Chapter 1681 - 305: You Are Not Your Parents’ Biological Daughter

Even though he didn't know what happened, Tan Wenbin instinctively finished a set of actions out of habit.

Tan Yunlong was dumbfounded as he listened on the other end of the microphone.

Now during meetings, the leaders' speeches are never filled with official jargon like his son's.

However, after his son finished speaking, Tan Yunlong also responded.

In the manner of giving a formal and staged interview from the past.

In short, after hanging up the phone, both father and son felt a bit sick.

"Brother Xiao Yuan, I'm coming back soon."

"Brother Bin, don't rush, come back after you've had dinner."

"Understood."

Tan Wenbin hung up the phone, picked up a piece of apple with a toothpick and put it in his mouth, while his pen kept moving over the book.

This feeling, why does it seem so familiar?

"Could it be that Brother Xiao Yuan is digging the canal again?"

...

Li Zhiyuan put down his mobile phone and said to Zhao Yi, "The first canal has already been dug."

Zhao Yi touched his pocket and pulled out a small notebook, but there was no pen.

He instinctively realized that what he was experiencing now was very crucial; once he understood it, it would make his future work on the river much easier.

Before scratching his finger with a nail, Zhao Yi paused and ran to the terrace, shouting below: "Ah You, throw me a pen."

Lin Shuyou was sitting under the bulb at the edge of the dam, busy writing, and he looked up at Zhao Yi, then looked at the pen in his hand.

"Don't worry, your Brother Bin isn't studying, he's at his mother-in-law's place helping with the manure!"

Lin Shuyou threw the pen up while responding:

"Three-eyed, you're lying to me!"

After catching the pen, Zhao Yi turned around and saw Li Zhiyuan walking over.

Li Zhiyuan: "The things in the brazier have burned clean."

Zhao Yi: "I now feel, it seems better to spread this thing widely across Jianghu."

Li Zhiyuan: "Today's divination shows, 'This journey intends to go, very auspicious,' could be seen as the second canal."

"To be safe, should we make it three?"

"Yes, three is the basic number."

"Then if I invite you to my home as a guest, does it count as one?"

"You are a person from the river, the karma of river people does not count."

"Then what should we do, where should we gather this third one from now?"

"There's a way."

"Brother Xiao Yuan, tell me, what way?"

"Light the lamp a second time, go ashore from the river."

...

Li Juxiang rode a tricycle, bringing her mother to Si'an Town, and after stopping at a family's door, her mother got off by herself and rushed inside.

Liu Jinxia lost her parents at a young age, lived with an uncle for a time, and later this uncle made arrangements, marrying her from Si'an Town to Shinan Town Siyuan Village.

After the marriage, the man left, Liu Jinxia raised her daughter alone in hardship, and once sought help from this uncle because her parents' house and land were eventually given to the uncle.

The uncle did not help, gave no support, and even scolded her away, saying she was shameless for wanting family land after getting married.

Later, the uncle's son, Liu Jinxia's cousin, who has since become a grandfather, caused trouble during an argument about who should irrigate first, struck someone with a hoe, causing critical injury.

The uncle shamelessly came to Liu Jinxia's house to borrow money for compensation, but she scooped sewage with a large ladle from her ceramic jar and threw it all over him.

With no money to compensate, the cousin ended up in jail, released just last year.

The two families had long stopped interacting and did not claim any relationship publicly.

But after getting a call from Aunt Zhang that the uncle was dying and wanted to see her, Liu Jinxia abandoned her card game and rushed to Si'an Town.

The past grievances weren't let go, nor were the heart knots resolved.

Liu Jinxia came because, at her age, the only close relative by blood left was this uncle.

Rather than saying she came to see the uncle one last time, it's more about bidding farewell to a part of her life.

"Sister Xia's here." Her cousin, just released last year, greeted Liu Jinxia with a smile, no longer showing rebelliousness, and he was quite uneasy; prison reform had greatly affected him.

"Mm."

Liu Jinxia replied indifferently.

In the living room, a few women in the family were already cutting white cloth and black gauze, preparing for the funeral early to avoid chaos later.

She entered the small room, filled with the strong smell of traditional medicine, the elderly, and mingled with a scent of death.

The uncle lying on the bed was so thin he was just skin and bones.

Seeing Liu Jinxia, he struggled to raise his hand and muttered:

"Xiahou, Little Xiahou, of all the people in my life, I owe you the most..."

Liu Jinxia wasn't moved. A dying man's words aren't necessarily good; what was previously unforgivable now seemed meaningless, just to say something pleasant.

She sat by the bed, looking at her uncle, reflecting on her deceased parents, and her tough journey.

Lost in thoughts, she did feel emotional, her eyes reddening, but her sadness was about herself, unrelated to her dying uncle.

To outsiders, at least the uncle and niece seemed to have reconciled at that moment.

However, the uncle's next words widened Liu Jinxia's eyes.

"Little Xiahou, you aren't actually born to your parents..."

Liu Jinxia was both angry and anxious, almost shouting: "You're dying and still spouting nonsense, then tell me, where did I come from, say it!"

"Little Xiahou, you were brought from Jiujiang by traffickers."