Chapter 151

Wei Sheng never imagined that Hua Yushu’s biological father would turn out to be an old acquaintance of Hu Qianqian!

Don’t be fooled by Hu Qianqian’s usual tough talk and threats—deep down, she’s soft-hearted. Back when she was running the shop, she once saw an elderly man pushing a bicycle through the rain, selling traditional sugar candies called ding-ding tang. When she learned that the old man was doing this not for money, but to search for the son who had been abducted decades ago, she was deeply moved. She made an agreement with the man, whose name was Xue Chang’an: if his candies ever didn’t sell well, he could bring them to her shop to be sold on consignment.

During the Spring Festival, the shop brought in a batch of gift boxes for visiting relatives, and business was booming. That evening, Hu Qianqian was manning the store while watching a reality show featuring her son. The show had just reached the segment about the Huazi Village forum when an urgent, elderly voice suddenly rang out from the front counter—

“Boss lady! This show—do you know where it was filmed?”

“That official sitting up there, he… he looks just like my wife…”

Hu Qianqian turned her head and saw Xue Chang’an, tears streaming down his face, gripping the glass counter with both hands as if he wanted to climb over it to get a closer look at the TV. Yet he hesitated, afraid of dirtying the counter.

Her heart pounded wildly. Could it be? Could Uncle Xue’s long-lost son really be in Huazi Village?

After getting Hu Qianqian’s call, Wei Sheng’s palms were slick with sweat.

It was the middle of the night, but he didn’t care about disturbing anyone. He immediately dug out Hua Yushu’s number and called him. Luckily, back when they were filming the show, he’d thought ahead about ordering some New Year flowers for the company and had made sure to save Hua Yushu’s contact.

Hu Qianqian had been very clear on the phone: Xue Chang’an had recognized Hua Yushu on the TV instantly, because the boy looked almost exactly like his birth mother.

More importantly, Hua Yushu had a noticeable dent on the left side of his forehead.

It was a scar from when he had just turned one year old. He had accidentally fallen and hit his head, leaving a permanent mark. The incident had caused a huge fight between Xue Chang’an and his wife, which was why he remembered it so vividly.

Back then, the couple ran a breakfast stall on the outskirts of the city, selling fried dough sticks. When they were too busy, they’d let their son sit in a little woven cart tied to a nearby phoenix tree with a rope.

They thought it was safe. It was broad daylight, and they were just a few steps away. If their son cried, they’d hear him. But one day, during a bustling market, there were too many people. After finishing their work, the wife wiped her hands and turned to feed their son, only to find that the rope under the tree had been cut. The little cart was gone.

And their son?

The couple ran up and down the street like mad, asking everyone they saw. But in rural areas back then, many families had kids in similar woven carts. And what was he wearing? A floral cotton jacket? That didn’t help—every child wore those.

Finally, Xue Chang’an remembered the scar on his son’s forehead. But the crowd was thick that day, and many people were carrying kids. Maybe the traffickers had covered the child’s face, or even drugged him. Either way, no one had seen anything.

That was when Xue Chang’an finally thought to call the police.

But the police couldn’t offer much help. Back then, there was no DNA database, no facial recognition systems. The couple didn’t even have a clear photo of their son—just a family portrait taken on his first birthday. In a sea of people, where could they possibly begin?

After that, Xue Chang’an and his wife Wang Xiumei shut down their breakfast stall and began searching for their son across the country. They couldn’t afford newspapers, so they often shamelessly read them for free at kiosks. Whenever they saw news about traffickers being caught or missing children being found, they’d scrape together money to buy the paper and try to find leads.

They searched for years. Wang Xiumei eventually became mentally unstable. She’d run up to boys around their son’s age on the street, checking to see if they might be hers.

But by then, their son was no longer a little boy.

Worried that his wife might get hurt, Xue Chang’an sent her back to their hometown. He then took the family’s only bicycle, a heavy old model, and hit the road alone. He hung a sign on the front that said he was looking for his son, and carried a basket of ding-ding tang on the back. Selling candy to survive, he wandered from town to town, never stopping his search.

Xue Chang’an didn’t know that after his son was abducted, he was sold to a rural village hundreds of kilometers away. He lived there for a few years until the couple who had bought him had a child of their own—a healthy baby boy.

Suddenly, the boy they had paid for became a burden.

Raising a child costs money, and this heartless couple didn’t hesitate. After three years, they sold Hua Yushu again without batting an eye.

By then, Hua Yushu was in elementary school and already understood what human trafficking was. After being sold again, he tried to escape by climbing out a window, but was caught and nearly beaten to death. Fortunately, the commotion drew the attention of a local thug known as Grandpa Jin. Despite his rough exterior, Grandpa Jin still had a shred of conscience. He used the opportunity of being arrested in a street brawl to secretly tip off the police, which led to the entire trafficking ring being busted.

At that time, however, Xue Chang’an was still hundreds of kilometers away, searching for his son. Unless it was a major national paper, most newspapers were only distributed within the province. The internet wasn’t an option. So he missed the local news that might have led him to his son.

But heaven rewards the persistent. After more than twenty years of searching, today, at last, he had found his son.

Hua Yushu was stunned when he got the call.

He had always known he’d been trafficked. Over the years, several people had come forward claiming to be his family, but every time it turned out to be a mistake, or a DNA test proved there was no relation. Eventually, he gave up hope. He figured his real parents were either dead or had moved on and forgotten about the child who had been taken from them.

But now, Wei Sheng told him that in J City, not far from Huazi Village, there was someone who might very well be his biological father.

And this man had provided two key pieces of evidence: first, Hua Yushu looked almost identical to his birth mother. Second, he had a scar at the corner of his brow.

Although Hua Yushu had lost some of his childhood memories, his body hadn’t forgotten. Every time he looked in the mirror and saw that scar, he felt a strange familiarity, as if it had been with him since he was very young—perhaps from when he still lived with his real parents.

If Xue Chang’an hadn’t mentioned the scar, Hua Yushu might not have taken it seriously. After all, plenty of people had claimed to be his family before. Deep down, he had long assumed that his real parents were either gone or had started new lives, leaving him behind.

But now, Wei Sheng was telling him that someone—someone very close by—might really be his father.

They said that for decades, he never had another child, all because he was searching for his lost one. Riding a battered old bicycle with a rusted frame, he pedaled through alleys and streets selling ding-ding candy. To this day, a missing person flyer still hangs from the front of his bike, seeking news of his child…

“President Wei, please, have him wait for me in J City. I—I’ll be there first thing tomorrow morning! I promise I’ll come!”

The moment he hung up the phone, Hua Yushu suddenly covered his eyes with his hand, and hot tears streamed down his face.

Even though he had never once seen the man in person, a powerful feeling surged in his heart at that moment—this was his father.

Word quickly spread that the new Village Party Secretary of Huazi Village had found his biological parents through their show. Wang Qun was overjoyed. With Hua Yushu’s consent, he immediately sent a film crew to follow the entire reunion process.

If it turned out they really were related by blood, then this program would have inadvertently accomplished something truly extraordinary.

Hua Yushu drove straight to the Hu family home. Last night, worried about the old man staying alone in an unfamiliar place, Hu Qianqian had brought him back with her. After all, they had plenty of spare rooms. Grandma Hu had been moved to tears listening to the story of Xue Chang’an and his wife searching across the country for their child all these years. Even Grandpa Hu had red eyes. He opened a bottle of wine and asked Grandma Hu to cook a few dishes, sitting down to drink with Xue Chang’an. Thanks to the alcohol, the old man finally got a peaceful night’s sleep.

When Hua Yushu arrived at the Hu residence, it wasn’t even seven in the morning. In truth, he hadn’t slept a wink the night before. He set out at five in the morning and reached the provincial capital just as dawn was breaking. Not wanting to disturb anyone so early, he found a small breakfast stall and forced down a few tasteless bites. The moment the clock hit seven, he followed the navigation straight to the Hu family’s villa.

The instant he laid eyes on Xue Chang’an, a buzzing filled Hua Yushu’s head. Memories buried for decades surged back like a tidal wave.

He remembered.

“Dad!!” With a heart-wrenching cry, Hua Yushu dropped to his knees in front of the frail old man, throwing his arms around Xue Chang’an’s thin legs and sobbing uncontrollably.

“Gouwa? My little Gouwa! I’ve been searching for you all these years—where did you go?” Xue Chang’an held Hua Yushu’s head tightly, tears streaming down his face.

The Hu family watched the scene unfold, their hearts aching and yet filled with joy for Old Xue. Sometimes, the bond of blood is so mysterious and powerful, it doesn’t even need a DNA test. In that moment, both father and son instinctively recognized each other.

Only Wei Sheng was a bit speechless: Gouwa? Who would’ve thought Secretary Hua’s childhood nickname was so down-to-earth? Pfft…

Sure enough, once things calmed down and Xue Chang’an kept calling him “Gouwa,” the now middle-aged Hua Yushu couldn’t help feeling a little embarrassed. He asked, “Dad, the name I use now was given to me by the director of the orphanage. Did I have a proper name at home? Did the family name me?”

“Of course we did! Your full name is Xue Jiashu! Your grandfather spent days flipping through the Xinhua Dictionary to come up with it,” Xue Chang’an said, wiping away his tears.

Hearing the name, the Hu family couldn’t help but be amazed. It even had the character “Shu” (tree) in it? It was as if fate itself had left behind this final clue to help Hua Yushu reunite with his family.

When he heard that his original name also had “Shu” in it, Hua Yushu’s tears, which had just stopped, began to flow again.

He wiped his eyes and explained the origin of his current name.

Even Xue Chang’an sighed when he heard it. “Yushu blooming?” Could it be that the Yushu tree in the orphanage director’s office really had some kind of spirit?

“Flowers blooming bring joy! This reunion was meant to be!” Grandpa Hu exclaimed.

Father and son sat down in the Hu family’s living room, and Hua Yushu couldn’t wait to ask where his mother was. He was terrified that she might have already passed away. Otherwise, why had only his father been out searching all these years?

To his surprise, his mother was still alive!

“Your mother… sigh. Ever since you went missing and we couldn’t find you, her mental state hasn’t been right. I was afraid she’d wander off too, so I sent her back to our hometown…”

Hua Yushu—no, he should now be called Xue Jiashu—wanted nothing more than to fly back that very moment to see his mother. But to be safe, father and son first went to get a DNA test.

Normally, the lab would take a week to process the results. But Xue Jiashu didn’t want to wait. He paid an expedited fee, and by the afternoon of the next day, they had the report in hand.

Just as expected, Xue Jiashu was indeed Xue Chang’an’s biological son.

That very evening, J Province TV aired the story of a father and son who had been separated for decades and were reunited thanks to a television program. It made the evening news.

Wang Qun was even more excited than the people involved. Not only did he have the entire reunion edited overnight, but he also organized a giveaway on Weibo to celebrate the guest finding his real parents.

Everyone thought the story had reached a perfect, heartwarming conclusion. But just as Xue Jiashu was bringing his wife and children back to his hometown to meet his family, an even more explosive piece of news rocked J Province—

The kind-hearted citizen who had reported the kidnapping and helped Xue Jiashu escape the human traffickers all those years ago had come forward. He revealed that for over twenty years, he had been working undercover in Huazi Village, taking down dozens of trafficking rings one by one.

What shocked everyone even more was that this undercover agent, who had been hiding in plain sight for over two decades, was none other than the infamous village tyrant of Huazi Village—Grandpa Jin!

(End of Chapter)

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Gouwa (狗娃) = “dog child.”

A traditional rustic nickname in China, often affectionate or for protection, not a formal given name.

Jiashu (嘉树/佳树/家树) – literally “good/beautiful/family tree.”

As a name, it symbolizes growth, stability, prosperity, and strength like a flourishing tree.