Chapter 91

Alexander couldn't understand such thoughts and mindset at all.

If it hadn't come from the short-haired woman, he wouldn't have believed that a biological mother would do such a thing to her own daughter.

"Oh, I see. So if Janet and the village chief's son like each other, Janet can leave home, which would be a good thing for her." Alexander said.

"A good thing? Hahaha." The woman in the black sweater was laughing at Alexander. "Have you seen the village chief's son? Which girl in the village likes him? Who could like him? He's not even as tall as I am, and his looks, don't even mention it."

She seemed to want to complain more, but the short-haired woman beside her nudged her. She also shook her head at her.

After the two exchanged glances, they stopped talking.

Alexander keenly sensed that they seemed to be hiding something, indicating that they couldn't say more.

Alexander was puzzled.

Zoey also heard some of it and walked closer, asking seriously, "So, you're saying Janet doesn't like the village chief's son?"

The short-haired woman and the woman in the black sweater immediately looked at her, their eyes filled with growing terror. "Shh!"

It was as if Zoey's words had touched some taboo of theirs, seeming very strange.

Zoey frowned, not knowing what they were up to.

The short-haired woman continued, "How should I put it, these things are behaviors and results between two people, and both are voluntary. Although the village chief's son is not good-looking, he is rich. Who in the countryside doesn't want their daughter to marry a rich man? Janet is just too foolish.. If she hadn't made such a fuss on the night Renee arranged her engagement, Renee wouldn't have disliked her so much. She cried as if she were dying."

"Isn't she dead?"

The woman in the black sweater added, "I think the most pitiful ones are the two daughters of the Lynn Family. They raised them for so long, and suddenly they were gone. If it weren't for her son still being left, Cinda might have lost the will to live long ago."

"Hasn't her family lost children before? Didn't she live well? Maybe she's used to it."

Alexander was slightly stunned and quickly asked, "The Lynn Family lost children before?"

"That was a long time ago," said the woman in the black sweater. "After Cinda had these two daughters, she had another one, still a girl. She wanted to keep her, but her husband was adamantly against it. They put the child in the river, leaving her fate to destiny."

Alexander was puzzled.

Zoey clenched her fists, "Isn't that murder!"

"That's not murder," said the woman in the black sweater. "When they abandoned the child, I was watching by the river. The child was still breathing, floating down the river. Maybe someone along the river picked her up. Besides, even if they didn't abandon her, their family was too poor to raise so many children."

Zoey's molars were almost grinding to pieces, "If they can't afford to raise them, why have them?"

"Isn't it because they didn't have a boy?"

"Yes, in our village, every family has a boy. If you don't have a son when you're old, you'll be laughed at. And if you don't have a son, you don't have an heir. Without an heir, it's disrespectful to the ancestors, and you'll be punished!"

One of the women even started explaining to Zoey, "Although our village is backward, we're not stupid. A woman must have a son, or you'll be criticized for a lifetime. See that?" She pointed to a house in the village with smoke coming out of the chimney, "That family, the wife couldn't have a son, so she let her husband find another wife. The first time, she had a boy, and now the whole family is doing well."

"Exactly, I found that having a son requires talent. Some people can't have a boy after seven or eight tries, while others have a boy on the first try."

The women started ignoring Zoey and Alexander, launching into another topic.

Talking about how to have a son, they became more enthusiastic.

Zoey listened for a while, her mood shifting from anger to indifference.

She glanced at the time on her phone. They had been talking about this topic for over twenty minutes. She bluntly interjected, "Have any of you ever been to school?"

The women looked at each other, not knowing if her question had anything to do with the case, and nodded in unison.

Zoey also nodded, "Oh, no wonder."

The quieter woman instantly sensed something off in Zoey's tone and asked, "What do you mean? Speak clearly."

"No wonder you..." Zoey hadn't finished.

Alexander quickly interjected with a smile, "I heard someone in the village pursued Faye. Do you know who it was?"

It seemed they were hearing this for the first time.

They quickly shifted their attention from Zoey to Alexander, "What's the situation? Who pursued Faye? Who told you?"

"Did Cinda tell you?"

"Did she say someone was pursuing Faye? What did the guy look like?"

Seeing that they genuinely didn't know, Alexander didn't want to stay with them any longer.

He was also afraid he couldn't hold back, so he maintained his composure, politely said goodbye, and turned to leave with Zoey.

They walked quite a distance before Alexander realized he was still holding Zoey's delicate wrist.

Feeling something was off, he cautiously observed Zoey's face, and he saw her eyes full of murderous intent.

Alexander quickly let go, "Don't be mad, I just..."

Before he could finish explaining, Zoey replied, "I don't get mad at fools."

Alexander said, "Don't call names."

"I didn't call you names." she said angrily, "I'll show you what name-calling looks like someday!"

Alexander was silent, thinking there was no need for that.

They returned to the church, and it was completely dark.

Willowbrook Village had no streetlights, only the lights from nearby houses.

Alexander turned on the flashlight on his phone to lead the way for Zoey.

Willowbrook Village was on a hillside, and at night it was not only cold but also filled with more insect sounds than in the city.

"It's already the 21st century, and our country still has such backward places." Alexander thought about the people they had questioned in the supermarket and what they had said, feeling inexplicably depressed.

Zoey said, "Why is it called Willowbrook Village? It's a waste of the name. It should be called Primitive Tribe!"

For the first time, Alexander wholeheartedly agreed with Zoey, "You're right. I used to misunderstand you, but it seems I was the one with limited knowledge."