Chapter 36 Uncle, can you hug me?
"My kid was adopted. I've raised him for more than ten years."
Zhao Qishui's heart skipped a beat when he heard this: "How old is the child this year?"
"I was about five or six when I came here, so let's just count it as five. I'm eighteen this year."
Hearing that it was eighteen, Zhao Qishui's breathing became rapid: "Brother, can you call the child over? Otherwise, I will go back with you to take a look?"
The man surnamed Liu's eyes rolled around: "Can you see it? What if it's your son and you take him away? Wouldn't it be a waste of all my years raising him?"
"No, if it's true, I will definitely compensate you."
"Compensation? How much can you compensate?"
The brigade secretary couldn't stand it anymore: "Captain Liu, we don't even know if it's true or not, but you want to ask for money first. Go and call your kid over ."
Liu Chang did not move: "That won't do. I still count on my son to take care of me in my old age."
Zhao Qishui had seen a lot of the world, and he could tell from just a few words that this man was a tough guy.
"Brother, do you remember what the child was wearing when he first came to your house?"
"How many years has it been? Who can remember?"
"Who gave this child to you?"
Liu Chang was anxious: "What kind of gift? I bought it for 300 yuan. How much was 300 yuan worth more than 10 years ago? I emptied my family's savings to buy it, hoping that it would continue my family's legacy in the future."
"Now that I've raised him this big, you can see him if you want? What if my child takes him away? No, no, you can't see him."
Zhao Qishui took out five hundred yuan and stuffed it into Liu Chang's hand: "Brother, whether he is my son or not, this money belongs to you. If he is, I will thank you and will definitely not let you suffer any loss."
The current matter is not about finding out whether the child was sold or given for adoption. Zhao Qishui just wants to see the child as soon as possible.
Liu Chang rubbed the money in his hands and his expression looked better, but he still asked Zhao Qishui to write a letter of commitment.
He promised that even if the child was his son, he could not be held accountable for buying the child.
The whole village knew about this, so Liu Chang could not lie. With the development of information technology in recent years, even though he was illiterate, he knew that buying and selling children was illegal.
But these were all things of the past, and the child has already been registered in his family's household registration, making it a legal adoption. He asked Zhao Qishui to write this document in case his biological parents held him accountable.
Zhao Qishui agreed , quickly wrote a letter of commitment, and then urged Liu Chang to take him to see it.
Liu Chang asked the secretary to help him read it, and he nodded in agreement after listening to it once.
He Shu had been watching from the side, and seeing Uncle Zhao getting anxious, he was unable to do anything to help.
We went to Liu Chang's house. There were two old earthen houses with cracked walls, which stood out among the large red brick and tile houses.
When I arrived at the gate of the yard, there was a boy about ten years old in the yard. He was wearing a torn sweater and leaning against the wall with his feet hugged, looking dazed.
Liu Chang pushed open the crooked gate and walked in. The boy immediately stood up in horror.
After He Shu saw that he stood up, his trousers had become much shorter, and his exposed ankles were red with a hint of black, probably because of the cold.
"Here it is, take a look."
After saying this, not only He Shu, but even Zhao Qishui was stunned.
They originally thought that the child was at most ten years old, but it turned out to be the adopted son that Liu Chang mentioned who was already eighteen years old?
The child's eyes were a little dull, and everyone could see that he was afraid of Liu Chang.
Looking at the bald spot on his head, his thin neck and the disproportionate head proportions, it is obvious that this is due to long-term malnutrition.
Zhao Qishui turned to look at their village secretary, who nodded: "That's him, his name is Liu Ji."
Even if the child is not your own, you can't raise him like this! If you don't have the ability, why buy a child?
Zhao Qishui suppressed his anger and looked at Liu Chang: "Brother, can I talk to the child alone for a while?"
He saw that with Liu Chang around, the child was like a mouse seeing a cat, and there were many things he couldn't ask him in detail.
The village secretary pulled Liu Chang and invited the old man from Sujiatun into the house to leave Zhao Qishui a chance.
"Your name is Liu Ji, right?" Zhao Qishui reached out to grab Liu Ji's hand, but Liu Ji shrank back and pressed his body against the wall.
Zhao Qishui felt upset. He was not sure if this was Zhao Yan, because the child was so thin that he looked unrecognizable. He was seventeen or eighteen years old, but his physical development was similar to that of a ten-year-old child.
"Don't be afraid. I have a son who is about your age. He was lost when he was very young. So I heard that you were adopted, so I came to see you."
"Do you still remember your childhood? Do you have any impression at all?"
Liu Ji still didn't speak, but his dull eyes began to flicker a little.
He Shu quickly took out the small car and clothes: "Look at these, do you have any impression?"
Zhao Qishui also looked at him expectantly, hoping that he would nod, but Liu Ji shook his head and opened his mouth, but tears flowed out before he could say anything.
"I am not."
This was the first sentence Liu Ji said. After that, he silently shed tears, looking at the car in He Shu's hand with envy.
"Think about it again. Maybe you were too young at that time and couldn't remember it. Do you have any impression of me? Our family lived at the mouth of Ningjiang River on Dan River. There was a small stone bridge there..."
"By the way, do you like pandas? Daddy wants to take you to see giant pandas on a big plane. Do you remember?"
Zhao Qishui already treated the child in front of him as his own son. He kept telling him about the past and even showed him photos.
Liu Ji cried as he listened, and finally slid down the mud wall, squatting on the ground with his face in his hands: "I am not..."
"How do you know it's not? Why don't you think about it again? It doesn't matter if you can't remember. I'll take you to do a paternity test."
Zhao Qishui's chin trembled. He held Liu Ji's shoulders and squatted down with him.
"I'm not. I remember my parents. They sold me..."
Liu Ji's words shattered Zhao Qishui's hopes. He opened his mouth wide, unable to say anything.
The dilapidated mud and thatched house, the dilapidated yard, the two broken hearts did not come together at this moment, but instead produced more cracks.
Liu Ji was in poor health. Years of malnutrition made him extremely weak and he almost fainted from crying.
Liu Chang came out and wanted to kick him out of annoyance when he heard the crying, but then he remembered that there were outsiders around.
"How is it? Is it your son?"
Zhao Qishui wiped his face, shook his head gently, let go of his hand and slowly stood up.
"If you don't want to, just go." Anyway, since he got the 500 yuan, Liu Chang didn't lose anything. He actually hoped that more people would come to look for their son like this.
Zhao Qishui glanced at Liu Ji again. Liu Ji had raised his head at some point and was looking at Zhao Qishui quietly.
"Since you have adopted him, you should be nice to him." Zhao Qishui could not help but say this, which made Liu Chang immediately turn hostile and drive him and He Shu out.
Liu Ji stood up at this time, holding on to the wall: "Uncle, can you hug me?"
