Chapter 053 No News Is Good News

Chapter 053 No News Is Good News

Aunt Song drew in a sharp breath.

"Comrade Feng was killed? When... on the day they left?"

Fan Qingyi nodded, her eyes filled with anxiety as she looked at Aunt Song. "Aunt, I'm so scared. Will Brother Wenfeng be alright..."

"Don't worry yourself. Wenfeng is just on a mission; he'll be fine. He's always been clever and has never suffered a loss. He’s the one who outsmarts others! Even if something happens, he’ll manage to get through it!"

Aunt Song patted her. "Don’t scare yourself. I’ll go to town and find out what happened, okay?"

"Mama, Grandma Song is right. Don’t scare yourself. Dad will be fine! He survived until the very end of the era. Even when everyone else was gone, he was still alive and well, even though his rank wasn’t high. He’s in great health!"

Fan Qingyi's heart jolted upon hearing her little daughter's words.

She looked down at her little daughter, desperately needing to know if what she said was true.

"Is that really true?"

Li Shanhu suddenly widened her eyes, meeting Fan Qingyi's gaze, and let out a scream like a prairie dog.

"Oh my god, can my mom hear my thoughts? Can she hear me thinking? Is this world glitching?!"

Her voice, full of terror, seemed as if her eyeballs were about to pop out.

Fan Qingyi felt a chill. She had scared Li Shanhu!

She pursed her lips, her mind racing, trying to salvage the situation. "Little Shanhu, your dad will be fine, right?"

Her voice was low, almost a whisper to herself.

"I almost died of fright. Turns out Mom was talking to herself. My little brain thinks too much."

Li Shanhu thought she was overthinking things, relieved, and grabbed her toes to put them in her mouth.

As she did, she complained, "Is there nothing else for babies to do? Every day it’s just toe-chewing. I’m getting bored."

Fan Qingyi stroked her head and looked up at Aunt Song, whose eyes were full of concern.

"I’ll listen to Aunt Song. Brother Wenfeng is just on a mission."

"That’s right! Comrade Feng’s death was an accident. No news from Wenfeng is good news. Don’t worry yourself. Focus on recovering and taking care of the three children."

"Thank you, Aunt Song. I understand." Fan Qingyi bit her lip and nodded.

Aunt Song waved her hand. "No need to thank me. I’ll go to town and find out what happened. You rest."

Fan Qingyi nodded obediently.

Aunt Song sighed inwardly, seeing how pale and frightened she had become.

She had thought that following Wenfeng would bring her a few good days, but who knew such a thing would happen.

After dispersing the people waiting in the courtyard, she kept the two closest friends of Li Wenfeng and briefly explained the situation outside.

The two exchanged glances and both drew in sharp breaths. "How could he have died?"

"What about Brother Wenfeng?"

Aunt Song shook her head, saying she didn’t know, and asked them to keep their mouths shut while they went to town to find out how Comrade Feng died.

Their faces turned grave. "Alright, we’ll go now."

They hurried to town and didn’t return until nightfall. They drank a large bowl of cold water at Aunt Song’s house and began to speak.

"...First, there was fighting, then gunshots, all within ten minutes."

"No one dared to approach. The railway station staff collected the body. No one saw anyone leave the alley, it was very strange."

"The families living in that alley are all at the police station. We asked the meatball soup vendor outside the alley. He said he knows everyone there and didn’t see any strangers leaving..."

Aunt Song sighed. What use were these details?

"What about Wenfeng? No news of him?"

The two looked at each other and shook their heads. "They only saw the car stop, Comrade Feng got out, and the car drove away toward the south. After leaving the town, no one knows where it went."

"Aunt, those people who came to our village today, were they here because of Comrade Feng’s death? Not to take Brother Wenfeng’s wife and children?"

Aunt Song shook her head. "No, Wenfeng entrusted Comrade Feng to call the army and send someone to pick them up. Now..."

The three fell silent.

Following the army might not be possible anymore.

At this moment, Fan Qingyi was no longer concerned about whether they could follow the army or not.

All she cared about was one thing: Brother Wenfeng must come back safely.

She had never believed in gods or spirits, but since that day, she almost prayed to Buddha every day.

Li Dage’s wife had been jealous and resentful, watching the soldiers leave without taking the second son’s wife and children, and overhearing their argument.

This excited her, thinking she could mock the second son’s wife again. But the villagers acted strangely, with someone visiting every day.

Her prepared words and atmosphere were always ruined by their visits.

Enough is enough!

Because of Li Wenfeng's incident, Boss Li gave her a stern order: under no circumstances was she to confront the second daughter-in-law in front of the villagers again. She could ignore or even cold-shoulder her, but there must be no conflict.

She dared not disobey him; if she did, he would divorce her, and at her age, that would be too humiliating!

Since she couldn't vent her anger herself, she went to incite Mrs. Li.

Initially, Mrs. Li ignored her, but after hearing it so many times and with Li Wenfeng being involved, she eventually fell for it.

She was convinced that Fan Qingyi had hindered her son's promotion. Otherwise, after serving in the army for so many years, he should at least be a battalion commander by now.

She had no qualms about not being able to curse when villagers were around.

No one's persuasion worked; she stood at the second house's door and started cursing loudly.

"Whore! Useless old hen! Our second son is about to have no heir because you can't even bear a son. What good are you?!"

"You've bewitched our second son into listening to everything you say! If it weren't for you, our second son would already be a regimental commander..."

A few young wives in the village looked at each other in surprise.

"Auntie Li, how high is a regimental commander?"

Mrs. Li choked, "Of course it's higher than the village chief!"

"How did Wenfeng's wife affect his promotion? Auntie Li, I've only been married in for a few years, I don't understand. Could you explain it to me?"

Mrs. Li began to recount the ten major sins of Fan Qingyi, but all she said boiled down to Fan Qingyi not bearing a son and bewitching her son into listening to his wife...

Everyone was speechless.

Mrs. Li's sister-in-law really wanted to jump out and speak on behalf of Mrs. Li.

This old hag, why didn't she mention that her second son fought with his elder brother over his wife and tore the family apart?

One of the young wives, noticing Mrs. Li's sister-in-law's eagerness to speak, turned to another young wife and cleverly coaxed out the truth.

"...Building a house costs so much money, and they just demolished it. My husband Yuanbai's father values brotherly affection and wouldn't let me say anything, but listen to what the villagers are saying about us now."

As she spoke, she wiped her eyes and sniffled, feeling quite proud of her performance.

The young wife who had coaxed her exclaimed, "I heard that the money for building the house came from Wenfeng's military pay."