"I understand. I'll set off first thing tomorrow morning."
Hearing Chen Changqing's reply, Chen Dongxu breathed a sigh of relief and said, "That's it then, Dad. I'm hanging up now. Grandpa and Grandma are still waiting in my cousin's clinic. I need to hurry up and get the admission procedures done."
"Okay, go ahead!"
After hanging up Chen Dongxu's call, Chen Changqing sat back in his office chair for a long time without making any further moves.
Second brother...
His twin brother, whom he had never met and who had lived for over forty years, was suddenly found by his parents—no, it shouldn't be called finding, but rather an unexpected encounter.
Chen Changqing was pondering. He felt that things were a bit sudden and coincidental, but he did not doubt that Grandpa Chen and Grandma Chen would admit their mistake, because he believed that Chen Dongxu would not lie to his father.
After a long silence, Chen Changqing picked up the landline phone and decided to inform his brother—to share the good news!
Besides, his parents needed to have surgery, which was a big deal, and it wouldn't be right not to inform his brother.
...
Although Mr. and Mrs. Chen had their hospitalization procedures completed by Chen Dongxu, they did not go directly into the hospital. It wasn't that they didn't want to, but Director Zhang personally went to the staff hospital to pick them up and take them back to his home, saying that this would make them more comfortable in terms of food and lodging.
In response, Song Lan suggested that it would be best to stay in the hospital before the surgery.
It makes preoperative examinations convenient.
In the end, Mr. Chen decided to stay at Director Zhang's house for one night and be formally admitted to the hospital the next morning.
Considering that a lot of daily necessities would be needed during hospitalization, Chen Dongxu took advantage of the fact that the supply and marketing cooperative was still open, and rode in Grandpa Chen's private car to town to buy a lot of daily necessities for Grandpa Chen, Grandma Chen, and himself.
The night was quiet, with only the occasional chirping of insects outside the window. Song Lan lay in bed, unable to fall asleep, and couldn't help but chat with Qin Yanzheng: "There's something I want to tell you."
"What's up?"
Qin Yanzheng asked.
Song Lan: "Actually, things happened quite suddenly. I never expected...that something like that would happen to someone close to me."
Qin Yanzheng's curiosity was piqued: "What exactly is it?"
"The two elderly people you met in the corridor this afternoon before you, my parents, and my grandmother left the hospital mentioned after you left that my father is their long-lost second son."
"Is there any evidence?"
"The old lady said my dad looked exactly like her brother from her maternal side, while the old man said I looked almost exactly like the old lady when she was young."
"We can't believe what they say without solid evidence."
“I didn’t tell them whether I believed it or not, but the old lady said that in order to catch up with the main group, she had to entrust her newborn child, my father, to a sister-in-law named Huaihua. She said that Huaihua left a keepsake and covered the expenses of taking care of my father.”
"Sister-in-law Huaihua refers to our grandmother."
Qin Yanzheng used a declarative sentence.
"Um."
Song Lan nodded.
"They want to prove to you that what they said is true, and they want to talk to Grandma about what happened back then so they can reunite with Dad, right?"
Qin Yanzheng revealed his guess.
“They did have that plan, but I stopped them and told them to look for Grandma again in three days.”
With her son, whom she had been searching for for many years, right in front of her, Song Lan knew she couldn't stop Old Mrs. Chen and Old Mr. Chen from recognizing their family, nor did she have the right to do so.
After all, the circumstances were special back then. It wasn't that Mrs. Chen didn't want her newborn child. Now, more than forty years later, they finally meet again, and she can understand how the other person feels when they see their child.
Qin Yanzheng: "Then let's talk about it in three days."
Do you think my dad knows about his background?
Song Lan asked.
"You'll have to ask Dad about that."
Qin Yanzheng said, "Actually, it doesn't matter whether you know or not. Your grandma's attitude towards your dad is clearly that she's raising him like her own son."
“In the early years of war and chaos, I had heard my father mention that he and his two uncles fled with their parents and eventually settled down in Shisong Village. During that time, his two younger siblings died on the road.”
Song Lan knew very well how much suffering people endured when fleeing war and famine, because in her original world, she had personally witnessed how people avoided war and fled famine to survive.
Along the way, dangers were everywhere, coupled with a lack of food and clothing, and starving corpses everywhere... even exchanging children to eat, the sight was too horrific to bear.
Young children and the elderly were usually among the first to die during the escape from famine and hardship.
Sensing that Song Lan was in a bad mood, Qin Yanzheng steered the conversation back to the matter of Grandpa Chen and Grandma Chen wanting to reunite with their relatives. He asked, "What are your thoughts on this reunion?"
"I'm not kidding you, after hearing the whole story, my mood didn't fluctuate at all."
Song Lan's mood returned to normal. She said, "Am I not normal? Or am I a bit cold-blooded?"
"I think it's normal for you not to have any emotional fluctuations."
Qin Yanzheng and Song Lan lay facing each other. He spoke in a doting and gentle tone: "First of all, this matter of recognizing relatives has nothing to do with you; secondly, our father was raised by our grandmother as her own son. In other words, our father never suffered any unfair treatment under our grandmother's care."
Besides, Dad has a harmonious marriage, filial children, and a good life. Considering all these factors, don't think you won't have strong feelings about recognizing your family. I reckon Dad's feelings about this will be pretty much the same as yours.
My father-in-law was entrusted to others for care by his birth mother as soon as he was born. For a newborn baby who knew nothing, the mother who took care of him and raised him from incontinence was his real mother.
In addition, this mother was impartial and treated her sons equally. His father-in-law felt no injustice and had never suffered any grievances. To be honest, when he turned around and faced his biological mother who suddenly appeared, it was probably no different from seeing a stranger.
Qin Yanzheng was able to think this way because he put himself in Song Sanhe's shoes and considered the matter of his biological parents recognizing him.
Of course, anything can happen, and it's too early to say anything if you're not directly involved.
"No matter what, I will stand by my dad."
Song Lan was well aware that even though she had integrated into her current life and regarded the original owner's family as her own, she had never experienced what the original owner had gone through, nor had she ever truly lived with her family in this world. Therefore, she was inevitably lacking in emotional connection with them.
So, when I heard about the family reunion, I wasn't emotionally affected.
Well, undeniably, she agreed with what her husband had said earlier: that her father in this world had never lacked maternal love since childhood, had never suffered any grievances, and now had a happy family. If his birth mother were to appear before him again, he would most likely be indifferent.
"My wife and I are standing side by side!"
Qin Yanzheng's voice was full of doting affection.
"Good, you speak well as always, I'm glad."
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