Pingtou Village is a 15-minute oxcart ride from the commune, and a 40-minute ride to the town.

As the car drove along the country road, Ma Dazui kept nagging, asking about my background, family, and marriage. His mouth never stopped.

Ruan Xianxian fiddled with something behind her back, then got out of the car and quickly pulled Mu Xia and Zhao Di away.

Before they had gone far, a roar from Ma Dazui rang out behind them:

"Who? Who wiped their snot all over me?"

Chen Zhaodi, confused, turned back to watch the show, while Mu Xia, who seemed to understand something, was speechless.

"How old are you to still be playing with your snot? Aren't you disgusting?"

The three of them stopped outside the supply and marketing cooperative. Mu Xia said, "I have a lot of things to buy, so I won't go with you."

“Perfect timing! I’ll go to the post office to mail a letter, and then I’ll visit a relative on my way back. The oxcart won’t have to wait for me,” Ruan Xianxian said.

Chen Zhaodi looked around. She had originally planned to walk with her newly acquainted girlfriend, but she could tell that the two of them had something to do. "You two go ahead and do your work. I'll just wander around a bit."

The three parted ways, and Ruan Xianxian went to the post office to mail letters to acquaintances back home, letters she had already written on the train.

He didn't say goodbye to Grandpa Lü and the others before leaving. The elderly people who have been waiting for news for so long must be worried!

She mailed the letter and looked at the stamps the clerk had taken back, wanting to buy some, but she was in a hurry to go to the farm to see her grandmother, so she could only wait until she had time next time.

After leaving the post office, Ruan Xianxian went to the department store and bought a Phoenix brand No. 26 bicycle under the disapproving looks of the sales clerk.

"The bicycle ticket costs an extra 180 yuan."

Seeing that she actually took out the money and tickets, the salesperson became much more enthusiastic and reminded her to get the serial number stamped at the police station before leaving.

Ruan Xianxian, who had ridden out of the county town, did not rush to register her car. Instead, she turned and parked behind a deserted tree.

I took two cans of malted milk powder, two pounds of brown sugar, ten pounds of refined grains, two sets of clothes and shoes for the elderly from my space and put them into the basket. Seeing that there was still room in the basket, I bought a pound of eggs from the mall to fill the gaps.

Her grandmother, Yan Fenghua, was sent down to Ping'an County. The farm was not far from Pingtou Brigade. It would take about two hours to get there by taking a small road around the mountain, while Ruan Xianxian would take the main road by bicycle and estimate that it would take about an hour.

There was still some distance to go, so Ruan Xianxian turned into the grove and hid the car in the space.

The village was somewhat backward, with thatched and mud-brick houses scattered everywhere, a far cry from Pingtou Brigade.

Avoiding the villagers going to work, Ruan Xianxian circled half of the farm inside the high wall to determine its location before climbing over the wall to enter.

She could slip some money to the farm manager to visit through the main gate, but she suspected someone wanted to harm her grandmother and decided not to alert them.

He jumped, grabbed the wall, squatted down, and landed—all in one fluid motion.

Looking around, all you see are low houses built of broken wooden planks; it snows lightly outside, but it rains heavily inside.

Even though I had seen it in my past life, the thought of my grandmother living in such an environment for five years still made me feel a pang of sadness.

At midday, everyone was working in the fields, with a foreman holding a whip supervising them. Ruan Xianxian glanced at them from afar and saw a group of elderly men and women working in the fields, their backs bent.

The clothes he was wearing were unrecognizable, and his back was hunched, giving him a sense of gloom and lifelessness from afar.

After circling around without finding her grandmother, Ruan Xianxian became a little anxious. Following her memory, she found the old woman's residence, a dilapidated wooden house that required her to bend over to enter.

On a single bed that could barely accommodate one person, there was a tattered cotton quilt, the cotton inside clumps together and lumps.

A statue of a great man sat on the cabinet, and a broken porcelain bowl on the table still held a mouthful of clear soup. Ruan Xianxian tested the temperature; it wasn't cold to the touch, proving it was from the morning.

The house was so dilapidated that it was uninhabitable, yet Grandma kept it very clean. I really don't know how she survived the sub-zero temperatures of minus 30 degrees Celsius.

She sat on the wooden bed for a while, figuring that her grandmother wouldn't be back for a while, so she left the small, dilapidated house and went to the mud-brick house where the steward lived, and began searching room by room.

What a coincidence! The first batch of people who were sent to the countryside were exonerated, and then Grandma died?

What a coincidence! The old man died right after she arrived in the countryside? She couldn't believe it!

The steward's room was fully furnished. Ruan Xianxian discreetly began searching room by room, looking for money, tickets, gold, silver, and jade artifacts...

Good heavens, if even a small steward's office has all of this, you can imagine how wealthy the person in charge must be.

The farm takes most of the items sent by relatives, and less than one or two out of ten actually reaches the recipient.

Ruan Xianxian didn't touch the valuables. She could use her spatial storage to take them with her, but if she took the valuables, the old people in the farm would have to suffer the consequences for her. It wasn't worth it, so she just stored them all away for her.

After searching several rooms, they found a few letters, but not what she was looking for. They came to the largest red brick room, where there were people inside, and they could hear intermittent sounds of a man and woman moving together.

Ruan Xianxian expressionlessly took out a sedative spray and sprayed it inside. After waiting for five minutes, the snoring inside was deafening.

She pushed open the door and went in. Two pale bodies were intertwined. She was so shocked by the smell that she looked away and began to rummage through drawers and cabinets.

A moment later, I found several transfer orders in the drawer. They were the first batch of returnees, and all that was missing was the farm's stamp.

Suddenly... Ruan Xianxian's hand trembled, and she saw her grandmother's name in it.

Yan Fenghua was actually on the first batch of people returning home. Did her uncle, who was the deputy regimental commander in the military region, know about such an important matter? Did the old bastard in the capital know about it?

It's certain that no one ever told her that.

Ruan Xianxian's eyes were deep and dark. She put the document back in its place and found many letters in the drawer's hidden compartment. One of the letters came from the capital and contained a poem.

There were several lines of text marked in red circles above, which didn't have any special meaning when put together. She couldn't understand them, but she knew they were a secret message.

She put the letter away, restored the house to its original state, and left.

As the workday ended, a line of elderly people carrying farm tools walked by in the distance. They helped each other, and a few smiles appeared on their numb faces.

Ruan Xianxian spotted a gaunt, thin old woman with a full head of silver hair in the crowd. Her pupils dilated violently, and she almost cried out.

Is that still the same grandmother who, even in middle age, is as capable as any man?

Putting aside their past lives, the grandfather and grandson had not seen each other for eight or nine years.

Because she looked very much like her grandmother, she was raised by her grandmother when she was young. It wasn't until the event took shape that her grandmother, who had overseas connections, sent her back to the Nguyen family.

"Fenghua! My son sent some dried vegetables. They smell especially good when cooked with cornmeal. Come over for lunch!"

A tall old man was walking beside Grandma.

Her grandmother looked disgusted and was about to refuse, but after receiving a hint from the tall old man, she didn't say anything. The two returned to their residence, and the old man picked up an inconspicuous dried vegetable.

The small characters engraved with a needle on the top line were faintly visible: "Returning soon." Grandma happily took the dried vegetables and touched them again and again. The two looked at each other and nodded emphatically.

Five years have passed, and I finally see a glimmer of hope to return to the city!

When the old woman returned to her dwelling with hope, a very, very soft voice came from inside: "Grandma! Don't make a sound, it's me, Xianxian, I'm here!"