After a long while, a reply, barely louder than a mosquito's buzz, was finally heard.
"Um!"
Cheng Jin breathed heavily, his whole body burning with anger, mixed with unspeakable self-blame and regret. His brother had gloriously sacrificed his life, but the child he left behind, the martyr's orphan, almost starved to death. This was their dereliction of duty.
It's not just those leaders who didn't do enough; the military region is also responsible. Such a huge oversight in the tracking and follow-up work on the descendants of martyrs is terrifying to think about. This time, we encountered it, discovered it, and there's still a chance to salvage the situation.
Could similar things happen in places they couldn't see? How were the families of the brothers who sacrificed themselves doing? Were they all doing well? Would there be a second or third Da Niu or Er Niu? These questions immediately became Cheng Jin's top concern and the information he most urgently wanted to know.
Thinking about it this way only made my mind more confused.
They had just arrived, and there was nothing to eat in the small courtyard, so they quickly went to a nearby state-run restaurant and bought two bowls of hot noodle soup. The way the two children wolfed down their food made Cheng Jin feel even worse.
Soon, the group of people who went out brought Da Niu and Er Niu's current guardians, their biological mothers. To be honest, it was quite shocking; she was their biological mother, not their stepmother.
It's normal for a woman to remarry after her husband's death. After all, in this world, it's very difficult for a widow with two children to live a stable life, and everyone can understand her desire to find someone to rely on.
Even when people remarry, they tend to favor their own children, let alone Da Niu and Er Niu, who are both boys and have some of their father's pension. No matter where they are, this money, plus their status as orphans of martyrs, is enough for them to live very well.
But this biological mother, Li Xiulian, had a different idea from others.
The first thing she did after finding a new partner was to trick the child out of the compensation money from her ex-husband.
However, the new family had no place for the two children to stand. They lived in a drafty woodshed and ate the leftovers of the three of them. In those days, every family was struggling financially, so what leftovers could they possibly have?
However, Li Xiuli had plenty of money. The saying "money makes the world go round" is really true. Without tickets or connections, her family's standard of living was many times better than that of an average family.
The family of three in the new home ate with rosy cheeks, while the poor two little brothers became the family's laborers, constantly being beaten and scolded. They would be given a smile when the family was in a good mood, but they would be the targets of the family's anger when the family was in a bad mood.
The winter before last, the two brothers were so cold in the woodshed that they couldn't stand it anymore. Da Niu took his younger brother out, intending to seek help from their father's comrade-in-arms. However, they collapsed on the road. Jian Dan and Xin Xin were riding back from the county town in an oxcart when they happened to run into Liu Sanye, who took them in.
After returning, they rarely went back. The two brothers wandered around the county town, sometimes hungry, sometimes full, sometimes cold. They almost froze to death several times. They were still wearing tattered cotton-padded coats given to them by kind people. Their heels were exposed, and you could see them clearly even if you didn't look closely. They were swollen. When the room was warm, they would unconsciously rub them. It was obvious that they had severe frostbite and were unbearably itchy.
Several grown men felt a lump in their throats as they watched. These were the precious children they cherished most when their brother was alive. They all remembered the kind and gentle man and the tenderness in his eyes when he talked about the two children. If they had known that after he left, the children would be treated so cruelly by their own mother, they would probably have hated him to death.
As a descendant of martyrs herself, she could easily understand their loneliness and helplessness. Just like when she first transmigrated, she encountered a rogue who came to her door, and she had to play the victim and act weak to gain sympathy and arouse other people's pity.
In this world, it's always easier for the weaker party to evoke empathy. Even if someone manages to fight back aggressively, it might be fine at the time, since the situation is what it is. But as time goes on, people will inevitably feel that she is too tough, cruel, and merciless, and their hearts will unconsciously tip towards the weaker party.
Not to mention, Da Niu and Er Niu also have a mother who can always put pressure on them. From any perspective, at any time and in any place, it is perfectly reasonable, justifiable, and legal.
At this moment, Jian Dan and Cheng Jin were in rare sync. This was an isolated case exposed to the light of day, and if it was this unbearable, what about other places?
You have to understand, there are dark corners everywhere. Countless soldiers have sacrificed their lives in the wars of recent years. Even the names of the soldiers that Cheng Jin can still remember could fill several pages.
To put it more recently, in the more than ten years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, there have been numerous disturbances, border frictions, and provocations from internal and external forces.
Some of them are orphans who never know where their roots are, cannot return to their homeland, and have no descendants to pay their respects.
Some still have parents, wives, and children who are waiting for them, and the white-haired send off the black-haired. But every year at the end of the Qingming Festival, some people will add a handful of new soil or plant a pine or cypress tree.
In fact, especially after the passage of time, it becomes clearer that, apart from those with names and surnames, there are many more nameless heroes who were blown to pieces by a single cannonball.
Even if future generations don't visit their graves, they might only call them nameless heroes when their names are mentioned.
They didn't even have the chance to see the peace they had won at the cost of their lives, and even at the cost of their families and descendants.
These tragedies were clearly something that Cheng Jin and his generation had personally experienced. Seeing these children, he recalled their shared hardships: a group of people crammed into a tunnel, sharing a life-saving sip of water and pushing and shoving for a bite to eat, but refusing to give way to anyone in dangerous situations.
Despite being illiterate, Li Xiulian continued to nag about the two children's faults, as if they had committed some heinous crime.
It wasn't until the person picking her up revealed their identity that she felt an instinctive fear.
Having been homeless for so long, the two children knew very well that their mother had changed long ago. As they listened to these accusations, the hurt in their eyes was impossible to hide.
They are the parties involved. Although they are minors, no one can speak for them, including Cheng Jin. They still have to live their lives. The child is still young and longs for family affection.
What if they still can't bear to part with their biological mother, after all, she's their only family member?
Children who are not valued by their parents are destined to mature early.
Da Niu realized early on that his mother no longer cared about him and his brother, and that if they wanted to survive, they had to rely on themselves.
And now, here are the elders who are supporting them.
He knew very well that his father was gone, and even if he asked for help, he could only rely on the limited kindness he had received. He still had to rely on himself. However, now they could take this opportunity to completely sever ties with that family.
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