Chapter 24: Calling Him "Uncle"?

Wen Ran sighed, realizing she could not simply walk away and leave him to his own devices.

"I will take you to the hospital."

"No need, a simple bandage will do!" Shen Nanzheng laughed heartily, using the sound to mask his guilty conscience. In truth, he just wanted to spend a little more time with her; otherwise, he wouldn't even have needed a bandage.

Wen Ran rarely saw him laugh so openly. He was twenty years younger than when she had jumped to her death, and in her memory, he was always composed, carrying himself with the rigid air of a veteran cadre. Such a genuine smile was a rarity. It was likely because he was much younger now. As his presence became more tangible, the memories of the past grew clearer, leaving her feeling slightly uneasy and unsure of how to interact with him.

Shen Nanzheng, however, was beaming with joy as he walked beside her. Suddenly, a cry rang out nearby: "Thief! Catch the thief!"

This... As a soldier, Shen Nanzheng could not simply stand by. Before Wen Ran could react, he had already darted off. "You go on ahead, don't worry about me!"

Wen Ran: "..."

She turned around, but he had already run far off. Let her go first? She couldn't help but feel concerned. Even though she no longer intended to marry him, she didn't want to see him in danger, especially since he was already injured. She mounted her bicycle and followed him.

She arrived to find a middle-aged woman clutching a boy of about twelve or thirteen, shouting, "You brat, you stole my money and you still won't admit it!"

"I didn't steal it!" the boy insisted stubbornly. "I found it on the road and was waiting here for the owner!"

"It was you! You're just denying it!" The woman held up a fifty-cent coin. "And where is the other twenty cents?"

The boy held his ground. "If I had stolen it, why would I wait here for you to catch me? Don't be unreasonable; I only found fifty cents. Our family may be poor, but we never do anything dishonest."

Wen Ran and Shen Nanzheng exchanged a look, quickly grasping the situation. The woman had lost money, and the boy had found some. The boy had found fifty cents, while the woman claimed to have lost seventy. It was either a misunderstanding or a deliberate attempt at extortion.

Seeing that the boy was upright and spoke with logic, Shen Nanzheng said to the woman, "Since you claim you lost seventy cents, then this fifty cents cannot be yours."

Wen Ran immediately understood his intent and chimed in, "Exactly. You should go look for your seventy cents elsewhere; this fifty cents must belong to someone else."

The woman's eyes darted around. "It is mine! I must have remembered wrong; I lost fifty cents."

Shen Nanzheng asked, "What identifying marks does your fifty-cent coin have?"

The woman: "..."

Unable to answer, she stubbornly retorted, "Money all looks the same! I didn't put any marks on it."

"Then you can't say it's yours!" Wen Ran looked at the boy and continued, "If the money has no marks, it could be mine, or it could be his. Why must it be yours? If you aren't satisfied, let him hand it over to the police officer, and you can go argue your case with them!"

The woman stomped her feet in frustration. "Meddlesome people!"

Shen Nanzheng shielded Wen Ran and said, "We are definitely meddling in this. Let's go to the police station right now!"

Upon hearing the mention of the police station, the woman grew nervous, but she stuck to her story: "I lost money too!"

"Then go find it at the police station!"

Shen Nanzheng and Wen Ran took the boy to the nearby police station and handed the money to the officers. The rest was no longer their concern. As they turned to leave, the boy followed them out and bowed deeply. "Thank you, Uncle! Thank you, Sister!"

Uncle? Sister?

Shen Nanzheng’s expression soured visibly. Calling him "Uncle" and his wife "Sister"? The generational gap was immediately established! He was only twenty-seven and looked quite young in the mirror; how could this child call him "Uncle"? He felt sullen. Frowning, he said, "I'll give you one more chance—what did you call me?"

The boy: "..." He didn't know what he had done wrong; he only remembered his mother telling him to call any soldier he met "Uncle."

Just then, a woman with a visibly distended abdomen approached from a distance. "Erhu, why haven't you come home? You had me so worried!"

The boy recounted what had happened, then said with concern, "Mom, your health isn't good, you shouldn't worry about me. I'm old enough to find my way home."

The woman stroked the boy's head and bowed to thank Shen Nanzheng and Wen Ran. Shen Nanzheng quickly said, "Don't take it to heart, ma'am. It must be difficult for you to come out looking for your son while so far along in your pregnancy."

The woman's face changed drastically. "I am not pregnant!"

Shen Nanzheng: "..."

He felt incredibly awkward. Any person with eyes could see the woman looked six or seven months pregnant; there was nothing he could do if she refused to admit it. The boy added anxiously, "My mom isn't pregnant, she's just sick!"

Shen Nanzheng, never having seen such an illness, asked curiously, "What kind of illness?"

The woman covered her face and wept. "I don't know. I've been to many hospitals, and they couldn't diagnose it. To be honest, this stomach makes me want to die. If it weren't for my son, I would have..." She choked on her sobs, unable to finish.

Wen Ran observed her complexion—grayish-black and yellowish—along with the swelling and the pained, irritable expression. Her limbs were also severely swollen. Looking at her belly, which resembled that of a woman six or seven months pregnant, she began to form a judgment.

"Ma'am, do you find that you pant heavily with the slightest movement, struggle to lie flat, have a poor appetite, sleep poorly, feel cold, and suffer from abdominal bloating?"