Era: Starting with the struggle to refuse being taken advantage of

Chapter 219 The Truth Revealed (Continued)

Without further ado, Wang Chengpeng recounted the information he had heard from Wang Wen to Ding Kaiyuan.

In order to get more information from Ding Kaiyuan, Wang Chengpeng also added some possibilities that he thought were plausible:
"When Aunt Wang talked about the woman's life and death, she was rather secretive. She only said that she vaguely remembered that the woman was quite lucky. She was in a situation where she was almost certainly going to die, but she managed to survive."

"I just don't know why this woman eventually died, leaving behind a poor child to live alone in the world."

Ding Kaiyuan glanced at Wang Chengpeng with surprise and murmured:

“Wang Xi actually told his daughter about this, and you even overheard it. Perhaps this is fate, the will of heaven that I should no longer keep this secret.”

At this point, Ding Kaiyuan sighed and said:
"Speaking of this matter, I am actually not in a very honorable position either."

"I originally went to help do good deeds, but I ended up doing bad things for some reason."

“Under normal circumstances, to avoid risks, women don’t need a man like me for childbirth.”

"It was just that the wind and rain were so strong that night that I couldn't call anyone, so I ended up helping out a bit."

“I’m not familiar with childbirth, and I didn’t participate in the whole process. I just remember that the woman was still alive right after giving birth.”

"I remember Wang Xi exclaimed that it was a miracle of life. It was rare in her midwifery career that both mother and child were safe under such circumstances."

"After all, it was two deliveries in a row, and everyone was exhausted. Plus, it was raining and windy, so it was hard to get home. We just squeezed into the clinic to rest."

"I don't know how much time passed, maybe ten or twenty minutes, but suddenly a doctor's exclamation came from the delivery room. When Wang Xi went to check, he found that the woman had stopped breathing."

"There were many people around at the time, and I didn't know the specifics of what was going on."

"The doctors examined her for a long time but couldn't find the cause of death. In the end, they could only conclude that the woman's injuries recurred due to exhaustion after childbirth, which ultimately led to her death."

Upon hearing this, Wang Chengpeng subconsciously clenched his fists, never expecting that his grandmother would die so mysteriously in her hospital bed.

Postpartum exhaustion?

Wang Chengpeng had read many similar books and knew that pregnant women rarely died after surviving the initial dangerous period.

While it's not a 100% certainty, it's more likely that there's something fishy going on.

Just as Wang Chengpeng was pondering the problem, Ding Kaiyuan continued his story:
“Under normal circumstances, someone dying is a big deal.”

"However, no one knows the woman's background, and she has no identification documents, so it is almost impossible to contact her family."

"Seeing the baby crying loudly, it was your grandfather, Wang Degong, who took the initiative to adopt the child in the end."

"Anyway, Zhao Yuju has been in a coma and has never known the true situation of her son. We can just say that her son survived by chance, and that will make everyone happy."

"Wang Degong felt it was inappropriate to let this child take the name of his original child, so he named him Wang Tieshan instead."

"Gold, silver, copper, iron—this name, though simple, embodies the parents' hopes that their descendants will never have to worry about money."

It turns out that the reason the Wang family took in Wang Tieshan was entirely due to Wang Degong's efforts.

Looking back on Wang Degong's actions, aside from being completely deceived by Zhao Yuju, he was actually a fairly upright elder.

However, when people are not discerning enough and cases are not investigated clearly, Wang Degong's integrity makes him vulnerable to being deceived and exploited by bad people, turning him into an accomplice in their evil deeds.

In that instant, Wang Chengpeng keenly sensed something was amiss and said:

"You mean you did this without my grandmother's knowledge?"

If Zhao Yuju was completely unaware of the situation, how could she possibly be so biased towards Wang Tieshan?
While it may not be the best, it shouldn't be worse than Wang Yinshan's family, who couldn't have a son.

Faced with Wang Chengpeng's question, Ding Kaiyuan was also taken aback and said:
"At the time, she really didn't know about this, after all, it's better for everyone to keep it a secret."

"After all, Wang Degong, as the head of the family, had already agreed to this matter, so Zhao Yuju's opinion was not really that important."

"As for whether this matter was exposed afterward, that's not something I can know."

"After all, not many people knew about this back then, but there were still so many people."

"I'm keeping it completely confidential, but I don't know if others will leak it."

Upon hearing this, Wang Chengpeng frowned again, wondering if Zhao Yuju hated Wang Tieshan so much because she had discovered the truth about being deceived.
In this way, some doubts can be clarified.

However, Wang Chengpeng still felt that something was not quite right; he felt that he had overlooked some details.

Everything before him seemed perfectly reasonable, yet there were some inexplicable things, namely why he treated his three sons so differently.

Without interrupting Ding Kaiyuan's story, Wang Chengpeng decided to continue listening.

After glancing hesitantly at Wang Chengpeng, Ding Kaiyuan continued:

"The rest was much simpler. After the rain stopped the next day, Wang Degong and his wife went home, and the matter was considered closed."

"This ending seems a bit anticlimactic," Wang Chengpeng frowned and asked.

"Wang Degong's side has been settled satisfactorily; everything that needed to be said has been said."

"But it seems there are still many things you haven't said about the woman who has already died."

Shaking his head and sighing, Ding Kaiyuan said, "That's why I don't want to talk about this."

"In an era when even food was scarce, who would care about a woman who was already dead and had little to do with them?"

"They just dug a hole and buried it, and that was the end of it."

"After all, no one wants to get into trouble because of a stranger, and end up without even a tombstone. The woman's fate was rather tragic."

"Furthermore, no one came looking for the woman afterward, and in the end, the matter was simply left unresolved, as if it had never happened."

"Only a few of us still have some impression of the person involved. Perhaps after we are all buried, no one will ever know about this again."

"If you want to pay your respects, you can look for bones in the area in front of the old clinic."

"Although I wasn't at fault, I did something that wasn't very ethical, which is why I don't want to talk about it."

After recounting everything he knew, Ding Kaiyuan felt much more relaxed. He sighed with relief and said:

"That's all I know. If you feel I've wronged your grandmother, you can take those gifts back."

"To be honest, I really don't deserve those things."

Looking at Ding Kaiyuan's face full of self-reproach, Wang Chengpeng didn't know what to say for a moment, and finally contained all his emotions in a long sigh.

Shaking his head slightly, Wang Chengpeng said, "This matter is not your fault, and you don't need to blame yourself."

"No one is a saint; this was the limit of what you could do at the time."

"As for those gifts, since they have been given out, there is no reason for me to take them back."

Despite saying that, Wang Chengpeng was still somewhat unwilling and pressed for an answer again:

"Does the woman have no marks or characteristics that would allow me to find a clue?"

Faced with Wang Chengpeng's question, Ding Kaiyuan recalled again. After a long while, he slowly said, "Don't look at what you shouldn't look at. I didn't look at her very carefully at the time. I only remember that she was a rather beautiful woman."

"Even though she was covered in mud, her beauty was undeniable."

"Judging from her attire, she must come from a well-off family and is very likely a female comrade who fled here."

"As for the mark, I do remember that the woman seemed to have a golden bracelet on her right hand, but I don't know if it was gold or some other material."

"I remember that the bracelet was not simple in design. It was made of four or five metal wires twisted together, and it was also decorated with some small five-petaled flowers."

"It was precisely because the bracelet's design was so unusual that I took a second look and it made an impression on me."

"It's strange, the bracelet was clearly still on the woman's wrist at first, but it disappeared when the body was buried."

"There were many people around at the time, so it's impossible to know whether the bracelet was lost or stolen."

bracelet?

Ding Kaiyuan's description evoked Wang Chengpeng's memories. In his extremely distant past, he seemed to have seen such a uniquely shaped bracelet before.

After racking his brains, thanks to his excellent memory after his rebirth, Wang Chengpeng finally remembered the bracelet.

I vaguely remember it was a sunny afternoon when Wang Chengpeng was playing in the yard.

He was still young then, and being a boy, he was at the age where everyone hated him, and he was extremely mischievous.

That's why he had no manners at all, and he barged into the main house, which is now the house where Wang Degong and Zhao Yuju live.

At that time, Grandpa Wang Degong was outside earning work points, while Grandma Zhao Yuju was the only one in the house.

When Wang Chengpeng burst into the room, Zhao Yuju was playing with a gold bracelet. She vaguely remembered that its appearance was seven or eight parts similar to the bracelet described by Ding Kaiyuan.

After being caught by Wang Chengpeng, Zhao Yuju's face showed a rare hint of panic.

She quickly put the bracelet away. Zhao Yuju seemed extremely angry at the time, and picked up a bamboo pole to hit Wang Chengpeng.

They beat Wang Chengpeng until he was covered in blood and crying for his parents, but they didn't stop until his grandfather, Wang Degong, returned and successfully rescued him.

The thought of a certain possibility made Wang Chengpeng feel extremely agitated.

However, he still politely addressed Ding Kaiyuan:

"Uncle Ding, do you have any paper and pens at home? Could I borrow them for a moment?"

Upon hearing Wang Chengpeng's request, Ding Kaiyuan was visibly taken aback. He didn't understand why, just a moment ago they were discussing women, and the next moment Wang Chengpeng would ask him for paper and pen.

However, Wang Chengpeng was a big spender who had given his family 100 yuan as an intelligence fee, so even though paper and pens were precious, Ding Kaiyuan couldn't be stingy and quickly took the paper money that his own child used for studying.

Taking the paper and pen, Wang Chengpeng began to draw with a few quick, rustling strokes.

Thanks to the experience he gained when drawing blueprints, Wang Chengpeng's drawing skills are quite good.

While it may not be perfect, it is at least quite lifelike.

Following the image in his memory, Wang Chengpeng quickly sketched it on the paper, and before long, a uniquely shaped bracelet appeared on the paper.

At first, Ding Kaiyuan was puzzled as to what Wang Chengpeng wanted the banknotes for, but as the contents of the paper became clearer, Ding Kaiyuan's expression grew increasingly shocked, and finally he exclaimed in astonishment:

"It's this bracelet, it's the one."

"Xiao Peng, did you see this somewhere before? Otherwise, how could you draw this bracelet directly?"

Shaking his head slightly, Wang Chengpeng said, "That happened so many years ago, so naturally I couldn't have seen this bracelet."

"Fortunately, Uncle Ding's description was very clear, which gave me the ability to draw this bracelet."

At this point, Wang Chengpeng placed the bracelet directly in front of Ding Kaiyuan and said:
"Uncle Ding, take another good look and see if the bracelet on this paper is the one my grandmother wore back then."

Ding Kaiyuan frowned slightly, then relaxed, and said:

"It's been so long that I don't remember it very clearly, but I vaguely remember that it looked like this."

"Even if there are differences, they will not be too great. At least the main body has been depicted in a similar way."

After confirming the style of the bracelet, Wang Chengpeng asked another question, saying:
"Uncle Ding, I have another question for you."

"Did my grandmother, Zhao Yuju, show any abnormalities during the entire birthing process?"

"Abnormal?" Ding Kaiyuan looked at Wang Chengpeng with suspicion and said, "There's nothing abnormal."

"However, there is one strange thing: she seemed to have no strength after giving birth and fell asleep very quickly."

"She kept calling out the name 'Awei' in her sleep. It's been so long that I don't know if I'm remembering it correctly."

Ah Wei?

It's that name again?

Wang Chengpeng's intuition told him that this name might be very crucial, a clue that could connect everything.

However, it's not possible to investigate who Awei is right now; we can only deal with it later when we have more time.

Carefully putting away the paper with the bracelet design, Wang Chengpeng respectfully bowed to Ding Kaiyuan and said:
"Uncle Ding, thank you."

“This matter is a very big one for our Wang family. I need to go back and discuss it with my father.”

"But there's one more thing I'd like to ask for your help with, please don't refuse, Uncle."

"This unknown woman was not only my grandmother, but also a great mother."

"If it weren't for her sacrifice, my father wouldn't have been born safely, and our family wouldn't exist."

"Such a powerful woman, even if she were a stranger, should not be left to rot in the wilderness."

"I want to collect her remains, and I would appreciate it if Uncle Ding could help me."

"After all, your description is rather vague. If we try to find it ourselves, it would be like the blind men touching an elephant, making it impossible to move an inch."

Wang Chengpeng's suggestion hit Ding Kaiyuan right where it hurts. He had been restless for so many years because of this unjust thing he did.

Now that there's an opportunity to make amends and get the woman back home, he's naturally happy to help.

Thinking this through, Ding Kaiyuan patted his chest and made a promise, saying:
"I was wrong to do this in the first place, and now that I have a chance to atone for my sins, I'm overjoyed. Please don't say anything about helping me."

"Whenever your family has reached an agreement, just call me. I, Ding Kaiyuan, will absolutely not say a word against it."

After bowing to Ding Kaiyuan again to express his gratitude, Wang Chengpeng left Ding Kaiyuan's house.

Although it was only a short day, Wang Chengpeng still managed to obtain a large amount of intelligence information through his efforts.

Although he still lacked the most crucial evidence, he was already fairly certain of the facts, and now was the time to go home and tell his parents about it.

(End of this chapter)