Yan Hao said to Yan Tao, "You should talk to your little sister privately first. If she doesn’t agree, then tell mom and dad. The way you’re doing it, little sister will hate you to death."
Yan Tao grimaced, "I’m afraid of her hatred, but I’m starting to hate her myself."
"What happened?" Yan Hao asked.
"It’s her, always blabbing to mom and dad about me liking Xia Lin and about my plan to be a train conductor, and now Xia Lin won’t even talk to me," grumbled Yan Tao, harboring a longstanding resentment toward his sister.
Yan Hao sighed, at a loss for words.
Yan Tao had not become a train conductor and was now working at Father Yan’s factory, constantly under his father’s watchful eye, which was quite depressing.
Meanwhile, Sun Yuhua had returned home, smoothly entering the house. Sun Mu’s eyes widened when she saw her daughter, then she too began to cry.
"Mom," Sun Yuhua’s eyes also reddened.
Sun Mu berated Sun Yuhua, "How could you be so heartless, not coming home for so many years?"
Tearfully, Sun Yuhua responded, "Mom was also heartless, not sending me a single letter all these years. You all blame me."
"How could we not blame you? You could have returned to the city, but instead, you chose to stay far away in the countryside and even got yourself married," Sun Mu said resentfully.
The mother and daughter sobbed together. Sun Yuhua asked, "Mom, where is dad, and where is my elder brother?"
Sun Mu hesitated, "Your father is in the hospital. He has been bedridden for several years now," she said, then continued to tell Sun Yuhua about his condition.
Sun Yuhua felt extremely guilty. As soon as Sun Yuqi returned and saw Sun Yuhua, he exploded in anger and chased her away, "Get out, why come back? Go back to your production team."
"Brother," Sun Yuhua pleaded, looking sadly at Sun Mu.
Sun Mu intervened, "Yuqi, your sister has finally come back. Don’t make a fuss."
"Mom, it’s because of her that dad is still unwell," Sun Yuqi looked angrily at Sun Yuhua. Tʜe source of this ᴄontent ɪs 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩•𝗳𝗂𝗋𝖾•𝕟𝕖𝕥
Sun Mu burst into tears, "I only have you two children, and with your father , and you two fighting, how are we supposed to live?"
Deep down, Sun Mu also blamed her daughter, but she couldn’t really throw her out now that she had finally come back.
Sun Yuqi glared at Sun Yuhua, "Go kneel in front of dad."
When Sun Yuhua arrived at the hospital, she encountered her sister-in-law, who also ignored her.
Currently, the relationship between Sun Yuqi and his wife was like a facade—they had a child, but their relationship was strained, often fighting.
In the few days since Sun Yuhua had been back, all she heard were her brother and sister-in-law arguing, which greatly troubled her. Sun Mu, preoccupied with her grandson, neither could calm her son and daughter-in-law, nor did she intervene.
Unable to bear it, Sun Yuhua tried to mediate, only to be kicked out of the house by her brother and sister-in-law.
With nowhere to go, heartbroken, Sun Yuhua visited her father in the hospital. His health had been fluctuating over the years, and the Sun family was fraught with discord.
Thus, on the fourth day, Sun Yuhua boarded a train and left, giving all the money she had, except for the travel expenses, to Sun Mu.
Yan Hao and Xia Jing also returned to their production team, and this time, they were preparing to register their marriage.
At the production team, on the fifth day of the new year, both brothers He Xuegang and He Xuebing had returned home, and He Xuebing was discussing marriage prospects with the team leader’s daughter, Qian Yuzhen.
This time, Yuzhen had also come back, and the two had already discussed marriage.
This delighted Li Shengmei immensely since she had been depressed by Zheng Xianghong because Xia Xiao had twins. Now Li Shengmei could hold her head high.
She walked through the production team holding Yuzhen’s hand affectionately as if she were her own daughter, introducing her to everyone as He Xuebing’s fiancée and announcing that they would marry this year.
Yuzhen’s face always bore a shy smile, and seeing Zheng Xianghong so fond of her, Yuzhen was also very happy inside.
Only Dong Meihua was cold and dismissive inside; Li Shengmei was completely transparent to her now.
Even upon seeing He Xuebing and Yuzhen, Dong Meihua couldn’t muster any jealousy; even though Yuzhen was the team leader’s daughter, she still valued Xia Xiao more in her heart.
As for Xia Xiao, Dong Meihua didn’t know what feelings to harbor anymore—envy mixed with more jealousy and even resentment.
Li Shengmei walked Yuzhen around the production team, and they eventually arrived at the Gao family, approaching their home.
Yuzhen asked, "Auntie, whose house is this?"
"The production team leader’s house," Li Shengmei replied.
Yuzhen’s gaze flickered. She had heard that Xia Xiao had married the son of the production team leader. Even though He Xuebing had agreed to date her, Yuzhen was still holding a grudge against Xia Xiao. Naturally, Li Shengmei going to visit made Yuzhen more than happy to follow.
"What are you doing here?" Zheng Xianghong said in a bad tone upon seeing Li Shengmei at her doorstep. The conflict between Li Shengmei and Zheng Xianghong wasn’t new; it had lasted many years, well-known among the production team.
Xuebing just brought his girlfriend home, and I thought I’d bring her over for you to see," Li Shengmei said, beaming with pride as she introduced Yuzhen to Zheng Xianghong.
Zheng Xianghong’s eyes fell on Yuzhen, widening in surprise.
At that moment, Xia Xiao walked out of the house. "Mom, who’s here?"
Zheng Xianghong didn’t respond; she still stared dumbly at Yuzhen. Seeing Zheng Xianghong’s strange reaction, Xia Xiao glanced at Li Shengmei and Yuzhen. Li Shengmei then gave Xia Xiao a smug smile, "This is our Bingzi’s girlfriend, the team leader’s daughter, who came back with Bingzi for the New Year, and they plan to marry this year."
Xia Xiao merely responded with an ’Oh’, showing little reaction. She gave Yuzhen a brief look; she was decent-looking, but not particularly beautiful, though she had a fair demeanor.
Yuzhen looked back at Xia Xiao; this was the woman He Hongjun had once liked. Yuzhen couldn’t deny that Xia Xiao was very attractive, but her disheveled appearance, unkempt hair, and loose clothes made Yuzhen somewhat disdainful.
She felt that compared to Xia Xiao, she definitely had the upper hand in looks and felt somewhat reassured.
Xia Xiao, unaware of Yuzhen’s appraisal of her, had just finished breastfeeding and came out only to see Zheng Xianghong’s strange expression, which concerned her somewhat.
"Do you know someone named Xue Guiying?" Zheng Xianghong finally regained her voice and asked Yuzhen.
Yuzhen shook her head. "I don’t know Xue Guiying, but my mother’s surname is Xue."
"What’s your mother’s name?" Zheng Xianghong asked further.
Before Yuzhen could answer, Li Shengmei interjected discontentedly, "What does that have to do with you? You’re nosy enough." Saying this, she walked away with Yuzhen.
Zheng Xianghong looked utterly dejected yet had a gnashing bitterness about her.
Xia Xiao didn’t quite understand but knew that Zheng Xianghong didn’t want to talk and wouldn’t be able to find out anything anyway.