There were five people in total who came to Anshan Town with Guan Baiyu this time, including Qiu Yunxin: two men and three women.

They are all locals from Changxi City.

The final exams were held the day before yesterday, and it was already evening when they finished. Yesterday afternoon, students were asked to come to school to clean.

So, the holiday is only one and a half days long. Many people like Guan Baiyu, whose homes are not in Changxi City, did not go home because it was too troublesome.

But Qiu Yunxin and the others whose families live in Changxi City have all gone home to stay these past two days, and they've also taken all their things from school back home.

Therefore, they were able to travel light and visit Anshan Town together today.

Qiu Yunxin's maternal grandmother's house is in Anshan Town. Her mother's room is available here, which can accommodate three people, so she invited her two best friends to come along.

As for the two boys... one of them lives in the same building as Qiu Yunxin and they were childhood sweethearts. He has always liked Qiu Yunxin. It just so happens that his grandparents live in Anshan Town, so he came along this time, and he also brought a friend with him.

The three girls were very curious about Guan Baiyu, while the two boys were hostile towards him. They kept asking Guan Baiyu all sorts of questions along the way, which made him a little annoyed.

"Brother." Guan Baiyu greeted Shi Zhen immediately upon seeing him.

"Xiaoyu," Shi Zhen called out, then looked at the person next to Guan Baiyu: "Is this your friend?"

"They are all my classmates." Guan Baiyu didn't consider these people to be his friends; at most, they were just ordinary classmates.

He looked at Qiu Yunxin and the others with a hint of helplessness. What were they doing here? What's so fun about the countryside?

"Guan Baiyu's brother, do you still remember me? I told you last time that I wanted to come to Anshan Town for a visit." Qiu Yunxin mustered her courage and took the initiative to speak.

"Do you remember, are you going to our house to play now?" Shi Zhen asked.

"No, we'll come tomorrow. We'll bring some food and cook a simple meal in the countryside," Qiu Yunxin said.

Aside from the two boys who came with her, she and her two best friends had already planned out how they would have fun.

Today they will go to her maternal grandparents' house to rest, and tomorrow they will go to Guan Baiyu's house to find Guan Baiyu. Then they can set up a stove in the countryside and cook wild rice and tea eggs.

Although they usually cook wild rice in April or May, using ingredients like buckwheat, scallions, salted meat, peas, and bamboo shoots, it's okay to cook something different at this time of year!

For example, they love to eat things like jujube sticky rice and pumpkin sticky rice.

They were quite looking forward to the thought of having to cook for themselves.

Thinking this through, Qiu Yunxin asked again, "Is it okay?"

"Of course," Shi Zhen said. He couldn't stop Guan Baiyu's classmate from coming to visit him.

Guan Baiyu glanced at Qiu Yunxin and the others. He had already told them along the way that the countryside wasn't fun, but they still insisted on coming... Now that Shi Zhen had agreed, he could only remain silent.

"Goodbye!" Qiu Yunxin waved goodbye to Guan Baiyu.

"Goodbye." Guan Baiyu nodded to them and followed Shi Zhen to Shi Zhen's tricycle.

He first put his schoolbag and the bundle containing his quilt on the vehicle, and then got on Shi Zhen's tricycle.

This was something he was used to, but Qiu Yunxin and the others were all taken aback.

Both Guan Baiyu and Shi Zhen have excellent demeanor, but the moment they sat on the tricycle, they gave off a feeling of... disillusionment.

"Xin Xin, are you really going to Guan Baiyu's house to play tomorrow?" asked the boy who grew up with Qiu Yunxin. His name was Li Dongchen. His mother and Qiu Yunxin's mother were colleagues, which is why they lived in the same apartment building since they were young.

“Yes,” Qiu Yunxin said.

"What's so fun about the countryside? It's filthy, you can easily step in chicken poop, and dogs will chase you around."

"So what if I want to go? You don't have to go if you don't want to," Qiu Yunxin said irritably.

She disliked Li Dongchen since she was a child, and even cried because others called her Li Dongchen's little wife.

However, as she grew older, she was able to get along peacefully with Li Dongchen... She knew that Li Dongchen liked her, but she really didn't like him.

Unfortunately, her parents really liked Li Dongchen. This time, when she was coming to Anshan Town, her parents immediately told Li Dongchen's parents.

"Alright, alright, it's all my fault... I wanted to go." Li Dongchen quickly apologized.

Qiu Yunxin rolled her eyes at him and went to talk to her best friend.

Qiu Yunxin has two best friends, one named Sun Qiqi and the other named Cheng Tian.

They all grew up in the city and were quite curious about the countryside.

Cheng Tian said, "Guan Baiyu is so old, it's really strange that he still rides a tricycle."

Sun Qiqi said, "Actually, it's quite cute."

Qiu Yunxin said, "It's just a means of transportation... Don't say that about people."

They started chatting, and as they talked, they came up with the topic of Sun Qiqi's uncle, who had once been fostered in Guanjia Village.

Qiu Yunxin asked, "Qiqi, was your uncle really fostered in Guanjia Village when he was a child?"

Sun Qiqi wasn't sure about this before, but after asking around at home these past few days, she confirmed it: "Yes!"

"What a coincidence! What does your uncle do now?"

“My uncle used to work on an engineering team. He died in an accident while repairing a water tower,” Sun Qiqi sighed.

"Ah... I'm sorry." Qiu Yunxin quickly apologized.

“It’s okay. I was just born when my uncle had the accident, so I don’t really have any memory of him,” Sun Qiqi said.

"What kind of person is he?" Cheng Tian asked curiously.

Sun Qiqi then told them about her eldest uncle: "My eldest uncle was born to my grandfather's first wife. His mother died in childbirth, and he was sent to the countryside where a wet nurse was hired to take care of him. My grandfather paid her money every month. Later, when he was a little older, around three or four years old, my grandfather wanted to bring him back, but his wet nurse in the countryside... probably wanted money, so she coaxed him into crying and making a fuss, refusing to come home. My grandfather went to pick him up several more times, but he couldn't bring him back until he was a teenager. He was finally brought back by force, but he wasn't close to my grandfather. My grandfather arranged an easy job for him, but he refused to take it and instead went to work on a construction team... After he passed away, my grandfather was always very sad and felt sorry for him."

Cheng Tian said in a mature tone, "Children can't be raised by others. I have a relative who was also a working couple. They sent their child to the countryside to be breastfed by someone else. When they first brought the child back, the child didn't recognize his parents at all! But my relative's child was still young when he was brought back, and now he's fine."

The three girls chatted for a while and then let the matter drop.

On the other side, Shi Zhen told Guan Baiyu about Zhao Dongjuan's marriage.

The Wang family wasn't a good family, in fact... Shi Zhen felt that this family was somewhat similar to the family that Zhao Dongjuan had married in her previous life due to land expropriation.

It's basically a lower-spec version of that demolition compensation household.

However, the more someone is like this, the more completely Zhao Dongjuan has them under her control.

At first, the family thought that Zhao Dongjuan was head over heels in love with Wang Zugen. They assumed that Zhao Dongjuan, a girl from the mountains, must be clueless and easy to manipulate. As for the bride price, they figured Zhao Dongjuan would take it back anyway, so they wouldn't lose out at all.

result……

When Guan Baiyu returned home, he saw that Shi Xingchao and Shi Xinghuo's bed had been dismantled, and he immediately felt refreshed.

Finally, it was just him and his brother left in their house! It's a pity they didn't share a room.

But that's good, so he won't do anything embarrassing if he's not careful.

It's not a big deal to be embarrassed, but it's not good to scare his brother!

Guan Baiyu told Shi Zhen to go about his business and that he would cook the meal himself.

Shi Zhen didn't stop him and went off to do his work—Shi Xingchao wasn't there, and he had a lot to do.

The scariest thing is... some people will ask him how to knit a sweater.

He knows the simplest plain stitch, but he really doesn't understand or have any interest in learning complicated patterns.

Before we knew it, it was the next day.

Shi Zhen got up early in the morning and found that Guan Baiyu was wearing an old set of clothes.

Shi Zhen asked, a little puzzled, "Xiao Yu, your classmate is coming later, why are you still wearing your old clothes?"

“They’re going to cook picnics or something, and their new clothes will get dirty easily,” Guan Baiyu said seriously.

"It's dirty, so what? Just wash it and it'll be fine." Shi Zhen chuckled and added, "By the way, I tidied up the room where your Uncle Jianguo receives and sends out sweaters yesterday. You can take them there for a while, and then go out and play together."

His and Guan Baiyu's place... was still muddy! The place for collecting and distributing sweaters was different. Although there were many sweaters here, there were also stools to sit on and soft drinks to drink.

Guan Baiyu said, "Brother, my home is fine, so let them come to my house."

Shi Zhen then realized something: "You don't like them?"

"Yes." Guan Baiyu said with certainty.

So that's how it is... Shi Zhen said, "Alright, whatever you say."

Guan Baiyu is quite heartless. When girls like him, he is not happy at all and even tries to push them away.

"Then let them think our family is poor, but you absolutely can't let it slip!" Guan Baiyu said.

Shi Zhen: "..."

“Actually, my family is really poor. Look, we don’t even have the money to build a house,” Guan Baiyu said.

Alright... Shi Zhen originally intended to treat Guan Baiyu's classmates well, but seeing Guan Baiyu like this, he gave up his plans.

The weather was beautiful today, with a rare calm wind, so the women in the village moved their stools outside to bask in the sun while embroidering clothes.

Some women don't embroider clothes, but instead use boiled cocoons to make "cotton bags." Locals raise silkworms, and some of the cocoons are sold for money, while others are kept to make silk quilts or cotton clothes.

With nothing else to do, Shi Zhen would sit by the door and embroider clothes.

In a few days, the garment factory will be closing for the holidays and will no longer provide him with clothes. They will also settle accounts with him before the New Year, so he won't be able to keep this job for long.

As Shi Zhen was sitting, a surprised voice rang out: "Guan Baiyu's brother?"

Shi Zhen turned his head and saw five young men, around sixteen or seventeen years old, who were all looking at him in surprise.

These people arrived quite early.

"You've arrived? Guan Baiyu is at home," Shi Zhen said.

"Guan Baiyu lives here?" Qiu Yunxin asked, looking at the house in front of her. Is Guan Baiyu's family poor? This house looks nice!

"No, he's over there," Shi Zhen said, pointing to Guan Baiyu's house not far away.

He originally wanted to give Guan Baiyu some face, but since Guan Baiyu didn't need it, he let it go.

He couldn't possibly do something that Guan Baiyu didn't like.

Qiu Yunxin followed Shi Zhen's finger and saw a small, dilapidated house.

She and her classmate looked at each other, but still walked over there. As they got closer, they saw Guan Baiyu wearing a cotton-padded jacket made of homespun cloth, washing clothes at the door of her house.

Guan Baiyu then disassembled and washed Shi Zhen's quilt.

It has been a while since I last washed Shi Zhen's quilt.

This Guan Baiyu is completely different from the Guan Baiyu that Qiu Yunxin had seen before.

Besides seeing Guan Baiyu, she also saw the house behind Guan Baiyu.

The door to the house was open, and looking inside, it was really dilapidated and small. In particular, in such a small room, besides the stove and table, there was also a bed.

Guan Baiyu lives in a place like this?

Qiu Yunxin felt a pang of heartache.

Cheng Tian and Sun Qiqi felt the same way. Although they were a little disillusioned, they also felt that Guan Baiyu was too pitiful.

It seems that many of the rumors at school are true. His family is very poor. It's amazing that he works so hard even though he's so poor!

The three of them looked at Guan Baiyu with affection.

Guan Baiyu: "..." This isn't right!

Guan Baiyu deliberately acted poor, wanting Qiu Yunxin to know that they were from different worlds and that there was no possibility of a relationship between them.

But judging from Qiu Yunxin's eyes... Qiu Yunxin probably doesn't think that way.

The two boys, on the other hand, were full of disdain when they looked at his house.

"You've come a bit early. I haven't finished washing the blankets yet... Why don't you go for a walk over there?" Guan Baiyu said.

"No need, no need, we'll just watch over you," Qiu Yunxin said with a smile. "Guan Baiyu, you're so capable, you can even wash blankets."

"You can dry it just by washing a quilt?" Guan Baiyu was a little confused.

Li Dongchen even added, "I can wash blankets too!"

Qiu Yunxin immediately retorted, "You're just bragging! Your mom said you don't wash your clothes at school and bring your dirty clothes home every week."

"It's inconvenient to wash clothes at school..." Li Dongchen said awkwardly. He washes clothes in the summer, but in the winter the water is too cold and they don't dry easily. Plus, he doesn't change his clothes much anyway, so he doesn't wash them.

Qiu Yunxin ignored him and went inside to get a stool for herself. She sat down and started talking to Guan Baiyu, probably just making conversation. She asked him how to learn English.

Guan Baiyu said, "You need to listen to and read English a lot, and you also need to memorize vocabulary repeatedly."

"Mmm." Qiu Yunxin nodded repeatedly.

Guan Baiyu and Qiu Yunxin weren't really close; in fact, they'd barely exchanged a few words. They quickly ran out of things to talk about. Qiu Yunxin thought for a moment and then brought up a topic: "By the way, Sun Qiqi's uncle lived in Guanjia Village when he was little!"

"Really?" Guan Baiyu became a little wary when he heard the surname "Sun".

“Yes, my uncle was fostered here when he was a child,” Sun Qiqi said.

"And the surname is Sun, and it's about being fostered..." Guan Baiyu asked with a smile, "What exactly happened? Can you tell me? Maybe I know, after all, I grew up here."

Sun Qiqi also had a good impression of Guan Baiyu, and she didn't think there was anything she couldn't say about her uncle's affairs, so she immediately told him what she knew.

This is a slightly different version of the story from that of Guanjia Village.

After all, the people here all say that his own grandfather abandoned his father here and never took care of him again.

I don't know which side is real and which side is fake.

Guan Baiyu asked, "It's a pity that your uncle passed away... Was he married when he died? Did he have any children?"

“My uncle is unmarried and has no children.”

"Really? He must have been quite old when he passed away, right?"

“He’s not young anymore, but he’s not married. During Qingming Festival and such, I’m the one who goes to kowtow to my uncle,” Sun Qiqi said.

Guan Baiyu froze, lowered his head, and only looked up again after a moment.

He had a vague feeling that something was wrong.

Sun Pingfu had no reaction to the fact that he was from Anshan Town and his surname was Guan.

Sun Qiqi has no idea that her uncle has a child.

This is not normal.

In a flash, Guan Baiyu thought of many more suspicious points.

For example... since Sun Pingfu is very rich, and he had sent his son to live in the countryside for more than ten years, even if he didn't like his grandson, he wouldn't completely ignore him, right?

There's also Sun Qiqi's version of events... Sun Qiqi said that his uncle's wet nurse taught his uncle to cry and refuse to go home... He believes it.

Outsiders might think his grandmother was just an ordinary old lady from the countryside, but he had always lived with her. During the two years his grandmother was paralyzed, he took care of her entirely. He knew that his grandmother was not a good-tempered person and... cared a lot about money.

Her grandmother would never share meat that others brought her, even if it spoiled because she couldn't finish it all herself.

Back then, his aunt and others would often bring his grandmother snacks like dried longan. His grandmother would keep them by her bedside and peel them to eat whenever she had free time. When he tidied her bed, he would sometimes find moldy pits, but he never got to eat any.

His grandmother was not a person who liked or loved children.

Isn't he a child of the Sun family?

But that's a bit absurd. If he wasn't a child of the Sun family, where did he come from? And what about his brother...?

Or perhaps, the Sun family is unaware of his mother's existence?

Guan Baiyu lowered his eyelids, put the washed but not yet rinsed bed sheet aside, rinsed the foam off his hands, and looked at Qiu Yunxin and the others: "Let me take you for a walk in the village."

"Okay, okay." The three girls nodded repeatedly.