The old man took the hair and photograph. Looking at the elderly person in the picture, hunched over and dressed in a way that suggested a life lived in squalor, he nodded slightly. "There's no need for a paternity test. This Tan Wenbin is Jiang Shuo's biological father."
"Ah..." Meng Yuan didn't understand and asked in surprise, "Grandpa, since you already knew, why did you still ask me to investigate?"
The old man smiled, his smile tinged with bitterness. His sharp gaze held regret and pain. "Back then, my wife and I divorced because of Jiang Shuo's appearance. I had served in the army, and an accident rendered me infertile. When I returned from my service, my wife had another child, this child being Jiang Shuo. My wife claimed the child was mine, but I disagreed. In my youthful arrogance, knowing she suffered from depression, I still spoke harshly to her. After a big argument, we divorced."
"She took Jiang Shuo to live in Jinshi, while I remained unmarried after the divorce."
"My wife once said that being married to me gave her no sense of marriage; our marriage was like being married to a ghost. She was right. After marrying me, she essentially lived alone. My presence, or lack thereof, made no difference to her. Ultimately, I set her free. She never remarried, and I never did again. We simply watched each other live out our lives, and I wasn't even by her side when she passed away."
"Yet, we loved each other deeply. Every time we saw each other, there was a sense of helplessness. She was stubborn, and so was I. We remained stubborn for a lifetime."
"Ah..." Meng Yuan was stunned, unsure how to respond.
"But... why did Grandma say Jiang Shuo was her own biological child?" Meng Yuan looked at him, puzzled.
The old man's face contorted with pain. "Before I lost my fertility, my wife was pregnant with another child, but that child was lost. My wife was greatly traumatized and developed depression. At that time, Tan Wenbin brought Jiang Shuo to my wife, which helped alleviate her depression."
"My agreement to the divorce was so she could have a better life, but unfortunately, her life was never truly good."
Upon hearing this, Meng Yuan felt that the beautiful, high-end ice cream before her no longer tasted good.
"What about the lost child..." Meng Yuan wanted to ask how the child was lost.
The old man took a deep breath. "It was my fault. My comrades and I took the child out for hot pot. I got drunk, and the child was taken away. In our era, there were no surveillance systems. When the child was lost, we relied solely on photographs to search, but it was like searching for a needle in a haystack, with no trace."
"Over the years, I have uncovered some clues, and they all point towards Tan Wenbin."
"Ah..." Meng Yuan had never dreamed this matter would be so complicated.
"I... I just wanted to help my best friend find her biological parents. I never imagined things would become so complicated."
The old man placed Jiang Nuan's photo on the table. "Are you referring to Jiang Nuan?"
Meng Yuan nodded. "Yes."
The old man pondered for a moment and said, "My wife was very good to this child. I know her."
"Oh!" Meng Yuan slowly took a bite of ice cream. "Grandpa, now that Tan Wenbin has been found, can your child be found as well?"
The old man nodded slightly. "My surname is Jiang. My name is Jiang Beichen. You can also call me Grandpa Jiang. My wife and I both have the surname Jiang."
"As for that child, my wife should know where he is, but perhaps to retaliate against me, she never told me. The child should be living well, otherwise, she would have come looking for us."
"Ah! Then who is it?" Meng Yuan's curiosity, initially piqued, grew even stronger. She had a feeling that the deeper she dug, the more terrifying it would become. The path ahead was dark, yet she still wanted to press on without hesitation.
Jiang Beichen looked at Meng Yuan and said, "This time, I will return to Jinshi with you. I will go and see Nuan Nuan."
"When she had her accident back then, I happened to be in Modu negotiating a business deal. By the time I received the news, she had already left Jinshi. I am very grateful for her companionship to my wife all these years."
Meng Yuan felt a bit uncertain about Jiang Nuan's intentions after hearing this.
Jiang Nuan's personality was actually as stubborn as Grandma Jiang's. When she got stuck on something, even Meng Yuan couldn't pull her back.
"No, Grandpa Jiang, Grandma Jiang passed away from heart disease six years ago, and you know the reason why. Why didn't you look for Jiang Shuo?"
"Grandma Jiang was Nuan Nuan's life. Grandma Jiang's death was a huge blow to her."
"Alas!" Grandpa Jiang sighed deeply. "Some things are missed due to unfortunate coincidences. I only received the news after my wife's death. At that time, I didn't dare to alert them. I wanted to see the situation with Jiang Shuo and Tan Wenbin, but the father and son were not close and had never met. I couldn't find Tan Wenbin's whereabouts."
Meng Yuan recalled the cause and effect of the matter. It seemed only Tan Wenbin knew all the answers.
"Right, Grandpa, Jiang Xingyu and Nuan Nuan are not Jiang Shuo's children. Did Grandma never consider this? For instance, why did Jiang Shuo bring Brother Jiang and Nuan Nuan back to raise?"
This hadn't been investigated yet, and now more issues had surfaced.
Grandpa Jiang shook his head slightly. "Communication and surveillance recordings were not developed back then. After Jiang Shuo became an adult, my wife had no further contact with him. She was an extremely reserved person; her world was very simple, and her activities were confined to the vicinity of the small courtyard. In her lifetime, she made only one friend, Nuan Nuan's teacher, an outstanding traditional Chinese medicine practitioner with a mysterious background. They both passed away within a year of each other."
"My wife would not have been so kind to someone without a reason. She genuinely liked Nuan Nuan, and besides that, there might have been other reasons."
Meng Yuan bit her spoon, deep in thought. "Yes, Brother Jiang is also not part of the Jiang family, but Grandma was only kind to Nuan Nuan. This is truly strange."
"If there were other reasons besides her simple affection for Nuan Nuan, what could they be?" Meng Yuan couldn't figure it out and felt that Grandma Jiang had lived a life that was too simple.
Grandpa Jiang nodded slightly, which was why he wanted to go and see what was so special about that child.
"Young lady, you are very capable. Thank you for finding Tan Wenbin for me. However, next, you need to help me investigate another person."
Grandpa Jiang handed the documents to Meng Yuan. Seeing that she had a new task, Meng Yuan was delighted. "Thank you for your trust, Grandpa!"
Meng Yuan looked at the documents for a while. She read them very seriously, not missing a single word. It took her a full half hour to finish reading all the information. She looked at him in surprise. "Grandpa Jiang, why are you investigating the Rong family?"
Grandpa Jiang glanced at the documents, then at her, and said in a rather heavy tone, "Don't you want to know whose child Jiang Xingyu is?"