"How am I being extravagant? This is a housewarming gift I prepared for Si Nian."
After saying this, she twisted her body quite proudly. "You didn't know, did you? Si Nian has moved to the city."
Fu Yang sneered, "So she moved here. What does that have to do with me? No need to tell me."
Fu Qianqian hadn't expected him to show no surprise at all and was somewhat taken aback.
Logically, her older brother should have been very surprised to hear that Si Nian had come to the city.
Why was this his reaction?
However, hearing this, Fu Qianqian still couldn't help but roll her eyes. "I never said it had anything to do with you."
Fu Yang: "..."
His foolish younger sister was probably still being deceived by Si Nian's surface behavior.
Fu Yang felt it necessary to warn her, lest she be used without even realizing it.
"I already know without you telling me. She moved to Old East Street."
Fu Qianqian was genuinely shocked this time. "How do you know that?"
She had only found out about this today herself.
She heard it from Yu Dong that they had just moved.
How did her brother know already?
Was her brother secretly keeping tabs on Si Nian behind the scenes?
Fu Yang glanced at her. "Do you know what's on Old East Street?"
Fu Qianqian: "What?"
Fu Yang: "Division Commander Jiang's family lives there."
Fu Qianqian: "Oh right, yeah. So what?"
Fu Yang: "Why do you think she went to Old East Street?"
Fu Qianqian: "Why?"
Fu Yang: "...Because Division Commander Jiang is a respected elder and mentor of mine. By being there, she can get close to the Jiang family and build a good relationship."
Fu Qianqian: "?"
Fu Qianqian felt herself getting tangled up.
Why couldn't she understand this?
She shook her head. "Wait, wait, wait. Big brother, have you misunderstood something? Why would Si Nian need to curry favor with the Jiang family?"
Fu Yang looked at her with an idiotic expression. "What do you think?"
Fu Qianqian: "?"
A certain unbelievable thought flashed through her mind.
Could it be that her overly-confident brother thought Si Nian moved to Old East Street and was interacting with the Jiang family as an indirect way to get close to him?
Fu Qianqian opened her mouth.
She offered a feeble explanation for Si Nian: "Big brother, I think you might really be mistaken about this. Si Nian might not even know the Jiang family."
Fu Yang sneered, "She followed me around since we were kids. She knew where I was better than anyone. Back when I was working under Division Commander Jiang, I often had to go there to report. You think she didn't know?"
Fu Qianqian: "But you said that was before. Maybe Si Nian has long forgotten?"
Fu Yang's eyes turned cold. "What do you mean? You think I'm being presumptuous again?"
Fu Qianqian: "...." Wasn't he?
Not only that, she even felt her brother had a bit of a problem with his head.
Why did he think that whenever Si Nian interacted with someone he knew, it was to get close to him?
Why did he always attribute such scheming motives to women?
With Si Nian's simple mind, she probably couldn't conceive of such a deep plot.
Clearly, her brother truly didn't understand Si Nian at all.
Fu Qianqian felt pained for all of Si Nian's past efforts.
Her brother only saw Si Nian's clingy, persistent side but never tried to understand her true nature.
As a result, he firmly believed that Si Nian was fixated on him and couldn't possibly let him go so easily.
He thought he was gold that everyone desired.
Seeing Fu Qianqian's expression that clearly said, "Isn't that exactly it?", Fu Yang's face darkened further.
"What other reason could she possibly have for appearing there?"
Fu Qianqian wiped the cold sweat from her forehead. "Isn't it because her school is close to Old East Street? It's convenient for her to commute to work from there. It has absolutely nothing to do with you, right?"
Old East Street was miles away from where they lived.
If Si Nian really still had any feelings for him, why would she move somewhere so far away?
Seeing the confused look on her brother's face, Fu Qianqian suddenly thought of something. "Wait, you don't know about Si Nian going to teach at a school, do you?"
She had only heard this from Sister Chen recently and hadn't planned on telling the family.
Who would have thought her brother would misunderstand like this.
Then again, with his tendency to imagine things out of thin air, if he didn't have a reason for Si Nian staying over there, he'd probably concoct a ridiculous 180,000-word romance novel in his head.
Fu Yang was stunned. "What?"
Fu Qianqian wore an "I knew it" expression.
She facepalmed.
And sighed.
Fu Yang's expression immediately soured, as if he'd swallowed a fly. "What do you mean? Explain clearly."
Fu Qianqian told him about Si Nian going to teach at the Foreign Language Elementary School. "You should know that school; you attended it as a child. Last time, Si Nian gave a speech there and was noticed by the school leadership. They invited her to teach."
Watching her brother's face grow increasingly ugly, even tinged with a hint of hurt, Fu Qianqian suddenly felt a bit sorry for him.
Well, in the past, Si Nian had loved him deeply, with intense affection.
In just a few short months, not only had she married someone else, but she also didn't spare him a second glance.
She looked at him as if he were a pile of dog poop.
Any man would struggle to accept such a drastic reversal.
No wonder he could misunderstand.
Thinking this, Fu Qianqian sighed again with an air of worldly wisdom.
She patted Fu Yang's shoulder.
"There are plenty of other fish in the sea."
"Brother, Si Nian is already married. Stop fantasizing about what-ifs and find someone new."
With that, she picked up her things and went into her room.
Fu Yang stood rooted to the spot, his fists clenched so tight they creaked.
Late at night.
In the Zhou family's new courtyard.
The fireworks ended.
The sky returned to darkness, becoming quiet.
Zhou Yueshen held Si Nian by the waist. The collar of his black jacket was slightly open, his brows and eyes stern and handsome.
Just like their first meeting.
Si Nian put some distance between them, looked up at him, her eyes misty.
Zhou Yueshen looked down, his rough thumb moving from her cheek, wiping away the moisture from her lips.
The sound of children's voices came from inside the house.
It was the older and younger Zhou boys calling out that it was time for bed.
Si Nian quickly responded, "Okay."
Afraid the two children might run out and see something not suitable for young eyes.
Zhou Yueshen stared at her. After she finished speaking, he lowered his head and kissed the top of her head again.
He rarely acted this affectionate outdoors.
Let alone in their own courtyard.
Fortunately, it was night.
Then they heard the younger boy call out, "Dad!"
He casually acknowledged it and told Si Nian to go to sleep.
Otherwise, if the kids saw them cleaning the pond in the courtyard so late, they'd probably want to join in and wouldn't settle down.
Si Nian had said she was helping, but ended up being sent away again after a while.
Watching her leave, Zhou Yueshen finally lowered his head and got busy.
…
Early the next morning.
Si Nian was awakened by the sound of children's laughter downstairs.
She went down and saw an extra person in the house.
It was little Jiang Jiu from yesterday.
The little boy's face was flushed red from the cold, but his skin was fair and delicate.
He looked much more refined and pretty compared to the two little roughnecks, Zhou Zedong and Zhou Zehan.
Zhou Zehan saw her coming downstairs and let out a cheer, "Great! Mom is finally up! We can have breakfast!"
Zhou Zedong walked out of the kitchen, carrying steaming hot breakfast in his hands.
Yaoyao immediately scampered over on her short little legs and hugged her eldest brother's leg.
The little dumpling looked up at him with big, watery eyes, staring at the milk bottle in his hand, and said in a milky voice, "Gege, want drinkie~"
Zhou Zedong's tense face instantly softened. He shook the milk bottle, checked that the temperature was about right, and handed it to her.
Si Nian glanced over, then withdrew her gaze and looked at little Jiang Jiu, who had run over and was now standing in front of her. "Jiang Jiu, you came to our house so early. Did you have fun playing with the brothers?"
Little Jiang Jiu nodded vigorously like pounding garlic: "So fun! Big brother gave me candy, second brother taught me English, and little sister can even draw."
As he spoke, he imitated Little Second Brother, shaking his head and singing: "A, B, C, D, E, F, Gee...."
"Hahaha... Silly, it's not 'Gee'!"
Little Second Brother, Zhou Zehan, mercilessly teased him from the side.
Little Jiang Jiu's face immediately flushed red with embarrassment.
"Second Brother, I'm not silly!"
Before Si Nian could say anything, Zhou Zedong, who was nearby, spoke up: "Xiao Han, don't bully people. Apologize to Jiang Jiu."
Zhou Zehan was startled and immediately backed down.
However, faced with his eldest brother's stern expression, he still lowered his head.
He just felt that apologizing to his own little follower was quite a blow to his dignity as the 'big brother.'
So he thought for a moment and looked at Jiang Jiu. "Little follower, let me tell you a story."
Little Jiang Jiu blinked his eyes and asked curiously, "What story, Second Brother?"
Zhou Zehan cleared his throat and said, "A little duckling was standing in line, trying to line up neatly with the duck brothers in front, but no matter what, it couldn't get aligned. Then it muttered to itself, 'Can't line up, ah, can't line up, ah.' Did you hear it?"
Little Jiang Jiu widened his eyes: "Ducks can talk?"
Zhou Zehan: "......" Is that the point?
Si Nian looked at the two children and gave a slight, amused smile.
It seemed her worries were unnecessary.
Although Little Second Brother was a bit of a chatterbox, he meant no harm.
After dinner, she remembered something.
She immediately said, "Xiao Han, come with Mom to go take a look."
Little Second Brother immediately shoveled the rice in his mouth and hurriedly followed her.
"Mom, Mom, what are we looking at?"
Si Nian led him to the pond in the yard.
The pond, which had been dry and neglected just yesterday, was now filled with water.
It was clear enough to see the bottom.
Zhou Zehan saw the pond and let out excited whoops of joy.
He was practically about to turn somersaults on the spot.
"Alright, when we have time, I'll take you to pick out some fish to raise. You'll have to take good care of them, okay?"
Zhou Zehan nodded vigorously.
Si Nian looked at the empty yard, feeling a bit nostalgic for the vegetables she used to grow in the countryside.
"What a pity, this yard isn't good for growing vegetables."
Hearing this, Little Second Brother immediately clenched his small fists: "Mom, in the future, I will definitely become a migrant worker and grow lots of vegetables, so our family will never lack vegetables to eat."
Si Nian: "....." You could be anything, and you choose to be a migrant worker.
That really isn't necessary, you know.
After saying that, he asked little Jiang Jiu beside him: "Little follower, what about you? What do you want to be?"
Little Jiang Jiu blinked his eyes: "I also want to be a great migrant worker, and farm the land with you, brothers!"
Si Nian looked up at the sky speechlessly: "......" She had nothing more to say.
……
Finally, the day off arrived.
Zhang Cuimei hadn't forgotten to take care of the matter for her daughter.
Although she really didn't want to go to that Lin Family Village.
But since her daughter had been in prison for so long, this was the only wish she had expressed.
As her mother, she couldn't very well refuse.
Moreover, her husband was going along this time too.
A few days ago, some people from his side of the family had come to their door, wanting Si Nian to help secure a school placement for someone.
They had given them quite a few gifts, so her husband had agreed.
Coincidentally, she was going to the Lin family this time to talk to them about Lin Sisi, so the two of them set off together.
Actually, regarding the matter of helping to secure the placement, Si's Mother still wasn't very happy about it.
After all, those were people from the Si family side.
Such a good opportunity, she could have sold it to someone on her own side for a good sum of money.
Zhang Cuimei thought her husband was foolish, bought off by a few measly gifts from others.
She kept muttering, "Such a good opportunity should be kept for our own family. What a waste giving it to them."
Even though she didn't have a grandson herself, giving it to others still made Zhang Cuimei's heart ache.
Si's Father snorted coldly: "Don't think I don't know, the people on your side have their eyes on this opportunity too!"
"At least the people on my side know to bring some gifts. What about your family? We found such good jobs for your sister and brother before, and even a job for her husband. Did we ever get so much as a meal invitation from them?"
"Ever since Sisi got into trouble, your brother and sister's families have turned their backs faster than flipping a book. They haven't come to visit once in all these months!"
Si's Father grew angrier just thinking about it.
Back when Zhang Cuimei's sister was begging for his help, her smile couldn't have been more obsequious.
After Lin Sisi's incident, everyone consciously distanced themselves from the Si family, no longer being close.
But others were one thing; he had genuinely helped Zhang Cuimei's brother and sister's families from the bottom of his heart.
And yet, not only did they not visit, they didn't even come to see them during the New Year.
Truly, when the tiger is away from the mountain, the monkey proclaims himself king.
He had seen through this family.
In the past, when Zhang Cuimei was always helping out her natal family, he never said anything.
After all, as his in-laws, and him being a successful brother-in-law, helping out was somewhat to be expected.
However, facts proved that not everyone is worth helping.
Hearing this, Zhang Cuimei was displeased.
"You talk as if the people on your side are so great. When our Sisi got into trouble and owed money, those people blocked the entrance to our military compound demanding payment, making us lose all face."
"When your brother's family went to borrow money, did they even give you the time of day?"
"Your family isn't any good either, what right do you have to criticize mine?"
These words made Si's Father lose face, and his expression darkened.
The two of them bickered back and forth, arguing fiercely.
Halfway there, Zhang Cuimei got so angry she got out of the car.
Si's Father didn't indulge her either; he stepped on the gas and drove off.
This made Zhang Cuimei stamp her feet in fury.
In the end, she could only go to the bus station by herself to find a ride.
Squeezing onto a crowded minibus, Zhang Cuimei was almost overwhelmed by the smell.
Not only was it overcrowded, but the bus was also smelly and dirty.
The people around her were staring at her with that kind of look.
Zhang Cuimei hurriedly clutched her handbag.
She began to regret arguing with her husband.
However, Zhang Cuimei didn't know.
Not long after Si's Father drove out of the city, his car was stopped by a woman......
Seeking support for the love-generated power.
