It was nothing more than… returning things to their rightful owner.

Aside from being anxious to get back quickly, the most important thing for Qiao Jiuru and Su Huaiyuan was to ensure the Song family wouldn’t refuse these items and money vouchers.

Because, before dawn, Qiao Jiuru had checked the deeds she got from Lin Kesheng and realized whose properties they originally were.

She flipped through that thick stack of house deeds in her space and eventually found over a dozen that belonged to the Song family.

Clearly, what Lin Kesheng took from the Song family wasn’t just property deeds.

There must have been gold, silver, jewelry, money, antiques, and collectibles as well.

Now that Qiao Jiuru had those things from Lin Kesheng, naturally, some of it belonged to the Song family.

So, she and Su Huaiyuan discussed it.

In this deal with Yu Dabiao, they’d set aside a portion for the Song family, secretly leaving them some money and tickets as well.

It could be considered a return to the rightful owner, and she could sleep easier with a clear conscience.

As for the house deeds, now wasn’t the time to give them back.

She would return them once the Song family was politically rehabilitated.

Qiao Jiuru believed that the money and things she’d just given would definitely be hidden away well by Old Master Song.

In fact, Old Master Song moved swiftly, just as Qiao Jiuru expected.

“Wife, hide this 300 yuan in our bedroom, up in the rafters. Another 300 in the kids’ room, and 300 buried under the kitchen floor.”

After wiping away tears, he counted out 900 yuan and handed it to his wife.

Then he took the key Qiao Jiuru had left, picked up the basket of eggs, 20 jin of rice and flour, a thermos, cotton, salted fish, cured meat, pork lard, and pork.

He tucked the remaining 1,100 yuan and tickets into his clothes and headed to the neighboring Qiao household.

A short while later, he returned empty-handed, quietly.

From now on, anything valuable would be kept at the neighbor’s house, not theirs.

If they needed anything, they’d go fetch it quietly in the middle of the night.

Besides the 900 yuan his wife hid, the old man still had the 500 yuan Qiao Jiuru gave earlier.

The elderly couple continued separately: they hid 200 yuan in a secret spot near the courtyard gate and another 200 under the chicken coop.

The final 100 yuan was split into three parts: 30 yuan kept by the old man, 40 by his wife, and the last 30 left at Xiao Nian’s place.

After they finished all this, daylight had fully broken. Old Master Song and his wife let out a long sigh of relief.

Looking at each other, the weight and anxiety of years seemed to lift from their hearts.

As long as they could keep this 2,500 yuan safely hidden, it would last them more than ten years.

In ten years, their youngest grandchildren, Xiao Luo and Xiao Yu, would be fifteen or sixteen.

By then, they’d be able to support themselves, and the old couple could finally be at peace.

They were deeply grateful to Niece Qiao and her husband.

They were truly the Song family’s saviors.

From today, the Song family could finally start to recover.

When Qiao Jiuru and Su Huaiyuan got home, it was just past six-thirty.

Su Ze and Zhou Wanwan hadn’t slept all night, so they were already up.

When the young couple realized their parents weren’t home, they figured they had gone out.

But as six o’clock passed, and then six-thirty, with still no sign of them, Su Ze and Zhou Wanwan grew extremely anxious, constantly listening for any sounds outside.

It was March, and the young couple, even inside, had broken out in cold sweat from worry.

Just when Su Ze and Zhou Wanwan were deeply worried, Qiao Jiuru and Su Huaiyuan returned together.

“Dad, Mom, you scared us to death! You’re finally back!”

Zhou Wanwan couldn’t hold it in when she saw her in-laws.

Her face was pale, her legs weak, and she clutched her wildly pounding chest in fear.

“Don’t be afraid. They won’t come before seven. Even if they do, just say we went early to the train station to pick up Dabao and Xiaobao. Even if they suspect something, they’ll go to the station first.”

Qiao Jiuru knew they had returned a bit late this time and felt sorry for making the kids worry.

“Mom, we know you have a plan. It’s just that Wanwan and I are young and easily rattled.”

Su Ze admitted, a bit embarrassed. He’d been scared too, afraid they’d be caught.

“Xiao Ze, Wanwan, it was our fault for coming back late. We owe you an apology for making you worry. Ah-Ru, we really shouldn’t cut it so close next time.”

Su Huaiyuan felt bad as well. It was such a tense and dangerous time—they’d taken too big a risk.

“Dad, you and Mom were doing it for us. We’re fine.”

“Yes, you did it for us.”

“As long as we work together as a family, there’s no hardship we can’t get through.”

“Let’s bring out all the luggage. Those people will be here any minute.”

There wasn’t even time for breakfast. Qiao Jiuru instructed her son and daughter-in-law to bring out all the packed clothes, quilts, daily items, and five aluminum lunchboxes with chopsticks to the living room.

Just as they finished moving everything they could take into the living room, the street office personnel arrived.

They quickly went through the family’s belongings and then hurriedly drove them all to the train station.

Fortunately, it wasn’t far from the compound to the train station—less than five stops by bus, not even twenty minutes.

At the station, Zhang Hong and Fang Xinyu were already waiting, each holding a child, scanning the crowd.

“Dabao! Xiaobao!”