“So, are you going back to the factory first, or are you staying here?”
After everyone had left, Bai Lan quietly asked Xu Jianbei. On this trip back, Xu Jianbei had come a few days early. His work in Haicheng wasn’t finished yet. He had only come back with her because he was worried she wouldn’t be able to handle the Fang family on her own.
“I’ll go to the factory first and submit my work report. I’ll be pretty busy these next few days, so I’ll stay at the factory. With this situation at your house, things are probably going to be chaotic for a while. You need to be careful…”
Bai Lan wasn’t afraid of chaos at home. The troublesome people had been chased away. What remained was to see how things played out between the Qian mother and daughter. And then there was the question of how to settle Fang Baowei.
With that thought, Bai Lan looked over at Fang Baowei, who was currently surrounded by her grandmother, eldest uncle, and second uncle.
“Don’t worry. He may be straightforward, but he’s got a good head on his shoulders. I think he’s probably pretty happy right now.”
Seeing Bai Lan’s worried expression, Xu Jianbei offered a few words of comfort.
From spending time with Fang Baowei over the past few days, Xu Jianbei had come to admire him. Not only were his technical skills strong, but his character was also very good. Fang Baowei had even helped them bring the Fang family over so smoothly. That said, Fang Baowei still had feelings for Factory Director Fang and Qian Chunyun, so it wasn’t as if he would immediately turn his back on them and run to the Bai family.
“I know.”
Bai Lan could see what Xu Jianbei was thinking and smiled. If Fang Baowei had immediately cast aside the people who had raised him for twenty years, her family would have been the ones to find that unacceptable.
The Fang Baowei who still had feelings for Factory Director Fang and Qian Chunyun was exactly the kind of person worth associating with.
—
Inside the room, Fang Baowei was indeed telling Bai Lan’s grandmother about his feelings toward Factory Director Fang and Qian Chunyun.
“My mother—well, no, Auntie Qian did do something terrible to our family. But I can’t immediately say that I hate her to death. As for my father, before we came, he already made his position clear to me. He won’t interfere with my decisions.”
Bai Grandma said, “That’s good. You’re a child who knows gratitude.”
Unlike Bai Ping, who had come today demanding betrothal gifts from her. And later, after the child-swapping truth came out, she had immediately turned her back on everyone and refused to acknowledge anyone. A person like that—her daughter’s family needed to have no further involvement with her.
With this thought, Bai Grandma took Fang Baowei by the hand and led him directly to her daughter. “Aihong, this is the son you carried for ten months and gave birth to. He hasn’t had an easy life in the Fang family all these years. Stop thinking about Bai Ping. A person like her could end up on the street and still find a way to make life better for herself.”
Bai Mom had been watching Fang Baowei the whole time. But now that he was actually in front of her, she found she didn’t know what to say. Still, she nodded in agreement with her mother’s words.
Bai Ping was no longer the frail, weak child she had once been.
Fang Baowei, facing his biological mother, felt a little nervous too. Earlier, with so many people around, it hadn’t felt like much, but now that they were face to face, he felt a bit disoriented.
Just then, Bai Lan walked in with a smile.
“Brother, don’t be nervous. Let me introduce you to the family. This is our mother, Comrade He Aihong. This is our father, Comrade Bai Xiaoniu. This is our eldest sister…”
Bai Lan’s rapid-fire introductions, one after another, actually helped Fang Baowei relax. He smiled, copied Bai Lan’s way of addressing everyone, and called out to each of them in turn.
Suddenly, the atmosphere in the Bai family’s main room became incredibly light and easy.
Outside, the neighbors who had stayed to watch the commotion still hadn’t recovered from the shock of the Qian family’s child-swapping.
And that was especially true for those who had seen the police take the Qian family away.
The entire courtyard was packed to the brim with people waiting to gossip. Bai Lan looked at the neighbors craning their necks and suddenly found it rather amusing.
Her family had no intention of keeping this matter a secret. On the contrary, they would spread the whole story far and wide.
So after introducing Fang Baowei to the family, Bai Lan went out to the courtyard and began answering all kinds of questions from the neighbors.
…
And so, within half a day, the news of the Qian family swapping children had already spread all the way to the neighboring He Province.
Mainly because the story was so outrageous—swapping your own daughter for someone else’s son, then carrying on right under their noses for twenty years, and still refusing to admit it. That kind of vile behavior was extremely rare.
As a result, the Qian mother and daughter’s case was resolved quickly.
It was said that as soon as the two of them arrived at the police station, they confessed to the entire process of the child swap one by one.
In the delivery room, a midwife had been bribed by Auntie Qian, and she helped alter the records of the two mothers. That was how the hospital failed to discover the baby swap.
Auntie Qian took all the blame onto herself, and in the end, Qian Chunyun was released.
Even so, the investigation process had taken half a month, so Qian Chunyun had been held inside for a full fifteen days before being let out.
When she came out, she had lost a lot of weight. Her permed hair had been chopped into a mess like a chicken nest. And her clothes reeked of an indescribable odor.
Bai Lan looked at Qian Chunyun like this, comparing her to the fashionable woman she had met the first time, and felt extremely satisfied.
She had known all along that Qian Chunyun would get off. Because the whole thing had been started by Auntie Qian. Qian Chunyun was at most guilty of knowing and not reporting it.
Under the current legal system, pursuing her on that front wouldn’t work.
As for the unsavory way she and Factory Director Fang had started their relationship back then, too much time had passed. Pursuing that would be even more hopeless without evidence. Besides, Factory Director Fang hadn’t done anything to wrong their family so far. So Bai Lan didn’t intend to keep hounding him.
On top of that, thanks to his help, Fang Baowei’s household registration and job had both been transferred to the Beicheng Number One Textile Factory—the same factory where most of the residents of their courtyard worked.
That way, Fang Baowei could officially return to living with the Bai family.
This was the outcome her parents had wanted.
—
“Baowei, Baowei! You came to pick me up, son!”
Qian Chunyun stumbled out of the detention center in a daze and immediately spotted Fang Baowei standing at the gate. She rushed over, trying to grab hold of the son she had raised for twenty years. She thought to herself that this son hadn’t been raised in vain. He was willing to come get her. That meant he would certainly be willing to support her in her old age and see her to her grave.
But Fang Baowei dodged her reach.
“Auntie Qian, I came here to have a final reckoning with you.”
“What did you call me?”
Qian Chunyun started screaming. “I am your mother!”
Fang Baowei shook his head. “The truth has already come out. There’s no need for these words anymore. I’ve already transferred my household registration to the Bai family and transferred my job to Beicheng. From now on, I won’t get involved in the Fang family’s affairs in Haicheng. You raised me for twenty years, but my parents also raised your daughter for twenty years. So from now on, I won’t be supporting you in your old age or seeing you to your grave. Of course, I am still grateful for the way you took care of me these twenty years.”
“But that gratitude cannot erase the crime you committed.”
“So, from now on, when we see each other, we should just act like strangers.”
This was the conclusion Fang Baowei had reached after half a month of reflection. He couldn’t stay in contact with Qian Chunyun. It would hurt his biological parents.
Besides, deep down, he also resented what Qian Chunyun had done.
Qian Chunyun couldn’t accept Fang Baowei’s words. She charged at him like a madwoman. But he dodged her again. At this point, Bai Lan stepped forward and said, “If you need someone to support you in your old age, go find your own daughter, Bai Ping. She’s living at the newspaper office right now.”
As for whether this so-called daughter of hers would pay her any attention, that wasn’t something they could interfere with.
After making things clear with Qian Chunyun, Bai Lan took Fang Baowei’s arm and headed home.
“Brother, the place the factory assigned you—I actually don’t think it’s very good.”
“It’s actually fine. I can see Mom and Dad every day…”
Little did Qian Chunyun know that a “surprise” was waiting for her back in the courtyard. Seeing Fang Baowei abandon her like this, she had no choice but to grit her teeth and go to the newspaper office to find Bai Ping.
She was destined to be disappointed, however.
Because Bai Ping wasn’t at the newspaper office at all. She was at the Song family home.
“Uncle, Auntie. Guoping and I are already married. So when exactly are we having the wedding banquet? It’s not like I can just move straight in, can I?”
This was Bai Ping’s first time setting foot in the Song family home in half a month. She hadn’t dared to come before. But after receiving a phone call from her biological father today, she had finally come.
Factory Director Fang’s wife said unkindly, “Not divorcing you is already the greatest concession our family can make. Forget about a wedding banquet. If you have no shame, our family still does.”
Didn’t everyone outside know now that their old Song family had married someone with a tainted background? If it weren’t for that Fang Liye being willing to give up some benefits, and if their family weren’t afraid of what people would say if they dumped Bai Ping immediately, she wouldn’t even be standing here talking right now.
Bai Ping wanted to curse them out. But remembering the instructions from Fang Liye over the phone, she gritted her teeth and held back. “Fine. We can skip the wedding banquet. But I need to move in. I’m a Song family daughter-in-law. If I keep living outside, the Women’s Federation will start asking questions.”
There was an underlying threat in her words. Factory Director Fang’s wife was furious. But she and her husband had already discussed it—they really did need to bring this person into their home. Better to keep her locked up inside so she couldn’t go out and cause more embarrassment for the Song family.
Having reached this conclusion, Factory Director Fang’s wife changed her tune. “Fine. Move in today.”
And so, Bai Ping, who had once dreamed of a glorious wedding, ended up carrying a bundle and sneaking into the Song family’s door, unnoticed by anyone.
Bai Lan only found out about it a few days later from Cao Changsheng.
Of course, Bai Lan didn’t have time to concern herself with Bai Ping right now. Because her brother, Fang Baowei—no, correction, now Bai Baowei—was officially moving out of the Fang family home in Haicheng and into Courtyard Number Three.
But he wasn’t moving into the Bai family home. The Bai family only had daughters, and there was no room for him to stay. So Bai Baowei had the factory assign him to the Qian family’s room.
That’s right—the same room the Qian family had lived in, the side room in the eastern wing.
Because Auntie Qian had committed a crime and would be sent to a farm for labor reform, Uncle Qian, a retired textile factory worker, had no face to continue living there either. As soon as Auntie Qian’s punishment was handed down, he immediately packed his things and went with her.
The Qian family’s room belonged to the textile factory, so the factory naturally reclaimed it right away.
Many neighbors in the courtyard had their eyes on that room. But Bai Baowei immediately claimed it. As a skilled technician, it was perfectly reasonable for him to be assigned a room.
Of course, the factory was also somewhat saving face for Factory Director Fang.
This was why Bai Lan said Factory Director Fang was good to her brother.
Right now, the Bai family was helping Bai Baowei clean up the room. As they cleaned, they chatted and laughed, planning to visit their grandmother’s house in the countryside together once they were done. There were still many relatives on their grandmother’s side who hadn’t met Bai Baowei yet.
It was at this moment that Qian Chunyun showed up at the courtyard.
Everyone looked at Qian Chunyun, haggard and looking like a madwoman, and shook their heads and sighed. But no one felt sorry for her. Everyone knew what she had done.
“What… what are you doing?”
Seeing the Bai family going in and out of her home, Qian Chunyun immediately started shouting.
“This is my son’s room now.” Bai Mom said sternly to her former friend.
Qian Chunyun immediately looked at her son, only to have him turn his face away.
She tried to make a scene, but someone had already gone to get the street office.
“Qian Chunyun, your letter of introduction has expired. You are ordered to leave Beicheng and return to your registered place of residence by the end of today.”
When Qian Chunyun had arrived, her letter of introduction had been valid for only one week. She had been detained for half a month. Her letter of introduction had long since expired. After being released, she should have reported to the nearest shelter as required by the police and waited to be sent back home.
But instead, Qian Chunyun had gone looking for Bai Ping and couldn’t find her. Then she’d come back to find her father, only to find him gone too. And the home she had lived in for decades was now occupied by the Bai family.
This blow was more than Qian Chunyun could bear. But she didn’t get the chance to cause trouble.
Because the street office already knew all about her situation, and they came with plenty of people. Soon, Qian Chunyun was taken away by the street office workers.
“She got exactly what she deserved.”
Bai Lan felt no pity for this woman at all. Her concealment back then had directly harmed her family. That was a wrong that could never be undone.
Of course, right now, the Bai family was especially happy.
They had gotten their son back—a sensible child with sound values. The family was reunited. And their enemies had gotten their comeuppance. It couldn’t get any better than this.
Leave a Reply