The three children in the yard saw their grandparents hesitant to come in and asked curiously, "Grandpa and Grandma, why aren't you coming in? What are you doing standing at the door?"

Hearing their grandson's words brought the two back to reality. Song Yining stood behind, not daring to make a sound, until they heard their grandson's voice.

They then realized that they were still standing at the door, and the people inside could hear the voices.

Grandma Yang saw her son and daughter-in-law standing at the door and said impatiently, "What are you standing there for? You're already at the door, so come in quickly. Look who's here!"

Seeing the smile on the old mother's face, the two were relieved. "Who's here? Look how happy you are."

"You'll find out when you go in. Ningning, you and Grandma go and prepare the food." After saying that, she went into the kitchen without looking back to prepare something to eat for the two of them.

Song Yining was confused, but when she heard Grandma Yang call her to go into the kitchen, she went in.

When Yang Chunlin and his wife entered the house and saw Shen Zhiming, they could hardly recognize him; he was so different from the dashing young man he once was.

Shen Zhiming saw Yang Chunlin and cheerfully called out, "Brother Lin, sister-in-law, you're back!"

Looking at the pale, bloodless man who was as thin as a stick and had lost all his former glory, Yang Chunlin burst into tears.

"What are you doing? How did you get yourself into this state? You've lost all your former glory." She pulled Shen Zhiming down to sit.

When Zhang Datao saw that it wasn't her son, she felt relieved. They hadn't seen each other for many years, so she let them catch up.

Entering the kitchen, Grandma Yang saw her mother-in-law hesitating to speak. She quickly asked Zhang Datao to take charge of the cooking and instructed her, "Make something easy to digest. I think they are both malnourished and tired from all the work. Make it light."

Upon hearing this and recalling the man she had just seen, Zhang Datao realized that she had only seen one person: a soldier in the courtyard.

Why is there still someone there? She turned to look at her mother-in-law, wanting to ask, but her mother-in-law gestured with her eyes towards the room where Song Yining had stayed before, and she realized that the person was in the room.

Song Yining watched the two exchanging glances, but remained silent and buried herself in picking vegetables.

"Ningning, go to the vegetable garden and pick a few greens for us. Grandma will need them later."

Without saying a word, Song Yining went out to the vegetable garden to pick vegetables. Zhang Datao saw her mother-in-law doing this and asked, "Mom, who's inside?"

Grandma Yang looked outside and whispered, "Those are Ningning's biological parents. Her mother is sleeping inside. She's not feeling well, so I told her to rest for a while."

Zhang Datao had been puzzled before about why Song Yining had the surname Song, but the old man explained it to him, and he only recently found out.

Shen Junjie came over and told her about what happened back then. Fortunately, the child has been living with his adoptive parents all these years, and has been well cared for by his grandparents and parents.

That's why, upon seeing that Song Yining's surname was Song, Yang Chunlin assumed it was someone's mother's surname and didn't show much curiosity.

"Mom, Ningning doesn't know her own parents yet, she's never seen them since she was born."

Grandma Yang nodded, sighed, and said, "Yes! Parents sacrifice their own family for the greater good. Didn't you see how her mother looks? Both of them are so pale that you can't bear to look at them."

Seeing that she looked like she was about to collapse while sleeping, I quickly told her to go and rest. Her legs were numb when she got out of the car, and I had to help her in.

The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law spoke in hushed tones, while keeping an eye on Song Yining as she entered through the door.

After the two finished catching up inside the house, Yang Chunlin looked at Shen Zhiming with a hint of hesitation.

Looking outside again, he said, "Let me tell you something. Be prepared. Don't get excited. I'm worried about your health. It's comparable to the famine of those years."

Shen Zhiming said with a wry smile, "The base rarely sees the sun, and we're all indoors, so it's become like this."

“Then you should be prepared. A few months ago, Ningning came to our area from the countryside. Junjie came to see Ningning and left less than ten days later. He built a house for her at the educated youth settlement, and she moved there herself recently.”

Yang Chunli looked at Shen Zhiming apologetically, "The child has been staying in the room your wife is sleeping in since he arrived, and he's usually very diligent."

It was my third son's wife who caused all sorts of trouble in the family.

Oh! It's unfair that the children are living in our home. I always have a knot in my heart about it. You've treated us so badly all these years.

But when the child arrived, we didn't take good care of her and she suffered. Ningning told me that she didn't want any special treatment.

Junjie instructed the officer who brought you here today to build two rooms for the child at the educated youth settlement; she had only moved out recently.

My child is very sensible and often takes care of our family. She's also hardworking at work. I was originally thinking of letting her do easier work, but she stopped me; she didn't want to be treated specially.

Hearing that the child was there, Shen Zhiming was extremely nervous and kept staring outside, trying to see the child.

I wanted to say something, but I didn't know how to say it, and I felt a tremor running through my body.

There's guilt and self-blame, but also a lot of anticipation; my heart is filled with mixed feelings.

Yang Chunlin also saw his expression and the movements of his hands; he was so excited that he didn't know how to express it.

“That child is sensible and will understand your difficulties. Don’t blame yourself.”

Shen Zhiming kept rubbing his hands together to reduce his nervousness.

He felt sweating profusely from his head and body, looking at Yang Chunlin with a mixture of excitement and helplessness.

Yang Chunlin could feel that same emotion at that moment. He was just a baby back then, just like when they returned to the village.

Seeing that his father was nowhere to be seen in his memory, he could only envy Mingming. His mother comforted him, saying that they should take good care of Mingming because their mother was sick.

You see, we rarely come to see Mingming, and neither do we. If we take good care of Mingming, we can go back to see Dad sooner.

Yang Chunlin spent six years in the Shen family before returning to Yangjia Village.

On the day I returned, I saw my grandparents' aged figures, with my thin father standing beside them. Although they were no longer alive, the blood ties remained.

In no time, they became familiar with each other. The grandparents looked at him with expectant eyes, and Yang Chunlin was also looking at them.

Even though they hadn't seen each other for several years, their blood ties remained, and they quickly became familiar with each other.

Although his family wasn't as well-off as the Shen family, Yang Chunlin experienced the love from his relatives at home.

Yang Chunlin looked at Shen Zhiming and said to him, "Family ties cannot be erased. Talk to the child properly later. If you're having any wild thoughts, just show your true colors."

Song Yining had already picked the vegetables and was about to go back to the kitchen when she started to wonder why Grandma Yang was acting strangely today. The two of them were exchanging knowing glances, and she thought Grandma Yang was unaware of what was going on.

He simply pretended not to see it, picked the vegetables, took them back to the kitchen, and put them on the stove for later use.

The food in the kitchen was ready, and Grandma Yang told Zhang Datao to order it. As for Han Qiangwei, they would discuss it when she woke up.

Shen Shiming saw that it was his sister-in-law who brought the food and stared longingly outside. Zhang Datao said, disapprovingly, "Eat first, we'll talk about it when you have the energy. Don't think about anything else right now."