The long-distance coach stopped by the side of the road, and Zhao Yang got off.
From here to his home, he still had to walk another two li.
Usually, at this time, the dirt road connecting the village to the outside world would be filled with dust, often with tractors and four-wheelers visible, and villagers could be seen driving cattle and sheep with whips.
Today, the situation was somewhat special, with the entire road quiet and not a soul in sight.
Zhao Yang's lips curled into an odd smile as he murmured to himself, "It seems like nobody wants to see me."
In the eyes of the people of Li Family Village, Zhao Yang was an undoubted scourge.
Since Zhao Yang was three, this child born without parents was the star of disaster for Li Family Village.
The year Zhao Yang was born, a torrential downpour caused the dike thirty li away to collapse, flooding half of the village.
The second year after Zhao Yang's birth, it didn't rain for an entire year, resulting in a total crop failure throughout the village.
By the third year, due to policy adjustments in the county, Li Family Village's label as a poor village was removed, and with no more relief funds, households were filled with complaints.
These misfortunes really had nothing to do with Zhao Yang, but it was because in the third year, the village chief Li Xingkui had consulted the Great Immortal, who pointed directly to a baby born the year before as the village's disaster star.
It was the Year of the Sheep when Zhao Yang was born, and superstitious villagers chose not to have children that year. Nevertheless, some accidents happened, and apart from Zhao Yang, a pair of twins was also born in the village. The twins were Li Xingkui's, and he surely couldn't blame it on his own children.
More importantly, Zhao Yang's parents disappeared just a few days after his birth, leaving him as an absolute orphan.
Zhao Yang's foster father, named Zhao Yishan, was an outsider in the village. Zhao Yang's parents were staying at his house when they left without a word. Zhao Yishan and his wife thought it over and decided to adopt Zhao Yang. They figured if Zhao Yang's parents ever returned, they would simply return him. Little did they expect that they would end up raising him for more than a decade.
As Zhao Yang walked into the village, he noticed that every household had their doors and windows shut tight, avoiding him as if he were the plague.
Considering the scenes before entering the village, Zhao Yang felt even more curious.
I returned today, and logically, the villagers shouldn't know about it.
Given the current situation, it's clear they've already received the news.
Zhao Yang chuckled to himself and thought, you can hide all you want, but we're all fellow villagers. Eventually, we'll have to meet, right?
"Dad, Yingtao, I'm back!"
Standing at the doorstep, Zhao Yang could hardly contain his excitement. He pounded on the door forcefully and waited for a while. Receiving no response from inside, he took out his keys and went in.
Standing in the yard, Zhao Yang felt a pang of sadness. The house was even more dilapidated than when he had left three years ago, now likely one of the shabbiest in the entire village.
After his mother passed away, their already modest household struggled to get by. When Zhao Yang left, Yingtao's junior high school exam scores were among the top in the county. It was certain that attending a key provincial university wouldn't be a problem for her, but university tuition was indispensable. Over four years, it would cost at least a hundred thousand yuan.
It seemed that for the past three years, in order to afford Yingtao's university education, the family had been living frugally, enduring some hard times.
Zhao Yang clenched his fists, thinking to himself, "Dad, I'm back now, and I'm going to help you put Yingtao through university!"
After searching inside and outside the house and finding no one at home, Zhao Yang felt puzzled and went to knock on the neighbor's door: "Is anybody there?"
"Who is it?" came a reply from inside.
"Sister-in-law, it's me, Zhao Yang. I'm back!" Zhao Yang called out loudly.
Living next door to Zhao Yang's family was the village's most beautiful widow, Zhang Xiuer. When Zhao Yang was seventeen, Zhang Xiuer married into the village from a neighboring one, wedded to the carpenter Li Ping. Fate is unpredictable; half a month before Zhao Yang left the village, Li Ping died in a car accident.
As the door opened, a stunningly beautiful face suddenly appeared before him, causing Zhao Yang's heart to leap, and for a moment, he forgot how to speak.
"Oh, Zhao Yang, you're back!" Zhang Xiuer exclaimed with a flicker of joy when she saw Zhao Yang.
"Yes, Sister Xiu'er, I'm back," Zhao Yang quickly said with a smile after a brief moment of awkwardness.
It had been three years since he had seen her, and Zhang Xiuer had undergone many changes. She was not only more beautiful than he remembered but also seemed more mature and seductive. If he had to describe her, Zhao Yang thought the current Zhang Xiuer was like a ripe peach, so juicy that biting into it would leave sweet nectar exploding in every direction.
Li Ping was only twenty-five when he died, leaving behind such a beautiful widow; Zhao Yang truly lamented the unpredictability of life.
Zhang Xiuer was overjoyed to see Zhao Yang, brushed her hair from her forehead, and a beautiful smile, rarely seen, spread across her face.
When Li Ping was alive, the two families had always had a good relationship; in fact, Li Ping was one of the few from the Li clan willing to associate with the Zhao family.
In this closed-off, backward little village, the concepts of local and kinship ties were deeply entrenched. Although the Zhao family had settled in the village for decades, they had always been treated as outsiders.
"Zhao Yang, why have you come back?" Zhang Xiuer's apricot eyes sparkled, her smile like peach blossoms in first bloom, enchanting to the extreme.
"I missed you all."
"Where have you been these three years? Why haven't we heard a thing from you?"
"It's a long story, I'll tell you all about it later."
"Then... You're not leaving again this time, are you?"
"I'm not leaving! By the way, Sister Xiuer, how are my dad and my sister?" Zhao Yang asked.
"Ah..." Zhang Xiuer instinctively glanced towards Zhao Yang's home, her brows slightly furrowing before she asked, "What, you don't know about the recent events?"
"What events?" Zhao Yang was somewhat baffled.
While in the mountains, every so often Zhao Yang would leave to trade the game and herbs he had acquired for some necessary living supplies, and of course, he would call his family too.
This time, fearful of his father's disapproval, he hadn't phoned ahead of his return.
Realizing her slip of the tongue, Zhang Xiuer hastily covered her mouth and after a moment said, "Ah, that is, your dad seems to be in the county hospital. I'm not too clear on the details."
"Sister Xiuer, you're definitely hiding something from me," Zhao Yang said, gazing into Zhang Xiuer's eyes.
"Zhao Yang..."
Seeing Zhang Xiuer hesitate, Zhao Yang became even more convinced something had happened recently. If it were coming from Zhang Xiuer's mouth, it could possibly get her into trouble.
"Alright, Sister Xiuer, no need to say more. I'm heading to the hospital now!" Zhao Yang ran to the door, then realized - with such a long distance, how was he to get there?
He quickly turned back and asked, "Sister Xiuer, do you have a bicycle or something?"
"Yes, look there!" Zhang Xiuer gestured, and Zhao Yang immediately saw the edge of a wheel, his face lighting up with hope.
It was clear that beneath the rain cover lay a vehicle!
Eagerly, Zhao Yang went over and lifted the rain cover to find a tricycle covered in dust.
"This bike hasn't been used for a while; I'm not sure if it still works." The bike had often been used by Li Ping, and as Zhang Xiuer's gaze fell on it, her expression dimmed, a sense of loss evident in her demeanor.
"Let me check."
Zhao Yang pulled the bike to the center of the courtyard and gave it a thorough inspection. Except for the flat tires, everything else seemed to be in working order.
After inflating the tires, Zhao Yang turned to Zhang Xiuer and declared, "Sister Xiuer, now that I'm back, you don't have to be afraid of anyone!"
Zhang Xiuer watched Zhao Yang, who seemed to have undergone a transformation, exuding a resolute air about him. She pursed her lips and nodded firmly.
Zhao Yang smiled, revealing a row of neat, white teeth that shimmered in the sunlight.
"Then, I'm off to the county!" he said.
"Be careful on the road!" Zhang Xiuer advised.
"Will do!" With a powerful push, Zhao Yang started down the road, with man and bike as one.
As Zhang Xiuer watched Zhao Yang's departing figure, she murmured to herself, "That naughty boy from back then has turned into a fine man..."