msmithbooks Chapter 160 Baby, Where Are You?
Chapter 160 Baby, Where Are You?
Cheng Zheng went to the Shen family.
Despite the facts being right in front of him, he still wanted to confirm them one last time.
He went to Shen Qing's adoptive parents' house.
The person who opened the door was Shen's mother, Liu Fengxia. She looked to be in her forties, with a round face, neatly combed hair, and wearing a navy blue Zhongshan suit.
"Comrade, who are you?" Liu Fengxia looked Cheng Zheng up and down, her eyes filled with doubt.
Cheng Zheng introduced himself, "Hello, Auntie, I am Shen Qing's cousin, my name is Cheng Zheng."
Liu Fengxia recognized him, and her doubts immediately vanished. She greeted him warmly, "So you're Qingqing's cousin! Hello, hello, welcome, please come in and have a seat."
She invited Cheng Zheng inside.
Shen's father was not home; only Liu Fengxia was there.
"Xiao Cheng, please have a seat. I'll make you a cup of tea."
"No need for that."
"No trouble at all." Liu Fengxia smiled politely and went to get the tea. Cheng Zheng saw this and did not refuse again. He sat on the sofa and looked around the Shen family.
I had read Shen Qing's information before. Shen's parents were both employees of a state-owned factory. This house was allocated by the factory and was divided into two bedrooms and a living room. It wasn't big, but it was kept clean.
The house faces south, so it gets plenty of sunlight, making the room bright and airy. The furnishings are also very thoughtful, with all the necessary furniture, as well as a radio and a sewing machine.
The conditions are good.
Cheng Zheng recalled when Lin Shuyao first entered the factory, there wasn't even a quilt in the dormitory. Now, thinking back, if she really was Shen Qing, and her adoptive parents were well-off, why would she be so poor that she couldn't even afford bedding?
"Xiao Cheng, have some tea." Liu Fengxia placed the teacup on the tea table in front of Cheng Zheng, then sat down next to him. "Xiao Cheng, is Qingqing settling in well over there? That child has never experienced hardship since childhood, and she's been a bit spoiled. I wonder if she can handle the environment in the north."
At this point, she suddenly remembered something and explained, "I'm sorry, Xiao Cheng, I didn't mean to say anything bad about your family. I was just saying that the weather in the north is too dry. Qingqing's skin is delicate, and it gets flaky when it's too dry."
Cheng Zheng recalled Lin Shuyao's delicate face and her smooth, water-like skin, which had never peeled and would leave a mark if he kissed her.
His eyes darkened, and he picked up his teacup and took a sip.
Liu Fengxia was immersed in her emotions: "You don't know, when Qingqing first went to the countryside, I couldn't eat or sleep well at home, worried that she would suffer outside. Later, when I found out that she had been taken back by her biological father, I was relieved."
"Hmm." Cheng Zheng casually agreed, his gaze inadvertently sweeping over the door to the room opposite.
Mrs. Shen got up and walked over, pushing open the door: "This is Qingqing's room. It hasn't been touched or lived in since she left. We've kept it for her, just in case she wants to go home someday."
Cheng Zheng was sitting in a spot directly facing the room door, and he glanced inside.
The room was decorated warmly, with the quilt on the bed neatly folded and covered with bright red peony flowers. Next to it was a dressing table. Cheng Zheng had good eyesight and immediately noticed the small round mirror, comb, and face cream on it—all things for girls.
Cheng Zheng looked away, and Liu Fengxia walked back and sat on the sofa. "Back then, Qingqing had a fight with her brother. She blamed us for being biased, and in a fit of anger, she signed up to go to the countryside, even going to the most remote place. Her father and I only found out after she got there. It's all our fault for not paying attention to her emotions back then, otherwise she wouldn't have gone to such a place to suffer. I heard that the place is very remote; to get to the nearest town, you have to cross several mountains and walk for a whole day and night. I don't know how much hardship she endured there."
As she spoke, Liu Fengxia's voice choked, and she took out a handkerchief to wipe her eyes. After a while, as if remembering something, she stood up, walked to the cabinet, opened the drawer, rummaged through it for a while, took out an envelope, and turned to hand it to Cheng Zheng:
"Oh, right, this is the dowry money my husband and I saved for her. You should give it to her when you go back this time."
"You should give it to her yourself when she gets home," Cheng Zheng said, but he didn't take it.
Liu Fengxia insisted on giving it to him: "You should take care of her for us. That child hasn't contacted us since she went to the countryside. We wrote to her but she didn't reply. We only found out she had gone to Beijing last time when her colleagues from the factory came over."
Cheng Zheng found it strange. If the Shen family really treated Shen Qing so well, why would Shen Qing be willing to go to the countryside and cut off contact with the Shen family?
Logically speaking, after raising them for so many years, even if they aren't biologically related, there should be some affection between them.
"Auntie, do you have any photos of Shen Qing at home? She was selected as an outstanding cadre, and the factory needs some of her old photos for promotional materials. I happen to be here on a business trip, so I'll bring them back with me."
"Photos? Yes, yes, just wait." Upon hearing that her daughter had made something of herself, Liu Fengxia immediately smiled. She turned and went into Shen Qing's room, and soon came out with a thick photo album. The cover was a red hardcover, and the edges were worn.
She sat down next to Cheng Zheng and opened the photo album.
"Every year on her birthday, we take her to have her picture taken. Look at this one, this is when she was three years old, with two little pigtails, so cute! This one is when she was five years old, with two pigtails, so cute! And this one, her dad took her to the park to ride a boat, she was so scared she cried, look, there are still tears on her face. This one is her and her brother, the two of them building a snowman in the yard..."
Liu Fengxia talked on and on, flipping through the pages one by one and explaining each one in detail.
Every time she turned to a page, she would stop and recall what happened that day.
Cheng Zheng looked at the unfamiliar face in the photo, and sure enough, the person he knew was not the real Shen Qing.
He casually flipped through a few pages of the photo album. Most of the photos were of Shen Qing, with only a few pictures of her adoptive brother interspersed among them.
Liu Fengxia's concern was genuine.
Cheng Zheng inexplicably recalled the scene at the Lin family today. One was his biological daughter, and the other was his adopted daughter, yet they were treated completely differently.
If she had been born into a family like the Shen family, she... would definitely not have impersonated someone else.
"Comrade Cheng, how many photos do you need? Pick them yourself." Liu Fengxia's words interrupted Cheng Zheng's thoughts. He came back to his senses, picked up a photo at random, exchanged a few pleasantries, and got up to say goodbye to Liu Fengxia.
Liu Fengxia warmly invited him to stay: "Xiao Cheng, stay for dinner tonight! It's not easy for you to come all the way to Yuncheng, so the house is all set with food. I'll start cooking right away."
"No need, thank you, Auntie. I have some things to do tonight." Cheng Zheng declined. Liu Fengxia tried to persuade him to stay a few more times, but to no avail. Finally, she saw him to the door, muttering, "Then come to our house again when you have time. By the way, Cheng, when you go back, tell Qingqing to write us a letter when she has time. Her dad, her brother, and I miss her very much..."
"Okay." Cheng Zheng nodded and turned to go downstairs.
As I walked along the street, the sky darkened, and clusters of dark clouds loomed over the city, like a weight pressing down on my heart.
As Cheng Zheng looked at the unfamiliar girl in the photo in his hand, another face uncontrollably surfaced in his mind.
That beautiful, radiant face smiled at him and acted coquettishly towards him.
Baby, where are you?
Cheng Zheng gripped the photographic paper tightly, his heart clenching as suddenly as the paper in his hand.