"Hello, let me introduce myself first." Su Hai stood up seriously and bowed deeply at a ninety-degree angle to Sheng Laosan. "I am Su Yun’s brother, and I am here to claim my niece back and to thank you for taking care of Ningning all these years."
Sheng Laosan’s eyes were slightly moist, and his aged face showed not a hint of happiness but was filled with immense loss instead.
"I thought Su Yun would never come looking," thought Sheng Laosan, recalling Su Yun’s resolute departure and his old comrade begging on his knees—it would be a lie to say he wasn’t angry.
"I am sorry!" Other than saying this, Su Hai didn’t know what else he could say to make up for the many years of devotion.
"Why didn’t Su Yun come?"
"Her coming would only make matters worse," said Su Hai, unsparingly.
"Haha..." Sheng Laosan chuckled coldly, old tears streaming down his face as he thought of his old friend’s death. "If she has the audacity, she should never come back, and I can take care of the child just fine. If she has even a shred of guilt, she should go to the child’s father’s grave and kowtow three times."
A sense of dread welled up in Su Hai’s heart, the bad premonition growing stronger. Perhaps there were truths that they were unaware of, and even his brother’s investigation might not uncover everything.
"Brother Sheng, I would like to ask you about what happened back then," Su Hai said solemnly, looking at Sheng Laosan with earnest eyes, unwavering in his expression of his stance.
"I want to know how Qin Youmin died and how you came to adopt the child?" Su Hai cut straight to the heart of the matter.
It was hard to comprehend that Qin Youmin died after Su Yun left—what unfortunate accident had occurred?
Moreover, given that Sheng Ning was only adopted by Sheng Laosan, why were there rumors in the village about Sheng Laosan’s ex-wife running off with someone?
Sheng Laosan’s body swayed slightly, his hands that rested on the table covered with thick calluses, lots of small cracks due to the dry winter weather.
Su Hai saw this and felt a heavy weight in his heart. These were the hands of an old farmer, an old comrade who had given his all for his country and even suffered lasting injuries to one of his legs.
It was such an elderly man who had unconditionally raised their Su Family’s granddaughter. Su Hai’s gratitude was indescribable, but the rejection in the other’s eyes left him at a loss for what to do.
"That winter the snow was thick..." Sheng Laosan’s emotions sank into distant memories, his voice rough and unpleasant, "Su Yun insisted on going back to the city and had been quarreling with Youmin for several days; in the end, Su Yun still left. Youmin, recklessly, went to find her despite the heavy snow and bad roads at night. His vision had been damaged by a flash grenade, and he was nearly blind at night..." Sheng Laosan couldn’t bring himself to finish.
He and Qin Youmin had grown up together and gone to the battlefield side by side. Out of the one hundred and thirty people from Liyang County who left, only the two of them returned.
The bonds of brothers and comrades-in-arms are beyond words.
Yet, his good brother, who stood unscathed on the battlefield, died so miserably because of a woman. Over the years, he had considered telling Sheng Ning about her origins. But he dared not, as the girl was so extreme—if she learned the truth, who knows if she could bear it!
"Qin Youmin, he?" Su Hai couldn’t bring himself to voice his suspicions.
"He fell into a pond and froze to death in the ice. It took us three days to find him; when we were laying him in the coffin..." The rest of the words were swallowed hard by Sheng Laosan.