She was caught off guard when Xiao Shen suddenly stuffed a package into her hand; she didn't even have time to react.

After Shen Mu Ning finished speaking, her first thought was to return the brown sugar.

"Auntie, I'm so sorry to trouble you like this. I'll feel more at ease if you accept the brown sugar."

That's just her personality; she feels guilty if she owes someone or asks for their help.

"Xiao Shen, why are you bothering us? If you need to make a call, this is something your Uncle Gu is in charge of. It's only natural that he came with you."

If they had actually helped her in any way, Li Guihua would have accepted it.

After all, she had encountered similar situations before since her husband became the brigade leader.

But now Lao Gu has only done his duty; how could he take other people's things?

Not to mention, she is a family member of a martyr, so she absolutely cannot accept this thing.

"Yes, Xiao Shen, you should take your things back quickly."

After receiving the money and locking the door of the brigade headquarters, Gu Chengde overheard their conversation.

After learning what had happened between them, he also advised Shen Mu Ning to take the brown sugar back.

He couldn't bring himself to take a young girl's things without even helping her.

"Oh, Uncle Gu, Aunt Guihua, I'm so grateful for your help since I arrived at Xinshan Brigade. Please take your things; I'll head back now!"

She didn't want to waste any more time with them, mainly because she disliked the back-and-forth refusals.

So, after saying that, she picked up her things and ran away quickly.

"Hey, Xiao Shen."

When Li Guihua saw that the person was about to run away, she tried to chase after them.

Unfortunately, he couldn't match Shen Mu Ning's speed and had to give up.

Seeing her running so fast, I couldn't help but remind her, "Slow down, watch where you're going."

"I understand," came her reply from afar.

Li Guihua and Gu Chengde were left standing there, looking at each other in bewilderment.

"What should we do?" she asked, holding the brown sugar in her hand.

"What else can we do but keep it?"

Gu Chengde knew that the girl didn't want to owe anyone anything, and accepting the brown sugar would put her at ease.

Just accept her brown sugar and take good care of her in the brigade from now on, that's all.

Li Guihua nodded silently, and then the two went home for dinner.

They also discussed whether or not to send something to that young educated youth named Dingxiang.

After all, there's give and take. They taught them how to make kimchi, which is already a success, so we should thank them.

Two flowers bloom, each representing a different branch.

Shen Mu Ning strolled back to the educated youth settlement, and as soon as she entered the gate, she was overwhelmed by a wave of concern.

"Mu Ning, you're finally back!"

Lin Siqi, who was washing clothes in the yard by the well, was the first to notice Shen Mu Ning returning.

Upon seeing her, he quickly put down the clothes he was holding and hurried to her side.

After speaking, he looked her up and down, and finding nothing amiss, he walked alongside her.

"Shen Zhiqing, you're back?!"

Upon hearing the noise outside, Dingxiang, who was the first to step out of the dormitory, also spoke the same words with the same emotional tone.

"Um, well..."

Just as Shen Muling was about to ask why they were all saying the same thing, Wei Sheng and Zhao Chuan blurted out the exact same thing.

"Shen Zhiqing, you're back!"

I've heard that sentence four times in a minute, that's really enough. Is it trying to drive her crazy?

Upon hearing the commotion outside, the other educated youth at the settlement all came to the courtyard.

Shen Mu Ning decided to strike first: "Yes, I'm back."

He also inquired about the reason: "So, do you have some special ritual that requires you to say that?!"

Seeing her confusion, Lin Siqi chuckled and then explained to her.

"Didn't Zhu Zhiqing go missing a couple of days ago and never come back?"

“You haven’t come back for so long today, we were worried something had happened to you.”

Of course, this is also related to the fact that she used to go out and come back quite early.

After all, no matter where they went before, they would always be back before they finished work at six o'clock.

They didn't think much of it when she went out this morning.

Although they were curious about where she went, to be honest, they were almost used to her going out frequently.

Therefore, no one felt that was wrong.

When Hu Meiling and Xu Ji, who were cooking dinner today, returned home and still hadn't seen anyone, they began to feel something was amiss.

When the main group of educated youth returned, everyone except He Xiaolan was very worried about her.

The main reason was that I was scared by Zhu Yang's disappearance, and I was worried that she would lose herself if she went out.

"Yes, thank goodness we're back now, otherwise we would have had to inform the captain if we had waited any longer."

Wei Sheng and Zhao Chuan both exclaimed that it was fortunate she acted quickly, otherwise they would have headed towards Gu Chengde's house.

After all, there was a recent case of someone going missing, so they're on edge.

Seeing that she hadn't returned for a long time, we decided to notify the brigade leader as soon as possible so that we could find her sooner.

"Oh, I got back at six o'clock. I went to the brigade headquarters to make a phone call first, which is why I'm a little late."

Although Shen Mu Ning knew the circumstances of Zhu Yang's disappearance and that he was already dead.

But she cannot be the one to say the outcome, nor the reason for his disappearance.

I had no choice but to let the matter drop and explain my situation.

"Oh, you don't even send a letter home, who are you going to call?"

Perhaps it was because of the passage of these past ten days that she noticed Shen Mu Ning simply ignored her and didn't make any extra moves.

She's making wild guesses again, and then she starts rambling on and on.

Upon hearing her words, the others, especially Dingxiang who was standing with her at the entrance of the girls' dormitory, immediately strode into the courtyard and moved away from her.

The others, however, watched her with expressions of awe and disbelief, as she recklessly courted death.

They really didn't expect that it had only been a short time since she was beaten up last time.

She provoked Shen Mu Ning again and said such nasty things.

"Who I call is none of your business."

Although she had no intention of hiding her purpose of recognizing her relatives here.

But she wasn't going to tolerate He Xiaolan and snapped back at her with a single sentence.

"you……"

Just as she was about to continue slandering people, something even faster than her words and actions was the bloodthirsty vine hidden inside Shen Mu Ning's body.

In this day and age, it doesn't have many opportunities to use its abilities to help its owner.

Does she really think it doesn't exist? She still dares to provoke and slander her master at this point.

Just as she was about to continue speaking, the Bloodthirsty Vine activated the seed within her body, drawing blood from her.

This caused her blood to drain rapidly, and also caused her heart to ache for a moment, making her unable to speak.