In Su Xiangwan’s memory, whenever Jinhui came, he would always try to ride on Gou Dan, not in the way of crushing him like with other kids, but by forcing his leg across Gou Dan’s body.

Gou Dan had just recently started standing tall, acting more like a man.

He’d been washing his hands more, stopped digging holes, and was standing up straighter.

Would Jinhui try to ride him again and frighten him back to his old ways?

“Mom! Mom!” As Su Xiangwan ran ahead, she saw Gou Dan running toward her, shouting, “My brother’s still over there!”

Lu Dan was about to be beaten?

“Good for you, Lu Dan! Try hitting me again!” Fang Jinhui shouted loudly.

Su Xiangwan quickly closed the distance and saw a young man in a green military uniform holding Lu Dan’s head.

He was tall and muscular, with hands in his pockets and a cigarette dangling from his mouth. “Oh, so our Lu Dan wants me to show you a move, huh?”

The so-called move involved pinning the child under his thigh and making him crawl over.

Lu Dan, although small, was standing firm with a straight back, not backing down.

Su Xiangwan thought to herself, “This is the main character. He’s really tough.”

Holding the steel pipe, she shouted, “Fang Jinhui?”

As Jinhui turned his head, a steel pipe came flying toward his nose.

There was a buzzing sound, and blood immediately poured from his nose.

“Jin Liang, who the hell hit me?” Fang Jinhui shouted angrily.

Before he could say anything else, he heard the sound of a motorcycle revving, and there it was—his motorcycle charging right at him.

If Su Xiangwan was going to hit someone, she was ruthless and spoke little.

She first chased after the one named Jin Liang and knocked him down.

As she chased, Fang Jinhui finally noticed the blood on his nose and screamed, frantically searching for something to defend himself.

Without hesitation, Su Xiangwan simply ran over Fang Jinhui with her motorcycle.

Then, she turned around and slammed the broken motorcycle into the wall.

With a loud crash, the motorcycle was destroyed, and both Fang Jinhui and his lackey were lying on the ground.

Just then, Song Jianguo and Song Qi arrived, carrying large forks.

When they saw it was Fang Jinhui, they hesitated. “Xiangwan, this is your big nephew, and his father works at the county government. If you hit him, will it be okay?”

The two little boys, Lu Dan and Gou Dan, huddled together, already thinking that their mother had surely killed Fang Jinhui this time.

Lu Dan rushed home, pulled out Dashan, and brought him in front of his mother to protect her.

Song Qi also said, “He’s wearing a green military uniform. If we hit him, won’t the revolutionary team from the county come after us?”

“Did I hit anyone?” Su Xiangwan asked loudly in reply.

“I didn’t hit anyone,” she repeated, bringing the two men back to their senses.

Fang Jinhui was struggling, trying to get up. At that moment, Lu Dan loosened his grip, and Dashan charged like lightning, biting Fang Jinhui’s backside, making him yelp in pain.

He stretched his neck and kicked at the dog, shouting, “Jin Liang, Jin Liang, hurry up and go back to Hongxing Commune! Quick, we need to get back to Hongxing Commune!”

There were too many people, the motorcycle was wrecked, and his leg was hurting badly. Fang Jinhui was scared off.

As for the small jade watermelon, of course, it wasn’t stolen.

The ground paved with bricks was clean—smooth and uniform.

Lu Dan dug up some sand from the riverbank, found a woven bag, and tied it up.

He asked Su Xiangwan to find a place to hang it.

Su Xiangwan turned around and realized there wasn’t a tree in their yard, so she hung the sandbag on the bathroom door.

When the bathroom door was opened, the kids could practice punching the sandbag.

Lu Dan clenched his small fists, stood on tiptoe, kissed Su Xiangwan on the cheek, and whispered, “Mom, every punch I practice now is for the future, so you, Gou Dan and Zhizhi won’t be hurt.” He was such a little hero, and his words made Su Xiangwan’s heart bloom with joy.

The little handsome boy threw a punch at the sandbag—oh, it really hurt.

It seemed that movies lied.

Su Xiangwan rubbed his little head: “Silly, you can’t use your fists to hit like that.”

She knew that even though Lu Dan didn’t say much, he was filled with determination.

He wanted to practice martial arts to help her take revenge.

She didn’t say anything but tied a handkerchief around Lu Dan’s head and let him continue practicing.

Gou Dan wasn’t as eager to exert himself, but seeing his older brother practicing, he didn’t want to fall behind.

He went into the house, found the textbooks his father bought for him, placed them in the yard, and then picked up a brick.

Quietly, he squatted down and started practicing writing characters.

When things were chaotic outside, Su Xianghong didn’t dare go out.

Seeing her two little nephews so obedient, her eyes nearly popped out in surprise. “Sister, when did Gou Dan become so obedient? Look, he’s practicing writing.”

And the child’s hands were completely clean, not a speck of dirt on them.

Su Xiangwan didn’t know whether to be proud or to feel honored.

Clearly, Gou Dan should be the academic underachiever, and Lu Dan should be the academic genius.

But how had it turned out like this?

Why had Lu Dan turned to martial arts, while Gou Dan, with his pursed lips, looked like an academic genius while practicing his writing?

Song Qingshan was still in the city because of the sick old lady Song. While she was still somewhat conscious, she wanted to divide the inheritance among her children.

Song Laosan had sneaked out, and no one knew where he had gone, so he wasn’t back yet.

But the old lady’s favorite was always Song Fu.

This favoritism would never change, so the old lady planned to give the 500 yuan in her hand, plus a small jade lotus, entirely to Song Laosan.

As for the small jade watermelon belonging to Song Qingshan, the old lady intended to give it to her precious eldest grandson, Fang Jinhui.

No matter whether he was her biological grandson or her son-in-law’s, people often said, “The youngest son, the eldest grandson.” As the old lady’s first grandson, Fang Jinhui had been handsome and strong as a child.

In addition, his parents were officials with status.

In the old lady’s eyes, his position and worth were above all others, even more precious than the small jade lotus. As for Song Qingshan’s daughter, the old lady quietly prepared 400 yuan for her.

Now, with the hospital bills being paid by her two sons, the old lady’s plan was that, should something happen to her, all the benefits would go to the younger children.

But when the small jade watermelon and the small jade lotus were mentioned, the two most obedient and filial sons refused to listen to the old lady’s division.

They both firmly agreed that those things couldn’t go to Song Fu or Fang Jinhui.

No, they couldn’t be given to anyone.

They had once called Li Shizhang their godfather, but they hadn’t honored him in any way before he passed away.

These two fools planned to return the items to Li Shizhang’s daughter instead.

The old lady took some medicine, and she started to feel a little better.

But when she thought about her two troublesome sons, her frustration only worsened.

She had watched helplessly as the small jade lotus was taken by Song Qingshan, and the jade watermelon was nowhere to be found.

The old lady let out a long, pained cry, her eyes rolling back as she felt like she was living through hell. She just wanted to die quickly.

As for Song Qingyu, she was still fine, since she hadn’t received anything anyway.

Fang Baoyu and Song Fu were almost driven mad.

To gain something and lose it again was unbearable.

No matter how much money Fang Baoyu was offered, she wouldn’t be happy now.

Song Dahua had been standing outside all this time. In fact, she had paid most of the medical bills for the old lady, and she had even found the doctor.

Since she worked in the Women’s Federation, she wasn’t afraid of spending money. However, she didn’t want her two brothers to pay.

But she had her own troubles. Not only did her own son ignore her, but now he was with their old nanny, Qian Xiaofang.

Whenever she came home, all she found was him beating her, and she couldn’t even find him.

What was worse was that yesterday, Fang Jinhui had even threatened her, saying that there was no good person in the Song family.

As a revolutionary young soldier, he now had real power and could change things around. He threatened to ruin her two brothers’ jobs.

“Don’t listen to the old lady. If Jinhui dares to take that jade, Qingshan, don’t be afraid. Beat him up hard, and if you catch him, beat him to death,” Song Dahua said.

Song Qingshan asked, “Then what about Fang Gaodi? Why haven’t you divorced him yet?”

Song Dahu bit her lip, “Don’t worry about it. I’ll handle it. Please, just leave it to me, okay?”

Song Qingshan, being a man, was sulking, still angry. “If Tingxiu and I beat him up like that, and you still don’t divorce him, then you’re just not trying hard enough.”

Song Tingxiu also spoke up: “Divorce him, sis. What are you afraid of? If you’re worried about not having a job, I’ll take care of you.”

The two brothers looked ready to fight again.

Rumors about having to pay more fees circulated, and Song Dahu was the first to jump in to pay the hospitalization bills.

She was thin, but her unit’s welfare was good, so she managed to give her two brothers a little something on their way out: a pack of noodles for Tingxiu and half a bag of flour for Qingshan.

Fang Baoyu’s eyes glinted as she watched, but she received nothing.

When she entered the house, everything suddenly felt bright.

As for moving into the new house, Song Qingshan had a bit of a rebellious streak in his heart. In a way, it was like a full-on family operation to get everyone into this new house.

The house was made of brick walls.

Normally, they would need to smooth the walls with cement and then paint them white, but because they were in a hurry yesterday, even though many people were helping, the brick-laying and cementing were rushed, and the walls couldn’t be painted until the cement had dried.

Unexpectedly, Su Xiangwan and Su Xianghong used the cheapest old bricks and paper from the village, even making some nice wall skirts.

The result was surprisingly beautiful.

They now had a dedicated kitchen, so there was no longer smoke filling the bedroom.

The kitchen was spacious and large, and the soldiers had even built a huge stove for Su Xiangwan.

She could chop vegetables while frying them at the same time.

The smoke pipe was well-built, and when the fire started, the wind rushed through it.

Su Xiangwan hadn’t started cooking yet.

She was feeding a boiled egg to Zhi Zhi, still muttering, “This is our last egg. Don’t waste it. Eat it quickly.”

“Mom, you eat too,” Zhi Zhi said.

Su Xiangwan had always thought that the old lady was biased, but when it came to her own children, she couldn’t really treat them all equally.

Lu Dan was so excellent that she often overlooked him. Gou Dan, on the other hand, she paid a bit more attention to, but when it came to the older ones, she didn’t care as much as she did for Zhi Zhi.

After all, Zhi Zhi looked exactly like her sister from her past life.

Outside, when Song Qingshan arrived, Lu Dan and Gou Dan rushed to report to their father.

Lu Dan, in particular, was enthusiastically describing his mother’s driving skills.

He was talking about the time she managed to drive up the wall with that old motorcycle, which was still sitting outside in a pile of scrap metal.

Gou Dan had already shown the village children how many times they could ride it, but he still had to take his dad to see the old motorcycle, which had become a pile of useless junk.

Lu Dan had grabbed a side mirror and was admiring himself in it. Yes, he looked quite handsome.

Song Qingshan entered the kitchen.

It seemed like he was scrutinizing her.

He probably didn’t believe she could take on two revolutionary young soldiers by herself.

He probably still thought the two kids were just bragging.

Without wasting time, he got straight to the point: “Where’s the jade? Give it to me.”

Seeing Su Xiangwan stay silent, he added, “You can’t keep it anyway, so just give it to me quickly.”

The jade watermelon, which came from the tomb of the West Empress Dowager, he intended to give away.