The moonlight bathed the earth, and the villagers, who had been busy all day, were fast asleep.

In the stillness, a figure climbed over the wall of a stone house at the end of the village and tiptoed towards the back mountain.

Under the cold moonlight, Ruan Miaomiao, disguised, carried a small bundle in her hand. The smell of stir-fried green peppers and pork was too strong, so she dared not carry it with her and planned to take it out when she got to her mother's shack.

"You silly girl, what brings you here again?"

After shoveling cow dung all day, Qin Fengying, whose body was sore and weak, saw the straw curtain of the shack being lifted and moonlight suddenly streaming in. She immediately sat up from the thatched bed.

"Shh!"

Ruan Miaomiao shushed, looked around, and not seeing her father, asked in a low voice, "Where's my dad? Is he still with Old Zheng?"

"Um!"

Qin Fengying got out of bed, put on straw sandals, and walked outside: "Wait here, I'll go and call him back."

Seeing this, Ruan Miaomiao knew that the people in the cowshed were trustworthy; otherwise, her parents wouldn't have revealed their presence.

A moment later, a middle-aged man walked in behind Qin Fengying.

The man was tall and slender, with a slightly hunched back, an unshaven beard, and looked disheveled and haggard.

However, his eyes held a hint of starlight when he looked at Ruan Miaomiao.

"dad……"

Ruan Miaomiao called out softly.

The man who walked in was none other than Sun Deming, Ruan Miaomiao's father from before she transmigrated.

Sun Deming, his eyes red, choked out in a low voice, "Miaomiao..."

When father and daughter met, both had tears in their eyes.

After a brief moment of emotional outburst, Sun Deming spoke rationally: "Miaomiao, remember, from now on call me Uncle Deming. She is your Aunt Fengying!"

Ruan Miaomiao knew that the two men were doing this to protect her, so she agreed.

After a brief conversation, Ruan Miaomiao told Sun Deming and his wife about her physical condition and learned that Old Zheng's fever had subsided and his condition was much better.

Besides the elderly Zheng couple and the Sun Deming couple, there was another couple in the cowshed who had previously been Zheng's subordinates and had been sent here together.

Previously, Sun Deming was criticized and nearly lost his life. It was the man in that couple who helped him and saved his life.

After the six men were sent down here, they supported each other and barely managed to survive. They were all trustworthy to each other.

Perhaps, in order to pave the way for her daughter and make Old Zheng remember her daughter's favor, Qin Fengying made up a reason, saying that Ruan Miaomiao was her former student.

Before being sent down to the countryside, Qin Fengying had worked as a teacher at a primary school in Haicheng, so no one suspected anything.

Hearing this, Ruan Miaomiao couldn't help but admire her parents' thoughtfulness. She handed the couple the pork belly, stir-fried pork with green peppers, and white rice that she had taken out of her spatial storage while her mother went to call her father.

Smelling the aroma of meat, Sun Deming and his wife couldn't help but swallow hard.

However, thinking about the risks her daughter was taking, she couldn't help but advise, "Miaomiao, this is too dangerous. From now on, don't worry about me and your Aunt Fengying. As long as we know you're alive and well, we'll be at ease."

"No, no!"

Ruan Miaomiao knew that Sun Deming was afraid of implicating her.

She said firmly, "You died trying to save me back then. Now that I finally have a chance, how can I watch you suffer?"

Knowing their daughter's temperament, the couple sighed and could only change their tune, saying, "Okay, then come less often in the future. Your Uncle Deming and I have managed all these years, haven't we?"

Looking at the two of them, so thin and bony, Ruan Miaomiao thought to herself: Did they make it through?

He's barely hanging on to his life!

Thinking back, if I hadn't transmigrated here, I'm afraid the two of us wouldn't have lasted much longer.

Fearing that his wife would say too much and his daughter would be unhappy, Sun Deming quickly said, "Go to Old Zheng's house next door and get him some earthenware pots. These earthenware bowls and aluminum lunch boxes are too good. If someone with ulterior motives sees them, there might be a lot of trouble!"

Hearing Sun Deming's words, Ruan Miaomiao gained a new understanding of their situation: the shack couldn't be locked, and the place was too small, so there was nowhere to hide anything.

If you use something even slightly better and someone sees it, you'll inevitably face another round of reports and criticism.

Worried about being seen, the couple poured everything into the earthenware jar and urged Ruan Miaomiao to leave.

When she left, I repeatedly told her not to come again.

Reluctantly watching them leave, the two, their eyes red and swollen, embraced and wept bitterly before struggling with the things their daughter had left behind:

There's nowhere to hide in the shack. If the people who come to take the cattle tomorrow find it, I'm afraid I'll be in trouble again.

Oh well, we're going to portray our daughter as our benefactor anyway, so a little extra food won't make a difference.

After thinking it through, Sun Deming carefully observed that no one was around before he and his wife, each carrying a pottery jar, walked towards Old Zheng's shack.

"Is this meat?"

Smelling the aroma of meat from the jar, Old Mrs. Zheng couldn't help but swallow, looking at the two of them with surprise and suspicion: "Where did that girl bring this?"

"Um!"

Sun Deming didn't want to say more, so he got up and called over another couple. The six of them gathered together and had a meal together.

It's been a long time since they've had a full meal.

Six people, with red eyes, ate braised pork, stir-fried pork with green peppers, and white rice.

The more they ate, the more grateful they became to Ruan Miaomiao.

In particular, he was deeply moved when he saw the eggs and brown sugar that Qin Fengying brought out after the meal.

There are always more people who add flowers to brocade, but fewer people who offer charcoal in the snow.

In all the years they've been sent to the countryside, no one has ever treated them this well.

Even some of their relatives chose to sever ties with them by publishing notices in the newspapers.

“Old Zheng, you’re not feeling well and are lying in bed. Just hide these things under your blankets so that no one will see them if they’re left with me.”

Qin Fengying wasn't telling the truth. The eggs and brown sugar she took out were only half of what her daughter had given her, and she didn't even take out the malted milk powder.

She was well aware of the darker side of human nature and feared the consequences of kindness being met with resentment, and was even more worried about enriching the minds of the others.

However, even this small gesture from her was enough to make the others incredibly grateful to Ruan Miaomiao...

******

"Brother Qingming, what should we do? Ruan Miaomiao seems to be serious. It seems she really wants to cut off all ties with us. What are we going to do then?"

As Ruan Miaomiao stealthily slipped towards the back mountain, two figures also slipped out from the educated youth area at the village entrance and hid in the nearby grove. Zhao Xiuyun asked Shen Qingming with great concern.

Unlike Zhao Xiuyun, Shen Qingming was not reborn and had no clear understanding of what he would face after losing Ruan Miaomiao.

However, the hardships of working and going hungry these past few days have already made him taste the bitterness of life.

Hearing Zhao Xiuyun's words, his face, already bruised and battered, was filled with worry.