Hospital 444-Chapter 157 - 6: A Yuan

At this moment, Gu Yanan was completely shocked as well. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

She had seen a photo of Wei Zhengxian’s brother, Wei Zhengkang, and his appearance...was exactly the same as that of the young man in front of her!

However, the young man had no reaction whatsoever, and walked right past Wei Zhengxian, speaking to the landlady, "Does Master Du have time to come over?"

"Zhengkang!"

Wei Zhengxian grabbed the young man and yelled, "It’s me! Your brother!"

The young man looked at Wei Zhengxian blankly and immediately shook off his hand, saying, "You’ve mistaken me for someone else, I don’t know you."

"Are you kidding me?"

Indeed, Gu Yanan also felt it was impossible for this to be someone else. Wei Zhengkang wasn’t just any common face; his features were about seventy percent similar to Wei Zhengxian’s, and he was also an exceptionally rare beauty.

"You really have the wrong person," the young man continued to shake his head, "I only have a younger brother, no older brother."

"Yes, yes," the landlady chimed in, "this gentleman, A-Yuan is someone I’ve watched grow up from childhood, he can’t possibly be your brother."

"Impossible!" Wei Zhengxian shook his head frantically, "The same face, perhaps that could be a coincidence, but the voice is also exactly the same, how can that be? Besides, you are my brother, how could I possibly not recognize you! Zhengkang, it’s been five years! A full five years since you disappeared! After you went missing, Mom and Dad...Mom and Dad I..."

As he spoke, Wei Zhengxian’s voice began to choke up.

"Hmm..."

The young man named A-Yuan shook his head desperately, saying, "I really don’t know you. I’ve grown up in Heizhao village since I was little, you must be a visitor from somewhere else, aren’t you?"

At this point, Gu Yanan pulled at Wei Zhengxian and asked in a low voice close to his ear, "Does your brother have any marks on him, like... a birthmark or a scar?"

Wei Zhengxian shook his head, saying, "No."

Gu Yanan thought so too, reality wasn’t like a TV drama, where it’s so convenient that a long-lost relative would have some kind of mark for recognition.

"You are my brother! I couldn’t possibly be mistaken!" Wei Zhengxian also felt it was incredibly absurd at this point, his own brother standing right before him, and he still couldn’t recognize him!

Five years!

His brother had disappeared for five years! It had already reached the legal time frame where one could be declared dead!

Those five years were a devastating disaster for the entire Wei family. Wei Zhengxian was also clear that his mother was so picky about Ya Nan largely because of Zhengkang’s disappearance, having placed all her hopes on him.

Five years... Wei Zhengxian had never given up searching for his brother Zhengkang, always believing that he wasn’t dead, which is why he never filed a death report for him.

Now... he had found him! He had finally found his brother!

"Sir." The expression on the young man known as A-Yuan began to turn sour, "I came here to discuss things with the landlady. I’ve already said, I’m not your brother. If you insist on causing trouble, don’t blame me for getting angry."

"Zhengkang, did you, did you suffer from amnesia?" Wei Zhengxian still wouldn’t give up, "Do you clearly remember all the memories of your life from childhood? Take a good look, don’t you think we look very much alike?"

This time, A-Yuan was thoroughly infuriated.

"Can you stop bothering me? Don’t you understand what people are saying? Forget it, landlady, I’ll come back to find you in the afternoon. I’m going home to feed the sheep now."

Then, A-Yuan headed towards the inn’s front door.

Wei Zhengxian immediately went to follow, but was stopped by Gu Yanan.

"Zhengxian...please calm down and listen to me..."

But Wei Zhengxian was in no state to stay calm now, "He is my brother! My brother who has been missing for five years! Five years... We were almost at the point of despair!"

Gu Yanan held Wei Zhengxian firmly, took him to a relatively quiet rest room inside the guesthouse, and made him sit down. She said, "Listen to me, Zhengxian, he obviously is someone from this village. We’re not leaving; we’ll stay in the village for a few days."

Immediately afterward, Gu Yanan glanced at the position of the room’s door, making sure the landlady outside couldn’t hear her, and said, "You just said that his voice is completely identical to Zhengkang’s?"

"He is my brother!" Wei Zhengxian declared emphatically: "Not just the face and voice, but the intonation, the demeanor, the temperament... they’re all exactly the same! Even a clone couldn’t be this similar, could it?"

Gu Yanan nodded; something like this was indeed too outrageous.

So, the question now was...

If Ah Yuan was indeed Wei Zhengkang, then why was he pretending not to recognize Wei Zhengxian?

"I got it..." Wei Zhengxian slapped his thigh, "Human traffickers! He must have encountered human traffickers who sold him here! Then he knew everyone in the village was part of it, so he pretended not to know me!"

Then, he continued, "In our province, just last year, a massive human trafficking ring was busted. They had formed a complete industry chain in the rural areas; an entire village was in on the trafficking of persons, covering for each other, thwarting the police from rescuing kidnapped children and women!"

Gu Yanan shook her head as she listened to Wei Zhengxian.

"I don’t think that’s reasonable... Listen to me, Zhengxian, if your brother was pretending... then his acting and adaptability would be too perfect, worthy of an Oscar! Especially when you mentioned your parents, his expression didn’t change one bit. This really doesn’t make sense..."

Though Wei Zhengxian found her analysis made sense, he had suddenly come face to face with his brother who he had been separated from for five years, so he really couldn’t think rationally!

"So, Ya Nan, what you’re saying is... he’s not really my brother?"

"I’m not saying that either," Gu Yanan said in a lower voice. "The people in this village talk about worshipping some matriarch or grandmother, which is very suspicious. If that’s the case, they’re an organization. We are alone and powerless here, we can’t even call the police, and they could easily do whatever they want. We must calm down now, only by staying calm can we find out the truth!"

After all, Wei Zhengxian was a civil servant, it was just that his care turned to confusion. Listening to Gu Yanan’s reasoned analysis, he too came to his senses.

"Yes... that’s right."

"Actually, Zhengxian, if the people in the village really are part of some human trafficking group, then they are probably very wary of us now. We can’t investigate too openly... Otherwise, they might harm us."

Gu Yanan was well aware that this place was remote and the government’s reach was limited. No one knew they were here, and if they were killed, a simple burial would turn them into an unsolved mystery. Relying on the few "hiker" cover stories that Wei Zhengxian had fabricated was no way to intimidate the villagers of Heize Village.

"I know... you’re right, but, but I never imagined that seeing Zhengkang again would turn out like this..."

"I know, I understand you..."

Gu Yanan immediately sat next to him and hugged Wei Zhengxian.

She still remembered going to Wei Zhengxian’s home, where he kept the photos of him and his brother in the bedroom. Whenever he spoke of his missing brother, his expression was so sorrowful that even Gu Yanan, who had never met her future brother-in-law, felt like crying with him.

Five years ago, Wei Zhengkang successfully passed his postgraduate exams and became a master’s student. It should have been a joyous occasion, and to celebrate, he went hiking with a few friends.

However, after that trip... Wei Zhengkang disappeared without a trace. According to his friends, Zhengkang had been climbing with them, but as they walked, he got separated from the group.

Over the past five years, Wei Zhengxian had visited the mountain where his brother disappeared countless times, searched every inhabited place nearby. But in the deep mountains with no surveillance, finding his brother was incredibly difficult!

Wei Zhengxian’s parents had eventually fallen into despair. The disappearance of their younger son plunged his mother into extreme agony, and to this day, she struggles to recover, often waking up from nightmares.

"I must find out... that person called Ah Yuan, he is definitely my brother Zhengkang!"

...

"Excuse me, may I interrupt for a moment?"

Gao Heyann suddenly asked a question, "Um, Miss Gu, so... could you tell me if you and your boyfriend were able to prove that Ah Yuan is indeed your boyfriend’s brother?"