Clearly, at this school, they hadn’t yet experienced any kind of discrimination or oppression. In fact, they were so well-behaved it was almost unbelievable.

Li Yifan got up early and came over for a reassessment, hoping that Su Xiangwan could resolve the issue with the elderly woman being abused by her adopted son today.

She guessed that the blow from Gu Nan’s diary must have been hard to handle, but her prejudice against Su Xiangwan hadn’t diminished.

Mother He kept her eyes on Li Yifan while playfully teasing Zhi Zhi, making her laugh.

Li Yifan wanted to appear authoritative, that special kind of authority to show that she and Song Qingshan’s family were clearly separate, that they couldn’t be friends or colleagues.

However, Mother He always ended up distracting her by making the child laugh, which disrupted her efforts.

“Mother He, ahem.”

She wanted to tell Mother He not to tease the child.

Although the little girl seemed clean, beautiful, and cute, they should still maintain a distance from her.

But Mother He misunderstood and said, “Little Su is going to work; the child is probably afraid no one will look after her.”

Su Xiangwan replied, “I was just planning to hire someone to help look after the child.”

Mother He hurriedly said, “How about I take care of her for a few days? Once you find someone, I’ll let them help you. The county head said so; look, our county head has been giving me eye signals.”

Li Yifan, who had big eyes to begin with, glared at them and tried to force a smile, which looked even worse than crying.

Su Xiangwan looked at Zhi Zhi in her arms.

The little one was still playing with her fingers. She quickly said, “Alright, Mother He, you can look after her.”

This old lady was extremely picky and protective of her own interests.

But the fact that she could pick on Li Yifan, who had been so particular about cleanliness for many years, proved that she was not only capable but probably had many other strengths as well.

Su Xiangwan had been worrying about who would look after Zhi Zhi while she was at work. It seemed fine to let her stay with Mother He temporarily, and when she could, she’d find a way to compensate her.

Li Yifan looked at Mother He with the same expression as a revolutionary soldier looking at a traitor of the party.

However, since Mother He had already taken the child, Li Yifan had no choice but to stand there, glaring, as Mother He took Zhi Zhi away.

She was furious but couldn’t say anything.

Li Chengze went out with Su Xiangwan because today she declared that he could finally go to school.

This child was quite introverted and seemed to have a bit of persecution paranoia: “Aunt Su, you argued with Grandma He a few days ago. Aren’t you afraid that when we leave, she’ll mistreat Zhi Zhi?”

“Neighbors with no grudges or enmity, why would she abuse a little girl?” Su Xiangwan replied.

Li Chengze said, “You sent my godmother away to Haixi. That’s the grudge between you two. My godmother raised by her.”

Su Xiangwan stopped and said to the child, “If she really held a grudge and wanted to hurt you, there are many ways she could do it. She wouldn’t just blatantly take Zhi Zhi in front of us.”

The child didn’t understand.

Compared to family, friends, or colleagues, people wouldn’t overreach and take advantage of you, especially when there was no personal interest involved.

Li Chengze suddenly felt that since the day they moved into the city, Su Xiangwan seemed different.

She seemed so confident. He had expected a lot of conflict once they moved into the city, and he was prepared for endless arguments.

But with her, everything seemed easily resolved.

Moreover, Li Yifan, who was like a walking powder keg, was actually polite to her.

It seemed like they were afraid of her.

Arriving at the county’s first elementary school, Su Xiangwan went to the principal’s office to explain Li Chengze’s situation and asked him to help assess if he could be placed in a class.

Then she left the school and headed to the Women’s Federation.

She had already met most of the staff at the Women’s Federation when she came with Song Dahua.

The current head of the Women’s Federation was a man named Liu Tang.

He looked like someone who liked to cut corners, so when Su Xiangwan reported in, she could only be assigned as a general staff member. When she asked him for the case records, he was so slow it took him forever to find them.

When Su Xiangwan asked for two staff members to accompany her on a case, she learned that out of the seven people at the Women’s Federation, five were on leave, and there was no one left in the office to go with her.

Su Xiangwan tolerated it for now and looked over the case herself.

The elderly woman who had been abused by her son was named Wang, and her adopted son, Gao Bin, was one of those men who didn’t work, lived off others, and spent his days abusing his adoptive mother, a typical “mooching” type.

Moochers had existed throughout history.

After understanding the case, Su Xiangwan went to the police station to learn more about Gao Bin. She returned home for lunch, made dinner for the kids, and in the afternoon, she specifically went to resolve the matter.

When she arrived at Wang Damu’s house, before she could knock, she heard crashing and banging from inside.

“Why are you napping again when I told you to light the matchstick? I’m asking you, why am I so poor that I haven’t eaten in days, and yet you’re still sleeping here? If this happens again, just leave! We have nothing to do with each other, why are you still relying on me?”

It was a shabby courtyard, with each household only having one room. Gao Bin, the mooching son, was inside beating his old mother with a newspaper. Su Xiangwan happened to walk in and caught him in the act.

She kicked the door open: “Gao Bin, this is too much! That’s your mother, how can you hit her?”

“Who are you? She’s not even on my household registration. I’ve been supporting her enough. I only hit her with a newspaper. Is that considered hitting?” Gao Bin cursed as he walked over, probably because he thought Su Xiangwan was pretty, and added, “New girl in town, which room do you live in? Are you married?”

“I’m from the county Women’s Federation, here to mediate your family dispute,” Su Xiangwan replied, her tone firm. “Show some respect and don’t interfere with my work.”

The next day, Su Xiangwan was faced with a challenging situation.

Gao Bin, an arrogant man, clearly had no respect for her position as a member of the county’s Women’s Federation.

He scoffed at her, saying, “You? A cadre of the Women’s Federation? What are you going to do—bring rice, flour, or oil? Let me tell you, if the Women’s Federation doesn’t intervene, I’ll throw her out on the streets.”

Su Xiangwan glanced around the small, shabby house. It was likely rented.

The elderly woman, Wang Dama, seemed relatively young, no older than in her mid-fifties, but her legs were severely swollen due to rheumatism she had suffered from in her youth.

Su Xiangwan learned that with some medicine or acupuncture, it could be improved, but since Wang Dama couldn’t afford hospital treatment, she had endured the pain for years.

Despite this, Gao Bin, a “parasite” who lived off his mother, still tried to squeeze more out of her, seeking to exploit her to the fullest.

Typically, when cases were reported to the Women’s Federation, it usually just meant sending someone to visit.

For someone like Gao Bin, a visit was nothing more than a chance for him to receive some symbolic aid.

But Su Xiangwan knew that such “aid” wouldn’t alleviate Wang Dama’s suffering. It would likely only embolden Gao Bin to continue his abuse.

Thinking quickly, Su Xiangwan decided to offer a solution: “Here’s the plan. Tomorrow night, there’s a movie at the county’s cultural square. We don’t have any other relief supplies, but I’ll buy two bottles of soda and half a jin (500g) of pastries out of my own pocket. Gao Bin, you’ll accompany Wang Dama to the movie, and that’ll count as the Women’s Federation’s visit. How about it?”

For city dwellers, attending an open-air movie in the square wasn’t a big deal, but when Gao Bin heard about the pastries and soda, his attitude softened.

After all, these were treats most people couldn’t afford regularly.

“Tomorrow night at 8, right?” Gao Bin said, now visibly interested. “Well, I’ll be waiting for my soda and pastries then.”

Su Xiangwan smiled lightly. “Tomorrow night at 8, don’t miss it.”

As Gao Bin left, his arrogance remained palpable, but Su Xiangwan had learned to hold her temper.

Despite wanting to physically confront him, she restrained herself, reminding herself that she was a cadre and couldn’t act impulsively.

She would handle him tomorrow.

The next day, at the office, Director Liu of the Women’s Federation was drinking tea when Su Xiangwan entered.

Upon seeing her, Liu immediately shook her head. “No news? With a case like this, where the son abuses his elderly mother and they’re both willing participants, all we can do is mediate. If there’s nothing else, you can go back.”

People often said the Women’s Federation was like a retirement home for cadres’ families, but Su Xiangwan had never believed it until now.

Seeing the three employees in the office, each reading the newspaper, she finally understood—this was indeed a retirement center.

Back home, Su Xiangwan checked on the kids’ homework.

Li Chengze had taken an exam that day.

According to him, his elementary school teacher had recommended he move on to middle school, so he was sent to the affiliated middle school of the county’s high school.

There, the chemistry teacher immediately took a liking to him and decided to put him in the third year.

However, his Chinese was still at a primary school level, so he had to start in the first year.

Su Xiangwan was surprised to learn that Gou Dan had become the teacher’s favorite for his neat handwriting and quick thinking, while Lu Dan seemed less interested in his studies because his mentor had been absent for a few days and he hadn’t been practicing martial arts.

In the evening, Su Xiangwan smelled her neighbor Chen Jie making fermented bean paste hotpot and decided to go over to ask for some ingredients.

She also cut two large pieces of her own marinated wild boar meat, then added half a pot of steamed cornmeal buns to the hotpot for a hearty meal.

She even gave Chen Jie two large pieces of her marinated wild boar meat, which made Chen Jie very happy.

In these times, with a limited monthly meat ration, the kids often longed for more meat.

The hotpot became a source of warmth and comfort for both families.

As Su Xiangwan had come from a family where going without hotpot for three days felt unbearable, this was a rare and cherished treat.

Lu Dan and Gou Dan were less accustomed to fermented bean paste, so they stuffed tissues up their noses to tolerate the smell.

Meanwhile, Li Chengze, who had lived in Yunnan, was used to such flavors but refused to eat the cornmeal buns, preferring rice.

Su Xiangwan knew rice was scarce in the North and began considering how to get some for him.

The next evening, Su Xiangwan was preparing for the first case she would tackle since joining the Women’s Federation.

She was ready to handle the issue at the cultural square, though she wasn’t sure whether Song Tuan would need to work late.

She’d bring all the children along with her.

She’d already checked the movie poster and knew that the film showing tomorrow night was The Crossing of the Yangtze.

This movie, like many war films of its kind, was something that everyone, even if they’d seen it countless times, could enjoy again and again.