The Fortunate Lady and Her Mountain Man

Chapter 197: Chapter 197: Suspicion

Why was Mrs. Zhu so sure that Ji Xiu’e could save her?

Ji Huan hadn’t given any face to Ji Qingshan or Granny Kang, so did Mrs. Zhu really expect her to defer to Ji Xiu’e?

Or perhaps, Mrs. Zhu wasn’t asking for help, but issuing a threat?

Ji Huan tried to recall the two women’s subtle expressions and movements.

Unfortunately, her mind had been completely focused on Dabao at the time, so she hadn’t paid much attention.

She only remembered that just as Mrs. Zhu, in her panic-addled state, was about to reveal something, Ji Xiu’e had rushed over and cut her off.

’What was Mrs. Zhu about to say?’

’Did Ji Xiu’e interrupt her on purpose, or was it an accident?’

After that, Ji Xiu’e had interrupted Mrs. Zhu more than once. It seemed she didn’t want Mrs. Zhu to speak at all.

Mrs. Zhu had then simply told her to take up any issues with Ji Xiu’e.

And Ji Xiu’e had indeed been trying her hardest to cover for Mrs. Zhu.

Putting it all together, Ji Huan couldn’t help but suspect that Dabao’s kidnapping might be connected to Ji Xiu’e.

Widow Xie was even more disbelieving.

"That aunt of yours, she hasn’t come back to her family home much in years. What grudge could she possibly have against you, or against Dabao? She’s only here for a few days. It just doesn’t make sense!"

Ji Huan pondered for a moment, carefully unraveling the threads of her memory.

"Maybe she has no grudge against me, but what about against my parents?"

"Well..." Widow Xie was clearly searching her memory as well.

"It was so long ago, I don’t remember it all that clearly. I think she never really liked your mother, because your mother was bought..."

Widow Xie coughed, stopping herself just in time.

But Ji Huan said, "It’s alright, Aunt Xie. Please, go on."

The story of Mrs. Wei’s origins was no secret in the village. There was nothing to shy away from.

Widow Xie silently cursed herself, but since Ji Huan insisted on hearing it, she felt she had no choice but to continue.

"Well... she wasn’t brought into the family through a proper, formal marriage, so Ji Xiu’e looked down on her a bit."

Speaking of this, Widow Xie became indignant herself.

"A woman like your mother, you couldn’t find another like her for miles around, whether in looks or character! She always spoke so gently and kindly to people, and she treated everyone with sincerity. What did Ji Xiu’e have to complain about? I think she’s just like all those other jealous old gossips in the village! They had to talk your mother down, drag her through the mud, just to make themselves look better! Your mother never liked going out or socializing with people, and wasn’t that the very reason why?"

Widow Xie realized she had gotten carried away and quickly stopped herself.

Ji Huan gave a faint, tight-lipped smile, trying not to let her thoughts stray.

"Besides that, were there any other conflicts?"

Widow Xie hesitated. "Probably not... You know what your mother’s temperament was like. She would never easily tell anyone what was on her mind..."

That was true.

Mrs. Wei had suffered Granny Kang’s abuse without ever complaining to Ji Lianbai, let alone telling outsiders about the family’s conflicts.

But for some reason, Ji Huan just felt that what Ji Xiu’e felt toward her and the second branch of the family wasn’t simple dislike or disdain.

A person’s eyes don’t lie.

That time Ji Xiu’e came to visit, despite her putting on the airs of an elder, the darkness that occasionally flickered in her icy expression and her eyes like dried-up wells had been startling to Ji Huan.

’Could there be something I don’t know?’

For some reason, her thoughts suddenly turned to the second branch’s lost son.

"Aunt Xie, how did my younger brother get lost? I don’t really have any memory of it. Can you tell me again?"

At the mention of this, Widow Xie could only sigh.

"I remember it clearly. It was during the autumn harvest, and the weather had been bad for several days, so every family was rushing to bring in their crops from the fields. Everyone in the Ji Family, young and old, was sent to work. Your brother was only four and a half months old, and he’d cry whenever he was away from your mother. She had no choice but to carry him on her back to the fields. But how could such a tiny baby stand the heat? So your father begged your grandfather to let your mother go back and cook for everyone..."

Widow Xie’s expression grew increasingly grave.

"That day around noon, your mother was at home making lunch. It was hot in the kitchen, and your brother was getting fussy and sleepy. Your mother was feeding the fire and watching the pot, and she had to keep taking your brother outside for some cool air. She got distracted for a moment and burned the food in the pot. In her panic, she put your brother down on a bamboo cot under the eaves and ran into the kitchen to deal with it. When she came back out, your brother was gone..."

Who could have imagined it?

In just that short moment, and in their own yard, a child could just disappear.

"We searched the whole village but couldn’t find him. We searched the town too... You have no idea, your mother nearly went mad..."

"Didn’t they report it to the authorities?" Ji Huan frowned.

"They did, of course they did! Not only did they report it, but your father also spent more than half a year searching on his own. He went to every Prefecture City from north of the Capital City to south of Yeyang, but there was just no news. Afterward, your grandma and grandpa wouldn’t let him search anymore."

In those times, transportation was poor, and there were no timely or effective means of communication. The areas where parents could search for a child were extremely limited, usually just their own town or county at most.

Moreover, there was no family planning back then, so a family often had more than one child. Scarcity creates value, and isn’t it the same with people? Thus, after a child was lost, very few parents would persist in searching for them.

Stories of people bankrupting their families, spending their entire lives, and traveling to the ends of the earth to find a lost child were almost impossible.

This was especially true for commoner families.

If parents spent a huge amount of energy searching for a lost young child, they couldn’t attend to production.

This "production" referred not only to having more children, but also to farming and earning money.

Without money, there was no basic source of livelihood. Under such circumstances, who would spend the effort to find a child who was likely impossible to find?

Ji Lianbai and Mrs. Wei had been unwilling to give up, but they had no say in that household.

At the time, most of the Ji Family’s income depended on the second branch. Ji Lianbai abandoning his duties to search for half a year, heedless of everything else, was the absolute limit of their tolerance.

During that half-year, Ji Lianbai didn’t earn a single coin and even spent a considerable amount on travel, food, and lodging.

Even though he was spending his own hard-earned money, and even though he was being as frugal as possible, in the eyes of the two Ji elders, all that effort simply wasn’t worth it. It was far more practical to just have another child.

So after six months, Ji Lianbai was ordered never to travel far from home again.

Mrs. Wei, having suddenly lost her son, suffered a double blow to her mind and body. While Ji Lianbai was away, Granny Kang’s torment only intensified, and she even blamed Mrs. Wei for the child’s abduction.

Mrs. Wei’s heart was filled with grief, and she grew thinner by the day until she was eventually bedridden, unable to get up again.

Under these circumstances, even if Ji Qingshan and Granny Kang hadn’t stopped him, how could Ji Lianbai have left home with a clear conscience?

But Ji Lianbai and Mrs. Wei never lost hope. They never gave up the idea of finding their son.

Granny Kang watched every coin Ji Lianbai earned like a hawk, so Mrs. Wei secretly did embroidery to save up some private money for him. Ji Lianbai would then use the money to ask around for information whenever he went out for work.

But as the years passed, one after another, they ultimately had to stop their hopeless search.

"It became the heartache of your parents’ lives... I don’t know what kind of monster without a conscience would steal someone’s child. Aren’t they afraid of retribution!"

Widow Xie slammed her hand on the kang table, grinding her teeth in hatred.

After a moment of silence, Ji Huan suddenly spoke up:

"The day my younger brother... Ji Mu... was lost, was Ji Xiu’e there?"

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