The three of them were busy while chatting. Because there were so many people, the men ate slowly while chatting, so they simply prepared two tables of food and had men and women eat separately.

When the meal was almost ready, An An went to invite Political Commissar Zhang and his wife over. The old couple will be retiring next year, and as they get older, they seem to be more charitable than before.

After dinner, Zheng Xinyue’s son felt sleepy. She sent the child home to sleep but didn’t want to be separated from Yang Niannian, so she called him back with her and asked him to stay at her place at night.

Zhang Yuting sent Ding Lanying home first. As the mother and daughter walked on the road, Ding Lanying felt very uncomfortable.

"An An is a good child with a promising future. It's a pity that she is not your biological child. If this was a child of you and Nian Fei, your father and I would be so happy."

Having said that, she looked at her daughter and asked seriously.

"Yuting, tell me the truth, do you regret marrying Nianfei?"

Zhang Yuting smiled gently and answered happily.

"Mom, I don't regret marrying Nianfei. If I had the chance to do it all over again, I would marry him again. Although I don't have my own children, I have An'an. An'an is very sensible and well-behaved. Even if I had given birth to a child myself, I might not be able to educate the child to be so outstanding."

"Life is no more than a hundred years, so as long as you live happily, that's all that matters, don't you think?"

As people get older, they tend to be more open-minded. Hearing her daughter say this, Ding Lanying sighed.

"Okay, as long as you don't regret it."

Zhang Yuting sent Ding Lanying home, and when she came back, the men had just finished their meal. Lu Nianfei sent them back, and An An was cleaning up the dishes in the main room.

Zhang Yuting hurried into the house to help, and when the two of them finished cleaning up, Lu Nianfei just came back from outside.

He pulled up his trouser legs, sat on the stool, and gestured seriously to Zhang Yuting and An An to sit down as well.

"An An, you are an adult now and have been admitted to university. I think it's time to tell you some things."

An An was a little confused by his father's serious expression.

"Dad, if you have anything to say, just tell me!"

Lu Nianfei was silent for a while, thinking about how to start the conversation.

Seeing that he didn't say anything, An An thought it was difficult to say, so she thought for a while and asked.

"Dad, is my mom pregnant?"

Lu Nianfei kicked him and said, "What are you guessing?"

Zhang Yuting smiled softly.

"No, that's not it."

"What's that?" An An asked curiously.

Lu Nianfei was worried that his son would continue to think about it, so he just said it out loud.

"An An, do you still remember Aunt Huang whom I took you to meet a few years ago?"

An An seemed to guess something and nodded.

"Yes, I could remember things then."

Lu Nianfei continued speaking with a serious expression.

"Actually, that person wasn't your aunt, she was your mother. You were still young at the time, and then you grew up a little and were busy preparing for your college entrance exams. We were worried that it would affect your studies, so we never told you."

After a pause, he added.

"You should remember that she was accompanied by an uncle at the time. That man was her remarried husband. She gave birth to a younger sister for you."

An An was just stunned for a moment, and then remained silent.

Zhang Yuting knew that he must be feeling upset, so she patted his shoulder and comforted him.

"An An, you've been admitted to Beijing University now, and she's also in Beijing City. If you want to meet her, your father and I won't stop you."

An An raised his head and said in a firm tone.

"Mom, I only recognize you as my mother. I won't recognize her again. She didn't recognize me at that time and has remarried. Maybe she wanted to say goodbye to the past and didn't want me to disturb her life. Our family of three is living well, just like now, it's good not to disturb each other."

Both Lu Nianfei and Zhang Yuting were very surprised. They looked at each other and asked curiously.

"You really don't want to meet her?"

An An smiled and shook his head.

"I don't want to. I know she's still alive and well, that's all. In fact... I had already guessed that she was my mother. I was young at the time and didn't know her identity. Later, when I grew up and recalled it, I felt that something was wrong. You never told me, so I didn't ask."

Lu Nianfei praised, "You are worthy of being my son. You have such a good IQ. You must have inherited it from me."

An An also laughed and looked at Zhang Yuting.

"My mother taught me well. If she hadn't taught me with all her heart, I would never have been admitted to Beijing University."

Lu Nianfei nodded, "I'm glad you understand. From now on, we father and son must treat her well. I have no other requirements for you, I just hope you can treat Yu Ting as your own mother."

"She was a college student. A few years after graduation, she married into our family and took care of us. For you, she didn't even have another child. She gave all her love to you. You must be filial to her."

An An nodded heavily and looked at Zhang Yuting and assured her.

"Mom, in my heart, you are my real mom. I swear, I will be filial to you in the future."

Zhang Yuting's eyelids turned red with emotion, "An An, your words are enough."

In fact, Zhang Yuting has always had a little secret in her heart. When she had a physical examination two years ago, she found out that she had a uterine malformation. It was impossible for her to conceive naturally, and the possibility of successful treatment was not high.

So, even if she was allowed to give birth, she might not be able to do so, but she never told anyone, not even her parents.

If she hadn't discovered this, she wouldn't have thought about having children, so it's true that she didn't have another child because of An An.

She was selfish for once and kept this secret so that An An would be more grateful to her and her contribution would seem more noble.

…

Since it was a rare opportunity for her to come back, Yang Niannian stayed in Haicheng for one more day.

After breakfast the next day, he went to the factory with Lu Shishen.

In recent years, under Qu Xiangyou's management, the factory's performance has been visibly improving, and the factory has also expanded, now employing more than 200 people.

The contract with the overseas manufacturer was renewed for five years, but this time it went much more smoothly than that time. When the contact person came, he also brought a lot of foreign food to Qu Xiangyou.

When Yang Niannian arrived at the factory, Qu Xiangyou was inspecting the finished goods in the workshop. Seeing the two of them coming back, he quickly took them into the office to rest.

After not seeing each other for a long time, Qu Xiangyou has aged visibly, with white hair on his temples.

I must be worrying too much.

Yang Niannian thought so and gave instructions.

"Master Qu, don't work too hard."

Qu Xiangyou said with a smile.

"I don't usually do any work. It's much easier than when I was in Beisheng Factory. I don't feel tired."

Yang Niannian followed with a smile and consoled.

"Is your daughter-in-law about to give birth?"

When talking about having a grandson, Qu Xiangyou's smile became even wider.

"It's almost there, there's still a month to go."