TCFSRMR |Chapter 25

“Just how much hardship have you gone through? How did you lose so much weight?” Old Madam Shi touched her daughter’s skinny hand, and her eyes immediately turned red.

Shi Guorong was the old girl of the family, and the Shi household had only this one daughter. At home, her parents doted on her and her brothers spoiled her, so she had never looked this haggard before.

Looking at the mother whose face was full of heartache, and then at the sister-in-law beside her, who was also wearing a concerned expression, Shi Guorong almost failed to hold back her tears too.

The reason she had had signs of a miscarriage before was truly that Li Xiu’e had angered her.

Before marriage, she hadn’t noticed it, but after marriage she realized that her mother-in-law’s family all had prejudice against people from the countryside, especially the third sister-in-law, Li Xiu’e. In everyday speech, they kept saying things like, “You country people are like this, you country people are like that”…

If it had been just toward her alone, Shi Guorong, though angry, would not have gone so far as to fall out with them. But Li Xiu’e should never, ever have used that lofty tone to humiliate her older brother.

Her maternal family, especially her older brother who had loved her since childhood, had always been Shi Guorong’s reverse scale. Let alone Li Xiu’e, this elder sister-in-law, even toward her parents-in-law and her husband Li Quanyou, Shi Guorong couldn’t tolerate even a single bad word.

It was only because the Li family lived close to the hospital. If they had been a little farther away, Shi Guorong really might have had a serious accident. But even so, the emotional agitation combined with the child being in a somewhat improper fetal position still caused heavy bleeding.

If she had come a few days earlier, Shi Guorong wouldn’t even have been able to get out of bed.

But Shi Guorong did not plan to say any of this to the old lady and the sisters-in-law.

People always say you don’t know your parents’ kindness until you’ve had a child. During the time when the pain had nearly driven her mad, Shi Guorong had been crying for her mother over and over, but now that she really saw the old lady, Shi Guorong didn’t want to say a single word.

The family had already had a hard enough life these years. At long last, their niece had come back, her older brother and sister-in-law had hope again, and their spirits had returned. Unless it was absolutely necessary, Shi Guorong did not want to make her family worry again.

So at once she pressed her face against the old lady’s hand.

“It wasn’t that hard. Isn’t giving birth always like this? It was just that some time ago the wound hurt, and I couldn’t eat…”

Originally, she had wanted to have a natural birth. Because of the difficult labor, it had been switched midway to a cesarean section. Shi Guorong had ended up with both the pain of natural childbirth and the pain of the wound after the C-section.

Seeing the old lady looking like she was about to cry but not quite crying, Shi Guorong quickly comforted her:

“But now it’s already much better. My mother-in-law also put effort into cooking. She makes me four or five meals every day…”

Knowing that her mother would definitely still care most about whether Li Quanyou treated her well, after a pause she still added:

“And Quanyou is also considerate… Mom, don’t worry. I’m really pretty good…”

“Yes,” Yin Zhaodi also said cheerfully, “I said Mom was worrying too much… This brother-in-law’s family is from the city, and what they eat and drink is much better than us country people. How could they let our Rongrong suffer any grievance… Oh my, speaking of Cao Cao, Cao Cao arrives, brother-in-law, why aren’t you coming in?”

It was Li Quanyou, standing just outside the door. Being called out like that by Yin Zhaodi, Li Quanyou first felt his heart tighten, then when he looked toward Shi Guorong again, his eyes held some gratitude.

Li Xiu’e had run fast enough, but Li Quanyou simply did not dare to run.

The reason he had gone to the Shi family so late to report the good news before was precisely because Li Quanyou was worried someone from the Shi family would come over and see through something.

Only after waiting until Shi Guorong’s body had mostly recovered did he go to Shili Pu to report the good news.

But when a person does something guilty, it’s unavoidable to feel guilty. Even though Shi Guorong’s signs of miscarriage had not been because of him, it had still always had something to do with him.

Forget the second brother-in-law and third brother-in-law. Only this eldest brother-in-law, Shi Guoan, who clearly spoke kindly and politely with everyone, made Li Quanyou feel like a mouse seeing a cat the moment he laid eyes on him.

With this kind of mentality, from the moment Li Quanyou saw the Shi family, he had been trembling with fear.

Coincidentally, just now when he came in, he heard Old Madam Shi’s question. Li Quanyou was so frightened that he jolted, fearing Shi Guorong would complain about him.

In the end, Shi Guorong didn’t say a single dissatisfied word, and even praised him in front of her mother-in-law. Seeing that her mother-in-law clearly believed it, he had managed to escape disaster today.

At once he hurried in and held a bowl of brown sugar water in both hands to hand to the old lady.

“Mom, have some sugar water…”

Then he said to the old lady as if making an excuse:

“Rongrong is now our family’s great contributor. My parents said the most important thing right now is to take good care of Rongrong and the little baby…”

With Shi Guorong helping to cover for her, and the old couple Li Gensheng and Li Quanyou being unusually enthusiastic, surrounding the Shi family and addressing them as “in-laws” at every turn while enthusiastically entertaining them, the whole banquet could be considered one where host and guests were all pleased.

Once it was confirmed that there was nothing wrong with Shi Guorong here, Shi Guoan proposed to take his leave. It was only after watching the horse cart disappear from sight that Li Quanyou finally let out a long breath. But when he supported Shi Guorong and was walking back inside, he saw the curtain flutter, and a shadow came out of their room.

Wasn’t it third sister, Li Xiu’e?

In Li Xiu’e’s hands, she was still holding a big lotus leaf.

“Third sister, what are you holding?” Shi Guorong stopped in her tracks and fixed her eyes on Li Xiu’e.

“What am I holding? Isn’t it just a few strawberries…” Li Xiu’e was also a little embarrassed, and inwardly she was even somewhat dissatisfied with Shi Guorong.

Wasn’t it just a little bit of strawberries she took? Did she have to make such a fuss over it?

Then she said with confidence, “This is your first baby, so you don’t understand. A woman in confinement can’t be greedy for cold things. Such good strawberries would go bad if they were left to spoil, wouldn’t that be a pity? My brother-in-law and Yuanyuan happen to like them, so let them help you eat them instead…”

In fact, the strawberries Shi Guoan had brought earlier had also been taken by Li Xiu’e to her little household under this excuse. At that time Shi Guorong had been unhappy, but considering little niece Yuanyuan, Shi Guorong, as the aunt, couldn’t be too argumentative.

Li Xiu’e still thought that since she had brought up her husband and daughter, her sister-in-law, who had always been easy to talk to, definitely wouldn’t say anything more. Unexpectedly, Shi Guorong this time was like a different person, and did not yield in the slightest:

“Third sister, that’s not really how you put it… This was specially brought to me by my maternal family’s older brother. Third sister, you just took it away without saying a word. Isn’t that inappropriate?”

“What do you mean by that? Are you saying I stole your things?” Li Xiu’e immediately jumped in anger, guilty as she was. “I’ve been buying all kinds of good things for the family all the time, and you’re still talking about me being greedy for this little bit of yours. Wasn’t it just because I was afraid you’d be tempted and eat something that would hurt your body? How can you be so ungrateful…”

If it were on ordinary days, seeing her lose her temper, Shi Guorong would definitely not say anything more. This time was different, however. She not only didn’t hide back in the room, she even said, not yielding in the slightest:

“I never said anything about stealing or not stealing. As for the good food you bought, I haven’t eaten it and I haven’t even seen it… These strawberries were specially prepared for me by my older brother. Even if I can’t eat them, don’t we still have Dad and Mom at home? There’s no need for Third Sister to help so insistently… And my sister-in-law also said this thing is nutritious. If I eat it, my milk will be plentiful and the nutrition will be richer, so the little baby will grow stronger too… If you, as an aunt, don’t feel sorry for your nephew and insist on fighting him for food, then go ahead and take it.”

Li Xiu’e was choked speechless by her.

So angry that she turned around to look at Li Quanyou:

“You’re my younger brother. What kind of sister-in-law talks to her older sister like this? What, you’re just going to stand there and listen, not even say anything?”

If it were on ordinary days, Li Quanyou would definitely have a dark face and told Shi Guorong to apologize to Li Xiu’e. But this time he did not make a sound.

Just now his wife had defended him in front of his mother-in-law without the slightest hesitation. Besides, the strawberry matter really was that Third Sister was in the wrong. So in the end he opened his mouth:

“Third Sister, don’t be angry. It’s just that… my older brother really did give that instruction… Third Sister, even if you wanted to take some for brother-in-law and Yuanyuan, you couldn’t take it all, right?”

As soon as his voice fell, Old Lady Li suddenly came out from the kitchen and strode straight forward to snatch the strawberries wrapped in the lotus leaf from Li Xiu’e’s hands:

“Don’t touch your younger brother’s wife’s things… You’re such a big person and you’re still fighting your nephew for food. Aren’t you ashamed?”

Earlier she had also been thinking that it was probably not good for a woman in childbirth to eat cold things, but since the words “strawberries are nutritious and good for the grandson” were said by Shi Guoan, the old lady immediately believed seven-tenths of it.

In terms of weight, a daughter was heavier than a daughter-in-law, but even the daughter and daughter-in-law together were less important than her big grandson.

She shoved the strawberries into Shi Guorong’s hands:

“Rongrong, you’re still in your confinement period. You can’t stand for long, hurry and go lie down on the bed and rest. If you want to eat strawberries, soak them in hot water… Don’t worry, the things your maternal family brought back, Mom will cook them for you to eat. No matter who it is, they can’t even think of stealing a mouthful of food from my grandson…”

Then remembering how Shi Guorong had had a difficult labor before, when her big grandson had almost not been saved and she and her old man had both nearly been scared to faint, she raised her hand and slapped her younger daughter on the back, shocking the little daughter who had been stunned by her whole operation, and said irritably:

“Go, go, go! You, you’re just a troublemaker. Don’t stand here being an eyesore! Rongrong is still in her confinement period. If you make her so angry that her milk dries up, just wait and see how I deal with you!”

Li Xiu’e staggered from being pushed, her face immediately turning livid with anger, but she also didn’t dare say anything more.

Let alone her mother, even her father was obsessed with grandchildren. If Shi Guorong really added fuel to the fire and went to complain to the old man, Li Xiu’e understood she absolutely would not get off lightly.

She wanted to vent her anger at Shi Guorong, but then thought of her maternal mother being here watching, and this time she was also clearly standing on Shi Guorong’s side. In the end, she only vented all her anger on Li Quanyou:

“Fine, Quanyou, I really was blind to have been good to you!”

As she spoke, she pushed out the bicycle and left in a huff.

By the time Li Xiu’e fled in disgrace, the Shi family had already turned onto the road toward the barber shop.

At this moment there weren’t many customers in the barber shop either. Only that old man whose face had just been shaved for Shi Zongyi was still there. The old man was standing against the wall, and beside him there were two men, one squatting and one standing. The squatting man was older, looking to be in his forties. He was thin and dark all over, and in his hands he was tightly holding a clay basin.

In front of him stood a man with a somewhat sullen expression, hands on hips, looking domineering:

“…I knew you rotten intellectuals were still harboring evil intentions. We’d rather have the socialist grass than the capitalist seedling… Tell the truth, what are you running around with this clay basin for?”

The thin, dark man shrank even more, but still tried hard to protect the clay basin, stammering a quiet explanation:

“This isn’t… this is wild. I just dug it back to see what it would look like when planted…”

Even as he said this, the hand gripping the rim of the jar could not stop exerting force.

When he had been sent down, it had been at the crucial stage of breeding, yet it was ruined by these people in one fell swoop.

During these past few years of being sent down, he had had no choice but to start everything from scratch. Thankfully, misfortune may be a blessing in disguise, and unexpectedly he had once again found such a new type of wild plant in the wild. According to the conclusions drawn from earlier practice, this plant was very likely to bring groundbreaking results to his research.

He had never imagined that on the way back, he would run into this again!

“Heh…” The sullen man gave a cold laugh, and in the next second directly raised his hand, about to snatch the jar from the thin, dark man’s hands.

The thin, dark man instinctively blocked with his hand, but he was grabbed by the collar and thrown aside in one motion, and along with that, the clay jar in his hands was knocked to the ground.

The clay jar smashed onto the ground, making a piercing cracking sound, and along with it the seedling inside was also smashed into the dirt.

For a moment the thin, dark man’s mind went blank. Instinctively he leaned forward and lunged toward the broken clay jar. His knee happened to strike the shattered jar, and blood quickly seeped out, but he seemed not to feel it at all. He only desperately used his hands to brush away the broken pottery shards and clumps of dirt, only to despairingly discover that the plant had already broken by more than half, and even the roots had suffered considerable damage.

“Hey, what’s wrong with you…?” The old master barber beside them, who had been frowning the whole time, was startled. He hurried over in a few steps and said unhappily, “You’re so young, why are you hitting people?”

“Which eye of yours saw me hitting someone?” The sullen man shot him a glare, then looked at the thin, dark man lying lifelessly on the ground. “Zhao Mingqi, when you insisted on firing me back then, did you ever think there would be today?”

He was still going to say more, but then he saw the Shi Guoan family coming over from the side. He coldly snorted and strode away without looking back.

“Why do I feel like that was Rongrong’s third brother-in-law?” Yin Zhaodi was full of suspicion.

Just now at the banquet, she had also seen the relatives on Li Quanyou’s side. Among them were the three son-in-laws of the Li family.

She had heard that the three son-in-laws in their family were all quite impressive. The eldest son-in-law was the union chairman at Shi Guorong’s factory, the second son-in-law was the director of a state-run restaurant, and the youngest son-in-law was called Zhou Peng. He was from some literature and arts federation, and it was said he had also been recommended as an educated youth university student and would be going to college very soon.

Yin Zhaodi had always admired cultured people, so she looked at Zhou Peng a few more times and only felt that man was very arrogant, and when speaking to people, it was either “mm” or “hmph.” Facing people like them, the Shi family from Shi Guorong’s maternal side, he was also the kind who didn’t even lift his eyelids.

Yet just now he had said quite a lot, but it sounded even worse than “mm” or “hmph”. No matter how you heard it, it was unpleasant.

This dragging and pulling, and even snatching someone else’s jar, no matter how you looked at it, it seemed a bit improper, right?

Shi Guoan was also frowning. He remembered Shi Guorong mentioning that Zhou Peng only had one widowed mother, that he had previously gone to university, seemed to have studied agriculture, and before going there he had been dating Li Xiu’e, with even the tuition being paid by Li Xiu’e. But after going to university, he dated someone else, and later because Li Xiu’e went to visit him and the matter came to light, the school expelled him on the grounds of moral corruption.

After returning to this small county town, he had actually mended his ways and married Li Xiu’e. Not long after, he was taken care of by the Li family and found a job, and also became some kind of revolutionary young hero, successively publishing several articles in major newspapers and magazines. Now he could be considered a somewhat famous figure in their county town.

He had been thinking that maybe the earlier matter of riding two horses at once, or that it was just a moment of confusion, but now looking at it, why did this person’s character seem not very good?

In broad daylight, how could he just beat someone? And from what he heard, the other party had apparently even been his teacher.

He hurried forward, wanting to help the man up, but after calling a few times there was no reaction. Only when he turned him over did he discover that the thin, dark man’s face was deathly pale, his eyes tightly closed, looking as if he had lost consciousness.

“Oh dear, this is bad.” The old master barber was also terrified, and hurriedly said to Shi Guoan, “Little brother, quickly think of a way and get him to the hospital.”

Shi Guoan said nothing more and immediately bent down to pick the man up, then sprinted toward the hospital.

Shi Guoliang and Shi Guoping went to the back to move the big vat onto the cart, and they also hurried to follow.

“Yingying, come here.” Seeing that Shi Ying was still tidying up the clay jar, Miao Xiuxiu quickly called her, “Leave it alone, that seedling probably can’t be saved.”

“Better to take it to that uncle,” Shi Ying said with her head lowered, carefully wrapping the half-dead plant in a clump of soil. Seeing how fiercely the other person had protected it, it was obviously extremely important.

“Fine, it’s also fine to take it to Old Zhao…” The old master barber sighed.

Old Zhao was someone who loved seedlings as if they were his life. If he really woke up and saw it, he should feel better in his heart.

He hurried inside to fetch a clay pot and came out, signaling Shi Ying to plant it in there, while sighing nonstop, “That kid with the surname Zhou really has no conscience. They say a teacher for one day is a father for life. How can he treat his teacher like that? The world is really going from bad to worse…”

“Thank you, Grandpa.” Shi Ying obediently thanked him, carefully placed the plant into the clay pot, and only then got onto the horse cart. Along the way, while the others weren’t paying attention, she secretly poured a little nutrient solution inside.

By the time they reached the hospital, the plant that had been hanging by a thread was clearly much more spirited.

Shi Guoping drove the cart to the side of the hospital, and was just about to tie the horse to an old willow tree by the roadside when a green open-top jeep drove over and stopped right in front of the cart.

Miao Xiuxiu was just helping Shi Ying get down from the cart, and seeing this, she quickly picked Shi Ying up and took a few steps back. But she was still splashed full in the face by the smoke spewed out by the jeep.

Shi Ying immediately started coughing violently. Miao Xiuxiu hurriedly carried her a few steps to the side and kept patting her back.

The jeep over there had already had its door opened by someone. First a man in military uniform got out of the car and strode into the hospital. Right after that, a petite woman also wearing green military uniform got out. In the woman’s hand, she was also holding the hand of a girl about ten years old.

Unlike the rustic Shi Ying and the others, the girl was wearing a beautiful dress, and on her feet she was wearing a pair of red leather shoes, looking truly delicate and pretty.

The petite woman clearly disliked the environment here very much. One hand held the pretty girl, and the other held a square handkerchief, waving it from time to time as if to drive away the dirty air around them.

Just as she was waving it, she happened to meet the eyes of Miao Xiuxiu, who had looked up, and then she froze for a moment, blurting out:

“Xiuxiu?”

Miao Xiuxiu also clearly had not expected to see a familiar person here.

The woman was clearly one of the family members she had long since not wanted to remember, her maternal half-sister, Miao Jie. Caught off guard, she also froze there.

“Mom, who is she?” The girl held by Miao Jie looked up. Her gaze kept moving back and forth between Miao Xiuxiu and Shi Ying.

When her eyes met Shi Ying’s flowerlike little face, a trace of jealousy that even she herself did not notice flashed clearly in her eyes.

This little country girl, although dressed in such rustic clothes, was prettier than any other little girl she had ever seen.

Miao Xiuxiu’s hand holding Shi Ying’s tightened unconsciously. Only after a long while did she calm down and say in a muffled voice:

“Why did you come here?”

Miao Jie looked Miao Xiuxiu up and down, and her brows immediately furrowed.

At any rate, she had come from the capital, that place known as the most upright and best-governed city. How had she ended up looking so rustic now? If she hadn’t already confirmed that this was indeed her younger sister, just hearing that rustic-as-dirt word “why” alone, she would have looked exactly like a born-and-raised country girl.

Her face immediately looked a bit bad, and she let out a cold snort:

“Heh, so this is the life you insisted on, even if it meant cutting ties with us? Truly, different from the rest.”

She had already thought this younger sister was foolish before, but now looking at her, she was simply hopelessly stupid.

Unexpectedly, Miao Xiuxiu directly raised her head and faced the woman’s eyes, saying stiffly:

“Yes, this is the life I want. I still have things to do. If there’s nothing else, I’m leaving…”

Her tone held grievance and resentment that even she herself had not noticed.

Unlike how most educated youths who came down to the countryside now came in a forced and helpless, downcast state, Miao Xiuxiu had been sent down by the commune with gongs and drums as an advanced model.

When Miao Xiuxiu went down to the countryside, it was still before the country had even set the policy of sending educated youths to the countryside.

And at that time, Miao Xiuxiu had not come of her own initiative, but as the result of the whole family pushing it through.

The country suddenly stopped university admissions. The older siblings, who had repeated the year for two years and still not gotten into university and were preparing to repeat a third time, as well as Miao Xiuxiu, who was still in high school, all went back home in a downtrodden state carrying their luggage.

With the path to university gone, the Miao family was immediately thrown into chaos.

Speaking of it, Miao’s father was an engineer, and Miao’s mother was also a small leader in the women’s federation. The two of them could be considered people of some standing, but suddenly asking for three positions to be arranged was obviously still too difficult.

The couple discussed it. According to their usual way of doing things, they still prioritized the son and daughter.

The two of them were already no longer young. Without a proper job, they would be at a disadvantage in the marriage market.

But at that time, a large batch of high school students had returned home, and it was not easy at all to secure a job slot, let alone three for their family all at once.

The couple worried until their hair was about to turn white. Day and night, they thought and thought, and in the end they actually came up with a good method.

Send the youngest daughter to the countryside.

At that time, although the country had not directly issued a policy requiring educated youths to go down to the countryside, it strongly advocated that educated youths voluntarily go to hard places to support national construction. Moreover, once a place had such young people, they would immediately be set up as models and heavily praised.

The couple had also heard a rumor that although university admissions had been stopped, it did not mean universities no longer wanted students. Instead, there would be a recommendation system for university admission.

After discussing it, the eldest and second eldest had repeated the year for several years without getting in, clearly lacking the fate for university. The third one, Miao Xiuxiu, was still quite gifted. So why not sign Miao Xiuxiu up and have her get the good reputation of voluntarily going to the countryside?

Then the eldest son’s and eldest daughter’s jobs could be arranged through this request for organizational care, and getting both of their jobs arranged would not be a problem.

As for the youngest daughter, although she would suffer for two years, just relying on the title of voluntarily going to the countryside and walking at the forefront of the era, with a little maneuvering from the couple, they could bring their daughter back, and then arrange a suitable job for her. Wouldn’t that be easy enough?

Or, if it really was as the rumor said, that one could be recommended to university, then the youngest daughter would definitely be able to take up one of the slots.

But plans could not keep up with changes. Before they even managed to bring Miao Xiuxiu back, the large-scale movement of educated youths going to the countryside had already been launched with great fanfare. At this point, wanting to bring the youngest daughter back again, going against the train of the times, was obviously not feasible.

Fortunately, the country really did implement the policy of recommending university students for admission.

It’s just that before they could even be relieved, their youngest daughter, who had always been silent and obedient, had already torn her face open with them and desperately married some rural man…

She had not expected Miao Xiuxiu to still be the same as before, turning her face as soon as she said so. Miao Jie immediately became somewhat exasperated:

“What kind of attitude is that? Could it be that what happened to you today is our fault? Wasn’t it just that you had water in your brain!”

Saying this, she became even more frustrated inside.

Yes, back then she had indeed owed Miao Xiuxiu a debt of gratitude. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have had the chance to get a spot to enlist in the army, and then smoothly enter the military art troupe.

But was she the only one who got the benefits? Clearly, according to Mom’s arrangements, Miao Xiuxiu could also have had a smooth and easy life. It was she herself who refused to listen to advice and insisted on going all the way down the dark road, preferring to sever ties with her family rather than stay in the countryside.

How had she felt guilty so much at the time? After enlisting, in the first month her allowance, aside from what she had to keep, had all been sent to Miao Xiuxiu. Later, when she found out Miao Xiuxiu had taken a fancy to a country man, she wrote letter after letter telling Miao Xiuxiu not to do such a foolish thing. But the problem was that she had written so many letters, and Miao Xiuxiu had not replied to even one of them.

Later, Miao Jie even suspected that Miao Xiuxiu had not even looked at them. Then she had come up with a way, helping trick Miao Xiuxiu into going back, and the result was good and well, she still ran off in the end, even stealing the family register and directly getting a marriage certificate with that country man!

For one person to be stupid to this degree, it was only natural that she would end up living her life into the current state of neither human nor ghost.

Clearly Miao Xiuxiu was nearly four years younger than her, yet at this moment she looked as if she were even ten years older than her.

“If you’ve regretted it, it’s not like there’s no way. It’s still what I told you before, as long as you’re willing to divorce…”

She was already married now, and her husband’s family also had some connections. Putting Miao Xiuxiu in any factory would be better than being a farm woman.

“I’m not willing.” Miao Xiuxiu directly cut her off. “From now on, when you see me, just pretend you don’t know me.”

“You…” Never in her dreams had she expected Miao Xiuxiu to be this resolute. Just as Miao Xiuxiu turned to leave, Miao Jie stepped forward and blocked her path, exasperatedly saying, “Don’t think that because your life isn’t good, we’ll feel sorry for you and be unable to rest day and night. Everyone walks their own path in life…”

She had been able to enlist in the army because she benefited from Miao Xiuxiu’s light, but she herself also had talent. If she had not worked hard, it would have been impossible for her to stand out among so many people and become a member of the military art troupe that everyone envied. It was precisely because she had always clearly understood what she wanted and moved step by step toward it that she had the happy life she had today.

“How could you possibly be at ease?” Miao Xiuxiu looked Miao Jie over from head to toe, her expression full of sarcasm. “Aren’t you living very well now?”

As she spoke, she picked up Shi Ying and turned to leave. Because she was walking a little too fast, she almost ran into the man in military uniform who had returned.