Qin Zhiyi moved quickly. Before long, the crisp ringing of a bicycle bell sounded outside the courtyard.
Xu Sangluo hurried out with a bamboo basket and a rope in hand.
Seeing her tying the bamboo basket onto the bicycle, Qin Zhiyi assumed she was preparing to carry things back.
But in truth, Xu Sangluo hadn’t brought anything with her when she came.
Her stepmother hadn’t even let them through the door. She had practically thrown a tantrum and driven them away, providing quite the spectacle for the neighbors.
However, on the surface, Xu Sangluo was still her stepmother’s biological daughter, so no one could openly say much.
Qin Zhiyi had seemingly compromised and gone along with Liu Xiuhe’s demand that he “take responsibility.”
In reality, he had only pitied the then-homeless Xu Sangluo and temporarily taken her in.
After quickly fastening the bamboo basket, Xu Sangluo walked around to the other side and stood on tiptoe to climb onto the bicycle’s back seat.
“All set.”
At the courtyard gate, the twin siblings peeked out curiously.
Qin Zhiyi looked puzzled. “All done?”
“Mm.”
“You’re not bringing anything else?”
Xu Sangluo was briefly confused. Bring what?
“No need.”
“Alright.” Qin Zhiyi didn’t ask further, assuming she wanted to completely sever ties.
“Take good care of the house. Don’t run around,” he told the twins before pedaling away on the bicycle.
The dirt road was full of bumps and potholes. Xu Sangluo couldn’t sit steadily, so she instinctively grabbed the back seat with one hand and Qin Zhiyi’s shirt at the waist with the other.
Qin Zhiyi’s muscles tensed for a moment. Then he subtly slowed down, trying to steer along smoother parts of the road.
Many neighbors and commune members along the way looked at them curiously.
Aside from the day Qin Zhiyi brought her back, only a few villagers had seen Xu Sangluo.
Everyone said the girl was very beautiful. The commune members were curious about where the eldest son of the Qin family had found such a pretty wife.
They had heard she was fair and delicate, completely unlike someone from the countryside—more like a girl from the city.
But after that, Xu Sangluo never appeared again, and gossip began to spread wildly.
Fortunately, Qin’s mother had quite a fiery personality. After quarreling a few times with those spreading rumors, the gossip around the commune gradually died down.
At the very least, people no longer talked about it openly, and the attention on Xu Sangluo lessened considerably.
Now that she appeared again, the villagers’ curiosity was reignited.
Where were this husband and wife going?
The Xie family lived in the center of Yueyang District in Guangcheng, quite far from Luoxi Brigade.
Even riding a bicycle quickly, a round trip would still take four to five hours.
Just traveling along the bumpy dirt road from the commune to the county took about an hour.
When they finally reached the cement road, Xu Sangluo—who had been gripping Qin Zhiyi’s shirt at both sides of his waist—let out a deep sigh of relief.
She carefully shifted her aching backside from all the jolting and became even more determined that this time she would make Liu Xiuhe bleed heavily.
Otherwise, the long and bumpy trip she made would be for nothing.
The environment of the newly developed district was vastly different from the old city—like heaven and earth apart.
Looking at it again after several decades, only one thought crossed her mind.
China’s development had truly been astonishingly rapid.
If you didn’t look back frame by frame, you’d hardly notice such earth-shaking changes.
Qin Zhiyi remained silent, and Xu Sangluo found it boring to talk alone, so she simply closed her eyes and checked her space.
This space had come with a jade peace buckle she accidentally bought at Liulichang in Kyoto when she was twenty-five in her previous life while delivering goods by truck.
At that time, there were no online novels, and bookstores weren’t widespread. She also had no time to read, so she knew absolutely nothing about mystical things like this.
At first, it scared her so much that she nearly developed nervous exhaustion, thinking something was wrong with her.
Later, she slowly figured out how to use it.
With the help of the space, she started by selling vegetables and eventually opened a farmhouse restaurant.
After all, she had accumulated decades of experience, so now she was considering whether she should follow the same path again.
However, with the Qin family around her right now, it wasn’t easy to act.
If she wanted to leave, she would at least have to repay their kindness first and remove the regrets in her heart.
At the very least, she had to help Qin Yan survive the disaster that would take his life.
She didn’t know exactly when Qin Yan’s accident happened, nor the specific circumstances.
But as long as they avoided that critical point next year, it should be fine.
If they could endure that moment, the Qin family would finally see the end of their hardships.
She had only learned about this later when Qin’s mother reminisced about the past.
In the second year after Qin Yan’s accident, toward the end of the year, Qin Zhiyi received news from his former superior.
After a reassessment from above, part of the Qin family’s property was officially returned to them.
For example, their courtyard house and some antiques.
Qin Zhiyi also rejoined the army, and the Qin family finally escaped the life of barely having enough to eat.
Unfortunately, by that time, the Qin family had already been nearly torn apart.
Much of what she knew came from Qin mother’s recollections.
She only knew that half a year after Qin’s mother’s amputation, Qin Zhiyu secretly dropped out of school to run a street stall. She was noticed by a merchant from Hong Kong.
The man left five thousand yuan as a so-called “bride price,” and Qin Zhiyu secretly left with him.
Qin Zhiyi searched like a madman but never found her.
When Qin Zhifeng learned that his sister had essentially sold herself, his personality changed drastically. He became a street hooligan, even collecting protection fees, and was often beaten half to death by Qin Zhiyi.
For a long time, the two brothers were like enemies.
Although Qin Zhishu was forced to take the college entrance examination, he still failed. Refusing to repeat the year, he packed his belongings overnight and went to the city to work.
During that period, Qin’s mother also suffered greatly. She believed that it was because of her that the whole family had fallen apart, and her health worsened for a time.
“We’re here.”
The deep voice interrupted Xu Sangluo’s memories.
She steadied herself and looked around, momentarily confused.
“Ah.”
So many years had passed that many things had become blurry in her memory—like where the Xie family lived.
Qin Zhiyi, however, thought she was afraid. After thinking for a moment, he kept pedaling and took her directly downstairs.
Xie Feng worked at the city Labor Bureau. As the deputy director of the office, his residence naturally wasn’t bad.
The residential compound consisted of two-story buildings, and those who could live here were not ordinary people.
Even entering the main gate required registration and stating the reason for visiting.
The Xie family’s building was located in the middle.
When she saw the small building, Xu Sangluo finally recalled a bit.
The two-story building wasn’t occupied by a single household—it was divided into four units.
The Xie family lived on the right side of the second floor, so Xu Sangluo still had to go upstairs.
She turned to Qin Zhiyi, who was adjusting his bicycle to turn it around, and said, “Wait for me a moment. I’ll be right back.”
Without waiting for his reply, she ran into the stairwell.
By the time Qin Zhiyi turned around, she had already disappeared, leaving only the sound of her footsteps going upstairs.
He frowned slightly but didn’t leave. He lowered the bicycle stand and waited beside it.
Inside the Xie family’s home, Liu Xiuhe had just woken from her afternoon nap and was sitting on the sofa yawning.
Across from her, a black-and-white television was playing a humorous silent comedy.
At that moment, there was a knock on the door.
She felt puzzled and walked over while asking who it was, then opened the door.
But the moment she saw Xu Sangluo, her expression changed, and she immediately tried to shut the door impatiently.
However, Xu Sangluo spoke faster than she could move.
“If you want Xie Huaishu to lose his reputation completely, then go ahead and close the door.”
Liu Xiuhe froze mid-movement.
Her expression immediately turned hostile, her face darkening.
“Zhao Xiaoman! What nonsense are you talking about? How did I raise you? How did you become so vicious—unable to stand seeing your sister doing well? All those years of studying have gone to waste!”