Chapter 26: Maybe, There’s Really Hope?
She opened her mouth, but couldn’t utter a single word.
Only after Cao Daqiang had walked off without a backward glance did she finally snap out of it.
She dropped to the ground with a THUD, hugging her child tightly.
The couple may have walked away, but the surrounding neighbors remained, exchanging glances with one another.
At this point, it no longer mattered who was right or wrong in this whole fiasco.
What mattered was that their hearts had grown cold. A home was falling apart.
A few of the leaders watched the scene from a distance. After a long silence, they shook their heads.
The two leaders who had previously championed Cao Daqiang now looked livid.
’How could such a petty, intolerant man be fit for the position of deputy battalion commander?’
Yang Dapeng, by contrast, was a much better fit.
He might have a weaker educational background, but he was willing to learn, listened to advice, and never threw his weight around.
Besides, he had genuine skills to back it all up.
He could fight, he could endure, and he could protect his wife and child. At critical moments, he wouldn’t back down an inch.
That was all more substantial than a million pretty words.
Life in the compound was usually quiet, so exciting events were rare.
The casting for the child actor role had the entire compound buzzing for days.
Shanshan became an instant celebrity.
Every day after school, a crowd of boys and girls would run after her.
The moment Ling Zhiyu got home, he couldn’t stop gushing to his family.
"You should have seen her! Shanshan’s reactions are lightning-fast! She answers every question perfectly, and when you explain a scene, she gets it instantly. The director even said that if she’d been born in the city, she would’ve been on TV by now!"
He grew more excited as he spoke, gesturing animatedly.
"So sharp! She’s brilliant! A hundred times smarter than I was as a kid!"
Ling Anxun recalled the little girl he’d run into at the hospital and couldn’t help but chime in.
"I’ve met a child even smarter than the one you’re describing."
"Really?"
Ling Zhiyu’s interest was immediately piqued. He grabbed Ling Anxun’s sleeve, pestering him with questions.
"When did you meet her, Uncle? Where was it? What’s her name? C’mon, give me the details!"
Ever since his injury, his uncle had been quiet and reserved.
This was the first time he had ever brought up a stranger on his own.
"I ran into her when I was at the hospital for a check-up."
Ling Anxun’s tone was calm, but it couldn’t hide the trace of warmth in his eyes.
"I don’t know her name. She couldn’t have been more than three, but she was sitting there quietly by herself, not crying or making a fuss. When she saw the nurse come over with a needle, she even smiled at her."
Ling Zhiyu pursed his lips, his face a mask of disbelief.
"Uncle, you just haven’t been around enough kids. I met a bunch of interesting ones just today!"
To coax his uncle into talking more, Ling Zhiyu began recounting his day with wild gestures.
As expected, Ling Anxun was not convinced.
He was usually a man of few words, but this time, he uncharacteristically started to argue back.
"I saw this girl with my own eyes in the pediatric clinic. She’s only three, but she remembered every single question the doctor asked and could even state her own blood type. Your examples are just typical kids being mischievous."
The two of them started bickering back and forth.
Just as they were bickering, Ding Qin came in. She saw her son pulling rank with his seniority and nearly burst out laughing.
"I’m your uncle, so of course I’m right!"
Ling Anxun’s voice was resolute.
"Grandma, did you hear that?"
Ling Zhiyu immediately turned to tattle.
"Who pulls rank when they’re losing an argument? That’s just abusing your seniority!"
Ding Qin feigned annoyance and gave Ling Anxun a light pat on the shoulder.
"All right, you two. You’re grown men, stop bickering. I see you’ve got too much time on your hands. Here."
She casually tossed a bunch of chives to Ling Anxun.
"Go clean these and stop running your mouth. Zhiyu, come to the kitchen and give me a hand."
As he passed, Ling Zhiyu couldn’t resist turning back to shoot Ling Anxun a smug look.
Once in the kitchen, he lowered his voice and whispered in his grandmother’s ear.
"He was being so high-handed just now, totally unreasonable. And then he pulled the ’I’m right’ card. I really wanted to roll my eyes right then and there."
Listening to the lively chatter in the room, Ding Qin felt her eyes well up.
She couldn’t remember the last time she’d heard such lively voices in the house.
A short while later, the phone in the living room rang.
Ling Anxun went over and picked up the receiver.
Coincidentally, the call was for him.
What surprised him even more was that the little girl lived right here in the family compound.
Ling Anxun’s hand holding the receiver tightened abruptly.
After hanging up, he slowly lowered his head, his hand stroking his stiff left leg.
Three years, and the injury to his leg had shown no signs of improvement.
The doctors had shaken their heads, saying it was a miracle he could even stand.
But now, he felt a long-lost flicker of hope.
’Maybe...’
’Is there really hope?’
Strangely enough, he’d had a dream just last night.
In his dream, there was a little girl in ancient clothing, her hair tied up in a round topknot.
She carried a small medicine box, tiptoeing from door to door and knocking.
When he woke up, he had stared at the ceiling for a long time, unmoving.
The child from the dream and the one he’d been asking people about—their features, their expressions—were nearly identical.
"I never would have thought,"
he murmured to himself.
"That I’d be pinning all my hopes on a child."
...
Things hadn’t been going well for the Cao family lately.
Cao Daqiang’s foot injury had been seen by a doctor and treated with medicine, but instead of improving, it was getting worse by the day.
His ankle was swollen up like a freshly steamed bun, and the slightest touch made him gasp in pain.
He couldn’t bring himself to take time off, so he just left for work on his crutches before dawn each day.
As a result, the longer he put it off, the worse the injury became.
His ankle had turned a bruised, purplish-black, and he couldn’t even pull a sock over it.
Seeing his half-dead state, his superior simply reassigned most of the manual labor at work to the younger comrades with a wave of his hand.
He spent his days holding an enamel mug, watching the clock on the wall, just trying to get through each minute, each second.
"I come home after working my ass off all day, and this is what you serve me? Pigs wouldn’t eat this slop! Where’d all the money I earn go? Did you just waste it all?"
He had come home, taken one look at the watery, tasteless meal on the table, and instantly flown into a rage.
"Cao Daqiang!"
Liu Yingzi shot to her feet, her eyes wide with fury.
"Don’t you stand there with your backhanded insults! You’re so useless you need help just to go to the toilet, and you’re going to complain the toilet’s too small?"
She sneered.
"You’ve got some nerve!"
Jiajia was terrified. Her small body trembled, and her eyes immediately welled up with tears.
"Daddy, Mommy, please don’t fight... I’m scared..."
"What are you crying for! You’re not even as good as that country brat. All these years raising you, and for what? You’re useless!"
Liu Yingzi’s face was a mask of impatience.
"Why are you taking it out on the kid?"
Although Jiajia’s crying annoyed him too, Cao Daqiang couldn’t stand his wife’s behavior even more.
"She’s just a little girl! How is she supposed to grow up if you talk to her like that?"
"I’m only doing this for her own good!"
Liu Yingzi’s eyes reddened as well.
"You think I want to talk like this? It’s because of you! Always thinking about that little bastard! You think I don’t know? You don’t care about me and our daughter at all!"
"Liu Yingzi, you’ve gone too far!"
Cao Daqiang pointed at her, his finger trembling with rage.
"Say one more ridiculous thing, and I’ll send you back to your parents’ house!"
The moment he heard Liu Yingzi dredging up the past, he scrambled to change the subject.
He was terrified that if they kept going, it would actually end in divorce.
Their argument grew louder and louder. Terrified, Jiajia clapped her little hands over her ears, turned, and bolted out the door.
The moment she got outside, she ran right into Shanshan, who was on her way back from gathering herbs.