Reborn as a Tough Army Wife-Chapter 745 - 740: Probing the Truth

So as planned, Fang Pingying would go for a walk in the park of that neighborhood after dinner every day, to try and bump into Shuanzi’s mother and the others.

Just as Fang Pingying expected, she really did run into them on her first day.

Moreover, Hui Zi’s wife also said that they bring their children out to play at this time every day.

Since they had encountered each other nearby before, after returning home, Shuanzi’s mother naturally asked Hui Zi’s wife about Fang Pingying’s family circumstances, and she knew that Fang Pingying’s family was well-off, living in the nearby villa area, so it wasn’t surprising. She brought her children and chatted with Fang Pingying in the park.

Chatting with the old lady would inevitably lead to discussions about family matters, and within a few days, Fang Pingying had managed to probe out the background of the old lady’s family thoroughly.

Shuanzi had lost his father at a young age and had been brought up by his mother alone. He came to the city before he was even fourteen and had done all sorts of hard and dirty jobs — collecting garbage, lugging heavy bags, hauling bricks — but didn’t earn much money.

He had always been struggling until a few years ago when he said he met some nobles and joined some organization, doing all sorts of dirty deeds, and actually made some money, so he seemed quite flashy.

In fact, Shuanzi’s mother was aware of what Shuanzi was doing and knew that these activities meant living life on the edge of a knife, but she could not persuade him otherwise, so she came up with an idea. She pretended to be seriously ill, hoping Shuanzi would settle down, start a family, and have children earlier.

The thinking of rural people is that once a man gets married and has children, he will settle down and live a proper life. However, to her surprise, her foolish son brought back a son without the mother, and the daughter-in-law was nowhere to be seen.

After getting familiar with these matters over a few days, and understanding part of the old lady’s character, Fang Pingying began to test the waters with her.

She casually found a topic, starting with the children’s matters, "Aunt Xu, don’t blame me for being straightforward, but with your son behaving like this, aren’t you worried that he might be deceiving you? Like randomly bringing home a child and claiming it’s his own, of course, he does this out of filial piety, hoping to cure your illness, but if it’s not your biological grandson, isn’t that..."

The old lady understood Pingying’s implication; she hurriedly shook her head with a firm smile, saying, "Not possible, I understand my son’s character. If this child weren’t his biological child, he wouldn’t treat the child so well. You have no idea how much money he has spent on this child. I’ve heard from his subordinates that just for the woman who bore the child for him, he almost gave her the money equivalent to an entire apartment."

At this point, Fang Pingying had roughly understood why Xu He had agreed to give the child to Shuanzi. It turned out there was such a large sum of money involved. For someone like Xu He, it doesn’t matter that she only had one son to sell; if she had more, she would have sold more.

However, based on what Fang Pingying knew about Xu He, she was somewhat perplexed. Knowing Xu He’s character, she should know what matters; why didn’t she take this opportunity to marry Shuanzi instead?

Isn’t she always looking down on Luo Zhiming? Then why doesn’t she leave Luo Zhiming?

With these thoughts, Fang Pingying continued to coax information from the old lady, "If that’s the case, why didn’t he marry the woman? He’s got both a wife and a child, what a good thing that would be."

The old lady sighed, with a tinge of regret, "Sigh, he told me that the woman is not a good fit, that marrying her would be the death of me, so he refused to take her, only wanting the child."

Hearing the old lady say this, Fang Pingying also understood a bit; perhaps Shuanzi had seen through Xu He’s true nature. He might think it’s fine for a fling, but not suitable for marriage, hence he only wanted the child, not the mother.

Although Xu He had some cunning ways to deal with people, if she truly fought with someone like Shuanzi, she surely wouldn’t win. In the end, she naturally agreed to take some money — however much it was, that was what it would be.

However, the reason Fang Pingying was explaining things to the old lady was naturally not just to understand Xu He’s situation; her goal was to have Shuanzi deal with Xu He.

So of course, she wouldn’t end the conversation there. She playfully teased the child for a while, then pursued further, "Then you can be sure that this child is really your son’s, right?"

The old lady glanced at her grandson and laughed, "That’s for certain. Not to mention the child looks just like my Shuanzi, my son even took the child to the hospital for a paternity test, there’s no mistake."

"That’s right, the big hospitals in the provincial city can do the testing; once tested, there’s definitely no mistake." Fang Pingying hesitated as she watched the child, feeling that the more she looked at him, the more something seemed off. He indeed liked to smile, but it seemed like his smile had no particular pattern, a bit like a silly grin, and his physique wasn’t as robust as a typical child’s.

Anyway, whether for the sake of the child or to deal with Xu He, Fang Pingying still voiced a warning to the old lady, "However, Aunt Xu, I do want to ask, have you taken the child to the hospital for a check-up?"

Rural people believe in superstitions, and when it comes to associating children with hospitals, the old lady was a bit displeased, "What’s there to check? My grandson isn’t sick or in pain, what’s the point of going to the hospital?"

Fang Pingying immediately felt she’d been too straightforward, possibly offending the old lady, and quickly explained, "No, no, that’s not what I meant. I’m saying that in the city, children need to get vaccinated after they’re born. Has your child been vaccinated?"

"Well, no," the old lady still seemed unhappy. "What vaccination? Why is there so much fuss about everything in the city? When I was back in the countryside, we never had that."

Seeing the old lady like this, Hui Zi’s wife gave Fang Pingying a wink and quickly came forward to persuade, "Auntie, the countryside and the city are different. I heard my Hui Zi saying too that city kids are more precious than those in the countryside, and they do need to get vaccinated."

As Hui Zi’s wife spoke, she also deliberately added, "Moreover, Sister Fang here, her family had twins, almost three years old now, and very clever. She knows all about these things, you can believe her, she’s definitely right." 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Hearing Hui Zi’s wife say this, the old lady seemed to come around and quickly turned to Fang Pingying, "That makes sense. Tonight when my son comes back, I’ll have him take me and the child tomorrow. We’ll do as the city folks do; after all, we’ve got a precious grandson now, we should cherish him more."

"That’s the best. Take the chance to get the child a check-up too, see how his development is going. It gives adults peace of mind," Fang Pingying nodded immediately, "My children were also checked when they were that age."

"That’s settled then." The old lady, remembering her earlier poor attitude, hastily apologized to Fang Pingying, "My dear niece, I must thank you. I’m rather hot-tempered, and wasn’t too polite just now, don’t take it to heart, alright?"