Back To The 80s-Chapter 206: Bitter Love (Extra - at 200 monthly votes)_1

Chapter 206: Chapter 206: Bitter Love (Extra Chapter at 200 monthly votes)_1

Gu Xiaobei looked askance at this lying man, tsking, and thinking about having a little devil to teach him a lesson!

After breakfast, before they could finish cleaning up, Zhuang Shuxian and Qin Li arrived.

Gu Xiaobei was surprised, "It’s snowing so heavily, and the roads are hard to walk. You must have set off really early."

Zhuang Shuxian came with a large bundle in her hand again: "I had your Uncle Jin send us here by car. I thought, once the snow stops, it would get colder, so I rushed to bring the cotton jacket specially made for Jiujiu." As she spoke, both of them stomped the snow off their feet at the doorstep.

"Come in and warm yourselves up." Gu Xiaobei hurriedly gestured them to sit down indoors.

Zhuang Shuxian sat down for a while, and as soon as her hands were warm, she couldn’t wait to have Jiujiu try on the cotton jacket.

Fortunately, the room’s stove was burning brightly. Jiujiu took off her thin outer cotton coat, revealing a little cotton undershirt. The bullet-shaped pendant tied with a red rope was seen through the undershirt.

Zhuang Shuxian was stunned when she saw the bullet-shaped pendant. She had seen it before and reached out to touch it, somewhat incredulous.

At this, Jiujiu leaned forward to let Zhuang Shuxian see it more clearly.

With misty eyes, Zhuang Shuxian caressed the bullet-shaped pendant, thinking maybe it was just a coincidence, as there were many bullet-shaped pendants in the world.

"There are two characters engraved on it. One is ’ròng’ and the other is ’dòng.’" Gu Xiaobei, seeing Zhuang Shuxian touching the pendant as though seeing a loved one, couldn’t help saying.

Hearing Gu Xiaobei’s words, Zhuang Shuxian suddenly froze, stunned for a long time before asking: "A ’ròng’? A ’dòng’? Which ’ròng’? Which ’dòng’?"

"The ’Rong’ as in ’have tolerance have greatness’, and ’Dong’ as in pillar." Gu Xiaobei immediately replied.

Zhuang Shuxian became emotionally agitated, her voice trembling slightly, "The ’Rong’ of ’Having tolerance is greatness’, and ’Dong’ of a pillar, aren’t they my Xuerong and Jiadong?" Saying this, she even started to sob.

Qin Li suddenly understood and said excitedly: "Didn’t I say Jiujiu reminded me of someone? Jiujiu looks like Sister Xuerong. I was young at the time and didn’t get to spend much time with her, that’s why I forgot."

Zhuang Shuxian was crying, touching Jiujiu’s little face, the more she touched, the harder she cried.

Jiujiu didn’t dare to move, not knowing why Grandma Jin was crying. But seeing Grandma Jin crying so hard, she also felt upset and started to cry.

"Jiujiu, are you my unfortunate granddaughter?" Zhuang Shuxian was crying while asking Jiujiu, her hand touching Jiujiu’s face in disbelief. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Gu Xiaobei and Qin Li were somewhat taken aback—could Jiujiu be Jin Jiadong’s child?

Qin Li was young at the time and only remembered that Xuerong was driven to suicide by jumping into the river. But she didn’t know that Xuerong and Jin Jiadong had been in love.

Zhuang Shuxian was so excited that she couldn’t contain herself. Gu Xiaobei was afraid that she wouldn’t be able to handle it, so she hurriedly went over and gently stroked her back, saying: "Aunt Zhuang, isn’t Jiujiu here with us? Don’t get too emotional, it’s not good for your health. Let’s take it slow."

Zhuang Shuxian also didn’t want to scare Jiujiu. She surrounded herself with several deep breaths.

"Jiujiu, tell Grandma quickly, where did this pendant come from?" Zhuang Shuxian asked, wiping her unstoppable tears.

"Mother gave it to me." Jiujiu replied, her eyes red and not quite understanding what was happening.

"What did your mother say to you?" Zhuang Shuxian asked hastily.

"Mother said, I need to keep it safe, that it would come in handy in the future, and that I shouldn’t hate her." Jiujiu replied seriously.

Zhuang Shuxian felt there was no need to ask any further. It was clear to her that Jiujiu was indeed Xuerong’s and Jiadong’s child. She couldn’t help but hug Jiujiu tightly and burst into solemn sobbing.

Gu Xiaobei and Qin Li also teared up from the heartrending situation. Gu Xiaobei reached for a towel to dry their tears.

After a long while, Zhuang Shuxian finally let go of Jiujiu, took the towel Gu Xiaobei handed over, and said in choked voice, "No wonder I feel so attached to Jiujiu. Turns out he really is the descendant of my Jin family. I always knew there had to be a reason why he looks so much like our kin. And then there’s Xuerong, who was also allergic to fava beans when she was young."

Gu Xiaobei remembered Dr. Jin once saying that some people are genetically predisposed to fava bean disease. It looks like the odds are pretty good that Jiujiu is indeed Jiadong’s and Xuerong’s child.

"Auntie, this is good news, isn’t it? Let’s not cry, okay? We can go and ask around in Chen Family Village again." Gu Xiaobei tried to console her.

"Yes, we shouldn’t be crying. I thought the Jin lineage was at its end. Who’d have expected that Xuerong, even in her final breaths, managed to leave a descendant for my family." Zhuang Shuxian said she wouldn’t cry, but couldn’t hold back her tears anymore.

After a while, Zhuang Shuxian finally calmed down somewhat, holding Jiujiu tightly without letting go. She began telling Gu Xiaobei and Qin Li the story of Jin Jiadong and Xuerong.

"Ever heard of the three horses of the Northwest? Xuerong was from the Ma family in Gansu, formerly a powerful military family. Her full name is Ma Xuerong...", said Zhuang Shuxian as she slid into a pool of memories.

The Ma family used to be a formidable warlord in the Northwest who oppressed the local populace. They were so feared that people would scare their children by saying that they would be nabbed by the Ma’s military if they misbehaved.

Being a descendant of the Ma family, Ma Xuerong was labeled as one of the "five black categories", ostracized from society, during those traumatic times. She lived a life constantly under scrutiny.

Jin Jiadong, on the other hand, was a fiery young man very sympathetic to Ma Xuerong’s predicament, despite being a respectable progeny of revolutionaries. He thought Ma Xuerong was innocent and didn’t deserve such unjust treatment. He would always find ways to clandestinely assist her.

Over time, feelings sparked between them. However, Ma Xuerong knew that marrying Jin Jiadong would ruin his future, so no matter how much he pleaded, she refused to be with him.

She would often evade Jin Jiadong, not wanting him to bear the burden of being associated with her; She was also afraid of getting him involved in trouble if someone found out about their relationship.

As Ma Xuerong only had her ailing mother to depend on, they had to endure being harassed by ill-intentioned men on a regular basis.

Xuerong was a strong and resolute woman though. She would sleep with a pair of scissors under her pillow, and one night she incapacitated a man who broke into her room.

Everyone was too scared to harass Xuerong and her mother after that, and they finally lived a few peaceful days. However, this also led to their secretly building animosities.

Later, when Jin Jiadong joined the army, he would always find ways to come back and see Xuerong. Jin Jiadong would secretly store food and cloth coupons to send to Xuerong and her mother.

Over time, they ended up crossing the boundary of intimacy, succumbing to forbidden love.

Despite Jin Jiadong’s insistence on marrying right away, Xuerong refused, even threatening him with her life, as marrying him would absolutely put an end to Jiadong’s prospects. Jin Jiadong, helpless, had to wait for a more opportune time to argue.

But before that could happen, a telegram urgently called Jin Jiadong back to his troops, and Xuerong found herself pregnant.

Those who bore a grudge saw this and began to harass Xuerong more maliciously, coercing her to tell them who the father of her child was. But, Xuerong adamantly refused to reveal anything.

They tortured Xuerong by making her wear broken shoes, parading her in the streets during the day, and making her sleep in the cowshed at night. Tormented and driven mad, Xuerong stopped recognizing anyone and started scratching and biting anyone who approached her. She also refused to eat any food given to her, opting to eat only grass and rotten vegetables.

The cruelty of the situation resulted in the death of Xuerong’s mother, who could not bear the hardships and ended her life by jumping into a river. When her mother passed away, Xuerong did not cry or create a scene. Like a person numb, she just kept her head down, stuffing her mouth with raw grass.

Later on, Zhuang Shuxian found it unbearable to see the emaciated Xuerong, her abdomen strikingly swollen, the sight was chilling. Zhuang Shuxian, while crying, bribed a guard and stealthily helped the six-month pregnant Xuerong to escape.