Yu Li appeared thinner but was still in good spirits.

“Thanks to Manager Ge’s arrangements, the receiving hospital in Pengcheng is very good, and my mother is adapting well.”

Transferring from Beijing to Pengcheng, especially with Yu Li’s mother’s condition, Ge Jian had indeed been a great help. As they say, when one person succeeds, those around them benefit. If Qihang wasn’t powerful, how could a manager like Ge Jian have such influence?

“I’m glad she’s adapting. If you need any help, don’t hesitate to ask. You’re not just my secretary, but also my friend!”

Xia Xiaolan didn’t question Yu Li about her romantic choices.

She couldn’t impose her thoughts on Yu Li’s relationship decisions. Although Yu Li was only 19 this year, she was a young woman with her mind.

Whether as a superior or a friend, what right did she have to interfere with Yu Li’s life?

Moreover, after Shao Guangrong’s mother’s confrontational visit, Xia Xiaolan completely understood Yu Li’s determination to sever all emotional ties with Shao Guangrong.

Yu Li was grateful for Xia Xiaolan’s attitude.

It made her feel relieved.

If President Xia had tried to persuade her on Shao Guangrong’s behalf, Yu Li wouldn’t have known what to do. Shao Guangrong had helped her, but President Xia had changed her life – she felt gratitude toward Shao Guangrong, but both gratitude and respect for President Xia!

“President Xia, I will excel at my work.”

Yu Li encouraged herself. The romance was too luxurious for her; work was most important. She not only needed to keep her job but also achieve results to prove worthy of President Xia’s trust!

Work also gave Yu Li confidence.

She could cover her mother’s medical expenses.

The Shao family saw her mother as a burden, and Yu Li couldn’t argue against that. It was indeed a burden when imposed on others, but Yu Li didn’t see it as a burden when it was just on herself.

After her mother became paralyzed, Qiao Quanbing showed his true colors. Her mother had told her to run away, far away, and never return.

How could she possibly do that?

If children abandoned their mothers after they lost their ability to work… wouldn’t that mean mothers could also abandon their children when they were young, seeing them as burdens?

If her mother hadn’t remarried with her as baggage back then, she might have had more choices and wouldn’t have married that scoundrel Qiao Quanbing!

Shao Guangrong’s mother’s opposition was humiliating, but it strengthened Yu Li’s determination to focus on her career.

She wanted to be like President Xia, to rely on herself. This opportunity to help Mayor Tang find his sister was her chance to prove her professional capabilities.

With Yu Li’s help, Xia Xiaolan’s work became much smoother.

Yu Li had strong coordination skills and was good at organizing. Xia Xiaolan discovered this when she asked Yu Li to collect rent from the courtyard houses – each compound had several rooms, and multiple courtyards meant dozens of different tenants, yet Yu Li managed everything perfectly.

Back then, Yu Li had worked purely on instinct, but after more than a year as a secretary, her abilities had grown significantly.

Xia Xiaolan wasn’t afraid to spend money, simply hiring people to search. Yu Li managed these hired workers and organized their investigation results. As Zhou Cheng had said, they found leads within a 120-li radius of the village where the escape had occurred.

One family had rescued an unconscious young woman at the foot of the mountains. She was no more than 20 years old, extremely cautious after regaining consciousness, and revealed nothing about herself, appearing quiet and reserved.

“She was hardworking and capable.”

“Name? She never told us her name.”

“Where did she go? After about two or three months, she suddenly left without leaving any message, as if she’d never been there.”

“She was very thin, with dimples when she smiled.”

Dimples when she smiled.

This must have been Tang Youru who had escaped.

She hadn’t died in the mountains but had successfully crossed them.

Xia Xiaolan wanted to cheer for her!

Her quiet nature made sense – anyone who had been sold multiple times would be wary of others.

How could she just tell people she had escaped after being trafficked?

What if the family sent her back?

Since this family had sheltered Tang Youru and provided information, Xia Xiaolan had Yu Li compensate them generously.

Perhaps because of the generous payment, they called them back.

“When we rescued her, she was probably pregnant, though it wasn’t visible because it was too early. Later, I noticed that although she was thin, her waist had thickened, and I asked her about it… A few days later she disappeared. We’re not that kind of people, no one mistreated her. The child must have been conceived before she came to us!”

Pregnant?

Xia Xiaolan’s heart sank.

Based on the timeline, the child was likely from that unfortunate “husband” in the mountain village who had died early.

“Could you tell how many months pregnant she was then?”

“If she was pregnant, at least three or four months…”

When they rescued her, her stomach was still flat, but it became noticeable after about two months, meaning she was showing.

Calculating the time of that unfortunate “husband’s” death, Tang Youru must have been at least 5 months pregnant when she left this family!

Why did it take 5 months to show?

With constant fear and anxiety, it was no wonder the child’s development was affected!

“At 5 months, termination would have been difficult, and without an introduction letter, where could she get an abortion…”

At that time, before the implementation of family planning policies, getting an abortion was more complicated than giving birth. Xia Xiaolan had to assume Tang Youru carried the child to term. Tang Youru left this family in late October, so the child would likely have been born in the spring of the following year.

“Xiao Yu, now we need to check hospitals and rural midwives. She couldn’t have left Yunnan Province with her pregnancy. She left this family in late October 1968, if the child was carried to term, it should have been born around March 1969. This narrows down our search considerably… Xiao Yu?”

Xiao Yu seemed distracted; Xia Xiaolan had to call twice before she responded.

“I’m sorry, President Xia, I lost focus for a moment.”

Xia Xiaolan made an interesting observation:

“Little Aunt’s child would be the same age as you – you’re both from the same year.”

Indeed, her birthday was in March 1969.

Yu Li almost suspected that the person President Xia was looking for was… could there be such a coincidence in this world? Besides, her mother’s surname wasn’t Tang.

Yu Li pushed down her strange feelings and threw herself more intensely into work.

President Xia was right – the search area had narrowed.

Xia Xiaolan stayed in Yunnan Province for over a month. By late February, just days before Xiao Yu’s birthday, they found important clues at a hospital in Chuncheng, the provincial capital. A young woman’s water had broken, and kind people had brought her to the hospital where she gave birth to a baby girl on March 4th.

“Single mothers were rare back then. She looked young – how could she raise a daughter alone? We suggested giving up the child for adoption, but she refused. She left with the baby after a few days without settling the medical bills. Two months later, she came back with some money to pay the bills and requested a birth certificate for her daughter.”

The head nurse had been a junior nurse at the time.

Many people fled without paying, but few returned to settle their bills. The head nurse had just started working then and remembered this incident clearly.

The hospital kept records of birth certificates.

Xia Xiaolan examined the handwritten birth certificate repeatedly before passing it to Xiao Yu.

“I think we both need some time to process this.”