Would They Realize He Was an Impostor?

Grandpa had two sons and two daughters. The original owner's father was the second child.

The old man lived with his eldest son.

The old man was a scholar, and his two eldest sons had inevitably picked up a little of a scholar's temperament.

Well, that was the flattering way to put it.

To put it bluntly, they weren't much good at manual labor!

That was why their family had struggled for so long to turn things around, and their circumstances had always been among the worst in the village.

The original owner seemed to have inherited some things from his grandfather and father too, and he had done well in school.

He hadn't been a top student, but he had shown some talent.

He had done well from a young age, so he had stayed in school a few years longer.

Then, after graduating from middle school, he had been selected by the supply and marketing cooperative.

Everyone said the old man had accomplished nothing all his life, and his two eldest sons hadn't amounted to much either.

Now that his grandson's generation had come along, they could finally see hope of turning things around.

So the old man doted on Liang Xin.

Whenever he managed to get his hands on something good, even if it wasn't all that good, his first thought was always for this grandson.

These memories automatically surfaced in Liang Xin's mind.

Liang Xin sighed, unsure what to make of it all.

Just then, a clamor came from outside.

A large group of people seemed to be approaching, talking as they came.

By now, glass windows were gradually becoming common in the capital.

But in the countryside, most homes still had rows of wooden shutters or paper-covered windows.

A wooden shutter was a plank used as a window. When the weather wasn't too cold, it could be pushed open to let in some air or sunlight.

But they were mostly small and set rather high.

Sitting on the kang, Liang Xin couldn't see what was happening outside.

He would have to stand up and walk over to the window to see.

But he didn't need to look. He recognized the familiar voices alone.

It was the original owner's family!

The whole family must have come back!

He suddenly grew nervous!

Would his family notice that he was no longer the Liang Xin they knew?

If they did, what would happen?

Call them Mom and Dad when you see them. Don't let anyone spot a flaw!

Liang Xin reminded himself of that. When the group came in, he rose and smiled at the man and woman leading them.

"Dad, Mom, I'm back."

He managed to call them Mom and Dad without a hitch, and was the first to breathe a sigh of relief.

Good. He had cleared the first hurdle, and the hardest one: the hurdle in his own heart!

"You're back. It's good to have you back."

When Mom saw Liang Xin, she hurried over excitedly, took his hand, and looked him up and down.

She was so excited she nearly burst into tears.

Anyone who didn't know better might have thought her eldest son had just returned from a dangerous front line, rather than gone to the capital for work.

Was there any need to be so excited?

It was only natural, though. After all, he had never been away from his mother this long in his entire life.

This time, he had gone to the capital and been away for almost a month.

Communication was very backward in this era, too.

The village committee had the only telephone in the entire village, and sometimes calls went through, while other times they didn't.

Although Liang Xin had written two letters home,

Mom still couldn't help worrying about him.

She worried about whether he was eating and living well on his own, whether anyone was bullying him, and things like that.

These were the simplest feelings of an ordinary mother.

"Mm, you look like you're in much better spirits."

As soon as Liang Xin heard Dad's compliment, he knew the man didn't know what to say and had just come up with something offhand.

Didn't he know his own condition?

Compared to the original owner, he certainly couldn't be considered to be in good spirits.

The original owner had been a genuinely sunny, cheerful eighteen-year-old boy.

"Dad, Mom, I came back this time because my work unit has officially assigned me a job. From now on, I'll be working the intermediate route from the unit to our village and the nearby villages and towns."

"So I'll be able to come home once every two days from now on."

"That's good. That's wonderful news."

Mom was so excited she was on the verge of tears again.

She had thought it would be hard to see her son once he went to the capital.

But now he could come home every two days?

That made her happier than any other news she could have heard!

After exchanging a few words with his parents, Liang Xin turned his attention to his younger siblings.

There were five siblings in his family altogether. Five children was on the high side, even in this era!

He was the eldest.

The second child, Liang Ying, was a girl of fifteen.

The third, Liang Wei, was a boy of thirteen.

The fourth, Liang Jia, was a girl of ten.

From that, it was clear that each child was about two or three years apart.

That was because nutrition was inadequate in those days, and every childbirth was like a trip through the gates of hell for a woman.

It left her vitality badly depleted every time.

So women generally rested and recuperated for a few years before having another child.

Then there was the fifth, Liang Yong, who was running around bare-bottomed.

He was three.

He was seven years younger than the fourth child, Liang Jia.

From that, it was clear that, well, he had been an accident.

The family's four children had already been a heavy burden.

They hadn't planned on having any more.

Then, an accident happened...

But by the time the pregnancy was discovered, she was already several months along. An abortion at that point would have been difficult and just as dangerous.

After consulting a doctor, they felt the risk was too great. Having weighed the pros and cons, they decided to have the baby!

And so the fifth child was born.

Liang Xin knew what had happened back then.

The second child might have known.

The third and fourth children had still been little at the time, so they probably didn't know much about it.

Well, it would be best if the fifth child never learned the truth in his entire life.

Otherwise, they feared he wouldn't be able to get over that hurdle in his heart.