DBTHDCAR Chapter 99

After spending two or three days in Shanghai, the relatives headed back home.

Ding Zheyang and the others only accompanied them on the first day. For the following days, they didn’t show up again, probably off on their own dates.

Wang Qingyu, meanwhile, hadn’t changed at all, still a dedicated fansite admin. Wherever there were celebrities, there she was. With year-end concerts packed across Shanghai, she dragged Ding Zheyang along, picking up idols at the airport one day and visiting sets the next, her schedule filled to the brim.

These were things Ding Zheyang had never experienced before. He said that although he didn’t really understand it, just watching Xiaoyu so full of energy made him happy.

Thanks to their Suzhou relatives, Ning Xiaobei and Fan Xia spent the past couple of days visiting many local attractions they had never been to before.

They took a night cruise on the Huangpu River, enjoying a buffet on board; visited Chedun Film Park to watch crews filming old Shanghai dramas of love and grudges; toured Eileen Chang’s former residence on Changde Road; and feasted to their hearts’ content in Qibao Ancient Town.

On the day they left, Fan Xia even took them to Zhao Jingwen’s qipao shop, where they picked out two beautiful qipaos for the girls.

The small Western-style villa on Changle Road was decorated no less luxuriously than the mansions seen in TV dramas. The two girls immediately started arguing over who would play Yiping and who would play Ruping¹, leaving their parents both amused and exasperated, completely forgetting the unpleasantness of their first day in Shanghai.

At parting, the two girls clung to Fan Xia’s hands, reluctant to leave, saying, “Little Dark Uncle, we want to come again next summer. Make sure you wait for us!”

“See? They like me more than they like you.”

Fan Xia raised his eyebrows at Ning Xiaobei smugly.

Ning Xiaobei accepted his defeat without complaint.

After returning from the train station, Ning Xiaobei and Fan Xia went to visit Grandma Ning again to give a work report. The old lady was sitting in the convenience store, holding her cat. Compared to that night, she looked much more spirited. She said that the swelling on Xiao Mei’s face had mostly gone down, and in a few days, she’d be able to return to work at the shop.

After leaving the residential apartment, Fan Xia followed closely behind Ning Xiaobei, practically step for step. He licked his lips and finally couldn’t hold back any longer.

“Boss, do you remember… you said before that after the Suzhou relatives left, you had something to tell me?”

He had been waiting for Xiaobei to bring it up for days now, feeling uneasy every single day.

The atmosphere at home hadn’t been good these past few days. His uncle had been coming and going with a constantly gloomy face. Fan Xia might be a bit slow at times, but he knew something was weighing on his uncle’s mind, most likely about Uncle Ning.

He didn’t dare ask what exactly happened that day. The woman who had caused trouble that night had vanished into thin air, never showing up again.

As far as he knew, his Uncle and Uncle Ning went to the Old City God Temple and bought a solid gold bracelet, weighing eighty grams of pure gold, and sent it to the Zhou family as an apology to Auntie Xiao Mei.

Auntie Xiao Mei naturally refused to accept it, and Mr. Zhou insisted on rejecting it as well. In the end, it was Grandma Ning who spoke up, saying it should be considered an additional piece of dowry from the elder brother-in-law. Only then did Auntie Xiao Mei accept it.

Fan Xia had also cautiously asked why they didn’t call the police when dealing with that kind of scumbag. His uncle had waved him off impatiently, telling him not to meddle in adult affairs. If he had that much free time, he should spend more time with Xiaobei or at least read a few more books, lest he forget his own major once school started again.

Tsk. When they needed him, it was “Xiaoxia, you’re an adult now, you need to take responsibility.” When they didn’t, it became “What would a kid like you understand anyway?”

Ning Xiaobei nodded solemnly. He had been thinking things through for a long time and had mentally prepared himself, he just needed to find a suitable place to sit down and have a proper talk.

But just as the two of them stepped out of the residential area, a man suddenly spread his arms to block their way, letting out a loud “Hey!” His manner was aggressive, like the chaotic warrior Cheng Yaojin charging into battle.

Fan Xia quickly stepped forward, pulling Ning Xiaobei behind him as he stared at the man warily.

They were like people bitten by a snake once, now afraid of ropes for ten years.

The community security guard hurried over, shouting at the man.

“Hey now, if you won’t let me in, fine, but can’t I at least stand here at the entrance and talk to them for a bit? Why are you making such a fuss? That’s no way to be a watchdog.”

The man was someone they had never seen before, tall and thin, with small eyes that gleamed sharply. He was dressed rather sloppily, his clothes wrinkled and edges curling up. His hair was greasy, as if he hadn’t washed it for days. Yet his accent sounded strangely familiar, as if they had heard it somewhere before.

Ning Xiaobei frowned, trying to guess the man’s intentions.

“Xiaobei, look…”

Fan Xia patted his shoulder and pointed toward someone standing under the greenery not far away.

Ning Xiaobei’s heart sank straight to the bottom.

………………

For the conversation, Ning Xiaobei chose a teahouse in a nearby commercial district.

This teahouse was themed around Jiangnan aesthetics, decorated with refined elegance. Even the waitstaff wore bamboo-fabric qipaos. The owners had deliberately brought in running water, creating an artificial stream inside the shop. It flowed gently between private rooms partitioned by bamboo, producing a soft, rippling sound. Dry ice was placed in the corners to create a misty, almost ethereal atmosphere. The rooms were spaced far apart, ensuring privacy for conversations.

“Ugh, another teahouse. Why do you Shanghainese always talk in teahouses? Can’t you just go to a restaurant and talk while eating? And what’s with all this fancy stuff, so impractical.”

As they entered the private room, the man and Jin Ju complained irritably.

They had spent the entire day running around trying to find this young master, and hadn’t had a single bite or sip of anything. Now that they had finally sat down, they were still only being offered tea—it was truly disheartening.

“Don’t like tea?”

Ning Xiaobei raised his head coldly. “Then we can go to a café.”

“No, no. I can’t get used to that stuff either.”

The man casually flipped through the menu the waiter had brought over. When he noticed that the last two pages listed various dim sum, noodles, and wontons, his eyes lit up.

“Quick—noodles, two bowls. And this, this—bring all of these, all of them…”

He went ahead and ordered every edible item on the menu.

Fan Xia glanced at Ning Xiaobei. On the surface, he remained calm, but under the table, his hands were trembling slightly.

Following the direction of Ning Xiaobei’s trembling gaze, he looked over.

Ning Xiaobei had been sizing up the woman across from them the entire time.

That night had been too chaotic to see clearly, but now under the light, he could finally take a good look.

The woman looked even older than Uncle Ning. She had fleshy eyelids and a stocky build. Her plump, rounded nose paired with high cheekbones made her look rather fierce. Her taste in clothing was astonishing; a red coat with yellow pants, like a blazing chili pepper. Together with her frizzy hair, she looked exactly like Ronald McDonald.

This person… could she really be Xiaobei’s mother? Was someone like this the one who gave birth to him?

Fan Xia felt uneasy.

Well… Uncle Ning’s taste back when he was younger really wasn’t that great…

“Alright, is there anything else you’d like?”

After writing down the order, the waiter turned to Ning Xiaobei and the others.

“A pot of Tieguanyin, and two cups.”

As Ning Xiaobei spoke, his voice remained calm and steady. He directly took 60 yuan out of his wallet and placed it on the table—48 for a pot of Tieguanyin, plus 12 yuan for the tea service fee for two people. One fifty-yuan bill and one ten-yuan bill, exactly the right amount.

“Um…”

The waiter glanced at the two people sitting across from them, looking a bit troubled.

“We’ll pay for ours, they’ll pay for theirs. It has nothing to do with us.”

Ning Xiaobei spoke indifferently. His eyes seemed coated with a layer of ice, yet there was a hint of redness at the corners.

“You child, we’ve come all this way. We’re guests, after all…”

“Guests?”

Ning Xiaobei let out a cold laugh. “Guests who hit my aunt?”

The man awkwardly waved at the waiter, indicating they didn’t want anything after all.

“There’s also the tea service fee…”

“We’re not even drinking tea, so just sitting here still costs money? Why don’t you just go rob people instead?”

The man suddenly lost his temper. The waiter didn’t dare say anything more, picked up the menu, and withdrew.

“Oh dear, Xiaobei, how can you act like this? No matter what, we’re still relatives. This really doesn’t look good.”

Jin Ju tried to smooth things over.

“Just now you said you were guests, and now you’ve turned into relatives. Auntie, who exactly are you people? Xiaobei and I don’t even know you at all, okay? Oh right, didn’t you say yesterday that you were my mom? What kind of problem is this, going around claiming relatives at random?”

Fan Xia crossed his legs, speaking with a fake smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

The woman was left speechless by his sharp retort, so angry her eyes rolled back.

Just then, the waiter came in to pour tea for Ning Xiaobei and Fan Xia.

“Is there anything else you need?”

Ning Xiaobei thought for a moment, said something quietly to the waiter, and the latter nodded.

Before leaving, the waiter deliberately glanced at the couple and even gave a small snort, his face full of undisguised contempt.

The couple’s expressions turned darker than ever.

Taking a sip of tea, Ning Xiaobei got straight to the point. “Why did you come to see me? To apologize or to pay compensation?”

“X-Xiaobei, don’t be like this. After all, we’re family. What happened before was our fault, we already spoke to Brother Jianguo about it that day.”

Now, just hearing the word compensation gave Jin Ju a headache.

That night, after hearing the terms they proposed, Ning Jianguo had simply let out two cold laughs and walked away.

He neither agreed nor refused.

When they tried to chase after him and press for an answer, the man beside him suddenly put on a fierce expression and even pulled out his phone, saying he’d call people over. That scared them into turning around and running, after all, even a powerful outsider can’t beat the local forces; of the Thirty-Six Stratagems, retreat is the best.

The next day, when they went again to make trouble at Grandma Ning’s place, the residential area security stopped them and refused to let them in no matter what. It turned out Ning Jianguo had already notified the guards, if they tried to force their way in, the guards were to call the police immediately.

Unable to enter, they tried to find out Ning Jianguo’s address and workplace, thinking they could confront him in front of his superiors and intimidate him. But the neighbors all went about their own business, ignoring them completely. A few who did stop even asked back, “Ning Jianguo? Who’s that? Never heard of him.”

People always say Shanghainese are indifferent, that everyone minds their own business and only looks out for themselves, and after seeing things these past few days, it really seemed to be true.

For days now, they had been left hanging by Ning Jianguo, with nowhere to turn for help, while their money flowed out like water. Shanghai wasn’t like their hometown, once you opened your eyes, everything cost money. Seeing their cash about to run out, they didn’t dare keep running into dead ends with Ning Jianguo, so they decided to start with that child from back then instead.

After lurking outside Grandma Ning’s residential apartment for so many days, enduring the cold wind, they had finally caught sight of Ning Jianguo’s son.

This one right here was their little God of Wealth!

The husband and wife exchanged a glance.

Setting everything else aside, just look at Ma Guixiang and her husband.

Back then, her father-in-law had been so ill he was practically at death’s door. He’d been dragged home from the hospital by his son, laid out on the kang, counting down his days. But after Ma Guixiang made a trip to Shanghai, she came back not only with medicine to keep the old man alive, but also with money that could save lives.

Although the old man eventually still passed away, the couple used the leftover money to open a small eatery and even build a new house. They were practically about to buy a car, how could that not make others envious?

You had to know, their family used to be the poorest in the village. Her husband had been nothing but a useless drunk who beat his wife, too lazy to even water the crops when they were drying up.

And now? In the blink of an eye, he’d become a boss. Sure, he still slept in until late morning, still drank, still beat his wife, but guarding that little shop, their life really was getting better bit by bit.

Those ignorant villagers all said she must have met a benefactor in Shanghai, that her luck had turned and that’s why she was living well now. Jin Ju and her husband could only sneer, what the hell did they know!

It had been nearly twenty years. Not many people still knew about what happened back then, but the couple remembered it clearly, Ma Guixiang had sold her son for that money. There was nothing honorable about it.

But if Ma Guixiang could sell, why couldn’t they?

When you really thought about it, weren’t they her benefactors too?

If Jin Ju hadn’t stepped in to help back then, would that man from Shanghai have been able to take the child away so smoothly? It was her sacrifice that let that Shanghai man pick up such a big son for free.

If you really settled the accounts, that child was indeed their relative, family ties cannot truly be severed. If Ma Guixiang could get money from that Shanghai man, then they should be able to get even more!

These past two years, the couple had tried every trick in the book to get Ning Jianguo’s contact information from Ma Guixiang and her husband.

Ma Guixiang was a sly woman, her mouth was as tight as an old turtle’s shell, impossible to pry open.

When Jin Ju had nothing to do and chatted idly with her, she would tentatively ask whether she missed her eldest son from before. By now, that boy should be about to graduate from middle school, right? She wondered if that Shanghai man treated him well, or if he’d gotten married and had his own child and started mistreating the adopted son.

Normally, whether working in the fields or dealing with customers in the shop, Ma Guixiang always wore a cheerful smile. Even though everyone knew her husband beat her day and night, she still forced herself to keep up that pleasant façade. In Jin Ju’s eyes, it was all for the sake of earning a reputation as virtuous and kind, nothing but scheming and pretentiousness, not the least bit genuine.

But the moment Jin Ju brought up anything about that Shanghai son, Ma Guixiang’s face would instantly fall. The forced smile at the corners of her mouth would disappear, and even her eyes would turn cold, making the whole conversation awkward and unpleasant.

Since Jin Ju’s approach didn’t work, it was her husband’s turn to step in.

Ma Guixiang’s husband loved to drink. Since their family ran an eatery, alcohol was the one thing they never lacked. His mother and wife took care of the business, while he did nothing all day, just gathered a few equally idle men and women from the village and drank from noon until late at night.

Jin Ju just let her husband drink along, cozy up to Guixiang’s husband. A little spent on food and drink? No big deal, she’d make it all back in one swoop later.

After a year or so of mingling, Guixiang’s husband really started treating Jin Ju’s husband almost like a brother. Originally, he’d felt uneasy around Jin Ju’s husband, and it wasn’t for nothing. Jin Ju’s husband also had the surname Wu, he was actually the third brother of Guixiang’s late husband! In other words, he was Ma Guixiang’s little brother-in-law.

Back in the day, Squad Leader Wu, that’s Guixiang’s ex-husband, Wu Changsheng, had two younger brothers. The second brother, Wu Changfa, was five years older than the youngest, Wu Changrong. Ever since their eldest brother went off to serve in the army, the two younger brothers had grown up day and night.

By the time the second brother turned twenty, he had his eyes on a girl from the same village and married her. With the eldest away, he became head of the household, and the youngest, barely sixteen or seventeen, had no say at all.

But when the youngest brother grew up and wanted to marry, trouble arose. The Wu family was poor, they had only that one flat house, no second floor.

By now, Old Lady Wu was living there too. The second brother and his wife, their daughter, and the youngest brother already took up the tiny space. There was simply no way to fit another household in.

Back then, the Wu family pinned all their hopes on their eldest, Wu Changsheng, and he was the one their parents cared for most.

He’d been filial from a young age, sensitive to the family’s needs, and handsome to boot, not like a simple farming boy. He looked more like a big-screen movie star in a summer outdoor screening.

Oh, right! Like that actor Wang Xingang who played Hong Changqing in 《Red Detachment of Women.》

Clear brows and eyes, a firm jaw with righteous bearing—truly a dragon among men.

By contrast, the second brother Wu Changfa was plain-looking, and the youngest, Wu Changrong, had a somewhat sleazy appearance. All three shared the same mother, yet heaven had clearly distributed looks unevenly. Wu Changrong harbored resentment from a young age; respect and envy mixed toward his eldest brother.

Everyone in the village said: If the Wu family ever turned things around, it would be thanks to the eldest son.

Sure enough, Wu Changsheng lived up to expectations. After joining the army, he became squad leader in just a few years and reportedly gained the respect of his superiors. The Wu family elders were barely literate, only what they’d learned in the early post-Revolution literacy classes. When Changsheng sent letters from the army, they had to ask the local school’s Chinese teacher to read them aloud.

The teacher, with a lame leg and black-framed glasses wrapped in medical tape, cleared his throat and read aloud for the neighbors:

⟬ Dear Father and Mother, greetings. Our great leader teaches us: When the army and the people are united as one, who in the world can resist us… Your son is doing well in the army. The leadership has decided that, barring accidents, I will take the sergeant evaluation next year. Once I pass, I will receive officer status and housing arrangements. I’m delighted to hear that second brother’s wife has given birth to a daughter. The state calls all children equal, boy or girl. Enclosed is part of my saved wages and allowances to buy nutritional supplements for second brother’s wife…⟭

“Good, good! Truly accomplished. Changsheng is going to be an officer!”

The neighbors clicked their tongues in admiration, saying the Wu family had produced a rising star.

Even the youngest brother Wu Changrong was happy. If his eldest brother succeeded and settled in the city, maybe he could enjoy the benefits too, without fighting the second brother for a house.

Ever since graduating middle school, Wu Changrong had wanted to go to town and work in the city. But his parents only let him farm at home. Farming? What kind of future is that? Wu Changrong wanted to achieve something big.

Who would have thought? The eldest brother, who had promised to be promoted to sergeant, suddenly retired and came home. Not only did he lose the officer position, but his leg was also crippled, he dragged it with every step.

Following their parents’ orders, Wu Changrong went to the village entrance to welcome him—but seeing the situation at home, he immediately turned around and left. His eldest brother was back; there was no room for him in the house, let alone for the youngest.

The eldest brother saw how things were and said nothing. He handed all of his retirement settlement to his mother and walked away.

He didn’t compete with his brothers, nor did he need anyone to take care of him.

Later, he returned a few times. The township had arranged a job for him, guarding the forests. Though it wasn’t the same as being an officer, at least it was an official position under the Forestry Bureau, with state employment and a government salary. With this, Old Lady Wu could finally rest easy.

Not long after, he came back with a wife as lovely as a flower, the village beauty from the neighboring village, as pretty as a Yantai apple from Shandong.

Wu Changrong had a girlfriend at the time too, also from a neighboring village, named Jin Ju. They say there’s no ugly girl at eighteen, but compared to Gui Xiang, Jin Ju didn’t look like a chrysanthemum at all, more like a big cabbage.

That said, marrying a big cabbage still required some capital. In the countryside, the biggest asset for marrying a wife was a house. Without a house, no one would marry their daughter off.

The family’s house was already taken by Second Brother and his wife, so Changrong had to watch how his eldest brother managed to pluck Gui Xiang, the little apple.

No one expected that the eldest brother would take Gui Xiang up to the mountains and build a house himself, establishing his own household.

What was even more unexpected was that not long after his wife gave birth, a wildfire swept through the forest. His crippled-leg elder brother risked his life to fight the fire and lost it.

Thinking of this, Wu Changrong could only snort coldly: the forest belongs to the state, life belongs to oneself, how could his elder brother not calculate the risk? He deserved to lose his life.

And the most unexpected twist? Not long after, a Shanghai man traveled thousands of miles from the East China coast to their remote little town to adopt his eldest nephew. Wu Changrong only later understood, it was so that his sister-in-law, Little Apple, could marry in peace. At first, Gui Xiang had begged Second Brother and his wife to adopt the child, but they refused. “We can barely raise our own daughter; if we could handle another, we would have already had one.” Left with no choice, Gui Xiang wrote to her husband’s former comrade for help.

All of this, wasn’t it even more dramatic than a movie?

The story loops back: not long ago, after getting Gui Xiang’s husband drunk, he finally let slip some news from Shanghai.

Even though Ma Guixiang refused to give him any contact information from Shanghai, he had secretly rifled through her cabinet and discovered the secret.

Didn’t he know his wife at all? Any important private money, receipts, or other valuables were always secretly sewn into the inner flap of that red coat. He had handled it many times before; it contained all sorts of things, and with a small knife to pick the stitches, everything could be pulled out.

Wu Changrong brought the information home and told his wife. Not long after, she took advantage of a village feast, when the whole village was out celebrating, and slipped into Ma Guixiang’s home from the eatery. She took the note with the new public housing address written after Jiande Lane’s demolition and copied it.

Then they came to Shanghai to meet the Shanghai man, and their so-called eldest nephew.

“Who exactly are you people?”

Ning Xiaobei decided not to beat around the bush anymore. His mind had already prepared for the worst: at most, these two were his biological parents.

He looked at them coldly. They didn’t seem to be trying to reclaim him; instead, they had a look that suggested they were valuing him like a commodity.

Thinking of this, his heart felt as if it had fallen into an ice hole, sharp and freezing.

In the real world, he had never personally experienced this, but it was possible that his father had been extorted by them before.

His father had always been like this: no matter how the sky fell, he carried it all alone. Every storm, every hail, he never let it land even a little on anyone else’s shoulders.

If they had come knocking over there around the same time, it would have been the family’s toughest financial days, when his father was indeed working multiple jobs simultaneously…

Thinking of this, Ning Xiaobei felt a rush of bitter, bloody anger.

He felt pain for his father and hatred for the two people in front of him.

………………

Author’s Note:

Let me clarify: Squad Leader Wu is the eldest, and Wu Changrong is the youngest. Every son in that family was a scoundrel. To adopt Xiaobei, Wu Changrong’s girlfriend at the time, Jin Ju, and Ning Jianguo faked a marriage.

Seeing Xiaobei’s biological mother’s husband take Ning Jianguo’s 50,000 yuan to open a restaurant, Youngest Wu decided he also wanted to extort a bit.

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