Cursing Xia Xiaolan as a fool behind her back wouldn’t cost her any flesh.

While she was happily plotting against Shi Surong, Zhou Cheng was keeping himself busy at the dinner table.

Tang Chunlei intended to get Zhou Cheng drunk, and Zhou Cheng played along. After several cups of baijiu, Zhou Cheng’s speech became slurred, and he appeared to lower his guard, pulling Tang Chunlei close for a heart-to-heart conversation.

He confided that neither he nor Xia Xiaolan believed they could find Young Aunt Tang, but—

“By doing this, Uncle Tang will be very pleased. Big… Big Brother, you know that Xiaolan isn’t Uncle Tang’s biological daughter…”

Tang Chunlei had known this all along.

Wasn’t it all just a show, pretending to make great efforts to search for their trafficked young aunt?

The stepdaughter and her husband were both trying to curry favor with the Second Uncle through this matter.

Everyone had the same thoughts, but how could these young people try to claim all the credit?

“We’ll find her, definitely will, if we work together,” Tang Chunlei declared.

Among the dinner guests was a clan uncle in his fifties, about the same age as Tang Chunlei’s father. Tang Chunlei had specifically invited him to demonstrate his respect for Zhou Cheng and Xia Xiaolan. Upon catching the undertone, he expressed surprise: “Your family is still searching for Little Ru?”

“Clan Uncle, how could we not? Young Aunt is our family. Now that we’re living comfortably, Young Aunt is somewhere out there alone, enduring who knows what hardships. Whenever I think about it, I can’t sleep at night. My father mentioned her on his deathbed, and even my Second Uncle never gave up…” Tang Chunlei’s eyes reddened with emotion.

The clan uncle secretly rolled his eyes while gripping his chopsticks.

Couldn’t sleep at night from distress?

When Little Ru disappeared, Chunlei was barely a year old, just weaned. How could he have such a deep emotional attachment?

He didn’t believe that Tang Chunlei’s father had mentioned finding Tang Youru on his deathbed.

What Tang Chunlei’s father must have been wondering about on his deathbed was why Tang Hongen had achieved such great success… Uncle Tang rubbed his cracked hands, thinking that nephew Chunlei wasn’t being truthful. Only Tang Hongen must be genuinely searching for Little Ru, considering how close the siblings had been.

But this was another family’s business, and he had no right to interfere. There was no point in exposing Tang Chunlei’s lies, as no benefits would come his way.

Although his surname was Tang and he could be called “Clan Brother” by Tang Hongen, they were distant relatives, separated by about five generations of ancestry, not particularly close!

Who wouldn’t envy Tang Hongen’s success?

Word was that he’d become a high-ranking official outside!

Unfortunately, he didn’t maintain connections with his hometown, so none of them could benefit from his success.

Zhou Cheng swayed, clearly drunk:

“Whoever… whoever finds Young Aunt Tang, Uncle Tang will reward them generously. Ah, do you know what a high-ranking official Uncle Tang is? Just one word from him, arranging a job, transferring a household registration – these are all minor matters!”

Father-in-law, I apologize, but we’ve carried the act this far, and I have to tarnish your reputation a bit.

Zhou Cheng, with his thick tongue, proceeded to boast about his father-in-law.

These people might not understand other matters, but job arrangements and household registration transfers were what rural folks cared about most.

Although this was Beijing’s suburbs, it bordered Hebei Province, essentially a large farming village… and large farming villages meant poverty. Except for Tang Chunlei’s family, everyone lived modest lives.

Zhou Cheng noticed several gazes becoming heated and knew it was time to stop, so he pretended to pass out drunk on the table.

Tang Chunlei exclaimed:

“Already drunk? Uncle, please help me carry him to the room.”

Tang Chunlei couldn’t lift Zhou Cheng alone – he was too heavy!

That’s how drunk people were.

Tang Chunlei didn’t suspect anything, and they collectively carried Zhou Cheng to the room, naturally ending the dinner gathering.

The invited Tang surname villagers who had been keeping Tang Chunlei company left his home but couldn’t resist discussing:

“Has Second Tang become a high-ranking official?”

“Must be true, otherwise, with Shi Surong’s temperament, she wouldn’t have humbled herself to call him back for the funeral.”

“Right, last time at the funeral they came in a car, and this time when Second Tang’s daughter and son-in-law came, they brought a different car!”

“Tang Chunlei’s eyes were red with jealousy, I heard this is the stepdaughter, his nephew didn’t get any benefits, but the stepdaughter and her husband look quite wealthy—”

“They never searched for Little Ru before, now they’re searching, clearly trying to please Second Tang…”

“Poor Little Ru, such a pity.”

“Fujun, what are you thinking about?”

Tang Fujun, the one Tang Chunlei called Clan Uncle, had remained silent since leaving the Tang household.

His drinking companions nudged him.

“Weren’t you quite close with Second Tang back then? Now that Second Tang has made it big, don’t you want to ask him for help, at least arrange some jobs for your sons?”

Tang Fujun waved his hand, “Close? I was several years older than Hongen, and we never really played together. He was smart from childhood – while other kids followed us around catching fish and chasing rabbits, he was always studying. No wonder he’s successful!”

Tang Fujun had several sons, and now that they were grown, his main concern was helping them find wives.

Because none of his sons were good at studies, they couldn’t follow Tang Hongen and Tang Chunlei’s path of using education to escape their farming fate and change their destiny. While Tang Chunlei felt he hadn’t made it, from Tang Fujun’s perspective, anyone with a proper city job was doing well.

Compared to these soil-tilling farmers, they couldn’t even imagine such a life.

Tang Fujun was indeed worried and unsettled.

If he could get some benefits from Tang Hongen, he’d do anything.

“Finding Little Ru?”

Tang Fujun returned home deep in thought and found his wife who was cooking pig feed:

“Do you remember Little Ru? The one who got lost during the grand military parade twenty or thirty years ago? I remember you said you saw Shi Surong… was that true?”

Tang Fujun’s wife nodded absent-mindedly:

“Hurry and put some firewood in the stove…”

Tang Fujun grabbed his wife’s shoulders, “Forget about the pig feed, our luck might be turning around, think carefully!”

…

In the Tang household.

“Aunt, when will you tell me about Young Aunt’s story?” Xia Xiaolan kept poking her head in, urging Shi Surong.

Shi Surong responded irritably, “Your husband is drunk, shouldn’t you be taking care of him?”

She’d gone to look once and came right back, not even bringing water to wash Zhou Cheng’s face. Shi Surong had never seen such a wife as Xia Xiaolan.

Xia Xiaolan frowned, “Drunk people smell terrible, let him sleep it off! Aunt, let’s focus on what’s important.”

Shi Surong thought to herself, thankfully this wasn’t her daughter-in-law.

Being just a stepdaughter, how filial could she be to Tang Hongen?

Thinking this way, Shi Surong felt somewhat pleased. She wasn’t doing the kitchen work herself but was supervising her daughter-in-law’s work, which helped maintain her authority as a mother-in-law.

“Mom, look how anxious Sister Xiaolan is. I’ll handle the work here, you go ahead and talk with her.”

Following her daughter-in-law’s lead, Shi Surong nodded:

“…Fine, I’ll tell you. What do you want to know? I’ve told the police and family members about Spring Thunder’s young aunt’s disappearance countless times!”