His mother has passed away, and he has no attachment to Shili Village. He probably won't come back to settle here in the future, so Su Yangang plans to mortgage the house to the brigade before he leaves, so that the brigade can help him sell it later.

Bai Jiaojiao looked refreshed; she had been so anxious and stressed these past few days.

"Heng-ge, why don't you go to the dock this evening and buy some fish and shrimp? We'll treat Zhigao's father to a good meal."

"One meal isn't enough? You want to eat at our house again tonight?" Shen Heng was unwilling. He had been hoping for so many days that he could finally take the child away!

“That makes sense,” Bai Jiaojiao thought. Now that Su Yangang has returned to the village in such a grand manner, there must be many relatives and friends lining up to entertain him. “Why don’t we let Zhigao go back with him tonight?”

"Auntie, I don't want to."

Although Su Zhigao agreed to leave with Su Yangang, there is still a difference between agreeing and actually doing it.

"What's there to not want? It's not about going somewhere else, it's about going back to your home, back to the room you and your grandma lived in!"

"Going back there, huh?" Upon hearing this, Su Zhigao felt it was acceptable.

Why can't I go home?

Su Zhigao has no other redeeming qualities except that he is easy to coax; his personality is not as willful and stubborn as other children.

When Su Yan returned, he seemed a little dejected, probably because he hadn't felt good about sending his own younger brother to jail.

“Brother Su, I was going to invite you to dinner tonight, but you and your son don’t have many opportunities to spend time together. I was thinking of having you take Zhigao back tonight so that you two can spend some quality time together in the old house, and Zhigao can relax a bit over there.”

Bai Jiaojiao's politeness made Su Yangang feel a little embarrassed: "Thank you for being so considerate of me."

"What are you saying? We've watched Zhigao grow up."

Although Bai Jiaojiao said that, Su Yangang couldn't be naive.

Raising a child for an outsider is no small feat. If he were to die outside, his two younger brothers might bully the family.

The thought of this impossible possibility sent a chill down Su Yangang's spine, and the slight guilt he felt at the police station because of Su Yalong's emotional appeal vanished completely.

He took Su Zhigao home, saying he would show Su Zhigao his skills that night, and Su Zhigao actually followed him obediently.

Shen Heng hadn't felt this happy in over half a month: "Jiaojiao, finally it's just the two of us at home."

Shen Heng was like a clingy big dog. The moment someone left the house, he would lock the door and turn back to wag his tail at Bai Jiaojiao.

Bai Jiaojiao let him carry her to the kang (a heated brick bed): "What's wrong? I've never heard you complain that Zhigao is in the way before."

"That's because we see you're really into raising children, and we don't have any at home yet, so we wanted you to have some fun. Of course, I still hope it's just the two of us at home, right? Henggang can do whatever he wants."

Shen Heng grinned mischievously, and his hand began to wander as he spoke.

"Who said you can do whatever you want? I won't allow it, and you can't do it!" Bai Jiaojiao smiled and pushed away Shen Heng's hand, but not too hard, it was a half-hearted push and half-yield.

"Brother Heng..."

These past few days, someone's been living next door. Bai Jiaojiao is too reserved and won't let Shen Heng have sex, which is driving Shen Heng crazy.

Now that he was finally liberated, Shen Heng naturally wanted to quickly get to work on the kang (heated brick bed) and give it his all.

Winter days are long, but Shen Heng kept going until the sky began to lighten.

Bai Jiaojiao could barely open her eyelids; the area beneath them was a little sore from being rubbed by Chen Heng.

She was both angry and aggrieved. She leaned on Shen Heng's shoulder and decided to never talk to him again.

"After they have children, let them live in the outer room. Take down the kang (heated brick bed) next to it, build two cabinets inside to store things, and no one will live there anymore."

If someone else lives there, he will be the one who suffers.

Bai Jiaojiao is too lazy to even say "hmm" now.

I was thinking that maybe I should start trying to conceive soon, so I wouldn't have to deal with Chen Heng.

Then the baby will sleep between the two of them. If Shen Heng can even hold her while sleeping, she'll consider it a loss!

It was already dark when Bai Jiaojiao woke up.

"Su Yan came by during the day and invited us over for dinner, but I declined."

What did you say?

"Can't I just say I don't want to go?"

So simple and direct, no wonder it's Shen Heng.

Su Yangang would probably find Shen Heng's reply quite normal.

"What are we having for dinner?" Bai Jiaojiao yawned. She was already in such a state, and if Shen Heng didn't even prepare a meal, she would definitely bite him to death.

"I boiled some potatoes, don't you like to eat these?"

That's quite thoughtful.

Bai Jiaojiao forgave Shen Heng in her heart for the time being.

With the Su family's affairs finally settled, Bai Jiaojiao's appetite improved considerably.

But the peace didn't last two days before Su Yangang's ex-wife, Su Zhigao's biological mother, came knocking on their door.

Tian Xiu came back with no other intention than to say that she wanted to take Su Zhigao away.

There's nothing wrong with her taking her child away as a mother.

But the fact that she came at the exact time—right after Su Yangang returned—makes it hard not to think that Tian Xiu came just to extort money from Su Yangang.

Tian Xiu had already found a new partner and had even given birth to a son and a daughter for him, so it was impossible for her to get back together with Su Yangang.

She certainly didn't have that hope; she just wanted to come and ask for as much money as possible.

"Yangang, even if I didn't do anything special, I still put in a lot of effort. I did leave a child for you, Su Yangang. No matter what, you have to compensate me something."

Tian Xiu's current condition is not as good as Su Yan's; her face is covered with wrinkles, making her look even more haggard.

"Compensate you? On what grounds? What hard work have you done? How many days have you breastfed this child since it was born? Don't talk to me about merits and hard work."

Su Yangang had overheard the villagers talking about various things over the years, including Tian Xiu leaving after her postpartum period.

"If you don't pay, I'll sue you! Zhigao is also my child. We haven't been able to support him all these years, so it's not certain whether he'll be awarded to me or you!"