Before the martial arts show started, He Yan and his friends hid behind the curtain, wanting to see if anyone from home had arrived.

But there were too many people in the audience. There were hundreds of teachers and students alone, plus the parents who came. The seats below were all packed with people. And the previous show hadn't ended yet. The lights on the stage were brighter than those in the audience. It was really hard to find people when looking from the bright area to the dark area.

So they hurriedly went on stage before finding the person.

Before the music started, He Yan glanced at the audience, but he couldn't find his parents or his family. When the music started, he didn't dare to look down, and he just hummed and laughed and started punching.

The martial arts performance was not long, but in order to show their strength, the group of children tried their best. When the performance ended, they stood on the stage in a fixed position, all of them were panting and sweating, and He Yan's forehead was sweating.

At this moment, the audience burst into applause.

The leaders sitting in the first row all started talking in low voices, and if you listened carefully, you could hear them all praising the program.

Although He Yan and his friends could not hear what the leaders were saying, they gradually felt at ease when they saw the enthusiastic applause from the audience. Their minds also became active, and they looked down at the stage again.

This time, He Yan saw it slowly.

Among the applauding audience, she was the only one who did not applaud, but raised her hands high and waved.

Now that his sister was found, it would be easy to find his parents. He Yan saw them without even turning his head. A smile broke out on his face and he waved his hands towards them.

At this time, the lights on the stage had dimmed, and the teacher standing next to the stage urged them to leave because the next show was about to begin. However, He Yan was so focused on the audience that he didn't notice the teacher's instructions, and was eventually dragged off the stage by his friends.

The audience below noticed and laughed out loud.

Meng Xiuzhen smiled and said to Su Ting: "Hey, He Yan is so funny. Did they deliberately design this ending?"

Su Ting covered her face and said, "Probably not."

After the show, He Yan wanted to go to the audience to look for his parents, but the teacher was strict and didn't let them go to look for their parents before the show was over, so he could only follow his classmates back to where their classmates were sitting.

When He Yan just returned to his classmates, he was very unhappy. He also wanted to hear what his family thought of his performance.

But after sitting down and hearing his classmates praising them and some looking at him with admiration, He Yan quickly forgot his unhappiness and became elated.

He was very proud of himself, but on the surface he had to be humble: "Practicing boxing is not hard. In fact, I have already learned it. I can do something more difficult. Okay, I will show you how to do it when I have the chance in the future."

Sun Lin and others: ...Is this humility or showing off?

…

The performance lasted two hours and ended at eleven o'clock.

After the event, parents can leave at will, but students must line up by class and go out. Once outside, they must also take roll call to make sure no one is missing before they can go back.

If parents who come to watch the performance want to take their children home, they need to find a teacher to register after the roll call is completed before they can take their children away.

Therefore, after leaving the auditorium, Su Ting and the others did not rush back, but found a cool place and waited for the students from Class 2, Grade 4 to come out.

Fortunately, He Yan and his classmates were in the senior grade and were arranged to watch the performance after the younger ones, so they came out earlier. After waiting for less than ten minutes, Li Yuezhen called the names, and Su Ting and He Cuixia went over together and led the two children out.

After leaving the auditorium, the group did not rush to catch a bus, but went to a busy place. They wanted to find a hotel to have lunch.

This was agreed upon yesterday. Although the performance was said to last two hours, no one knew when it would end. And after the performance, there would be a lot of people who would want to take the bus back home. We might not be able to get on the bus and would have to wait for the next bus. If that happened, we would not know when we would get back to the compound, and it would be a problem whether we could catch lunch.

So a few of us agreed yesterday that we shouldn't rush home after the performance, but should eat and drink our fill first.

Because there were so many of them, they went to the state-owned restaurant and asked the waiter to arrange a private room. After they entered, Meng Xiuzhen asked with a smile: "Xiaoyan, how come you were dragged away by them after your performance?"

Talking about this, He Yan showed a little embarrassment on his face: "At that time, I was busy saying hello to my parents and didn't hear the teacher asked us to go downstairs."

Man Man suddenly asked, "Is there no me?"

"What?" He Yan looked puzzled.

She pointed at her nose and emphasized, "I was the first one to say hello to my brother!" But she was not among the people my brother greeted!

It makes her so sad!

In order to tell her brother how angry she was, she slowly jumped off the stool, walked around to the other side of Su Ting and said, "I don't want to be friends with my brother anymore!"

Meng Xiuzhen saw that the excitement was not a big deal and said with a smile: "Oh, you are slowly getting angry."

She slowly glanced at her brother and nodded heavily: "Yeah!"

He Yan quickly said, "I also greeted you on the stage."

Man Man's expression became serious: "But you didn't say that just now!"

"Didn't I say that?" He Yan asked doubtfully. He had already forgotten what he had just said.

But he forgot. His good brother remembered it clearly and shouted: "I know, I know! You didn't say that. You just said hello to your father and mother, not your sister!"

At this point, He Yan finally understood why Man Man was angry, and explained, "I saw you first, and greeted you first, and then I saw my parents, so I greeted them later."

Slowly pouting her lips: "Is that so?"

"Of course that's the case!" He Yan nodded vigorously.

Su Ting smiled and asked, "Since it was a misunderstanding, do you want to apologize to your brother?"

At first, she thought she was being ignored and she felt really sad, but it was fine after the misunderstanding was resolved. After listening to her mother's words, she said shyly, "I'm sorry, brother."

"It's okay." He Yan said generously, patted the empty seat next to him and asked, "Do you want to sit back?"

Now he no longer cared about being embarrassed and nodded vigorously: "Yes!" Then he ran back.

He Cuixia couldn't help laughing: "As expected, she is a child. Her temper comes and goes quickly."

"As siblings, quarreling is the best relationship." Meng Xiuzhen said with a smile, "They have a big age gap, so they quarrel less. The two younger ones in my family are only one year apart in age. They quarreled every day at home, but they stopped when they were in junior high school."

There is no junior high school near the base, and the county town is a bit far from home, and there are few buses going back and forth every day, so the children in the compound basically live in the school after they go to junior high school.

Meng Xiuzhen joked, "So, other people are happy when they have a holiday, but I am worried when I have a holiday. I get annoyed when I see them."

"Come on," He Cuixia didn't believe her and exposed her, "You say that now, but in a few years when they grow up and have their own careers, they will be far away from home and can't come back, which will be even more troublesome for you."

"If they can't come back because they have work, why would I be worried?" Meng Xiuzhen sighed as she recalled something, "I'm just worried that they won't be able to come back from the countryside, won't have a career, won't be able to start a family, and will just waste their time."

He Cuixia remembered and asked, "By the way, is your eldest daughter graduating this year?"

Meng Xiuzhen smiled bitterly: "Yes."

She and her husband have three children. The second and third children are close in age, less than two years apart. Now one is in the second year of junior high school and the other is in the first year of junior high school. The eldest is a little older, already 17 years old. She started school early and will graduate from high school this summer.

If it were ten years ago, when their children graduated from high school, parents would definitely be happier.

It’s good to graduate. At the age of 17 or 18, you are already an adult and can work to help relieve the pressure on your family.

But now, Meng Xiuzhen is filled with worry.

As for what she was worried about, she didn't say it, but the adults present knew it in their hearts.

Although the policy stipulates that only children do not have to move to the countryside, their family has three children, and according to the policy, they can only keep one child with them.

The eldest is about to graduate. The second and third children may not look old, but they will also graduate in three or four years at most. Who to keep and who to leave behind is a very troublesome problem.

If the eldest child was a son, Meng Xiuzhen might not be so worried. After all, it would be good for boys to go to the countryside and experience more things. Besides, as the eldest brother, he always has to set a good example for his younger siblings.

But the eldest daughter is a concubine, and now is different from the past few years. They have heard about the life of the educated youth who went to the countryside.

It was okay for those who were sent to a good place, like the one near where they were stationed. Although the days of working in the fields were hard, at least the brigade cadres could not do anything wrong. But those who were sent to remote areas had a hard time. The male educated youth were slightly better off, at most they didn't have enough food, but many female educated youth were abused.

Normally, it would not be difficult to arrange for her daughter to go to the countryside in the surrounding brigade, after all, their household registration is here.

But everyone wanted their children to go to a good place, so when the time came for the educated youth to go to the countryside, those families with connections would use their connections to find ways to get their children to good places. But good places would not be open to accepting educated youth, so doing so would inevitably squeeze out some people.

Her husband is not the type who is good at making connections, so Meng Xiuzhen is very worried that her daughter will be squeezed out of the spot and assigned to a remote area.

He Cuixia also thought of this and sighed to Meng Xiuzhen, but Su Ting thought it was not a problem and said, "I think it's better to let your daughter stay in the city."

"I also want her to stay in the city," Meng Xiuzhen said helplessly, "but if she stays, what will happen to the two children after they graduate?"

Su Ting thought that the college entrance examination would be resumed this year, and there would be no need to go to the countryside to work, so why should she consider the two little ones? However, in front of everyone, she couldn't say it too sure, so she just said tactfully: "I think the big movement is over, and the policy may change in the future."

Meng Xiuzhen was moved by these words, but she was a little hesitant: "What if nothing changes?"

Although Su Ting knew that the policy would change, she still followed Meng Xiuzhen's words and said, "If the policy does not change within three to five years, then you can let the two younger ones go to the countryside. Anyway, the policy of returning to the city has been relaxed a lot in recent years. After they go to the countryside, you can see if you can recruit them to work in the city, or let them join the army. There is always a way. If the policy changes in the next few years, then everyone will be happy, and your three children can stay in the city smoothly."

At this point, Su Ting changed the subject: "But if you send your eldest daughter to the countryside now, if the policy changes in the next few years, you will have to find a way to bring her back. Originally, your three children could have stayed in the city, but because of your wrong decision, one of them can only struggle in the countryside. You should think about it yourself."

Meng Xiuzhen laughed: "From what you said, it sounds like the policy change is set in stone."

Although she said this, she was convinced by Su Ting in her heart. However, she could not make the decision alone and had to go back and discuss it with her husband.

Su Ting smiled faintly when she heard this, thinking, isn't this a done deal? She just changed her way of saying it because she didn't want to scare them.

…

In mid-June, the third story of the Three Fires series officially began serialization.

As a loyal fan of the Sanhuo series, Yao Danyun rode his bicycle past the bookstore and saw the flyer posted on the outer wall, so he decisively chose to park his car and go into the store.

Yao Danyun often comes to Xinhua Bookstore to buy books, and the most common item she buys is picture books. Whenever the comic books of the Sanhuo series are released, she will buy them for her collection. Therefore, after entering the store, she knows where to go and which bookshelf to find the "Comic Books" without asking.

Even if the bookstore reorganized the shelves and adjusted the positions of the books, Yao Danyun would not make a mistake. After entering, he could just go to the most crowded area.

Based on his experience, Yao Danyun quickly walked to the area where the comic books were placed. There were indeed quite a few people sitting on the ground nearby, and most of them were young people in their teens and twenties.

Today is a weekday, and all the teenagers are in class. Only the unemployed young people have time to stay in the bookstore and read comic books.

Yao Danyun walked past the young men sitting on the floor, stood in front of the bookshelf, picked up the latest issue of "Comic Book", turned directly to the back cover, confirmed that there was the Three Fires series, and took the book to the front desk to pay.

After leaving Xinhua Bookstore, Yao Danyun put the picture magazine into the bicycle basket, unlocked the bicycle and put it in, then rode away on his bicycle.

Her home was not far from Xinhua Bookstore, and it only took seven or eight minutes to get there by bike. It was a row of two-story old houses, and her home was on the second floor. After riding the bike into the yard behind the houses and locking the door, Yao Danyun went upstairs with the magazine.

After entering the house, she did not look at the magazine immediately, but moved the coal stove to the balcony to light a fire and cook.

She came back late, too. Just as she started the fire and steamed the rice, she heard footsteps on the stairs. Soon, a little girl with a ponytail came up and saw her and shouted, "Mom, you're off work!"

"I got off work early. Do you have any homework today?"

"have."

"Then hurry up and do your homework. I'll call you when dinner is ready."

The little girl responded and went into the house with her schoolbag on her back. But she came out again with the magazine in her arms after a while and asked in surprise, "The Three Fires series has been updated?"

Seeing what the lady was up to, Yao Danyun said in a deep voice, "Do your homework first, and read the magazine after dinner."

The little girl sighed: "Okay then."

Yao Danyun kept her word. After dinner, she checked her daughter's homework to make sure it was fine. Then she gave the magazine to her daughter and said, "You can read it now."

"Mom, don't you want to see it?"

"You watch it first, I'll talk to you after I'm done."

The little girl said "oh", sat down at the desk, turned on the desk lamp, and started reading the picture magazine.

Lady Yao Danyun was lively and her mouth was always busy. This time was no exception. She laughed out loud and screamed non-stop, while she kept muttering: "Run, run, run, run..."

Yao Danyun was very puzzled. After washing the dishes, he returned to the room and asked, "Who are you telling to run fast?"

As soon as she finished speaking, the girl turned around with tears in her eyes and said, "Mom, Sanhuo has been captured by the bad guys!"

Yao Danyun was stunned: "How could it be?"

"Really, look!"

After Yao Danyun's daughter finished speaking, she stuffed the picture magazine into her hands. She had almost finished her housework and was curious, so she sat down and started reading.

At the end of this story, Sanhuo was indeed captured by the bad guys.

"Mom, can Sanhuo be rescued?"

Yao Danyun had just finished reading when she heard her daughter ask. Without thinking too much, she said, "Probably."

"Really?"

"Of course, he is the protagonist. If he doesn't come back, this story can't be drawn."

"When can he be rescued?"

Yao Danyun was not too sure either, and said hesitantly, "Maybe after defeating the bad guys."

Because the girl was anxious to read the rest of the story, she rushed to the bookstore to buy the next issue of the pictorial as soon as it came out.

In the new story, Sanhuo was taken to the lair of human traffickers. Some of the scenes in the story made Yao Danyun feel cold on her back, and she couldn't help but hug her daughter tightly.

Although her daughter felt that the people in the painting were pitiful, she didn't understand why her mother suddenly hugged her and asked in confusion, "Mom, what's wrong with you?"

"It's okay, Mom is just a little scared."

"What are you afraid of?"

"I'm afraid...I'm afraid that one day you'll disappear."

The daughter suddenly realized what was going on, hugged her and said, "I will never disappear."

Yao Danyun responded: "Yes."

She was also a little glad that this was just a story and her daughter was always by her side.

But is this really just a story?

Yao Danyun works at the neighborhood women's federation. In order to be able to learn about current affairs as soon as possible, their unit subscribes to morning and evening newspapers on a long-term basis.

Because she was still thinking about the story she had read the night before, she started flipping through old newspapers when she arrived at work the next day. Her colleagues were very puzzled and asked her what she was looking for.

Yao Danyun asked, "Didn't there appear in a newspaper a few months ago that reported that the police had arrested a group of traffickers? Do you remember where that newspaper is?"

"I remember the report, but I'm not sure where it is. It should be in the pile of old newspapers, right? Why are you looking for it?"

"I saw a story these two days and wanted to read the report again."

"What's so interesting about that article? I thought it was disgusting when I read it." The colleague said as he helped her look for the newspaper. After a while, he asked, "Is it this newspaper?"

Yao Danyun quickly opened the newspaper and flipped through it. After a while, he saw the report that took up an entire page. He said happily, "Yes, that's it."

Yao Danyun spoke as he read the text quickly.

Seeing that she was looking at it very intently, her colleague came over and asked, "What are you looking at?"

Yao Danyun looked at the newspaper and said without any context, "The Three Fires series has been updated recently."

My colleague knew that the Three Fires series was the comic book she had been following, and nodded: "And then?"

"In the latest episode, Sanhuo was taken to the trafficker's lair and met many people who were kidnapped like him, including children and girls aged fifteen or sixteen."

"What does that have to do with this report?" The colleague was still confused, but before she could answer, he guessed, "Because they are both kidnappings, do you think they are similar?"

"I think the author of Sanhuo may have read this report before deciding to draw this story," Yao Danyun said, pointing to a section of the report. "At the end of the new issue, Sanhuo was taken on the train. Look here, this gang of traffickers was also caught on the train in the beginning."

My colleague thought: "That's a possibility, but is it just a guess that would make you want to stop working early in the morning and look through old newspapers?"

"I was wondering, after this criminal gang was arrested, is there a second or third criminal gang like this in the world? If so, who are their targets? Children, women?"

My colleague has been working for several years and he doesn't think that there are no people around him being trafficked, so he doesn't think that such a thing doesn't exist in the world.

If not, how could this group of businessmen reported in the news exist? How could they grow to such a large scale?

The colleague followed Yao Danyun's words and thought: "It should be all of them."

“Yeah, they all are,” Yao Danyun said, turning around and looking at his colleague. “So I thought, maybe we can do something.”

This thought came to her mind not only because she works with women and children, but also because she has a daughter. From last night until now, she has been thinking about a question.

What would she do if her daughter was kidnapped one day?

The conclusion is that she will be in great pain.

She felt that she had to do something, but how could she avoid this happening? The "Comic Book" in late July pointed her in the right direction.

In the latest issue of the serial, "Comic Pictorial" added a new column called "Three Fires Anti-Kidnapping Class", which used several paintings to construct a kidnapping scene and concluded at the end that you should not eat food given by strangers.

Staring at the three words "small classroom", Yao Danyun fell into deep thought.

Yao Danyun was not the only one who fell into deep thought. The readers of the Three Fires series were very broad, including teenagers, unmarried young people, and many married people like Yao Danyun who had become parents.

After watching "The Adventurous Adventures of Sanhuo", children will be more wary of strangers, unmarried young people will remind their families and warn the younger ones, and people like Yao Danyun who have become parents will be doubly worried. They will also think, how to avoid such things from happening?

As a result, the plot depicted in the Sanhuo anti-abduction classroom was simulated in many families, and those who did related work began to promote the anti-abduction classroom externally.

During this period, the county Women's Federation's work in piloting and promoting anti-abduction education was also very effective. After another meeting, the Women's Federation leaders finally decided to carry out anti-abduction education throughout the county.

…

While anti-abduction education was in full swing in the county, Su Ting finally finished drawing the new series of the Three Fires series.

Su Ting originally planned to finish The Adventures of Three Fires by the end of June or the beginning of July, but she suddenly had an idea and suggested to Wang Jingfang to add a small lesson column on abduction prevention.

The Three Fires series was the hottest story in the past two years. The editor-in-chief of the pictorial wished that Su Ting could draw more of it. She took the initiative to propose adding a column, and the editor-in-chief naturally would not object, so the matter was quickly confirmed.

Because the anti-abduction class is serialized after the main text, in order to keep the small class updated, Su Ting specially took out a few days to draw the small class. After she had enough manuscripts, she would draw alternately between the two.

As a result, Su Ting's workload increased significantly, and the completion time of the new series was delayed again and again, and it was not officially completed until the end of July.

After sending out the last manuscript, Su Ting did not immediately adjust her time for a full-day review, but instead relaxed for a few days.

During this period, she had to review, draw serials, and find time to give advice to Director Zhao, and go to the county post office to send and receive mail. She was spinning like a top. She urgently needed to relax, otherwise she would not be able to hold on if the news of the resumption of the college entrance examination came out.

But she hadn't even relaxed for two days, and He Dongchuan, who had been quiet for a few months, made a comeback. Oh no, he was ready to make a move.

In fact, from this point of view, He Dongchuan has changed.

If it was two years ago, Su Ting would have asked for benefits at night just after she finished her work during the day. This year, he may have reached the age where he is over 30 after all. He needs to be more stable and stop being a brat. He should learn to be patient.

He Dongchuan was also very patient that night. When Su Ting was sitting in front of the dressing table applying lotion, she saw him fiddling with the electric fan. When she finished applying the lotion and went to the toilet and came back, his sitting posture and the movements of his hands had hardly changed.

Seeing this, Su Ting couldn't help but ask, "There are only three windshields on the electric fan. What's so easy to adjust?"

He Dongchuan pretended to be profound and said: "I didn't adjust the fan, but my current mood."

Su Ting felt that it was only now that they had a foundation for love. If He Dongchuan had said such things to her when he had just come here, she would have suggested that he go to the hospital to have his head checked out.

But now, she took a deep breath and asked, "Does that work?"

He Dongchuan let go of the electric fan, stood up, stepped onto the bed, hugged his wife and said, "No."

The rustling of the fan blades brought a slight cool breeze, which cheered Su Ting up. She asked with interest, "How do you feel now?"

“Excited.”

He Dongchuan said this, but his expression was very calm. If you had to say something, you could only see his emotions from the leisure in the corners of his eyes and eyebrows, but that had nothing to do with excitement.

Su Ting raised her eyebrows and said, "It's hard to tell."

He Dongchuan said nothing upon hearing this. Su Ting's right hand, which was pressed under her neck, exerted a little force, helped her sit up, and then slid down to her waist, hugging her slender waist covered by her loose pajamas and holding her tightly.

In a flash, Su Ting was forced to change her position and crawl on He Dongchuan.

When she raised her head, before her vision became clear, a broad, rough hand pressed down on the back of her neck, and warm lips fell down: "Well, the naked eye may not be enough, you need a deeper feeling."