Shen Fujuan tried to pull her hand away forcefully, but Su Lina clung to her even more desperately.
Tears welled up in Su Lina’s eyes. “Mom, I was just momentarily confused earlier. I beg you, please don’t send me back.”
Su Lina was no longer a child when she first came to the Su family.
She still vividly remembered her childhood—going hungry, lacking warm clothes, and being frequently beaten by her family.
After living a life of luxury for so many years, Su Lina couldn’t even imagine how she would cope if she were sent back to that place.
Shen Fujuan’s face was tense, her displeasure written all over it.
Su Jianqiang couldn’t stand it any longer. With a cold expression, he walked back, grabbed Su Lina by the arm, and pulled her to her feet.
Su Jianjun’s face flushed red as he glared at Su Lina. “Mom and Dad have treated you well. How could you do something so ungrateful?”
If it weren’t for their parents’ foresight, their family would undoubtedly have faced another round of criticism!
Su Lina’s delicate lips trembled slightly, her eyes filled with innocence and vulnerability. “I was just too scared earlier, afraid that those people would act like last time—”
She was referring to when Su Jiaxuan had just been reported. A group of Red Guards had stormed into their home, dragged Su Jiaxuan away, and smashed many of their belongings.
“You were scared?” Su Jianjun scoffed in anger. “When you reported Mom and Dad for hiding books, we saw it clearly from outside!”
Su Jianqiang’s face darkened as he turned to Su Jiaxuan. “Dad, you decide. Maybe we can try to pull some strings and put in a good word for her.”
After all, Su Lina was the sister he had watched grow up. Seeing her cry like this, Su Jianqiang couldn’t help but feel a twinge of softness.
Su Jiaxuan glanced at the room full of people waiting for his decision. Finally, his gaze settled firmly on Shen Fujuan.
If what Fujuan said was true, Su Lina was nothing but a cancer in their family.
After only a brief moment of hesitation, Su Jiaxuan made up his mind.
He rose from the sofa and said solemnly, “Xiaorou, go upstairs and help pack Lina’s belongings.”
With the matter settled, Shen Fujuan’s anxious heart finally relaxed.
She turned to look at Su Lina, who was still clinging tightly to her, her eyes now filled with nothing but resolve.
“From now on, you won’t have to worry about our poor class background harming you anymore!”
Su Lina’s strength drained from her body, and she collapsed to the floor. Yet, the look she gave Shen Fujuan grew increasingly venomous.
Zhao Xiaorou soon came downstairs carrying a leather suitcase and gently placed it beside Su Lina.
Shen Fujuan glanced at it and felt a pang of heartache.
She had never been stingy when buying things for Su Lina—whether it was food, clothes, or daily necessities, everything was of the finest quality.
Even her own two biological sons didn’t receive the same treatment at home as Su Lina, their adopted daughter.
This leather suitcase was a high-quality item Shen Fujuan had specially asked someone to bring back from abroad.
It cost at least eighty to a hundred yuan—half a month’s salary for Shen Fujuan!
Shen Fujuan averted her gaze from Su Lina. “Jianqiang, go upstairs and find a burlap sack. If someone sees this leather suitcase, it might implicate Lina!”
She emphasized the word “implicate” and looked at Su Lina with a gaze full of mockery.
Su Lina was unwillingly driven out of the house, dragging the burlap sack behind her. Her retreating figure looked particularly desolate.
Biting her lip, Su Lina turned back for one last look at the Su family’s beautiful and imposing villa.
No matter how humiliating and embarrassing today was, she would remember it all, and pay it back in the future!
After seeing Su Lina off, the Su family began packing their belongings.
Shen Fujuan reminded them, “You don’t have to take valuable things, but make sure to pack plenty of warm clothes!”
The memory of hunger and cold from her past life still lingered in Shen Fujuan’s heart.
She turned her head, her gaze falling on Zhao Xiaorou’s still-flat belly—she was only two months pregnant.
Shen Fujuan gritted her teeth silently.
This time, with her here, she would never let Xiaorou lose her child!
After gathering some essentials, the family carried their bags and bundles out the door.
At the entrance, a young guard with a red armband stopped them, pointing arrogantly at their luggage. “Open it for inspection!”
The fox fur hat Xiaorou had bought in Russia was found and confiscated.
The notes Jianqiang and Jianjun had taken during their school years were also confiscated and burned on the spot.
Especially Shen Fujuan and Su Jiaxuan’s suitcases were opened and searched repeatedly.
A train bound for the northeast rushed them to the northernmost part of the country.
Most of the passengers on this train were “Black Nine” categories being sent down for re-education.
As a result, the atmosphere on the train was particularly heavy and oppressive.
Having been to the northeast in her past life, Shen Fujuan had already instructed them to take out their cotton-padded clothes and shoes to change into.
It was autumn, and the wind in the northeast was already like a knife, cutting into their bones and chilling them to the core.
Su Jiaxuan walked silently at the front, taking the large suitcase from Shen Fujuan’s hands.
A family who had never even seen an ox before now had to ride an ox cart to the village for the first time.
Shen Fujuan jumped onto the ox cart first, sniffed, and called out to the others who were still hesitating, “Hurry up! We have to reach Heihe Village before dark!”
Once night fell, they wouldn’t be able to withstand the cold wind on their own.
The person sent to receive them was the same as in her past life—a man in his sixties, holding a brass tobacco pipe.
Seeing them, the old man’s dim, murky eyes shifted, and when he smiled, he revealed a row of yellowed teeth from years of smoking.
“My name is Huang Chaoying, the director of the Red Flag Commune. When no one’s around, you can call me Uncle Huang.”
Huang Chaoying’s back was slightly hunched, giving off a somewhat sinister impression, and he spoke with a heavy northeastern accent.
Zhao Xiaorou had never met someone like him before and shrank back nervously.
Noticing her reaction, Shen Fujuan whispered to comfort her, “It’s fine. Uncle Huang is a good person.”
Knowing that their family were intellectuals, struggling with hunger and cold, Uncle Huang would occasionally show a little kindness to Jiaxuan.
Leading them to a dilapidated house at the east end of the village, Uncle Huang tapped lightly with his tobacco pipe.
“You’ll live here.”
With that, Uncle Huang left, his figure quickly disappearing at the end of the road.
The house looked as though it hadn’t been lived in for a long time. Su Jiaxuan went inside to check and was choked by the dust, coughing uncontrollably.
Pulling the light cord, he found that even the electric light wouldn’t turn on.
Shen Fujuan retrieved a candle and matches from her Dimensional Space, placing them on the table to provide some dim light.
“How are we supposed to live in this rundown place?” Su Jianjun complained casually, without a care.
Su Jianqiang turned and glared at him: “Watch your words, don’t talk nonsense!”
Shen Fujuan quickly tidied up a room, laid out the bedding, and let Zhao Xiaorou move in first.
“This window still lets in drafts, and it’s right facing Sister-in-law’s head!” Su Jianjun frowned. “Even adults can’t handle it, let alone a child!”
Shen Fujuan looked over and suddenly remembered.
In her past life, Jianqiang had patched this hole with his only cotton-padded jacket.
As a result, when winter came, his lips turned blue from the cold.
Their entire family couldn’t even scrape together enough money to buy Jianqiang a new cotton-padded jacket.