Zhao Jiaojiao and Qiao Qiao have already boarded the train to Harbin. Their destinations in the countryside are both Heping Commune, which they chose themselves by bribing the people in the Youth Affairs Office.

During this period, the two maintained a fairly good relationship, after all, they had a common enemy.

Both of them wanted to scheme against Xia Wan, so no matter what they thought in their hearts, they still got along very well on the surface.

"We don't know which brigade we'll be assigned to after we get to Heping Commune, or even if Xia Wan has been selected for Huaihua Brigade!" Zhao Jiaojiao muttered quietly to Qiao Qiao as soon as they boarded the train.

"We'll see when we get there. Giving them some benefits will surely achieve our goal!" Qiao Qiao didn't show it on her face, but in her heart she despised Zhao Jiaojiao!

She calculated the time and realized that Xia Tao should have already gone to the farm for renovations by now.

Around this time in his previous life, Xia Tao received news while driving a long-distance truck that his father had been beaten unconscious by his uncle's son.

Because he was in a hurry to get home, he was distracted while driving, which caused the truck to overturn. Although he only suffered minor injuries, the goods he was carrying suffered heavy losses.

I heard that those goods were very important, and they were for processing export products. So Xia Tao's actions were considered as damaging state and collective property. Although the leaders of the transportation company tried their best to protect him, he was still sent to a farm for reform.

After Xia Jianguo woke up, he was left without his son's care. Since the Xia family members were only interested in profit and couldn't get any benefits from him, they naturally wouldn't take care of him either.

So Xia Jianguo died after only a few months, leaving her and Wu Zhaodi to suffer greatly.

In the end, she was sold by Old Lady Xia to an old bachelor in the village, and eventually died from domestic violence.

Thinking of this, Qiao Qiao couldn't help but smile. She thought that Xia Wan must be living the same life as she did in her previous life.

Without the protection of his biological father and brother, and with endless farm work to do every day, plus the accusations and beatings from the Xia family, he must have lived a life worse than death.

But this is her fate; after all, Xia Wan has stolen 18 years of her city life. Now it's time for everyone to go back to where they belong!

She was just a country bumpkin, and she made all the money for the first 18 years of her life, Qiao Qiao thought bitterly.

...

Xia Wan and her brother rode bicycles back to the village, causing quite a stir in the village, since the village head's family was the only one with a bicycle.

Now look what happened, the two of them are riding back on bicycles.

These days, the villagers have been talking about Xia Wan quite a bit. Someone spread the rumor that Xia Wan, the educated youth, eloped with a man.

The matter spread like wildfire throughout the village until the brigade leader heard the news and specifically explained the relationship between Xia Wan and Xia Jianguo when assigning tasks in the morning.

And he told everyone not to spread rumors and not to ruin the girl's reputation.

Only then did the villagers realize that Xia Jianguo's biological daughter was the newly arrived educated youth, Xia. The rumors had just stopped when they were surprised to see such a striking appearance from the brother and sister.

Moreover, Xia Wan was carrying so many packages in the car, and it was clear that there were quite a few good things inside.

The busy farming season has ended these past few days, and the women in the village are all sitting together chatting. Xia Wan and the others naturally became the most popular topic of conversation.

"Oh dear, Xia Zhiqing is back. Why did you buy so many things? Did you buy these for your own father?"

"Oh my, is Jianguo alright? He looks much better. It's so different when your own daughter comes back; look how well she's taking care of him!"

"Oh my, this is a brand new bicycle! Xia Zhiqing must have brought back a lot of money from the city. Tsk tsk, he really spared no expense, buying two bicycles at once."

Hearing them say that, Xia Tao scratched his head a little embarrassedly and said very honestly, "Auntie, are you sitting here? I borrowed this bicycle. Xiao Wan just bought it. Where would we get the money to buy so many bicycles?"

"The first thing my daughter did when she came back was buy a car for the family. She's been raised quite well in the city."

"Exactly, exactly! Why haven't I ever had such good fortune?"

"It's so different when my own daughter comes back; she's so filial."

Xia Wan looked at the group of elderly women sitting together and said with a smile, "Oh, ladies, don't envy my dad. Your own children are always the best! What are you saying? Aren't your children filial? Just take them out and give them a good beating."

Damn it, a bunch of old women are making sarcastic remarks about Lao Xia. What decent family would want their child to be switched at birth with someone else's?

Xia Wan's words made the men's faces turn sour. They were used to gossiping, but they never expected Xia Wan to be so sharp-tongued and unafraid of offending anyone. This young girl really dared to say anything.

Someone looked at Xia Tao with a smile and asked gossipily, "Taozi, didn't your mother go to the county hospital too? Why didn't you come back together?"

Everyone in the village knows that Wu Zhaodi is always looking after her own family and doesn't care about her husband's family.

These past few days, Xia's wife has been scolding him quite a bit because of the fact that he took his nephew to the hospital.

Anyone would be angry in this situation. While you're busy harvesting crops and earning work points, your daughter-in-law takes your nephew to the hospital.

You could argue that the injury was serious, but the key point is that Wu Baoping only broke his head and didn't bleed much, yet the Wu family made such a fuss and insisted on going to the county hospital.

"No...no..." Xia Tao was shy, and although he felt uncomfortable, he still didn't ignore her.

He pedaled hard a few times and rode his bicycle a long way, not wanting to say anything more to these people.

Xia Wan frowned as she watched. Over the past few days, she had noticed that her adopted brother was sensible, but he was always hesitant and timid in his actions.

She is thin-skinned and doesn't want to offend anyone.

It seems we still need to change things gradually. We can't tolerate those gossipy women; they're the kind of people who love to take advantage of others.

"Brother, you seem really afraid of them?"

Xia Tao sighed: "It's not that I'm afraid of them, it's just that I'm often away from home when I go to work, and I can't afford to offend the villagers. Maybe one day Dad will need their help."

He knew long ago that his family members were unreliable, so he tried to build good relationships with his neighbors, hoping that they could help look after him when he was away.

Xia Wan frowned and disagreed with him: "Brother, there's no need for you to do this. The more you back down, the more they'll think you're easy to bully. Not only will they not help you, but they might even try to kick you when you encounter difficulties."

Just like those people who were only focused on making sarcastic remarks, they didn't care about our feelings at all!

She felt that it would be more satisfying to drag him out and beat him up, which would also serve as a warning to others.

“But if those people hold a grudge, there will be all sorts of trouble in the future.” Xia Tao frowned. He had experienced those gossipy women before; they were all capable of throwing tantrums and acting unreasonably.