Information asymmetry could be devastating – just look at what happened to Xia Ziyu.

Tang Chunlei had now fallen into this trap.

He only knew that Second Uncle Tang Hongen was now the mayor of Pengcheng, with a bright future ahead.

He also knew his uncle had remarried two years ago.

Knew that his new Second Aunt ran her own business.

And that her daughter was quite remarkable, with excellent grades, having been admitted to Huaqing University.

This was all he knew from maintaining contact with former Secretary Peng and current Secretary Lai, but both the promoted Secretary Peng and Secretary Lai, who had barely secured his position by Tang Hongen’s side, were shrewd operators without question.

Handling both official and personal matters for their leader, their attitude toward those approaching him was entirely based on the leader’s attitude – given Tang Hongen’s stance toward his hometown relatives, neither Secretary Peng nor Secretary Lai would be arrogant toward Tang Chunlei, after all, he was the leader’s nephew. But expecting them to tell Tang Chunlei everything? That was a fantasy that could only exist in dreams!

So Tang Chunlei’s understanding of Xia Xiaolan was far too limited – he had no idea he was facing a ‘Director Xia’ who had just stirred up trouble in HK, making the Lu family cry like kittens.

What did he know?

Just that Xia Xiaolan was well-educated and had just married her boyfriend of several years.

That her husband was a military officer.

Also quite young.

Quiet, dark-skinned, tall, and looked quite capable in a fight.

Tang Chunlei had categorized Zhou Cheng as the silent type.

But he was quite concerned about Zhou Cheng.

He didn’t think his Second Uncle would agree to let his stepdaughter marry a simple soldier, no matter how smart that soldier looked.

Because Xia Xiaolan was just too beautiful.

And had an impressive educational background.

Plus his Second Uncle’s position.

Arranging for Xia Xiaolan to marry a high-ranking cadre’s son would certainly be no problem – marrying an ordinary person would be such a waste!

Tang Chunlei’s guess about Zhou Cheng was quite accurate, at least about his family background…

He hadn’t paid much attention to Xia Xiaolan.

This was narrow-minded subjective consciousness – he’d never encountered a truly capable female comrade!

Xia Xiaolan’s good attitude made Tang Chunlei even more enthusiastic – a thirty-year-old man with surprisingly delicate emotions, constantly wiping away tears:

“Little Xia, you’ve spoken to my heart. My father regretted until his death how our big family fell apart, but he was just too stubborn to lower his face and apologize to his Second Uncle… Ah, we can’t redo the past, I’m ashamed of what my parents did to my Second Uncle. Now I just hope we can find Little Aunt’s whereabouts, try our best to make up for this regret.”

Xia Xiaolan joined him in sighing.

As Old Tang’s son-in-law, it was appropriate for Zhou Cheng to treat his uncle’s nephew to a meal, so the three found a casual restaurant.

Tang Chunlei was equally cautious – although Xia Xiaolan was just his Second Uncle’s stepdaughter, and this ‘convenient son-in-law’ didn’t seem particularly shrewd.

But since the Second Uncle was so estranged from the family and seemed to have a good relationship with his new Second Aunt, the stepdaughter’s status was naturally higher than his as a blood nephew. So Tang Chunlei couldn’t put on airs in front of Zhou Cheng. As someone who had been working for over ten years, Tang Chunlei felt he had performed very well today, clearly explaining all the details he knew from back then.

“Big Brother Chunlei, let’s stay in touch, and work together to search for news of Little Aunt. I think it’s best if we wait until we find some useful information before telling Uncle Tang, what do you think?”

Zhou Cheng shook hands with Tang Chunlei, whose eyes were still moist as he froze for a moment.

Then he nodded vigorously, “…You’re right, let’s search first, tell Second Uncle when we have leads, and give him a surprise.”

Zhou Cheng smiled, and the young couple bid farewell to Tang Chunlei.

In Tang Chunlei’s mind, he probably thought Zhou Cheng was simple-minded.

Zhou Cheng had been quietly observing Tang Chunlei the whole time, analyzing everything he said.

Once they left, the couple could finally exchange their thoughts, and Zhou Cheng’s simple soldier act vanished completely:

“Uncle Tang’s nephew is too slick, his words aren’t sincere, and he has very strong ulterior motives.”

In Zhou Cheng’s assessment, he wasn’t even as good as Tang Hongen’s brother and sister-in-law – they had wronged Tang Hongen but stuck to their guns without apologizing, committed to being bad to the end.

But this Tang Chunlei, wanting to repair family relations, carried too strong a sense of personal gain.

Xia Xiaolan thought it didn’t matter, “How many simple and honest relatives are there waiting to be claimed? With Uncle Tang’s current position, even people with no relations want to establish connections, let alone actual relatives – it’s normal to want Uncle Tang’s help… As long as he can help, I don’t think Uncle Tang would completely reject it.”

Everyone had ulterior motives, including Xia Xiaolan – otherwise, why had she brazenly waited by the roadside for Tang Hongen back then?

Even earnestly sending Old Tang local specialties.

She was just experienced enough to handle such things with proper measures, not making people too resistant.

This might also be where Xia Xiaolan differed from Zhou Cheng – Zhou Cheng worked hard himself, but he was born with support, with a backup plan.

Xia Xiaolan had to rely completely on herself to fight and grab opportunities.

How does that saying go? Roughly – my endpoint after 20 years of struggle is merely your starting point at birth – all roads lead to Rome, but some lucky souls are born in Rome, which dampens the motivation to struggle.

No matter how well their values aligned, they weren’t thinking with the same brain. Fortunately, they could seek common ground while reserving differences. The newlyweds tacitly skipped over this small disagreement and returned their focus to Tang Chunlei, or rather to the matter of finding Little Tang itself.

The young couple did share one consensus – Tang Chunlei wasn’t speaking sincerely.

Tang Chunlei himself didn’t have a strong desire to find Little Tang, or perhaps he simply didn’t believe she could be found.

He just wanted to use this matter to improve relations with Tang Hongen.

To develop an emotional connection with his Second Uncle.

He dug up this “scar” that the Tang family couldn’t mention precisely to exploit it.

This became particularly obvious in Tang Chunlei’s instinctive reaction when Xia Xiaolan and Zhou Cheng said they would wait to tell Tang Hongen until they had useful leads.

Xia Xiaolan carefully analyzed Tang Chunlei’s words:

“Not a single loophole, as if he had prepared standard answers in advance.”

That’s why it made her and Zhou Cheng uncomfortable – they were both particularly perceptive people.

Zhou Cheng took her hand: “I’ll ask around first, Uncle Tang might have already investigated, but we’ll check again.”

Zhou Cheng’s honeymoon suddenly became very busy.

He took Xia Xiaolan to the police station.

Since they had reported the case when the child was lost at Tiananmen Square during the Grand Parade, perhaps the police officers who handled it might still remember.

For something from 29 years ago, it would be difficult enough if the records had been preserved.

The police station surprisingly did remember this case:

“Your family hasn’t given up searching?”

“Comrade, if we all gave up searching, then it would be—”

The police officer sighed, “But didn’t your family thoroughly investigate this five years ago? This is just an ordinary missing persons case, and the officer in charge back then has already retired.”