The angered boss seemed to want to curry favor with the Ruan family, not only failing to promote Shen Zesheng but also removing him from his team leader position.

Using the pretext of indulging his son in deceiving respectable women and having questionable family conduct, they demoted Shen Zesheng's worker rank, and Qin Xiang'e's was demoted along with him.

Shen Zesheng never expected that not only would he fail to get a promotion, but his salary would also be reduced.

With a pay cut, and half of that going to both sets of parents, when will we ever be able to scrape together enough money for our son's wedding?

The more Shen Zesheng thought about it, the more grief and indignation welled up inside him.

It was at this moment that he recalled what kind of life he had lived before he got involved with Ruan Miaomiao.

In other words, Ruan Miaomiao was too easy to manipulate, giving them the illusion that they were very capable.

Only after falling from grace did they realize just how worthless they truly were.

And all of this is because of that arrogant bastard Shen Qingming.

For the sake of his own reputation, and more importantly, to punish Shen Qingming, Shen Zesheng decisively chose to publish a notice in the newspaper severing ties with Shen Qingming.

The Shen siblings raised their hands in agreement.

After all, if there's someone with questionable morals in the family, who would want to be their daughter-in-law or son-in-law in the future?

Seemingly to show his family's determination, after the newspaper was published, the eldest son of the Shen family bought several more copies and sent one to each of Shen Qingming, Ruan Miaomiao, Zhou Jianguo, the captain of Jianshan Brigade, and the commune where Jianshan Brigade was located.

This gesture seems to be a way of telling those people: Our family has severed ties with Shen Qingming, so don't come looking for us if he gets into any trouble in the future!

Ruan Minqiang, the father of the Ruan family who had been keeping an eye on the Shen family, complained to his wife Chen Juan after learning about this:

"No wonder they raised a family that could raise a shameless bastard like Shen Qingming, who has two relationships and wants to live off a woman. As soon as this happened, they hurriedly severed ties with their son."

But how can a family member show favoritism?

"Back when they were taking advantage of our daughter, the whole family was all together. Now that it's their turn to pay off their debts, how can they sever ties?"

Ruan Minqiang gently patted his wife's hand, signaling her not to be angry, and said in a deep voice, "Don't worry, I will definitely not let them get away with this."

In fact, even without Ruan Minqiang's intervention, simply spreading the news that the Shen family had deceived the Ruan family's daughter and offended Ruan Minqiang would surely deter anyone in the entire Haicheng from offering any assistance to the Shen family.

Perhaps some people will even try to curry favor with the Ruan family and help them kick the Shen family while they're down...

"Commander, there's a package for you!"

The communications soldier, carrying a package on his shoulder, walked into the Ruan family's small Western-style house.

Ruan Minqiang was too lazy to get up and scolded the communications soldier: "You just bring a random package into the house like that. Aren't you afraid that someone has hidden a bomb in it?"

Xiao Chen, no offense, but you're not being vigilant enough!

After being reprimanded by Ruan Minqiang, Xiao Chen immediately stood at attention and hurriedly admitted his mistake: "The division commander is right. I should have investigated more thoroughly before bringing the things in."

Xiao Chen was from the same hometown as Chen Juan. It was only through Xiao Chen's family's request to her third aunt that they were able to get her help.

Therefore, Chen Juan patted Ruan Minqiang's hand and teased, "Look at you, you scared this child!"

He looked up and asked lazily, "Little Chen, where did this package come from?"

Xiao Chen replied respectfully to Chen Juan, "Dr. Chen, this was sent from the Jianshan Brigade of Qiancheng County, Sichuan Province. I checked it, and the handwriting is your daughter Ruan Miaomiao's..."

Xiao Chen's words were telling Ruan Minqiang that he had observed and analyzed the situation before bringing the package in.

But right now, Ruan Minqiang and his wife have no mind to think about these things.

Upon hearing that the package was from their daughter, they were overjoyed. Without even needing Xiao Chen to bring it to them, the two who had been sitting comfortably on the sofa immediately jumped up and ran towards the package.

"This is a prickly pear. My daughter said it's good for digestion and nourishing the stomach, so she sent it to you to make medicinal wine."

This is wild chrysanthemum, which clears heat and detoxifies, reduces internal heat and calms the liver. My daughter said that we can use it to make tea when we have excessive liver fire.

She also mentioned that she sent quite a lot of chrysanthemums, which we can put in our pillows to soothe nerves and relieve headaches.

"This is bamboo fungus. My daughter says it's best used in hot pot because it can boost the body's immunity and has anti-cancer properties."

"This is a local specialty called pickled chili pepper. My daughter wrote down the steps for us, teaching us how to use pickled chili pepper to stir-fry eggs and rice. She said she can eat two big bowls of it in one go!"

...

The couple squatted on the ground, comparing Ruan Miaomiao's letter with the contents of the package, their faces beaming with happiness.

But then, while I was laughing, I started crying!

"Waaaah~ My daughter is so sensible, she must have suffered a lot!"

"It's all that bastard Shen Qingming's fault. He tricked his daughter into going to the countryside, making her suffer. Otherwise, she would still be at home, eating popsicles, enjoying the breeze from the fan, and watching TV on the sofa."

"Our daughter sent us so many things; she must have put a lot of thought into it. No wonder everyone says daughters are wonderful. She's truly our little angel. Even though we live so far away in the countryside where conditions are so tough, she still managed to find so many good things for us. She's much more thoughtful than those naughty boys at home!"

"Who says otherwise! We work so hard, and only our daughter knows how to care about us."

Look at me, even though we're so far apart, I still think about how you sometimes have bloating and how I sometimes have headaches.

Those brats just keep saying "go to the doctor, go to the doctor," acting like nobody knows how to see a doctor!

"Ah, daughters are so thoughtful!"

...

The couple sighed deeply, thinking that their daughter was so thoughtful, and they, as parents, couldn't let her down.

So, the couple carefully hid the things Ruan Miaomiao had sent back, then went out and headed straight to the department store. They bought everything they thought their daughter might need and prepared to send it to the Jianshan Brigade...

******

"Xiuyun, you, you really agreed?"

Zhou Weijie stared at the woman in front of him, his face filled with disbelief.

Zhao Xiuyun was heartbroken: If I don't agree, am I supposed to get money and eggs to pay you back?

Since she had already given her virginity to Qingming, she figured that even if she started dating Zhou Weijie, she could still be with Qingming. So Zhao Xiuyun decided to go all out and agreed to marry Zhou Weijie.

She came to tell Zhou Weijie that she had agreed, but she needed to send a letter back to her parents at the commune to explain.

Of course, this letter wasn't sent to her parents, but to the Ruan family's rivals. It didn't contain anything about her marriage to Zhou Weijie at all; instead, it contained some dirt on the Ruan family from her memories of her previous life.

He came to see Zhou Weijie simply because he was so poor he couldn't even afford to send a letter...