Qi Yue Zai Ye

Chapter 459 The Clue

After a moment of anger, Chen Jinzhao calmed down.

If Li Qiurong had done this, he wouldn't have been so angry. Instead, he felt a deep sense of frustration.

He couldn't understand why such things needed to be kept from him.

After arranging the burial site, Chen Jinzhao sat on a nearby slope and smoked. No amount of strong cigarette smoke could alleviate his worries.

After sitting on the hillside for a while, Chen Jinzhao suddenly realized something was wrong.

His father's tombstone was gone?

He hurriedly stood up, patted himself off, and began searching for the tombstone. He only found a few fragments after a long time, which made Chen Jinzhao's anger flare up again.

Now he was certain that the grave digging was definitely not the work of Li Qiurong.

The method was too crude; even Chen Yangfu's tombstone was smashed. It was clear that Li Qiurong would not have done something so excessive.

"That means there's someone else," Chen Jinzhao murmured.

Who could it be?

Chen Jinzhao couldn't figure it out.

He stayed on the mountain for another two hours. The sun had already set, causing the temperature in the mountain forest to plummet.

Chen Jinzhao lit three sticks of incense in front of the grave and then stared at the tomb, saying, "Dad, what exactly happened back then? Can you tell me?"

Of course.

Chen Yangfu could not answer.

Chen Jinzhao took another deep breath, then turned and went down the mountain.

He had nothing to do recently, so he planned to stay at his old house in the village for a few days to ease his melancholy.

The old house had been abandoned. Due to the lack of repair for a long time, the brick and earth structure was crumbling and would collapse soon. Walking into the old house, the courtyard was overgrown with weeds, more than a meter high. If someone hid in the grass, they would be difficult to find.

Chen Jinzhao first sent several messages to Li Qiurong before starting to clear the weeds. It took him half an hour to finish.

The interior environment was even worse, with layers of dust covering the old furniture.

Chen Jinzhao worked until late at night to barely clean it up. Since the old house had not been inhabited for years, the electricity was disconnected. Fortunately, there were still kerosene lamps in the old house, which were commonly used by every household in the 1990s. Chen Jinzhao found washed straw mats and spread them on the floor.

Only then did he have time to check his messages.

The first few were from Yu Mengzhi. Chen Jinzhao replied carefully, assuring her not to worry.

The later messages were from Li Qiurong. She answered Chen Jinzhao's question in her message – Chen Yangfu's tomb was not dug by her.

Chen Jinzhao originally wanted to reply to the message, but seeing that it was almost one o'clock in the morning, he gave up the idea. He placed his phone by his pillow and thought about the past events concerning his parents. After an unknown amount of time, Chen Jinzhao drifted off to sleep and had a strange dream.

The next day, at seven o'clock, Chen Jinzhao woke up on time.

He decided not to dwell on these messy matters and instead decided to rest well before the New Year.

So Chen Jinzhao first went to town for breakfast. After the shops opened, he hired bricklayers to repair the old house. It was then that Chen Jinzhao noticed that there were very few young people in his old village and town; most of the residents were middle-aged and elderly, with the elderly being the majority.

Even the bricklayers Chen Jinzhao hired were at least fifty years old.

Chen Jinzhao couldn't offer much help, but after three days of repairs, he paid the workers three times their wages, making the old men beam with joy.

The old house had been restored to how Chen Jinzhao remembered it, but it was ultimately no longer the hometown of his memory.

Chen Jinzhao stayed in his old home for seven days.

During these seven days, he thought about nothing and did nothing each day, which made him less aggressive and more peaceful.

Even Chen Jinzhao himself did not realize these changes.

"I should go see my father again. I don't know when I'll be back next time," Chen Jinzhao murmured to himself. After buying some paper money and ingots in town, he went up the mountain again to pay respects to Chen Yangfu.

He stayed on the mountain until the afternoon, then Chen Jinzhao got up to leave.

More important matters awaited him. As he left, Chen Jinzhao gave a wry smile, "Dad, I don't know how long I have to live. If I die, I'll make sure to be buried beside you. Then, Father and son can talk about our lives in the underworld."

"I'm leaving."

Chen Jinzhao went down the mountain and cleaned the old house again.

He stood at the entrance of the old house for a long time. Just as he was about to turn and leave, a man with a weathered face, who looked to be in his forties, stood not far from the entrance, looking around. When Chen Jinzhao saw the man, he felt a sense of familiarity but couldn't recall where he had seen him.

So he walked up and asked, "Excuse me, have we met somewhere before?"

The man was also looking at Chen Jinzhao. When he heard Chen Jinzhao's question, he grinned and said, "You're Chen Jinzhao, aren't you? After so many years, you're still so handsome."

"I am Chen Jinzhao. And you are..." Chen Jinzhao still couldn't remember.

"You really have a forgetful nature. I'm He Xiaohu, but it's normal to forget after so many years," the man said with a honest smile.

Upon hearing the name, Chen Jinzhao's gaze became even more surprised. He looked at the man again and exclaimed, "You're He Xiaohu? I really didn't recognize you."

"Come."

"Have a smoke before we chat."

He Xiaohu took the cigarette offered by Chen Jinzhao and wiped his palms with his clothes. This scene made Chen Jinzhao feel rather uncomfortable. He Xiaohu was Chen Jinzhao's primary school classmate. He Xiaohu was a well-behaved student in school, and Chen Jinzhao remembered him as someone who would achieve great things.

But the He Xiaohu before him, less than thirty years old, looked like a middle-aged man in his forties.

One could only say that some people's fates were truly bumpy.

Chen Jinzhao asked him to chat in the sunlight. He Xiaohu was initially hesitant, but after Chen Jinzhao's repeated persuasion, he hobbled into the sunlight. Seeing this, Chen Jinzhao felt a lump in his throat, "Xiaohu, what happened to your leg?"

He Xiaohu took a puff of his cigarette and then said with a simple smile, "I fell carelessly while working. I'm used to it now."

As they chatted, Chen Jinzhao learned that He Xiaohu had gone out to work after not even finishing junior high school. This was because his parents were getting a divorce, and neither wanted He Xiaohu. In his despair, He Xiaohu went to the city to work. Lacking education, he had held many jobs over the years, such as waiter, apprentice, and construction worker.

His leg was broken while he was working as a construction worker.

As Chen Jinzhao pressed further, He Xiaohu revealed the truth: his leg had been broken by people hired by a real estate developer in the county town. At that time, the construction site where he was working had been consistently delaying wages. He Xiaohu, feeling wronged, went to argue with the boss, and his leg was broken.

After that, He Xiaohu's life took another turn for the worse. He had to return to the small town to do odd jobs, living a life of poverty, with uncertain meals.

Chen Jinzhao felt even worse.

However, during their conversation, he noticed that He Xiaohu's dejection was only temporary. He Xiaohu always held onto optimism for the future.

Thinking of his own experiences, Chen Jinzhao suddenly felt that compared to He Xiaohu's plight, his own was not a setback at all, but merely a ripple on a smooth journey.

"Who is that real estate developer? I'll go get justice for you. You're still young; you can't spend your life in the countryside with a broken leg!" Chen Jinzhao offered to help, but He Xiaohu refused, still with a simple smile, "Hehe, it seems you've gained some skills over the years. I was right about you when we were kids. As for me, you don't need to worry. At first, I did feel that heaven was unfair to me, but I've gotten used to it now."

The main reason, however, was that He Xiaohu knew that the real estate developer had made a lot of money and was reportedly wearing a suit and had become some kind of representative.

In short, he was someone not to be trifled with, and He Xiaohu did not want Chen Jinzhao to provoke him.

Before Chen Jinzhao could say anything else, He Xiaohu said, "By the way, the reason I came to find you today is that I hadn't confirmed your identity a few days ago. Seeing that you're leaving today, I decided to tell you something. A few days ago, a group of people were hanging around your old house for a while, and then they went up the mountain and took some things.

"Those people had a northern accent. I didn't dare to stop them."