Chapter 248 I Will Always Be Here
She didn't want to see such a tragedy happen again.
But she hasn't mentioned this to anyone yet.
Zhou Yufan and Li Huachen also prepared lucky money and distributed it to the children.
Once Li Rongkai received the money, he immediately put on the new clothes and refused to take them off.
When I got into bed at night, I made sure to stretch my sleeves out again and again to make sure they wouldn't get wrinkled.
Li Huachen couldn't do anything about him.
The child has never worn new clothes since he was little, so when he sees something nice now, he naturally treats it like a treasure.
Over the past decade or so, it was her fault for not protecting him.
A full meal was hard to come by, let alone new clothes and shoes.
Now that Zhou Yufan can support the family, she can't let her child suffer anymore.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, the whole family stayed in the yard and didn't go anywhere.
The dishes were leftovers from New Year's Eve, but Zhou Shufen was skillful and could turn the leftovers into something new.
The family sat around the table, their mouths watering as they ate.
No one went out that day; everyone stayed home and rested.
Zhou Shufen spent a year finding all her relatives who were scattered in different places.
This meal in the courtyard now truly represents a "reunion".
She looked up at Li Rongkai, who was running wildly around the yard, and whispered to herself.
"Dad, Mom, did you see that?"
Guo Zhenyi reached out and gently took her hand.
"Shufen, I'm here. I'll always be here."
She raised her hand and patted the back of his hand.
"With you by my side, I feel at ease."
In the courtyard, Li Rongkai, wearing a thick cotton-padded coat and trousers and brand-new sneakers, shuffled along at lightning speed.
Li Huachen leaned against the door, watching the children playing in the yard.
She didn't linger for a moment, slowly turned around, and walked straight into the kitchen.
Li Kangjun has always been afraid of the cold, especially in winter when he is even more afraid of the cold.
The wind was still blowing outside, so he quickly retreated into the main room and sat by the charcoal brazier.
Hearing the noise outside, Li Kangjun's lips unconsciously curled up into a smile.
The year has gone by so fast.
Just after Lunar New Year's Eve, before people could even catch their breath, they began packing their bags and returning to their respective jobs.
For Zhou Shufen, the busyness of the new year has only just begun.
On the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, Zhou Shufen stood in front of the table, holding a notebook in her hand.
After settling things at the daily necessities factory, she rushed off to two department stores in the east and west of the city.
After doing all this, she finally breathed a sigh of relief and prepared to set off for Ningcheng.
Before she could even leave Yuxin County, a familiar figure rushed over from the street corner.
He grabbed Zhou Shufen's arm.
"Shufen, I've finally caught you!"
This person was Zhou Yongjun.
After half a year apart, Zhou Yongjun had lost a lot of weight, his complexion was sallow, and his eyes were sunken.
His once sturdy body is now hunched over.
Zhou Shufen looked at him coldly.
Back in Liuchang Village, Zhou Yongjun, the head of the Zhou family, helped her a few times, but behind her back, he set limits and schemed against her at every turn.
"Second Uncle Yongjun, what's the matter?"
Zhou Shufen looks completely different from when she was in Liuchang Village.
The little girl who was once bullied by everyone has grown into a woman who can stand on her own.
Zhou Yongjun rubbed his hands together, his rough palms moving back and forth on his trouser leg.
His gaze darted around, sometimes fixed on the ground, sometimes glancing at Zhou Shufen's face.
He hesitated several times before finally swallowing the words back down.
He was so anxious that he rubbed his feet back and forth on the mud.
The entire courtyard was so quiet that the only sound was the soft rustling of the wind through the eaves.
Indeed, no one is home at the moment.
Li Huachen was busy in the kitchen.
Oil splattered, and she quickly stepped aside to avoid it, continuing to focus intently on stir-frying the lunch dishes.
Zhou Lijuan and Qi Changyu had already taken the train to Ningcheng with Guo Zhenyi on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year.
They left in a hurry.
They didn't even bring all their luggage, and said goodbye in a hurry, saying they wanted to settle down as soon as possible after the New Year holidays.
Zhou Yufan rode his old bicycle to the factory early in the morning.
They said there was a problem with the equipment in the workshop, and they needed to go over and keep a close eye on it.
Li Kangjun sat at the eight-immortal table in the main room, slowly reading a yellowed old newspaper.
Zhou Liya was squatting in the corner of the yard, her knees on the ground, holding a handful of dried corn kernels in her hand. She broke them into pieces one by one and scattered them into the wooden trough in front of the chicken coop.
Several speckled pheasants flapped their wings and surrounded the food, scrambling to peck at it and clucking.
Seeing that no one was around, Zhou Yongjun lowered his voice and tiptoed close to Zhou Shufen's ear.
"Shufen... your second uncle has something he wants to ask you for a favor."
He paused, then licked his chapped lips.
“We both come from Liuchang Village, so we see each other all the time and are related by blood. You’re doing really well in Yuxin now, with a factory and a shop, and you’re living a very prosperous life. Could you… help out the Zhou family? It’s like family helping each other out.”
Upon hearing this, Zhou Shufen inwardly scoffed.
She had long anticipated that Zhou Yongjun wouldn't come to her door without a reason.
Sure enough, they're here to ask for favors again.
She clearly remembers that during the most difficult time in the village, she mustered up the courage to go to Zhou Yongjun to borrow some grain.
He did agree.
But the interest rate was shockingly high, almost like usury.
She gritted her teeth, saved every penny, and worked day and night.
They paid back the principal and interest completely, without losing a single penny.
Later, she and Zhou Dajun's family struggled to make ends meet, relying on collecting recyclables and doing odd jobs.
But what about the Zhou family?
Not a single person offered a helping hand; instead, they gossiped and pointed fingers behind each other's backs.
Now the Zhou family has finally stood tall and gained a firm foothold in Yuxin.
These people then shamelessly approached him, trying to curry favor.
Do you really think she's a soft-hearted fool who's easy to manipulate?
“Second Uncle Yongjun,” Zhou Shufen finally spoke, “our Zhou family’s success today is the result of the hard work of the whole family. It’s not something that fell from the sky, nor is it thanks to anyone’s charity. Over the years, no one knows how many scornful looks we’ve endured or how many times we’ve been ridiculed. Back then in the village, our relationship was just ordinary, nothing so close that we had to help each other out, right?”
Zhou Yongjun's face turned pale and then red after hearing what she said.
He chuckled dryly, unconsciously touching the back of his head, trying to appear calm.
"Shufen, what you're saying... isn't very kind."
"Do you remember that winter when your family ran out of food and I was almost starving, I secretly sent you a bag of cornmeal? That was my own food ration for the winter!"
"I remember."
Zhou Shufen slowly raised her eyes and looked directly at him.
"When I returned it, it was a full bag plus half a bag. That half bag was my extra 'thank you gift.' That's how I repaid your kindness of that bag of cornmeal."
She paused, a faint smile appearing on her lips.
"What, Uncle, do you think that half a bag isn't enough interest? Or are you saying that the cornmeal from back then should be returned tenfold, with interest?"
Zhou Yongjun was startled, his smile froze, and he quickly waved his hand.
"Oh dear, Shufen, that's not what I meant! Really, no! Please don't misunderstand!"
He shook his head repeatedly, and even more sweat appeared on his forehead.
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