Chapter 27:
Jin Guijuan’s memories

Jing Qizhen paused. Looking back at Yan Hong, he blinked and said in a calm voice, “Shall I discuss the impact of the parents’ unstable life circumstances on the children’s growth environment with this little sister?”

Yan Hong: …I’m actually speechless.

Still squatting on the tree, Lu Lingxi was completely in a trance. His views were washed away by Jing Qizhen so many times that he no longer knew what night it was.

The little girl suddenly chuckled softly and said in a childish voice, “Big brother, you are right. Dad might be locked up and never come back!”

Jing Qizhen looked at the little girl’s eyes seriously and saw that she still wanted to say something, so he didn’t say anything and just listened quietly.

The little girl smiled sweetly, and her dark eyes exuded an extremely dangerous feeling. However, the little girl’s voice was very childish and simple, and she thanked him seriously. “Big brother, thank you. The jacket is really warm.”

As she spoke, the little girl’s voice became softer and softer, as if she might disappear at any moment.

Jing Qizhen watched the little girl’s strange changes. From beginning to end, the expression on her face was serious and sincere.

In just a blink of an eye, the little girl’s figure had completely disappeared.

Jing Qizhen reached out and grabbed a handful of his windbreaker jacket that was about to fall to the ground without support. He stood there and breathed a long sigh of relief, finally calming down his complicated mood.

Yan Hong’s face was a little solemn.

Lu Lingxi had a look of shock and astonishment that could not be concealed, and he exclaimed in a suppressed voice, “She–she disappeared just like that?”

Jing Qizhen shook his head slightly and whispered, “The situation here is different from the last time. The erosion area was also obviously different.”

Jing Qizhen did not put on his jacket again, but directly folded it on his arms and waved to Lu Lingxi on the tree. “Little Lu, come down first! Let’s go and discuss slowly in the room.”

Lu Lingxi also realized at that moment that it was useless for him to squat outside. He nodded, jumped down decisively, quickly took apart his gun, and stuffed it back into the backpack.

In the family’s courtyard, Manman and Grandma Fang were still chatting with the couple. At that moment, they suddenly heard the footsteps of Jing Qizhen and the others when they returned, and everyone immediately raised their heads and looked over.

When Jing Qizhen went out just now, he said he had lost something and wanted to go out to search for it. However, on a cold night, he took off his windbreaker and brought back a friend carrying a hiking bag, making the couple stunned.

The man: “Huh? Aren’t you looking for something–”

Jing Qizhen’s expression remained unchanged and he was very nonchalant as he smoothly explained, “My friend just went to find a place to relieve himself, but he accidentally disappeared. We were in such a hurry just now that we didn’t even notice someone was missing! In fact, I didn’t even lose anything. He was holding onto them before!”

After that, Jing Qizhen said, “One, two, three, four…” He counted all seven people one by one and said, “This time everyone is here. Not a single one missing!”

The man was stunned for a moment listening to Jing Qizhen’s series of words, and in the end, he could only nod his head repeatedly. “Oh, that’s it! It’s good that you found the thing you’re searching for. That’s good.”

Jing Qizhen winked at Yan Hong.

Yan Hong took off the gold chain directly.

When Lu Lingxi saw them, he was stunned for a moment, but he reached out to help remove the two links of the pure gold hollow chain. His movements seemed particularly proficient.

Jing Qizhen did not hesitate to put the two gold links they had just removed into the man’s hand.

The man standing aside suddenly opened his eyes wide, and the woman was also surprised for a moment.

Jing Qizhen: “Brother, all we carry with us is foreign currency. Even if we give it to you, it would be inconvenient to find a bank to exchange it, and it’ll be hard to explain its origin. This chain is made of pure gold. You can find a pawn shop to sell it for money or use it for something else.”

The man whispered hesitantly, “This is… this is too expensive…” Even so, he did not pull his hand back.

Jing Qizhen just ignored his words and shoved the gold links into the man’s hands. “We’re disturbing you in the middle of the night, and so many of us may have to stay at your house for a few more days.”

The man said quickly, “You can stay here, just stay here. I will go to another village to buy more food tomorrow.” He had already made up his mind to go to the next village early tomorrow morning to find a goldsmith to melt the two gold chain links.

The woman also said quickly, “It’s cold at night, and there are so many of you. I’ll fluff the quilt for you again!”

After saying that, she went to the east room to check if the child had slept. She seemed to be frowning, but she didn’t hide her happiness.

After the couple boiled water and brought the quilt over, they went back to their room to rest. Manman closed the door of the west room, everyone found a place to sit down, and they breathed a sigh of relief.

Grandma Fang asked in a low voice, “What happened to you just outside?”

Lu Lingxi: …

Jing Qizhen still held his windbreaker in his hand, hung it up, and patted the dust on it. Then he described the situation outside the yard in detail.

He also took out his mobile phone and directly sent the photo of the little girl to everyone. “No matter when you meet her, be careful.”

Yan Hong was startled. “When did you take the photo with your mobile phone?”

Jing Qizhen: “When I put a coat on her.”

It had to be said that for a little girl who looked to be only seven or eight years old, Jing Qizhen’s windbreaker jacket could cover her head and face. In addition to keeping the little girl warm and obstructing the girl’s movement, it was also absolutely effective in blocking her line of sight!

Lu Lingxi and Yan Hong: …

They were so close and they didn’t even notice!

Manman took out a copy of the appendix listing the grievances and resentments in the village summarized by the village chief himself that Tang Song had handed out before. She whispered, “I made a quick comparison with the names mentioned here. If I remember correctly, the couple in this house should be the ones who divorced because of a disagreement in the previous village election. But they have two daughters, and it’s different from this family.”

When Manman mentioned this, Jing Qizhen suddenly remembered.

If nothing else, the village gossip summarized by the village chief was very rich.

Apart from the bloody grudges between the eldest son and the parents in the West, there were actually some bizarre incidents that ordinary people would never think of – the story Manman mentioned about a couple getting divorced due to a village election was one of the interesting ones.

In short, village chiefs are elected by the villagers. Generally speaking, the village chief works together with the village secretary to coordinate the daily work of the village. In that village, the village chief and the village secretary had always had a discord, and when it came time for the election, both sides fought in seeking votes. In the house they were staying in now, the couple had their own preferences. The husband had a good relationship with the village secretary while the wife had a good relationship with the village chief.

Normally, they just made do with each other. When the village elections were held, the family usually sent a representative to take the ballots back, fill them in and hand them in. As a result, the husband gave two votes directly to the village secretary. After finding out, the wife started a fight with the man.

In the end, all the votes in the ballot box that day were invalidated, and the election was held at a later date. The couple also wanted to divorce because of that matter…

Of course, according to the village chief’s gossip appendix, the couple got married again after the election.

…Okay.

Jing Qizhen: “The couple who were quarreling about getting divorced seems to be in their thirties, right? The two daughters in the family are in junior high school. Compared with this family now, even their ages seem to be completely different.”

Old Xiao: “Is it the same family line? In my impression, unless the whole family moves to the city, big changes are unlikely to happen to the family in the countryside.”

Jin Guijuan: “Wait… I think the family is the same…”

As soon as these words came out, everyone looked at Jin Guijuan.

Jin Guijuan was still a little dumbfounded and explained simply, “Children in rural areas usually get married earlier and the couple here has a teenage son. If he grew up in the village and never went to school in the future, he should be married in his twenties and have children…”

Old Xiao immediately began to count instinctively. “It is now 1992, twenty-eight years away from 2020. The news collected by the village chief should be from recent years. The current village elections are basically held every three years. If you calculate it this way, the time difference should be about twenty-five or twenty-six years.

“The kid just now is about ten years old. Add on twenty-five or twenty-six years, then he will be thirty-five or thirty-six years old. If he gets married in his twenties, he’ll have two daughters, and his children will be in junior high school, around fourteen or fifteen years old.” After counting the time difference, Old Xiao was sure. He nodded. “Guijuan is right, they are matched!”

In the end, Old Xiao said with sentiment, “Hey, you kids all grew up in a big city, and you are only dating in your teens and twenties. Getting married and having children seems to be quite far away from you.”

Jing Qizhen who was in his twenties and still in college: …

Manman who had a boyfriend but had no plans to get married in the short term: …

Jin Guijuan who was born in a rural area and was used to their lifestyles but found an unusual path on her own: …

Lu Lingxi who rarely saw a creature of the opposite sex around unless there were special circumstances: …

Old Xiao received the stares of a group of young people with complex eyes and felt a little guilty. “I… I just said it casually.”

He subconsciously looked at Yan Hong, who was dressed as Gold Chain Brother, and recognized his expression was also the same. He suddenly realized something and whispered in shock, “Yan Hong, you are single too?”

Yan Hong’s already serious face became even more helpless, “Xiao-ge, I am only thirty-two years old this year…”

Wasn’t it normal for young people in big cities to be single in their thirties?

Old Xiao laughed. “Thirty-two is fine. Thirty-two is not old!”

As for the kid next door, who was currently in his teens and would have children in school while in his thirties, it was another story.

Jing Qizhen finally concluded, “In other words, if we guessed correctly, the man who almost divorced his wife because of an election more than 20 years later is the teenage boy from this family.”

Lu Lingxi still remembered what Jing Qizhen had just said about the changes in life with the little girl, and he couldn’t help but sigh. “The encounters in life are really unpredictable.”

Manman analyzed, “The little girl you met just now looks like she is seven or eight years old. If the age she appeared in is true, then she can be considered the same generation as the little boy in this family. We can try to ask the boy tomorrow if he knows anything about the little girl.”

Jing Qizhen: “At present, it seems that the couple and the boy are normal people. The special point of this erosion area should be mainly related to the little girl just now.”

In the Yunhai Wancheng Department Store previously, whether it was the monster, the female ghost, or the security guard, they all did not look like normal people.

But in that village, except for the never-ending nursery rhyme BGM and the little girl with obviously strange features, everyone else seemed to be extremely natural and real.

Grandma Fang: “I just looked at the photo. Did the little girl’s face injured?”

Jin Guijuan suddenly said, “Actually, this kind of situation is quite common in some isolated villages.”

Jin Guijuan did not hide anything. After hearing her words, everyone naturally became quiet. Jin Guijuan said softly, “My father goes out to work all year round and my mother takes care of the house alone. You can say that she is taking care of the children at home too. However, if there is a girl in the family, the girl will not be taken care of. She will even be treated as a nanny from a young age.”

Jin Guijuan smiled self-deprecatingly. “Actually, that’s not right. People in the city are quite polite to nannies and their service has to be paid.”

Manman had already noticed Jin Guijuan’s emotional change, and said softly, “Guijuan…”

“I’m fine, Manman-jie.” Jin Guijuan smiled again, shook her head and said, “I’ve been headstrong since I was a child. When other little girls were working like farming cows and horses at home, I was thinking, ‘Why do I have to take care of so many people in the family and do everything myself? My brother is obviously two years older than me. Why does my mother ask me to do all the laundry and cooking, and then beat and scolds me? Even when there’s hard labor to do like farming, can’t she call my brother?’

“My brother can watch whatever program he wants on the TV at our home, but I get scolded when I change the channel. If there was anything broken, my mother scolded me. She never cared that it was actually my brother who broke it.

“And the clothes I wore were all passed down from my brother, so they never fit me. Just like that little girl with clothes that didn’t fit her, she must be in a similar situation.”

Jin Guijuan’s mood unexpectedly calmed down after she said everything that she had always suppressed.

Seeing the expressions worn by Manman, Grandma Fang, Jing Qizhen, and the others, Jin Guijuan could feel that her companions were upset on her behalf and felt a little distressed.

Outsiders acted like this when they heard about her life experience but her real blood relatives abandoned her like worn-out shoes. Looking back now, Jin Guijuan didn’t feel sad, and even showed a relaxed smile.

She continued, “Since I have been headstrong since I was a child, every time I was scolded or beaten, I told them directly, ‘If you want, beat me to death’. Anyway, I will never apologize for things I haven’t done!”

After a pause, Jin Guijuan said softly, “I say this for everyone’s reference. Maybe, that little girl’s life experience is somewhat similar to mine!”

Jing Qizhen blinked and said, “Hmm,” and then deliberately hesitated, “Actually, she is probably older than you.”

Jin Guijuan was startled, “Huh?”

Manman reached out and patted Jin Guijuan’s shoulder. She put her arm around the girl’s shoulder, shook her head, and sighed with a smile, “Little Jing meant that the order of things is wrong. If you want to say that your life experiences are similar, it’s yours that is similar to the little girl’s!”

Jin Guijuan, who was still immersed in memories just now, was jolted to reality by Jing Qizhen and Manman cracking jokes. She almost couldn’t react.

Manman simply stretched out her hand and pinched Jin Guijuan’s face. With the intimacy between girls, she didn’t do much to comfort her. She just smiled and said, “You are still a little girl. Why are you reminiscing about the glorious past here? As long as you are yourself and you work hard, your future will be bright!”