Should they search?

Not finding someone would leave regret.

But what if they never found her? Having hope only to be disappointed – that feeling would be even worse.

Tang Hongen wasn’t certain what the result would be if they put all their effort into searching. It might be the worst outcome, confirming that she had passed away… Perhaps it was better not to know the result, to keep the hope that his little sister was still alive.

Tang Hongen was usually decisive, but on this matter, he hesitated.

Xia Xiaolan and Grandmother Yu weren’t entirely wrong – though Tang Hongen’s elder brother had been buried, the Tang family relatives used this opportunity to reconnect with Tang Hongen. The nieces and nephews weren’t foolish – while not crowding around Tang Hongen, they kept calling Liu Fen “Aunt” and showing concern for her well-being.

Liu Fen: …She wasn’t used to suddenly having so many caring and filial juniors!

When Xia Xiaolan heard about this, she laughed heartily:

“What are you afraid of? By generational ranking, you’re their elder – if they want to show concern, just accept it.”

After all, neither she nor her mother needed anything from the Tang family; it was the Tang family who needed something from them.

When you need something from others, you naturally should humble yourself – this was a universal social principle. Even Xia Xiaolan operated this way. To achieve your goals without bowing, you’d need the ability to never need anyone’s help!

Xia Xiaolan herself could be both yielding and unyielding, so she didn’t find it strange that the Tang family was trying to please her mother.

However, the matter of Old Tang having a lost sister caught Xia Xiaolan’s attention.

After hanging up the phone, she poked Zhou Cheng’s firm arm:

“Here’s your chance to please your father-in-law, want to take it?”

Zhou Cheng caught her mischievous hand, “You mean we should secretly investigate the whereabouts of Tang Uncle’s sister first, and only tell him if we find leads?”

Xia Xiaolan nodded, “We’ll only tell him if we have good news.”

If they discovered bad news, they would have to think carefully about whether to share it.

“Alright, we’ll search together. We should first get clear details about when she went missing – that will help with the search.”

Zhou Cheng made sense.

Liu Fen didn’t even need to ask Tang Hongen; the Tang family was very willing to help, especially Tang Chunlei.

This was a “big nephew” eager to improve relations. When Second Aunt Liu Fen asked about his aunt’s disappearance, Tang Chunlei was very excited.

Zhou Cheng was on vacation and could be lovey-dovey with Xia Xiaolan anywhere, so they met Tang Chunlei without telling Tang Hongen.

“Little Aunt was lost in Tiananmen Square, during the 1959 Grand Parade. My parents took Little Aunt to watch the parade, and the square around Tiananmen was packed with crowds. Just at the moment, they put Little Aunt down to switch who was carrying her, she vanished. I was only one year old then, Second Uncle was sixteen, and he was supposed to go watch the parade too, but he got a high fever the day before and couldn’t get out of bed, so he didn’t go… Little Aunt was born in 1952, so she was exactly seven years old when she went missing.”

Before the implementation of the family planning policy, the vast majority of Chinese families had more than one child.

Sometimes siblings had large age gaps, not just because their mother waited many years to conceive again, but possibly because children born in between had died young, never having the chance to grow up, and being too young to be counted in the family order.

Like in Tang Hongen’s family, his brother was seven or eight years older than him. By 1959, his brother was not only married but already had a one-year-old son, Tang Chunlei.

Tang Hongen was still young himself, and his youngest sister was only 7, just six years older than her nephew Tang Chunlei.

“So Little Aunt Tang would be 36 now.”

Thirty-six – neither old nor very young. If the lost Little Tang had grown up safely, she would now be at an age to be both wife and mother.

Hard to say how old her children might be – it would depend on whether Little Tang married early or late.

Whether life had been hard or not wasn’t important – what mattered was that she be alive. Being alive would be the best outcome… When a seven-year-old girl goes missing, even if someone adopted her, there is the fear she might have died young from illness, especially given the poor medical conditions back then!

Taking children to watch the Grand Parade was normal.

Losing a seven-year-old youngest sister… Tang Chunlei’s parents had been quite careless – in such a crowded situation, you couldn’t let go of a child’s hand.

But losing Little Tang certainly wasn’t intentional – a moment’s carelessness and negligence had created many years of regret for the Tang family.

Perhaps Tang Hongen also felt guilty – if he hadn’t been sick that day and had gone to watch the parade too, with one more person watching Little Tang, she might not have been lost.

These were all Xia Xiaolan’s speculations.

Tang Chunlei wiped away tears, “When Little Aunt was lost, our whole family searched, the whole village searched, the police station searched too. But there were too many people watching the parade, we really couldn’t find out who had taken Little Aunt home. After two months of searching with no news, my grandmother passed away that winter. They say she couldn’t close her eyes before death, kept mumbling about finding Little Aunt… My mother felt very guilty too. Whenever family members mentioned this incident, she felt they were blaming her, so later it became a forbidden topic in the Tang family.”

Tang Chunlei even defended his mother a bit.

He implied his mother’s temperament hadn’t always been this way – it was because the Tang family had experienced this unspeakable past event. While Tang Hongen felt guilty, he might have blamed his brother and sister-in-law. The rift had existed early on; the “reporting” during the turbulent years was partly due to others’ manipulation and instigation, but also an explosion of accumulated friction.

This Tang Chunlei, talking about his lost aunt was one thing, but mixing in his agenda, trying to whitewash his mother’s reputation…

Xia Xiaolan secretly squeezed Zhou Cheng’s hand under the table.

Zhou Cheng stroked her palm, signaling her not to show her thoughts.

Hmph, as if she needed anyone to teach her that.

The newlyweds exchanged meaningful glances.

The young couple shared a consensus – this Tang Chunlei wasn’t entirely honest.

Of course, there weren’t many completely honest people in the world – everyone had their ulterior motives. They couldn’t consider Tang Chunlei a bad person just for this. He was several years older than Xia Xiaolan and Zhou Cheng, and perhaps thought his greater social experience let him play these little tricks, assuming Xia Xiaolan and Zhou Cheng wouldn’t notice – unfortunately for him, he’d encountered Xia Xiaolan and Zhou Cheng. Each was a formidable individual alone; together, ten Tang Chunleis combined wouldn’t be enough for this newlywed couple to play with!

Comrade Chunlei was naive to judge Xia Xiaolan and Zhou Cheng by their age.

Little Tang’s disappearance was already a 29-year-old matter, during the National Day Grand Parade.

No wonder even with Old Tang’s current position, he couldn’t find her.

Xia Xiaolan felt that the hope of finding her lay with Tang Chunlei’s mother… Of the only two people present that day, one was dead, and Tang Chunlei’s mother was the only one still alive.

Only Tang Chunlei’s mother would remember the details from back then.

But would she tell the truth?

Xia Xiaolan pretended not to understand Tang Chunlei’s ulterior motives:

“Big Brother Chunlei, I understand what you mean. Being family is fate – no matter how big the conflicts within a family, after so many years, it’s best if they can be resolved. Finding Little Aunt Tang isn’t just about making up for regret; through the process of searching, it could also help improve relations between Uncle Tang and the hometown family, right?”