"Grandson-in-law?"
Zhou Jiuzhen's lips were harder to suppress than an AK.
Does this mean she has already accepted him as "Lin Zhiqing's" husband?
"Where have you locked up Lin, the educated youth? Release her right now!"
He suppressed a laugh and shouted angrily.
The second uncle and the youngest uncle exchanged glances and welcomed Zhou Jiuzhen and Zhou Shuyao into the house.
"My dear son-in-law, please calm down. We're not locking up Huan'er at all. We're preparing a wedding for you two!"
"Yes, yes, how is your father's health? More than ten years ago, when my eldest brother was alive, I heard from the Zhao family that you had gone missing. I thought something had happened to you. I never thought that you had survived such a disaster. You must be blessed with good fortune. Now he has even come to propose marriage. Our Huan'er is so lucky..."
The two elderly people, their faces beaming with smiles, chattered on and on.
Zhou Jiuzhen was completely confused.
Zhou Shuyao understood.
This person is mistaking Zhou Jiuzhen for Zhao Ergou, who was raised as a child!
Zhou Shuyao was extremely envious. Why did Zhao Ergou get such good treatment?
He coldly tried to interrupt their flattery, "Actually, he's not..."
Before he could finish speaking, Zhou Jiuzhen blocked his words with a flatbread.
Zhou Jiuzhen gave him a look to shut up, then walked in with his head held high.
In the empty ancestral home, where only the bare walls remain.
The second uncle took out the last two cents from his pocket and asked his grandson to buy a calendar and a few small chairs.
Sitting on small chairs, the second and youngest uncles flipped through the calendar several times before finally finding the most auspicious day for marriage.
"My dear son-in-law, how about we set the date for three days from now? We'll hold your wedding banquet as soon as possible, what do you say?"
The two old men's wrinkled faces were so wide they could trap flies in their smiles, and their younger cousin clapped along happily, "Great! Great! We've got wine to drink!"
Zhou Shuyao, however, slammed his fist on the ground angrily and jumped up from the small chair, shouting, "I disagree! I disagree! What do you take me for?"
The second uncle and the youngest uncle looked at each other, puzzled, assuming that Ling Huanwu had gotten into some kind of romantic entanglement again.
Zhou Jiuzhen's smile never faded. He grabbed the furious Zhou Shuyao and quickly agreed, "Okay, then let's set it for three days from now!"
The second and youngest uncles chatted with Zhou Jiuzhen for a long time, but he didn't take out any money as a betrothal gift, so they had to leave disappointed.
As soon as the two left, Zhou Shuyao began to berate Zhou Jiuzhen in a low voice, jumping up and down, "Are you crazy? You actually pretended to be someone's fiancé? Do you know that's marriage fraud?"
Zhou Jiuzhen calmly watched the people walk away and closed the door. He then set up a makeshift bed on the floor in the empty room, his movements methodical. "Don't you think this family is strange? They act like cats smelling fish when they see me. Who knows what they're up to? Since they've mistaken me for someone else, let's play along."
"Also, I don't think Lin Zhiqing is here. Finding her now is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Even if we report it to the police and they don't find her here, there's nothing we can do to them. So we must plan this carefully!"
Zhou Shuyao agreed that this made sense.
Revealing your identity now would only alert them.
We must figure out what these people's true intentions are before we can make any further plans.
*
The ancestral hall was empty.
About thirty small stools were arranged in order.
The second and youngest uncles sat at the top.
Ling's parents, their faces bruised and swollen from the beating, sat below, followed by seven or eight children, daughters-in-law, and sons-in-law of the two great-uncles, and then about twenty small chairs for the grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
They were all sobbing and crying, telling each other about the precious things that had gone missing from their rooms. They were heartbroken and didn't know how they would live from now on.
Second Uncle slammed his cane down, the cane striking the ground heavily. "Quiet down! What are you crying for! Your good days are coming soon!"
In short, all the daughters and granddaughters who had been crying so hard that snot was bubbling up in their noses perked up their ears and stopped crying.
Second Uncle pointed to the room where Zhou Jiuzhen and his companion were staying, lowered his voice and said with a smile, "Were you wondering why I was so enthusiastic about people who came to see Huan'er?"
"That's because he was the child groom that your powerful uncle found for Huan'er many years ago. His status was extraordinary!"
Ling's parents were still dizzy from the beating and didn't see Zhou Jiuzhen. They were just wondering if Ling Huanwu's childhood sweetheart was Zhao Ergou, the weak peasant from the island.
How come he has such a powerful background?
Everyone held their breath, listening intently as the Second Uncle recounted Ling Huanwu's identity as a child groom.
"Do you know who his father is? He's the current military region commander!"
Everyone was stunned on the spot, frozen like stone statues.
They seemed to find it hard to believe that they had such good relatives.
"But...but Grandpa, how can you be so sure that he is the commander's son?"
The eldest grandson quietly raised his hand and humbly asked a question.
The second great-uncle looked at him with a kind expression, gesturing for him to put his hand down. He exchanged a smile with his youngest great-uncle and explained, "You don't know, that guy looks exactly like his father when he was young!"
So the two of them told the whole story of how Ling Huanwu's grandfather had unintentionally saved the Zhao family, who were then platoon leaders, on his way to pick them up in the countryside.
“We just checked. Judging from the number of pockets in that kid’s uniform and the gun he’s carrying, he’s probably a fairly high-ranking military officer now.”
The eldest grandson raised his hand again to ask, "But that man said his surname was Zhou, and the commander's surname was Zhao! How could he possibly be Commander Zhao's son?"
The second uncle waved his hand, looking like a grandson who knew little about the world, "That Zhou Jiuzhen said he got lost when he was a child and later took his adoptive father's surname, Zhou!"
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