"Son, what do you want to ask?"
Li Qiurong's tone was relaxed, as if she hadn't realized what Chen Jinzhao wanted to inquire about.
Chen Jinzhao no longer hesitated and asked, "I want to know, what kind of person was my father?"
The smile on Li Qiurong's face gradually disappeared, and she was silent for a long time. Chen Jinzhao pressed further, "Was he just a simple farmer, or an intellectual of that era?"
When Chen Jinzhao asked this, Li Qiurong understood that Chen Jinzhao might have found out something.
"What nonsense are you talking about? Your father was just a farmer, toiling in the fields. How could he be an intellectual of that time?" Li Qiurong denied.
After a moment of hesitation, she asked again, "Where did you hear this news? It's probably just a joke."
Chen Jinzhao naturally didn't believe it. He shook his head and said, "But, I found Chen Yangfu's name in the alumni list of Ninghai University, in the same year as Uncle Yu. Mengzhi's mother was also in that cohort."
Li Qiurong looked surprised. "Is that so?"
"But when I knew your father, he was indeed just a simple farmer who couldn't even write a word. If what you say is true, then he deceived me."
"But, I also found your name in the alumni list of Yanjing University." Chen Jinzhao stared into his mother's eyes, trying to see some clue.
Indeed.
After Chen Jinzhao presented this fact, Li Qiurong's eyes visibly wavered for a moment before quickly returning to calm.
She shook her head and said, "Is that so? Perhaps it's a coincidence. There are many coincidences in the world."
Chen Jinzhao took a deep breath. He had laid everything bare, yet his mother still wouldn't admit it, which gave him a terrible headache.
"Why hide it from me?" Chen Jinzhao asked.
He rarely spoke with such agitation. Now, he was on the verge of losing control.
Seeing her son's demeanor, Li Qiurong felt a pang of pain. Her intention to keep it hidden was abandoned, and she sighed, "Who told you all these things?"
"Mengzhi's mother," Chen Jinzhao replied.
Li Qiurong was speechless for a moment, then said after a while, "So it was Li Zhiqin. I was wondering who would tell you these things. She wasn't wrong. Everything you've learned is correct. As for why my husband and I lived under assumed names, it was because we encountered some trouble."
Chen Jinzhao swayed slightly.
This secret, if he hadn't asked, how long would his mother have kept it from him?
"What kind of trouble?" Chen Jinzhao asked.
Li Qiurong was vague and didn't tell Chen Jinzhao what kind of trouble it was, only asking him not to investigate further, as it would do him no good.
Chen Jinzhao was stunned. "I am no longer an ignorant child. I am capable of handling things on my own. Don't I have the right to know what happened back then? Even if someone wants to cause trouble for us, they'll have to consider my strength."
"You should stop asking. I won't tell you," Li Qiurong insisted.
"Knowing too much will only torment you."
How could Li Qiurong bear to let her son suffer mentally?
Let her bear the heavy burden of the past.
Chen Jinzhao still wanted to press further, but Li Qiurong stood up and said, "Let it be. There's nothing good to say about what happened back then. Your father has been dead for many years."
Before Chen Jinzhao could ask again, Li Qiurong returned to her room and locked the door.
Chen Jinzhao stood at the door, helpless.
He just wanted to understand what had happened back then, why was it so difficult?
Inside the room.
Li Qiurong heard Chen Jinzhao walk away before sitting at her desk in a daze.
After all calculations, she had missed Li Zhiqin.
"Perhaps even Yu Wendong didn't expect the reconciliation between Li Zhiqin and the Li family to happen so quickly. Now that Jinzhao knows what happened back then, he'll definitely try to get to the bottom of it. What should I do?" Li Qiurong was extremely lost, not knowing how to continue hiding things from Chen Jinzhao.
She took out a photo of Chen Yangfu from a drawer.
In the photo, Chen Yangfu still looked like a young man. If one looked closely, they could see a three or four-tenths resemblance to Chen Jinzhao.
Li Qiurong gently caressed the black and white photo of Chen Yangfu and sighed, "Yangfu, tell me, what should I do next?"
The room was silent, and Li Qiurong received no response.
Outside the room, in the living room.
Chen Jinzhao was also lost in thought. This matter was almost making his head explode, like ants crawling in his mind.
The more this was the case, the more Chen Jinzhao felt that there were many suspicious circumstances surrounding his father's death, which might be why his mother was unwilling to tell him about the past.
Considering this, Chen Jinzhao immediately set off for his hometown in the countryside.
He always felt that his father's death was too strange.
After Chen Jinzhao left home, Li Qiurong came out of her room. She had guessed Chen Jinzhao's thoughts but couldn't stop him.
After much deliberation, Li Qiurong had to call Li Qiutao. Before she could speak, Li Qiutao said, "Sister, you don't need to say anything. Yu Wendong has already told me what happened. Did he go to see you? Did you tell him what happened back then?"
"No, but judging by his demeanor, he seems to be going back to the countryside to exhume the body for examination," Li Qiurong replied.
Li Qiutao said in a deep voice, "This boy is really reckless. He can't keep his composure when things happen. Let him do what he wants. It won't lead to any conclusions anyway."
Li Qiurong finally felt relieved.
After a moment of hesitation, she asked again, "When would be a suitable time for him to know this secret?"
Li Qiutao knew that this matter was very tricky. "If you ask me, I don't know either. This kind of thing is best left to fate. He will know the truth sooner or later."
"Alright then..."
At that time.
Chen Jinzhao returned to his hometown, Leyang County, after an hour's drive, and then rushed into the mountains to find his father's grave.
As soon as he reached the foot of the mountain, Chen Jinzhao discovered something unusual.
Some newly grown weeds showed signs of being trampled. These signs seemed recent. Chen Jinzhao wondered if his mother had moved his father's grave.
With this thought, Chen Jinzhao hurried up the mountain and arrived at Chen Yangfu's grave.
When he saw the messy grave, his chest heaved violently. His father, Chen Yangfu's grave, had indeed been dug up. The coffin was in disarray, lying on the ground. The inside of the coffin was empty, with only fragments of old clothes remaining. There were no traces of bones.
Chen Jinzhao took a deep breath, suppressed his anger, tidied the coffin, and then reburied it in the pit.
"I just want to know, who did this?"