Rong Zhaonan remained silent, waiting for Ning Yuan to speak.
Grandma Xia frowned and asked first, "Are you afraid that your adoptive mother will come looking for you again, or even come to your school?"
Ning Yuan thought the old lady was indeed a formidable woman, and she smiled wryly: "She will definitely come looking for me again."
She paused for a moment, then said, "I don't know what she's planning, but it's definitely not something good, and I'm unlikely to get any good opportunities."
Old Tang's face darkened: "If that's the case, your college entrance exam will be affected."
How can a student who is taking the college entrance exam do well if their family members keep causing trouble every few days?
Ning Yuan said decisively, "So, we need to move to the county immediately. I will ask the old Party Secretary for help, and we must not tell anyone where we are staying."
After the college entrance exam, Ning Jinyun will go to university in another province. What else can she do?
With a stern face, Grandma Xia placed a duck leg into Ning Yuan's bowl: "You might as well cut ties with this kind of foster mother!"
Ning Yuan was silent for a while before saying, "But my dad is very good to me. He will give me candy behind my mom's back."
When Ning Jinyun was harsh and lectured her, her adoptive father Ning Zhuliu would protect her, speak up for her, and occasionally secretly give her a piece of candy.
Although Ning Jinyun usually gets angrier and scolds her more harshly, she remembers the kindness of her adoptive father.
In her previous life, the second year after she married Li Yan, her adoptive father and adoptive mother had just been living with her for a little over a year when her adoptive father died.
She could disregard Ning Jinyun, but she couldn't treat Ning Zhuliu, who had given her warmth, with the same attitude.
What's more, there's her older brother who has always been very kind to her... He's good to her and also to her adoptive parents.
This home gave her both good and bad things; it wasn't entirely without merit, just cold and uncomfortable.
That's why she couldn't bear to part with it in her past life.
“I don’t want my mom to use my dad and older brother to threaten me. It’s before the college entrance exam, so let’s stay away for now. Once I get into university, I’ll take you out and then contact them again.”
Ning Yuan said calmly.
She would still feel reluctant to part with her adoptive father and elder brother, but she would know her limits and would not be coerced by Ning Jinyun.
Grandma Xia frowned: "Since you've already made all the arrangements, I think it's best to move out at night so no one can see us."
Family ties are hard to sever, and it's remarkable that Ning Yuan, at her age, understands this so clearly.
Grandpa Tang hesitated for a moment: "But Grandma Xia and I haven't received the necessary documents yet. Can we leave?"
Most of the other people in the commune who were sent down for reform, like Xiao Nan, were gradually exonerated and had their jobs or benefits restored.
However, there is really nothing that can be done to clear his wife's name as a landlady.
Ning Yuan smiled, her big eyes bright: "Don't worry, I have a solution."
Seeing Ning Yuan's confidence, the two elders were relieved. This young girl was decisive, efficient, and reliable.
I won't lie to them.
After setting a date for the move, the group continued eating.
Ning Yuan even opened two glass bottles of orange soda that she had bought from the county last weekend.
The sweet drink, even with its strong artificial sweetener taste, seemed to ease the atmosphere disrupted by Ning Jinyun and Director Ge.
Ning Yuan felt much better.
Eating sweets, although it may lead to weight gain, does stimulate the release of dopamine, which can improve one's mood.
After the meal, Rong Zhaonan escorted the two elders back to their house.
Then, back in the cowshed, as he fetched water, he casually asked Ning Yuan, "Your mother came to you today with a good job offer, why didn't you agree?"
The Student Affairs Department of the Provincial Department of Education is now highly sought after; even university graduates without connections may not be able to get in.
She's already achieved her goal in one step, saving herself the trouble of going to university, so why does she insist on staying in the countryside?
While washing the dishes, Ning Yuan said sarcastically, "Do you think I don't know my mother? If she knew someone like Director Ge, she would have spread the word throughout the whole street eight hundred years ago."
Director Ge is now saying she's Ning Jinyun's good friend, isn't that nonsense?
"Besides, don't you think the way Director Ge looked at me was like he was appraising merchandise?" Ning Yuan asked.
Rong Zhaonan narrowed his long, narrow eyes: "You're guessing, that your mother is using you to make some kind of deal with her?"
Ning Yuan curled her lips and forcefully put down the washed enamel bowl: "It's almost certain that good things will only happen to my second sister, Ning Meimei!"
There are only traps falling from the sky, not free lunches; she didn't want to get caught in a trap.
I just don't know how her mother got in touch with Director Ge, or what she traded for her.
Looking at Ning Yuan's cold face, Rong Zhaonan suddenly remembered the names of her children.
The eldest son is an orphan of a martyr who was publicly adopted; he originally had his old name and didn't even change his surname.
The remaining names of the second child, Ning Weibing, and the third child, Ning Meimei, are common and popular "common" names nowadays.
To put it bluntly, they are shallow and lack depth, just following the crowd, and their literary talent is far inferior to that of their parents, Ning Jinyun and Ning Zhuliu.
However, Ning Jinyun and Ning Zhuliu were both servants of the Ning family before, so the Ning family named them after them.
The character "媛" in Ke Ningyuan is mentioned in the "Guangyun", "Jiyun", and "Shuowen" as an elegant character that is beautiful in both sound and appearance. It is often used in the context of a wealthy and famous socialite with a distinguished family background.
No matter how you look at it, she's completely different from Ning Weibing and Ning Meimei.
Rong Zhaonan narrowed his eyes: "How do you know you're not Ning's biological child? And that your name was given to you by your mother?"
While washing the dishes, Ning Yuan came up with a seemingly reasonable excuse: "I overheard my aunt and my mom talking once, and that's how I found out."
She couldn't very well say that she knew it in her past life, or that Ning Jinyun told her.
People will just think she's mentally ill or joking.
She paused for a moment, then said, "As for my name, it is said that it was given to me by my maternal grandmother."
Rong Zhaonan then asked, "Do you know whose child you are?"
Her maternal grandmother must have been a maid, she was so educated.
Ning Yuan put down the dishcloth, didn't answer immediately, but tilted her head and thought for a moment—
"It is said that when my maternal grandmother was working as a wet nurse in the Ning family in Jintou Lane in the provincial capital, the whole Ning family moved to Hong Kong and overseas, which was very chaotic and rushed."
“I was put in a basket and thrown into a corner of the Ning family ancestral hall.”
A glint of light flashed in Rong Zhaonan's cold eyes as he asked calmly, "You mean, you might be a child of the Ning family?"
The jade chili pepper in Ning Yuan's hand is a good thing.
Ning Yuan laughed helplessly: "What nonsense are you talking about? Even if I am a child of the Ning family, I could never be a member of the main family."
Seeing her so certain, Rong Zhaonan asked, "How do you know?"
Ning Yuan sighed: "Because my maternal grandmother was the wet nurse of the young master of the main family, it's impossible for her not to recognize the children of the main family."
My grandmother once said that the Ning family was a very large clan, with more than 300 people living in Jintou Lane, most of whom were surnamed Ning.
Even the emperor had three poor relatives, but the Ning family's true wealth lay in the main branch and the two close collateral branches, which produced many important figures.
But the remaining few hundred people of the tribe depended on others for a living, and many of them even worked as tenant farmers, deliverymen, and porters for the various businesses of the main family.
It's impossible for the wealthy members of the Ning family, including the main branch and close relatives, to abandon their own children.
She guessed that she was probably born to some poor collateral branch of the family, which was why they abandoned her when they ran away.
In her past life, Ning Jinyun made up a story about being abandoned by her biological parents, which she said was what she begged her maternal grandparents to adopt her.
Thinking about it now, Ning Jinyun's second half of the statement was false, but the first half was true—she was indeed unwanted by her biological parents.
Ning Yuan looked out the window, recalling what her grandmother had said—
"Back then, not everyone with the surname Ning could afford the travel expenses to Hong Kong and overseas. In Jintou Lane, many people even abandoned their wives and children to climb onto their master's caravan to go to Hong Kong."
It's not just the Ning family that's like this.
In the 1950s and 60s, before the passage to Hong Kong and Macau was about to be closed, many families from the mainland who wanted to go to Hong Kong did the same thing: leave their wives and children behind.
Time was too tight; "chaos" would be an understatement.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
