Chapter 221 Fear
221
Lin Baozhu had long since put the Bi family's troubles behind her. At this moment, she and Qin Haifeng were hidden behind a dense thicket of thorns, holding their breath. On the hillside ahead, a herd of wild goats were leisurely grazing on the grass. The lead ram was unusually alert, raising its head and looking around every few bites, its sharp eyes sweeping across the bushes.
"call out--!"
With a flick of her wrist, Lin Baozhu sent a pebble flying, striking a ewe precisely on the side of its neck! The flock of sheep scattered in fright. She nimbly leaped out, picked up the unconscious ewe, and frowned: "Tsk, such a big belly, she's about to give birth."
She put the ewe down and said, "We can't hunt pregnant goats. Let's go hunt wild boars instead. They're big; one is enough for a feast."
Two figures swiftly darted through the woods. As the sun began to set, their hunt was quite fruitful: a robust wild boar, several brightly colored pheasants, and a few plump rabbits. Qin Haifeng easily carried the heaviest boar, while Lin Baozhu carried the rest of the prey. The two descended the mountain in the afterglow of the setting sun.
"I heard that your 'grandmother' and aunt came to make a scene yesterday?" Qin Haifeng asked, his steps steady, turning his head.
Lin Baozhu scoffed, "Just a clown, my father broke off the engagement on the spot. But..."
Her tone became serious. "There's something I can't shake off. Back then, Granny Zheng gave birth to her child at the county hospital, but I discovered that my father's appearance has absolutely nothing to do with hers. I tested Granny Zheng yesterday, and she acted very strangely. I suspect that she switched the baby at the hospital."
What a cliché plot! I never expected it to happen to her father.
"A switch?" Qin Haifeng replied instantly, his eyes sharp as an eagle's. His reconnaissance instincts allowed him to grasp the key point.
"Yes! So I want to take some time to go to the county hospital to check the delivery records from back then, to see who was in the same ward as my father. If we investigate them, we might be able to find out the truth soon."
“Okay, put your things down and I’ll go with you.” Qin Haifeng said without hesitation.
The two took their prey back to the village, and then Qin Haifeng rode his bicycle without stopping, taking her towards the town.
*
The county hospital's archives. A musty, dusty smell wafts through the air.
An elderly archivist with gray hair, wearing thick reading glasses, searched through a mountain of yellowed booklets for nearly an hour. Finally, he wiped the sweat from his brow and shook his head helplessly: "Comrade, we really can't find it! Those were chaotic years; many files were either destroyed or treated as waste paper." He pointed to several empty wooden shelves in the corner, covered in dust.
"The obstetrics and gynecology records from those years were originally kept here, but now they're all gone."
Hope dashed. Lin Baozhu pursed her lips, a hint of resentment flashing in her eyes. Qin Haifeng's warm hand covered her slightly cool hand, his voice low but powerful: "The file is gone, but the person is still here. After we get engaged, I'll go with you. Some things... can always be asked in the 'right' place." A cold glint flashed in his eyes.
Ever since he learned that Granny Zheng had brought people to cause trouble at the Lin family's house yesterday, he had asked someone to go to the main hall to deal with it.
Lin's father was the only son in the family, but he was not well-liked.
When Old Man Lin was still alive, his life wasn't so hard. But after Old Man Lin passed away, he slept in the woodshed and had endless chores to do every day. Eventually, the villagers couldn't bear to see him suffer and went to find Granny Zheng, after which she calmed down a bit.
Later, as Lin's father grew older, Granny Zheng repeatedly tried to marry him off to someone else in another place. Eventually, Lin's father and mother got their marriage certificate, and Granny Zheng went to her daughter's house...
In retrospect, her frequent absences from her daughter's home weren't due to excessive love for her daughter, but rather because she feared the villagers would notice something amiss and cause unnecessary trouble.
Lin Baozhu felt a warmth in her heart and squeezed his hand tightly in return: "Okay!"
The two walked out of the hospital's oppressive corridor; the afternoon sun was somewhat dazzling. Just as they rounded an old wall covered with faded slogans, a figure suddenly blocked their path—
It was an old man dressed in a neat gray Zhongshan suit, his hair combed meticulously. He froze on the spot as if struck by lightning, staring straight at Lin Baozhu's face, his cloudy eyes suddenly widening, a storm raging deep within his pupils! He carried a net bag in his hand and hurried past her.
Lin Baozhu glanced casually at the passing elderly man, and her pupils suddenly contracted...
He was an elderly man dressed in a crisp gray Zhongshan suit, his hair neatly combed. He walked briskly, carrying a net bag filled with red apples, and was about to pass by Lin Baozhu.
Just as they brushed past each other, Lin Baozhu inadvertently caught a glimpse of the old man's face, and her pupils suddenly contracted—the contours of this face, the direction of his eyebrows and eyes... were nine-tenths similar to her father, Lin Gengsheng!
A bold idea flashed through her mind like lightning! Without hesitation, she stepped forward, blocking the old man's path: "Sir, please wait!"
The old man shuddered, as if waking from a nightmare, and looked at the young girl who had stopped him with a mixture of confusion and urgency: "Young...comrade? You...you need something?"
Lin Baozhu took a deep breath, suppressing her wildly beating heart and the guesses that almost escaped her lips, and tried to keep her voice steady: "Sir, excuse me. My name is Lin Baozhu, and I'm from Da Geba Village. My father's name is Lin Gengsheng..."
She stared intently into the old man's eyes and said, word by word, "I suspect that you and him... may be related by blood..."
Before he could finish speaking, a middle-aged man's voice, clearly anxious and impatient, suddenly interrupted: "Dad! What are you doing here? Didn't we agree to go see Aunt Lan?"
A slightly overweight middle-aged man in blue overalls rushed forward and grabbed the old man's arm. His gaze quickly swept over Lin Baozhu's face—
In an instant, the man's pupils contracted violently!
It was as if he had seen the most detestable poisonous insect! The hand hanging by his side instantly clenched into a fist, his knuckles turning white from the force!
Despite his best efforts to conceal it, the intense hostility and fear that flashed in his eyes were like a poisoned ice pick, keenly noticed by Lin Baozhu and Qin Haifeng standing beside him.
Lin Baozhu's gaze, like a cold probe, instantly pierced through the man's disguise—his flat, broad nose, his thick, downturned lips, and especially the lingering, calculating glint in his eyes…
It was practically a carbon copy of Granny Zheng and Lin Meimei, that mother and son! My suspicion about the baby being switched was now confirmed by cold, irrefutable evidence!
"Open the pool?" Shen Chang'an looked at his son, who looked displeased, with some confusion. This boy was gentle and polite to others, so why was he suddenly so angry at a little girl?
Shen Kaichi immediately forced a smile, tugged at the old man's arm, and said to Lin Baozhu in a rapid-fire voice, "Young comrade, you suddenly stopped my dad at the hospital. You're not trying to impersonate my relative again, are you? Dad, how many times is this?"
"Alright, I've seen plenty of these people who use the guise of kinship to freeload. We don't have any relatives here, Dad! Let's go, or we'll miss seeing Aunt Lan!" He practically forced Shen Chang'an, who was still trying to turn back, to squeeze past Lin Baozhu and Qin Haifeng, and hurriedly disappeared around the corner of the corridor.
Dragged along by his son, Shen Chang'an kept turning back, his cloudy eyes filled with confusion. Shen Kaichi, in the final moment before turning completely away, cast a glance at Lin Baozhu filled with undisguised resentment and deep-seated apprehension.
Lin Baozhu stood there, watching the father and son walk away, their backs filled with an incongruous feeling. Especially Shen Kaichi's profile, which was exactly like Zheng Pozi's, revealing guilt and ruthlessness. A cold and determined smile slowly curved her lips.
She already knows the truth!
"Qin Haifeng, let's go follow them and see..."
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