When facing An Ercheng, Du Guijuan shed the sharp-tongued, condescending attitude she showed others. She gave him a gentle smile, her eyes filled with nothing but him.

An Ercheng clearly enjoyed this. He gently took Du Guijuan’s hand, and the two of them walked inside, hand in hand.

Left behind them was a solitary figure, still sitting on the ground, who habitually got up and followed.

As the couple entered the house hand in hand, a flash of dislike appeared in the eyes of the four elders sitting on the kang.

Lin Cuihua was even more brazen, openly rolling her eyes.

’It’s what’s inside that counts, not the fancy wrapping. What’s there to show off?!’

At that moment, inside the small room, Uncle An, his wife, An Sancheng, and Lin Cuihua were sitting on the kang.

Standing were An Ning, An Guoqing, An Guoming, An Guoping, and Uncle An’s two sons, An Guoyang and An Guoqiang.

An Ning got her first proper look at An Ercheng and Du Guijuan. And just like that, she recognized who Du Guijuan was.

Du Guijuan, however, didn’t seem to recognize her.

’Then again,’ An Ning thought, ’the last few times, my clothes were pretty ragged. My outfit today adds a bit of a showy flair.’

An Ercheng led Du Guijuan into the room and stopped near the doorway. Their daughter followed them inside.

"Big Brother, this is my daughter, Anjing. Say hello to your uncle."

Anjing, who was behind them, fidgeted and reluctantly called out, "Uncle."

Uncle An, not one to indulge their behavior, didn’t respond at all.

"Second Brother, why are you back? Just spit it out."

"Say what you need to say and then leave. We won’t be asking you to stay for the New Year."

Those two sentences made An Ercheng’s head snap up.

"Big Brother—"

An Ercheng did still care about this family. However, to put it in modern terms, he was completely blinded by love.

In the world of someone blinded by love, nothing—not heaven or earth—is more important than romance.

"Second Brother, you haven’t been back in seven years. The last time you came, it was to ask us for grain. This time, just tell us what you want."

Uncle An had no patience for An Ercheng’s ways. After speaking, he began fiddling with his pipe tobacco on the kang.

An Sancheng had complicated feelings for An Ercheng. They were thick as thieves when they were kids, but the incident just now where Anjing almost pushed his eldest son’s wife made him deeply uneasy.

"Third Brother, you don’t want me back either?"

An Sancheng, who was helping Uncle An roll a cigarette, was caught off guard as the conversation suddenly turned to him.

He looked up and met An Ercheng’s gaze. Time had been kind to An Ercheng; he had been handsome since he was a boy, with rosy lips, white teeth, and a scholarly air about him.

"Second Brother, no one said they don’t want you back. But take a look at yourself. What have you even done since you got here?"

"My eldest daughter-in-law’s belly—is that something Anjing should be shoving?"

"And don’t give me that excuse about her being just a child. Anjing isn’t that much younger than my An Ning."

After speaking, An Sancheng lowered his head and went back to rolling the cigarette.

Uncle An took the rolled cigarette, striking a match with a SCRAPE to light it.

He took a couple of loud puffs, SMACK SMACK, blowing out smoke rings. The acrid smell of dry tobacco filled the air.

Du Guijuan, who had been quiet until now, ducked slightly behind An Ercheng and covered her nose with a finger. Her meaning couldn’t have been more obvious.

The moment An Ercheng saw this, he immediately spoke up.

"Big Brother, smoking is bad for you."

Uncle An said nothing. He simply took another drag, his eyes fixed on An Ercheng and Du Guijuan behind him, remaining silent.

It was this very silence that intimidated An Ercheng, making him want to lower his head.

Du Guijuan poked An Ercheng’s back with a finger, and he immediately found his courage again.

"Big Brother, I heard the village has distributed land."

Uncle An set down his cigarette and heaved a long sigh. ’Here it is.’

"It has."

Two words, and then silence again.

Uncle An completely refused to engage.

An Ercheng was truly, deeply afraid of Uncle An. His scalp tingled with fear, but he still forced himself to ask, "Then... what about my land?"

Uncle An looked at An Ercheng in confusion. "What land? You married into your wife’s family. Your household registration isn’t even in Shili Gou anymore. What land do you have?"

An Ercheng hated that term, "marrying into his wife’s family."

"Big Brother, my job is in the county seat. Where else would I live? I was born here, I grew up here. How can there be no land for me?"

"Besides, I can have my household registration transferred back."

An Ercheng’s words only made Uncle An’s gaze turn colder.

"An Ercheng, you still remember you were born and raised here? In the dozen or so years since you got married, you’ve only come back once, and that was to ask us for grain."

"Seven years ago, we tightened our own belts to give you that grain. And you? Did you ever once wonder if we would survive?"

"It’s been seven years. You haven’t come back once. Not a single letter."

"And now you come back just to ask for land? Where do you get the nerve?"

"All those lessons on honor and shame you learned as a kid—did you feed them all to the fucking dogs?"

By the last sentence, the veins on Uncle An’s forehead were bulging, and his eyes were blazing with fury.

Uncle An’s outburst made even An Ning’s heart ache for him.

Her uncle was truly furious.

An Ercheng felt a pang of shame at the scolding. He knew he hadn’t done right by them, but ’I’ve always had my family in my heart.’

"Big Brother, I know I’ve done wrong. You can hit me or curse me, and I’ll take it. But I want to move my household registration back. I’ll give you my share of the land; you just have to give us grain every year."

This was the true purpose of An Ercheng’s return. They didn’t want to buy grain to eat in the city.

With just a few acres of land, they would have more than enough grain to supply their family for a year.

The enraged Uncle An suddenly seemed to deflate.

"Du Guijuan, this was your idea, wasn’t it? Step out here. Let’s you and I have a talk."

"If you can’t say what you want with your own mouth today, then there’s nothing to discuss."

An Ercheng moved to block Du Guijuan, looking at Uncle An with reluctance.

"Big Brother, why are you bringing Gui Juan into this? She’s just thinking about our little family."

Behind him, Du Guijuan looked at An Ercheng with a touched expression, but she stepped forward nonetheless.

This time, she spoke much more politely.

"Big Brother, life in the city isn’t easy either. Our family has elders above us and a child below. Ercheng is from here originally, so there’s nothing wrong with his household registration coming back. We’d only have him move it back. Just give us five hundred pounds of rice every year, and the rest of the land is yours to do with as you please."

"That way, you get more land, so you don’t lose out. Wouldn’t it be great if everyone is happy?"

As soon as Du Guijuan finished speaking, Uncle An’s wife spoke up.

The men would deal with the men, and the women would deal with the women. Perfectly fair.

"Second Sister-in-law, let me get this straight. According to you, we’re supposed to farm your land, deliver grain to your family, and in the end, we should thank you for the privilege? Is that what you mean?"

Uncle An’s wife let out a cold laugh.

"With calculations like that, I’m surprised your abacus hasn’t come to life."

"Or do you think that all of us here are just simple farmers, and that even all our brains put together aren’t as smart as you alone? That we can’t see through your little scheme?"

Those two sentences from Uncle An’s wife carried the powerful aura of a true matriarch, like a grand dame who ruled her clan.

The An family’s ancestors had come from a great family, leaders of their entire clan. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Both Uncle An and his wife were people who had seen and weathered great things.

To them, Du Guijuan was small potatoes.