Chapter 4: A Mother and Son’s Acting Show

Hearing the cries, Li Jiangang and Liu Chunhua immediately rushed outside. Good heavens! The firewood stacked against the wall had been set ablaze!

It was the height of summer, and the firewood was bone-dry, making it highly flammable. If they didn’t put out the fire quickly, the entire house could catch fire. They had to act fast!

Liu Chunhua glared at An An and snapped, “Are you trying to get yourself killed? Of all things to play with, you choose fire?!”

Then she kicked Li Jiangang. “What are you standing there for? Hurry up and fetch water to put out the fire!”

Li Jiangang snapped back to his senses, grabbed a bucket, and rushed off to get water.

As the saying goes, ‘It’s easiest to fish in troubled waters.’ Taking advantage of the chaos, Li Xia quietly slipped into Liu Chunhua’s bedroom and pried open the loose brick under the bed…

Inside was a piece of ragged cloth. Unfolding it, she found stack after stack of Great Unity bills.

There was no time to count them. She stuffed everything—including the smaller-denomination notes—into her pockets, determined not to leave a single cent for Liu Chunhua and Li Jiangang.

The best way to deal with wicked people was to strike where it hurt the most.

And what was Zhou Qingshan’s greatest concern? His future.

So when Li Xia threatened his future, he willingly paid up to avoid trouble. As long as she didn’t report him, spending some money was a price he was willing to pay.

Li Jiangang and Liu Chunhua cared most about one thing—money. These heartless two would even risk their lives for it.

The reason they took in the original owner wasn’t out of kindness, nor was it because Li Xia was of the Li family’s bloodline. It was simply because her parents had died, and the village committee issued compensation and extra food rations. That was the only reason Li Xia was allowed to live in their house.

They had only ever cared about personal gain.

So the best way to deal with them was to take all their money. That was far more effective than any scolding, scheming, or trickery. Seeing their money disappear would hurt them more than death itself.

After carefully placing the brick back in its original position, Li Xia slipped out of the bedroom without a trace.

With everything settled, she then joined the firefighting efforts.

Liu Chunhua was furious. She stood with her hands on her hips, ready to take her anger out on An An.

 Li Xia quickly took a step forward, shielding An An behind her. She patted the dust off his backside in a way that made it look like a light punishment and said loudly, “Auntie, don’t be mad. I’ll deal with him. This child—of all things to play with, he chose fire!”

Liu Chunhua, who had been ready to hurl a string of curses, swallowed her words forcefully. “Fine, Li Xia, you better teach him a proper lesson! He almost burned the whole house down!”

“You’re right, Auntie! I have to give him a good beating this time!” Li Xia replied firmly. She picked up a stick and led An An into their room.

Inside, Li Xia smacked the stick against the blanket with a loud thwack! “Gu Shi’an, do you know what you did wrong? Playing with fire like that!”

An An sat on the bed, letting out a dramatic wail. “Waaah! It hurts so much—Mom, I was wrong! I won’t do it again!”

After his exaggerated cries, he whispered softly, “Mom, did you get it?”

This was exactly what Mom had told him on their way back. She had said they needed to put on a good show, so he obediently played along.

Li Xia took out the thick stack of money from her pocket and said, “Do you still not trust Mommy? You count the small bills, and I’ll count the big ones.”

An An hesitated for a moment. He had never counted such a large sum before. All these small-denomination bills piled together looked like a lot—probably more than he could count on his fingers.

But under his mother’s expectant gaze, An An nodded earnestly and slowly began counting. “One, two, three… Mommy, it’s thirty-six yuan and eighty cents!”

Li Xia gave him a thumbs-up. “An An, you’re amazing!”

An An was already four years old, but since there was no kindergarten in the village, only a primary school, he hadn’t started formal schooling yet.

From the original host’s memories, Li Xia hadn’t found any instance of teaching An An to read or write. Yet just now, An An had managed to count over thirty, proving that he was a smart child who naturally learned from his surroundings.

For a child like him, she needed to take every opportunity in daily life to teach him more knowledge. Learning in a practical setting was the easiest way to absorb information.

As mother and son counted the money, they occasionally threw in a few fake scoldings and cries, making their act all the more convincing.

There were exactly twenty-two large-denomination bills and thirty-six yuan and eighty cents in small bills.

Li Xia didn’t keep all the money in one place. She put the smaller bills in an easily accessible pocket, while the larger ones were spread out and tucked into different pockets.

That way, even if she encountered a pickpocket, she wouldn’t lose everything at once.

“All this money is the allowance that your father has been sending us over the years. But your grandparents took it under the pretense of keeping it safe for us,” Li Xia explained. 

“But Mommy knew they were lying. Once the money went into their pockets, there was no way they’d give it back. That’s why I had no choice but to take it back this way.” 

An An was still young, so Li Xia needed to explain things clearly. She couldn’t let him think they were stealing, nor could she let him believe that ‘stealing’ was right. 

“If this money didn’t belong to us, could we take it?” Li Xia asked. 

An An shook his head. “No, this money was meant for us. Grandpa and Grandma took it away, so we had to find another way to get it back.” 

“That’s right! An An is so smart.” Li Xia rewarded him with a kiss on the forehead. 

An An froze for a moment, then his handsome little face turned red. 

Only then did Li Xia realize that while the original host of this body did love An An, she had never kissed him like this before. 

In fact, even hugs were rare, and words of praise were even scarcer. 

This was actually a common issue in parenting during this era. Emotions among the Chinese people were often reserved, especially those from this generation. They firmly believed in the saying, “Spare the rod, spoil the child,” and raised their children with strict discipline. As a result, many people even developed difficulties with expressing intimacy. 

Li Xia was born in a new era, so she couldn’t comprehend or accept this kind of parenting style. 

She thought about how, in the original timeline, after the original host passed away due to illness, An An had endured an extremely dark and miserable year in Daxi Village. Later, when Gu Weicheng learned that he had a son, he brought An An to live with him at the army base. 

Not long after, under the persuasion of his superiors, Gu Weicheng married a woman named Su Wenyen. 

From then on, An An became more and more withdrawn, distant, and difficult to approach… 

 Li Xia still remembered the comments section of the novel, where a reader had angrily complained, “Can the author stop writing so much about Gu Shi’an? Every time he appears, he’s like a walking corpse—so gloomy and depressing. It’s such bad luck!”

‘Damn that author!’

Her An An was clearly an intelligent and adorable child. When he smiled, his eyes curved like little crescent moons—so why did the author turn him into someone like that? 

Just thinking about it filled Li Xia with heartache. 

In the rural villages of the 1970s, there weren’t many entertainment options, and people generally went to bed early. By around nine o’clock, Liu Chunhua and Li Jiangang had already gone to sleep. 

But Li Xia didn’t leave right away. Instead, she waited another two hours—only waking An An when she was sure that Liu Chunhua and Li Jiangang were in a deep sleep. 

“An An, wake up,” she whispered.

Before falling asleep, An An already knew what they were about to do. When Li Xia woke him, he obediently got up and dressed himself while she took out the luggage they had prepared in advance.

Aside from a few pieces of clothing, they didn’t have much to bring.

Li Xia also made sure to take the pair of shoes the original host had made for An An, carefully tucking them into the bundle. It was something his mother had left for him—it had to be preserved.

After packing everything, Li Xia picked up a flashlight, took An An’s hand, and quietly closed the courtyard gate behind them. Without a hint of hesitation, they left the Li family home for good.

The full moon hung in the sky like a round pastry, casting long shadows on the ground beneath their feet.

Step by step, Li Xia and An An walked forward with unwavering determination.

She knew the political movement had already begun. The safest place for them now was the army base.

As for An An, as long as he was with his mother, anywhere felt like home.

…

At dawn, in the Li household, the rooster had already crowed several times.

Liu Chunhua got up and was surprised to find the stove cold. Usually, Li Xia would have already prepared breakfast, but today, there was nothing?

“Xiao Xia, get up and make breakfast!” Liu Chunhua called out as she walked to Li Xia’s bedroom door.

She called several times, but there was no response from inside.

Her expression darkened. Reaching out, she pushed the door forcefully and found that it wasn’t even latched—it swung open instantly.

She looked inside. The room was completely empty.

Li Xia and An An were nowhere to be seen.