Chapter 29: A Woman Who Changed Her Heart
Xiao Liang knew his father had already seen through part of the truth, so he decided to lay everything out plainly—better than letting his mother make misguided decisions without understanding the situation.
“Ah…” Xiao Changhua let out a quiet sigh, as if he wanted to say something but couldn’t quite bring himself to.
In his eyes, his younger son was still too young. Having just gone through something like this, he didn’t even know how to begin talking to him about certain things.
Xiao Liang smiled faintly. He understood that changing his family’s perception of him—or rather, getting them to accept who he was now—would take time.
That was also why, after escaping from the accident, he hadn’t come home to face them directly.
“What are you smiling at?” Ge Minglan asked, looking at him with concern. She felt something subtly different about her younger son this time, and couldn’t help worrying he’d been shaken by the ordeal.
“It’s nothing,” Xiao Liang replied. “I was just thinking—if my brother can win Tian Wenli back, I won’t object. That’s between the two of them. But if you want my honest opinion… she’s not worthy of our family.”
“How can you say that so lightly?” Ge Minglan said anxiously.
To her, her younger son had always been two years younger than his classmates, barely twenty even after graduating college. He’d gone straight to work in a township, with little real experience of relationships—and now he’d run into something this big. Her elder son, on the other hand, was sensitive and deeply emotional. She worried he wouldn’t be able to bear it. The joy and relief of Xiao Liang clearing his name had already faded in her heart.
“Let’s not think too much about it for now. Eat,” Xiao Changhua said.
Dinner passed without taste or appetite. Seeing his brother sitting there, listless, as if the sky had fallen, Xiao Liang stood up.
“Bro, I’ll go with you to Tian Wenli’s place.”
Of course, Xiao Liang didn’t actually hope Tian Wenli would come back. But sometimes, even pointless, impulsive actions could help ease the sting of defeat and loss.
When his brother didn’t respond, Xiao Liang simply grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the door.
Ge Minglan started to say something, but Xiao Changhua stopped her with a raised hand.
The alley outside was dimly lit. Through the dense canopy of leaves, the moon shone bright and the sky stretched clear and vast, like a sheet of dark violet glass scattered with starlight.
It was hard to imagine that in ten or twenty years, the pollution would grow so severe that not a single star could be seen over the city.
In 1994, Dongzhou hadn’t yet expanded much. The main urban area was barely thirty square kilometers. Their home was less than two kilometers from Tian Wenli’s place on Yaogang Road.
As they walked, Xiao Liang chatted about their childhood.
They had attended the same schools from primary through middle school. Xiao Liang had even sat in on his brother’s class for a year. On weekends and holidays, he had tagged along like a little shadow, following his brother and his friends everywhere.
Tian Wenli had originally attended high school in the city. After a disappointing college entrance exam, she transferred to Shishan County High School and spent a year in Xiao Xiao’s class retaking the exam. They later went to different universities, kept in close contact, and quickly became a couple after graduation.
Back then, their father had still been a powerful deputy director in the municipal committee office.
Though Xiao Liang had always been cautious about romantic relationships in his previous life, he could still understand why his brother had taken so long to move on.
When they reached the apartment building, Xiao Xiao gathered his courage and was about to head inside, but Xiao Liang suddenly noticed a motorcycle parked in front and grabbed his arm.
Motorcycles weren’t rare anymore, even though average incomes were still low. People who had gotten rich had begun to buy them. Gu Peijun rode one himself.
But this one was different.
It was a heavy Suzuki—fully faired in bright red, sleek lines flowing along its body, with low clip-on handlebars designed for a racing crouch.
Anyone with even a little knowledge could tell it was in a completely different league from the domestic bikes commonly seen.
Xiao Liang ran through the residents of the building in his mind and felt a quiet certainty—his guess had been right.
Even though his father had fallen from power in recent years, reassigned to the Party History Office, he still held deputy bureau-level待遇. There were certainly people eager to kick them while they were down—but Tian Wenli’s father, Tian Jianzhong, had spent decades as a minor official in the municipal office and never risen beyond a section-level position. Without securing a new backer, would he really dare to openly sever ties?
Xiao Liang had originally intended to accompany his brother, no matter whether they were turned away or insulted. It didn’t matter—his goal was simply to help his brother process the blow.
But now, that “new branch” was very likely inside the building.
There was no point walking straight into it.
Before he could come up with an excuse to leave, Tian Wenli suddenly skipped down the stairs in a light yellow dress.
At the last two steps, she gave a little hop, her face glowing with excitement—as if nothing had happened earlier that day.
Xiao Liang saw his brother’s eyelids twitch.
Behind her, Tian Jianzhong walked down alongside a tall young man.
Tian Wenli turned back with a bright smile, chatting with them, completely unaware of the two brothers standing beneath the magnolia tree across the way.
Tian Jianzhong grasped the young man’s wrist warmly, talking as if seeing off family.
“You’ve been transferred to Shishan to work under County Magistrate Zhou—your prospects are wide open now. But the city isn’t far. Come visit whenever you like, no need to be so polite bringing gifts. Wenli, you and Yuan Tong have known each other for years—you don’t get to see each other often. Aren’t you two going out for a ride? That new motorcycle of his is really something…”
“Dad, don’t be so long-winded,” Tian Wenli said coquettishly. “Yuan Tong and I are going out. I’ll be back before midnight—just leave the door open for me.”
Noticing Yuan Tong’s puzzled glance, she turned—and finally saw Xiao Liang and Xiao Xiao.
Her smile froze.
Tian Jianzhong was equally caught off guard.
But Yuan Tong leaned close and whispered something in her ear, openly intimate. Then he strode forward, composed and confident, extending his hand to Xiao Xiao.
“You must be Xiao Xiao. I’m Yuan Tong—Wenli’s classmate for six years. She transferred to Shishan for a year after her exam didn’t go well, that’s when she met you. I’ve heard about you from her. This is our first meeting. I also heard about your brother recently—I just started working in Shishan as County Magistrate Zhou Kangyuan’s secretary. Thought I might be able to help, but it seems everything’s already been resolved.”
Xiao Liang saw his brother standing there as if struck by lightning, unable to respond.
So he stepped forward himself, shaking Yuan Tong’s hand lightly.
“I’m Xiao Liang. My brother’s heard about you often too. We just didn’t expect that after Wenli broke up with him today, she’d bring you home so soon.”
He smiled faintly, watching Yuan Tong’s carefully maintained composure begin to crack.
Then he waved casually toward Tian Wenli and Tian Jianzhong.
“My brother and I were just taking a walk nearby. Didn’t expect to run into your family welcoming a new son-in-law so quickly. We didn’t even bring a gift to congratulate you.”
