Even the closest siblings can easily drift apart as they grow up.

Before Shi Zhen was reborn, he saw his sister less and less often.

When they met, they had nothing to talk about. His sister was always either concerned about which brand had released a new model or talking about her child.

Shi Zhen didn't care about any of this and didn't want to hear it.

When Shi Zhen advised her to find something to do, or at least stop wasting money, she would either evade the question or simply run away.

Most importantly, Shi Ting wants to buy everything she sees, and when she runs out of money, she uses her credit card, resulting in a chaotic financial situation!

It's basically the same every time: Shi Ting is afraid he'll tell her if she spends too much money, so she tries to hide it from him, robbing Peter to pay Paul. When she can't hide it anymore, she can only cry to him, cursing and swearing that she will never do it again, but she still can't help but buy it next time.

During the years he was in a bad mood, his sister, without careful attention, even ruined her own credit record.

His sister only has him by her side. If it weren't for him, or if he didn't have the money, he'd probably be a deadbeat who's stuck in a deep online loan trap, dragging his whole family down with him.

What angered him was that his two brothers-in-law were pretty much the same way—they were clearly incompetent, yet they wanted everything to be the best.

The first one's actions were too ugly, and his parents were even more indescribable. The grandmother even hid the milk powder he bought for his niece and wouldn't let her granddaughter eat it... As for the second one, he at least fulfilled his duty as a white-faced scoundrel.

Shi Zhen had a lot of complaints about his younger sister in his past life, but now, seeing the fourteen-year-old girl running towards him, he remembered all sorts of things from her childhood.

Their mother is in poor health and can only do some simple housework at home, at most tending to the vegetable garden in front of and behind the house.

After her younger sister was born, her mother's health deteriorated further.

Although he was young at the time, he knew he couldn't burden his mother, so he always helped take care of his younger sister.

He fed his sister, coaxed her to sleep, and when she got a little older, he would often have a little baby dragging him around when he went out to play.

When his mother passed away, his younger sister was only four years old. The thin and small child cried in his arms for two nights.

The land in their mountains is completely different from the fertile fields that stretch out in Anshan Town.

Anshan Town is located on a plain, and the land allocated by the state is also nearby. When villagers go out to farm, it takes at most ten minutes to walk with a hoe. It is very convenient to come and go. If they get thirsty while working, they can go home to drink some water and then go back to work.

But here... their land isn't even near the village. His father often has to climb a mountain for half an hour to get to the fields.

Their land is also very barren, and there are no rivers on the mountains, so they often have to carry water to irrigate.

They also didn't grow shiitake mushrooms in greenhouses like later on. Instead, they would go up the mountain to find suitable wood, cut slits in it, and plant the mushrooms there.

His dad usually goes out to work and stays there all day. It's unlikely he'll work for just one morning and then come back to cook for them before going back to work.

So when his mother passed away, he and his younger sister were unable to go to school.

Firstly, his younger sister was always crying and couldn't be separated from him; secondly, the primary school was quite far away, and at eight years old, he couldn't take his sister on a mountain path that took more than an hour to get to school.

Back then, he could only stay at home watching his younger sister cook and tend to the family's vegetable garden.

That's why his father rushed to marry his stepmother.

After his stepmother arrived, his sister was taken care of, and he was freed from housework to continue his studies. Later, his family even bought sheep to raise, and their lives got better and better.

Therefore, Shi Zhen always respected his stepmother.

As for his sister... he had to admit that when he was young, his sister was the one he valued most in this family.

After all, I raised her with all my heart and soul.

Now, seeing his younger sister, Shi Zhen treats her almost like his own daughter.

He absolutely cannot raise this "daughter" to be a bad influence in his life.

"Brother, you're back!" Shi Ting smiled when she saw Shi Zhen, then burst into tears and reached out to hug him, saying, "I missed you so much!"

Shi Zhen was caught off guard by the hug. He patted her shoulder, feeling a little embarrassed. He hadn't thought much about this younger sister recently.

Fortunately, Shi Ting didn't know that after hugging Shi Zhen, she let go of him and asked, "Brother, did you bring me anything nice when you came back?"

Shi Zhen offered her some peanuts: "No."

Shi Ting was initially a little disappointed, but her eyes lit up when she saw the peanuts. She quickly started eating them and then asked Shi Zhen if he wanted some.

Shi Zhen said no, but she kept stuffing the pieces into her mouth one by one, repeatedly saying how delicious they were.

Thinking that twenty years from now, Shi Ting would hardly ever eat at home, preferring to search for delicious food everywhere. Occasionally, when he came to visit, he would cook, but Shi Ting wouldn't like to eat it... Shi Zhen felt that his younger sister was much cuter at this time.

Shi Zhen came to his senses and saw that his sister had a colorful hair tie on her head.

The combination of red and green... even though Shi Zhen likes bright colors, he thinks it's ugly.

"Your hair tie..."

"Brother, I made this myself, isn't it pretty?" Shi Ting's eyes lit up. "I learned how to make it from someone; you just need to braid the yarn onto the rubber band!"

Shi Zhen said with difficulty, "That's right."

Shi Ting added, "Brother, some people at our school use hair ties bought in the county town, and they look so pretty! They even have hair clips... Brother, I want one too."

Shi Zhen: "..."

Shi Ting, oblivious to Shi Zhen's speechlessness, continued, "By the way, brother, do you know about Calabash Brothers? Someone in our class even bought a Calabash Brothers pencil case; it's a double-layered one!"

Shi Ting didn't ask for the pencil case, but her eyes clearly showed that she wanted it.

Shi Zhen sighed inwardly and said, "Tingting, I came back to take you to where I work and live with me. Once we get there, I'll buy it for you."

His sister has loved these things since she was little.

Although he wanted his sister to change, if he completely stopped buying her anything and suppressed her too much, his sister might rebel even more strongly in the future.

We can only teach them slowly.

"Brother, you're so kind!" Shi Ting said happily, and began to tell Shi Zhen about things at school.

Shi Zhen's village was considered poor, and Shi Ting's school was also considered poor, but the girl was pretty, so she wasn't bullied.

When she chatted with Shi Zhen, her focus was always off-topic. She would always talk about who wore new clothes, who used face cream, and who could eat several packs of instant noodles a week.

Shi Zhen: "..."

He remembered that his sister's focus had been just as skewed in her past life.

He didn't think much about it at the time, he just felt heartbroken—how could his precious little sister not have what other families had?

After he became wealthy, he was happy to spend money on his sister. He bought her whatever she wanted that he could afford.

In addition, he was very concerned about his image at the time, and he didn't like to tell his family about his difficulties, so his sister became more and more extravagant...

After feeding his younger sister peanuts, Shi Zhen took her to the school dormitory.

That couldn't really be called a dormitory; it was just a large communal room where twenty or thirty people lived in one small room.

In the dark room, rows of beds, each less than a meter wide and made of wooden planks, were placed against the wall. Some personal belongings were on them, each labeled with a name or marked. His sister's bed was in the middle, and among the beds, it was relatively clean and tidy, with a jar of pickled vegetables on the headboard.

His sister complained, "Brother, I've been eating pickled vegetables every day since you left, I'm so sick of it!" Before, her brother would bring her food, and occasionally she could even eat rabbit meat, which tasted especially delicious.

Shi Ting looked on with a hungry expression.

Shi Zhen: "..."

Shi Zhen chatted with his sister for a while, then went to ask about transferring schools.

At the same time, in Anshan Town.

Guan Baiyu and Shi Xinghuo were preparing barbecue skewers together.

Before leaving, Shi Zhen told him to rest well at home and wait for the results.

But he felt he didn't need to rest; instead, he wanted to do something for Shi Zhen.

The problem with street vending is that if you don't set up your stall for a long time, customers will easily leave, and there's also the possibility of other stalls appearing that are exactly the same and taking away all your business.

His brother accompanied him during his high school entrance exam, which already meant he had to stop working for two days. Now that he's back, he'll have to stop working for several more days... What if he can't set up his stall for so long and someone else steals his business?

With that in mind, on the night Shi Zhen left, Guan Baiyu pushed his fried food stall to town to sell fried food.

He used to help Shi Zhen when he was running a stall, but now that Shi Zhen is not here, he can manage the stall by himself without any problems.

Having gained experience from setting up a fried food stall, Guan Baiyu set up a rice ball stall the next morning as well.

Shi Zhen didn't have any particularly good skills, so the business he chose to do was very simple. Guan Baiyu picked it up very quickly and made the business look quite successful.

In this way, Guan Baiyu had been doing business for two days.

He was doing the work that Shi Zhen was used to doing, and with Shi Xinghuo's help, he was still extremely tired, and his hands and feet ached terribly.

At first, his brother had no one to help him. A while ago, in addition to setting up his stall, he also had to set up the rented house...

Guan Baiyu felt heartbroken, and then worked even more diligently.

His brother's relatives are coming. Although his brother doesn't talk about his family much, judging from his behavior, he still values ​​them.

If he acts more capable, his brother might think he's better than his sisters, and his brother's family would probably like him more.

That evening, Guan Baiyu went to set up a stall in town and noticed that there were several more stalls there.

Recently, more and more people are going out at night, and naturally, others have had the same idea as them: to set up stalls.

Next to Guan Baiyu, a stall selling vermicelli soup and stinky tofu appeared, with several tables set up for people to sit down.

The stall owner was a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties. He sold beef vermicelli soup for 50 cents a bowl and fried stinky tofu for 50 cents or 6 yuan. His business was quite good.

Guan Baiyu was selling his wares when he saw one of his female classmates come to his stall arm in arm with a man of about the same age.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, these two should be dating.

Guan Baiyu had run into many acquaintances when he came to help Shi Zhen before, but this was the first time he had encountered a classmate, who was even dating someone...

Guan Baiyu curiously sized up the other person a few times.

"Guan Baiyu, are you selling fried skewers?" the girl asked curiously.

"Hmm," Guan Baiyu smiled at her, "Do you want to buy it?"

The girl looked at the boy next to her, and the boy immediately asked her what she wanted to eat. Then the two of them picked out something that cost two yuan.

Guan Baiyu's fried skewers cost at least 50 cents for meat, while vegetarian skewers like rice cakes and dried tofu cost 50 cents for two.

After all, these things are very low cost.

Guan Baiyu fried it for her, sprinkled it with chili powder, and handed it to her. Then she asked, "Guan Baiyu, are you still going to school?"

Guan Baiyu laughed: "I went."

"Then you now..."

"To earn tuition fees." Guan Baiyu laughed.

The girl sighed, "That's great... I'm not going to study anymore, studying is too annoying! Guan Baiyu, I've found a job now, working in a sofa factory. Whenever you want to buy a sofa, you can come to our factory."

As other people came to buy fried skewers, the girl took the arm of the boy beside her and left.

Guan Baiyu always thought that he would feel embarrassed if he saw his classmates while setting up a stall.

But in reality, it didn't.

Right now, he really misses his brother.

I wonder when his brother will be able to come back...

Shi Zhen stayed in the village for three days before leaving with his family.

There's a lot going on in Anshan Town, and he can't leave it unattended for too long.

Most importantly, Guan Baiyu's results will be out soon, and he needs to go back and check them.

Shi Dalin agreed to go with Shi Zhen, and Zhao Meiyun would naturally follow as well. Since both Shi Dalin and Zhao Meiyun were leaving, Zhao Qiujuan would not stay in the mountains.

As for Shi Ting... Shi Zhen promised her that he would buy her a nice pencil case, schoolbag, and hair clip after he went out... She was the one who most wanted to go outside.

Zhao Dongjuan never gave her a pleasant look, but she wouldn't stay. In the end, the whole family left the mountains together, carrying large and small bags.

Shi Dalin couldn't bear to leave anything behind from home, so he took everything he could, which meant that each of them had to carry quite a lot of things.

The ones who took the most were Shi Zhen and Shi Dalin, and Zhao Qiujuan also took quite a lot.

Zhao Meiyun's back has been bothering her these past few years, so she carries less stuff. As for Zhao Dongjuan...

She was supposed to carry only slightly less than Zhao Qiujuan, but she immediately questioned why Shi Ting didn't have to carry so much.

Indeed, Shi Ting only took her schoolbag and her clothes; she didn't take anything else.

She was, after all, the youngest, and Shi Dalin's own daughter, and Shi Zhen doted on her... Zhao Meiyun usually didn't let her do any work.

In the past, when this happened, Shi Zhen would usually take some of the things Zhao Dongjuan was carrying and carry them himself to avoid trouble, thus shutting Zhao Dongjuan up.

This time, however, he thought for a moment and took a package from the things Zhao Dongjuan was responsible for carrying and gave it to his sister.

Shi Ting didn't sense anything was wrong; she was only thinking about going out to live a good life, and happily carried it in her hand.

However, after carrying the things for a while along the mountain path, Shi Ting couldn't go on anymore: "Brother, I can't walk anymore."

“I’m carrying more than three times the weight of yours.” Shi Zhen glanced at her, and he and Shi Dalin simply picked up their loads and carried them on their shoulders!

Shi Ting's eyes were brimming with tears.

Shi Dalin couldn't bear to see his daughter like this, so he immediately said, "Tingting, give your things to Dad."

Just as Shi Ting was about to give it to him, Shi Zhen said, "Tingting, Dad is getting old, and he's tired too."

“Then…” Shi Ting said pitifully.

Shi Zhen said, "You carry it yourself... When we get to town, I'll buy you an ice pop."

Shi Ting swallowed hard and continued on her way.

She kept complaining about being tired the whole way, and by the end she was swaying unsteadily. At this moment, Shi Zhen said again, "Tingting, do you like dresses? Bright red ones. Hang in there, I'll buy you one when we get to Anshan Town."

Shi Ting immediately perked up again.

Shi Zhen couldn't help but laugh when he saw his sister like this.

Walking on mountain paths is completely different from walking on flat ground, especially when you occasionally walk uphill, it's really tiring.

Shi Zhen felt that his sister's physical strength was really good at the moment.

Twenty years from now, even if his sister brings nothing, she probably won't be able to walk this road!

While walking, Shi Zhen stayed close to his stepmother, and halfway there, he even helped her carry some things: "Aunt Zhao, your back isn't good, don't carry anything too heavy."

His stepmother broke her leg when she went to work with his father in her past life, and now he is afraid that something will happen to her on the way out.

Hearing Shi Zhen say this, Zhao Meiyun was particularly moved, while Zhao Dongjuan thought to herself, "She's just pretending to be kind," but no one bothered with her.

They walked all the way to where Shi Ting went to junior high school, and then Shi Zhen paid someone to take them to the county town by tractor.

They usually buy things or run errands in the nearby town; they don't come to the county town very often.

However, apart from Zhao Meiyun, everyone else has come.

Zhao Qiujuan is already twenty years old this year. She had actually been engaged before. At that time, Shi Zhen was sixteen years old and she was eighteen.

Thinking that his older sister was getting married, Shi Zhen decided to buy some things to dress her up, so he took his sisters to the county town and bought some food and other necessities.

However, the marriage did not ultimately take place.

Zhao Meiyun still loved her two daughters very much. As for Shi Dalin, since Zhao Qiujuan and Zhao Dongjuan were quite old when they came with Zhao Meiyun and their surname was not Shi, Shi Dalin's idea was that he would not ask for a bride price or a dowry when his two stepdaughters got married.

Of course, he acknowledges that the Shi family is their maternal family, and he is willing to help if needed.

Shi Dalin's approach is actually better than that of many biological fathers.

Many fathers take the bride price but don't give a dowry!

Zhao Meiyun was delighted to hear this from Shi Dalin, and felt that her daughter, with her looks, would surely find a good husband.

At that time, Zhao Qiujuan did find a family with a good financial situation. Zhao Meiyun was easy to talk to and told the family that the bride price should be the same as that of people in the neighborhood, and she would keep it all for her daughter as dowry.

Zhao Meiyun said this in an attempt to make the family value her daughter, but when they heard her say that, they decided not to give any bride price.

They said that since it was just a formality, they wouldn't borrow money to save face.

In addition, according to local custom, the groom's family should send wine, pork, and other miscellaneous items to the bride's family. Generally, the bride's family will take these items, along with some eggs or something similar, to hold the wedding banquet.

Then the other family said that Shi Dalin wasn't Zhao Qiujuan's biological father, so there was no need to send wine and meat; they wouldn't send those things!

To be honest, that family took advantage of the Shi family's easygoing nature and pushed their luck.

This infuriated Zhao Meiyun, and Shi Dalin and Shi Zhen were also angered, ultimately leading to the cancellation of the marriage.

Zhao Qiujuan has no trouble getting married!

In the countryside around Anshan Town, there are more men than women, let alone in their mountain village. Although Zhao Qiujuan is not particularly beautiful, she is a very capable woman and has many suitors who want to marry her!

By the way, after the Shi family refused to discuss the marriage again, the other family came begging again, saying that the marriage could be discussed slowly, that they were willing to double the amount of pork and wine, and that they could even forgo the dowry... They kept saying that they really wanted Zhao Qiujuan and only wanted Zhao Qiujuan herself.

Of course, Zhao Qiujuan never got married, and Zhao Meiyun is currently looking for a better husband for her.

If Zhao Meiyun hadn't broken her leg in her past life, Zhao Qiujuan would probably have married well. Given her personality, as long as she didn't encounter a terrible in-law or other unexpected events, her life wouldn't have been too bad.

Their mountain village has changed very little over the years, but the county town changes every year.

The county town is much more prosperous now than when Shi Zhen brought his sisters here before.

Shi Ting turned her head, her eyes lighting up as she watched.

Remembering his promise to buy her popsicles, Shi Zhen found a shop and bought six popsicles at two cents each, giving one to each member of his family.

"I don't need it..."

"Why would I eat an ice pop!"

Zhao Meiyun and Shi Dalin were a little embarrassed and refused to eat.

Shi Zhen said, "Eat it, what's this?"

Zhao Meiyun and Shi Dalin ended up eating it anyway.

These two-cent popsicles are quite large and very sweet, but after you've sucked out the sweetness, all that's left is a block of ice.

But ice is delicious in the middle of summer too.

Shi Ting ate until her eyes were squinted, then asked Shi Zhen, "Brother, what are we having for dinner tonight?"

As she said this, she looked at the steamed bun shop not far away.