Chapter 12

Tieshuan gathered a group of little boys at school to bully Da Wa, but unfortunately, Da Wa knocked all of them down.

These children themselves did not like studying, yet their parents had high expectations for them. The school took this opportunity to expel them, but how could the parents accept that?

When they could not cause a scene at the school, they came to find Shen Tieshuan!

Li Ailian and Ma Hongmei naturally refused to accept it, and the few of them started quarreling. Gu Yinyin quickly took Da Wa and Xiao Wa a few steps back, set up the table for the meal, and watched them argue from a distance.

At first, a few village women were clapping their hands, stomping their feet, and trading insults. Soon, they began yanking each other’s hair and fighting.

It was thrilling and dazzling to watch, and Gu Yinyin almost burst out laughing.

She called to Da Wa and Xiao Wa: “Eat, eat, eat, while it’s hot! Eat while you watch. Look, haha, your third aunt is being pinned down and beaten! Hahahaha!”

On Ma Hongmei’s side, her usual fierceness finally met a worthy opponent. Even while pinned beneath someone, she still cursed loudly: “My Tieshuan is really powerful! Your brat is just a follower! You all chose to follow us into fights! Being expelled is only because your family’s roots are no good! Let go of me! Damn it, let me go!”

Li Ailian also had her hair yanked and cried out “Ow, ow.” but she still refused to yield. “Compensation? Compensate your damn mother! My precious grandson was expelled too. Who should I ask for compensation?”

Originally, Liu Wenxiu was worried that such fighting was not proper and was considering whether to step in and separate them. But when she saw Gu Yinyin sitting down with the children to eat, she hurriedly brought her own children to sit and eat as well. In the end, after the two of them had eaten their fill with the kids, the Shen family’s second and third brothers finally returned from the fields and forcefully separated the fighters. Only then did the farce come to an end.

Li Ailian and Ma Hongmei were left with fingernail marks all over their faces, their hair disheveled, and they were panting heavily. Each one groaned “ow, ow.” and had no appetite left for food.

Shen Guowei felt utterly humiliated, so he grabbed a shoe sole and gave Tieshuan a beating.

Gu Yinyin could not be bothered to listen to all that ruckus. She turned and took the children back into the house.

Da Wa needed to study mathematics and Chinese, while Xiao Wa needed to practice writing simple numbers. As Gu Yinyin watched them study, she took out some peach crisps from the cabinet to share with them, and they drank a sip of sweet well water together, enjoying it unconsciously.

But thinking about how the Shen family’s worldview was so twisted, she was determined to escape. Once Shen Guo’an returned, she would hand the two children over to him, then find a way to divorce him!

At this moment, a thousand miles away, a man was driving with his eyes focused intently on the road ahead.

His sword-like brows, starry eyes, and high nose bridge gave him the looks of a classic handsome man. But because he was often out, weathered by wind and sun, he inevitably looked a little worn. Still, he carried a special kind of charm.

Especially those deep-set eyes, which seemed to forever hold a smile within them.

Beside Shen Guo’an, Old Chen coughed and said: “Old Shen, take a break. You can’t keep driving tired like this. I’ll drive. Sigh, after this trip, we’ll have to rest for a month at home.”

They had been out for almost half a year. The days on the road were dull and monotonous, making accidents easy to happen. Fortunately, Shen Guo’an worked steadily and reliably, so Old Chen never felt afraid when riding with him.

Shen Guo’an nodded, skillfully pulled the vehicle over, and switched seats with Old Chen, moving to the passenger side.

Once Old Chen sat at the wheel, he began talking about home matters. After rambling on a bit, he asked: “Old Shen, what’s the situation at your home now? You’ve got a few kids. Can your wife handle them?”

At the thought of Gu Yinyin’s delicate and pampered manner, Shen Guo’an smiled.

When he married her, everyone said it was because she was beautiful.

But was beauty alone useful? A woman like Gu Yinyin, in the countryside, not many people would want her. She only looked after the children passably, did very little housework, often lost her temper and caused scenes—her only advantage was that pretty face.

But for living life, what use was a face? When one was so poor they could not even put food on the table, could a face be eaten?

He himself did not even know why he had married her, and even Gu Yinyin did not know the reason.

Shen Guo’an gave a faint smile. “It’s fine. I was also just thinking that after finishing this trip, I’d go home and rest for a while, and help her share some of the household matters.”

After a few more words between the two of them, Shen Guo’an yawned, and very soon he leaned back against the car seat and fell asleep.

He closed his eyes. Old Chen, driving, also let out a yawn. The road had few vehicles, and while driving along, Old Chen suddenly lost focus for a moment and accidentally crashed into the cart in front, belonging to Zhuzi!

Shen Guo’an woke up instantly, but it was already too late. His head slammed against the windshield, and blood immediately spread across his forehead. Old Chen was terrified. “Old Shen! Are you all right? I—I dozed off while driving!”

Shen Guo’an felt a searing pain, but he only waved his hand, hastily grabbed a towel to wipe his forehead, and said: “It’s fine, it’s fine, just a cut. Old Chen, you’re tired too. Let’s both rest, sleep for half a day, then continue.”

The two of them had been taking turns driving for ten hours already. Soon, both of them made do by sleeping in the vehicle.

But Shen Guo’an did not sleep soundly. He was exhausted, and his forehead throbbed with pain. Before long, he began to dream uneasy dreams.

He dreamed that Gu Yinyin had betrayed him, that she had slipped into the quilt in another man’s educated youth dormitory, and was caught red-handed by a large group of people. He rushed home in a panic and saw Gu Yinyin’s body covered in bruises. Before he could even step closer, Gu Yinyin shouted at him: “I just like Educated Youth Lin! So what! Shen Guo’an, I never liked you! Why did you marry me?! Educated Youth Lin is so much better than you!”

Those words cut Shen Guo’an’s heart like a knife. He said: “If you like Educated Youth Lin, then go to him.”

Gu Yinyin left, but in less than two days, he heard that she had thrown herself into the river.

For years, Shen Guo’an lived in a daze. He often wondered whether he should never have married Gu Yinyin in the first place.

He had thought that working hard to earn money was the best way to treat her well, but reality proved that she did not think so at all.

She still fell in love with someone else, and even gave up her life for another man.

The villagers pointed fingers at Shen Guo’an, and the two children were pitiful as well. Gu Yinyin’s close friend, Mei Ling, often came by to help take care of the children and curry favor with Shen Guo’an, but Shen Guo’an did not want to see her at all.

Every time he saw her, he thought of Gu Yinyin’s betrayal.

He thought of how easily Gu Yinyin had given up her own life!

But the children were indeed pitiful. Since he had no plans to remarry and was too busy earning money, he could only leave the children in his mother’s care. Yet Shen Guo’an knew that his mother was biased. During many difficult times, Mei Ling would come over again. With no other choice, he entrusted Mei Ling with helping to care for the children, for Gu Yinyin’s sake, since they had been close friends.

Only many years later did he realize that Mei Ling harbored feelings for him.

Shen Guo’an, of course, was unwilling. He began to distance himself from Mei Ling. He met all her needs financially, but as for developing any affection, that was absolutely impossible.

Even later, his mother accepted Mei Ling, and publicly called her her eldest daughter-in-law. But Shen Guo’an never acknowledged her, never agreed to register the marriage, and never even said more than a few words to her. He allowed Mei Ling to live together with Li Ailian, let them do whatever they pleased, but he firmly refused to be with Mei Ling.

Once, Mei Ling cried and asked him, what was so good about Gu Yinyin? Had all her ten years of effort still failed to measure up to Gu Yinyin?

She had betrayed him with another man, thrown herself into the river for that man, and had never once felt sorry for Shen Guo’an or the children—what was so good about her?

Shen Guo’an looked at her coldly. “She has nothing good, but you still cannot compare to her.”

Gu Yinyin was Gu Yinyin. No matter what, no one could ever take her place.

Even if the whole world cursed her, even if the children hated her, every time he thought of her his teeth itched with anger—yet still, he wished she could live well.

⋆⁺₊⋆ ━━━━⊱༒︎ • ༒︎⊰━━━━ ⋆⁺₊⋆

The dream suddenly ended, and Shen Guo’an jolted awake, drenched in sweat.

That dream had felt so real, yet it was clearly a dream. His heart pounded furiously as he flipped himself into the driver’s seat and started the vehicle.

He needed to hurry and deliver the goods, hurry and get back home.

Whatever Gu Yinyin wanted, he could satisfy her—even divorce was fine—but what he hoped for above all was that she would live well, no matter what.

Da Wa and Xiao Wa sat on low stools, leaning against a tall stool as they wrote numbers. Gu Yinyin had been watching them write, but after a while, she grew sleepy and dozed off on the bedside.

Da Wa glanced at her, then casually sketched a little stick figure on the paper. He whispered to Xiao Wa: “Does this look like our mother?”

Xiao Wa covered her mouth and giggled. “It does!”

Da Wa used an eraser to rub out the figure he had drawn, regretting that he was not good at drawing. His mother and younger sister were both so beautiful—if only he could capture them on paper!

Oh, right—he suddenly remembered their family of four once had a family portrait. Da Wa quickly rummaged for it, pulled it out, and began studying it intently.

Gu Yinyin, meanwhile, was dreaming about the boy she had secretly loved all throughout her three years of high school—Guo An.

Both of them had excelled academically; usually it was either him or her taking first place. But since they had not been in the same class, they were not really acquainted.

Yet to say they were strangers was not true either, for they had met many times—whether at various school competitions inside and outside, at speech contests, or at flag-raising ceremonies.

They were the most outstanding boy and girl in the entire school, and naturally both had many admirers. Gu Yinyin did not know what Guo An thought, but she only knew that she had fallen for him.

During one flag-raising ceremony, she stood on the podium as the host, while he was the flag bearer. In the gentle morning sunlight, the young man in a green military uniform looked like a vigorous young poplar. His deep-set eyes seemed filled with laughter.

He smiled at her, and that smile made her fall in without realizing it.

If not for being transported here, Gu Yinyin would have gone to the same university as Guo An. On the mountaintop, she had told her best friend Mei Ling that as long as she made her move, Guo An would surely be with her.

The next moment, Mei Ling had shoved her down the mountain.

Behind her, Gu Yinyin still faintly heard Mei Ling’s voice: “Guo An is mine!”

Gu Yinyin jolted awake, her whole body uncomfortable. She lifted her head and saw Da Wa and Xiao Wa looking at a photograph.

She glanced over, and suddenly realized that in her own mind, she actually had only the vaguest impression of what Shen Guo’an looked like.

Xiao Wa pointed at the photo and said: “Mother, you’re awake? Brother was drawing you and Father.”

Supporting herself on the bed, Gu Yinyin leaned forward for a better look. What she saw nearly scared her to death!

In the photo—how could Guo An be there?!

That man in the picture, with deep eyes brimming with laughter—he was clearly the grown-up version of Guo An!!!