Chapter 50
In the private room of the coffee shop, Su Yun took out the tablet from the file bag and said to the boy sitting opposite:
"Not many people know about this incident. After all, more than ten years have passed. It took Song Xin some time to find someone who knew about it. He was an old woman in the village who used to be a midwife."
Song Xin is a private detective with strong professional capabilities. Since Lin Qinhe asked her to do this some time ago, she hired Song Xin and asked Song Xin to go to Taoxi Bay in Qingshui County.
"The old man was very wary at first, and Song Xin took some effort to get him to tell the truth, which is all recorded in this video." Su Yun opened the video on the tablet and handed it to Lin Qinhe.
Lin Qinhe watched the video silently and did not respond quickly.
He had never realized that he could be so cowardly, so cowardly that he seemed to have no courage to confirm the guess that had caused him pain every time he thought about it during this period of time.
Even if it's already obvious.
He finally took a deep breath, put on his headphones, and turned on the video on his tablet.
The video was recorded by Song Xin in Taoxi Bay. A white-haired old man sat in the main room and told in a thick dialect accent an old story that happened in a farmer's house in Taoxi Bay on a winter night seventeen years ago.
"The girl who painted had lived in our village for more than half a year. She had been living with the wife of the Tao family. The two had a very good relationship. Coincidentally, both of them were pregnant and gave birth on the same day. I remember it snowed heavily that day, and the mother-in-law of the Tao family asked me and the village grandmother Liu to help deliver the baby."
"The boy born by Tao's wife was premature. Granny Liu said at the time that the child might be difficult to raise. I remember clearly that there was a large red spot on the baby's right wrist. Tao's wife and mother-in-law would definitely not make a mistake."
"Alas, the girl who painted the picture had heavy bleeding not long after giving birth. We rushed her to the town clinic, but she died before we even got there. I only heard later that the girl and the child were taken back by their family."
"But later I found that the child raised by the Tao family did not have a red spot on his right hand. I felt something was wrong at the time and was afraid that I remembered it wrong, so I asked Granny Liu again. She said she also remembered that the child of the Tao family had a birthmark on his hand. Then we knew that the Tao family secretly swapped the two children."
"Before she passed away a few years ago, Granny Liu told me about this several times, saying that she felt uneasy. I also felt uneasy."
"It's such a sin. This kid who should have grown up in the city has to grow up in this mountainous area like ours. How sad his mother must be in heaven watching him."
…
Lin Qinhe turned off the video, closed his dry and red eyes, clenched his fingers with trembling hands, and dug his nails into his palms with so much force that his joints ached.
He had already prepared himself mentally, had imagined countless possibilities, and had speculated about human nature with the greatest malice. But when he learned the absurd truth, he still felt uncontrollable anger. The intense hatred and anger were like a prairie fire, almost burning his internal organs.
He was unforgivable towards that family, and could not forgive their clumsy selfishness and meanness.
I cannot forgive the two old men who witnessed everything. Since they feel guilty, why do they choose to remain hypocritically silent?
He couldn't even forgive the people around him. Why for all these years, the two elders of the Fang family, Yang Zhengming, and his mother Luo Zhengyin, who seemed to be obsessed with Fang Sui, had never returned to the place where Fang Sui lived for the last time to see the abandoned child?
But following the rage was endless pain and regret. Memories swept him away like a blanket of snow, and every snowflake was like a sharp knife, twisting his heart.
"Student Lin, can I borrow your notebook to copy this?"
"cannot."
"...I, I just want to find a chance to talk to you, to become... to become friends with you."
"Don't use such a boring method, and don't take advantage of Yang Duole."
"This is the gift that Yang Duole's father brought him. He didn't come today, so you can take it back to him."
"If I tell you that I want to cry right now, but I have nowhere to cry, will you be satisfied?"
“My birthday is also on Christmas.”
"If I get sick one day and feel a lot of pain, will you come to see me?"
"Do you remember the letter your mother wrote to you when you were 18? I think she hoped that by the time you opened the letter, you would have grown into a strong and optimistic adult."
"Lin Qinhe, I will also work hard to become a strong and optimistic adult."
"If I grew up with you, would you still like me?"
…
Those details that I noticed and ignored, those pain and unwillingness hidden behind the smile, which I tried hard to suppress.
There were clearly clues and foreshadowing had been laid long ago, but he didn't know.
He doesn't know.
He couldn't forgive himself either.
"Qin He?" Su Yun called softly, her eyes filled with worry. She almost had the illusion that the boy in front of her was about to cry.
Lin Qinhe wanted to say something, but found his throat blocked as if by burning charcoal, and it seemed that every breath he took would cause his heart to numb with pain.
He forced himself to calm down, and with great effort, he asked in a hoarse voice:
"Didn't she say anything about how he grew up?"
Su Yun looked at the boy who had grown up under her watch, wondering how she could not understand his feelings for that child. She sighed softly:
"How can you grow up in a place like that?"
Fate is inherently unfair. Some people are born with a silver spoon in their mouths, while others are born like grass. But a star that should have been shining is buried in the mud at the bottom of a well by an absurd fate. Perhaps it will exhaust all its strength and can only remain silent, buried in the dust for the rest of its life.
Lin Qinhe knew it very well, but he still didn't dare to think about whether Tao Xi had lived well in that family over the years.
Did the adults who knew that he was not their biological child treat him kindly out of guilt? Is there anyone to take care of him when he is sick? Will someone pick him up from school if it rains? He loves sweet food so much, will anyone buy him candy?
Did anyone buy Tao Xi a birthday cake every Christmas in the past?
People may be able to become parents for the second, third or even more times, but they can only be a child once, and some things once missed in this life can never be returned.
Cheerful Christmas songs can be heard faintly outside the door. Every year, it is the same familiar tunes, but people never seem to get tired of them and listen to them year after year.
Lin Qinhe closed his eyes gently, suddenly stood up from his seat, turned around to leave, but was stopped by Su Yun. She took out an old wallet from her bag and said something else quickly:
"Tao Jian resigned a few days ago. I went to the property management company to inquire about it. His colleagues told me that Tao Jian often went out some time ago. He said he was gambling and lost a lot of money, but he never asked his colleagues for money."
She helped arrange Tao Jian's job. Lin Qinhe was investigating the matter recently, so she was also paying attention to Tao Jian.
"His colleague gave me a wallet he had left in the staff dormitory. I thought Tao Jian might come back to look for it, but he never came back once, and his colleagues didn't know where he had gone."
Lin Qinhe was almost certain who gave Tao Jian the money, and he silently took the wallet from Su Yun.
The wallet had obviously been used for many years, and the rough and inferior leather had been worn out a lot. There was not much money in it, but he saw at a glance that there was a photo in the transparent compartment of the wallet.
The photo may have been taken in a photo studio in a town. The background is a hanging Tiananmen curtain. In the center of the curtain sits a couple in their thirties, and next to the woman on the right stands a girl of seven or eight years old.
Lin Qinhe quickly recognized that the girl was the sister that Tao Xi had painted, and the match between the couple was self-evident.
In order to fit it into the interlayer, the edges of the photo seemed to be folded at random. He paused, pulled out the photo, and unfolded the folded part.
In the complete photo, a boy about ten years old is standing next to Tao Jian.
The boy stood straight, his chin slightly raised towards the camera. He was wearing an old yellow school uniform and a red scarf neatly tied around his neck. He extended his right hand and saluted.
His mouth was wide open, his pair of curved eyes were as bright as stars, and his smile was brighter than the sun.
It seemed like he was the happiest kid in the world.
Lin Qinhe looked at the boy who was folded up in the family photo, his Adam's apple rolled violently. He thanked Su Yun solemnly in a hoarse voice, then turned and walked out.
The first snow fell on Christmas Eve. Snowflakes drifted quietly to the ground amid the sound of Christmas songs in the streets. Colorful umbrellas rose and fell on the streets, and neon lights were shining everywhere.
Su Yun anxiously chased to the door of the coffee shop, handed her umbrella to Lin Qinhe, and whispered to him:
"It's all fortunate that you walked over to him, isn't it?"
Lin Qinhe's shoulders were covered with crystal snowflakes. He shook his head and said, "He walked up to me."
He walked quickly into the snow with an umbrella.
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This is for tomorrow.
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