Zhang Bing's life was changed from the moment he decided to go to the countryside, and he embarked on a path he never imagined.

Zhang Bing is the second child in his family, with an older brother and a younger sister.

After graduating from school, my brother took over my father's job as a worker in a steel factory. Later, he married his sister-in-law, who was also a worker, and they had a son and a daughter. Their life was fulfilling and happy.

But by the time he graduated, it was a foregone conclusion that educated youth would be sent to the countryside, and the neighborhood committee often came to his home to persuade them to go.

“Zhang Lao Er, look at your family now, you have so many children and you don’t have a job. Why don’t you go to the countryside and find a way out?”

"Going to the countryside is to learn from the peasant comrades, which will help you go further on the revolutionary path in the future..."

“You are currently considered unemployed labor, and you are definitely required to go to the countryside…”

At first, Zhang Bing ignored these words. He thought, how could a high school graduate like him not be able to find a job?

Unexpectedly, at that time, there was a severe shortage of jobs in the factory, and even temporary workers were in high demand, so he couldn't get a chance to work there.

The Zhang family lives in the steel factory's staff housing, which has only two bedrooms and a living room.

The current arrangement is that the eldest brother and sister-in-law live in one room with their two children.

The other room was divided into two parts. The parents lived on one side, and the other side, with the curtain drawn, had bunk beds where he slept on the bottom and his sister slept on the top.

The eldest sister-in-law had long coveted his bed and wanted him to leave so that the two children could move out.

So they often persuaded him to go to the countryside with everyone else.

Zhang Bing felt inferior because he was unemployed. After his sister-in-law's words, he turned pale: "If all else fails, Mom, give me your job..."

He was aware of the housing shortage at home, but he had also heard about the experiences of many of his classmates who had gone to the countryside.

It's not as simple as the street officials say.

I remember meeting a neighbor who had come back from visiting relatives in the countryside that day. He used to be fair-skinned, but now he was dark-skinned and looked ten years older.

Zhang Bing shuddered: "I can't do farm work, and I won't be able to do anything even if I go down there. I might as well go to work and give all my wages to my family."

He thought he could stay if he asked for no salary, but his mother refused, saying, "My job is sweeping the floor. It's not suitable for a young man like you."

My mother added, "Besides, you're taking my place at work, so you don't have as many years of service as I do. Our family will lose two yuan a month."

Zhang Bing stammered, unable to speak.

In the end, he still went to the countryside.

Before leaving, he saw the reluctance in his parents' eyes and the guilt and joy in his sister-in-law's eyes.

The nephews and nieces were happy to have their own beds.

With mixed feelings, he put on a big red flower and left his hometown.

Little did they know that this departure would change their fate forever.

When he first went to the countryside, some people asked him about his family situation. To save face, he said that his parents were cadres.

A child from a cadre family naturally receives more respect and affection from others.

He enjoyed the feeling of being respected and valued by others, and went even further in describing his family's superior financial situation.

He did receive many admiring glances later on, but that was limited to the train.

After getting off the train, he was separated from the other people.

Those admiring glances were now only directed at Zhao Xiumei and Song Meili.

Neither of them were worth his attention.

After being assigned to the Lianhua Brigade, Zhang Bing realized what it felt like to be in dire straits.

For someone like him who had never done farm work before, going to the fields to farm was simply the most painful thing in the world.

He didn't know how to use a hoe, and blisters appeared on his hands on the first day.

He couldn't stand bending over to work, and at night his back ached so much that he couldn't sleep.

But the next day there was still endless farm work to do.

He knew that Song Meili and Zhao Xiumei couldn't stand it either, because the way they looked at him was becoming more and more intense.

He seemed to be some kind of savior.

But only he knew that he couldn't even save himself.

Later, on one occasion, he offended the brigade leader's niece and spoke ill of Song Meili.

Song Meili decisively cut ties with him, not even sparing him a glance.

He watched as Song Meili grew closer and closer to the brigade leader's niece. Although he was still very tired every day, he was always cheerful.

Zhang Bing thought, what's there to be happy about? I still have to work.

Later, he really couldn't hold on any longer and watched as Song Meili got a job in the small workshop through the connection of the brigade leader's niece, Lin Yu.

He also started to consider it.

Zhang Bing wanted to join the workshop, but there were no openings, and he didn't want to wait any longer.

At this time, he learned that the daughter of Accountant Li had said she wanted to find a son-in-law to marry into her family.

He had seen that woman before; she was tall and large, and looked as robust as a man.

She was also quite ordinary-looking, lacking the delicate beauty of city girls.

But he thought that he would be happy to marry Zhong Kui as long as he could stop working in the fields.

Although everyone was afraid of that woman, and he was too, he knew he had to risk everything.

He can't go back to the city for the time being, so he can only try to make himself more comfortable.

So he volunteered himself and told Li Lanhua that he was willing to marry into her family.

Li Lanhua agreed without much consideration.

Things went so smoothly that Zhang Bing couldn't believe it.

He later learned that Li Lanhua was attracted to his looks and education, and was after his genes for the next generation.

Zhang Bing accepts being treated as a reproductive tool.

Ever since he was forced to go to the countryside, his heart had grown cold. Even among his relatives, he was calculating gains and losses, let alone outsiders.

He was interested in Li Lanhua because she could help him get a job in the workshop, so he wouldn't have to do that exhausting farm work anymore. Li Lanhua was interested in him because he could be the father of her child.

They hit it off immediately and that's how they got together.

The decision to marry Li Lanhua was indeed the right one.

Since they got together, he no longer has to do any work in the fields. Li Lanhua can easily earn back his daily work points by doing a little bit of work in the fields.

He also successfully obtained a spot to work in the workshop.

After that, he watched the workshop grow bigger and bigger under Lin Yu's leadership, and eventually it became a food factory.

Not long after Li Lanhua married him, she became pregnant.

Zhang Bing had previously imagined that his feelings about this child would be very complicated.

Because it wasn't a product of love; in fact, this child seemed more like something Li Lanhua obtained through him.

Zhang Bing didn't initially think he would have any feelings for that child.

But it seems that one's mind is uncontrollable.

When he learned that Li Lanhua was pregnant, he was overjoyed, as if molten lava had erupted.

He trembled from the depths of his soul; from that moment on, there was one more person in the world connected to him by blood.

This person shares his blood; they are each other's closest relatives in the world.

He loves this child.

Zhang Bing took great care of Li Lanhua.

Unlike other women, Li Lanhua didn't take on all the housework, so she learned to cook, knit, sew, and so on...