Bai Nansheng remained silent for a long time before saying, “My mom has already made arrangements for you…” Then he explained Tang Liren’s plans.

Tang Liren was the type to have a sharp tongue but a soft heart. Although she hated Chen Lanfen for deceiving her family, she still felt sorry for her—after all, Chen Lanfen was the Chen family’s biological daughter. Now that the divorce had been exposed, the Chen family might blame her for it! At this moment, Chen Lanfen had just given birth, one of the most difficult times in a woman’s life when she needed care and support.

No matter what mistakes she had made, now wasn’t the time to kick her while she was down.

So, after speaking to the nurse, Tang Liren hired a local female caregiver for 150 yuan. She arranged for Chen Lanfen to stay at the caregiver’s home for three months after being discharged. The caregiver would take care of her and the baby and provide three meals a day.

Bai Nansheng added, “After three months, your body should mostly recover. Then you can return to Chenjia Village, find a job in the city, and you’ll be able to survive.”

Chen Lanfen hesitated.

—If she followed Nansheng’s plan, would she suffer even more? Would it be worse than staying with the Chen family? And would this decision make her already miserable life even worse?

Suddenly, Bai Nansheng spoke in a low voice, “Actually, I should thank you…”

Chen Lanfen froze.

Bai Nansheng said, “Thank you for letting me believe, even for a moment, that I could have love, just like everyone else. And thank you for making me realize… that I don’t deserve love at all. I’m even more grateful that, no matter how I used your brothers’ lives to threaten you into signing the divorce papers, you still signed them. So thank you for letting us part on good terms…”

“From now on, we’ll never see each other again.” Bai Nansheng finished softly, then turned and left.

Chen Lanfen stared blankly as he strode out of the hospital room.

It was a long while before she cried out, heartbroken, “Nansheng!”

Bai Nansheng ran around the hospital, eventually finding the Chen family’s father and sons. Quietly, he hid nearby, making sure they didn’t notice him.

He overheard the doctor telling Father Chen—

“Chen Daniu’s condition is serious! Both his arms and legs have comminuted fractures. He needs at least a month of hospitalization for treatment. As his family, you must not let him recover at home. There’s a high risk of bone misalignment, and if that happens, the bones might have to be broken again to heal properly. In severe cases, he might never be able to work in the fields again.”

“Chen Erniu’s condition is slightly better, but during his blood test, we discovered he has severe hepatitis. This disease is highly contagious, so you must take it seriously and get him hospitalized immediately…”

“As for Chen Sanniu, his injuries are the least severe. He just needs a month of hospitalization to set his bones properly, and then he can go home to recover.”

Father Chen sobbed and asked, “Doctor, if all three of my sons need hospitalization and treatment, how much will it cost?”

The doctor sighed and gave him a number that sounded astronomical.

Father Chen collapsed to the ground, clutching his head and crying.

Chen Sanniu cried while cursing, “This time we were completely ruined by Chen Juxiang! If Lanfen had married my older brother, none of this would have happened! It’s your fault for being so greedy! You thought you could take the Bai family’s money, marry a virgin, and make Bai Nansheng raise our brother’s son like a fool… You thought he was an idiot! But in the end, we’re the idiots… Wuuu! And Chen Juxiang is still living it up, eating and drinking well… Wuuu!”

Bai Nansheng knew the Chen family couldn’t afford the medical bills to treat their three sons.

That was exactly what he wanted.

As long as the three Chen brothers ended up disabled, they would never dare to come knocking for revenge.

For Nansheng, as long as his family could live a good life, he didn’t care whether he went to heaven or hell. What he hoped for was to grow stronger and protect his family for a lifetime.

Now that the Chen family’s matter was resolved, he had to hurry back to the military unit, work hard, and strive for merit and honor to bring glory to his family and become their support.

Bai Nansheng smiled slightly and left.

The sky had darkened, and the road was almost deserted.

Bai Nansheng hurried home, but about half a mile away, he saw a girl of fifteen or sixteen sitting by the roadside. She looked distressed, her face streaked with tears, wearing patched-up old clothes. In front of her was a clean cloth with about a dozen handmade hair ties displayed on it.

He stopped in his tracks.

The girl immediately noticed him. She looked up, her tear-filled eyes full of hope, and choked out, “Big brother, please… please buy a few hair ties!”

Bai Nansheng crouched down and asked, “Is your family in trouble?”

The girl bit her lip. “It’s just me and my younger brother at home now. My brother… he’s sick and needs to go to the hospital.” She wiped her tears again but stubbornly held back her sobs. “Big brother, buy some hair ties for your sisters or your wife. They’ll be happy.”

Bai Nansheng looked down at the hair ties. Most were made of yarn and fabric scraps. The colors matched well, and the craftsmanship was decent.

“I have three younger sisters, about your age,” Nansheng said. “How much are the hair ties?”

The girl replied, “One penny each.”

“I’ll take them all,” Bai Nansheng said, taking out a large bill and handing it to her.

The girl stared at him in shock, then at the bill. After hesitating, she said, “Big brother, this money… I can’t make change. How about I just give you the hair ties?”

Bai Nansheng said, “No way. If you can’t make change, just keep the rest and take your brother to the hospital. I’m taking these hair ties.”

He placed the bill on the cloth, grabbed the hair ties, and stood up to leave.

Behind him came the sound of someone kneeling.

Nansheng turned around.

The girl was kneeling, kowtowing, and crying, “Thank you, big brother! Thank you so much! May heaven bless you with happiness and peace for the rest of your life!” Then she clutched the bill tightly and ran off.

—Would he really have happiness and peace for the rest of his life?

Bai Nansheng first smiled bitterly, then relaxed and smiled.

As long as his family was well, he was well. That was happiness and peace for a lifetime.

Clenching the hair tie in his hand, he quickened his pace.

When he finally returned to the small courtyard where they were temporarily staying, he heard laughter drifting out from inside the walls.

By then, most of the relatives who had come from their hometown had already left—after all, most of them were not well-off and were counting on earning work points.

Only a few elderly folks, in their sixties or seventies, had been persuaded by Tang Liren to stay.

Tang Liren had said, “You’re all getting on in years, so there’s no need to rush around like the younger ones. Stay here and rest for a few days. I’ll take you to the hospital to get checked out.”

—“Fourth Uncle, do you have glaucoma?”
—“Grandma Qi, is it arthritis or rheumatism?”
—“Sixth Aunt, is it chronic asthma? I’ll take you to see a Chinese medicine doctor.”
—“Eighth Uncle, that corn on the sole of your foot has been bothering you for years. It must hurt to walk. I’ll take you to the hospital to get it removed… Once you’re all well-rested and your illnesses are treated, we’ll head back together!”

The elderly folks were both happy and grateful.

Standing outside the courtyard steps, Bai Nansheng quietly listened to the cheerful chatter coming from inside.

He smiled too.

But he didn’t dare step inside.

In this household, he was like an outsider. Although he knew his parents and family had done their best to include him, and he had tried his hardest to fit in, there was still…

A sense of not belonging.

At that moment, Tang Li’s voice rang out. “Where’s that Nansheng? Where did he sneak off to?”

Bai Nansheng was about to answer—

But his silly younger sister, Bai Taotao, responded in her sweet, crisp voice, “Brother went to the hospital!”

Bai Nansheng froze.

Tang Liren sounded suspicious. “What did he go to the hospital for?”

Taotao said, “Brother’s afraid that once he returns to the work team, the Chen family will come back to bully us. So he went to the hospital to gather information… If the Chen family has really recovered, Brother will break their arms and legs again to make sure they can never bully us ever again…”

Tang Liren seemed a little pleased. “He told you this?”

Taotao replied, “Taotao guessed!”

Tang Liren scolded lightly, “That little troublemaker!”

Taotao immediately chimed in happily, “Mom, don’t scold my brother, he’s a good brother!”

—Bai Taotao had seen her brother’s actions today with her own eyes. Honestly, his behavior had been no different from that of a thug. But after digging through the original memories of the little fool’s mind, Bai Taotao found that Bai Nansheng had always been the same as every member of this household.

Back when they farmed at home, he was strong, quick, and worked harder than anyone else. The family was big, with four households crammed into one courtyard, leaving barely enough room to live. It was Bai Nansheng who went up the mountain, chopped down trees, dragged them back, and sawed them into planks. He built an extra room and renovated the attic, finally giving the main household enough space for proper beds.

To improve the family’s meals, he was constantly busy, never taking a break. He often roamed the mountains, sometimes sneaking back with wild goods and other times setting traps in secret. In the middle of the night, he’d check the traps, catch a rabbit or deer every few days, and handle the meat outside to avoid alerting the noisy Li Cui’er. He’d roast the meat late into the night and then wake everyone up to share it.

And because Bai Taotao had been a fool, everyone had looked down on her and despised the Bai family at first. But Bai Nansheng had used his fists to beat up anyone who mocked them. In the end, no one dared to make fun of Taotao or the Bai family again.

So, even though Bai Taotao had witnessed her brother acting like a brute today, as long as his targets were bad people, she still believed her brother was good.

Standing outside the courtyard wall, Bai Nansheng felt his eyes burn red at his silly sister’s words.

Then he heard Tang Liren say, “Alright, alright, I’m the bad one. I’ll never say anything bad about your brother again, okay? But why hasn’t Nansheng come back yet? We’ve got so many elders here—they must be starving… Let’s save some food for him. We’ll eat first.”

Taotao quickly added, “Save some food for me too! I want to eat with Brother when he comes back!”

“You stubborn child!” Tang Liren muttered.

Bai Nansheng quickly tilted his head up, blinking furiously to force back the tears that threatened to fall.

He took a deep breath—

Then strode into the courtyard and called out loudly, “I’m back! What’s for dinner tonight?!”

His silly sister rushed over. “Brother!”

Bai Nansheng laughed, rubbing her head, his eyes glistening with emotion.

Tang Liren asked, “So, you went to the hospital?”

Bai Nansheng responded with a smile and a soft “Mm.”

Tang Liren showed a look of surprise.

Taotao had already started chattering excitedly. “Brother! Third Sister made chicken soup tonight. It’s golden! She used two whole chickens and added a lot of shiitake mushrooms to stew with it! The chicken was shredded and mixed with ginger and scallions… It’s so delicious!”

“Great! Then let’s go eat! Wait, Taotao, look—what’s this?” Nansheng took out the hair ties he had just bought.

Bai Taotao’s eyes lit up!

The plastic hair clips previously gifted by the overseas Chinese seemed so crude in Taotao’s eyes, who had owned at least ten thousand exquisite accessories in her past life, that she didn’t even care for them. But these hair ties her brother brought back were clearly handmade and rather delicate.

Taotao liked them. She carefully sifted through them in her brother’s hand for a long time before picking out three she liked. Then, with a bright smile, she said to Nansheng, “Thank you, Brother. Taotao likes these three.”

Bai Xingxing teased her from the side. “Those hair clips from the overseas Chinese were so pretty, but I didn’t see you care about them this much!”

Taotao thought her sister was so silly. “How could they be the same? These three are obviously handmade. Each one is unique in the whole world. Compared to the clips that have thousands or even tens of thousands of identical copies, I like these three better!”

Bai Xingxing was momentarily speechless. After a while, she said, “Brother, let me see too! I want to pick out a one-of-a-kind hair tie!”

The hair ties Nansheng brought back caused quite a stir among the women in the family. Even Grandma Qi got one. Of course, people like Chen Juxiang and Li Cui’er didn’t have the face to join in on the fun…