The old lady thought for a moment and then said, "Mengxue's father, Li Mao, is a very honest man. He doesn't like to talk, and he's almost thirty and still hasn't married.
That year, he went out to find a job and worked there for more than a year. When he came back, he not only brought back a beautiful wife, but also a child who was only two months old. That child was Li Mengxue.
His wife was Li Fengxian, an opera singer. I heard that she was sold to the opera troupe by her parents. She was also a miserable person.
The couple has a good relationship. Li Mao loves his wife very much and he takes care of the children and cooks at home.
Li Fengxian followed the opera troupe around and they had a child, Mengxue.
Li Mao also loved this child very much and paid for his education and schooling.
Good people don't live long. Last time, the damn Japanese slaughtered the village and Li Mao was killed by them.
After Li Mao died, Li Fengxian did not remarry and raised Meng Xue by herself.
Mengxue is a very promising child. I met her when Li Fengxian came back to burn paper for Li Mao that year.
She said Mengxue was demobilized from the army and moved to the northern province. It was said that he was still working in the supply and marketing cooperative. Li Fengxian also enjoyed a few years of happiness with Mengxue.
When Fengxian passed away a few years ago, Mengxue's family all came back. Her husband seems to be a director and seems to be a nice person. "
"Li Mengxue had been in your village for two months. So is Li Mao his biological father?" Xiao Yihan asked.
"She should... be his biological daughter. He loves her so much that he's afraid she'll melt if he holds her in his mouth." The old lady said in an uncertain tone.
"I didn't see Li Mao get married either. When he came back, the child was already two months old. Fengxian was still quite fat and hadn't recovered from the birth.
I remembered that when Fengxian was performing, the troupe leader was still alive. His name was...what was it?
I think his name is Chang Jingwen. He's doing labor reform at the farm next door. You can go ask him."
Xiao Yihan thanked Mrs. Li and drove to the Qingshui Farm next door with Qi Yue.
They first found the manager of Qingshui Farm, showed their ID and letter of introduction, and explained their purpose to the manager.
The director of Qingshui Farm is named Song, also a retired soldier. After learning the purpose of their visit, he warmly received them.
There are several thousand people on this farm. The outer courtyard includes farm workers and educated youth, while the inner courtyard is for people undergoing labor reform.
Director Song called the deputy director in charge of labor reform and asked him to bring Chang Jingwen over.
About half an hour later, the deputy director came in with an elderly man who was nearly 70 years old.
The old man's clothes had many patches on them, but they still looked clean. He might be malnourished, as he was very thin and had a yellowish complexion, but he still looked very energetic.
Xiao Yihan asked the old man to sit down, but he stood there stiffly, waving his hands repeatedly, indicating that he didn't need to sit and could just stand.
Later, Director Song asked him to sit down, and he dared to sit down, but he looked very nervous as he sat there with his body straight.
"We are looking for you to find out about Li Fengxian's situation. Can you tell us about her?" Xiao Yihan asked.
The old man thought he had made a mistake again and that the sermon was meant to understand the situation, and his body suddenly relaxed a lot.
He slowly began to speak, "Fengxian joined the opera troupe when she was four years old. At that time, opera singing was considered a low-class profession, and no one was willing to sing in it.
There was a flood that year, and her mother took several children to beg for food everywhere. She really couldn't feed so many children, so in order to keep the children alive, she sold Fengxian to our opera troupe.
My father was the owner of the troupe at that time. Fengxian didn't even have a real name, she was just called Sanni'er. Li Fengxian was the name my father gave her.
This child is very talented in singing opera. My father likes her very much and has been training her well since she was young.
She was not afraid of hardship and never complained of being tired. She became a mainstay at the age of twelve and was always well received wherever she performed.
When she was 18 years old, we went to the provincial capital of Jiangxi Province to perform a play, and she was noticed by an officer who came to watch the play.
He fell in love with the young and beautiful Li Fengxian and wanted to marry her.
However, apart from Li Fengxian, this military officer already had five wives.
Under pressure from the officer, we pretended to agree to his proposal.
Fengxian didn't want to become a canary in a cage at such a young age.
On the night of the engagement, our troupe ran away, and Fengxian was caught halfway.
Later, the officer raped Fengxian, locked her up in a small house, and assigned several soldiers to watch her.
We also stayed in the provincial capital for several months, intending to rescue her, but we never found an opportunity.
A year passed like this, Fengxian became pregnant and gave birth to twin daughters.
When the officer saw that Fengxian had given birth to a child, he relaxed his vigilance.
When the baby was just one month old and the full-month banquet was being held, Fengxian sneaked out with her little daughter in her arms.
She ran to the countryside and found us. My father was afraid that the officer would come looking for us, so our troupe returned to my hometown overnight.
It is not easy for her to take care of the child by herself, and she has to find someone to help her look after the child when she goes out to perform.
She was particularly afraid of being found by the officer, so she didn't dare to sing in big places.
Li Mao, a distant relative of my father, has been working as a handyman in our opera troupe for a year.
He was a loyal and honest man, and he looked good, so my father wanted to bring them together.
Li Fengxian felt that Li Mao was indeed a good person, hardworking and kind. She thought that if she married him, her child would not suffer with him.
My father held a simple wedding for them in the opera troupe, and then let Li Mao take her and the child back to his hometown.
When my father passed away, the couple came with their child to pay their respects. They had only one child, who was as beautiful as his mother.
Afterwards, I never saw them again. I only heard from others that Li Mao was killed by the Japanese, and Fengxian lived alone with her child.
Xiao Yihan then asked, "Mr. Chang, do you know the name of that officer?"
"It seems his surname is Ma, and his name is Ma Zhanshan." Chang Jingwen replied.
Qi Yue stood up from his chair excitedly, "You mean, his name is Ma Zhanshan?"
Qi Yue took out a photo from his bag and showed it to Chang Jingwen. Chang Jingwen said, "They don't look alike, but the mole on their chin is quite similar."
Qi Yue was a little discouraged, but Xiao Yihan smiled calmly and said, "Thank you, Mr. Chang, for the information you provided us. Thank you very much!"
The two walked out of the farm, but Qi Yue was still puzzled as to whether Li Mengxue had any connection with Ma Zhanshan of the Military Control Commission.
Xiao Yihan glanced at him with a puzzled look and said calmly, "Li Mengxue's father is the Ma Zhanshan we are looking for. Ma Zhanshan has another nickname, known in the martial arts world as 'The Thousand-Faced Young Master'."
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