather had changed a lot since you left, almost like a different person? And your second grandfather also started to dislike him?"
Hearing Ding Qiangguo's words, Zhou Shuya recalled Chen Zhuo's attitude towards Chen Ke back then. It wasn't just dislike; it was utter disgust. But Chen Ke's attitude was something Zhou Shuya couldn't understand.
Mingming sometimes saw fear in his eyes when he looked at Chen Zhuo in anger, but he seemed to be able to challenge Chen Zhuo's bottom line again and again by relying on something. For example, he would gamble in the casino under the name of Chen Zhuo's brother and refuse to pay his debts. When he was caught in front of Chen Zhuo, he could still righteously ask Chen Zhuo to pay his debts.
He was arrested for harassing women in the street and sent a message to Chen Zhuo to bail him out. He also accepted bribes behind Chen Zhuo's back. One thing after another, even Zhou Shanhuai and Song Xiaowen couldn't stand it anymore and told Chen Zhuo to leave it alone. But every time, even though Chen Zhuo was so angry that he wanted to kill Chen Ke, he would still help him clean up the mess.
Until the very last time, Chen Ke was getting married, to a dancer of Japanese descent.
The family members were not very supportive, and Chen Zhuo was particularly opposed, but Chen Ke insisted on going his own way.
That day, Chen Ke was almost beaten to death by Chen Zhuo. But after the beating, Chen Ke still married the charming dancer. However, since then, Chen Zhuo has never cared about Chen Ke again. Even when Chen Ke was almost killed by someone for offending someone, Chen Zhuo remained indifferent.
And it was because of this incident that Chen Ke realized Chen Zhuo seemed to have really stopped caring about him and became much more obedient.
But in the end, Chen Zhuo still died because of Chen Ke.
Due to the sensitive nature of the period, there was a nationwide crackdown on traitors and spies. Because of Chen Ke's wife's identity, Chen Zhuo was implicated and asked by the organization to investigate.
At first, I thought it was just a formality, but I never expected that the news would be that Chen Zhuo committed suicide.
The above explanation is that Chen Ke's wife was indeed a spy, and Chen Zhuo felt guilty towards the organization, so he shot himself.
"Just as Grandpa said, Great-Grandpa was a bastard!" Ding Qiangguo said indignantly. "He was the one who killed Second-Grandpa, and what happened to Great-Grandpa after that?"
"Three days later, we found his body in the locked antique shop."
"Huh? Three days after my second grandfather passed away, my eldest grandfather also died? How did he die?" Ding Qiangguo was shocked; his grandfather hadn't told him this.
"The body was discovered three days later, but the man had died three days earlier. When it was found, the body was already rotten and smelly, with a dagger stuck in his heart. It was probably a murder. However, at that time, everyone in the family was heartbroken because of your second grandfather's death, so no one pursued the matter."
"Hmph, that's truly wicked people getting their just deserts!"
Zhou Shuya wanted to argue with Ding Qiangguo, saying that his great-grandfather wasn't like that before, but when she opened her mouth, she lost the will to argue.
Because his former elder brother may have truly disappeared, a villain took over his body, so his fate was indeed deserved.
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