Daily Life in the Countryside After Being Reborn
Chapter 42 - 41: After Decades, Things Remain but People Have Changed

Chapter 42: Chapter 41: After Decades, Things Remain but People Have Changed

Xiao Xian woke up to a blur, and everything around her was eerily quiet, as if all her organs had stopped functioning.

After a while, as her eyes adjusted to the white surroundings, her hearing became sensitive again, and the scenes of what had happened earlier came flooding back like a tide.

The metal cart should be in her space; Xiao Xian moved her arm, wanting to check it out. But just then, someone opened the door of the hospital room and walked in, forcing Xiao Xian to temporarily abandon the idea.

There stood a person in front of her bed, whom Xiao Xian recognized. However, she immediately remembered how, before she fell unconscious, she had cried all over him, snot and tears included. Even though it was in the thick of winter, Xiao Xian felt unbearably embarrassed under the covers. She closed her eyes, not daring to let him realize she had awakened.

Along with Zhou Ziang, Xi Lijuan and Zhou Qiang, the couple, also came in. After broadcasting a message at Guiyang Railway Station, before even hearing any news about their son, Guiyang Police notified them that their son, Zhou Ziang, had been hospitalized, which nearly scared them to death.

On the way to the hospital, Xi Lijuan cried and cursed, berating Zhou Qiang thoroughly. Only when they saw their son in the hospital looking fine, albeit with a scraped patch of skin, did she finally breathe a sigh of relief.

It was only upon inquiring that they found out Zhou Ziang had been hospitalized after stepping in to help a grandparent and grandchild who were being bullied by thugs, and he was just finishing giving his statement.

The moment Xiao Xian woke up coincided with the time when Zhou Ziang had just finished giving his statement and came to check on her condition.

"So it’s this little girl. Mom asked about her, she’s fine, just frightened. She’ll be alright once she wakes up," the couple learned after entering the hospital. They also learned from their son and the police that the older person among the two they brought to the hospital...

"Hmm, Mom, Dad, can I wait until she wakes up before leaving?" Zhou Ziang, for some reason and having just met her by chance, was particularly concerned about the little girl’s situation.

Zhou Qiang was about to say no, since these sorts of situations were the trickiest. The old man was still lying inside, reportedly still in a critical condition, and now Zhou Ziang was saying he wanted to stay. If anything turned worse, with only the little girl in the hospital, wouldn’t that mean they would have to deal with the messy aftermath?

Upon hearing that "Mom, Dad," Xi Lijuan also paused, suddenly remembering that it had been over half a year since her son last called them that. "Old Zhou, don’t interrupt yet." She looked back at the little girl on the hospital bed, "Ziang, it’s not that your parents are unkind, but there’s some complication with this family’s identity. Do you know who is lying in there?"

Zhou Ziang was taken aback upon hearing this, and saw Zhou Qiang furrowing his brows too. He knew the Zhou Family quite well. Xi Lijuan was a traditional housewife with a kind heart, and Zhou Qiang was an old member of the Communist Party, whose slickness in officialdom had not eroded his fundamentally warm and magnanimous nature. He looked back at the little girl on the hospital bed and saw her eyelashes suspiciously flutter.

Is she awake? What difference does it make if she is? Such a small child likely wouldn’t understand anything anyways.

"We’ll talk outside," Zhou Ziang stepped out of the ward, and the room returned to tranquility.

In the hospital corridor, Zhou Qiang habitually reached for a cigarette, but after seeing the no-smoking sign in the hospital, he sighed, and took out a document issued by the hospital which clearly stated Zhu Shijun’s admission details. When the person was delivered, because Zhou Ziang was also not of age yet, it ultimately required the police’s help to handle the situation.

"Is there anything wrong with the elderly gentleman?" Zhou Ziang only focused on getting Xiao Xian into the ward, not noticing any issues with Zhu Shijun.

"The old man you saved, with the surname Zhu and the name Shijun, was the former head of the National Tobacco Bureau," Zhou Qiang was also surprised when he first saw the hospital’s data, not expecting that in a far-flung place like Guiyang he would encounter Zhu Shijun.

Zhou Qiang was a bona fide graduate from the B city Agricultural and Forestry University. When he was studying there, Zhu Shijun had just been transferred to Y province. During those days, Zhu Shijun was in his prime, with smooth sailings in both power and officialdom, and he was even invited by the Agricultural and Forestry University to give a speech.

Zhou Qiang still remembered the scene then, the university auditorium was packed with people, and at nineteen, he barely found a spot to stand, standing for over two hours. The college students of the eighties aspired to contribute to the country, unlike the students now, full of tricks and schemes, the last sentence of Zhu Shijun’s speech still echoed in Zhou Qiang’s ears: If those studying agriculture cannot do a few practical things for the peasants, they might as well go home and carry a hoe.

That statement, had a significant impact on Zhou Qiang who was originally planning to join the Agricultural Science Academy to engage in agricultural research. A student of agriculture, to truly make such a statement, could only be someone like Zhu Shijun, not just engaging in agriculture, but taking it as a base to ascend in officialdom, influencing the entire agriculture circle of China with a stomp.

"What happened later?" Zhou Ziang never expected such an unremarkable old man to have such a brilliant past.

"The roots were not rotten, yet the leaves and branches decayed first. Zhu Shijun developed the tobacco industry in Y province single-handedly and was later transferred to B city. The old man was stubborn and not very sociable, not fitting in well with the circle of people in B city. Later, his only daughter got involved in the nation’s largest cigarette smuggling case, and during the investigation, the daughter and son-in-law fled to Guangzhou. The Guangzhou police, upon receiving the news, arrived at their hotel where the room was filled with burning charcoal, and both were found dead," Zhou Qiang said with a sigh. The idol who had led him into officialdom had met such an end, it was indeed a pity.

"Ziang, now you should understand, not that your parents are unkind, but your dad will soon be transferred to B city, it’s a sensitive time, we can’t afford to be the subject of gossip," Xi Lijuan was also a wise helpmate. Although often irritated, she had never held Zhou Qiang back.

"The young girl in the ward is probably Zhu Shijun’s granddaughter. I heard that he strongly demanded his son-in-law marry into the family, offending the in-laws. After his daughter and son-in-law died, the prosecution started, he was stripped of his post and sentenced to over a decade. In the end, it was the tobacco factory in Y province that couldn’t stand by, they intervened and pleaded for medical parole, and ended up sending him to G state. This remote and impoverished place, what a joke for medical parole," no smoking in the hospital led Zhou Qiang to just hold the cigarette in his hand, turning it over and rubbing it continuously.

"..." Feeling a surge of melancholy, Zhou Ziang turned his head back to glance at the slightly ajar door of the ward. The crack was gently closed. Xiao Xian sat down by the door, stunned for a moment, the conversation from the corridor gone, she let out a breath, the ward was icy cold.

Unexpectedly, grandfather and "she" came to G state because of this. She firmly believed that her grandfather was not the type to engage in corruption, definitely not.