The small courtyard had a kitchen just a few steps away. Su Xiangwan gently pushed him aside. “You wait inside. It’s fine. I can handle it.”

If she couldn’t handle it, she wouldn’t have threatened to cut Su Xiaonan with a knife, right?

“Zhi Zhi is here! Look, this is the egg cake I steamed, with ham and almonds on top,” Mother He said as she brought a bowl over. “The big dishes need to stew for a bit, so let the kids eat this first.”

Li Yifan turned around and saw a little girl standing behind her.

The child’s skin was slightly darker than that of city children, but her eyes were bright, and she looked very well-behaved. She was truly beautiful.

The little girl smiled up at her and even extended her arms. “Hug.”

Li Yifan had genuinely cared for Gu Nan.

When she married into the Gu family, Gu Nan was only two years old.

As the eldest sister-in-law, she naturally loved her little sister-in-law. But even though she loved her dearly, she had never hugged her.

Li Yifan had a severe obsession with cleanliness and refused to have physical contact with anyone except her husband.

“Hug,” Zhi Zhi said again.

In Zhi Zhi’s eyes, this lady in black, with her high hair resembling two clouds, her big, dark, and deep eyes, looked just like a cute black cat.

She said again, “Hug.”

Li Yifan resisted in her heart, repeatedly thinking, “Black girl, ugly girl, dirty girl, I won’t hug you.”

But the little girl’s smile was so cute that Li Yifan couldn’t resist and ended up hugging her.

Ah, as soon as she hugged the child, she realized she had made a mistake.

But holding the child was warm and felt nice.

“The pancake in the pot isn’t done yet. I’ll stew a bowl of eggs for the child to eat first,” Mother He said as she lifted the lid off the small pot on the coal stove.

Li Yifan asked, “Mother He, when did you stew the egg custard? Who is it for? I don’t eat eggs.”

“Just one bowl. Let the child eat it,” Mother He replied.

Li Yifan felt something was off.

Why had Mother He, who was clearly looking for trouble, decided to stew egg custard for someone else’s child?

She hurriedly put Zhi Zhi down and exchanged a glance with Mother He, signaling that while they weren’t enemies with the neighbors, they couldn’t afford to be too kind to Su Xiangwan.

Mother He gave Li Yifan a knowing look.

The child was obedient and cute. There was no reason to turn her away just because of her own personal grievances.

At thirty-eight, without children of her own, Li Yifan exchanged a glance with the woman who had raised her.

Neither of them liked Song Qingshan’s family.

But they both couldn’t resist glancing at the young girl.

Thus, a bowl of egg cake was brought over.

Su Xiangwan received it, turned around, and saw Zhi Zhi following her.

She gave her a small spoon and let her sit in the kitchen to eat.

“Little Su, I heard you haven’t had much schooling?” Li Yifan, who was tall and resembled a black cat, tried to control her tone, speaking carefully since the other person was a woman.

“Yes, I only attended two years of elementary school,” Su Xiangwan replied.

Li Yifan then said, “Although we, as officials, must follow policies and not question them, I still feel that the Women’s Federation job should be done by someone with education. Don’t you think so?”

She was trying to pressure Su Xiangwan into resigning by talking in bureaucratic jargon.

This woman official was certainly no ordinary one.

Su Xiangwan, however, was well-prepared: “Comrade Shen Jilan didn’t have an education either, but she educated herself and became the head of the Women’s Federation in Shanxi Province. As for the county, I think there aren’t particularly high educational requirements for the Women’s Federation.”

Indeed, nationwide, the Women’s Federation didn’t have strict education requirements.

This was mainly because the first batch of veteran officials didn’t have much formal education.

Li Yifan nearly jumped up to refute it, but since she was a fellow official and complaining in front of someone like Song Qingshan was one thing, questioning policies in front of Su Xiangwan was not so easy.

After thinking it over, she became angrier and decided that an uneducated woman should not hold a position in the Women’s Federation.

She needed to find a way to get Su Xiangwan to give up.

“Well, how about this? There’s a case tomorrow, and you should go handle it first,” Li Yifan said. “There’s an elderly woman in the county whose adopted son has been abusing her. It might also involve domestic violence. Now the adopted son wants to sever ties with her, but the elderly woman refuses and wants to continue living with him. Though this may seem like a small matter, it has caused quite an uproar. You go solve this first, and once it’s resolved, we can discuss the deputy director of the Women’s Federation position. What do you think?”

Being elderly and having no one to rely on is one of the most tragic things for old people who have lost their biological children.

When young, they raised an adopted child with as much care as their own, but in the end, they’re always treated as second-class.

When they grow old, their adopted children abandon them, and the government can’t always intervene.

The next day, after they had discussed the matter, Su Xiangwan knew that this seemingly trivial task was actually something Li Yifan had carefully thought through and assigned to her.

This kind of household trouble, something dirty and bothersome, was almost impossible for anyone to handle well.

However, Su Xiangwan still agreed cheerfully: “Alright, I’ll report to the office tomorrow, and then I’ll take care of it. I promise I’ll handle it in a way that satisfies the county chief.”

Li Yifan, after much internal struggle and nudging from Mother He, finally spoke up: “About Gu Nan’s diary…”

Mother He immediately became anxious.

After all, Gu Nan was her precious child, raised with the same love as Zhi Zhi.

She had suffered for so long in Haixi, and now because of this one diary, she might not return—it was a source of great worry for her.

Li Yifan waved her hand dismissively: “Let’s put work aside for now, Comrade Su, just do me a favor. Whatever you want, if we can manage it, we’ll help you, but that diary must be returned to us.”

Mother He trembled, ready to kneel if Su Xiangwan refused, but she was also willing to do anything for her little Nan Nan.

“Sure, why not?” Su Xiangwan answered so casually that it stunned both Li Yifan and Mother He.

Their mouths were agape in surprise.

Su Xiangwan went back to her own home, where the diary had been lying on the bed, picked it up, carefully wiped it with a handkerchief, and took it to Li Yifan.

“There are probably a lot of nonsense things in it, but I won’t say anything more. County Chief, you can read it yourself and think about it. How about that?”

Li Yifan was clearly very agitated.

She grabbed the notebook and flipped through it, but quickly became angry: “Comrade Su, this is not my Nan Nan’s handwriting at all.”

Gu Nan’s and Su Xiaonan’s handwriting were completely different.

She slammed the notebook onto the table: “This is too much! You’re framing my Nan Nan with someone else’s diary, and still expect to work as a cadre in the Women’s Federation?”

“Although the handwriting isn’t the same as the original Gu Nan, it’s definitely the same as the one Gu Nan wrote to you from Haixi. Don’t focus on the handwriting for now; just read what’s inside carefully,” Su Xiangwan said, picking up Zhi Zhi, looking displeased. “Also, County Chief, don’t you think you’re scaring the child with your anger?”

Li Yifan took a deep breath, clearly trying to stay calm and rational. Seeing the little girl pouting, she forced a smile.

Zhi Zhi found it amusing and reached out her dirty hands to touch Li Yifan’s clothes.

Li Yifan immediately gave her a look of disgust, signaling her to keep her hands off. “No touching, you little ragamuffin.”

She thought Zhi Zhi would be scared, but the little girl just kept smiling.

Sighing, Li Yifan took out her handkerchief and wiped Zhi Zhi’s dirty hands clean.

After wiping them, she looked at the now dirty handkerchief and felt disgusted with herself.

“From now on, I can’t let this little girl near me,” she thought.

Meanwhile, Su Xiangwan saw that the steamed wheat buns Mother He had made were ready.

She took a plate and brought it into the living room.

By this time, the living room was filling up with guests, including the Minister of Armed Forces and two deputy county heads.

The meal wasn’t particularly fancy—stir-fried pork belly with peppers and garlic sprouts, a big plate of flatbread, and a few cold dishes made up the spread.

But the pork belly alone must have been at least half a jin (500g), and with the meat ration subsidies from Song Qingshan’s work, they only got about five jin a month.

The kids ate with their eyes practically popping out of their heads.

Li Yifan, trembling, opened the diary again, reading Gu Nan’s description of her: “That woman Li Yifan, calling her an old witch or a wolf grandmother would be more fitting.”

She slammed the diary shut and screamed, scaring Li Chengze, who had been chewing on his flatbread. It fell out of his hands with a loud thud.

He shakily leaned toward Su Xiangwan and whispered, “I told you, that county chief really does eat children.”

Li Yifan hated being called a child-eater, and shot a death glare at Li Chengze.

She slammed the diary shut and stormed out of the room.

Fuming, she entered the bedroom and started wiping down her desk, scrubbing it eight times to calm herself before picking up the diary again.

But when she reopened it, she got so angry she slammed the door repeatedly.

Li Chengze kept making eye contact with Su Xiangwan, signaling her: “Did you hear that? She’s probably thinking about how to eat us.”

Su Xiangwan, having already won the battle for the diary, was completely indifferent to Gu Nan.

The past was behind her, and now her focus was on the work ahead, especially the tasks for her first day in the new position.

Song Qingshan, with the vigor of a soldier, had already devoured three pieces of flatbread and leaned over, asking, “So, did you really give the diary to the county chief? What’s in it, can you give me a hint?”

Su Xiangwan teasingly kept him in suspense for a while before answering: “It’s nothing good, especially the part where she ridicules her sister-in-law terribly. Don’t worry, she’ll definitely have a hard time in Haixi, toughing it out for the next few years.”

Song Qingshan’s eyes were full of fear and respect for his wife: “She’s ruthless enough to be so cruel to her own sister.”