"My brother has had a very hard time these past few years."
Qiaomei almost cried again, but she was afraid that crying would scare the two children, so she could only hold it in.
"Absolutely. Gou Dan is our only child. Who else would we love if not him?"
"No, that's not right. Now that Wang Mama has both of you children, we will love you as much as we love your brother. Wanwan, don't be afraid."
Holding her tightly, Xu Wan's feigned strength finally crumbled. "Aunt Wang, don't you mind that I'm a burden?"
"Don't worry, as long as you're willing to treat my brother well, I won't be a burden to him."
Qiaomei's tears finally broke down again.
"Don't talk nonsense. You and Anian are both my children. We will love you both the same."
When they arrived at the guesthouse, they booked two more rooms.
Only then did Xu Nian pull out a small set of clothes from the cloth bag in his hand. "These are the clothes I was wearing when my dad found me."
Although he had already confirmed it over the phone, he still wanted to ask one more time, "Are you sure I am your family's missing child?"
Seeing the familiar clothes, Qiaomei nodded repeatedly, "Yes, there's a little flower here, and I sewed a stitch wrong here."
Qiaomei was even more skilled at making this garment than Xu Nian himself. Xu Nian finally breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Qiaomei accurately find the wrong stitch.
"I believe you are my parents now."
Hearing him say that, the family of three hugged each other and cried again.
After a long pause, Qiaomei asked, "Xiaonian, what are you going to do now? Are you going back with us or...?"
"Don't worry! Life is good in our village now. Whether it's collecting mountain products to exchange for money, earning work points in the fields, or getting wages from the factory, it's enough to support the two of you."
Fearing that Xu Nian might doubt her words, Qiao Mei wanted to take out some money to prove it, "Your mother's health wasn't good before, and our family really couldn't save any money. This is what we've saved this year. We'll save even more in the future. We will never let you live a hard life, so don't worry."
Before Qiaomei could take out the money, Xu Nian pushed it back.
“That’s not what I meant. I just… I just wanted to know that I wasn’t the one who was abandoned.”
"No, you were definitely not abandoned. You are our only child. How could we bear to abandon you?"
Because of the hardships he had endured in the past, Xu Nian was even more able to discern whether the couple's love for him was genuine or not.
He didn't want to stay in the city, so he said directly, "I want to go back with you, but I have to take Wanwan with me. Also, I've graduated from high school and I can support myself, so you don't need to worry."
It was unexpected that he could graduate from high school in such an environment. While Wang Laonian and his wife were proud, they also felt sorry for him because they did not know how much hardship he had to endure to go to school.
“My dad said that no matter what, you should never give up on your studies. I was able to graduate from high school only because of the money my parents left behind. So Wanwan should also go to school, at least until she graduates from high school. Do you agree?”
“Aunt Wang, I can earn money myself. I can do any kind of work.”
Xu Wan knew her brother was trying to create opportunities for her, so of course she couldn't hold him back.
“Provide! Ah Nian, you don’t need to provide for her. Leave Xiao Wan’s schooling to me and your mother. We will definitely support her until she graduates from high school. If there are better opportunities in the future, we will not hesitate to support her.”
The children want to improve themselves, which is what Wang Laonian wants to see most. Take Gu Zhiqing for example, if she hadn't gone to school, how could Xiaowang Village have achieved its current development?
Xu Wan's tears finally broke free and overflowed.
"Mom Wang, Dad Wang, I will be good."
"Sweetie, you can do whatever you want, as long as you don't learn it. Your parents raised Anian like their own daughter, and we will do the same. From now on, you will be my daughter."
With their plans to return to the village finalized, Wang Laonian and his wife finally felt at ease.
The couple stood up and bowed deeply to Gu An'an and the other two, saying, "Sister-in-law, An'an, Commander Xiao, thank you so much."
Seeing this, Xu Nian and Xu Wan also bowed.
"Hey, what are you doing! Get up right now."
"Aunt and Uncle, we didn't really do anything. In fact, it's more like God couldn't bear to see you separated again, which is why we had the chance to meet."
Gu An'an said, "Now we need to consider another matter. It's fine that Xu Nian is an adult, but Xu Wan's guardianship is still in that family's hands. Will they be willing to hand it over and let Xu Wan go with you?"
Xu Nian shook his head, "They won't give up easily."
Xu Nian was certain of this. Even if that family wished the siblings were dead and far away, they would absolutely not agree to any attempt to take custody of them.
One reason is their inherent flaws; if they realized that the family wanted Xu Wan's custody, they would definitely try to extort money from her.
On the other hand, the original agreement was to raise the two of them to adulthood before the jobs and the house would truly belong to them. Now, asking for custody back is nothing short of snatching food from a tiger's mouth.
Xu Wan nodded and said, "Brother is right."
"Then what should we do?"
This is the city, not the village, and Wang Laonian and his wife really don't know how to deal with this situation.
“I’ve already spoken to Director Yang about this, and he’ll be on my side. But that family is used to throwing tantrums and making a scene, so I can’t bother Director Yang too much. That’s why I’m going to have someone investigate their weaknesses.”
Only by truly touching on the other person's weaknesses can you possibly gain freedom for both of you.
Actually, Xu Nian was still a little worried when he said this, worried that his newly found relatives would think he was ruthless. He only felt a little more at ease when he didn't see any strange looks on the faces of Wang Laonian and his wife.
"No need to look anymore, we've already asked around."
Gu An'an's words made everyone look at her at the same time: "Those people in the Xu family are not good. Xu's eldest uncle secretly took the factory's products to the black market to sell, embezzling public property."
“The eldest brother of the Xu family once had a girl who rejected his advances. He felt embarrassed, so he ambushed her on her way home from get off work, causing her to lose her virginity. She attempted suicide but failed and now she doesn’t even dare to leave the house.”
These things were reported to the police at the time, of course, but the eldest brother of the Xu family erased his own traces, and since there were no advanced detection methods like those of later generations, he escaped legal punishment.
If Xiao Yuheng hadn't sought help from the veteran detective, they might not have discovered it this time.
"We can just wait and see how he gets involved in reselling and embezzling public property. However, there's no evidence left in his son's case, so we can't let him go in. But we can definitely use that to our advantage."
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