Zhang Mengzhi tucked the ticket into his pocket and sat obediently in his seat. 

He had woken up a bit early, so he was still feeling drowsy. He leaned back in his seat and dozed off. 

Almost everyone from the commune knew him. When people who had intended to chat upon boarding the bus saw him sleeping, they lowered their voices. 

“Isn’t that the third child from the Zhangjia Village? It’s been a while since I’ve seen him on the bus.” 

The passengers started whispering. 

“It’s him. He’s been working in the countryside in Zhangjia Village this past year, so you haven’t seen him on the bus.” 

Someone in the know told everyone. 

“I see.” 

Everyone felt that there was nothing surprising about Zhang Mengzhi returning to his hometown to work in the countryside. 

After all, he wasn’t the only one doing this. No one would be bored enough to report him. After all, they still had to live in this city in the future, and if they offended everyone, they wouldn’t have a good life. 

This was a society that valued relationships, and offending one person was equivalent to offending a large group of people. 

At 7:10, the bus started, and Zhang Mengzhi vaguely sensed it, but he didn’t open his eyes. 

He didn’t get carsick, but he always felt like sleeping on the bus. Whenever he had a seat, he would sleep straight through to his stop. 

Strangely enough, his sleep quality on the bus was actually quite good. He didn’t find it noisy at all, even though there were many sounds and the smell wasn’t pleasant. But he just wanted to sleep. 

Because everyone on the bus was familiar, he wasn’t worried about his belongings being stolen, so Zhang Mengzhi slept soundly. 

Today was no exception. He carried his luggage to the commune alone in the morning. Grandpa Zhang wanted to take him, but Zhang Mengzhi refused. 

He had walked the road from Zhangjia Village to the commune for over a decade. The luggage wasn’t too heavy, and he could carry it all by himself. 

Despite being tall and thin, he had the strength of a normal adult, so he didn’t feel too tired even after carrying a bunch of stuff and walking for an hour on the mountain road. 

Buses usually stop frequently along the way, and today was no exception. The journey, which would normally take two hours, took a full four hours. By the time they arrived at the city’s bus station, it was almost noon. 

“Mengzhi, wake up! We’re here.” 

The ticket conductor waited until everyone had gotten off the bus before calling Zhang Mengzhi. 

“Auntie Li.” 

Zhang Mengzhi was woken up and rubbed his face to fully wake himself up. 

“Hurry home, or there won’t be any lunch left for you.” 

The ticket conductor joked with him. 

“Okay, thank you, Auntie Li and Uncle Lu. I’ll get off now.” 

Zhang Mengzhi picked up his luggage, waved to the driver and ticket conductor, and got off the bus. 

He hadn’t told his parents that he was coming back today, so no one was at the station to pick him up. 

Zhang Mengzhi wasn’t a child anymore, needing adults to pick him up from the station. So, he carried his luggage out of the station and walked towards his home. 

The city was still relatively small, unlike the expanded cities of later generations that you couldn’t walk across. So, Zhang Mengzhi arrived home after a half-hour walk. 

Yes, he walked all the way from the station to his home. There were no city buses in their city yet. To get around the city, you either walked or rode a bicycle. 

City buses probably wouldn’t appear until the 1980s or 1990s. 

It was 1978, and their city was still relatively backward. 

“Mom, Dad, Xiaoyu, I’m back!” 

Zhang Mengzhi gently pushed open the gate of his family’s small courtyard and called out to the house. 

The courtyard gate was never locked or bolted during the day when someone was home, to facilitate neighborhood interactions. 

“Mom, Dad, my brother’s back!” 

Zhang Xiaomei (Zhang Mengyu) heard the voice and ran out of the house. She saw her brother standing in the courtyard with a lot of luggage and quickly turned back to call her parents. 

The Zhang family had a house with a courtyard in the city, which they had bought after Zhang Mengzhi was born, thanks to his mother’s family connections. At that time, his mother’s family was well-off, and his maternal grandparents and uncle had contributed some money to buy the house outright. 

It wasn’t large, with the house being just over a hundred square meters and the courtyard being forty or fifty square meters. 

The courtyard was full of vegetables, and the Zhang family usually picked vegetables from their own courtyard. 

This alone helped a lot during the most difficult years, and they could occasionally support his mother’s family. Unfortunately, his uncle and aunt passed away in an accident and didn’t live to see the good times. 

There was a path in the middle of the courtyard, with vegetable plots on both sides. In order to grow more vegetables, almost the entire courtyard was covered, except for the path in the middle. 

On the right side of the vegetable plot, there was a peach tree, which was now full of peaches. The tips of the peaches were already red, and they could be eaten in a while. 

On the left side of the vegetable plot, near the wall, two hens were raised. The eggs that the Zhang family usually ate came from here. 

The small courtyard looked very crowded because of the vegetable plots. However, the Zhang family was clean, and the vegetable plots and chicken coop were well-maintained. 

In addition to a younger sister, Zhang Mengzhi also had an adopted older sister, who was his mother’s niece. Because her parents died early, and her maternal grandparents were old, she was adopted by the Zhang couple. Now she was married and had two children. 

In order to reassure her and show that they treated her as their own daughter, they gave her a new name, Zhang Mengyao. 

“Mengzhi, you’re back!” 

Zhang’s mother and Zhang’s father ran out of the main room and immediately hugged their son when they saw him. 

As their firstborn son in the true sense, Zhang’s mother and Zhang’s father had a particularly deep affection for this son. 

Zhang Mengzhi’s birth broke the rumors that Zhang’s mother or Zhang’s father couldn’t have children, and it also made their quiet and silent family suddenly lively and cheerful. 

Even the married adopted sister, who was actually a cousin, wasn’t bullied by her in-laws because she had this younger brother. 

After all, Zhang Mengzhi had given people the impression that he would be successful since he was a child. The adopted sister’s in-laws wouldn’t offend the seemingly powerful younger brother-in-law, so as not to cause trouble for their family. 

“Mom, Dad, I’m back.” 

Zhang Mengzhi let his parents hug him and reached out to wipe the tears from their faces. 

“It’s good that you’re back, it’s good that you’re back.” 

Zhang’s mother’s eyes were red, and Zhang’s father was even more useless than Zhang’s mother, and his eyes never stopped. 

“Mom, Dad, I’m not only back, but I’ve also brought good news.” 

Zhang Mengzhi looked at his parents’ faces, which were more haggard than when he left home. Although he didn’t know why, he had a way to make them happy. 

“We’ll talk about the good news at night, rest first.” 

Zhang’s mother showed a rare smile on her face after looking at her son. After his son came back, Zhang’s father also felt that the burden on his shoulders was lighter. 

“Brother, there’s me, there’s me.” 

Zhang Mengyu jumped up and down to the side and shouted. 

“That’s right, there’s Xiaoyu. Xiaoyu’er, your brother is back, are you happy?” 

Seeing this, Zhang Mengzhi put down the bag in his hand and caught his sister who was rushing towards him. 

“Happy.” 

The little girl hugged her brother’s arm and said happily. 

“Have you been obedient at home and listened to Mom and Dad?” 

Looking at the little girl who had grown a little taller than a year ago, Zhang Mengzhi rubbed her hair. 

“Yes, I’m very obedient. I even help Mom take care of the small vegetable garden every day when I get home!” 

The little girl said with a proud face. 

When her brother left home, he told her not to play outside for too long after school, and to go home early to help her mother take care of the house. 

Because no one else was at home, only her mother was at home, she would be lonely. 

The little girl remembered her brother’s words very well and went home early to accompany her mother every day after school. 

Having never been far away from home in her life, the farthest place she had ever been was when she went back to the countryside with her husband and children to see her parents, so Zhang Mengzhi was most worried about Zhang’s mother’s mental state. 

Especially after giving birth to her youngest sister, Zhang Mengzhi often made his mother happy, fearing that she would suffer from postpartum depression. 

With such a child who always cared for his mother, Zhang’s mother, even if she didn’t have much experience and was trapped in the family all her life, still lived happily every day. 

Because her three children were very filial and considerate to her as a mother, she earned enough face in front of the neighbors. 

Her popularity in the neighborhood was very good, after all, everyone envied the atmosphere of the Zhang family and always wanted to learn from Zhang’s mother. 

In this regard, Zhang’s mother said that as long as there was a son who cared for his mother, then they could also have their own lives. 

As a result, what she said was the truth, but it made a large group of people silent. 

It’s not that there are no sons who love their mothers, but most sons find it difficult to empathize with their mothers, and are more inclined to their fathers, and finally live like their fathers. 

In their hearts, everything that their mothers do is taken for granted, and it is difficult to appreciate their mothers’ hard work. 

“Xiaoyu is great, your brother is back, you only need to study hard and have fun.” 

Zhang Mengzhi praised. 

“That’s great!” 

The little girl was still young, and she was a real child, so she was immediately happy when she heard that she could play. 

“She’s really a child!” 

Zhang’s father couldn’t help but say when he saw his daughter’s happy little face. 

“Look at what you said, our Xiaoyu is not very old!” 

Zhang’s mother couldn’t help but roll her eyes at him after hearing her husband’s words. 

“Mom is right, Dad is annoying!” 

Zhang Mengyu said loudly with her little face puffed up. 

“I’m sorry Xiaoyu, Dad was wrong.” 

Zhang’s father wasn’t the kind of person who particularly valued paternal authority, and he would apologize to his children if he did something wrong. 

“Since Dad knows he’s wrong, then Xiaoyu will forgive you.” 

Zhang Mengyu waved her hand generously and said. 

“Okay, hurry up and go inside, Mengzhi must be exhausted after sitting on the bus all morning.” 

Zhang’s mother ignored her husband and daughter and pulled her son into the house. 

“I’ll go cook lunch for Mengzhi, is noodles okay? And I’ll fry two eggs for you.” 

As soon as Zhang’s father heard this, he walked towards the kitchen and asked his son.