The Abandoned Daughter's Second Chance

Chapter 188: Chapter 176: Grandma’s Past

Under Xiao Man’s furious glare, Tang Haocheng lowered his head, his little face sullen. He followed Zheng Shaolian onto the truck and headed back to Wancheng.

Grandma chided, "Xiao Man, how could you be like that? You never say a word when Little Tiger and Little Leopard are being naughty, but Hao Hao is so obedient and gentle. Why were you so harsh with him? Not only did you hurt Hao Hao’s feelings, but you also embarrassed your Brother Shaolian. He was the one who brought him here!"

Xiao Man had no way to explain. ’Since Tang Haocheng has already found his way here,’ she thought, ’Tang Qingyun and the others from Beijing will probably arrive soon too. I shouldn’t put it off any longer. It’s time to tell Grandpa and Grandma the truth, so they won’t be caught off guard and unsure how to react.’

Xiao Man arranged the chairs in the main hall, brought in a brazier, and poured hot tea. Then, she formally invited her Grandpa and Grandma to sit down. Seeing her acting so serious, they found it a little strange. Grandma even teased her a bit. But when Xiao Man very earnestly explained the whole story from beginning to end, the two elders were stunned. It turned out that not only had Xiao Man found her blood relatives, but the Tang family was no ordinary family. Her parents were high-ranking officials in Wancheng and the provincial city, and her grandparents lived in Beijing!

After a long moment, the two elders finally came to their senses. Grandpa cleared his throat, his voice a little hoarse. "Xiao Man, your Grandpa and Grandma dote on you, but your real parents and grandparents will only cherish you more. If they... if you want to, you should go back. A big city, especially Beijing... the conditions there are much better than what we have here!"

Grandma nodded as well. "As much as we hate to part with you, you’re their child. You belong to the Tang family. Your Grandpa and I have nothing to say. As long as you’re happy and well, we’ll be content!"

Xiao Man pouted. "For Grandpa and Grandma to say that... does it mean you don’t want me anymore?"

Grandma lowered her head, pulling out a handkerchief to cover her mouth. Grandpa sighed. "Child, how could we ever not want you? But in the end, blood ties are something you can’t sever. You have to go back to your own family... As long as your Grandma and I are alive, we’ll be right here. Whenever you want to visit, just come..."

Grandpa’s voice choked with emotion. Xiao Man couldn’t help it as her eyes reddened and tears began to fall. "Grandpa, Grandma, I told you I would never leave you, so don’t you dare think about not wanting me! No matter where I go, I’m taking you with me!"

Grandpa said, "We’re not trying to get rid of you. Your Grandma and I, and this home, we’re all yours!"

Grandma added, "Silly girl, you’ll have to get married eventually. You can’t bring your Grandpa and Grandma with you, can you?"

"And why not? Grandpa already said he was going to find me a live-in son-in-law in a couple of years..."

Grandpa was feeling down and Grandma was wiping away her tears, but Xiao Man’s remark made them both chuckle, and the conversation was able to continue on a lighter note.

"Xiao Man," Grandma asked, confused, "so when you went to Beijing this time, you met the Tang family’s grandparents, but not your biological parents? And this time, Hao Hao came over with Shaolian by himself. Why didn’t any of the adults come?"

Xiao Man said, "My biological parents couldn’t come back to Beijing for the New Year because of work. The grandparents in Beijing were with my uncle. So, I only met the three of them; I didn’t meet my biological parents. But that pair—they know about me. They’ve known for a long time! This is what I need to explain carefully. The girl I was swapped with, her name is Tang Yaxuan. Those parents only love Tang Yaxuan, not me. Even after they found out about the mix-up, they didn’t come looking for me. They just let me get beaten, cursed at, and abused by Liu Fengying. I was almost disfigured, almost killed in an explosion! Grandpa, Grandma, you have to remember: show respect only to Grandpa Tang, Grandma Tang, and Uncle Tang. If that couple shows up, you are absolutely not to give them a warm welcome! I will not acknowledge them!"

Grandpa: "..."

’What kind of situation was this? A child who won’t acknowledge her own biological parents?’

’Still, since that’s what Xiao Man said, he would just have to listen. His granddaughter might make small jokes sometimes, but she was never one to be completely unreasonable. And when he thought about it, her reasons were very sound: that couple had known Xiao Man was here for a long time, so why didn’t they come to claim her? Why did they let their child suffer so much hardship and pain?’

Grandma was also inclined to agree, but thinking that they were, after all, her biological parents, she tried to see it from their perspective and could only advise, "Xiao Man, maybe your biological parents have their own unspoken difficulties? What parents in this world don’t love and miss their own flesh and blood? I’ve been a mother, too. When I lost my child back then, the pain was unbearable. Even now, I still miss him. My eyes were ruined from all the crying, all because of that child..."

"What kind of difficulties could they have? They’re just used to being high-ranking officials, too high and mighty to bother coming down to see for themselves. They took Liu Fengying at her word. Liu Fengying just had to grab some kid from her side of the family, take a few pictures of a disfigured face to show them, and they believed it. They thought I was some ugly monster, decided that acknowledging me would bring them shame, and just abandoned me. They focused on doting on that Tang Yaxuan, and then sent some money and things to Liu Fengying from time to time for ’Mo Xiaoman’s’ living expenses. And with that, they felt they had done right by me!"

It was like a lightbulb went on for Grandpa. "No wonder your Fifth Grand-uncle asked me if we had relatives in the city! He said money orders and package slips were arriving all the time. So that was from your biological parents! But... Liu Fengying took it all! You never saw a single cent of it!"

"Exactly! They’re so irresponsible! They never took me seriously at all!"

Grandma couldn’t help but sigh. "Well, they certainly acted improperly. Their own flesh and blood... how could they just blindly believe a few words from someone else? Photos can be deceiving, and besides, that Liu Fengying is a vicious woman. If Xiao Man hadn’t run away when she did, who knows what would have... Sigh... They must have just been too young!"

’Too young? There are plenty of parents younger than them. Who else acts like that?’

Xiao Man didn’t want to dwell on that couple any longer. After she finished explaining everything to her Grandpa and Grandma, she changed the subject. "Grandma, you mentioned losing a child earlier. When did that happen? Did you ever try to look for him?"

Grandma wiped her nose with her handkerchief, too heartbroken to speak, and just shook her head weakly. Grandpa sighed and said, "Back then, I was bringing your Grandma from the north, fleeing back to our hometown in the South. It was chaos everywhere, with war and famine. On top of that, the Yangtze River was flooding, a dike had broken somewhere, and hordes of refugees were running wild. It was almost impossible to find a car or a boat, so we had to rely on our own two feet. We traveled off and on, sometimes stopping to live in a more stable place for a while. We’d been on the road for a year and still hadn’t made it home when your Grandma gave birth to that child in a rented house. It was a boy. We named him Mo Jiabao. For his one-month celebration, we even prepared a special meal and invited the other tenants in the courtyard for a drink, because their womenfolk had helped when your Grandma gave birth. Your Grandma put a jadeite lock on him, and I personally carved the name ’Jiabao’ on the back... Sigh! We never imagined... Two days later, I went out to the street to look for a vehicle to take us home. Your Grandma was in the courtyard washing and hanging diapers. She turned to go back inside for a moment, and when she came back, Jiabao had been taken!"

Xiao Man was stunned. "The kidnapper... they were that brazen? They just walked right into the house and stole the baby?"

Grandma sobbed sorrowfully, thumping her chest. "It’s all my fault, all my fault..."

Xiao Man quickly hugged her Grandma. "It’s not your fault, Grandma. That kidnapper is just too wicked! They’ll get what’s coming to them!"

Grandpa said grimly, "It wasn’t a professional kidnapper. It was another couple who lived in the same courtyard, with the surname Hu. Their own child had died from an illness, so they stole our Jiabao and went back to their hometown! They never said exactly where they were from, but their accent sounded like they were Hu-Guang people. We could only search in that direction, but it was like being a headless fly, searching and searching... We just couldn’t find him! That was when your Grandma’s eyes started to go bad."

Xiao Man hugged her Grandma tightly, comforting her. "Don’t be sad, Grandma. You have me, right?"

Grandma let out a long breath, grasped Xiao Man’s hand, and nodded with a tearful smile.

Seeing that Grandma had calmed down, Grandpa felt relieved and got up to go outside.

Xiao Man started making small talk with Grandma, trying to distract her with other topics. But Grandma just sighed and said to Xiao Man:

"Don’t worry. Your Grandma has endured her share of suffering and hardship. This has been buried in my heart for decades. It’s painful to think about, but once the moment passes, I’m fine. Since we’ve started, I might as well tell you the whole story. You used to ask me where my old home was, where I came from, didn’t you? You’re a big girl now, smarter and more sensible than other girls. You can understand these things. So, I might as well tell you now: my ancestral home is in Huizhou. My surname is Su, and my given name is Su Wanyu. My family was originally quite wealthy. My parents only had two children, my younger brother and me. Until I was about fifteen or sixteen, our lives were very peaceful and comfortable. But good times don’t last. For some reason, our family got entangled in a lawsuit. My father was killed by our enemies, and my mother passed away soon after. My clan uncle gave me to a garrison commander. He said that to get revenge and save the Su Family’s business, we had to rely on the army. But that National Army officer was already married, and he insisted on making me his concubine. I refused, but they tied me up and forced me through the wedding ceremony... Later, the army was ordered to move out. I didn’t want to leave my hometown. My younger brother came to find me and helped me escape, but that officer shot and killed him... I hated that officer to the bone. I followed him when he left and went to another city where his troops were stationed. While there, I fell ill and met your Grandpa. He was just an assistant to a military doctor, brewing medicinal soups, but I could feel that he was a kind man. I asked him to do a few things for me, and he agreed and helped me accomplish them all. One night, while that officer was dead asleep, I took a dagger and plunged it into his heart... I walked out of the residence, your Grandpa was waiting for me, and we just ran away!"

Xiao Man was stunned for a long moment. She squeezed her Grandma’s hand. "Grandma, you’re so brave!"

"I killed a man, and that makes me brave?"

"Yes! You killed someone who deserved to die. You got your revenge. I admire you!"

Grandma smiled. "What a silly child. Your Grandma... I’m a person without roots. I have no maiden family to return to, no children of my own. The only person I could ever rely on was your Grandpa!"

"And me! I’m here too, Grandma!" Xiao Man said, shaking her grandma’s hand.

Grandma smiled and nodded. "Yes, and I have my Xiao Man. How wonderful."