After a year of recuperation, Shi Ting was no longer the dark-skinned and thin woman Guan Baiyu had first met.

She had become much fairer, and her pointed face had gained baby fat, making her look especially cute, even... somewhat like Guan Baiyu.

Mainly because they are all good-looking.

While talking to Shi Zhen, Shi Dalin looked at them and suddenly said, "Your mother... never told me that she had a younger sister."

His mother not only doesn't talk about it, she never mentions her family.

Shi Zhen smiled shyly at his father.

Shi Dalin didn't dwell on the matter, but was worried about his color TV: "Before I left, I locked the TV inside. The Wang family shouldn't have taken it away, right?"

"Don't worry, Dad. If they move out, I'll bring them back for you," Shi Zhen said. Now, besides Shi Xingchao and Shi Xinghuo, he had six more strong men to help with the work!

He wasn't afraid of the Wang family at all.

Shi Ting doesn't like to use her brain. When she encounters something difficult, she blinks her eyes and waits for Guan Baiyu to give her the answer.

Guan Baiyu was also helpless, so he simply took out a book of compositions and had her read the compositions in it.

Shi Ting didn't read much before and couldn't write well. Last time, Guan Baiyu learned that Liang Qinxuan had a lot of composition books at home, so he borrowed one from Liang Qinxuan and gave it to Shi Ting to read.

He himself loves reading and finds all the books particularly interesting, but Shi Ting is different; she doesn't like reading composition books.

However, she had a good attitude and would read whenever asked, unlike Liang Qinxuan, who always made excuses.

Shi Dalin leaned against Shi Zhen's bed, listening to Shi Ting read her composition, and suddenly started snoring.

He has to set up a stall every day, and his energy is not as good as when he was younger, so he gets tired easily.

Shi Zhen checked the time and saw that it was already past eight o'clock in the evening, so he said to Shi Ting, "Tingting, stop reading, I'll take you to your sister Xingxing's place."

"Mmm." Shi Ting nodded immediately.

Shi Xinghuo and Shi Xingchao's younger sister is named Shi Xingxing.

When villagers name their children, they often take a character from the oldest child's name and give it to the younger children.

After Shi Xingxing was born, they heard about the one-child policy before registering her birth. Since they already had two sons and didn't want to have any more children, they simply named their daughter Xingxing.

Shi Xingxing and Shi Zhen are about the same age, but since they are men and women, they don't spend much time together.

In her past life, Shi Xingxing's husband was one of the two unmarried people among the six people Shi Zhen brought out now.

This man was honest and hardworking. As for Shi Xingxing, she was just like her aunt, a very energetic and capable woman. The two of them lived a very prosperous life.

After he quit working on construction sites, he and his wife opened a tile shop, and their income was quite good.

Because he couldn't stand Shi Xingchao's stinginess, Shi Xingxing even took his aunt and uncle to live with him.

In fact, Shi Xingchao did not mistreat his parents, but he couldn't even afford to live in a big house. While other families had plenty of meat and fish, he considered frying two eggs as a meat dish... Anyway, Shi Xingxing couldn't stand it.

His uncle and aunt went to Shi Xingxing's place to help look after their grandson and run the shop. They would occasionally go out with their daughter to try new things and join one-day or two-day senior citizen tour groups. They were indeed living a good life.

Shi Xinghuo rented two north-facing rooms for his family.

He partitioned both rooms with bricks, turning them into four rooms: one for him and Shi Xinghuo, one for his sister, one for his parents, and the remaining room was used for eating and cooking.

When Shi Zhen arrived, his aunt, Shi Xingchao, and Shi Xingxing were all embroidering sweaters, while Shi Xinghuo and his uncle were playing cards nearby.

It's a game of... the simplest comparison of sizes.

When Shi Dashan's family first came here, there was nothing here, but now they have acquired quite a few things, all of which were purchased by Shi Dashan and his wife using their previous savings.

Originally, Shi Dashan wanted his two sons to give him all the money they had so he could distribute it. However, Shi Xingchao was unwilling, saying that he would keep his money for his wedding and that Shi Dashan wouldn't have to pay for it. Shi Dashan thought this was acceptable and agreed. So he didn't use Shi Xinghuo's money but instead used the money that he and his wife had originally saved for Shi Xingchao's wedding.

Recently, Shi Xingxing and her mother have been embroidering sweaters, while Shi Dashan has been wandering around, helping Shi Dalin and such, and has no work to do for the time being.

As for Shi Xinghuo, he went back to work at the waterworks and even managed to get a temporary worker position.

His daily work involves sweeping floors at the waterworks. If needed, he would go out with the person to read water meters or dredge mud to repair water pipes.

This job is dirty, and it doesn't sound good to others. The waterworks is huge, and sweeping is not easy... Many locals are unwilling to do it, but Shi Xingchao doesn't mind at all and is very happy doing it.

He was also obedient and well-behaved, and the people at the waterworks liked him too.

Shi Zhen thought it was good that he went out more often; he looked more agile.

Upon seeing Shi Zhen and Shi Ting, the Shi family greeted them warmly and had no objections when they learned that Shi Ting would be staying overnight.

Shi Ting and Shi Xingxing had a good relationship. Shi Zhen remembered that when Shi Ting was little, her mother dressed her up like a little fairy. Shi Xingxing always wanted to take Shi Ting home. He even fought with Shi Xingxing over this and was beaten up by Shi Dashan.

After handing Shi Ting over to Shi Xingxing and telling her to come to his place for breakfast the next morning, Shi Zhen went home.

His bed was already occupied by Shi Dalin, so he had to squeeze in with Guan Baiyu for the night.

Many things, once you've done them the first time, the second time, or the third time, you don't need to dwell on them anymore, like sleeping together.

The next day was Sunday. Shi Zhen woke up very early. When he woke up, Guan Baiyu was still sleeping.

He quietly got up and went outside to wash up.

Shi Dalin got up even earlier than him, and sat on the bed looking through the pencil case Guan Baiyu had given him yesterday: "This bag is really nice. People these days have so many nice things... Ah Zhen, what are you having for breakfast?"

"Let's eat noodles," Shi Zhen said.

"Shall I light the fire for you?" Shi Dalin sat down behind the stove.

"Dad, could you boil some water? I'll use the gas stove to cook the noodles," Shi Zhen said.

He fried eight eggs on the gas stove, then cooked two handfuls of noodles. After scooping them out, he filled two large bowls, sprinkled some chopped green onions, added some soy sauce and lard, mixed it all together, and then added two more eggs. That made for a hearty breakfast.

After Shi Zhen and Shi Dalin finished eating, Shi Ting and Guan Baiyu also came over, waiting to have breakfast.

Shi Zhen also cooked two bowls for them.

Shi Ting hadn't actually developed before, and only recently started growing taller. She had a particularly good appetite, so Shi Zhen gave her a full bowl of noodles.

She was eating heartily when Liang Qinxuan came in from outside: "Guan Baiyu, I've come to pick you up!"

As soon as Liang Qinxuan entered, he saw Guan Baiyu and a little girl eating noodles. The little girl took a big bite, and there was a bowl of noodles in front of her.

Liang Qinxuan, who usually felt full after eating just vegetables, blurted out, "Little sister, you eat so much?"

Shi Ting: "..."

Liang Qinxuan glanced at Guan Baiyu again and said, "Guan Baiyu, you actually have a younger sister?"

"Yes, this is Shi Ting, my cousin," Guan Baiyu introduced.

"Hello, little sister Shi Ting!" Liang Qinxuan stared at Shi Ting for a while: "Little sister, you look a bit familiar!"

Shi Ting also recognized Liang Qinxuan.

However, she couldn't remember, glanced at Liang Qinxuan, and continued eating her noodles.

Liang Qinxuan thought it was because Shi Ting looked like Guan Baiyu that he found Shi Ting familiar, so he didn't pay much attention to it. He sat down at the table and started chatting with Guan Baiyu.

He has to go to tutoring this afternoon, and plans to go with Guan Baiyu this morning to recruit a few people for their company.

His cousin said that some laid-off workers from a factory recently were doing quite well.

"Brother?" Guan Baiyu looked at Shi Zhen. It was Sunday; if he left, he probably wouldn't come back...

Shi Zhen said, "Hurry up and finish eating, I need to go to the construction site too."

"Brother..." Guan Baiyu called out again, sighed, and left reluctantly.

He hoped he could be stronger, even stronger.

Not long after Guan Baiyu left, Shi Zhen was about to head to the construction site. Just as he was about to leave, he paused and looked at Shi Ting: "Tingting, why don't you go with your brother?"

"Okay!" Shi Ting said excitedly.

Shi Zhen looked at her and smiled.

In her previous life, Shi Ting had never actually worked.

Girls like Shi Ting, who come from the mountains and haven't received much education, can't find good jobs. Generally, they can only work in factories, doing shift work.

At that time, he felt that he was earning a lot of money, so he didn't let his family members work. Later, Shi Ting quickly fell in love, got married, and had children, and never went out to work again.

She had no idea how hard it was to earn money.

It would be good for her to see it for herself.

"Let's go!" Shi Zhen picked up his clothes, intending to have Shi Ting do some work today as well.

Shi Ting, who knew nothing of Shi Zhen's intentions, got on Shi Zhen's tractor and immediately regretted it.

The tractor was really dirty.

But she already promised to come...

When they arrived at the house construction site, Shi Zhen gave her a pair of gloves and asked her to help carry the roof tiles...

Shi Ting was completely dumbfounded.

Shi Zhen looked at her guiltily: "Tingting, I'm too busy here... could you help me?"

"Brother! I'll help you!" Shi Ting said through gritted teeth.

Shi Zhen added, "Thank you, Tingting. I'll pay you your salary later, the same amount as your brother Da Niu and the others!"

"Mmm!" Shi Ting was excited and less resistant to doing chores.

There's money to be made later!

She had almost spent all her New Year's money, and her parents only gave her two yuan a week for pocket money, which was often not enough for her!

The house is almost finished; today we're going to put on the roof tiles.

Those were not ordinary black tiles, but rather shiny red tiles, about half a meter long and twenty or thirty centimeters wide, each one very thick.

Shi Zhenyi reached out and took five pieces directly.

Seeing this, Shi Ting estimated her strength, grabbed the two pieces, and pulled hard...

Her face flushed red, and she lifted it up a little bit.

Shi Ting: "..."

Shi Ting silently put the two tiles back and picked one up.