After thinking about it, she still asked. She felt that she had been too timid before, and that she should be bold in expressing herself.

"Yes, do you want to come with me and...?" Cheng Qing originally wanted to say that she was going to visit her classmate, but seeing the expectant look on her face, she changed her mind in the end.

She just apologized, so it wouldn't be appropriate for her to reject people now.

She thought that they could try to be friends, and if they didn't get along, she would tell her directly.

"Okay." Liu Shiying nodded and followed the others out with some books.

"I've only just realized that Liu Shiying is also an opportunist. What's the difference between her and Sun Fenglian?"

“They all pretend to be pitiful to gain others’ sympathy. Look at how she treated us just now, and then look at how she treated Cheng Qing.”

"He just wants to be friends with Cheng Qing. Everyone knows Cheng Qing comes from a wealthy family, so why is he so eager to be with her?"

Several people in the dormitory watched them leave, and they all grumbled with dissatisfaction.

"Forget it, we can't afford to offend her now. Let's keep quiet. Look at Sun Fenglian, if we offend someone, that's what will happen to us."

The group then realized they were still shaken, having completely forgotten that it was Cheng Qing and the others who had helped them get the money back, yet they ended up thinking they were the bad guys.

Cheng Qing took Liu Shiying to the playground, where she and Su Ti often studied together.

Suti also brought a tape recorder, which Baichuan got from the port city.

Cheng Qing brought some cassette tapes, which were her father's collection.

The learning tools used by the three of them are among the most advanced available.

(I've researched tape recorders and cassette players, and some sources say they only became widespread in the 1980s, while others say they appeared as early as the 1960s. If my description here is inaccurate, please consider it fictional.)

Suti and the others were stunned when they saw Cheng Qing arrive with her entourage.

Based on Suti's understanding of Cheng Qing, she said to be careful of that guy surnamed Sun, and that Cheng Qing would definitely find out something when she got back.

At noon, she saw the principal heading towards the dormitory again, and she and Guo Lili went to ask about the situation.

I was confident that I had found the thief, but I didn't expect her to bring him here.

"Hello, my name is Liu Shiying." Liu Shiying looked at the two people over there. She had seen them a few times before, and they were always hanging out with Cheng Qing.

"Hello." Suti smiled at the person, and after thinking for a moment, she said her name.

“My name is Suti.” She knew she should have heard of her.

After Suti finished speaking, Liu Shiying's eyes widened. She looked at the person trembling and asked, "Which Suti?"

Suti knew what she wanted to ask, "The Suti who suggested building the dam back in 1975."

"It was you! I know you. Your and your husband's good deed saved many lives. My parents have mentioned you."

Liu Shiying laughed and then cried; she never expected to meet the person her parents had praised.

If it weren't for them, many more families would have been torn apart and many more people would have ended up like her.

"If I had tried a little harder back then, could I have stopped more people from sacrificing their lives?"

Suti didn't know what to say. At that moment, she was worried that things might change, and she was also afraid that someone would find out something.

Even though the dam was later built, they didn't go all out. One of them was a glorifier of the disaster, and the other was a victim of it.

I always felt there was something between them, but it shouldn't be.

"No, if it weren't for you, there would be many more people like me, and we should all thank you."

Liu Shiying thought of what her parents had said. At that time, they couldn't come back, and in their only phone call, they mentioned Suti to her.

They talked about how she was the same age as them, yet made such great contributions, and recounted her extraordinary deeds.

She never heard her parents' voices again, but she always remembered the last time they mentioned Suti.

"I only gave advice; it was others who actually did the work, and those who carried out the disaster relief in the later stages were heroes like your parents."

"I think you're absolutely right about something you said today: You should live well and live for your parents' sake."

Suti felt as if she had just come back to life today.

"Yes, I will live well." Liu Shiying wiped away her tears. She didn't want to cry, nor did she want to be weak anymore.

She has wronged no one and has never hurt anyone. From today onward, she will not let anyone hurt her.

From that day on, the trio gradually became a group of four.

The three of them had different studies, and Liu Shiying would just sit next to them with a book in her arms and watch them study.

We don't disturb each other, and we learn from each other diligently.

"Shiying, let's go out and have fun together tomorrow? Suti and Qingqing used to go home every week, and I was so bored staying at school all by myself."

"That's good now, you're here with me. Shall we go out for a stroll?" When the holiday arrived, Guo Lili invited Liu Shiying to go out and have fun together.

Suti is the only one among them who is married, so she will definitely go back to be with her family.

Cheng Qing was busy dating, and this time she probably needed to clarify things with the people in Biancheng, so she didn't have time.

She was alone in her dorm room, doing nothing but sleeping and reading. It was so boring.

"Okay." Liu Shiying was taken aback. This was the first time someone had asked her to go out with them, and she happily agreed.

Guo Lili and Liu Shiying walked away happily.

"Qingqing, talk to Biancheng properly. No matter what, don't let yourself suffer." When they arrived at the school gate, Su Ti pulled Cheng Qing aside and gave her this advice.

“I know that no matter what, we need a clear explanation. I didn’t do anything wrong, so don’t worry. Why didn’t your husband come to pick you up this time?”

Cheng Qing looked at the doorway but didn't see Su Ti's husband.

"He has something to do, I'll take the tram home." Su Ti and Cheng Qing live in opposite directions, so after they finished talking, they went home separately.

When Su arrived home, Baichuan hadn't come yet; only the nanny was home. She put her things down.

She missed her children, so she told the nanny and rode her bike to a phone booth to call the two little ones.

"When are you coming back, Chaochao and Hehe?" Suti called her maternal grandparents' house and had only exchanged a few words with her maternal grandmother.

Hearing the impatient voices of the two little ones on the other end, they asked their grandmother to give them the phone.

"Mom, we'll be going back in a few days."

"Mom, we miss you so much."

Chaochao and Hehe's voices came through the phone, and Suti couldn't help but smile.

She listened as the two little ones chatted away about what had happened during this time.

They even knew that their father had bought another big house. This couldn't have been something Baichuan told them; they could only have overheard it from an adult.