Chapter 20: Miraculous

Gu Zhuo’s look of surprise was hardly unexpected by the five. If anyone heard such news and wasn’t shocked, that would be truly strange.

Xu Bin glanced at Yinyin beside him. The child was still young, but already quick to pick up words.

Sensing something amiss, Gu Zhuo hurriedly said, “Yinyin, Mama forgot to fold the blanket. Would you help Mama fold it, please?”

The summer blanket was thin, just large enough to cover the stomach. For an adult, folding it was easy, but for two-year-old Yinyin, it was a real challenge and would take her a good deal of time.

“Okay, okay! Mama, I can definitely fold it!” Yinyin loved helping grown-ups, and immediately ran into the house with little pattering steps.

“Alright, go ahead,” Gu Zhuo said, outwardly calm, though inwardly her mind was a jumble of confusion.

Xu Bin nervously rubbed the bowl on the table, then spoke, “When the news of Xie Lin’s death came, we weren’t present, but later we heard the villagers recount the scene. As far as we know, you haven’t received Xie Lin’s ashes, nor any information about his remains, have you?”

Gu Zhuo nodded, but her heart grew increasingly complex. Clearly, these five educated youths had their own suspicions about Xie Lin’s situation. The question remained: why hadn’t they warned her in her previous life?

Even though at the time she had poured all her energy into searching for Yinyin, they should have known that Xie Lin was no less important to her than Yinyin.

Yet, Xu Bin’s next words completely took Gu Zhuo by surprise.

“There’s something else—have you thought about it? Xie Lin died in the army, so you and Yinyin are considered dependents of a martyr. We’re not experts, but we’ve heard of the Martyr’s Certificate and Dependent’s Certificate. You haven’t received either, have you? Also, in cases like yours, there should be a funeral subsidy, and dependents of martyrs are supposed to receive regular compensation. Did anyone from the army explain this to you?” Liu Yinan asked.

Jiang Xueming added, “My classmate mentioned in a letter that underage children of martyrs receive fifteen yuan per month until adulthood. For spouses like Qiu Xiu, if there’s no job, they get thirty yuan a month; if they have a job but earn less than thirty, the difference is made up.”

This was something Gu Zhuo hadn’t considered.

So, what conclusion have you drawn?

She was beginning to sense something was off.

Dong Zhen spoke in a low voice, “We’re guessing that the army wouldn’t handle matters so haphazardly. Could it be that Xie Lin was sent on some undercover mission and had to ‘die’ publicly?”

Gu Zhuo was stunned. Come to think of it, it made sense.

People in novels often write it that way.

Dong Zhen and the others had their suspicions, all stemming from their trust in the army.

Who could have imagined that someone might interfere behind the scenes?

“It’s just our guess,” Dong Zhen said. “Wait a little longer; perhaps someone will come soon to deliver your Martyr’s Certificate and Dependent’s Certificate.”

In truth, if this hadn’t happened to Qiu Xiu, they would never have brought it up to the person involved.

First, since it was only speculation, they feared raising hope only to bring disappointment.

Second, if their guess proved right, it wasn’t something that could be widely discussed.

They confided in Qiu Xiu because they knew her well and trusted her reliability.

Gu Zhuo was silent for a long time. She truly hadn’t expected them to think along these lines.

No wonder they hadn’t mentioned it in her previous life. There really was no need to say anything—they believed the truth would eventually come out.

And, considering she had already suffered a breakdown when Yinyin was abducted, receiving news like this might not have been for the best.

After a long pause, Gu Zhuo finally spoke, “Some of what you’ve said had occurred to me, but my conclusions are completely different from yours.” Faced with these five friends—who had stood by her through a lifetime and reached out to her in every circumstance—she had nothing to hide.

“What?” Now it was Xu Bin and the others’ turn to be surprised.

“I also believe Xie Lin isn’t dead, but not because of some secret mission. Someone deliberately reported false information,” Gu Zhuo said.

“How can that be?” The five responded instinctively.

“I don’t mean the people from the army,” Gu Zhuo clarified, guessing the reason for their skepticism. “But because of language barriers, the army brought a local interpreter when they came.”

“You mean that interpreter...!?” Jiang Xueming’s eyes widened.

Gu Zhuo nodded.

This...

The five exchanged glances. Unlike the village herbalist, they found Gu Zhuo’s suspicion convincing.

Gu Zhuo continued, “So, I hope you can teach me Mandarin.”

Mandarin?

Xu Bin and the others looked at one another, unconsciously touching their noses.

Gu Zhuo understood their reaction. As natives of Hai City in this era, their Mandarin wasn’t particularly good.

She’d asked before to learn Mandarin from them, but they felt their Mandarin was so unpolished, they’d rather not mislead her.

Before they could refuse, Gu Zhuo said, “It doesn’t need to be perfect, just enough so I can understand it. Once Qiao Ling’s sister-in-law has her baby, I plan to go to the army and inquire about what happened.”

Now Xu Bin and the others couldn’t refuse.

“Let Dong Zhen and the other two teach you. Don’t go to the educated youth station—it’ll only fuel gossip,” Liu Yinan advised.

They’d heard plenty of village rumors these days; everyone speculated whether Qiu Xiu would remarry, when she’d remarry, and with whom. Meeting with the two male educated youths at this time would only stir trouble.

Even after ten years here, they still found Jiu Family Village a curious place.

Is Jiu Family Village conservative? Certainly. Here, many people favor sons over daughters, sending only boys to school. If a family has no boys, there’s no end of gossip behind their backs. A single woman entangled with a man could be drowned in a flood of slander.

Is Jiu Family Village open-minded? In some ways, yes. Xu Bin and Liu Yinan still remembered their first summer here, shocked to see women lounging in their courtyards with bare chests. And while many favored sons, there were plenty who didn’t. The village was founded by nine refugee families, whose surnames are called the “old names.” In the early days, Jiu Family Village was secluded; the old families intermarried for generations, resulting in many villagers with intellectual disabilities, especially men, who struggled to find wives. What then? The village developed a peculiar phenomenon: for instance, if a Liu family’s youngest son began to resemble someone else, people would figure out what happened, but since it was all within the clan, sharing the same bloodline, no one minded.