Before Xu Anhao arrived home, she had actually been feeling uneasy all along.
Although according to the original host's memories, her adoptive parents had treated her extremely well, the original host had left with her biological parents without a second thought. In the past two years, she hadn't come back to visit, nor had she sent even a single message.
During festivals and holidays, the shoe soles and pickled vegetables her adoptive mother had sent through others—she had accepted them, but she had never written back a single letter.
She wouldn't believe it herself if someone said they weren't hurt.
She wandered around the supply and marketing cooperative in town, and in the end weighed out two catties of fruit candy, took five packs of peach pastries, and also asked for two cans of malted milk.
She had originally wanted to buy clothes for her adoptive parents—but she was already carrying too much, her bundle stuffed to bursting, and she couldn't carry any more.
She could only wait until next time.
During the original host's two years in the Song family, food and clothing had never been a concern.
Moreover, when she married Zhou Yunji, not counting the dowry items, the Song family had given three thousand in cash alone, and her regular allowance had never stopped either.
The one thousand betrothal gift from the Zhou family, she had left in the drawer and hadn't taken.
Now, adding everything together, she still had over four thousand on her, which in this era was not a small sum.
The sales clerk tied it up with paper string, and when handing it to her, took a couple of extra glances—these days, not many were willing to buy so much at once.
She came out of the supply and marketing cooperative carrying large and small packages, and stood by the roadside waiting for a while.
Her luck was decent—after waiting for over half an hour, she came across a horse cart heading to a neighboring village.
The old driver, seeing a young girl carrying so much, was kind-hearted and gave her a ride for part of the way.
The horse cart only went as far as Liu Village next door, still two kilometers from Xu Family Village.
Xu Anhao jumped off the cart and stuffed a handful of candy into the old man's hand.
The August sun was scorching, baking the ground until it was hot to the touch.
On both sides of the road were stretches of cornfields, the stalks taller than a person, the leaves drooping, their edges curled from the sun.
Before she had walked many steps, her back was already soaked through.
When she reached the village entrance, she stopped.
That old locust tree was still there. The trunk was crooked, and the stone roller for threshing wheat under the tree was still there too.
Only at this moment did Xu Anhao feel a sense of familiarity.
She stood for a while before continuing inward.
After walking a bit further, she saw people.
A dense crowd sat on the field ridges, all laborers resting and eating lunch.
The corn harvest was done, and now they were rushing to harvest the millet.
Men and women came up from the fields, scattered in twos and threes on the ridges, holding clay pots and bamboo baskets, gnawing on cornbread with pickled vegetables.
The moment Xu Anhao appeared, dozens of pairs of eyes turned toward her in unison.
As if frozen.
Xu Anhao felt extremely uncomfortable under their stares.
She wanted to greet them, but her throat felt like it was stuffed with cotton, and she couldn't squeeze out a single word.
She could only brace herself and walk forward.
"Whose girl is that?" someone spoke first.
"Why does she look like the Xu family's girl to me?"
"Anhao? Xu Dehou's Anhao?"
"Seems like it's her! Does our village even have anyone that good-looking?"
The murmurs surged like a tide, impossible to suppress.
"Didn't they say she went back to the city to be a young lady? Why has she come back?"
"She was probably driven back. That kind of family, how could they really tolerate her…"
"What a sin, Dehou and his wife have nearly cried their eyes dry these past few years, sitting at the village entrance looking out every festival…"
"She still has the nerve to come back?"
The voices weren't loud, but sentence by sentence, they drifted clearly into her ears.
Like needles piercing.
Xu Anhao kept her head down, gripped the bundle strings tighter, and walked faster.
She didn't dare look at those people.
Didn't dare look at those gazes.
Her footsteps grew faster and faster, until she was almost running, and she rounded the bend.
Once past the bend in the dirt road, everything suddenly fell quiet.
The three adobe houses stood just ahead.
The courtyard wall was built of adobe bricks. After so many years, moss had grown thick along its base. The gate was made of two old wooden planks pieced together, the paint long since peeled away, and through the cracks between the boards one could see inside.
The gate was locked.
A fist-sized iron lock hung from the door hasp.
Xu Anhao stopped at the entrance.
Only then did she remember—it was the busy farming season. Every able-bodied worker in the village was out in the fields, and naturally her adoptive parents were too.
She should have thought of that earlier.
She stood there, looking at the lock.
Last year's Spring Festival couplets were still pasted on the door frame. The red paper had faded to a pinkish white, and the corners had curled up. Only half of the upper scroll remained, with the two characters for "peace and safety" still visible.
She reached out and touched those two characters.
Then she leaned against the door panel and slowly sat down on her bundle.
The sun beat down, warm against her back. The wind blew over from the fields, carrying the dry, sweet scent of haystacks.
And she just sat there, waiting.
She didn't know how much time had passed.
Suddenly, a jumble of footsteps came from the distance.
Not one person. Several people.
And someone was shouting—
"Dehou! Dehou! Isn't that your girl? It looks like her!"
Xu Anhao jerked her head up.
Before she could even stand, she saw two figures come rushing down the village path.
Running in front was her adoptive mother, her apron still tied at her waist, her hands smeared with mud, stumbling and lurching toward her.
She was running so fast that she stepped on a clod of earth by the edge of the field, her body tilted, and she nearly fell.
Her adoptive father was behind her, not even having had time to put down his sickle. He clutched it as he ran, the blade swaying back and forth, making one dizzy to watch.
"Hao'er!"
Her adoptive mother's voice cracked.
Xu Anhao stood up, her legs a little weak.
She had barely steadied herself when her adoptive mother had already rushed up to her.
Those mud-stained hands grabbed her by the arm, looking her up and down.
Her hair was a mess, her face flushed from the sun, the rims of her eyes red.
"Hao'er, Hao'er…" Her adoptive mother could only repeat this name over and over, her voice trembling violently.
Xu Anhao opened her mouth.
"Mother…"