In 1975, the old lady had returned to Pingjiang City. The neighborhood committee arranged for her to clean toilets, once in the morning and once in the evening. Compared to the hard labor she used to do on the farm, cleaning toilets was much easier, and at least she didn't have to be scolded and beaten every day.

Meanwhile, Sang Huaiyuan and his wife were still on the farm, their family torn apart, and Gu Nianci, unable to bear the movement for more than a few years, committed suicide by taking medication.

Ye Mingcheng went to a farm in the Northwest, and the old lady asked around for connections to try to get him transferred back to Pingjiang City.

Sang Huaiyuan and his wife lived on a farm in Jiangxi Province, which has been a land of plenty since ancient times. Even during famine years, life there was not too difficult. Sang Huaiyuan and his wife's life was much better than Ye Mingcheng's on a farm in Northwest China.

The old lady stayed at the Northwest Farm for a year. Ordinary people simply couldn't stand it there. Besides capitalist roaders like her, there were also many former prisoners and reformers. The environment was extremely complex.

Ye Mingcheng is different from Sang Huaiyuan. He was frail and sickly from childhood, and his temperament was not as resolute as Sang Huaiyuan's. He was very much like his mother Gu Nianci, gentle, affectionate and kind, like a flower in a greenhouse.

Therefore, once the old lady felt a little better, she tried every means to rescue Ye Mingcheng. As long as he left the Northwest Farm, even if he stayed with Sang Huaiyuan and his wife, it would be good, at least they could look after each other!

After spending more than half a year, the old lady finally got help from kind people and completed the transfer order and all the procedures. But just a few days later, Ye Mingcheng had an accident.

The farm said that Ye Mingcheng was ready to leave, and some friends held a farewell party for him. They drank some wine, and Ye Mingcheng, who never said anything harsh, somehow got into an argument with one of his friends. The argument was quite fierce, and the others couldn't stop him.

Then Ye Mingcheng and that person started fighting, but the other person was a prisoner who had been exiled and was physically strong. Ye Mingcheng was a weak scholar and was no match for that person. He was knocked down in a few moves and even injured his head.

No one expected that Ye Mingcheng would never wake up again after being hit on the head. It was too late to get him to the hospital for emergency treatment. The farm was also terrified, never expecting such a big thing to happen.

But things were very chaotic back then, especially in places like the Northwest Farm. It wasn't unusual for one or two people to die. The farm simply locked up the person who had hurt him, carried Ye Mingcheng to the mountains to bury him, and finally sent a telegram to the old lady. That was the end of it.

The old lady went to the farm in person. She wanted to cremate Ye Mingcheng's body and take his ashes back to Pingjiang City for burial. The farm sent someone to accompany her to Ye Mingcheng's grave on the mountain. Because he died suddenly and was someone who had come for reform, the farm simply buried him hastily without even providing a coffin. They just wrapped him in a straw mat and buried him.

But--

The graveyard had been dug up by someone, and it was empty; Ye Mingcheng's body was gone.

The people at the farm said he was dragged away by wolves because when Ye Mingcheng had the accident, it was early spring and the wild animals on the mountain had little food, so they often went to the outer mountains to look for food.

Ye Mingcheng's grave was dug shallowly, and the person who buried him didn't care much about it. It was very simple. Perhaps the wolves smelled human flesh, came over, dug up the grave, dragged away the body, and ate it!

The old lady begged the farm people to search in the mountains, but no one agreed. Even if she offered money, they wouldn't. The deep mountains were too dangerous, and no one was willing to risk their life for a dead person!

Helpless, the old lady had no choice but to return to Pingjiang City alone, bringing back only Ye Mingcheng's personal clothing, tattered pieces of cloth that were as worn as they could possibly be. She kept them as a memento.

However, the old lady had a thought in her mind: perhaps Ye Mingcheng was not dead, but had only faked his death, and woke up after being buried, and climbed out of the pit on his own.

But the old lady couldn't understand why Ye Mingcheng didn't come looking for her if he wasn't dead.

"Mom, look at this. It has Mingcheng's information on it, and it matches perfectly. This Ye Mingcheng who married Xu Yali is my cousin." Sang Huaiyuan said solemnly as he handed over a document.