Mo Guoqiang usually deferred to his wife, but once he made up his mind, he would stick to it.

The two of them walked to the side of the road and looked both ways. Seeing no cars, Mo Guoqiang made an excuse. He said he was worried Xiao Feng would wake up and cry if she found herself alone, and urged Liu Fengying to hurry back to the hospital room to look after their daughter. He would just wait for the next bus back to the village. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Liu Fengying didn’t think much of it. She reminded him one more time to get money from the old man as soon as he got back, then turned and walked back along the hospital’s concrete path.

Once Liu Fengying was out of sight, Mo Guoqiang immediately set off at a brisk pace toward the city. He knew now. ’The gate guard has Xuanxuan’s family’s phone number. All I have to do is ask him to make a call, and Xuanxuan will come out.’

After the explanation from Xuanxuan’s parents the day before yesterday, the gate guard had confirmed that he and his wife were relatives of Xuanxuan’s family. This time, he shouldn’t be mistaken for a bad guy.

When he and Liu Fengying first found Xuanxuan, they hadn’t dared to approach and reveal themselves right away. Instead, they had followed her secretly, gradually figuring out which school she attended and that she lived in the prefectural committee’s family compound. Only high-ranking cadres lived in that compound, and guards patrolled the entrance. This made the couple even more hesitant to approach. So they had to keep following Xuanxuan, waiting until she was walking alone down a deserted, tree-lined path after school before they finally stopped her. That day, it took every ounce of their strength and courage to explain the truth about the baby switch. Xuanxuan was just as Liu Fengying had said—an incredibly sharp and intelligent child. She didn’t make things too difficult for them and accepted the fact. But she said she would not acknowledge them as her parents.

They had found their own flesh and blood, yet she refused to acknowledge them. The couple, of course, couldn’t resign themselves to this. Liu Fengying cried all night!

After they waited for her at the school gate a few more times, Xuanxuan finally softened. She became willing to talk to them a bit and even asked about Mo Xiaoman’s situation.

Blood is thicker than water, after all. The child knew to feel for her biological parents. After they met a few more times, she even started giving Liu Fengying money for them to eat at a restaurant or take the bus home. ’A cadre family is just so rich. A young child, casually handing out ten or twenty yuan at a time.’ Liu Fengying said they couldn’t take a child’s money, but Xuanxuan explained that it was just her allowance. She got it every month, just like a worker gets a salary! And that was just for her snacks; her family gave her separate money for things like pens and stationery.

They’d not only found their biological daughter, but a caring one too. The couple was overjoyed. Every time they thought of their daughter, their hearts felt warm and content, and it felt like life was getting sweeter by the day.

Liu Fengying had painted a beautiful picture for their little family. ’In another seven or eight years, ten at most, our daughter will be successful. She’d never leave her real parents and siblings behind in the countryside! She’ll definitely help her brothers and sisters get to the city, become cadres, get government jobs. We’ll still be young then, she can arrange jobs for us too, with real salaries. We’ll be city people! This broken-down village, and these pathetic work-points and rations? They’re not worth shit!’

’The dream was beautiful and the future was alluring. Unfortunately, our daughter isn’t grown up yet. We just have to wait patiently!’

Mo Guoqiang sighed. ’Liu Fengying was just too impatient. We really shouldn’t have gone to the city to see our daughter the day before yesterday.’

He had tried to persuade her, telling her it wasn’t good to visit the city so often. Besides, it was school vacation, so Xuanxuan wouldn’t be at school. It would be bad if they were seen hanging around the compound gate and people got suspicious. But Liu Fengying wouldn’t listen. She said she missed her daughter so much it was making her anxious, and she had to see her immediately.

You couldn’t just take time off during the "double rush" harvest season. To get leave, Feng Ying faked a relapse of her old illness. She acted like she was in agony, and the production team leader had no choice but to grant their leave. And so, the couple went into the city again.

Since it was summer vacation, they obviously couldn’t go looking for her at school. Their only choice was to check the entrance of the family compound. Sure enough, the place where high-ranking cadres lived was on another level. The guards at the gate scrutinized every pedestrian who passed by. The couple got spooked and squatted down about fifty paces away from the entrance, praying to the heavens that Xuanxuan would come out.

After waiting for half the day, their prayers were answered. Xuanxuan walked out!

The couple rushed forward excitedly. Xuanxuan froze for a second when she saw them, then tried to lead them across the street to talk. But before they could get away, the old gate guard rushed over with some people and blocked their path. A moment later, Xuanxuan’s parents came out too.

And just like that, the secret they had tried to keep was forced out into the open.

The other couple was shocked and clearly couldn’t accept the truth. Xuanxuan’s beautiful mother, who looked like an official’s wife from a movie, hugged Xuanxuan tightly, tears streaming down her face. Seeing her so heartbroken, Liu Fengying couldn’t help but feel a pang of jealousy. On the way back to the village, she muttered endlessly in Mo Guoqiang’s ear, bad-mouthing the woman to no end.

Xuanxuan’s father, however, calmed down quickly. He proposed that they see the other girl. Liu Fengying panicked. Thinking fast, she said that since it was vacation, Xiao Man and her younger siblings had a craving for wild chestnuts and had gone to stay with relatives in the mountains, because that’s the only place to find them. She claimed the relative’s village was on a mountaintop, with no road access. The mountain paths were difficult, nothing but winding goat trails, and you had to trek through mountains and forests for a full day to get there. The man frowned upon hearing this and was about to say something, but just then, as Xuanxuan and her mother were crying in each other’s arms, Xuanxuan fainted.

The woman was beside herself with worry, crying and shouting as she held Xuanxuan. The man quickly sent someone to get a car. Soon, a jeep arrived and took them all to the hospital.

After an examination at the hospital, the doctor said the child had just fainted from excessive shock and it was nothing serious. The man had an urgent meeting to attend, so he left first in his car. The women talked inside the room, while Mo Guoqiang could only squat outside the door, not knowing what they said. Later, when the woman came out, Mo Guoqiang was afraid she might turn back, so he didn’t dare go inside. Liu Fengying and Xuanxuan talked for a while longer, but afterward, Liu Fengying only told him a few things about their conversation.

Because everyone was so busy, and with Liu Fengying’s story about Xiao Man being at a relative’s in the mountains, the other couple didn’t insist on seeing her right away.

Before he left, Xuanxuan’s father had offered to treat the couple to dinner that evening and arrange a room for them at a guesthouse. Liu Fengying, however, didn’t accept. Finding an opportune moment, she pulled Mo Guoqiang along and they hurriedly left Wancheng.

The bus route from Wancheng to their village only ran once a day, and it departed early in the morning. There were no buses running by that time, so the couple had no choice but to walk all the way back to Gongdao Village.

The journey took four or five hours by bus. Walking and taking breaks, the two of them didn’t make it back to the village until the middle of the night.

Because she had faked her illness, the couple didn’t go to work right away the next day. They waited until their neighbors, Mo Laoer and his wife, had left before getting out of bed. Liu Fengying made food for the children, and while doing housework, she told him how they should handle Xiao Man, how to keep her calm first... After their talk, he went out, intending to borrow an axe from next door to chop firewood, when he saw that vixen hop past him like a rabbit. He reached out and grabbed her... ’I never would have guessed it would lead to yesterday’s accident!’