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Su Niannian did not turn back.
“Niannian, you must take care of yourself from now on. I, your father, have failed…” Su Heping stood up, wanting to walk over.
But his legs felt as if they were filled with a thousand pounds of cement, unable to move even a step.
“Mm.”
Su Niannian softly replied with a hum. Without even calling out “Father,” she turned and walked straight out.
She didn’t return to her cramped, narrow room.
That was just a place where the Su family piled up their miscellaneous items.
Nor did she take any of her clothes, for those clothes were all patched up.
There was nothing she needed to take with her, because… she truly didn’t have much.
She walked out of the Su family’s main door and headed straight toward the garment factory.
The time for being sent down to the countryside was in three days. She was going to sell her job now.
A position at the state-owned garment factory could be sold for over two hundred yuan.
This was the equivalent of an iron rice bowl in this era.
Back at the garment factory, she found a friend she was familiar with and shared her intention of wanting to sell her job.
She asked them to help find someone who would be interested in buying her job.
“Niannian! Are you really planning to be sent down to the countryside? Life there is really tough…” Tan Wenwen pulled Su Niannian aside and whispered.
“Mm, it’s fine. No matter how hard life gets after leaving here, it will still be better than this.”
As Su Niannian spoke, there wasn’t a trace of worry in her voice. In fact, there was even a hint of excitement.
“Hey…” Tan Wenwen sighed.
She knew a little about Su Niannian’s situation. Life had been quite hard for her in the Su family.
Perhaps life in the countryside would be tougher on her body, but at least her spirit wouldn’t be crushed there.
Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing after all.
“Then I’ll ask a few of them to help you find out,” Tan Wenwen said, her tone a little downcast.
Actually, in the garment factory, Tan Wenwen and Su Niannian had a good relationship.
Both of them had their own struggles.
Tan Wenwen still had two older sisters and a younger brother at home.
Both older sisters had already been married off. They called it marriage, but it was hardly different from being sold.
As for herself, if it weren’t for her still being young and having a stable job, she too would probably have been sold off by now.
Now, seeing Su Niannian escape from the Su family, even though life in the countryside would be hard, it might not necessarily be such a bad thing.
Tan Wenwen patted Su Niannian’s hand, nodded, and walked away.
A job at the state-owned garment factory was considered an iron rice bowl.
Moreover, Su Niannian’s position wasn’t physically demanding. She mainly sewed labels onto clothes and attached elastic bands to pants.
It was relatively light work.
So, she agreed to the transfer.
“Two hundred and ten yuan, no less.”
At first, Su Niannian had quoted a price of two hundred and thirty yuan.
However, since she was in a hurry to transfer the job and still needed to handle the paperwork, she was willing to accept a slightly lower price.
“Alright then!”
“Shall we go together to handle the paperwork tomorrow?”
With the price settled, Su Niannian would need to return to the garment factory the next day.
By this time, the sky had already begun to darken.
Originally, Tan Wenwen had wanted to invite Su Niannian to stay at her house, but considering the situation at Tan Wenwen’s home, Su Niannian declined.
After Su Niannian left the garment factory, she felt a bit empty in her stomach.
It was only then that she realized she hadn’t eaten anything yet.
Passing by a bakery that sold large sesame cakes, Su Niannian spent five cents to buy one.
She planned to eat it and then head back to the factory to spend the night in the temporary break room.
Since she didn’t have a recommendation letter, even though there was a guesthouse here, she wasn’t allowed to stay.
However, where she spent the night didn’t matter. What mattered was that tomorrow, after selling her job and obtaining the resignation letter, she could go handle the paperwork for becoming an educated youth and heading to the countryside.
It wouldn’t be long! Soon, she would be able to see that man from Kaoshan Village again—the one with sharp brows and starry eyes, a strong build with broad shoulders and a narrow waist.
Just thinking about Gu Nan, a faint smile unconsciously appeared at the corner of Su Niannian’s lips.
After finishing the sesame cake, Su Niannian returned to the garment factory. In the break room, she arranged three chairs side by side. Although her feet still dangled off the edge, it was enough to get through the night.
As Su Niannian was lying on her side, something in her right pocket seemed to poke her.
Su Niannian reached into her pocket, and the two hard, icy-cold objects in her hand gave her a sudden, familiar feeling.
A sense of unease flickered in her heart, inexplicably.
“Impossible…” Su Niannian murmured, taking the items out of her pocket.
When her eyes landed on the two objects, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing!
It was a pair of rings.
Two jade rings.
These were the wedding rings that Gu Nan had given her when they got married.
One large, one small, both a deep jade green with a glass-like sheen.
Gu Nan had found them at an antique market.
At that time, Gu Nan had told her that when he entered that store, it felt like he was guided by fate, and he instantly set his eyes on these couple rings.
Seeing these familiar rings, the wedding rings Gu Nan had given her, Su Niannian’s eyes instantly filled with tears.
She couldn’t believe it! These were their wedding rings, the symbol of their love.
But… Why did these rings come with her when she was reborn in 1976?
As she gently caressed the two rings in her hand, Su Niannian felt both excitement and longing, as if her heart was being stirred up, completely unsettled.
“When we get married this time, we’ll still wear these wedding rings!”
Su Niannian thought to herself, a sweet smile on her face.
She kept running her fingers over the rings, almost as if they still carried his warmth, his breath.
Su Niannian slipped the ring onto her finger, just intending to try it on for a moment before taking it off.
Su Niannian was waiting for him to put the ring on her finger on their wedding day, just like in her past life.
However, once she slid the ring onto her finger, it became stuck and wouldn’t come off.
It was strange. The size of the ring wasn’t tight at all, yet it wouldn’t budge, as if some mysterious force kept the ring firmly on her finger.
Su Niannian furrowed her brow and tried once more with force. To her shock, she suddenly found herself in an endless, vast space.
Around her… There was a purple mist, obscuring parts of the space.
The area not covered by the purple mist was still quite vast, at least around three or four acres in size.
It appeared somewhat open and desolate.
Not far from Su Niannian, an ancient well stood suddenly, its presence strikingly out of place in the otherwise empty space.
Su Niannian walked over slowly, gazing down into the clear water of the well. She used the wooden bucket hanging above to draw up a bucket of water.
Having eaten the sesame flatbread earlier but not having had any water, she felt quite thirsty now, especially with the sight of such clear water before her.
Su Niannian cupped her hands to lift the water from the wooden bucket to her lips, drinking a mouthful.
Her spirit was immediately lifted!
The water was incredibly refreshing, with a sweetness that surpassed even the high-end bottled mineral water she had last tasted.
Moreover, after drinking it, her body, which had felt somewhat fatigued before, seemed to undergo a subtle transformation.
“Spiritual spring space…”
The three words appeared in Su Niannian’s mind.