Yes, family members!

In the darkness, Tang Hongen twisted his lips into a smile. If they weren’t family, the knife they plunged into him wouldn’t have cut so deep.

“I left Elder Song’s side less than two years after marrying Ji Ya. Elder Song assigned me to Yunan Province, wanting me to start from the grassroots to better understand the people’s livelihood and economy. In my third year working in Yunan Province, I arranged jobs for my elder brother and sister-in-law there.”

This was perfectly normal. Tang Hongen wasn’t just an idealist detached from reality. His brother and sister-in-law had raised him for several years, and although he wasn’t particularly successful yet, he naturally wouldn’t let them continue toiling in the soil when he could help them up.

The couple both got work in Yunan – his elder brother was arranged into a factory, while his sister-in-law worked in logistics at an institutional cafeteria.

They hadn’t yet managed to transfer their household registration – converting rural household registration to urban was very difficult back then. Even with formal employment, people had to queue slowly, and Tang Hongen was just an ordinary cadre, not like today—

“Later, when the political situation became turbulent, some people wanted to target Elder Song and used me as a stepping stone. Since I hadn’t made any mistakes, they looked for weaknesses among those close to me. Somehow they convinced my elder brother, and the two of them ‘reported’ me by name, crying out about cutting ties with me.”

Liu Fen listened in shock.

Tang Hongen smiled. He hadn’t even told the whole story.

Cutting ties was common enough – his elder brother had his own family and couldn’t let himself be dragged down. But to report him by name, to lead the criticism sessions against him, even digging up his teenage love of foreign literature as evidence – that was something else entirely. That’s why when Ji Ya proposed divorce back then, Tang Hongen didn’t consider it much of a transgression – with his brother and sister-in-law as a reference point, the Ji family was merely protecting themselves, not kicking him while he was down!

Tang Hongen truly suffered for several years. His stomach problems were a lingering effect from that time. It wasn’t just the irregular meals, but also the stress…

Of course, the political situation improved later. He was among the first batch of cadres to be rehabilitated.

He didn’t turn around and take revenge on his brother and sister-in-law, even though they were so frightened they abandoned their jobs and returned to their hometown.

His lack of revenge showed his magnanimity. But expecting him to help them again without any reservations was impossible.

His brother and sister-in-law maintained their “pride” – in all these years that Tang Hongen didn’t return home, they never came to seek him out. Tang Hongen sent money home once a year, solely to maintain his parents’ graves. Even the tradition of tomb-sweeping had been broken in Tang Hongen’s case – remembering them in his heart was enough; the ritual wasn’t essential for him.

“The year before last, when Secretary Peng was still with me, he mentioned that my elder brother had fallen ill and wasn’t doing well. So when I heard the news of his passing today, I wasn’t particularly surprised.”

The more casually Tang Hongen spoke of it, the tighter Liu Fen’s heart clenched. She couldn’t help but rest her head on Tang Hongen’s shoulder, feeling gloomy and not knowing what words could comfort her husband.

So this man had truly been alone, solitary for over a decade? When he most needed family support, he was completely isolated.

Most people who went through what Old Tang did might have become particularly cold, but Old Tang wasn’t like that… A few years ago on the train, Old Tang didn’t know Xiaolan but still helped her voluntarily. Strangers might find Old Tang aloof, but she knew this man’s heart burned incredibly hot.

“It’s all in the past!”

Yes, it was all in the past. He hadn’t sought revenge, merely cut ties with his brother and sister-in-law, though their lives hadn’t turned out particularly well either.

They lost even the chance to convert their household registration to urban, abandoned their jobs, and fled back home – not just out of fear of his revenge, but because during the turbulent years, his elder brother had truly offended many people. Later, most of those people were rehabilitated, naturally making his elder brother very afraid.

Now that the person was dead, there was nothing left to pursue. One could only say it was fate’s doing.

If the whole family had united to endure those few years together, his brother and sister-in-law’s family certainly wouldn’t be stuck achieving anything in their rural hometown today.

Having heard these old matters, Liu Fen felt great sympathy for Tang Hongen, but was puzzled: “Your brother has passed away, and your sister-in-law has reconnected with you – is she hoping to resolve the old grudge?”

That was all she could think, after all, it was Tang Hongen’s sister-in-law who had initiated the call.

But her attitude… it was really… even worse than Liu Fen’s sister Liu Fang. When Liu Fang wanted to restore their relationship, she humbled herself, but Tang Hongen’s sister-in-law’s behavior at the memorial hall left Liu Fen speechless.

“Perhaps she wants reconciliation, thinking that with my brother’s death if I return for the funeral, we’d both have a way to step down from our positions. Ah Fen, not everyone in this world is clever – they don’t understand that to receive, one must first give. The more you want to receive, the lower you must bow, and though they want quite a lot, they still maintain their airs!”

Did they think that with death being such a significant matter, he would docilely bow his head in front of all the hometown folks?

He didn’t care about these things.

His sister-in-law, living in the countryside all these years, had become increasingly like a frog in a well, still viewing him through old perspectives – so he was destined to disappoint her!

Tang Hongen’s discomfort wasn’t from his sister-in-law knocking away the incense, but from people he didn’t want to contact reappearing in his life.

Even though he now had a happy family, thinking of past events still left him unsettled.

Perhaps his level of enlightenment wasn’t high enough, Tang Hongen self-mockingly thought. He too was just an ordinary person.

Liu Fen softly agreed, “Since you’re unhappy, after your brother’s burial, we’ll return to Pengcheng and not deal with your sister-in-law anymore. Whether she puts on airs or affects mannerisms, it has nothing to do with us!”

Tang Hongen’s thoughts were similar.

“We’ll go back just the two of us in three days. No need to tell Xiaolan about this – the young couple just got married.”

Relatives were relatives, but for relatives they’d never known before, having Xia Xiaolan and Zhou Cheng attend the funeral would be giving his sister-in-law too much face!

Thinking of Tang Hongen’s sister-in-law’s attitude, Liu Fen also didn’t want her daughter and son-in-law to suffer any grievances.

She could argue back since they were of the same generation, but if her daughter went, she’d be of the younger generation. If Tang Hongen’s sister-in-law gave her any trouble, wouldn’t that just be needless suffering?

As a mother, she felt her child needed protection, though Liu Fen didn’t consider that with Xia Xiaolan’s temperament, she might have reduced Tang Hongen’s hometown relatives to tears if she had gone—

Tang Hongen told Liu Fen to get some sleep, but Liu Fen couldn’t fall asleep. She was thinking about something Tang Hongen had mentioned briefly:

“…Your lost little sister, did you ever search for her?”

Tang Hongen sighed, “How could I not have searched? I tried every method. She was only a few years old when she got lost. If she was raised by others, she would have forgotten her childhood memories long ago.”

This was also Tang Hongen’s regret.

He remembered his little sister was very well-behaved. After falling out with his only brother, Tang Hongen missed his little sister even more.

But he was only in his teens then, with no resources to search. By the time he had resources, years had passed, and there were no leads left. This was different from Grandmother Yu asking Xiaolan to find her son’s family in America – Xu Zhongyi’s family of three had a definite destination and had sent letters back to China. As for his lost little sister… he didn’t even know if she was still alive, so how could he search?