The impression of that person in her mind had changed from a clear outline she could imagine as a child, to a now vague and indistinct image.
-
Sienna Thornton sniffed, took a deep breath, cald her emotions, and pulled out a few tissues to wipe linda Linton’s tears.
She held linda Linton’s hand tightly, swallowed, and asked, "Mom, think carefully, did Dad ever ntion what his ho was like? For example, did he live in a company-assigned apartnt, or in a standalone small building? Or more specifically, maybe he lived in a courtyard?"
She wanted to get all the facts straight today and didn’t want to waste any more ti. She wanted to find that person quickly! Whether he was alive or dead, she wanted to put an end to the search for her father at this stage.
If that person was no longer around, she would accept it and cherish him in her heart henceforth, live well, and let go of this obsessive search. A life burdened by obsession was truly exhausting! She didn’t want to waste her limited ti and energy on such matters; she had a career to strive for and love to safeguard.
linda Linton, with red-rimd eyes, twisted the tissue in her hands, thought for a while, and said, "He should have lived in a standalone small building. He said his ho had a yard with a dog tied up. Every ti he returned, the dog, even before seeing him, would know he was back and always run to the gate to greet him."
"Okay, what else?" Sienna Thornton asked urgently, "Did he ever ntion how many siblings he had? What did his parents do?"
"He was an only child, and his mother was a teacher..."
Before linda Linton finished speaking, Sienna Thornton interrupted: "Did he say which school his mother taught at? What subject did she teach?"
linda Linton shook her head: "He might not have said, or I might have forgotten."
The small glimr of hope that had just ignited in Sienna Thornton’s heart was extinguished again.
She slightly cald her emotions and squeezed linda Linton’s hand: "Mom, if you rember anything else, please call , okay?"
linda Linton, with red-rimd eyes, glanced at her and, as she was about to stand up, held her hand and softly said, "Annie, take care of yourself, don’t work too hard."
"Alright."
-
After talking with linda Linton, Sienna Thornton left with Simon Forrester.
On the way back, Sienna Thornton relayed the two rather valuable clues linda Linton provided that evening to Simon Forrester, and Simon called the person who was helping them search.
After the call, Simon Forrester freed one hand to hold hers: "So your biological father was a teacher’s child, no wonder you insisted on teaching for three years."
"He could also be a cadre’s child," Sienna Thornton stared at the windshield, her face calm, "During that era, the standalone houses in Brimfield were either farmhouses in the suburbs or villas belonging to senior cadre families in the city. From how my mom described that man’s attire, he couldn’t have been a farr; he was most likely the child of a high-ranking official family. I suspect his father was an official, and his mother was a teacher."
Simon Forrester, glancing at the road conditions, nodded in agreent after hearing her, but soon asked puzzledly: "How could she not even know his na? Just a surna?"
"My mom was illiterate, and in those days, village people had a lot of respect for teachers, calling him ’Mr. Thornton’ politely, and naturally, my mom followed suit, so she only knew his surna was ’Tang’."
"If she couldn’t read, could it be that it wasn’t ’Tang’ but ’Tang’? After all, these two characters sound alike."
Hearing this, Sienna Thornton was also stunned, turned to look at him, and after a mont, said in a daze: "We can’t rule out that possibility."
————————————
I want to say a few words here for linda Linton.
Sienna Thornton’s biological father was teaching in the village at the ti and fell in love with linda Linton.
Back then, linda Linton was only eighteen years old, at the most beautiful age for a girl. She was very pretty and quite tall (imagine a beauty from the 1980s, like Rosamund Garland), and this very beautiful linda Linton was also gentle, kind, and spoke softly, yes, she was the kind of girl who was rather weak, liked to cry, but also very innocent and cute. Sienna Thornton’s biological father taught her to read, told her stories, and spoke of the world beyond the mountain. linda Linton admired and adored Sienna Thornton’s biological father because of this. Mr. Thornton at the ti was just in his twenties, and college students of that era were actually rather naive. The beautiful, gentle linda Linton practically embodied all of Mr. Thornton’s fantasies about won.
They fell in love, and Mr. Thornton went ho to cancel the engagent his parents arranged, but was unsuccessful. He was placed under house arrest and, months later, returned to find linda Linton, but she could not be found. At that ti, because of an unwed pregnancy, linda Linton was driven out by her family, and no one knew where she wandered.
Later, soone introduced Felix Raines to linda Linton, and despite Felix Raines being poor and unattractive, linda Linton married him because she knew if she didn’t find shelter, if she continued to wander, both she and the child in her belly wouldn’t survive. So she married Felix Raines with a big belly, and she never forgot her mission. They lived in a very poor rural area, but she never let Sienna Thornton do farm work since childhood. Although Felix Raines had strong opinions about this, she insisted, even enduring Felix Raines’ beatings and scoldings, she still supported Sienna Thornton through high school. It was really not easy for her. As I wrote earlier, Sienna Thornton was admitted to Z City No. 1 High School with full marks in physics and math in the high school entrance exam. Still, Felix Raines hid the admission letter, and Sienna almost didn’t get to study. Later, the admissions office staff, not seeing her report, ca looking for her and happened to find linda Linton at ho. linda Linton contacted a village brick hauler that night and gave all her savings of thirty yuan to Sienna to let her quickly go with the new admission letter to report to Z City No. 1 High School. Sienna Thornton left, and her life changed due to that night’s escape. As for linda Linton, she was beaten half to death by Felix Raines. But having sent her eldest daughter away, she felt that even if she died under Felix Raines’ fists, it was worth it. linda Linton really sacrificed a lot for Sienna Thornton; you could say her entire first half of life was lived for Sienna. Knowing she owed her other two children, later when Sienna Thornton settled in a big city and asked her to leave the Raines Family, she refused, and this was the reason. They were all her children, and that’s all she could do.
So readers say linda Linton was too weak and didn’t dare to resist; her personality was indeed soft, but if she had strongly opposed Felix Raines, given Felix Raines’ nature, he might have stabbed them both with a knife. Felix Raines’ temper was really bad, very violent and aggressive! So linda Linton was soft, also for her own survival and her eldest daughter’s.
As for the character of Felix Raines, he indeed had a bad temper and would resort to violence, abusing Sienna Thornton as well. But to a certain extent, Felix Raines provided food and shelter for linda Linton and her daughter and did not do anything sordid to Sienna. So while Felix Raines was vile, he did not deserve death. Thus, Sienna would argue and even fight with him, but never thought of killing him.
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