“I asked elderly about the fool’s daughter in private. Two of them said they saw the old woman carrying the child out into the mountains with their own eyes. When she came back, the old woman was alone. The old woman had carried the child, and she said that she had buried the child alive, so it must be true. At that time, it was very common for people to give away their daughters, so they did not feel like it was wrong. They just sighed about it. It was still relatively rare to throw one’s daughter away. Most of them would keep their first daughter, but they would give the subsequent daughters away.”
That person did not say anything else, but people still scolded the fool’s mother. They had seen people give their children away or left them by the roadside. No one had ever seen a grandmother who would be so cruel as to bury her grandchild alive.
“Have you returned to Ping City to investigate?” Lu Xingzhi was not surprised at all. After hearing the news, he only felt that it was as he had expected.
“Yes,” the person on the other side said. “I found the Xies’ old neighbors and investigated the two Xie sisters. There are many suspicious points.”
“Tell me.” Lu Xingzhi stood by the window; the wind blew as he focused his attention on the door. He was afraid that Jiang Yao would come in at that time, so he needed to keep an eye on whether she was near the study.
“Their old neighbors said that although Xie Qiuxiang and Xie Qiuran are twin sisters, Xie Qiuxiang had always been more talkative than Xie Qiuran since she was young. Xie Qiuran had always been quiet. She liked to read, learned to write from her father, learned to play the piano, draw, and so on. Xie Qiuxiang was close to her mother, and Xie Qiuran was closer to her father. Xie Qiuxiang was supposed to be sent to the countryside as an educated youth, but she was already engaged at that time. Mrs. Xie decided to let Xie Qiuran go to the countryside instead. It seemed like Mrs. Xie favored Xie Qiuxiang. Before Xie Qiuran went to the countryside, her relationship with her mother had turned cold.
“After Xie Qiuran went to the countryside, she only wrote letters and contacted her father. Occasionally, she would call him. Her father was worried that his daughter would suffer in the countryside, so he would send money to her. When her mother found out, she quarreled with her husband. She said that her eldest daughter, Xie Qiuran, was getting married, and the family was tight on money. He also subsidized her youngest daughter, who had almost no money in the countryside. Therefore, her mother wrote a letter to scold Xie Qiuran for thinking about the family’s money all day long.”
“The neighbors said that if it weren’t for the fact that the two sisters were twins and looked the same, and one of the neighborhood nurses had helped deliver them when they were born, they would have suspected that the family had picked Xie Qiuran from the roadside. Mrs. Xie’s treatment of her two daughters was worlds apart.”
“Is Mrs. Xie still alive?” Lu Xingzhi asked.
“Yes, she’s still quite healthy. She lives with her son-in-law and his family.”
“Continue.” Lu Xingzhi raised his eyebrows and nodded.
“After Xie Qiuran went to the countryside for a few years, she was about to be transferred home. However, Xie Qiuran called her family and told them she wanted to marry a man she knew there. Mr. Xie asked about the man’s conditions. The neighbors said Mr. Xie thought that the man’s conditions were too poor and not good enough for his daughter. He insisted that his daughter go home. However, Xie Qiuran was stubborn and refused to listen to his advice. She insisted on marrying that man. Because of that, Mr. Xie threatened to disown his daughter. From then on, Xie Qiuran did not contact her family anymore.”
