By the time she was seven months pregnant, she noticed that Liu Sheng was becoming increasingly concerned with his appearance, and she could no longer serve him. A woman's innate intuition told her something was wrong.

He secretly gave the village child two cents so he could go find his good friend.

She went into premature labor when she found out that Liu Sheng was getting very close to that girl from Dawan Village.

She gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl, in a day and a night. This finally made Liu Sheng kneel before her and swear that he would never flirt with other women again.

But he was worried about Liu Sheng, so he forced Liu Sheng to drop out of school as well.

But Liu Sheng is a womanizer. Even if he doesn't go out, he's still a handful in the village, always flirting with other women.

Since having children, she hasn't cared about Liu Sheng as much anymore, perhaps because Liu Sheng hurt her.

Life after that consisted of mundane daily routines, and she turned a blind eye to his flirting with her.

He already knew about his affair with Liu Ximei, but he figured he wouldn't suffer any loss and he'd get his food back, so he stopped caring.

It wasn't until Liu Sheng jokingly said that he wasn't as outgoing as Liu Ximei that they started keeping an eye on him.

The sound of the lock being opened startled Zhou Hong. "Come out. You and Liu Sheng have twenty minutes to say goodbye. Hurry up."

Zhou Hong touched the needle and awl in her trouser pocket and came out of the cell. She entered a room where Liu Sheng was already sitting.

The current Liu Sheng is nothing like the dashing and debonair man he used to be; he's now unkempt with a scruffy beard.

Liu Sheng glanced at Zhou Hong and then lowered his head, his face expressionless.

“Liu Sheng, I’m going to die for you. I don’t ask that you never remarry in the future, but please think more about our two children. They say that if there’s a stepmother, there’s a stepfather. Just take care of the two children for the sake of how good I am to you.”

Zhou Hong stood beside Liu Sheng. Liu Sheng stood up and looked at Zhou Hong with a complicated expression.

"I will not remarry. Don't worry, I will be good to the children."

After saying that, she cried and hugged Zhou Hong.

Zhou Hong buried her face in Liu Sheng's arms, sneering inwardly. If Liu Sheng hadn't said those words, she wouldn't have felt so bad; this chest was hers.

Thinking of this, she secretly took out a needle and stabbed it hard into Liu Sheng's chest. Hearing Liu Sheng's cry for help, she stabbed him again, and then stabbed herself twice in the chest.

Such is the tragedy of humanity; from now on, only two children in the world will suffer.

The Liu family home in Liujiatun was deserted. Few were saddened by Liu Wangshi's sudden departure; instead, the children breathed a sigh of relief.

Even the most filial son couldn't withstand Liu Wangshi's antics. The three Liu brothers discussed it and decided not to ask Liu Sheng's family for compensation. People have a sense of compassion; looking at the two five- or six-year-old children and the elderly parents on both sides, their hearts softened.

Send Zhang Hongmei to call Liu Jianguo and Erya back. There's no need to prepare a coffin; it's meant to be placed alongside Liu Maocai's father's.

Zhang Hongmei called the two back and then went home. She didn't have much of an impression of Liu Wangshi, nor had she ever worked with her. She would just come over and burn some paper money for her when the time came.

Liu Jianguo and Er Ya had no feelings for Liu Wangshi, nor did Shi Tou and San Ya, so they simply wore mourning clothes and knelt there with their heads bowed. Liu Maolin's three sons and one daughter, and Liu Maosen's two daughters and one son, were even more indifferent to Liu Wangshi.

The three daughters-in-law were all squatting on the ground; they didn't walk or kneel at all.

The villagers all came to pay their respects, but only the three sons truly cried; even if they weren't his mother, she was still his mother.

Da Shan came over and whispered a few words in Liu Maocai's ear, and Liu Maocai let out a long sigh.

The funeral was only scheduled for one day; we'll keep vigil tonight and bury her tomorrow morning.

Zhang Hongmei went to burn the paper money, and then went to send it off later at the funeral.

She also learned about Liu Sheng and his wife's affair and sighed in her heart, wondering if it was worth it for a scumbag.

Liujiatun returned to peace. But Wang Hongxi was constantly overwhelmed with worries. Every three days, Zhang Hongmei would lend him her bicycle, seeing how difficult things were for him.

The time to deliver the summer grain is fast approaching, but where will we get the grain? Last year we used money to cover it, what are we going to do this year? The collective still owes the old lady 14,000 yuan.

Seeing Wang Hongxi in such a state of panic, and knowing he couldn't help her, he drove the cattle and sheep up the mountain every day.

Wang Qingshan now greatly admires Zhang Hongmei. Look at that young girl, she's been herding cattle and sheep up the mountain for over half a month. And the results are immediate; all three old cows have gotten fatter.

After finishing the exam, I brought back some cornmeal that I had ground in my spatial dimension, as well as dried pumpkin, to the old principal.

In July, I received two letters, one from Zhang Xingguo and the other from Song Zigan.

Zhang Xingguo's letters were written by Zhang Shouyi on his behalf. They were mostly just greetings and included many receipts. The majority were industrial receipts, along with bicycle receipts, watch receipts, and radio receipts. What use were these to him?

I put it in the box and casually tossed it into the ring.

Song Zigan's letter was much more interesting. The boy was very angry when he saw Zhang Hongmei's reply. He felt that she was just giving him a perfunctory reply and decided to ignore her. However, Zhang Hongmei did not write to him again, so he couldn't sit still and wrote to her again.

The letter was full of resentment towards himself, that brat. He's so busy these days he doesn't even have time to teach the kids, let alone find the time to write to him.

The reply was even simpler. The letter to Zhang Xingguo was about ten sentences long, because he said he would come over during the New Year, so no grain was sent.

Song Zigan scratched his head for ages before finally writing half a page in his reply, and that was about it. If he wasn't satisfied, he wouldn't write anything next time.

Wang Hongxi has been much more energetic these past few days because there's a document from above exempting her from this year's grain rations. That means she doesn't have to worry about it anymore.

However, Zhang Hongmei knew that the government was facing both internal and external troubles and was struggling.

We still have disaster relief to do, and we're still at war; both of these are money-burning endeavors.

By the end of July, it was getting drier and drier. There was no other way but to install pipes to irrigate, which was no less strenuous than spring planting.

Zhang Hongmei is still in charge of things on the mountain this time, but Dashan used to do Zhuzi's work.

Zhang Hongmei felt that there were fewer rabbits and pheasants this year; she hadn't seen many after staying on the mountain for a month.

Perhaps because there are still water sources deep in the mountains, there are not many animals coming to drink.

That's fine, no one will infringe on each other's territory.

Zhang Hongmei always used her trips up the mountain to collect water, which is why the potatoes in her backyard grew exceptionally well.

The garlic needs to be harvested; we can't afford to make a fool of ourselves this year.

The sweet potatoes in my private plot were watered with the help of the villagers. Seeing the large amount of dried sweet potatoes in my ring, I decided to go out for a trip.

I'm not being a saint; I'm just leaving it there anyway, and maybe I'll get something good in return.

By the time they finished watering, it was already late August. Zhang Hongmei informed the old lady, Liu Maocai, Wang Hongxi, and Wang Qingshan, and then set off. She had no destination in mind; she simply went to the city to find Sun Changquan. He was a decent man.