Chapter 320: Seeking the Truth

Chapter 320: Seeking the Truth

In a shabby little inn, Li Deshu's mother wolfed down a roast chicken.

Xu Jianwen sat nearby. "What's your name? Are you from Baishi Village?"

Li Deshu’s mom paid him no mind, only to shoot him a sidelong glance after finishing the meat in her hands.

At this moment, she no longer seemed as unhinged.

"Going by family rank, you’d call me Aunt Jinhua."

If you’re not crazy, why stir up trouble at the hospital?"

Song Jinhua shot back, "Boy, you’re awfully worried about Hao Yanyan—are you her husband?

Then do you know what she’s done? She didn’t leave Baishi Village because someone forced her—on the contrary, she cleaned out the life savings of Old Ye’s second son and his wife.

After arriving in the capital, she made it big and snubbed us country folks. So when my son happened to run into her, she got him thrown in the loony bin.

This time, she wanted to harm Xiao Xiao, so she put my son up to running someone over. Now my son is in prison. You tell me—don’t I have a right to face her?"

Not everything Song Jinhua said was true. She spun a whole tale based on information her son’s friend had told her.

Xu Jianwen wasn’t a fool; he could see Song Jinhua had an angle.

She hadn’t come to the capital just to seek justice for her son but likely also for money.

Yet even in her fabrications, there were kernels of truth.

"You’re saying Hao Yanyan put your son up to running someone over..."

"Yes, but my son was too soft to follow through. Otherwise, that girl’d be six feet under by now."

Xu Jianwen went quiet at that.

In his heart, Hao Yanyan, despite her flaws, had always been a decent girl at heart.

But now, the accusation that she had hired someone to commit murder was something he couldn’t accept.

Song Jinhua observed his expression as she spoke.

City people—nothing but trouble.

Though she was just a rural woman, she knew how things worked.

Playing dumb was just to throw him off.

Sure enough, after her words, Xu Jianwen stayed quiet a beat before answering.

"What do you want?"

Xu Jianwen was certain she had come all the way to the capital with another purpose.

Song Jinhua had been clenching her fists nervously, but gradually relaxed upon hearing his question.

"I want to see my son once, and then get enough to live on. As long as I can survive in the village, you’ll never hear from me again."

Xu Jianwen barely paused before agreeing.

"Alright, I’d actually like to meet your son too."

...

The Ye family had just gotten to the city.

Ye Changning arranged for a bus to drive everyone straight to his place.

Upon hearing this, Ye Xiaoxiao complained over the phone, "Third Brother, that’s not fair! We agreed they were staying with me."

Ye Changning replied, "C’mon, you know Mom and Dad wouldn’t stay there. I’ve got space and a cook here—let me treat them right for a while."

Ye Xiaoxiao said, "Fine, I’ll come over later."

Ye Changning responded, "Come on over. We can talk about your stuff while we’re at it."

Not that there was much to talk about. Ye Xiaoxiao and Lu Hanchuan were already married.

Their house was fully decorated.

All that remained was holding the banquet and collecting the gift money.

Some families might expect the children to hand over the gifts to the elders, but that wasn’t how the Lu or Ye families did things.

The banquet at the city’s restaurant was arranged by Yun Chengxiu, and they’d already gone over how many people would be coming from the Ye side.

As for the gift money, obviously the couple would keep it.

Which really just meant Xiao Xiao.

That afternoon, Ye Xiaoxiao went to Ye Changning’s place, with Lu Hanchuan in tow.

"Should we bring a gift?"

"No need. Third Bro’s got everything covered. We can just go straight there."

She hadn’t seen her parents in a year, and she was eager to get there.

Lu Hanchuan drove straight to Ye Changning’s villa.

Everyone around here was in business, many of them big shots in their fields.

Lu Hanchuan mentioned, "Han Xing also bought a place here. If you like the environment, we could get one too."

He suddenly remembered that Xiao Xiao was into collecting properties.

Ye Xiaoxiao thought it over carefully—why not?

Not for living in, but as an investment.

Once the subway was built and the commercial district expanded, prices would go through the roof in this area, already filled with wealthy residents.

"I think it’s a good idea."

Lu Hanchuan gave a wry laugh.

"The things Mom and Grandma gave you could snap up a hundred properties."

Ye Xiaoxiao replied, "That’s totally different. Those are valuable because of what they are. But flipping properties? Best investment there is."

And this is a house in the capital.

If she had owned a few properties in the capital in her past life, she could have lived like royalty.

Lu Hanchuan decided to support his wife’s passion.

Houses? Easy!

Buy!

After parking the car, the two walked into the yard.

The front had its own lawn and garden, with lush greenery that kept summers cooler.

A handful of kids were playing in the yard.

Ye Xiaoxiao recognized Ye Baocheng and Ye Baoyuan right away.

The other children weren’t as familiar, but she guessed they were the eldest and second sister’s kids.

The two girls had changed a lot—not as scrawny as they used to be, they’d grown taller and healthier.

The boy from Ye Mei’s family was sturdy, built like a typical northeastern boy with that classic swagger.

“Auntie.”

“Auntie.”

The children greeted Ye Xiaoxiao as soon as they saw her.

“Such good kids.”

Ye Xiaoxiao praised the children first, then introduced Lu Hanchuan.

“This is Uncle to Baocheng and Baoyuan, and uncle to Yun Duo, Yun Shuang, and Xiaohu.”

The children were wary of Lu Hanchuan’s tall, stern demeanor but still murmured “Uncle.”

Lu Hanchuan handed each kid ten bucks.

For the children, this was a fortune. At first, they shrank back, too shy to take it, only accepting after Ye Xiaoxiao told them to keep it.

The oldest among them was Yun Duo, already fifteen.

Next was Xiaohu, fourteen.

Yun Duo knew ten yuan was a lot of money—this uncle was seriously generous.

“You’re here and still hanging around outside?”

Ye Changning had seen Ye Xiaoxiao enter the yard long ago but waited impatiently for them to come inside.

“Just keeping the kids company.” Ye Xiaoxiao took Lu Hanchuan’s hand. “C’mon, let’s leave them to it.”

Inside, the whole Ye family was there.

Even the brothers-in-law were there.

Besides wanting to attend Xiao Xiao's wedding, it was also a good chance to visit the capital.

Some people never leave the mountains their entire lives, so by any measure, this was a rare opportunity.

Ye Xiaoxiao went around greeting everyone.

Lu Hanchuan knew most of them and wasn’t particularly shy.

On the contrary, the Ye family seemed somewhat uneasy around Lu Hanchuan.