In Shangdu.
Xia Dajun was utterly dejected.
So much had happened in just half a month that Xia Dajun hadn’t even processed it all.
Xia Zhangzheng and Zhang Cui were both arrested, Xia Ziyu fled, and the case was essentially settled. Even if Xia Dajun wanted to deceive himself, he couldn’t. He thought it was all blown out of proportion, but state law wasn’t as ignorant as he was.
Xia Dajun had been called to the police station for questioning about Xia Ziyu’s whereabouts.
His first thought was also Du Zhaohui, but faced with police questioning, he hesitated and ultimately didn’t reveal this.
Was Xia Ziyu really as the police said, repeatedly preventing Xiaolan from taking the college entrance exam?
She had both bribed teachers and hired thugs to attack her.
This account completely overturned Xia Ziyu’s image in Xia Dajun’s mind. All along, Xia Xiaolan had been the aggressive, competitive one who would even disown her father.
While Xia Ziyu had repeatedly yielded to her.
Xia Dajun was half-believing, half-doubting, wanting to ask his niece for clarity.
Even if Ziyu had done wrong, wasn’t her punishment enough now? She was a fugitive, expelled from university, and surely lost her fiancé… She had practically nothing left – wasn’t that enough repayment to Xia Xiaolan?
Xia Xiaolan now had everything.
Except for acknowledging her family, she was living quite comfortably!
Xia Zhangzheng and Zhang Cui were sentenced to several years in prison. With no one from the Xia family living in Dahe Village anymore, Zhang Cui’s family found Xia Dajun and dumped Xia Junbao on him:
“He’s your Xia family’s child, you can’t expect our Zhang family to raise him. You’re his uncle and you’ve made it big, so Junbao should stay with you from now on.”
Xia Junbao was already 12 years old. When Cui went out doing business, she always left the child with the Zhang family, giving them plenty of money, so the Zhang family had no problem raising Xia Junbao.
Now with both Xia Zhangzheng and Zhang Cui in prison, unable to care for themselves for the next few years, Xia Junbao would be entirely the Zhang family’s burden. Zhang Cui’s brother Zhang Fuman agreed, but his wife Jiang Lianxiang disagreed: “If the child stays with us, the whole family will be gossiped about. Everyone knows his parents are in prison. Better to let him go with his Second Uncle, live elsewhere, and have better conditions!”
Before coming, the Zhang family had thoroughly prepared Xia Junbao mentally, telling him that sending him to Xia Dajun meant he could live in the city, and instructing him to win Xia Dajun’s favor.
At his age, Xia Junbao understood what he needed to know.
He knew he had been abandoned in the countryside.
His sister Xia Ziyu went to university in Beijing, and his parents followed. His father had promised during New Year to bring him to Beijing for school, but that was just another lie, unfulfilled!
His maternal grandmother’s family was good to him – his grandmother and uncle treated him well, though his aunt preferred her children and wanted to get rid of him.
No matter, being sent to Second Uncle was even better.
Second Uncle had money and lived in the city, maybe even going to Hong Kong in the future.
Xia Junbao was willing, and in front of Xia Dajun, he cried and wiped his tears. Though it was early May and getting hot, with people wearing light clothes and some even in dresses, Xia Junbao still wore a sweater, mixing tears with sweat. When he called out “Second Uncle,” Xia Dajun couldn’t help but feel sorry for him.
“I’ll raise him. As long as I have food to eat, he won’t go hungry!”
The Zhang family couldn’t have asked for more and left as soon as they dropped off Xia Junbao.
When the news reached the village, everyone in Dahe Village suspected Xia Dajun had been hit in the head. They knew how Xia Zhangzheng and Zhang Cui ended up in prison – for hiring people to attack Xia Xiaolan. Yet while that couple went to prison, Xia Dajun was raising their son!
“Did he owe his elder brother’s family in his past life?”
In Dahe Village, where the atmosphere wasn’t good, most villagers still considered themselves more virtuous than Xia Zhangzheng’s family. Rural areas had their petty conflicts, and while brothers might become enemies, they usually stayed within the same generation – few would directly harm the younger generation.
When a family had been fighting like roosters and suddenly produced a successful younger member, they would usually rush to repair relationships… Only the most foolish would try to ruin a younger generation’s future. Share the same surname and same family – when one succeeds, others benefit!
Ordinary people really couldn’t understand Xia Dajun’s choice.
If he didn’t owe Xia Zhangzheng’s family from a past life, he must have been bewitched in this one. After the Zhang family sent Xia Junbao to Shangdu, Wang Jingui’s two sons, Xia Junshan, 11, and Xia Junfeng, 8, were also sent to Xia Dajun.
At this rate, Xia Dajun wouldn’t be returning anytime soon. If the Zhang family wouldn’t raise children for the Xia family, why would the Wang family? Zhang Cui’s maiden family still had some genuine care for her because she used to give them money.
Wang Jingui herself was lazy and greedy, never having enough money for herself, let alone helping her maiden family after marriage. She had dumped her two sons on her family with promises of future living expenses.
But where were those living expenses now?
Following the example, the Wang family also sent both children to Shangdu.
They even demanded money from Xia Dajun for the children’s recent living expenses.
Not only did Xia Dajun have to take in three nephews, but people from Dahe Village were also seeking payment for Xia Hongbing’s gambling debts, which had his signature and fingerprint. Adding everything up, it came to several thousand yuan. Xia Dajun had previously given ten thousand yuan of his salary to Xia Ziyu. His remaining money was just one month’s salary from after the New Year, plus a little left over, totaling less than 4,000 yuan.
This money, after Xia Dajun’s month-long trip to South Henan, hosting village banquets, food and lodging expenses, and the several hundred yuan the Wang family took for living expenses, left him with just over 2,000 yuan.
Nowhere near enough to pay Xia Hongbing’s gambling debts.
The creditors came with their IOUs, each telling their sob stories. Xia Dajun pushed into a corner, gave each 200 yuan and replaced Xia Hongbing’s IOUs with his name:
“The money I, Xia Dajun, owe won’t be defaulted on. When I return to Shenzhen, I’ll pay each family back!”
This promise had some credibility.
After all, someone willing to be a sucker and raise three nephews at once didn’t seem like someone who’d be short on money.
While Xia Dajun couldn’t properly arrange transfer letters for Xia Hongbing’s family of three, getting them for the three children was remarkably smooth. The village, township, and even the county police station didn’t make things difficult – the stamps and approvals came easily. If he didn’t take the three children away, who would raise them in South Henan? Not wanting to see the children starve, they naturally opened all doors.
Seeing him willing to raise three nephews, the county police finally agreed to stamp the transfer letters for Xia Hongbing’s family:
“Without the city bureau’s seal, whether Guangzhou will accept them is something you’ll have to try yourself.”
This might be the only recent good news.
Xia Dajun, finding hope in desperation, repeatedly expressed his gratitude for this bit of kindness.
Recent experiences had sobered up Xia Dajun’s inflated ego considerably. Repeated setbacks made him realize he was still a farmer from Dahe Village – when the Cheng Rong Group’s name didn’t carry weight, he couldn’t accomplish anything!
Even with a monthly salary of three thousand yuan, he couldn’t solve all his family’s troubles. Though he had wanted everyone to be happy, now some were in prison, some on the run, some in detention, and debts remained unpaid.
Among those not yet in trouble, besides himself, only the elderly and children remained.
Xia Dajun was suddenly alarmed and dared not stay in Shangdu any longer, quickly taking his nephews back to Shenzhen.