Si Yufang turned around and was extremely happy: "Xiaonan, thank you so much. You don't know what kind of life we have been living for the past two years. Now we have a house like this to live in, which is very good for us. It feels like returning to our own home in Zizhu Town." As she spoke, tears welled up in her eyes.

Her husband, Zheng Guang, is short in stature, with very dark skin, eyes and mouth corners that droop unconsciously, and a face that makes people feel that he is always unhappy. She also has two sons in their thirties who look similar to him. Her two daughters-in-law and three grandchildren also had tears in their eyes when they heard Si Yufang's words.

Liu Dalin's wife Mao Pingzhen, her two daughters and a son-in-law also had tears in their eyes and were hesitant to speak.

Si Nan said, "Aunt, you are too polite. You don't need to thank me. The layouts of these two houses are similar. Uncle, aunt, you can live in whichever one you like. Put your luggage down first. I will go back and cook for you to welcome you home."

Both houses are two-in-one units with their own toilet, kitchen and bathroom. The living rooms in the middle of the rooms are all renovated with kang beds. This way, even if the room cannot accommodate so many people, you can pull a curtain on the kang bed in the living room to separate it and use it as a room.

Si Yufang thought about it for a while and discussed with Liu Dalin: "Why don't we live in the house on the right? You can live on the left?"

Actually, Liu Dalin had never liked the people of the Si family, but Si Yufang was very nice to Si Nan and his deceased sister, so he didn't say anything and just nodded in agreement.

The two families took their luggage to their respective houses and everyone was very happy.

They had been struggling to survive outside for more than two years, with hunger and clothes, and had lived in caves and various ruined buildings. Now they have a house that is similar to their home before the apocalypse, and their happiness is beyond words.

On the left, the Liu family, Si Nan's two cousins, were holding their own children and said to Mao Pingzhen happily, "Mom, we heard from others on the way here that the houses in the Stone Mountain Base require a lot of points or food to rent a house. Most people can't afford to live there, and even if they have points and food, they can't get such a private house. This cousin Si is quite capable. She rented two houses for us to live in. It seems that you and Dad didn't raise her in vain."

Liu Ming and Liu Yue inherited Mao Pingzhen's looks, both of them have thin eyebrows, thin eyes, fair skin and single eyelids. When they smile, their eyebrows and eyes are curved, which looks quite pleasing, but when they don't smile, they give people the impression of being mean and difficult to get along with.

Influenced by Mao Pingzhen, the sisters looked down on Si Nan since they were young, thinking that she was a beggar who was eating their food. When they were young, they insulted and despised Si Nan in various ways.

Since they were young, they have been imitating Mao Pingzhen, calling Si Nan a dead girl, an evil spirit, a jinx, an unwanted bastard behind Liu Dalin's back... They have never called Si Nan cousin, and this is the first time they call her that.

Mao Pingzhen looked around at the beds, bedside tables, wardrobes, tables, chairs, benches and so on placed in the two rooms. Although they were all old and assembled, compared to living in the dirty and messy shantytown in the west district, this place was like heaven.

She muttered to herself that the bastard had a conscience, and said with a straight face, "A dog still knows to wag its tail at its master. Your father and I have raised her for so many years and paid for her education. It is only natural that she does these things to repay us. What kind of ability is this?"

"Can you three shut your stinky mouths?!" Liu Dalin hated it the most when the three mother and daughter said anything bad about Si Nan. When he heard what they said, he got furious: "Mao Pingzhen, I told you a long time ago that my sister left me a sum of money before she died, asking me to keep it for Xiaonan as a dowry. If I hadn't been incompetent and couldn't make so much money to support you and your daughter, I wouldn't have used Xiaonan's dowry money. So the money to support Xiaonan belongs to my sister, and we didn't spend a penny more on her! In the past, you bullied Xiaonan behind my back, and Xiaonan forgave you for the past, and I didn't say anything. But you three, remember this! Now you have come to Xiaonan for help, it's not that Xiaonan owes you, it should be given to you! If you can't spit out ivory from your dog's mouth, get out of here and live in the shantytown in the west district. I don't think you can last there!"

Liu Dalin was very scary when he got angry. Mao Pingzhen, her mother and her daughter were all afraid of him. They said timidly in front of him, "We know. It was just a joke. Dad/the child's dad, don't be angry. We didn't mean it. We won't dare to say nonsense again."

Turning around and seeing Liu Dalin had gone out, Mao Pingzhen dared to lower her voice and said to her two daughters and eldest son-in-law, "Your father is just talking nonsense. Back then, the bastard's mother left the house with nothing. She only married the bastard and didn't ask the Si family for a penny. She lived in her mother's house for several years. How could she have extra money to give to your father? I don't believe it..."

Si Yufang next door was also fuming with her husband Zheng Guang: "Back then, Xiaonan had no one to take care of her, so I took her home to live with me for two years. Your family treated her with contempt, and I pretended not to see anything. But I didn't expect that your mother would beat and scold her behind my back, and beat Xiaonan until she was covered in wounds. She didn't dare to cry in front of me or tell me. Later, I smelled a foul odor on her body, and then I realized how badly your mother beat her. The wounds were festering and maggots were growing on her! Your mother is such a damned old woman, how could she have the heart to do that!"

When she said this, tears could not stop flowing down, her chest rose and fell, and she trembled and choked as she cried, "It was my brother who was a bastard, and I, as an aunt, was cowardly and incompetent. I was afraid of upsetting my parents-in-law, so I quarreled with you and divorced you. The two sons were very pitiful without a mother, and I kept swallowing my anger and did not protect her and raise her well. But she forgot the past and only remembered how good I was to her. When she grew up, she saved the money she had to buy things and give me money, and she has always been filial to me."

She wiped the tears from her face with her torn sleeves, stared at Zheng Guang angrily and said, "Now we have come to her for help. She rented such a big house for me to live in. She is honoring me, not you! Zheng Guang, you have no say in this house. I will give it to whoever I want!"

Zheng Guang pursed his lips and remained silent.

He knew what his parents did to Si Nan many years ago, but he was a farmer with little education, and was taught that filial piety came first. Although he felt sorry for what his parents had done to Si Nan, it was difficult for him and his wife to support a large family with the crops from the fields back then, and he really couldn't afford to add Si Nan to the family, so he acquiesced in his parents' actions, with the intention of making Si Yufang give up and drive Si Nan away.

Now his parents died in a natural disaster, and they came to Si Nan for help. Si Nan did not care about the past and arranged for them to live in such a private house. To be honest, he was embarrassed and regretted what he did in the past, but this was not a reason to let Si Chengye's family live with them.

Zheng Guang said, "This house only has two rooms. Even if the living room can accommodate people, it's not enough for our family. You want to bring your brother's family to live with you? Do you think our family is not living peacefully enough?"

Zheng Guang's eldest son Zheng Hao continued, "Mom, let's not talk about other things. Yuanyuan has only been giving birth for less than three months. She almost died when giving birth during the earthquake. There is nothing to eat or drink. Yuanyuan has no milk, and Zhuangzhuang has been crying from hunger. A three-month-old baby is not as heavy as a baby who was more than one month old two years ago. With the efforts of my uncle, aunt and their family, if they want to live with us, they will definitely share the food we don't have enough to eat. By then, we haven't found a job yet, and Zhuangzhuang will starve to death. As a grandmother, do you really have the heart to watch your grandson starve to death?"

The second son Zheng Jian also said, "Mom, cousin Si Nan hates my uncle's family and wants them to die. You want to let my uncle live in the house she rented for you with so much effort. Isn't this going against her and making her feel cold? Do you want to break up with her because of my uncle?"

Si Yufang paused as she wiped her tears, unable to refute.

Naturally, she hated Si Chengye for abandoning his wife and daughter and what he did to Si Nan, but she also felt sorry for Si Chengye because he was her only brother. His health had been much worse in recent years, and he would definitely not be able to bear living in the shantytown in the West District.

She had previously asked Si Chengye's family to follow her family and travel thousands of miles to Shishan, mainly because she wanted Si Chengye to reconcile with Si Nan and his daughter.

In her eyes, there are no parents who are not wrong in the world. No matter how much hatred and resentment there are between father and daughter, they cannot outweigh the fact that they share the same blood flowing in their bodies.

She believed that no matter how many misunderstandings there were, one day they would reconcile.

But when she thought of Si Nan's hatred for Si Chengye, if she really took Si Chengye and his family to live with her, then not only would their family be in chaos, but Si Nan would probably be disappointed in her and no longer recognize her as his aunt, and would cut off all ties with her...

While she was struggling with the dilemma, Si Nan rode his bicycle back to his home and just happened to see Cheng Su Ming riding his bicycle back and opening the gate to go in.

She hurriedly greeted him: "Su Ming, you came back from get off work so early today?"

Cheng Suming parked his bicycle and came over to help her push the bicycle into the yard: "Today's surgery was done well. We left work on time after we finished working on the patients who didn't need surgery."

"You're back just in time. There's a big happy event today." Si Nan followed him happily and said, "My uncle and aunt are finally here! They are all fine, no one is dead, no one is injured! It's just like the dream I told you about. I'm so happy now. I've arranged for them to stay in the house at the end of the stream. Can you help me cook a delicious meal to welcome them?"

Cheng Suming parked his bicycle in the woodshed on the right side of the yard, looked back at her beautiful sparkling eyes, and reached out to touch her small face lovingly: "Okay, I'll make some food for your uncle and aunt."

Si Nan thought he would find it troublesome and refuse to do it, but she didn't expect him to be so nice and agree so readily. This made her feel that Cheng Suming respected her family and she was deeply moved: "My uncle likes to drink and doesn't care about food. My aunt likes sweet and sour food. As for other people, I don't care what they like to eat."

"You still hold a grudge against your aunt and uncle for treating you badly?" Cheng Suming pinched her nose with amusement, "There must be quite a few of them here, and it's too much for the two of us to handle it alone. Go and ask Aunt Sheng, Cheng Wei and the others to come and help, and by the way, let them have a meal at our house too, so that we can all get together and get to know each other."

Around seven o'clock in the evening, two tables of sumptuous meals were set up in Sinan's yard. The meal started only after Yang Wentao and Sheng Youqing, brother and sister, returned from work. The two tables were full of people.

On the table, each of them had a large pot of Northeastern pork stew, which was Sheng's mother's specialty, a large basket of golden cornmeal pot stickers, a large pot of mixed vegetable fried rice, a pot of thick century egg and vegetable porridge, as well as vinegar-fried potato shreds, hot and sour kelp shreds, and luncheon meat fried with wild vegetables. Each person had a bun bigger than their face, a steamed sweet potato with the skin cracked open to reveal the white and sweet inside, plus some small bags of snacks and candies for the children, and a bottle of white wine in a mineral water bottle.

Liu Dalin and his group had not had such a sumptuous hot meal for a long time. They ate voraciously with tears in their eyes.

Before the apocalypse, some people might have found these meals crude and simple and difficult to swallow, but during the nearly two and a half years of hunger and starvation in the apocalypse, all the survivors got rid of their picky eating habits.

Mao Pingzhen and her mother and daughter, who had previously been picky eaters, thought the food was delicious and kept eating voraciously, eating more than the growing children next to them.

Liu Dalin felt a little embarrassed when he saw the look on Mao Pingzhen's face and her daughter's face. He kicked them under the table and coughed to remind them to be more restrained.

Mao Pingzhen rolled her eyes at him, signaling to him that Si Yufang's family at the next table were also eating like starving ghosts and they didn't feel ashamed at all, so why should she be ashamed?

She hadn't had a full meal for more than two years and now she could finally eat her fill. What right did he have to stop her!

Liu Dalin had a terrible headache and kept drinking the white wine poured by Sinan. He was happy for Sinan in his heart. His niece was living a good life and had married a good husband. She had no worries about food and clothing. His sister in heaven would also feel relieved.

"These steamed buns, these sauerkraut stewed with pork, and this fried rice...are so delicious, woooo." Liu Ming's eldest daughter, Yangyang, who is over eight years old, failed to dodge the natural disaster in time and hit her head, becoming a little silly.

She ate the food vigorously, her cheeks bulging, and cried to Liu Ming, "Mom, I don't want to be your daughter anymore. I don't want to be hungry with you all the time. I don't want to be hungry and be scolded by you for being a starving ghost. I want to eat my fill with Aunt Nan."

Mr. and Mrs. Liu Ming, who were eating madly, paused.

Liu Ming looked at her husband with complicated eyes. Her husband lowered his head, not knowing what he was thinking. Both of them were very embarrassed.

Si Nan put a piece of meat into Yangyang's bowl and said slowly, "Don't cry, Yangyang. Your mom didn't mean to scold you. The current environment is not good. Going hungry is something that everyone will experience. Aunt Nan was also hungry during the earthquake. As long as Yangyang is obedient, your mom and dad will work hard to earn points and exchange them for a lot of delicious food for Yangyang, and Yangyang will never go hungry again."

"What's the job?" Yangyang blinked his big dark eyes, his skinny face was confused. "My grandma said that if you marry a doctor, you will earn a lot more money, and the family will not have to worry about food and clothing. She said that you must give us a lot of food to repay my grandma for raising you for so many years. Otherwise, you are an ungrateful person, and she will definitely quarrel with you!"

The lively atmosphere at the dinner table cooled down, and it was too late for Liu Ming and his wife, and Mao Pingzhen to cover their mouths.

"Mao Pingzhen, did you ignore my words?!" Liu Dalin slammed his wine glass to the ground, slammed the table, and stretched out his hand to twist Mao Pingzhen's collar: "I told you long ago that the money for raising Xiaonan is from my sister, and Xiaonan doesn't owe us anything! Why are you still saying those ugly words in front of the children and corrupting them?!"

His face was red and veins were bulging. He held Mao Pingzhen's collar tightly in his hands, wanting to strangle her to death, but he suppressed his anger and his eyes were full of disappointment.

"Uncle Liu, calm down, calm down!" Others rushed forward to pull Liu Dalin, fearing that he would fight with Mao Pingzhen.

"Uncle, let aunt go." Sinan stood up and said calmly, "No matter whether uncle raised me with the dowry money my mother left me, uncle and aunt, it is a fact that you raised me."

She turned her head to look at Si Yufang and smiled at her: "Aunt, you too, I remember all your kindness in raising me, so over the years, I have done my best to repay you. But——"

When she said this, her eyes darkened. "People will change, especially now that there are constant natural disasters and the environment is bad. I don't want to be endlessly asked for because of my endless rewards. Since my aunt has put forward the conditions, I will make it clear. The house you are living in now costs 70 points a month. I have paid half a year's rent in advance, which means that you can still live in it for four months without paying rent."

"The decoration of the two houses, the furniture, the repair of the wells, the kang beds, etc., were all exchanged for the repairs with my stored grain. I will not calculate these one by one with you. You can go out and ask about the price. My aunt asked me to repay the kindness of raising me with food. I can give it, but I have to treat everyone equally. Aunt, uncle, each of your family will have 100 kilograms of rice and 100 kilograms of flour, which is enough for you to eat for two months. I can't take out more. You should know how precious food is in today's world. If you want to live well in the base in the future, find a job to support yourself, and don't mention the kindness of raising you in front of me repeatedly. I remember clearly that my mother had a passbook with a sum of money in it at the time. She said that I was too young to control the money, so I put the money with my uncle. When I grow up and want to use it, I can ask my uncle for it. My aunt also knows this. If you don't believe it, you can ask my aunt."

Si Yufang nodded sadly: "My eldest sister-in-law did save some money back then. At that time, she and my eldest brother worked in a coastal city for several years, set up stalls and saved some money. Later, Xiaonan was born, and they got married. A few years later, my eldest sister-in-law found out that my eldest brother was cheating on her and was always away from home. When he came back, he would ask her for money. So she hid the passbook. No matter how my eldest brother beat and scolded her, or threatened her with Xiaonan, she insisted that the passbook was lost. I didn't expect that she had already thought of a way out... Sister Mao, you didn't know about the passbook. It can only be said that my eldest sister-in-law and Xiaonan's uncle don't trust you and are afraid that you will swallow her money."

After listening to what they said, Mao Pingzhen's face turned red and white, and her expression was very interesting.

Regardless of what she thought, Si Nan called Cheng Suming to go to the right side of the second floor, to the room where she kept the supplies. The two of them went back and forth several times, carrying down two bags of rice and two bags of flour that Si Nan had taken out of the space, and asked Liu Dalin and Si Yufang to take their respective food away.

Liu Dalin said with red eyes: "Xiao Nan, don't be like this. Uncle has no intention of taking your things to support me."

Si Yufang also said: "Xiao Nan, don't be angry. Your aunt is so distressed about you that she can't take your food."

Si Nan wiped the sweat off his face and said, "Uncle, aunt, please accept it. I know you are sincere and kind to me, but you have your own families and so many mouths to feed. I have done what I should do, and I believe you will understand me. You can come to me if you have any difficulties in the future, but I declare in advance that I only care about you two. The life and death of others has nothing to do with me."

The meal ended unpleasantly. Si Nan's joy at welcoming her relatives was thrown into a mess. After Liu Dalin and his friends left, she and Sheng Youqing washed the dishes and saw them off. Then she lay listlessly on the kang bed in the living room, which was covered with a straw mat and served as a sofa, and did not move for a long time.

Cheng Suming finished the finishing work in the yard and came in, wiping the water stains on his hands. Seeing her depressed look, he walked over and touched her head: "Anan, are you sad?"

"No." Si Nan was still lying there, and said in a muffled voice, "My aunt, uncle, two cousins, and cousin are all not easy to deal with. I had expected the situation today. I just felt sorry for myself. I was fully satisfied with my plans for them, but I didn't expect them to scheme against me everywhere. If I hadn't been grateful for the kindness of my uncle and aunt, I would have kicked those weirdos out long ago! How could I have greeted them with a smile, invited them to dinner, listened to their nonsense, and done thankless things."

Cheng Suming listened to her silently, reached out and gently pinched her shoulders, making her relax.

Si Nan talked a lot and felt much better. He then got up, sat in front of Cheng Su Ming and said, "Su Ming, there is one thing I haven't told you."

"Um?"

"The scumbag who abandoned me and my mother has come to the Stone Mountain Base with his mistress and two daughters."

She told Cheng Suming about what she had seen and heard in the shantytown in the west district. She felt happy and said, "You didn't see what he looked like. He was always so conceited. He would wear a white shirt, trousers and leather shoes wherever he went, pretending to be a gentleman. I didn't expect that he is as dirty as a beggar now. The same is true for his mistress. Most importantly, he has always favored boys over girls. He always blamed my mother for giving birth to a money-loser and wanted to end his offspring. He threatened to divorce my mother every day. As a result, he got his comeuppance. He married that mistress and gave birth to two daughters. I don't know how many people laughed at him! Now he is still acting as a father in front of me and wants me to support him. He is daydreaming!"

"How do you plan to treat him in the future?" Cheng Suming smoothed the hair by her ear and asked softly.

"If he doesn't come to cause trouble, I'll let him fend for himself. If he wants to cause trouble, don't blame me for being cruel." Si Nan said with hatred flashing in his eyes.

Cheng Suming laughed: "No matter what you want to do, I will always stand by your side. If that man dares to do anything bad to you, don't blame me for being cruel."

Si Nan threw himself into his arms, resting his cheek on his chest. Hearing his strong heartbeat, he said with a relaxed body, "In this world, you are the only one who stands by me unconditionally and treats me well. I hope we can spend the rest of our lives together, be happy forever, and never betray each other."

Cheng Suming reached out and hugged her, his heart softening: "Yes, time will prove everything."