Chapter 16 Where is Song Nanting?

Song Aiqiang’s heart instantly sank halfway to the bottom. He was never good with words, especially in public, and he knew very well there was no reasoning with people from the committee. Judging from the situation, this Youth Office Director clearly had deep ties with the committee — if Song made a scene, not only would he not get the money back, he might even end up in trouble himself.

He was the pillar of the family now — if he got pulled in, the whole family would collapse.

Seeing the situation, Song Nanfeng and Song Nanshan panicked and looked at their father pleadingly.

“Dad, I don’t want to go to the countryside, I don’t want to!”
“Dad, help me!”

“Enough!” Song Aiqiang slapped each of them across the face, gritting his teeth. “Both of you, shut up!”

He then turned to the Youth Office director. “So, Director, the person who signed them up — was it a pretty-looking young woman? That’s my daughter?”

Director Wang gave him a sideways glance — he wasn’t stupid; there was no way he’d admit to anything now. He just snorted and said, “Didn’t I already tell you? Your two sons came and registered themselves. Why are you dragging someone else into this?”

Hearing that made Song Aiqiang furious. He changed his question. “Then… do you know where my daughter, Song Nanting, went?”

“If you’re looking for your daughter, go look for her outside. What are you doing asking around here?” Director Wang denied everything. He certainly wasn’t going to say anything — that would be an admission of guilt. Besides, he had taken money from the girl to handle things, and he still had enough ethics to keep her secret. So he just kicked them out.

With no other choice, Song Aiqiang let the two boys go ahead and finish the registration. The process went smoothly, and on the way home, neither of the sons dared to cry anymore. Instead, they began to think about the reality of going to the countryside.

Song Nanfeng said, “Dad, since this can’t be changed, we’ll have to sell my job.”

That reminded Song Aiqiang. “Right, we need to go now.”

Song Nanshan gritted his teeth as he listened. He didn’t have a job to sell himself, but since the money would go to the family, he’d at least get a share of it.

So the three of them headed to the shoe factory to ask about the job, but Director Wang there told them, “That’s not possible. The position belongs to the factory. Since he’s going to the countryside, the job has to be returned to the factory. There’s no such thing as ‘selling’ a position. Here’s the deal — we’ll hold the position for now. If the state allows educated youth to return to the city in the future, then come back and ask again.”

No matter how much they argued, the answer was still no.

Song Aiqiang was devastated. He could tell Director Wang was deliberately making things difficult for them, so he said, “In that case, we won’t bother Director Wang anymore. I’ll take them to the factory committee to talk to the factory director.”

Director Wang wasn’t fazed at all. “Go ahead, he’s over there.”

His attitude left Song Aiqiang extremely uneasy. Sure enough, when they went to the committee office, they found the director had just left for a meeting. When they asked if the job could be sold, they were outright rejected — it wasn’t allowed.

When Song Aiqiang came downstairs, Song Nanfeng asked anxiously, “Well? What did they say?”

Seeing his father shake his head, Song Nanfeng’s face went pale. It was over. Truly over.

News of the Song family’s situation quickly spread throughout the compound. Everyone said it was karma, but many were also wondering — where had Song Nanting gone?

Although Song Aiqiang hadn’t been able to get any answers from the Youth Office director, he had a strong feeling that this whole thing had something to do with Song Nanting. Otherwise, why would she have disappeared right when all this trouble started? But if it was her, how had she pulled it off?

He couldn’t figure it out. When he returned home with his sons, he found Zhao Xiu’e sitting in the living room looking like a mess, while a few women outside were craning their necks to watch the drama.

He shut the door. The two brothers were so caught up in their misery about being sent to the countryside that they didn’t even notice what state their mother was in.

Song Aiqiang frowned. “Did you get the money?”

At the mention of that, Zhao Xiu’e was furious. “Look at my face! That mother and daughter pair ganged up on me. Absolutely shameless!”

Song Aiqiang didn’t care at all whether she’d been hit or not. He asked through gritted teeth, “The money?”

“They refused to give it back,” Zhao Xiu’e snapped. “That old hag kept saying there was no money. If I didn’t think it would cause even more trouble, I’d have gone in and searched the place myself. That old woman — I won’t let her off the hook.”

She turned to her sons. “Did you get things sorted out?”

“Sorted out my ass,” Song Aiqiang said. “Both of them have to go to the countryside. Song Nanting’s still nowhere to be found.”

At that, Zhao Xiu’e felt her brain explode. Both sons had to go — it was like cutting out her heart.

“That damned girl Song Nanting, where the hell did she go?”

At that moment, Song Nanting was on a train.

Thanks to the hard sleeper compartment being relatively quiet and not too crowded, she had slept well during the latter half of the night. By the time she woke up, it was already past 7 a.m., and the cadre in the lower bunk was already reading.

Song Nanting grabbed her satchel, went to wash up and use the restroom, then came back and pulled out a few buns and some eggs from her bag to eat.

The steamed buns and eggs were cold, so they didn’t taste particularly good. But the buns were filled with meat, and given how malnourished Song Nanting’s body had been for a long time, not only did she not find them unappetizing — she thought they were absolutely delicious.

After finishing the buns, she took a sip of water. That’s when she suddenly remembered — today was the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month. The train wouldn’t arrive in Yu Province until early tomorrow morning, which meant she’d be spending New Year’s Eve there.

But the thought that she was getting closer to Lu Jian’an made her feel much more at ease.

“Where are you headed?” someone asked.

Song Nanting looked down to see that the person was talking to her. It wasn’t like she had anything to hide — going to the countryside wasn’t shameful — so she replied, “I’m going to the countryside.”

As for exactly where, she didn’t say.

The man was a bit surprised, then nodded. “That’s good, but life in the countryside can be tough.”

Tough? Could anything be tougher than her days in Ning County?

For others, maybe going to the countryside would be hard, but Song Nanting wasn’t afraid of hardship. As long as she could meet Lu Jian’an, she wasn’t afraid of anything.

“Hardship doesn’t scare me.”

Just as the words left her mouth, someone suddenly shouted, “Stop! Thief!”

Song Nanting had just stepped down from her bunk, planning to go to the bathroom, when she saw a man sprinting toward her, with an elderly woman chasing after him from behind.

As the man got closer and saw a beautiful young woman standing there, the idea of using her as a hostage flashed through his mind. He reached out and grabbed her, intending to clutch her neck with his other hand—

—but before he could, he was already kicked hard to the ground.