TCFSRMR |Chapter 16

The people inside the house had also heard Shi Guoan’s voice. Miao Xiuxiu ran the fastest, and by the time she saw that Shi Heng had really written the name out, she was so shocked that she kept circling around those two characters nonstop:

“Guoan, Guoan…”

Shi Guoan, both amused and heart-sore, reached out to hold her back.

“I’m here, I’m here…”

“Did you see it? Xiao Heng, Xiao Heng, he, he actually really can write now!”

“Yes, Xiao Heng can write now, and the writing is also, very good…” Shi Guoan’s voice was also a little hoarse.

“Oh my, oh my, this is really a huge happy event, a huge happy event…” Shi Zongyi, who had come running over a step later, finally regained the ability to speak, and kept thumping his chest. “I said it, I said it… I, Shi Zongyi, haven’t done a bad deed in this life, my several children are each one better than the last, how could my grandson get this kind of illness… the heavens have eyes, the heavens have eyes…”

By the end, his voice was a little choked up.

No matter what others said, in Shi Zongyi’s heart, Shi Heng was his grandson. Because of this, every time he heard people behind his back talking nonsense about Shi Heng, Shi Zongyi felt miserable beyond words. Yet he was clumsy with words and didn’t know how to argue with people, so he could only come back and sit there alone in a daze.

The old man had even made a wish to the gods and Buddhas in the sky, willing to shorten his own lifespan by half, as long as his eldest grandson wasn’t stupid.

And what Shi Zongyi meant by not stupid was actually only that his grandson could take care of himself, as for going to school and studying, that was simply a beautiful thing he wouldn’t even dare dream of.

And now, his grandson actually knew how to write all of a sudden?

Too excited, the old man even wanted to make a rubbing of the two characters Shi Heng had written and put them up as an offering.

Very quickly, the news that Shi Heng had really learned to write spread throughout the whole village.

The fool had suddenly stopped being a fool, and the shockwaves were comparable to the day Zhao Aixiang’s family was led away in handcuffs.

Shi Guoan’s home once again became the center of the whole village, and people came in groups of three or five to Shi Guoan’s house, clicking their tongues in wonder at the words Shi Heng had written.

Everyone was completely baffled, and when they looked at Shi Heng, their expressions had a bit of awe in them. They always said that honored people speak late, and Shi Heng was not only late to speak, but late in everything. Did that mean Shi Heng would become even more impressive than an honored person in the future?

The facts were exactly that way too. After Shi Heng grew up and became famous at home and abroad, what did the villagers of Shili Pu Village love to talk about most if not the story that he had been foolish for so many years?

Someone also thought of how the reason Niu Erzhu’s family had stolen Shi Ying before was because Zhao Aixiang, that shaman woman, told them that Shi Ying was a lucky girl. Looking at things now, could it really be true?

For a moment, the way they looked at Shi Ying changed too:

“This girl really doesn’t look ordinary.”

“Yeah, look at those eyes, that nose, that little mouth, so delicate…”

“No wonder the family from Xiawa Village had their eyes on her and wanted to steal her away…”

“And did you smell it? That little girl even has a kind of fragrance on her…”

“It’s not just that the little girl smells good, their whole courtyard smells good…”

“Maybe this is really a place with good feng shui…”

In fact, not only had they smelled the fragrance, Shi Ying herself had smelled it too. And not only was it fragrant, there was even a sweet taste in the air.

“Third Sister…” Shi Nan had already gone to tug at Shi Ying’s sleeve, saying pitifully, “Nan Nan wants to eat strawberries…”

She was far too familiar with this smell, wasn’t it just the strawberries Third Sister had planted?

The little girl wished she could run to the strawberries eighteen times a day, personally watch them slowly turn red, and Shi Nan was so greedy for them she was drooling in her dreams.

“Okay.” Shi Ying nodded.

She had just gone to check earlier. On those more than ten strawberry plants, two or three berries had ripened on each one, and picking them now would be just right to eat.

When they saw Shi Ying carrying a big bowl toward the chicken pen, Liang Dacheng burst out laughing.

“Oh my, girl, it’s almost dark. Chickens won’t lay eggs anymore. If you want to collect eggs, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow…”

“I’m not collecting eggs,” Shi Ying said, still holding the big bowl and running happily, with several children including Shi Heng following behind her. “I’m going to pick strawberries.”

“Right, we’re going to pick strawberries.” Shi Nan copied Shi Ying’s cheerful tone, but she was running too fast and almost tripped; fortunately Shi Ting grabbed her in time.

Liang Dacheng also knew about Shi Guoan moving strawberries from the mountain back home to cheer up his daughter, and not only Wang Xiujua, even Liang Dacheng himself was convinced that no matter how they transplanted them, they still wouldn’t manage to make anything of it.

After all, those wild strawberries had been growing on the mountain for who knew how many years, and the fruits they bore were only the size of a fingertip.

Before, it wasn’t like nobody had tried transplanting them home, but after bringing them home, they didn’t even grow as big as a fingertip.

Just as he was thinking of getting up to take his leave, he saw Shi Nan cheering while forcefully stamping her feet:

“Wow, wow, Third Sister, so many strawberries, so many strawberries!”

“This girl, Nan Nan, is really lively.” Liang Dacheng watched with amusement. “Even a tiny little strawberry can make her this happy…”

He couldn’t get the rest of “like that” out of his mouth.

He must be seeing things, right? Otherwise how could he be seeing such a scene?

Because when Shi Ying turned around, the big bowl in her hand was already held up high, and the bowl was piled so full it was almost overflowing. Were those not little beautiful strawberries?

Not only were each of the strawberries pretty heart-shaped, they were all that kind of red, enticing color like gemstones. Let alone tasting one, just looking at them seemed like it would make your mouth water.

“Gu, Guoan, are your strawberries at home becoming spirit?” Even Liang Dacheng couldn’t help swallowing.

In fact, let alone Liang Dacheng, even Shi Guoan himself was stunned. If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, who would dare believe that those strawberries had really been picked by Yingying from over by the chicken pen?

The chicken pen had always been managed by the children at home. Added to that, because the fields had been too busy during this period, when the whole family came back they were almost exhausted flat. Shi Guoan, and Miao Xiuxiu too, really hadn’t come over to look at the chicken pen. They could never have imagined that the more than ten strawberry plants that had previously been half-dead, and mostly couldn’t even set fruit when they were hanging on, were now actually so lush and full of life.

Clearly before, they had only been a little bit higher than the ground, but now looking at them, each one had to be several dozen centimeters tall.

Among the branches and leaves, strawberries were hanging everywhere. Some had just formed and were green as jade, while others had begun to turn yellow and the heart-shaped part still carried a bit of white, looking just like the old jade cabbage paintings at home.

Not only were the colors pretty, the important thing was that they really bore so many. That it bore so many wasn’t even the main thing, the key was that its smell was also way too good, wasn’t it?

Only then did Shi Guoan and Liang Dacheng belatedly realize that the reason they had always felt the courtyard smelled so good was because of the strawberries.

“Oh my, this is, our strawberries?” Yin Zhaodi was also so shocked that even her speech was a little stammered. Suddenly remembering the earlier discussion, Yin Zhaodi also started to wonder if their courtyard really was some kind of place with good feng shui.

Just as she was thinking wildly, a loud “slooorp” suddenly sounded, and it was Shi Nan forcefully swallowing a mouthful of saliva.

After Shi Ying washed them with clean water, the strawberries’ color was undoubtedly even prettier. Water-bright and lovely, they looked just like agates just pulled out of water.

“Now you can eat them.” As soon as Shi Ying said that, Shi Nan immediately grabbed one and stuffed it into her mouth.

Compared with her little mouth, the strawberry was undoubtedly a bit too big, but the little girl still managed to stuff it all in.

The moment it entered her mouth, sweet juice gushed out, almost making Shi Nan cry from how delicious it was.

Even Shi Ying, after tasting one, couldn’t help being intoxicated.

As expected of the cultivation liquid from the future interstellar age, these strawberries were really delicious.

After eating two, she turned around and found that neither Shi Zongyi and his wife, nor her parents and the others, was willing to reach out and take any to eat.

Shi Ying hurried down from the small stool, took the two prettiest strawberries, and, while the old couple wasn’t paying attention, directly stuffed them into the two elders’ mouths:

“Grandpa, Grandma, hurry and eat.”

Shi Zongyi was caught off guard and immediately bit into one. When the sweet, fragrant strawberry juice touched his tongue, the old man’s eyes started to heat up again.

Back when he was young, he had been the wronged child born to a father who didn’t love him and a mother who didn’t care for him, and no matter how hard or tiring things were, nobody ever took it to heart.

It was only after marrying the old lady that he knew what it felt like to be cared for by someone.

And now he was even eating such delicious strawberries grown by his granddaughter.

The old man felt that his life was really too happy. Even if he died right this instant, there would be no regrets.

Seeing the old man eat a strawberry and almost eat himself to tears, Liang Dacheng was even more amazed. Originally embarrassed to fight with children for food, he could no longer resist the temptation either, and in the end accepted the two strawberries Shi Guoan had stuffed into his hands.

But he didn’t bear to eat them.

His wife was pregnant again now, and these past two days her appetite had been poor.

After entering the house, he saw that his wife really was busy at the stove.

Only she was cutting vegetables when she turned her head and dry-heaved with her mouth covered.

Frantic, Liang Dacheng hurried over to support her. “Didn’t I tell you? If you don’t feel well these few days, don’t cook. I’ll cook for you when I get back.”

As he spoke, he took the kitchen knife from his wife’s hand and put it aside, then pushed her to sit down on a stool nearby. Then, all mysterious-like, he took out the two strawberries he had hidden all the way from his pocket:

“Look what good thing I brought you?”

Liang Dacheng’s wife was called Tian Mai, and for a moment Tian Mai didn’t even recognize what Liang Dacheng had brought. Yet just moments before, she had still had no appetite, and now seeing the strawberries lying in Liang Dacheng’s palm, she was practically about to drool.

But she subconsciously looked at the two sons who were playing outside in the courtyard:

“I won’t eat it, let the kids…”

Before the word “eat” could even come out, Liang Dacheng had already stuffed the strawberry into her mouth. Tian Mai was caught off guard, and her eyes immediately went wide. She couldn’t help letting out a comfortable sigh, only feeling that the stomach and intestines that had been rebelling nonstop a moment ago had instantly become completely calm.

By the time Tian Mai came back to herself, both strawberries were already in her stomach.

Even more so, after always eating and then vomiting everything back up, Tian Mai, after eating the two strawberries, not only didn’t feel nauseous, she even started feeling hungry.

Liang Dacheng was also overjoyed, and hurried in to stew her an egg. In the end, Tian Mai still ate a whole big bowl of stewed eggs, and still didn’t throw up!

So much so that by the end, even though Liang Dacheng firmly insisted that those were strawberries grown in Shi Guoan’s courtyard, Tian Mai still refused to believe it and insisted that it must be some sort of miraculous medicine!

“…If you ask me, that little girl Shi Ying may really have some kind of special ability. Look at all the good things that have happened to the Shi family since she came back… even Shi Heng, who’s been stupid for so many years, not only isn’t stupid anymore, he can write now too, and now even the strawberries have changed like they’re a different kind…”

“No way, tomorrow I have to get up early and go have a friendly visit with Yingying at Brother Guoan’s house. Maybe tomorrow I’ll be able to give birth to a lucky girl just like Yingying!”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m already the village secretary, and you still want to dabble in feudal superstition? What sort of thing is that!”

“What feudal superstition! Dare you say you don’t want a little daughter like Yingying?”

The couple were arguing when their two sons, who were outside with one leg hooked over the other in a game of crossing sticks, suddenly cried out in alarm. Liang Dacheng heard that something was off and hurried to look outside, and saw the shadow of a woman running extremely fast, just coming out of the cluttered storage shed.

“Who are you, what are you doing?” Liang Dacheng was startled and strode after her.

At this moment it was the time for dinner. There were more villagers than usual squatting at their doors eating rice and chatting. Suddenly seeing a woman burst out of Liang Dacheng’s courtyard, everyone was also startled.

Those quick to react directly threw down their bowls and rushed over to block her.

The woman was clearly frightened. After running only a few steps, she fell to the ground with a thud, and flying out with her as she fell was a kitchen knife from her arms.

Liang Dacheng just happened to rush over. Seeing that kitchen knife, he was so shocked he jerked, and hurriedly shouted for everyone to pin her down:

“Whose woman are you, what were you doing hiding a kitchen knife in my woodshed?”

“I, I…” The woman struggled desperately once, but no matter how she tried she couldn’t break free, and immediately panicked. “I’m here to visit relatives. I walked all the way here and got too hungry, so I wanted to go in and find something to eat…”

“Visiting relatives, and you brought a kitchen knife while visiting relatives?”

“I, I really am here to visit relatives… Shi Guoan, the relatives I came to visit are his family… big brother, if you don’t believe me, call their daughter over, she definitely knows me…” The woman struggled desperately.

“Relatives of Guoan’s family?” Liang Dacheng looked at the woman suspiciously, then suddenly raised his voice. “Qiu Guihua?”

“Huh?” The woman answered. When she realized what Liang Dacheng had called out, her face went pale.

“It really is you!” Liang Dacheng also hadn’t expected it to be such a coincidence. Just during the day he had learned from the police that Qiu Guihua had run, and now she had run right into their faces.

“What are you doing running to our Shili Pu Village for? Still wanting to steal Guoan’s daughter again?” Liang Dacheng’s heart immediately tightened, and he hurriedly instructed the people beside him, “Quickly go find two ropes and tie her up, then send her straight to the county. This is a fugitive the police are after…”

Hearing Liang Dacheng say that, Qiu Guihua immediately became somewhat desperate and struggled even harder:

“Let go of me, let go of me… Daya, you come out, you come out…”

While she was screaming, a woman’s shadow suddenly pounced over, and the next moment Qiu Guihua’s face was scratched.

Wasn’t that Miao Xiuxiu, who had hurried over after hearing the news?

She had just eaten strawberries when she received the message that the daughter-in-law from the family that had stolen Shi Ying back then had run over.

At that moment Miao Xiuxiu’s head went “boom,” and by the time she came over and heard Qiu Guihua repeatedly demanding that Shi Ying come out, she simply couldn’t control herself.

Qiu Guihua let out a miserable cry, and several bloody gashes instantly appeared on her face. But Miao Xiuxiu would not let it go, grabbed Qiu Guihua’s hair and started hitting her without any pattern:

“Why did you steal my daughter? Why?”

“You stole her and still beat her. How could you be this bad, this bad…”

Thinking of the scars on Shi Ying’s body, Miao Xiuxiu was trembling all over.

By now, Qiu Guihua also finally knew that Miao Xiuxiu was Daya’s mother, and in terror she hurriedly shrank back, but her mouth still kept repeating:

“What are you doing? Why are you hitting someone? No matter what, I’m still Daya’s mother, whether she recognizes me or not, that’s not up to you, it’s up to Daya… you let Daya come out, Daya, Daya…”

Daya usually listened to her the most. As long as she spoke, she didn’t believe Daya wouldn’t listen.

In the midst of the chaos, a bicycle bell sounded. Liang Dacheng hurriedly turned around to look, and his expression immediately lit up.

“Oh my, Comrade Wang, Comrade Jiang, you’re here? Great, this is really great.”

Weren’t these the two police officers who had taken away Shi Dahai’s family before?

The case of Shi Ying being stolen had now been fully assigned to the two of them. Originally today they hadn’t planned to come to Shili Pu, but at noon, the village secretary of Xiawa Village suddenly ran over and said that someone had seen Qiu Guihua carrying a kitchen knife toward Shili Pu.

The two of them were immediately frightened.

If Qiu Guihua really got desperate and hacked someone, that would be a huge disaster. After saying a word to their leader, they immediately rode their bicycles over.

And then, as soon as they arrived, they got to see such a big show.

At once they said nothing more, and went up to cuff Qiu Guihua.

Qiu Guihua was first stunned for a moment, and in the next second she suddenly began struggling violently:

“Where’s Daya, where is Daya, let me see her…”

Qiu Guihua hadn’t come to the village on a whim. In fact, she brought the kitchen knife straight for Shi Ying.

She had run to several hospitals, and the conclusion she got was still only one, that Niu Xiaobao’s brain had been completely burned out, and this was how he’d be for the rest of his life.

For Qiu Guihua, Niu Xiaobao was far more important than her husband Niu Erzhu, or even all the people in the world added together. He was the medal that washed away her shame of being a “hen that doesn’t lay eggs,” the source of all her happiness, and also the support of her later years.

Because of that, after getting this news, Qiu Guihua completely collapsed. She hated her mother-in-law for why she had left her precious son behind to come out and look at the excitement, and she hated Shi Ying even more for not running earlier or later, why did she have to choose that day to run?

If Shi Ying hadn’t run at the wrong time, how could she have gotten into conflict with her sister-in-law? If there had been no conflict, then she would definitely have gone to her mother-in-law at the first moment and carried little Bao back home, and then little Bao wouldn’t have fallen into the water bucket and couldn’t have become stupid.

Shi Ying could be considered the direct culprit behind Niu Xiaobao becoming a fool. And yet she still dared to report their family, and even wanted the two of them to go to prison!

At that moment, a thought suddenly rose in Qiu Guihua’s mind, and that was that she absolutely had to make that girl pay the price. However hard her life was, she would make that girl just as miserable.

Wasn’t that why she used the excuse of stomach pain and wanting to use the toilet to simply run off?

The reason she hid in the cluttered storage shed at Liang Dacheng’s house was also because after running for so long, she was too hungry. In the end, she actually heard Liang Dacheng telling his wife that something rare had happened again at Shi Guoan’s house.

At first Qiu Guihua was still a bit irritated, thinking about when this family would go to sleep so she could find a chance to slip out.

But because of that delay, she ended up hearing completely everything that had happened in the Shi family since Shi Ying returned.

On the second day after she came back, the shaman woman Zhao Aixiang and her daughter, the ones who helped her steal the child, seemed to have been possessed and confessed all the ugly things they had done back then right in front of the police; after that family was led away in handcuffs, something even stranger happened, and the stupid son of the Shi family, who had been foolish for so many years, actually knew how to write too.

Then when she heard Liang Dacheng’s couple say how delicious the strawberries Shi Ying had grown were, Qiu Guihua instantly had the feeling of a sudden revelation.

So the shaman woman’s words were actually true.

Her own lifeline really might have been brought over by Shi Ying;

Even the wheat that grew so well in the family’s private plot was related to Shi Ying!

If she had to say which of these things moved Qiu Guihua the most, it was the matter of Shi Ying’s brother, who had been stupid for so many years, suddenly becoming clear-headed.

Since Shi Ying’s good fortune could cure the Shi family’s fool, it naturally could also cure little Bao.

As long as Shi Ying was willing to help her cure little Bao, even giving her life would be fine.

Thinking of this, she directly lay down on the ground and started kowtowing:

“I’m begging you, I’m begging you to let me see Daya, I’ll only say one sentence to her…”

Too excited, she even started banging her head on the ground. With such great force, in an instant her head split open and blood flowed everywhere.

This time even the two police officers panicked. Originally they had thought that she was just a woman, and if they were too rough it might not look good, but now they couldn’t care about that anymore. They directly used a takedown move to pin her tightly to the ground, then took out the cuffs and locked her up:

“What are you yelling for, what are you yelling for? You stole someone else’s child and still think you’re in the right? You still want to see them, do you think the child’s parents don’t want to drink your blood and eat your flesh?”

The cold cuffs jabbed Qiu Guihua and she finally came to her senses a bit, but then she burst into loud tears:

“I just want to see Daya, I’m begging you! As long as I can see Daya, even if you make me take a bullet, that’s fine…”

“…If you won’t let me see her, then I’ll die here…”

Saying that, she again tried to smash her head.

Seeing that she was making such an outrageous scene, the two police officers also had no choice.

If Qiu Guihua really died on the road, then the trouble would be huge.

With no other option, they had to go discuss it with Shi Guoan.

Shi Guoan naturally did not want Shi Ying to come over, but he couldn’t win against the two police officers, and Liang Dacheng kept persuading him from the side:

“…This woman looks like she’s here with bad intentions. We at least need to see what exactly she wants to do… And the police are here, they definitely won’t let anything threaten our Yingying’s safety…”

In the end, Shi Guoan still agreed.

“Fine. I’ll go ask Yingying. If she’s willing to come, then she’ll come. If she’s not willing…”

Then let this woman go die.

Hearing Shi Guoan agree to call Shi Ying over, Qiu Guihua finally calmed down and stared eagerly in the direction Shi Guoan had gone.

When Shi Ying came over, what else could she see but Qiu Guihua, who was looking until her eyes seemed about to pop out?

Qiu Guihua also saw Shi Ying and became extremely excited.

“Daya, Daya, you’re finally here, if you came any later, you’d be unable to see your mom… hey, don’t go…”

It was because Shi Ying heard her calling herself “mom” that she suddenly stopped, then turned around and left.

Qiu Guihua immediately panicked. This wasn’t what she had imagined at all. Clearly at home Daya had listened to her the most, telling her to go east and she wouldn’t go west, telling her to hit the dog and she wouldn’t chase the chicken. How had it suddenly become like this?

“Daya, don’t go, mom…”

Shi Ying finally stopped. Before the breath Qiu Guihua had been holding could even let out, she heard Shi Ying say:

“You’re just a thief. How do you have the face to say you’re my mom?”

She hadn’t expected Shi Ying’s first sentence to be this, and Qiu Guihua’s expression instantly stiffened. Paired with the blood on her head, it made her look not only ferocious but also a little disheveled:

“I, I didn’t…”

“Don’t go! I know I was wrong, I really know I was wrong…” Seeing Shi Ying walking faster and faster away, Qiu Guihua finally stopped struggling. “I shouldn’t have been bewitched and come steal you away… I’m not fit to be your mom, and I have no face to be your mom…”

At this point, Qiu Guihua really was sorry. It wasn’t that she regretted stealing Shi Ying, but that she regretted why, when Shi Ying had been right in front of her back then, she hadn’t treated her better. Otherwise, she wouldn’t hate herself this much now, would she?

“I really know I was wrong, really, the heavens have already punished me, my little Bao, he’s become a fool… Daya, please be kind and help cure our little Bao, okay…” As she said this, she actually lay down on the ground and began kowtowing toward Shi Ying.

Through tears that spilled like a flood, she only felt a small figure slowly approaching, and the next moment Shi Ying’s voice sounded by her ear:

“You want me to save Niu Xiaobao…”

“I can answer you right now, and that is, no!”

According to 001, Niu Xiaobao’s situation was completely different from Shi Heng’s. For someone like him, if it were in the interstellar age, with intervention from all kinds of high-precision treatment devices, there would still be some improvement. But it would only be improvement, not healing. And in the present Zhongxia, even intervention was impossible.

“Even if I could cure him, I still wouldn’t cure him for him…” Shi Ying leaned close to Qiu Guihua’s ear, not hiding her malice at all. “Who told him to have parents like you?”

The real Daya had long since disappeared forever in that cold river water. She had no right to forgive on Daya’s behalf, and she would never be able to forgive.

Qiu Guihua had never dreamed that Shi Ying would say such a thing, especially when faced with those cold eyes right in front of her, and she was so frightened she couldn’t help stepping back.

“This is your retribution…”

Qiu Guihua had just wanted to say that Niu Xiaobao was innocent when Shi Ying directly cut her off:

“Being born as your son is his greatest sin!”

After saying that, Shi Ying walked straight to Shi Guoan, who was still waiting there:

“Dad, let’s go home.”

After walking a long way, they could still faintly hear Qiu Guihua’s crying and shouting:

“Daya, you can’t stand by and watch me die! As long as you’re willing to raise little Bao, I’ll do anything you want, if you’re still angry, I can give you my life, okay…”

Helplessly, no matter how she pleaded, Shi Ying acted as if she couldn’t hear a thing.

Carried for a long distance, Shi Ying slowly rested her head on Shi Guoan’s shoulder.

“Dad…”

“Yeah.” Shi Guoan answered loudly.

Shi Ying then held out her hand toward Miao Xiuxiu.

“Mom.”

Miao Xiuxiu reached out and took her from Shi Guoan’s arms, lowered her head and kissed Shi Ying’s little face.

God knows how panicked Miao Xiuxiu had been earlier when Qiu Guihua kept saying that Shi Ying would hate them.

Now that she was holding her daughter in her arms, her heart was completely steady.

Afraid that she had been frightened, the couple kept watch over Shi Ying all night.

The next morning when Shi Ying woke up, she heard that Qiu Guihua had already been taken away the night before. Before leaving, the police even said that this counted as Qiu Guihua personally confessing the criminal facts of herself and Niu Erzhu.

And above there were also leaders saying that now it was New China, yet they were still doing the kind of superstitious nonsense and child-stealing tricks, and this sort of crooked evil air absolutely could not be allowed to continue.

In a few more days there would be a public trial meeting, and then the leaders were preparing to use them as examples and drag Niu Erzhu’s couple and Shi Dahai’s family over for a public trial together.

The outside world was abuzz with talk about it, but the Shi family had already stopped caring about that.

Once the busy wheat season passed, it wouldn’t be many days before school started.

Speaking of these past days, the one who kept chattering endlessly about the children going to school was not Miao Xiuxiu, but Yin Zhaodi.

Of course, Yin Zhaodi wasn’t reminding Shi Guoan not to forget to send the children to school. Rather, she kept emphasizing that there was no money at home, and let alone supporting so many children to go to school, it would already be difficult just supporting one or two.

Shi Guoan understood that making money was probably going to have to be put on the agenda.

“Otherwise I’ll go back to my parents’ home for a trip…” When she said the words “parents’ home,” Miao Xiuxiu’s voice even sounded a little hoarse.

Her parents were both remarried.

Her father brought along the older brother left by his first wife, and her mother brought along the older sister left by her first husband.

As for Miao Xiuxiu herself, she was the only flesh and blood child of this remarried couple.

If outsiders looked at it, as the only bridge maintaining the remarried couple, Miao Xiuxiu should have been spoiled and pampered to the heavens at home.

Yet the truth was exactly the opposite.

Her father and grandparents valued the older brother the most; her mother, on the other hand, feared that the daughter she brought over would be mistreated, and all her heart was placed on the daughter she had with her ex-husband.

Miao Xiuxiu, the only bloodline shared by the two of them, instead became the most neglected one.

Even when the family needed someone to go down to the countryside, the couple unanimously chose Miao Xiuxiu.

When she carried her bundle, tearfully boarding that unfamiliar green train, Miao Xiuxiu felt boundless hatred toward those parents for the first time.

Since they both didn’t like her, why had they needed to bring her into this world?

Since they had given birth to her, why couldn’t they give her even a little love?

After that, Miao Xiuxiu refused to keep in contact with the family. Ironically, she had been holding out on this side for more than a year, and not a single one of those parents had even noticed.

It was also around then that Miao Xiuxiu’s hatred finally turned into coldness and despair.

And Shi Guoan was the one who appeared when she was at her most helpless.

Ironically, when they learned she was going to marry Shi Guoan, those two people did not first reflect on themselves. Instead, they cursed Miao Xiuxiu for being disappointing and useless, calling her a lump of mud that couldn’t be supported on a wall, asking how she could be so willingly lowly as to make such a stupid decision to spend her whole life with a peasant man.

They even used cutting ties to threaten Miao Xiuxiu. In order to get the Miao family elders to agree to the marriage, Shi Guoan ran to the city countless times, and in the end even knelt down to beg them. Yet the two of them were dead set against it. After finding people to beat Shi Guoan up, they also locked Miao Xiuxiu up.

Having already been completely disappointed in her parents long ago, how could Miao Xiuxiu go along with their wishes? In the end, she insisted on her own way, stole the family register, and dragged Shi Guoan to get the marriage certificate.

To this day, Miao Xiuxiu still remembered the scene when she left home. Her parents first pointed at her nose and cursed her fiercely, but in the end they were crying bitterly.

Unfortunately, no matter what they did, Miao Xiuxiu’s heart had long gone cold, and until she and Shi Guoan got on the car back to the countryside, she never looked back once.

Fortunately, she hadn’t married the wrong person. Shi Guoan was wholehearted toward her, and ever since she married in, Miao Xiuxiu had lived the most comfortable days of her life.

She wasn’t afraid of life being hard; she was only afraid that there wouldn’t be a single person in this world who cared about you. Just like when she had been with her parents before, no matter whether her grades were good or terrible, her parents were always unmoved. Not even her parent-teacher meetings did the two of them attend one of them.

Dad thought Mom would go, Mom thought Dad would go, and in the end neither of them went.

After this kind of thing happened too many times, Miao Xiuxiu no longer had the slightest expectation of that family.

At times, Miao Xiuxiu couldn’t help thinking that her father pitied her older brother for losing his mother early, while her mother felt sorry for her older sister for not having had a father since she was little. How come she felt like she was the one who had neither father nor mother?

By contrast, Shi Guoan had entirely stuffed her into his eyes and heart. Marrying such a deeply affectionate man, Miao Xiuxiu felt that she had been content in this life.

In the first few years after she married over, Miao Xiuxiu was practically equivalent to having severed all ties with her family. It was only in these past few years, and no one knew whether it was because they had grown old or what, but her parents had actually taken the initiative to call her, and even told her that if she had any difficulties, she could bring them up with the family.

If she wanted to return to the city, they weren’t unable to think of ways to help either. It was just that there was one prerequisite, and that was that she had to completely cut off relations with the rural man.

Miao Xiuxiu refused all of it.

If it hadn’t involved the children’s future and their entire lives of schooling, Miao Xiuxiu would absolutely never have said anything like bowing her head to her maternal family.

“Mm.” Shi Guoan smoothed her hair. “You really should keep in more contact with your parents’ side, after all they’re not getting any younger… but keeping in contact is keeping in contact, you can’t go asking them for money…”

“…Don’t keep being angry with them either. Think about it, if our daughter grew up and found a broke loser who had nothing except burdens and drag, would you agree?”

“No way!” Miao Xiuxiu said without thinking.

Her daughter was her life, she only wanted her daughter to have a smooth life, with not even a little suffering. If the other party had nothing at all, wouldn’t that wrong her daughter? If her daughter really married such a person, wouldn’t she be heartbroken to death?

Then she turned over again and buried her head in Shi Guoan’s broad chest.

“Our daughter is our daughter, I am me…”

“Our daughter can’t marry a broke loser… if it happened again, I’d still marry you!”

Hearing this, Shi Guoan felt his heart surge violently, and subconsciously tightened his arms around his wife. But that was all he did, simply holding her, and he didn’t dare make any excessive movements.

The big room had already been partitioned off. The room Shi Ying lived in and theirs were only separated by a cloth curtain.

“You don’t need to worry about money… no matter how useless I am, I can’t use the old folks’ money to spend on the children…”

“And besides, I’ve already got a plan.”

“We can’t touch the grain at our house.” Miao Xiuxiu clearly misunderstood. “The children are all at the age of growing, and Mom and Dad are older too. With just that little grain, no matter what, we absolutely can’t touch it.”

“I’m not selling grain.” Shi Guoan couldn’t help kissing Miao Xiuxiu’s earlobe. “Mm, I can make soy sauce. Otherwise I’ll make some soy sauce and secretly go sell it…”

Back when he was in the army, Shi Guoan had done quite a few proper jobs. Not only was he excellent at raising pigs, he had also spent a not-short stretch of time in the cooking squad. Following the cooking squad’s master, he learned a few special skills too. For example, brewing soy sauce himself could taste much better than the one sold at the supply and marketing cooperative.

The reason he chose soy sauce was also because Shi Guoan had his own considerations.

Although every household was saving wherever it could, cooking oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar were still necessities of life. If he could make soy sauce that tasted good and was even cheaper than the supply and marketing cooperative’s, there should be no need to worry about sales.