After hanging up the phone, Gu Zhengfeng lay down on the map to study it. The more he studied it, the more heartbroken he became. He couldn't even imagine how much suffering this girl would have to endure. He didn't want to think about what would happen if the child lost her way in the dense forest.
The pencil in his hand broke, but he didn't even realize it. His eyes were fixed on the map, moving from place to place. Based on his understanding of his daughter, she wasn't the type to leave no way out for others. If she wanted to get more, she had probably gone to many places.
Wen Jingwan pushed the door open and saw that her husband's eyes were red. "What's wrong? What happened?"
Gu Zhengfeng gave a wry smile, took his wife's hand, and sat down. "Jingwan, we've given birth to a wonderful daughter—"
Wen Jingwan's eyes suddenly widened. "What? You mean there's news about our daughter? Where is the child? What's the situation? Why haven't we heard anything from her all this time?"
Gu Zhengfeng sighed and patted his wife's hand, saying, "Don't worry, let me tell you slowly. It's true that the child went to see his old friend with Uncle Qiao, but his friend had some problems and became paralyzed. The two of them stayed there with the old man and only recently managed to get him cured."
Before her husband could continue, Wen Jingwan interrupted Gu Zhengfeng urgently, "What did you say? The old man was paralyzed, and then he was cured? That's amazing! Uncle Qiao's medical skills are that high?"
Gu Zhengfeng looked at his wife and shook his head with a smile. "What do you think? The Qiao family has been practicing medicine for generations, and they all have ancestral secret recipes. Although Uncle Qiao specializes in treating injuries, don't forget that he passed all the secret recipes on to his daughter. What do you think our daughter is doing when she's not in school? She's researching those secret recipes."
Plus what she learned from the old man, I'd say our daughter is definitely not bad either; she's probably been a huge help in all of this.”
Wen Jingwan had no doubt about this; she knew her daughter was smart, as her mother had witnessed it firsthand.
“This child is even more capable than me, her mother. I need to learn a few tricks from my daughter. Conditions are tough here, and some illnesses are beyond the reach of even military hospitals, let alone us. Next time my daughter comes, I need to ask her to teach me a couple of techniques.”
Suddenly, an idea flashed through Wen Jingwan's mind. She nudged Gu Zhengfeng and said, "Zhengfeng, what do you think about letting our daughter and Uncle Qiao join the army? They could treat the soldiers' illnesses."
Gu Zhengfeng shook his head, both amused and exasperated. His wife's thought process was too peculiar; they were originally talking about their daughter, but she had somehow gotten sidetracked into this.
"We don't have the final say on our daughter's affairs. Besides, she's too young, and there's no such rule. Uncle Qiao is too old, so we'll discuss this later."
Let me tell you about the man your daughter saved; he was a eunuch—”
This time, Wen Jingwan was completely frightened. Her eyes widened and her mouth gaped open.
She had only ever read about eunuchs in books, but she never imagined that she would actually encounter such a person in real life, especially by her daughter.
She could already imagine what her husband was about to say.
"Don't tell me the child is going to take care of this old man in his old age?"
Gu Zhengfeng smiled and nodded. "You really guessed right. This is what the girl told me. Since the child has made a decision, we as parents will support her. Everyone gets old eventually, especially that old man who is all alone. He heard that his adopted son was unfilial, so he had no choice but to ask the old eunuch to sever ties with his adopted son. The child promised to take care of him in his old age."
Wen Jingwan gave a bitter smile. "To be honest, I feel sorry for my child. She's so young and has never had a good day. She has to take care of Uncle Qiao and this old eunuch. Isn't my daughter suffering all her life?"
Gu Zhengfeng patted his wife's hand. "Sigh, speaking of which, it's not just them. My father's side is also being taken care of by the children. Actually, it's all our responsibility, but the children have to shoulder this responsibility. We, as parents, are the ones who feel most sorry for our daughter."
Just keep this in mind. The old man's name is Ma Liu. If you have the chance to meet him in the future, remember to address him. In any case, since we are destined to have the child, we should support him. Since the girl said she wanted to raise him, she must have her reasons and methods. We can talk about the rest when we meet.
By the way, what brings you here?
When Gu Zhengfeng brought this up, Wen Jingwan finally remembered the purpose of her visit.
“I and another person have received notice to go out for training, so please take good care of yourself while I’m away. If you don’t get enough to eat in the cafeteria, come back and cook something for yourself. Don’t go hungry and ruin your appetite. Your health is very important. The kids have prepared so much for us, and we’re not letting you skimp on it.”
Speaking of her child, Wen Jingwan exclaimed, "Don't you think our daughter has some special connections? This girl is amazing!"
Gu Zhengfeng patted his wife's shoulder and said, "We should keep these things to ourselves. We can't tell anyone. Dad understands. By the way, you should call Zhongxuan right away and tell him that the child is fine and that the family shouldn't worry."
Since my father-in-law moved to a new house, he no longer has a phone, and I can only contact him through my brother-in-law. It's inconvenient, but it's worth it for his safety.
After the old man recovered a bit, Jiang Qiao accompanied Qiao Jie and Ma Liu to the countryside. The reason Ma Liu chose to settle here was to be near his family and visit their graves when he had free time.
Qiao Jie hasn't been able to come back all these years, and Ma Liu has been the one cleaning up the graves of his family members.
When they went, the three of them didn't go empty-handed; they brought all the things needed for the tomb sweeping, food, and drinks.
Because Ma Liu relayed that there were still a few elderly people left in their hometown who were acquaintances of theirs, they felt they had to visit their childhood friends after not returning for many years. They also wanted to ask their descendants to take care of their relatives' graves, since it was hard to say when they would be able to come back in the future.
After sweeping the graves, Jiang Qiao first went to see the old men. They were all starving. If they hadn't brought food, Jiang Qiao estimated that they would have just been waiting to die.
Jiang Qiao wasn't a stingy person. Before leaving, he slipped some money to the elderly people, hoping they would burn some paper money for the relatives of Qiao Jie and Ma Liu's families during festivals.
On the way back, Ma Liu and Qiao Jie remained silent. They didn't know many people left, and their old friends were all in their twilight years. They felt the same way.
Finally, Ma Liu broke the silence first, "Brother, do you think we two are the luckiest ones? Although we don't have many children, compared to those who have children, we seem to be much happier than them."
At least I feel very happy now. I have enough to eat and drink, and I'm dressed well. Sigh, when I see them holding our hands and crying, I can't even describe how I feel.
Qiao Jie patted his brother on the shoulder. "So, we should cherish what we have. Come on, girl, we've come all this way, we should at least go out and have some fun."
The old man didn't think about anything else. He saw the surrounding mountains and pointed into them, saying, "Girl, aren't you going to make some preparations? We'll go and exchange some more later. We should keep as much of this stuff as possible. We really won't have such a good opportunity to exchange it later."
Ma Liu was dumbfounded. "Brother, you're just going to let the child go up the mountain like this?"
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