Bai Taotao had just returned to Ruyi Village.

Before she even reached the village entrance, a crowd had already gathered, chattering all at once—

“Liren, I don’t know what’s going on, but a whole bunch of bamboo has grown inside your house!”
“Qian, the bamboo in your house even attracted snakes. It seems one bit Fugui, so you better be careful!”
“Dong, you really should send Hui’er back. Honestly, you might as well give up on that house!”
“It’s so strange. You all share the same courtyard, so why is it only your house that’s filled with bamboo…”

Everyone stood there and exchanged puzzled looks.

Only Taotao knew what was going on.

Out of caution, the group had Bai Zhengqian, Tan Fenghui, and their children sent to stay temporarily at Grandma Qi’s place, while the others returned to the old house to check things out.

Taotao insisted on going—

Everyone tried to persuade her not to, but Taotao clutched her little potted grapevine, grabbed Song Zhi, and ran off! Left with no choice, they asked Song Zhi to keep an eye on her and followed them to the old house.

The scene was quite a sight.

Originally, the main house only had one room, but later, they added a southern wing and even partitioned off a loft. It was actually pretty spacious. Yet now, countless green bamboo stalks were poking out through the windows…

The strangest part was that outside the main house, the ground was clean and tidy—not a single bamboo shoot or even a weed in sight.

Everyone was stunned.

Taotao held onto Song Zhi’s arm with one hand and pinched a leaf on the grapevine with the other. She asked, [Little Grape, are there really snakes inside?]

[Yes, there are!]

The grapevine’s thin, sharp voice replied, [Sweet Bamboo Brother said that people tried several times to chop down the bamboo at the entrance with machetes. Sweet Bamboo Brother almost couldn’t hold them back, so Bayberry Sister suggested letting the green snake move in…

But we don’t know how to drive snakes away, so we asked Grandpa. He had Uncle Banyan

[efn_note]The banyan tree is a type of fig tree[/efn_note]

catch a few live mice with its roots and deliver them to Sweet Bamboo Brother. That’s how the snakes were attracted. But the ones that came were rat snakes, not green snakes.]

Taotao was scared of all snakes and nervously asked, [Are there still snakes now?]

The grapevine replied, [No, they were scared off by that woman. But it seems there are still mice inside.]

Just then, Li Cui’er burst out of her house, hands on her hips, and started yelling, “Tang Liren! You’re behind this, aren’t you? When you left, you must have had bad intentions and deliberately planted bamboo in your house! Were you guarding against me on purpose?”

Tang Liren looked at her like she was an idiot. “If I had that kind of skill, wouldn’t I have built my new house in Hexi by now?”

Li Cui’er: !!!

Bai Xingxing added, “Fourth Aunt, so you knew we were guarding against you?”

Li Cui’er: ???

Bai Lili followed up, “Fourth Aunt, is it true that Fugui was bitten by a snake?”

Li Cui’er: …

She was so furious she couldn’t speak.

Bai Dongsheng had his mother and sisters step aside, then cleared the bamboo blocking the entrance with a machete. After carefully checking the house to make sure there were no snakes, he let them in.

Everyone spent the better part of the day packing up bedding, trunks, clothes, cookware, and anything they could move. Bai Dongsheng and Song Zhi hauled load after load, making more than ten trips before they were finally done.

Even though they were curious about why the old house was suddenly overrun with bamboo, rebuilding the new house was the most urgent task—nothing else mattered more.

For Ruyi Village, building a new house was never just a family matter; it was a big event for the entire village.

Besides, Bai Zhengqian and his wife had always been well-liked in the village.

That very day, Bai Zhengqian and Second Uncle Bai discussed the plans in detail. The two brothers bought the plot of land in Hexi, finalized the layout of their houses, then called in the village chief, a few production team leaders, and some clan elders to hold a day-long meeting.

The next day, under the village chief’s direction, thirty to forty strong men from the village went up the mountain to haul back over a dozen large trees. Then, they immediately launched into a full-scale operation—sawing planks, building door frames and window lattices, laying foundations, marking angles, digging pits for latrines, building stoves for the kitchen, and even hauling bricks from the neighboring village. Everyone was busy.

By the third day, thanks to everyone’s hard work, the framework of a small, four-sided courtyard house was already up!

Taotao’s house was on the upper slope of the hill, while Second Uncle Bai’s was on the lower slope. The two homes faced each other, close yet private.

Bai Zhengqian even built a separate house for Song Zhi.

—Well, it was actually just a room within the main courtyard, but it had its own door. One door opened into Bai Zhengqian’s yard for shared meals, while the front door opened outward, giving Song Zhi complete freedom to come and go.

Song Zhi was quite touched.

But being naturally reserved and not very good with words, he didn’t know how to properly thank Bai Zhengqian.

After thinking it over, he decided to head to town and buy gifts for the Bai family.

When he went to register his attendance at the Educated Youth Station, Jiang Hongzhi was annoyed. “Song Zhi, you’ve only been here for less than a month, and look how many times you’ve taken leave already!”

Song Zhi replied calmly, “First of all, I’m on vacation, not taking leave. Second, I’m following the rules. Do you have a problem with that?”

Jiang Hongzhi grew angry. “You still have the nerve to say you’re following the rules?” Then he suddenly remembered that educated youths were allowed four days off per month. Although Song Zhi had already taken four days off in a row, those were his April days off. Now it was May.

Jiang Hongzhi was stumped.

Seeing Song Zhi leave without looking back, Jiang Hongzhi hesitated for a moment before running after him. “Hey! Song Zhi… wait a second!” He caught up, pulled some money and vouchers from his pocket, and handed them over. “Since you’re going to town, can you bring back two tins of vanishing cream and a couple of thin silk scarves—the kind women use to block the sun?”

“I’m busy.” Song Zhi ignored him and left.

Jiang Hongzhi’s face turned blue then red.

Once in town, Song Zhi headed straight for the post and telecommunications office. He found the operator, asked to make a call, and recited a series of numbers.

The call quickly connected.

Song Zhi said, “Hello, this is Song Zhi. Is Professor Huang available?”

The person on the other end was Guan Hailong.

He was a little surprised. “It’s you… how have you been over there?”

Song Zhi fell silent.

—His mother had passed away early, and his biological father had entrusted him, still an infant, to his old friend Guan Qingbai to raise.

He and Guan Hailong had grown up together like real brothers.

But his feelings toward Guan Hailong and the Guan family were complicated.

Now, Guan Hailong was asking how he had been?

Song Zhi avoided answering. “Is Professor Huang there?”

Guan Hailong hesitated. “… Haishan has been thinking about you.”

Song Zhi frowned.

After a long pause, he asked again, “Is Professor Huang there?”

This time, Guan Hailong finally responded, “He… isn’t here. Do you need to leave a message?”

“No need.” Song Zhi hung up decisively.

On the other end, Guan Hailong had prepared a lot to say to Song Zhi, but all he heard was the beeping of a disconnected call.

For a moment, he stood there in a daze.

Suddenly, someone behind him asked, “Who was on the phone?”

Guan Hailong was startled!

When he turned around, Professor Huang was actually standing there???

Guan Hailong scrambled for an explanation. “It—it was a relative of mine…”

Professor Huang stared at him for a while, then turned and left.

A cold sweat broke out on Guan Hailong’s back for no apparent reason.

He returned to his desk, sat down, and used a key to open the drawer. From under a thick notebook, he pulled out a stack of letters.

There were about a dozen letters. Three were sent by Song Zhi, and eleven were ones that Professor Huang had asked Xiao Mao to send to Song Zhi—but Guan Hailong had intercepted them all.

Guan Hailong stared at the letters for a long time, lost in thought.

Finally, he rolled the letters into a bundle, stuffed them into his pants pocket, and hurriedly left the office.

Meanwhile, after failing to reach Professor Huang, Song Zhi didn’t want to talk more with Guan Hailong. He simply hung up, paid the operator, and left the post office.

His relationship with Guan Hailong was complicated.

The Guan family’s situation was messy.

Guan Qingbai had married twice. His first wife, Du Min, gave birth to a son and a daughter—Guan Hailong and Guan Haishan—who were about the same age as Song Zhi. During Du Min’s lifetime, Song Zhi, Guan Hailong, and Guan Haishan enjoyed a relatively affluent and comfortable childhood.

When Song Zhi was seven, Du Min passed away due to illness.

A year later, Guan Qingbai remarried Fang Ling.

Fang Ling was a widow who brought her son from her previous marriage, Fang Shenghao (the same age as Song Zhi). Later, she also gave birth to Guan Qingbai’s youngest daughter, Guan Haifu.

In short, the family’s primary conflict stemmed from the two children of the first wife clashing with the two children of the second wife. Song Zhi, as the adopted son, was caught in the middle, neither fitting in above nor below, and found it hard to belong.

Starting in middle school, Song Zhi chose to live on campus. On weekends and holidays, he found excuses to stay at school, giving him more time to focus on his studies. He only returned to the Guan household during major holidays when it couldn’t be avoided.

Song Zhi and Guan Hailong had grown up together like brothers.

At some point, however, they began to drift apart.

To avoid the conflicts in the Guan household, Song Zhi stayed at school and read every book in the library. Meanwhile, Guan Hailong fought fiercely with Fang Ling and Fang Shenghao to protect his sister, Guan Haishan, and secure his place in the family.

Over the years, Song Zhi earned excellent grades and was directly admitted to Xidu University. Guan Hailong, on the other hand, dropped out of high school and later used Guan Qingbai’s connections to become a substitute teacher at an elementary school.

When the movement to send educated youth to the countryside began, calling intellectuals to serve in the areas that needed them most, Song Zhi had already secured a spot to remain at the university.

But Guan Hailong heard through the grapevine that his name was on the list to be sent to the countryside.

Guan Hailong didn’t sleep for three days and nights. He didn’t want to go to the countryside, especially since Fang Shenghao had managed to stay in the city.

He believed Fang Ling didn’t have the ability to pull strings to keep Fang Shenghao in the city—it had to be the old man (Guan Qingbai). Was that any way for a father to act? Helping his wife’s child from a previous marriage instead of his own biological son?!

In the end, he turned to Song Zhi and proposed they switch work units. He wanted to stay in the city to keep fighting Fang Shenghao while Song Zhi went to the countryside in his place.

Naturally, Song Zhi refused.

Guan Hailong said to him, “Do you remember how my mom treated you when we were kids?”

“She treated you, her godson, better than she treated me, her own son. When I had a fever, she just made me drink several cups of cold water and covered me with a quilt—that was it. But when you were sick, she took you straight to the hospital and stayed by your side for days, not daring to close her eyes…”

Guan Hailong brought up the past.