You on the other side of time

"You two are classmates? You don't look like it..." Uncle Wang glanced at Si Yang up and down again. This young man looked much more mature than his daughter.

"No, no, Uncle Wang, I'm her senior. I'm a few years ahead of her. But the teacher who taught me just finished teaching me and then went on to teach the next class. He happened to be teaching Liu Meiyue. The teacher often praised her to me, saying that she was a good student and her English grades were excellent."

Although Si Yang knew nothing about this girl, he was still good at talking nonsense. Moreover, all parents in the world want to hear praise for their children. As soon as he said this, a faint smile immediately appeared on Uncle Wang's face, and even his sun-darkened skin could not hide his pride.

"Oh, we're still classmates, so I'll give you a discount. It'll be 25.9 yuan per jin (500g), that's the cost price. I didn't make a single penny." Uncle Wang took a food storage container and carefully put the peeled fruit into it. "Look at this golden, plump flesh, it's so fresh."

Si Yang glanced at the durians in the box, not really interested in eating them, but still readily took out his phone to pay. Asking for information from the perspective of renting a place was definitely not going to work; he knew from Wu, the owner of Tianluo Rentals, that Uncle Wang and the landlord were currently at odds, and at a time like this, he certainly wouldn't want to mention the landlord at all, let alone introduce business to him.

After the payment was successful, Si Yang took a deep breath and casually brought up a topic, "Uncle, is it true that a kid in this area was pushed into the river?"

As soon as he said it, he forced himself to calm down and pretended that he was just casually asking about gossip.

"Young man, you can't just say things like that." Uncle Wang's expression turned serious. He habitually looked behind him, most likely to check if his wife was there. After confirming that no one was around, he lowered his voice and said with certainty, "But to be honest, I do think there's something wrong with that child's mother."

Upon hearing that there was a chance, Si Yang didn't stand on ceremony and plopped down on the low wooden stool in front of the fruit shop, calling out, "Uncle Wang, I'm thirsty. Peel a sugarcane for me and juice it."

He needed to find an excuse to stay a little longer and get to the bottom of things.

"Okay!" Uncle Wang readily agreed, quickly put on his gloves, grabbed a green sugarcane, and said, "Wait here, this sugarcane just arrived yesterday, it's sweet and juicy."

While peeling the sugarcane, Uncle Wang kept rambling on, "To be honest, I spent a long time picking out the tenderest ones, with hardly any waste."

"Uncle Wang, I'm still more interested in the gossip you're talking about," Si Yang pressed on, softening his tone. "What exactly is wrong with her? I heard that her mother is so grief-stricken that she's in a coma all day, only kept alive by IV fluids. It's quite pitiful..."

Before he could finish speaking, he noticed that Uncle Wang's expression was off, so he quickly stopped talking.

"Bullshit!" Uncle Wang spat out. "That kid has only been in this area for two weeks. I've seen him twice by chance, and he's covered in bruises, obviously beaten up. New wounds piled on top of old ones, all bruises and welts. What normal mother would treat her own child like that? I even suspect she's a psychopath!"

At this point, he sighed again, "But it's not good to say such things lightly. Even if she really has a problem, she is still the child she carried for ten months and gave birth to. Even tigers don't eat their cubs, so I dare not make any rash conclusions."

By this time, Uncle Wang had finished peeling the sugarcane, picked up a knife, and with a few quick "snip-snip" cuts, he chopped the sugarcane into small pieces. The whole process took no more than five minutes with the juicer.

"Injured? Isn't this blatant abuse?" Si Yang's mind went blank for a moment. That single mother was not a mother who loved her daughter dearly at all; the harm she did to her child was real.

"Those marks are definitely from being beaten, no doubt about it." Uncle Wang turned off the juicer, poured the sugarcane juice into a cup, and his tone was still agitated. "That kid has only been out two or three times. She was dressed smartly when she went out, but as soon as she reached out, the marks on her hands were exposed. The woman was also cursing and pulling her hair. No wonder we often heard crying coming from her house at night."

Uncle Wang got a little carried away, and his voice grew louder and louder. Any parent with a conscience couldn't bear to see their child suffer like this.

"After the incident, so many reporters came, didn't you tell them about this?" Si Yang hurriedly asked. But as soon as the words left his mouth, he realized that although Uncle Wang was indignant, he was still a businessman. Businessmen value harmony and would usually turn a blind eye if it didn't involve their own interests. It wasn't worth getting into trouble for a stranger.

Uncle Wang didn't answer, but just lowered his head to wipe the juicer. His expression gradually calmed down, and Si Yang didn't press him for an answer.

"That child is so pitiful. Doesn't anyone in her family care for her?" Si Yang changed his questioning approach, glancing at the time on his hand.

It was getting late, and according to his plan, he intended to go to Jinchuan University to look for Song Wanxi. Although he didn't have her contact information, he knew she was in the same college and major as him, so finding her shouldn't be too difficult.

The purpose of finding her was simply to confirm when she moved out, since the single mother was now living there.

He could have asked Uncle Wang for this information, but inquiring about the previous tenants across the street from Uncle Wang was too obvious and would easily arouse suspicion. Things need to be prioritized; he should first thoroughly investigate the clues at hand.

"I've never seen her with any other family members; it's usually just her and the child." Uncle Wang lowered his head and pondered for a moment, then spoke slowly and deliberately, "So it's hard to comment on this. But I know in my heart, how could two schoolchildren push a complete stranger like a little girl into the river?"

Si Yang nodded silently, offering no reply. A wave of melancholy washed over him; something a fruit vendor with little education could see so clearly was something those keyboard warriors hiding behind their screens couldn't. The public outcry was intensifying, pushing him and his sister to the brink of despair.

"I'm not just saying this casually," Uncle Wang added, as if afraid Si Yang wouldn't believe him. "Go ask Aunt Guo, she sells braised vegetables from a cart over there, and she thinks the same thing, saying that the woman is strange. As for the specifics, we can't say for sure."

Uncle Wang handed Si Yang a cup of sugarcane juice and a tissue, saying, "What normal parent doesn't love their child? Even if the child is naughty, they'll discipline them, but they'd never beat them to death."

Then, Uncle Wang began to tell his story. When he was young, he fell in love with his current wife, Aunt Liu, and they got married because she was pregnant. However, when the child was born, they discovered that she was missing a finger on her right hand.

Aunt Liu cried her heart out, feeling that she had done something terrible in her past life and that the retribution was being borne by Uncle Wang's child. She felt extremely guilty and felt sorry for Uncle Wang and, even more so, for the child.

"But I don't think so." Uncle Wang's face softened. "When God closes a door, He always opens a window. Although the child's right hand isn't perfect, she's sensible, ambitious, and we never have to worry about her studies. That's enough."

"I truly love my child, even though she's not perfect." A gentle smile returned to Uncle Wang's face when he mentioned Liu Meiyue. "Besides, who else would I spoil if not my own wife? And if I don't love my own daughter, who else would I expect to love her?"

Si Yang listened quietly and instantly understood what Uncle Wang was trying to say. Even with an imperfect child, parents will love them with all their might. Besides, that child was so young; how could that woman have done such a thing? Was her so-called sadness feigned, or did she have another purpose?

"You and Aunt Liu have such a good relationship." Si Yang exclaimed, only then realizing that Liu Meiyue, Uncle Wang, Aunt Liu, it turned out that Liu Meiyue took her mother's surname, which was indeed very rare.

"She's a crazy woman. I used to be penniless, but she insisted on marrying me. I had no choice but to be her slave." Uncle Wang shook his head, his tone full of doting affection.

He then looked at Si Yang and said, "Uncle is uneducated and doesn't know how to use the internet. This is how my life will be. Just keeping the shop and taking care of my wife and daughter is enough for me. I hope you kids can make a good living and find a good future, instead of being trapped in this small space like me."

Si Yang nodded vigorously. If last time he came, he only vaguely obtained some fragmented information, then this time, he suddenly understood. Not only did he feel that the woman was suspicious, but Uncle Wang and the others also felt that something was wrong with her. But these voices were too weak, like pebbles thrown into a lake, unable to even create ripples, let alone withstand the overwhelming public opinion.

He wanted to ask more questions, but a group of people came and started selecting various fruits from the fruit stand, so Si Yang had to give up for the time being.

He picked up the sugarcane juice, said goodbye to Uncle Wang, and turned to walk towards Jinchuan University. On the way, he thought he might try his luck and see if he could run into Aunt Guo, the one who sold braised vegetables, and perhaps get some more clues from her.

But after walking for a while, I realized that there must have been a big inspection today. The roadside was spotless, and there wasn't a single street vendor, let alone Aunt Guo's braised vegetable cart.