"You're absolutely right, Dean Cao. It's only fair that people get the rewards they deserve for their hard work," the factory director nodded repeatedly. "I can't thank you enough today. We have to head back right away—every day that machine sits broken costs us a fortune. Don't worry, I'll personally bring you the thank-you bonus later. By the way, what's this Doctor Xiao's name? We want to write a formal letter of commendation for her."
As technology kept advancing, their machinery factory had imported more and more equipment. If someone could translate the instruction manuals clearly, their own technicians could easily solve most problems on their own. In fact, he was already half-seriously considering poaching this talented person to work at their factory.
"Xiao Mandong," Dean Cao said her name directly. Good things like this made for great credentials for future professional title evaluations, so of course he was going to make the most of it.
Hearing that name, Factory Director Zhang looked up and sized up the young woman in front of him.
"Do you happen to know Xiao Yaqiu?"
When Xiao Mandong heard Factory Director Zhang mention her aunt's name, she froze for a second, and a thought suddenly clicked in her mind.
Her aunt had stayed unmarried abroad for years, and only came back home right before her grandfather passed away. When she returned, she found out that her first love had never married, and had been waiting for her all that time. Back then, the two had gotten into a huge fight, and her aunt had stormed off abroad in a fit of anger—only to realize after coming back that the whole mess had just been a big misunderstanding.
The two got back together, but unfortunately, by then her aunt was already in her later years. The man was worried that having a baby at her age would be far too dangerous for her, so he wouldn't let her get pregnant. Later, the two of them moved abroad together, lived happily side by side for over forty years, and adopted a child while they were there. Xiao Mandong had only met that uncle of hers a handful of times back then, so she couldn't remember what he looked like, but she did know his surname was Zhang. Could this Factory Director Zhang right in front of her be him?
In her past life, every time her aunt called her, she'd sound so regretful that she never had a child of her own, and would always beat herself up for leaving on impulse all those years ago.
"Xiao Yaqiu is my aunt," Xiao Mandong's answer made Factory Director Zhang's heart skip a beat.
"You look exactly like her. You were born before she went away," he said carefully, avoiding the word "abroad" so he wouldn't cause any trouble for Xiao Mandong.
The reason he remembered the name Xiao Mandong so clearly was that he had been right there next to Old Master Xiao when they picked the name for the baby. It was just a shame that things hadn't worked out for him and Yaqiu back then.
"Are you Uncle Zhang? My little aunt's classmate? I remember now, my little aunt mentioned you on the phone all the time back then."
Her little aunt had always been so kind to her. In this life, after the Xiao family's name was cleared, she was going to make sure her aunt came back much earlier to resolve that misunderstanding. She hoped that this time around, her aunt would get to have a child of her own, and never have to carry that regret again.
"Your aunt mentioned me?" A bright glint lit up in Factory Director Zhang's eyes. He quickly grabbed a pen and jotted down his phone number and address. "Here's my contact information. If you ever run into any trouble at all, come find me right away. And if your aunt gets in touch with you, please pass this number to her. I still have something I need to tell her."
"Don't worry, Uncle Zhang, I'll make sure to give it to her," Xiao Mandong said as she carefully put the slip of paper away.
Factory Director Zhang nodded, then turned to Dean Cao. "Dean Cao, I really owe you one today."
Dean Cao waved his hand. "No thanks needed. We can't let those foreigners make all the money off us," he glanced at his watch. "It's getting late, let's head out together."
Xiao Mandong didn't feel like cooking that night, so she stopped by the canteen to grab a meal to take back to her place.
She had barely taken two bites of her food when she heard a bloodcurdling scream from outside.
"Qin Dongping, where's my child? Give Big Girl back to me! What did you do with my daughter? Are you even human? That's my baby—can't you see she's sick? You took her to that godforsaken village of your family's. You know exactly what your mother is like! Are you trying to kill my daughter? A man like you doesn't deserve to be a father at all!"
Ma Juan was screaming at the top of her lungs. She had snuck away earlier to bring her two sick children back home, but she only managed to bring Second Girl with her—along with her brother-in-law's little son, Xiaobao. Second Girl's forehead was burning up, her lips were purple with fever, and there were fresh pinch marks all over her body. It was obvious she'd been abused back in that village. But her husband had walked through the door holding someone else's child, while her own sick daughter had had to stumble all the way home by herself, collapsing the second she stepped through the door.
The day Qin Dongping took Big Girl away, the little girl had already had a high fever. He'd left her there, and with his mother around, who'd never spend a penny on medicine for a sick granddaughter, the little girl had no way of surviving.
Ma Juan was completely out of her mind with panic. She demanded Qin Dongping go back to the village right that second to bring Big Girl home, and send that other boy back where he came from. She was not going to raise someone else's child.
But Qin Dongping just stood there sighing helplessly, saying things like, "She's her own granddaughter, after all. I left money and medicine there. Big Girl will be fine. My mom's just got a sharp tongue but a soft heart, you shouldn't think the worst of her."
How could any father say something like that? He was no better than a monster. He knew perfectly well how terrible his own mother was.
Ma Juan had already lost all hope in him after she'd had a miscarriage a while back, but she never thought he'd do something even more unforgivable—swap their own sick daughter off to suffer in the countryside, so that someone else's son could live in the city, go to a good school, and make her take care of him. All the money she'd scrimped and saved her whole life would end up going to a stranger. What was the point of her living like that?
Holding her feverish Second Girl tight in her arms, Ma Juan stared at Qin Dongping with nothing but hatred in her eyes. And right then, he had the nerve to tell her to steam an egg custard for his nephew first.
"They're just kids," he tried to reason with her. "If we treat Xiaobao well, my brother and his wife will treat Big Girl well in return. Just wait a couple more years, until our conditions get better, and we can bring Big Girl back too. Girls don't need to waste their time going to school anyway. That spot for education is much better spent on a boy. And we still have Second Girl, don't we? Big Girl will be all right, getting some tough life experience out in the village."
All those nonsense excuses were exactly the same as the ones his mother used. Ma Juan had no idea what sin she'd committed in her past life to end up married into this family—with an unreasonable, cruel mother-in-law, and a husband who couldn't tell right from wrong. What was the point of staying with a man like this? She didn't even dare to imagine what Big Girl was going through all alone out in that village.
Back when she was in the hospital, Ma Juan had tried to be brave and ask Qin Dongping for a divorce, planning to raise her two daughters all on her own. But she'd wavered back then, because she had no income, no job, no money of her own.
But now, there was no way she was agreeing to raise another person's child. Even if she had to sell her own blood, or beg for scraps on the street, she was going to break ties with the Qin family for good, as long as she could get Big Girl back home safe.
"Will you stop throwing this tantrum? That's my own mother, Big Girl's own grandmother. Do you really think she'd hurt her? You're just making up all these stupid worries. If you hadn't picked a fight with her all the time, we wouldn't have lost that son we were carrying!"
