Master Miller, like Principal Bolton, is a widower. The difference is that Master Miller's wife died of illness, while Principal Bolton's spouse committed suicide after being publicly denounced during the years of turmoil. Because no suicide note was left behind, Principal Bolton, who was also frequently denounced, was implicated. The revolutionary committee once slandered him, claiming he had murdered his wife. Just as they were preparing for a public trial, the situation suddenly changed—power shifted hands in the capital, and only then did Principal Bolton escape disaster.

Looking through the files on both men, Eric Carter found it difficult to determine whether either of them was the murderer, or rather, which one seemed more like the culprit.

Then, Eric Carter's gaze suddenly fell on the part about Principal Bolton being falsely accused of killing his wife during the later period of the turmoil, and he gradually fell into deep thought.

……

The May sun was already scorching. It had just rained, and steam was rising from the asphalt road. The small town felt like it was inside a steamer. The weather this year was unusually hot.

Eric Carter stood in front of Building 3 of the fertilizer factory's family compound, brushing dirt off his clothes with some frustration. He'd just had a stroke of bad luck—dodging a child riding a bicycle in the neighborhood, he brushed against mud on the wall, and his once-clean white Dacron shirt and black pants were now badly stained.

Turning to look at the gate of the compound, Eric Carter felt a mix of emotions. His adoptive father and mother lived here. Thinking of George Carter's mistreatment and Aunt Linda's kindness toward him, Eric Carter didn't know how to feel.

He had originally planned to visit them after the case was closed, but now he had to change his plans.

In the past two days, Eric Carter had visited members of the "special case team" that handled Principal Bolton's case back then. At the time, the public security, prosecution, and courts had been smashed, and the "special case team" was made up of radical rebels from those organizations. Now, most of these people had been labeled as "three types of people." Even those who hadn't been sentenced had been sidelined, and no one was willing to talk about those years.

Eric Carter went through the files on these people and found that the leader of the "special case team" had been transferred to a post elsewhere, while the deputy leader, named William Summers, had been a party committee member at the county bureau back then. He had since been expelled from the public security system, but he was probably still in Guangning.

After Brian Howard did some digging, he found that William Summers now lived with his son, who also worked at the fertilizer factory, right here in Building 3 of the compound. Coincidentally, Eric Carter's adoptive parents also lived in Building 3.

After some thought, Eric Carter decided to approach William Summers under the pretense of visiting family, to ask about the old case. Eric Carter didn't necessarily suspect Principal Bolton was the murderer, but the information Brian Howard had given him on Principal Bolton was limited. By learning about Principal Bolton from another angle, he hoped to understand him better. In that crazy era, people's true natures were more easily revealed, and from the mouths of the special case team members, he might learn about a side of Principal Bolton unknown to others today.

The compound gate was open. Building 3 actually housed three families: the old Lu family, the old Xia family, and a family surnamed Zhou.

Eric Carter stepped inside. The yard was spacious, and the first thing he saw was a locust tree. It was the season when locust trees bloomed, and clusters of white, bean pod-like flowers hung from the green branches, filling the air with a faint sweetness.

Beneath the locust tree, a slightly plump woman in her fifties was washing dishes by the faucet. Hearing footsteps, she looked up, froze for a moment, then suddenly trembled all over, sprang to her feet, her mouth twitching as she stared at Eric Carter, looking as if she couldn't believe her eyes.

Eric Carter took a couple of steps forward, his voice trembling slightly: "Aunt Linda..." He had thought he wouldn't be emotional, but at this moment, facing her, his throat tightened and he nearly burst into tears.

Linda Mason suddenly let out a wail, rushed over and hugged Eric Carter, crying and wailing uncontrollably, mumbling incoherently, her tears and snot soaking a large patch of Eric Carter's shoulder.

Eric Carter gently patted her back. Aunt Linda hadn't changed—she was still a country woman at heart, but her feelings were genuine and unfeigned.

"Zhengzi, tell me, where have you been all these years?..." After crying, Linda Mason clung to Eric Carter and wouldn't let go. She was afraid this child would leave her again without a word. Although Eric Carter wasn't her biological son, she had always loved him as her own. But at home, she had little status and couldn't speak up, and like Eric Carter, she was always bullied.

So the two of them spent the whole afternoon chatting in the house, sharing their stories, as if they had returned to ten years ago when Eric Carter was a child, with familial love overflowing in their hearts.

Eric Carter didn't say much about himself, only that he'd been back in Guangning for half a year, doing some small business, which made Linda Mason sigh again and again, feeling that this child's life was so hard, and that she had let down her sworn sister from back then.

Until a sharp shout: "Linda Mason, why didn't you go to work this afternoon!"

Immersed in warmth, the two finally noticed that George Carter had come home.

Eric Carter noticed that George Carter looked even more energetic than a few years ago, his face glowing with health—he must have been doing well at work, and his attitude had always been good over the years. In contrast, Aunt Linda seemed to have aged much more than him.

George Carter also saw Eric Carter, and quickly recognized him, but he ignored Eric Carter and immediately began scolding Linda Mason: "Tell me, is it easy for you to have this job? All you have to do is look after some kids—how easy is that? But you just have to embarrass me, have to make me lose face, don't you?"