“Hey, how many errands did you all get?”
Amid the clatter of the train, a young voice rang out in the carriage.
“Don’t even mention it. All my aunts and uncles, and every single neighbor on my whole alley—everyone asked me to buy something for them. And I have no idea if things are even easy to buy in Haicheng.”
As the speaker said this, he looked over at Xu Jianbei, who had been talking to Bai Lan the whole time. “Jianbei, you’re probably getting even more stuff this trip, right?”
Xu Jianbei smiled and replied, “Chang Sheng’s the one with the crazy list. Half the people in his building asked him to buy things.”
Cao Changsheng, who had been playing cards with a few others, sighed when he heard this. “Don’t remind me. I don’t even know who was so loose-lipped that they spread the word I was going to Haicheng. I hadn’t even left the house this morning before people were blocking my way.”
At the thought of that scene, everyone in the carriage burst into laughter.
Bai Lan laughed along with them. But inside, she felt somewhat heavy. The main reason was that she was going to Haicheng for an important purpose.
Come to think of it, who would have imagined that her first trip to a big city like Haicheng after crossing over would be for such a melodramatic reason?
Bai Lan sighed. But then she thought that if this trip could confirm her suspicion, then the dark clouds hanging over her family would completely dissipate.
At that thought, she couldn’t help but feel cheerful again.
Xu Jianbei had been chatting casually with his colleagues. He turned and saw Bai Lan’s expression and couldn’t help but smile along.
This made the others in the carriage marvel. Cao Changsheng leaned over and whispered to the person next to him, “Only Jianbei is this lucky. Going on a long business trip with his girlfriend by his side.”
That’s right—every passenger in this carriage was either from the screw factory or the steel plant. They had been invited by the Haicheng Machine Tool Plant to help calibrate a batch of new machines. Among this group, Bai Lan only knew Cao Changsheng.
—
“Jianbei, why is Bai Lan coming along this time?”
While everyone else was chatting and playing cards, Cao Changsheng asked quietly. Thinking back to the scene of Bai Lan getting on the train, Cao Changsheng still found it baffling.
Xu Jianbei glanced at Bai Lan. Seeing that she was looking out the window at the scenery, he explained in a low voice, “It was a last-minute decision. She has some business to take care of in Haicheng. And since we were heading there anyway, I got her a ticket so we could go together. Once we arrive, she’ll stay at the machine tool plant’s guesthouse with us. But we’ll pay separately for her.”
Hearing that Xu Jianbei had arranged everything, Cao Changsheng didn’t pry further. He turned back to complain to the others about how many things he was going to have to bring back from this trip.
Some people also started discussing the task at hand. Since everyone was a skilled technician, they had plenty of common ground to talk about. The carriage grew livelier by the minute.
Xu Jianbei noticed that Bai Lan was being left out, so he signaled to Cao Changsheng to go chat with someone else. He then sat back down next to Bai Lan.
Cao Changsheng couldn’t help but feel envious. He thought to himself that he was pretty outstanding too. So why was he still single?
“How is it? Is it boring?”
Bai Lan shook her head. “This is my first time traveling far away. It’s actually pretty interesting.”
Xu Jianbei said quietly, “Once we get off the train and get settled, I’ll do my best to find time to go with you to take care of your business.”
Bai Lan shook her head again. “No need. Your task is more important. My business, honestly, is just confirming something. Once I confirm my suspicion, I can just tell the family directly.”
Xu Jianbei thought about how Bai Lan had come running to him with a photo that day, and he sighed as well.
On the day the Song family delivered the bride price to the Bai family, he had given Bai Lan a carefully prepared gift and asked her if she was willing to spend her life with him. After receiving her affirmative answer, Xu Jianbei had been so happy he felt like he could fly. If the Bai family hadn’t been about to sit down for lunch, he wouldn’t have wanted to let her leave.
But then, just a few minutes after she happily went home, Bai Lan had come rushing back to him, frantic. In that moment, Xu Jianbei had been truly scared.
When he saw the photo Bai Lan was holding, he was even more astonished.
That photo was both ordinary and extraordinary. Ordinary, because it was a family portrait of three people. Extraordinary, because of the three people in it: a middle-aged man they didn’t recognize, a middle-aged woman who was Qian Chunyun, and standing between them, a young man.
That young man looked very familiar. Xu Jianbei, having been to the Bai family’s home and met most of Bai Lan’s maternal relatives, recognized instantly that the young man bore a resemblance to Bai Lan’s eldest maternal uncle, second maternal uncle, and her male cousins.
Not an exact likeness, but about sixty percent similar.
The facial features of the Bai family’s fathers, sons, and brothers all had similarities. Standing together, you could tell they were family. And the young man in the photo gave the same feeling.
At this point, Xu Jianbei had already sensed something was off.
And as a modern person, Bai Lan’s mind had immediately jumped to a classic scenario: switched at birth, a missing child.
This would perfectly explain why Bai Ping’s values were so incompatible with the rest of the family. It would also explain Qian Chunyun’s inexplicable warmth toward Bai Ping.
Oh, and Auntie Qian too. Auntie Qian also showed an unusual amount of concern for Bai Ping.
With this suspicion, Bai Lan searched through her memories and recalled that, as far back as she could remember, the elderly Qian couple had always been nicer to Bai Ping than to other children. In a courtyard full of kids, they were only kind to Bai Ping. So the explanation that they just liked children didn’t hold up.
Moreover, now that this question had arisen, Bai Lan had discussed it with Xu Jianbei and asked him to have his mother discreetly inquire about the circumstances surrounding Bai Ping’s birth.
Bai Lan, for her part, hadn’t been idle either. She immediately started asking her parents indirectly. Then, the very next day, she found an opportunity to go with Xu Jianbei to her grandmother’s house. She asked her grandmother some questions and afterwards got photos of her eldest and second maternal uncles.
Once she had confirmed the information and obtained the photos, the two of them discussed it and decided to take advantage of Xu Jianbei’s business trip to Haicheng to go there together by train. They would go directly to find the person in the photo and confirm whether their suspicion was correct.
As for Qian Chunyun, she had already returned to Haicheng a couple of days earlier, traveling by truck.
“Anyway, once we get to Haicheng and settle in, I’ll finish my work as quickly as possible. You be careful. And if anything comes up, discuss it with me…”
Even though Haicheng was a big city where nothing particularly dangerous was likely to happen, Xu Jianbei still felt worried.
Bai Lan smiled and leaned slightly toward Xu Jianbei. “Don’t worry. Once we’re settled in, I’ll head straight to the textile factory to ask around.”
—
“Ask around” was actually not that difficult.
Before coming, she had already asked her mother. Qian Chunyun’s husband was the deputy director of the Haicheng Textile Factory. This textile factory was a massive enterprise with ten thousand workers. But because it was the deputy director’s family, it was actually very easy to get information.
So the day after arriving in Haicheng and getting settled, Bai Lan went straight to the textile factory.
As a factory with ten thousand workers, the textile factory had everything within its grounds: a supply and marketing cooperative, a state-run restaurant, schools for employees’ children, and other public facilities.
Bai Lan walked around the residential area and soon picked up quite a bit of information about Qian Chunyun’s in-laws from places like the vegetable station and the supply and marketing cooperative.
The man Qian Chunyun married was called Fang Liye. When the two of them got married, he was already a director at the textile factory. After years of hard work, Fang Liye had become the deputy director.
This sounded quite similar to the path Bai Ping was currently on. The only difference was that Fang Liye had been married before, was ten years older than Qian Chunyun, and, it was said, had married Qian Chunyun only a month after divorcing his first wife.
After learning this, Bai Lan was already forming some suspicions in her mind.
Fang Liye had a son from his first marriage named Fang Baoguo, who was now thirty years old. Qian Chunyun’s son, Fang Baowei, was only twenty—the same age as Bai Ping.
Of course, when Bai Lan asked around, she made a point of taking out that photo to make sure she wasn’t making a mistake.
After gathering this basic information, Bai Lan felt even more certain. Nine times out of ten, this Fang Baowei was actually her own brother. And Bai Ping was Qian Chunyun’s daughter.
Why you would swap your own daughter for someone else’s son went without saying.
At this thought, Bai Lan’s fists clenched. Especially since Qian Chunyun had been widely recognized as close friends with her mother before they were married.
Ha. A friend like that—half of one would already be too many.
—
After getting the information she wanted, Bai Lan decided to find a place to rest for a while. Later, she would go directly to the factory to find Fang Baowei. He also worked at the textile factory, as a skilled technician. She had heard he was doing very well and had a bright future ahead of him.
Bai Lan also made a point of asking about Fang Baowei’s reputation. Finding mostly praise, she felt relieved. It was good that he wasn’t a troublemaker.
Thinking this, Bai Lan looked at her watch and saw it was already past eleven in the morning. She decided to go to the state-run restaurant and have lunch first.
At this hour, the state-run restaurant wasn’t busy. Bai Lan found a table in the corner and started eating.
But she had barely taken a couple of bites when she saw several men walk in, chatting and laughing. Bai Lan was in the corner and didn’t pay them much attention. But soon, from their conversation, she gathered that they were all from the textile factory’s sales and purchasing departments.
“The machine tool plant has received several imported machine tools. They’re arranging for people to go and observe the calibration.”
Since this was related to Xu Jianbei and his team’s mission, Bai Lan pricked up her ears to listen.
That was how she learned that among these machine tools, besides automatic screw-making machines, there were also textile machines. So the textile factory would also need to send technicians to take a look.
This was a great opportunity. Xu Jianbei might even get to see Fang Baowei before she did.
Just as Bai Lan was thinking this, she saw two men who clearly looked like leaders speaking in low voices: “Lao Fang, your cheap little brother is probably going on this trip too, right?”
Fang Baoguo pressed his lips together and nodded. “That kid does have some skill.” He didn’t say much more. He didn’t like the kid, but he wouldn’t show it in front of outsiders. After all, the old man keeping his position as deputy director was most advantageous to him.
By now, Bai Lan didn’t even know what to say.
She had just been eating a casual meal and happened to run into Fang Baowei’s older half-brother—Qian Chunyun’s stepson, Fang Baoguo.
The world really was small.
Xu Jianbei was having the same thought.
After arriving in Haicheng yesterday afternoon, his group had settled into the machine tool plant’s guesthouse. Early the next morning, they all went to the plant to see the imported machines.
When they arrived, there were plenty of other technicians there too, all from Haicheng and surrounding cities. They had come for both work and technical exchange.
And among all these people, Xu Jianbei spotted the young man from the photo—Fang Baowei—immediately.
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