Back To The 80s-Chapter 310 - 320: Searching_1

Lu Zhanguo and Lu Aiguo sat on a night train to Zhangbei, only to find that there were no vehicles going to Heyan Village. They had to trek tens of miles up the mountainous road in heavy snow. In the absence of any human activity, the only evidence of passage on the treacherous path was the occasional pair of footprints left behind by a wandering merchant.

The two men followed the mountain road towards Heyan Village, arriving around noon. They asked a couple of children ice-skating at the entrance of the village, then headed straight for the Song residence.

Song Dajiang, the man of the Song Family, was dumbstruck by these unexpected visitors. Especially upon seeing Lu Zhanguo, fear flickered in his eyes, and he called out uneasily, "Xiuzhen, you better come out here. Tiancheng is back."

Li Xiuzhen, who was in the inner room, was startled by his call. She almost ran out, then stood frozen at the sight of Lu Zhanguo. After a moment of silence, she uttered, "Is that really Tiancheng?"

Lu Zhanguo and Lu Aiguo exchanged glances. It seemed they had found the right family.

Narrowing his eyes at Song Dajiang, Lu Zhanguo spoke in a deep, commanding voice, "We’re here to find someone. I’m not the Tiancheng you were talking about. We’re here to find him. Where is he now?"

Song Dajiang seemed confused, but Li Xiuzhen was the first to understand. She carefully asked, "You must be Tiancheng’s brothers. You look so alike."

Only then did Song Dajiang regain his sense. He quickly invited the two men to sit down and asked Li Xiuzhen to make some tea.

After some time, Song Dajiang revealed, full of guilt, "When we found Tiancheng, we noticed he was fittingly dressed. He seemed like a child from a decent family. We decided to adopt him since we didn’t have a son."

The Song Family had five daughters, named Daxiu, Erxiu, Sanxiu, Sixiu, and Wuxiu. Without a son, Song Dajiang always felt inferior and was ostracized in the village as someone who couldn’t keep his bloodline going.

Having adopted the Korean War orphan, they named him Song Tiancheng.

In the beginning, the Song family treated Tiancheng like a real son. But their daughters disagreed. When their parents were not home, they tortured young Tiancheng behind closed doors, threatening him to keep quiet about it lest the beatings be worse next time.

It was only when Li Xiuzhen was giving Tiancheng a bath that she noticed puncture marks on his buttocks and arms. She promptly disciplined Daxiu and Erxiu.

This only made Daxiu and Erxiu despise Tiancheng more. They accused him of tattling on them. From then on, they started withholding meals from him and forcing him to do laundry in the river during winter.

It wasn’t until Tiancheng had reached his mid-teens and was stronger than his five sisters that the bullying stopped.

Song Dajiang and his wife claimed that they never knew, shrugging the incidents off as not that important and hence choosing to turn a blind eye.

When Tiancheng turned sixteen, Song Dajiang and Li Xiuzhen planned to marry Wuxiu off to him. This way, he would be permanently tied to their family.

Wuxiu, who was around the same age, was attracted to the now handsome and rugged-looking Tiancheng. She agreed to the marriage.

But Tiancheng was unwilling and voiced strong opposition. Seeing this resistance, Song Dajiang and Li Xiuzhen felt helpless. They decided to take things into their own hands to ensure the marriage took place.

Song Dajiang bought a stupefying drug from a rural doctor and mixed it into Tiancheng’s food. He arranged for Tiancheng and Wuxiu to sleep naked together, hoping it would solidify the presumed union.

Shockingly, when they woke up the next day, only Wuxiu was there, sobbing. Tiancheng had vanished.

Eventually, guilt led Song Dajiang into confessing what had really happened to Lu Zhanguo and Lu Aiguo. He kept repeating, "We lost our senses back then. Ever since Tiancheng left, we’ve been regretting it. Everyone in the village knows about it now. Wuxiu hasn’t had an easy life after moving into her in-law’s house."

Li Xiuzhen, who was wiping her tears on one side, revealed that they had regretted their actions immediately after Tiancheng had left. Despite everything, they did care about him.

Hearing this, Lu Aiguo was so furious that he tried to kick Song Dajiang. But Lu Zhanguo held him back and commanded, "Sit down. We need to solve the problem first."

On seeing Lu Aiguo’s furious face, Song Dajiang shrank back in fear and pleaded, "We really didn’t treat Tiancheng badly. But we did do something really stupid."

"Did you hear anything about him later?" Lu Zhanguo asked, unsure how to refer to his own elder brother.

Li Xiuzhen shook her head nervously and replied, "No, we never heard from him again. He never came back."

Song Wuxiu, with a four to five-year-old boy by her side, entered the room. Seeing Lu Zhanguo and Lu Aiguo in the room, she was taken aback. After a pause, she murmured, "Did brother Tiancheng come back?"

Lu Zhanguo glanced at the woman whose face was pale and worn. He surmised that this must be Song Wuxiu.

Song Wuxiu took a half step back in fear under Lu Zhanguo’s cold gaze and looked at Li Xiuzhen in confusion. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Li Xiuzhen wiped away her tears and explained, "These are not your brother Tiancheng. They are his brothers and they have come to find him."

Song Wuxiu turned deadly pale upon hearing the news. Over the years, the villagers’ ridicule had reached households across the neighboring villages, which shamed her and lowered her self-esteem. Left with no other choice, she had married a widower from the village. Only after giving birth to a son did things become a little easier.

She despised Song Tiancheng. Why didn’t he run away sooner? Why didn’t he run when he came to know that he was to be married to her? Why did he wait until they had slept together for a night before running away?

With the Lu brothers falling silent, only watching them with cold eyes, Song Dajiang shifted uneasily. He rubbed his hands, struggling to find words.

After a long scan of the room, Lu Zhanguo finally spoke, his voice heavy, "Thank you for raising my brother for sixteen years. If you find any leads, please make a call to my army base."

Having finished, Lu Zhanguo pulled out a pen from his pocket, asked Song Dajiang for a piece of paper, and left his army base’s phone number. He paused before adding, "If your commune’s phone line can’t make military calls, send me a telegram." He left his army base’s address too.

He left out the address and phone number of his home in Capital City to avoid inviting unnecessary trouble. Considering the unpredictable nature of people, it was better to be cautious.

Song Dajiang took the piece of paper. Because he couldn’t read, he put it into his pocket without looking at it. He thought he’d ask one of the students in the village to read it for him later and figure out where Tiancheng’s brothers were from.

"Don’t worry. If Tiancheng comes back, I will definitely send you a telegram." Song Dajiang eyed Lu Zhanguo’s clean and respectable appearance, secretly considering some possibilities.

Lu Zhanguo watched Song Dajiang’s shifty gaze without saying a word. He quietly surveyed the contents of the room. His focus landed on the clock on the table, and his gaze darkened.

Song Dajiang seemed unsettled under Lu Zhanguo’s gaze. He unexpectedly pulled his feet back. This abrupt action caught Lu Zhanguo’s attention. He noticed that Song Dajiang was wearing a pair of fairly new military boots. The tongue of the boot had fallen out, revealing pure white wool inside.

Lu Zhanguo realized that Song Dajiang had recoiled his feet to hide his boots. Song Dajiang’s clumsy attempt at covering up only exposed his underlying intentions.

Remembering this, Lu Zhanguo looked at the table clock again. He was surprised to realize that the seemingly naive and honest Song Dajiang had lied to them.