"Chen Shiren?"
Mentioning this name, Aunt Qin’s lips curled in disdain.
"Yes, doesn't he have a grudge with Li Feng?"
"Do you know Chen Shiren?"
"No."
"Then let me tell you."
...
Chen Shiren was a well-known doctor. It wasn't that Li Feng hated Chen Shiren; it was the other way around, Chen Shiren hated Li Feng because Li Feng ruined his reputation.
In the early days of reform and opening up in the eighties, Chen Shiren, who had studied nursing, returned to his hometown and opened an obstetrics and gynecology hospital.
In an era when midwives were still hired for childbirth, Chen Shiren, the gynecologist, was welcomed by all sectors. Leaders attached great importance to him and commended him several times.
Chen Shiren also presented himself as a savior, providing pregnant women with comprehensive, thoughtful, and scientific prenatal check-up services, covering everything from practical medical care to psychological counseling.
If Chen Shiren had continued to develop at that pace, he would truly have made a name for himself in rural healthcare.
However, things were not that simple. This Chen Shiren, while wearing a doctor's white coat, had a lustful heart. He had affairs with several admirers, even impregnating a young girl.
"Was that child Li Feng's?"
"Yes!"
"How do you know about this?"
Aunt Qin pondered for a moment, her expression somewhat troubled. But she gritted her teeth and said with an air of inevitability, "By selling my body."
"What do you mean?"
I asked, confused, my mind not catching up.
"Chen Shiren is a dirty old man. I took the opportunity to go to him for a gynecological issue, seduced him, and got the information. I don't know which shameless woman gave birth to the child for him, yet he didn't marry her and instead abandoned the child in the mountains."
As she spoke, Aunt Qin gnashed her teeth, her face contorted. She didn't seem to be acting; she looked like she wanted to devour Chen Shiren.
"What happened next?"
"I told Li Feng about it!" Aunt Qin sighed, her expression tinged with a hint of sorrow. She seemed reluctant to continue, but I couldn't let it end there and pressed on, "What did Li Feng do?"
"He didn't do anything. He was alone and didn't want a father like that. Seeing how pitiful the child was, my heart ached. I went to Chen Shiren and asked him to acknowledge the child."
"He refused."
"Yes, he refused and even threatened me, saying that he was a local and if I spoke out, he would drive me out of the village."
"You told them."
"My life has been hard enough, I wasn't afraid of that. I leaked the story, saying he drunkenly confessed in bed. From that day on, Chen Shiren's reputation plummeted. With his shamelessness, who would dare come to him for treatment? His obstetrics and gynecology hospital went bust. Later, it became a traditional Chinese medicine hospital, and that's how it survived."
"Why didn't Li Feng acknowledge him in the end?"
"Li Feng is a child with great integrity. He would rather starve than acknowledge such a father."
I thought for a moment and asked earnestly, "Why were you willing to sell your body to help Li Feng get justice?"
"I am an unfortunate woman. The Liu family bought me to continue their family line, but I couldn't conceive. Not being able to have children doesn't mean I don't like them. Even though Li Feng was alone and helpless, he had integrity and was righteous. I liked him very much."
"But you didn't adopt him!"
"He once asked me to be his mother, but I refused. I am too tainted, known as the black widow for miles around. How could I be his mother? However, the child is filial. As he grew up and went to the city, he would send me money every few months and sometimes call to tell me about his life."
...
I left Aunt Qin's house. So Li Feng knew who his father was? What a tragic life. I almost didn't want to investigate anymore. From a moral standpoint, Li Feng's fate was too tragic. If he made any mistakes, it was fate's fault and not Li Feng's. It was settled. I would invest and leave this village, then have an honest talk with Li Feng.
I hadn't found Secretary An yet when I saw Doctor Chen, and it looked like Doctor Chen was looking for me.
Hearing Aunt Qin's account, I no longer had a good impression of this Doctor Chen. Especially when I saw his smug expression, I felt contempt. With your demeanor, what are you pretending to be?
"You are surnamed Tang, right?" I didn't intend to talk to him, but he spoke first.
"Yes!" After a brief reply, I tried to sidestep and leave, but he asked again, "Are you really here for Li Feng's character?"
"That's none of your business anymore."
Doctor Chen was not deterred by my coldness and said very seriously, "Don't mind him, he is a beast who has lost his conscience."
"Do you have the right to say that about him?" I didn't want to engage with him, but I couldn't resist a retort.
"Don't believe anything others say. I am not his father."
"It's not your fault if you don't want to admit it, but there's no need to call him a beast."
"Secretary An was here earlier, so I couldn't say anything. Now I will tell you everything."
Looking at Doctor Chen's unusually serious face, I decided to listen before leaving.
...
In the countryside, obstetrics and gynecology was already a sensitive area, let alone a male gynecologist. Back then, there was indeed an unmarried pregnant girl, but the child in her womb had nothing to do with Chen Shiren.
When the girl came to the hospital, she was already six months pregnant. Coming from the city to Chen Shiren's small rural obstetrics and gynecology hospital, the girl had only one purpose: to abort the child.
Over six months, almost seven months. Forget noble ethics. Even in the hearts of ordinary people, this was already a life. To perform an abortion on a child this size was akin to murder.
Chen Shiren did not want to do it. Even though the girl offered him a lot of money, he had no such intentions. After all, at that time, Chen Shiren was still highly respected, even a model for private hospitals.
The township valued him, and the leaders above also paid attention. Under such circumstances, how could Chen Shiren make a mistake? Not only did he not make a mistake, but he also persuaded the girl to give birth to the child.
After all, it was her flesh and blood. The girl softened, and finally decided to give birth. However, unexpectedly, on the day of childbirth, people from her family arrived in a Red Flag car, looking like officials. As they left, the family paid Chen Shiren and asked him to keep quiet. They also warned Chen Shiren that if anything went wrong, he would be found dead in the mountains.
At that time, the family's attire and demeanor were too imposing. In Chen Shiren's eyes, they were influential figures he could not afford to offend. In the end, Chen Shiren swallowed and fearfully agreed.
But unexpectedly, the next day, news spread through the village that someone had found an abandoned baby boy in the mountains.
Chen Shiren's head buzzed. Damn it, what kind of people were they? Regardless, the child was born, how could they abandon it?
...
At that time, the village elder reported the case, and the town police station sent people to investigate, asking Chen Shiren if a woman had given birth there.
I looked at Chen Shiren, inwardly scoffing, and interjected, "Did you lie with a clear conscience?"
"No, I told the police. I even gave them the car license plate." As he said this, Chen Shiren’s expression was somewhat melancholic, as if something weighed on his mind.
"Didn't the police investigate?" I asked, confused.
Chen Shiren sneered, "Investigate? Not at all. They took me to the police station, beat me with soft objects, pricked me with needles, and then warned me not to say a word about it."
"That's nonsense!"
"Do you think the police back then were real police? They were just the pawns of officials. The officials were corrupt, and their pawns were equally corrupt."
"What did you say in the end?"
"Of course, I swallowed my pride and said nothing. What else could I do? From then on, my hospital's reputation plummeted. No one came, and the leaders above not only stopped paying attention but also made things difficult for me at every turn. Seeing me like this, the villagers said I brought it upon myself, that I lacked medical ethics. Who could I tell about my suffering? I became like this for doing good deeds."
The problem had now become serious. At this moment, I had a hunch, a hunch that even I found hard to believe, that Chen Shiren was telling the truth. However, Li Feng was just an infant at the time. Why would Chen Shiren vent his anger on Li Feng?
"Even so, there's no need for you to hate Li Feng, is there? He was the abandoned one, the pitiable one."
"He's pitiable, that little brat is even more unscrupulous. Listen to me..."
If Chen Shiren was telling the truth, then everything was a setup.
Chen Shiren's obstetrics and gynecology hospital closed in '92. Li Feng was only ten years old then. A ten-year-old child orchestrating such a scheme, especially without a master, was too incredible.