Chapter 1

Small white building of the machinery factory.

Tang Qingqing took out the key hanging on her chest, inserted it into the keyhole and opened the door.

As soon as the door opened, she saw her mother Su Rong waving at her with a smile and a loving face:

"Baby, come here and say hello to your Aunt Lu."

"Hello, Aunt Lu."

Tang Qingqing greeted the strange Aunt Lu in a gentle and soft voice, which could soften even the most stubborn temper.

"well."

Lu Aihua looked her up and down with admiration and amazement on his face.

At the age of thirteen, Tang Qingqing was tall and graceful, with red lips, white teeth and fair skin.

Her face still has a childish look, but she is already so beautiful that it seems as if her whole body is glowing. One can already foresee how radiant she will be in a few years.

"Sister Su, your daughter is so beautiful. It would be easy for her to join the art troupe with such looks. Even if she is a piece of wood, she can be a pillar on the stage!"

Tang Qingqing was slightly surprised, but she was very obedient and didn't interrupt.

After she put her schoolbag down, she took the initiative to add tea to the cups in front of them, which again caused Lu Aihua to compliment her.

Su Rong was very happy to hear this, but she didn't show it on her face.

"You are such a great exaggerator. My daughter is not that good at all."

"Sister Su, you are too modest. I have seen many beautiful girls, but it is rare to find one as good as your daughter."

Su Rong's eyes lit up: "You mean there's hope?"

Lu Aihua patted his chest and said, "Don't worry! If it doesn't work, I will stand upside down and wash your clothes for a year!"

Su Rong couldn't hide the joy on her face. She told Tang Qingqing:

"Baby, I went to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy fish and meat today. You can show Aunt Lu your cooking skills later."

Tang Qingqing had a myriad of thoughts in her mind, but she said nothing and obediently went to the kitchen to cook.

Lu Aihua was surprised: "Your daughter can also cook?"

Tang Qingqing looked like a porcelain doll and thought she had never been stained by water.

Su Rong pursed her lips and smiled modestly.

"She has loved to cook since she was little. Even when she was not even tall enough to cook, her cooking skills were better than mine. Her three brothers and Old Tang like to eat the food she cooks and look down on the food I cook."

"Oh my god, you are really good at raising children!"

"She likes to figure things out on her own. I never taught her anything. She has been smart and obedient since she was little."

"She's pretty and virtuous. When she grows up, your family will have a lot of opportunities to get married! No wonder I've always heard that your family dotes on your daughter. If I had a daughter like her, I would dote on her to the heavens!"

"It's really sad to talk about this. I'm fine, but her father and her three brothers are reluctant to let their daughter and sister get married in the future..."

Tang Qingqing skillfully prepared three dishes and a soup: pickled fish, stir-fried pork with green peppers, water spinach with garlic, and tomato egg soup.

Although these three home-cooked dishes are not difficult to prepare, it does require skill to make them delicious.

After the meal, Lu Aihua praised the dish highly and said that if she had a son of Tang Qingqing's age, she would definitely make Tang Qingqing her daughter-in-law.

Tang Qingqing is going to join the art troupe, and everyone is happy for her.

Tang Qingqing hesitated: "What about my studies?"

"Girls don't need to study so hard."

Su Rong held her fair and tender hand, which had both motherly tenderness and strength.

"Mom and Dad only hope that you can live a carefree and happy life. We will pave the way for your future, so you don't have to worry about anything..."

————

“Bang, bang, bang—”

The door was slammed suddenly, waking up Tang Qingqing who was having a sweet dream.

Zhao Dahua shouted in a sharp voice outside the door: "Get up! Get up quickly! It's already so late, and you're still sleeping and doing nothing all day long! You still think you're some kind of young lady, but you only know how to eat and not work all day long. If you don't get up, I'll skin you alive!"

Tang Qingqing glanced out the window. The sun hadn't risen yet and it was pitch black outside.

Thinking of the dream she had just had and listening to the cursing outside, Tang Qingqing sighed softly.

"Sister..." Tang Qiaoqiao rubbed her eyes and sat up from the bed in a daze.

"It's still early, you can sleep a little longer."

Tang Qiaoqiao couldn't even open her eyes. After hearing this, she fell asleep again.

There was still some cursing outside the door, and Tang Qingqing climbed up from the bed.

When I opened the door, I saw Zhao Dahua with her hands on her hips, her mouth wide open and swearing at the top of her lungs. Her mouth was like a fountain.

"How old are you? You still need me to wake you up every day! I shouldn't have given birth to you. There is no one in the village lazier than you! You look dead all day long. You look like a dead person."

Zhao Dahua glared at her fiercely and raised his hand to hit Tang Qingqing.

Tang Qingqing dodged skillfully. Under normal circumstances, she would have run away and taken the dirty clothes to the river to wash them.

But today, she stared at Zhao Dahua and asked, "Am I your child?"

Zhao Dahua was about to continue scolding, but was stunned by these sudden words and immediately flew into a rage.

She looked around and found a stick as thick as a child's wrist, and was about to hit Tang Qingqing:

"I'm going to beat you to death today, and I'll just pretend you're not my daughter! I worked so hard to raise you, and now you're all gone!"

There was no way Tang Qingqing would just stand still. She dodged left and right in the yard, not letting Zhao Dahua get close to her at all.

She was about to rush out of the yard as usual, when her grandmother, Old Lady Wu, came out of the main house and scolded her in a deep voice:

"It's not even daybreak yet, what are you making a fuss about? It's not unlucky enough."

Zhao Dahua snorted coldly: "This damn girl deserves a beating. She eats my food and drinks my drinks all day long, but she doesn't even think about my kindness and instead goes against me. If I don't punish her today, who knows what she will do in the future."

Old Mrs. Wu looked unhappy. She was not criticizing Tang Qingqing at all, it was clearly a veiled attack on someone else.

Ever since the daughter-in-law Zhao Dahua learned that she had given a ten-yuan wedding gift to her nephew in her natal family, she has been making trouble.

What she said was clearly a warning to her that she would still have to rely on their family for her old age, and she shouldn't always take money out of the family.

Old Mrs. Wu was a widow. Not long after her youngest child was born, her husband accidentally fell to his death while chopping firewood in the mountains.

In her lifetime, she gave birth to eight children and raised five of them, three sons and two daughters.

Zhao Dahua’s husband Tang Jianjun is Mrs. Wu’s fourth child, with two older brothers and one older sister.

Logically speaking, she couldn't rely on him for her old age.

But old man Tang Jianshe had polio, and he could not walk steadily and could not do any heavy work. He married a widow when he was in his thirties, and he had a daughter at the age of forty, and then he disappeared. It was not easy for him to make a living, and there was no hope for him at all.

The second son, Tang Jianguo, was adopted by Old Lady Wu to a widowed relative in order to survive after her husband passed away. She could not rely on him for support in her old age, so Tang Jianjun was the only one she could rely on in the future.

Although the family has not been divided yet, Zhao Dahua already regards everything in this house as her own.

Old Mrs. Wu actually took out ten yuan to support her parents' home, which was simply digging into Zhao Dahua's heart and cutting her flesh.

Ten dollars!

He could only save a few dollars throughout the year, and ten dollars was enough to marry a wife with good conditions in all aspects. However, Mrs. Wu actually used it as a betrothal gift. When Zhao Dahua found out, she almost exploded.

If it weren't for the fact that Mrs. Wu had a stubborn temper, and if it weren't for the fact that her adopted son Tang Jianguo sent her money and gifts from time to time, and if her family members were all very powerful, Zhao Dahua would never have tolerated her mother-in-law's reckless behavior.

Zhao Dahua couldn't swallow this humiliation, and has been in a state of unrest these days.

Old Lady Wu: "Stop looking for trouble. I'm going to let Qingqing go and shepherd the sheep. I want to see how you're going to explain this to the brigade."

This hit the spot right in Zhao Dahua's mind. "It's better not to go. Xingwang is already ten years old. Let him take Qingqing's place in herding sheep in the future."

The Rongshan Brigade had more than 200 people and raised three flocks of sheep. Each flock had a dedicated person responsible for herding the sheep, and each person could earn four work points.

Compared to work in the fields, herding sheep is relatively easy, the work points are not low, and it is very suitable for children and the elderly.

"He still has to go to school, how can he have time to herd sheep?"

Zhao Dahua curled her lips and said, "What's the point of people in our village going to school? Whether you can read or not, you can do the same work. It's better to earn work points as soon as possible."

Nowadays, young people who have graduated from high school in the city are sent down to the villages to do farm work like them. It is useless for them to read so many books. They are terrible at doing farm work. Zhao Dahua can't see the point of going to school.

As for attending a Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' University and becoming a cadre in the future, although Zhao Dahua thought her son was the best, she didn't dare to think about it.

"Okay, if you insist on letting Xingwang take Qingqing's place in herding sheep, then Qingqing will go to school for Xingwang in the future."

Zhao Dahua was choked up immediately: "What kind of books is it for a little girl to read?"

While the two were arguing, Tang Qingqing had already taken the opportunity to sneak away and took the dirty clothes to the river to wash them.

Tang Qingqing was hitting the dirty clothes with a mallet, thinking about the dream she had last night.

This was not the first time she had dreamed that she was the daughter of her adopted uncle. The dream seemed so real and all the details were strung together like a story, which made her feel very strange.

She was indeed very jealous of her cousin Tang Zhenzhen. Their birthdays were only ten days apart and it was said that they looked very similar when they were children, but they had different destinies.

But she had no impression of that family. The last time they came to Rongshan Brigade was five years ago.

Tang Qingqing only remembered that they looked different from the other villagers, especially her peer Tang Zhenzhen, whom the villagers still talk about with great relish.

People in the village said that the two looked very similar when they were children, and it was almost impossible to tell them apart when they wore the same clothes.

But when they grew up, one seemed to have grown in the mud, and the other seemed to have grown in the sky. The contrast was terrible.

The most important thing is that Tang Zhenzhen's parents and brothers all spoil her, unlike Tang Qingqing's parents who treat Tang Qingqing like an enemy.

When Tang Zhenzhen was a child, she was sent to a village to be raised for a few years. She was picked up by her parents when she was almost four years old.

Not long after Tang Zhenzhen was born, her father Tang Jianguo was seconded to a remote area to participate in the Third Front construction because of his outstanding skills.

His mother Su Rong also went with him later, but she had to take care of three children at the time, and Tang Zhenzhen was not in good health at the time and was not suitable for traveling.

Moreover, the place they were going to had just begun construction, and the conditions were extremely harsh, with snakes, insects, rats and ants everywhere, so Tang Zhenzhen was temporarily raised in the countryside.

Although Tang Jianguo was adopted, not only did his name remain unchanged, he also kept in touch with his family.

He was already ten years old when he was adopted, so he always missed his family. His adoptive father not only didn't mind, but also told him not to forget his roots.

His adoptive father never got married, so Tang Jianguo had no adoptive mother. Mrs. Wu was his only mother, and therefore she was especially respected by him.

If Mrs. Wu was not unwilling, Tang Jianguo would be willing to take on the responsibility of supporting her in her old age.

After Tang Jianguo was transferred back, he became the director of the agricultural machinery factory and took Tang Zhenzhen back with him.

From then on, the two sisters, who were almost the same age and looked very similar, had completely different fates, which was sad.

Tang Zhenzhen appeared in the village like a fairy, out of tune with everything around her, and the two sisters could no longer be as close as they were when they were children.

Everyone likes to compare the two, and the conclusion is always to compare Tang Qingqing with Tang Zhenzhen, which is really unfair to Tang Zhenzhen.

Tang Zhenzhen is not only good-looking and has a well-off family, but she is also extremely intelligent. She can learn things that others need a year to learn in just a month or even a few days.

Tang Qingqing was different. She was just a country girl who knew nothing. Sometimes she would squat at the entrance of the village, motionless, as if she was stupid, and no one knew what she was thinking about.

Tang Qingqing doesn't care about the outside world's evaluation. All her attention is focused on the footprints of Tang Zhenzhen and her family.

They were either wearing leather shoes or Warrior shoes, and their footprints were completely different from those of straw sandals or Jiefang shoes.

Especially Tang Zhenzhen, the small leather shoes she wore had a little heel, and the force point was also different from that of other shoes.

Tang Qingqing's memory of them is their footprints, and she has forgotten what they looked like.

But for some reason, she suddenly began to dream about her family frequently this year, and the blurry faces became particularly clear.

In the dream, I was the daughter/sister of that family, and they loved and pampered me, and no one dared to say a harsh word to me.

Her reactions and emotions to everyone's behavior were also very real, and she could still remember those feelings after waking up.

For example, in the dream she had last night, Tang Qingqing felt that she didn’t really want to join the art troupe that everyone dreamed of, and she preferred going to school.

But when she saw that her "family" were happy that she could join the art troupe, she couldn't bear to refuse out loud for fear of hurting their feelings, so she finally agreed, although she was actually very regretful in her heart.

Even though in her dream she had worked hard to become the mainstay of the art troupe and fell in love with the stage, she still felt disappointed in her heart.

Tang Qingqing still didn't pay much attention to this dream and quickly put it out of her mind.

Other people's good lives are their own, the most important thing for her is to live her own life well. There is no point in thinking about those trivial things, which will only make her feel unhappy. It is better to look at the present situation.

When Tang Qingqing finished washing the clothes, the sky had just begun to brighten.

She was carrying a basin full of clothes home, and halfway through her walk, she was attracted by a tree.

The tree had branches growing horizontally, with one section being bare like a horizontal pole.

Several images flashed through Tang Qingqing's mind, making her eager to take action.

Tang Qingqing looked around to make sure there was no one around, put down the basin in her arms, stretched her legs, and then, like in her dream, placed her legs on a chest-high branch.

Before Tang Qingqing could even gasp for breath due to the pain of being pulled, she heard a ripping sound.

Her face turned pale and she put her legs down in a panic.

Finished!

The trousers, which were fully patched and one section was short, were torn into a big hole.

A breeze blew by and my butt felt cool.

“Puff——”

A muffled laugh sounded from behind, and it sounded like a man.

Tang Qingqing was so frightened that she almost couldn't breathe. Her face turned red and blue, and she didn't have the courage to turn back.

She quickly grabbed a piece of clothing from the basin, tied it around her waist, and then ran away in a hurry with the basin full of clothes.

As long as I run fast, everything will seem like nothing!