Cheng Yaoyao greeted Director Rong and smiled at the surprised Sister Meng: "You forgot, my home is in Shanghai."

Sister Meng slapped her head and said, "Look at my memory. Yaoyao, you are an educated youth from Shanghai, you have family visit leave!"

In the past two years, more and more educated youth have returned to the city, and the restrictions on them have been relaxed. Many educated youth can return to their hometowns to visit their relatives during the Spring Festival, but many will take the opportunity to never return, and stay in the city as illegal residents.

The Chinese New Year is coming soon. Cheng Yaoyao can't stay in Tianshui Village for two days at this time. He still has to go back to Shanghai. It's better to take a ride with Director Rong. I just don't know about Xie Zhao... Cheng Yaoyao silently suppressed his guilt. Who made him angry first!

The streets of Shanghai in the late 1970s had a strange sense of time and space. The old Shanghai, which was once bustling with people and beautiful women, had disappeared. The glitz and glamour had faded, and exquisite Western-style buildings stood on both sides of the road. The people coming and going on the street were no longer wearing suits and cheongsams, but the iconic khaki blue of this era.

But if you look closely, the people walking on the streets of Shanghai are different. The snow-white collar of the shirt is revealed under the dark blue work clothes, and the old leather shoes are polished to a shine. The Shanghai mothers who walk slowly can cut out the waistline of the cotton jacket, and their waists are still swaying when they walk. The pursuit of beauty by young girls is endless. The hem of their coats reveals a touch of bright color, and the black hair and bangs are secretly curled. This is the fastidious Shanghai people.

Compared with the poor and scarce food supply, people's appetite is growing day by day. Early in the morning, a long line forms in front of Lao Da Chang. The rich butter smell makes people's stomachs burn. The cheapest butter bread is only 50 cents, but there are still "old people" who come to buy it. Not only to satisfy their hunger, but also to recall the good old days from the taste of the butter bread.

There was a sudden commotion in the queue. The salesperson wrapped a piece of cream bread and shouted, "No queue-jumping! Stand in line!"

No one paid any attention to her, and everyone turned around to look. The salesperson frowned and saw a young girl at the end of the line. Several people eagerly offered her a seat, which caused a dispute.

The girl was quickly given the first seat.

The salesperson then saw her face clearly. Peach blossom eyes, cherry lips. Her skin was soft and white, without a single flaw. She was wearing a well-made plaid coat and carrying a suitcase. Her face looked a little tired, but she was still so beautiful that it made people's eyes light up. She seemed to be accustomed to the attention of everyone and did not even glance at them.

The salesperson guessed her origins. With her Western-style manner, she must be from Shanghai. When she spoke, she spoke in Mandarin without an accent, in a very pleasant voice: "A butter bun."

The girl bought a butter bun and left, but the old man in the crowd was excited for a long time. This Western-style, noble and beautiful girl seemed to bring people back to old Shanghai thirty years ago.

This beautiful girl was Cheng Yaoyao. She followed Director Rong and his group to Shanghai, and then they went their separate ways. Director Rong had to go to work, Sister Meng had to go home, and Cheng Yaoyao also had to go back to her own home.

The winter in Shanghai was extremely cold and damp. Cheng Yaoyao's nose and cheeks were frozen and turned slightly red. Cheng Yaoyao sat on a bench by the roadside, breathing out white air, and ate the butter bread one bite at a time. Only then did he feel better.

She wiped the crumbs off her fingers, which were frozen red, and regretted not listening to Xie Zhao and wearing a pair of gloves.

Just as I was thinking about it, a voice said in surprise: "Oh! Isn't this remote?"

Cheng Yaoyao looked up and saw a plump woman with a round face, standing not far away with a basket of vegetables, looking at her in surprise. Cheng Yaoyao stood up and asked hesitantly, "Mother Sun?"

"It's me!" Sun's mother laughed and exclaimed, "When did Yaoyao come back? You were so pitiful. You must have suffered a lot in the countryside. Look at you... You are so beautiful again! How come you are getting whiter and whiter? Come on. Come home quickly! Does your father know that you are back?"

This Sun family mother is a neighbor of Cheng Yaoyao's family. She has watched Cheng Yaoyao grow up since she was a child and is quite good to her. In the past few years, Cheng Yaoyao was always angry with her stepmother and Cheng Nonuo and ran out crying. It was Sun family mother who took her back to comfort her.

Cheng Yaoyao was dragged away by Sun's mother against her will, feeling helpless. She was wandering here just because she didn't want to go home.

Grandma Sun kept nagging as she walked: "You should have come back a long time ago! How could your father bear to let a girl like you stay in a place like that! Look at you, you were so stupid at first. You ran away to the countryside, and this house was taken over by your stepmother's family! Your father broke his leg a few days ago, and their whole family came. What a noise!"

"My dad broke his leg?!" Cheng Yaoyao said in surprise.

Sun's mother paused and said, "You don't know?"

Cheng Yaoyao said: "My father didn't tell me."

Sun's mother lowered her voice: "Your father is afraid that you will worry! I'm not saying anything, but your stepmother's family is too outrageous! They come to your house every day. When your father is not at home, they often move things out..."

The two of them went their separate ways when they reached the stairwell. Cheng Yaoyao followed her memory and walked to the door of her home. She frowned when she saw the clutter piled up at the door. She knocked on the door, but no one answered. She took out her key and opened the door to go in.

No one was at home, and the tidy house in my memory became messy and gloomy. There was a plate of leftover salty food and dishes on the coffee table, which gave off a smell.

She pushed open the window and let in the sunlight and cool air. The smog in the room gradually dissipated. Cheng Yaoyao wanted to put her luggage into her room, but found that the door was locked. Cheng Yaoyao took out her small key to open the door, but the lock would not turn after she inserted it.

Changed the lock!

Cheng Yaoyao's eyes widened in disbelief and she became furious. Did he change the lock while she was not at home?

Cheng Yaoyao pulled the door handle hard and was about to kick it hard when a voice came from behind: "...Yaoyao?"

Cheng Yaoyao turned around and not far behind her, a middle-aged man wearing glasses and carrying a bag of breakfast was looking at her in disbelief, his face full of excitement.

Cheng Yaoyao's lips moved, as if something was blocking his throat: "..."

"Yaoyao! It's really you! When did you come back?" Father Cheng didn't seem to know what to say, and suddenly remembered: "Come on, did you just get off the train? Are you hungry? Dad bought you some pan-fried buns, your favorite!"

Father Cheng put down his breakfast and found some leftovers on the coffee table. He quickly packed them up and sent them to the kitchen, where he took out the pan-fried buns and set the table.

Cheng Yaoyao silently watched his father busy at work. This face overlapped with the one in his memory, but was a little different. The man in front of him was much thinner, wearing a woolen vest over a shirt, with a slightly hunched back and a slight limp when he walked, like a little old man.

Father Cheng put the steamed buns on the table, pulled Cheng Yaoyao to sit down, and urged her to eat.

Cheng Yaoyao wasn't actually hungry. But facing Cheng's father's eager gaze, she picked up the pan-fried bun and took a bite.

Father Cheng looked at her without blinking, and said lovingly: "You have loved this fried bun since you were a child. You haven't been able to eat it in the countryside for a long time, right? Dad didn't know you were coming back today, so I'll take you to the store tomorrow to eat it. It's fresher!"

Cheng Yaoyao's nose felt sore and he called out, "Dad."

"Hey, hey!" Father Cheng pushed up his glasses to hide his red eyes and said happily, "Good girl!"

Cheng Yaoyao asked, "Dad, is your leg injury healed?"

"Who told you?" Father Cheng was stunned for a moment, then quickly said, "It's okay, he's fine now, didn't Dad just walk well?"

What's wrong with that? He's still lame. Cheng Yaoyao's nose was getting more and more sore. He was afraid that he would cry, so he quickly shut up and stopped talking.

The father and daughter were speechless for a moment.

Cheng Yaoyao was a little strange and awkward when she first met her father. Cheng's father looked at Cheng Yaoyao with a lot of thoughts in his mind. His beloved daughter went to a poor and remote place to be an educated youth, and he, as a father, even made a fuss with her and didn't send her money for two months! Not to mention the years of mistreating her.

Thinking of this, Cheng's father felt heartbroken. His beloved daughter's face looked so thin. He didn't know how much she had suffered!

Cheng Yaoyao finished a pan-fried bun with crispy skin and tender meat. He felt uncomfortable when his father looked at him and said, "Dad, you eat too."

The old father was so excited that tears streamed down his face. The good daughter knew how to be filial to her father: "Okay, okay, Dad will eat too!"

Father Cheng picked up the steamed bun and ate it, choking a little from his excitement. Cheng Yaoyao quickly got up to get some water, but the aluminum kettle was empty, and the other one had half a cup of warm water in it.

Cheng Yaoyao asked: "Why is there no water?"

Father Cheng pounded his chest, "Ahem...your mom...Aunt Wei's family came to buy New Year's goods these days, so she was a little busy. Dad forgot to fetch water."

With a "bang", the cup hit the table. Father Cheng was startled and tried to coax Cheng Yaoyao: "Nannan, cough cough cough..."

"Okay, stop talking!" Cheng Yaoyao added a little spiritual spring water to the water and handed it to Cheng's father.

Father Cheng drank it in one gulp and immediately felt much better. He took a breath and said, "Yaoyao, how did you get to Shanghai?"

Cheng Yaoyao said: "I came here by train."

"..." Father Cheng said, "I mean, why did you come home so suddenly? Nuonuo called and said that the train would be the day after tomorrow. Why weren't you with them?"

Cheng Yaoyao looked at the rustic sofa cover with disdain and said nonchalantly, "I was filming in Suzhou and came back after finishing the filming."

Cheng Yaoyao's tone was so natural that his father said "Oh" and took a long time to react: "Filming? Yaoyao, aren't you an educated youth? Why did you go to film a movie! What crew? What movie? Were you fooled?"

The shadow of his father's nagging in his previous life came back to him. Cheng Yaoyao said, "It was directed by Rong Tian! I was not fooled!"

Seeing the willful and rude expression on his daughter's face, Cheng's father had to put all his doubts on hold. His daughter finally came back, so he could slowly question her, but he didn't want to make her angry.

Thinking of this, Father Cheng took out a small key and said, "Yaoyao, I changed the lock of your room. This is for you."

Cheng Yaoyao took the lock and ran to open the door happily: "I was just about to ask, who changed the lock of my room."

The south-facing bedroom was spacious and bright, the room was clean and tidy, and the newly made sheets exuded a faint soapy scent. Cheng Yaoyao ran into the room in surprise and opened the closet, where there were new clothes that Cheng's father had bought for her.

Father Cheng brought the luggage in and said with a smile, "Dad knew you were coming back for the New Year, so he cleaned up the house for you early."

"Thank you, Dad." Cheng Yaoyao called out more sincerely. There were too few people in this world who were connected to her, and too few who loved her unconditionally. She cherished every one of them.

Cheng Yaoyao opened the suitcase. She brought back very few things, and she took them out one by one and put them away, doing it quite skillfully. To the usually spoiled Cheng Yaoyao, this was like red rain from the sky, and Cheng's father felt heartbroken again.

Father Cheng took out another passbook and handed it to Cheng Yaoyao.

Cheng Yaoyao took it and looked at it. It was a brand new passbook with two deposits, one for 1,000 and one for 50. "This is your account. Dad will deposit 50 yuan into it every month from now on."

This amount of money is not too much, but not too little for Cheng Yaoyao. One step closer to the goal of 10,000 yuan! Cheng Yaoyao thought happily, said "Thank you, Dad", and put the passbook into his small purse.

Father Cheng watched his daughter's every move with a smile on his face. She looked so cute. Suddenly he sighed, "Nannan, Daddy has something to tell you."

Cheng Yaoyao raised his eyebrows. In the past, if Cheng's father spoke to the original owner in this tone, it was definitely to smooth things over between her and her stepmother, asking her not to mess with her stepmother and Cheng Nonuo.

I only heard Father Cheng say: "Dad knows that there were some things in the past. Dad wronged you. Your Aunt Wei is a person..."

Cheng Yaoyao was surprised. You, a straight man, finally see things clearly?

As a result, Cheng's father changed the subject: "But Dad broke his leg this time and can't move. Your Aunt Wei did her best to take care of him. In a whole month, she lost a lot of weight. Dad was really touched."

"..." Cheng Yaoyao puffed up her cheeks. She hadn't expected this to happen.

Father Cheng continued, "Everyone is watching her, including colleagues at work and neighbors. Just for this reason, you should be more respectful to her. Do you understand?"

Cheng Yaoyao lowered his eyes and looked at his father's knees: "Dad, does your leg still hurt?"

Father Cheng's eyes softened all of a sudden, and he said, "It doesn't hurt. Nannan, you..."

Cheng Yaoyao snorted: "Don't worry, as long as she doesn't provoke me, I won't provoke her."

Father Cheng was relieved and said happily, "Your Aunt Wei won't be back until some time. Dad will go out and buy some vegetables and make some of your favorite dishes for lunch!"

Cheng Yaoyao said: "Dad, your leg is not healed yet."

Father Cheng smiled and said, "It's okay! Now that Dad has seen you, everything will be fine!"

Father Cheng went back to his room to change his coat.

Cheng Yaoyao was walking around the room like a cat occupying territory, observing everything around her, anger rising in her charming eyes. A good room was ruined beyond recognition, filled with all kinds of random things, and the tea set had changed from fine porcelain to rustic glass cups. The corners and under the tea table were filled with empty cans, old newspapers, waste paper, and other things that the middle-aged woman thought could be useful but would never be useful.

The most important thing is that many valuable decorations in her memory are gone. Cheng Yaoyao looked into the shoe cabinet and saw only two pairs of men's leather shoes, one pair was about new, and the other pair was so old that the glue was about to fall apart. Cheng's father's closet was in their bedroom, and Cheng Yaoyao was embarrassed to look through it, but she knew with her toes that there were not many good things left.

When Cheng's father came out and looked at the old coat on him, Cheng Yaoyao's anger finally reached its peak.