"Xiuxiu?"

Upon hearing this, Shen Huixiu's brows furrowed tightly, but considering her current situation and public image, she managed to hide her impatience and called out, "Hey, Mother! What is it?"

"Zhuangzhuang is going out to work, would you like to see him off?"

Send him off?

Shen Huixiu's chest suddenly became as turbulent as a pounding drum.

For all these years, she had been looking forward to this day day and night, but...

No, she couldn't be careless. She suppressed her joy and put on a worried and somewhat timid expression. "Mother, should I... should I still go out?"

She shrank her neck, completely uncouth.

Zhuangzhuang's mother was particularly happy about this. Oh dear, over the years, the village has bought countless young women to be wives, but hers is the most outstanding. She is beautiful, hardworking, and most importantly, she never tries to run away from home.

If Shen Huixiu were to rush out now, Zhuangzhuang's mother would have to think twice about whether to let her go with them. But given her current state...

Well, I suppose he's completely resigned to his fate.

"Go on out," Zhuangzhuang's mother said with a smile. "Your husband might be gone for a long time. It would be such a waste if no one saw him off. We live deep in the mountains, and I'm getting old. It's not easy for me to climb up and down the mountain. You're younger, and it's not as convenient for you to come and go as you please."

"Huh?" Shen Huixiu hesitated for a long time, her hands covered with chilblains and calluses clutching the hem of her clothes, feeling a little embarrassed. "Mother, if I go out like this, people will laugh at me. Otherwise, you should go instead."

“Just go when I tell you to,” Zhuangzhuang’s mother had completely let down her guard and took out some money from her pocket. “After you bring it back to your husband, buy some sweet cakes from the street. Your son has been craving them for ages.”

Upon hearing this, Shen Huixiu indeed fell silent and obediently accepted the money, saying, "Yes, Mother, I understand."

After saying that, she looked up at Zhuangzhuang's mother with a fawning look in her eyes and said, "Mother, is there anything else you need? I can bring it back for you."

"What do you want?" Zhuangzhuang's mother was really thinking. "Catch some chicks for me when you come back."

Now that the government has removed restrictions on raising chickens and ducks, Zhuangzhuang's mother wants to raise more. Even though she doesn't have money to buy meat, raising them herself and then slaughtering them for meat is the same thing.

"good."

Watching her son and daughter-in-law, Zhuangzhuang's mother held her grandson, eagerly anticipating the chicks they would bring.

Zhuangzhuang's mother was holding her three-year-old grandson in her arms. It was a bit of a struggle for her, but she couldn't bear to let go. "Jinbao, Mom is going to catch some chicks for you. When they grow up, Grandma will make egg custard and stewed hen for you."

Jinbao looked blankly at Shen Huixiu's retreating figure, calling out, "Mother~"

.

Shen Huixiu finally escaped.

After a long and arduous journey of half a month, Shen Huixiu finally set foot on her familiar homeland again. She couldn't help but burst into tears. She had thought that the conditions there would be harsh enough when she went to Xinjiang to provide assistance.

To my utter surprise, I was caught without even looking, and they sold me out.

For some reason, almost as if possessed, Shen Huixiu went to the steel factory first, wanting to see how Shen Fenghua was doing.

The steel plant is no longer as glorious as it once was, and now it is somewhat dilapidated. Even the bright red lettering on the gate looks quite worn. Perhaps because it was during working hours, there were few people at the gate. As far as the eye could see, there was only an old man lying in a rocking chair smoking.

Shen Huixiu lingered there. The old man saw her, took the cigarette out of his mouth, and asked gruffly, "What are you doing?"

Shen Huixiu had already developed a wary nature over there, and now, seeing the old man speaking in a gruff voice, she trembled in fright and stammered, "No, I... I just came to find someone."

Oh, looking for someone?

The old man remained skeptical of Shen Huixiu, frowning, "Whom are you looking for?"

“The head of the publicity department was named Shen Fenghua,” Shen Huixiu said, then added, “That was more than ten years ago, now…”

Shen Huixiu looked blankly at Shen Fenghua, who had no idea what state Shen Fenghua had reached.

Honestly, during those years deep in the mountains, countless times in the dead of night, Shen Huixiu tossed and turned on her creaking wooden bed.

She couldn't understand why she had insisted on going against Shen Fenghua back then.

If she hadn't gone against Shen Fenghua, given Shen Fenghua's kindness and abilities, even if she obediently went to the countryside, Shen Fenghua wouldn't have abandoned her. She would have received financial assistance, and as long as she stayed obediently in the countryside for a year or two, she could still rely on the exams to return home...

How could things have come to such a state?

Shen Huixiu thought in a daze that she had really made one mistake after another.

The old man sensed something was wrong when Shen Huixiu mentioned Shen Fenghua, who was in charge of the propaganda board. While Shen Huixiu was lost in thought, he carefully examined her and suddenly realized something.

"Are you Shen Huixiu?"

The old man was startled, never expecting that Shen Huixiu, who had been missing for more than ten years, would appear on her own.

only……

Who would believe this woman in front of them, who said she was around thirty years old?

Around fifty is about the same.

Exhausted from daily toil and burdened by worries, Shen Huixiu's hair has turned mostly white, and her face is deeply lined. People would believe she is Shen Fenghua's mother-in-law, let alone Shen Fenghua's sister, and then they would praise Shen Huixiu for her good looks...

Shen Huixiu subconsciously took two steps back, "I...I..."

The old man wanted to say something more, but when he saw the black car driving out of the steel plant, he glanced at Shen Huixiu with a complicated expression, and then opened the door.

The car stopped at the door, and the passenger window was rolled down, revealing Shen Fenghua's face, which looked almost exactly the same as when he was young. "Grandpa, thank you for your hard work."

"It's not hard work," the old man said, looking at Shen Fenghua in front of him and then thinking about Shen Huixiu just now. He sighed inwardly, "Life is so unpredictable."

Qi Ye smiled and took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. "Grandpa, take this and smoke it. We've been going in and out these past few days, and we've really troubled you."

"This is what I should do."

"What do you mean 'should' or 'shouldn't'?" Shen Fenghua got out of the car and stuffed the cigarette into the old man's arms. "Take it. I'm waiting to pick up the child. If we're not around to keep an eye on her, Tingyi will be spoiled rotten by her three older brothers again."

The car stopped quickly and drove away in an instant.

Shen Huixiu stood there, feeling as if Shen Fenghua's current life was a resounding slap across her face.

"Sir, she..."

The old man glanced at Shen Huixiu and said sympathetically, "She's no longer the director of the steel plant. She made her fortune in the clothing industry a few years ago, and now she's back to buy the steel plant."

Qi Ye glanced at Shen Fenghua, who sat calmly beside him, and asked, "You recognized me?"

“Hmm,” Shen Fenghua said calmly, “but those are all things of the past, let them go with the wind.”

Everything has faded away with the wind.