Chen Erjun looked at the tall and broad-shouldered Chen Niu, his face full of indignation. “I’m telling you, Niu’er, with your build, how could you not have been selected? Among those security team members, few are sturdier than you!”

“That Zhao Kang, the one who caused trouble—standing next to you, he’s nothing but a skinny twig. And that good-for-nothing Erlai…”

Chen Erjun listed all the people he thought were unqualified.

Chen Niu was completely puzzled. “Second Uncle, what are you trying to say? Don’t tell me Zhao Kang pulled some trick back then?”

He had just fought with Zhao Kang, so his first suspicion naturally fell on him.

But after another thought, it didn’t make sense. That fight had only happened today. Back then, Zhao Kang had no such ability.

“No.” Chen Erjun shook his head, widening his eyes, his voice unconsciously growing louder. “You were reported! What else could it be?”

“If you had followed me back then, none of this would’ve happened.” He spoke as though imagining an alternate life, his face full of regret and sorrow. “Such a good job—steady pay, commanding respect, even finding a wife would’ve been easier. A warm home, a wife and children… in a few years, you’d have two in three.”

Shi Qian still didn’t understand.

Following this man—did that somehow give him the right to fight with the old lady for guardianship?

He couldn’t make sense of it.

And that whole “two kids in three years” dream? That was way too far-fetched.

Shi Qian’s face was blank as he kept listening.

Chen Niu, however, immediately grasped his second uncle’s intention. With a helpless sigh, he said: “Second Uncle, if I wasn’t chosen, then I wasn’t chosen. That was so long ago. No need to bring it up again.”

“How can you say that? Such a good opportunity, all ruined by that old woman… she’s the one who harmed you.” Chen Erjun pressed on, his tone heavy with persuasion. “Niu’er, don’t listen to her completely. Her heart is poisonous. You should listen to your uncle—your uncle truly cares for you—”

“Enough, enough, you don’t need to say more.” Chen Niu cut him off.

“Second Uncle, my grandfather and your father—they were real brothers. If we trace it up, aren’t we still one family? The ties are the same.”

“How can it be the same? Your grandmother’s background is bad. She was a landlord’s daughter back then…”

That was the basis of Chen Erjun’s argument. He believed that because they weren’t “directly” one family, the stigma couldn’t be washed away.

Many times, when checking family background, investigations went back three generations. And if someone really wanted to make trouble, you couldn’t escape it. Which made his reasoning pointless to Chen Niu.

Shi Qian finally pieced it together.

Because the old lady’s background was tainted, it had affected Chen Niu’s chance of joining the security team. But if Chen Niu became this “Second Uncle’s” adopted son, then within three generations, his record would be clean.

As for why he was so set on adopting Chen Niu, Shi Qian guessed there was only one reason—

—this Second Uncle had no son of his own.

Just as he figured this out, Shi Qian heard the faint tap of a cane hitting the ground. His ears were sharp.

Qian Niuhua wandered from behind Chen Niu toward the doorway, and sure enough, there was the old lady, quietly making her way closer.

Seeing the calf, Zhang Peyue even made a shushing gesture.

But hearing the conversation outside, her face had grown very unpleasant.

Shi Qian thought for a moment and kept quiet.

Eavesdropping wasn’t good, of course—but sometimes, it depended on the occasion.

Since Zhang Peyue herself was involved, there was nothing wrong with her listening.

Who would’ve thought that in the next second, Chen Erjun would drop another bombshell: “Niu’er, I only held back and endured for your sake, even avoiding that old hag’s man. Otherwise, you think I’d be afraid of her?”

“Me, afraid of her?”

“Second Uncle, don’t talk nonsense.” Chen Niu shook off his grip, unwilling to hear any more.

But Chen Erjun wasn’t about to let such a good chance slip away. He clung tightly to Chen Niu’s arm.

“Your uncle’s words are the truth!”

His tone was firm and absolute. “Wasn’t it exactly like that back then? Whose son died first? That venomous old woman despised your father for being half-witted, fine—but she starved your mother to death as well.”

“Think about it—such a person, if you keep clinging to her, one day she’ll drive you the same way. That old hag will starve and work you to death just to keep herself alive!”

He grew so worked up that he couldn’t control his voice—it rose louder and louder.

Which meant the old lady heard everything, loud and clear.

Chen Niu, still held fast, spotted her at the doorway. He hadn’t expected her to appear and stammered, “Grandma…”

His mind went blank. Chen Erjun’s words had stirred up painful, half-buried childhood memories, and now the sudden appearance of the old lady left him dazed and bewildered.

Shi Qian froze too, not knowing what to do.

Chen Erjun needed quite some time to digest those words.

The old lady starved her own son to death? And even starved Chen Niu’s mother—her own daughter-in-law—to death as well?

But why? The old lady didn’t look like someone mentally unstable at all.

When Shi Qian snapped back to his senses, he saw the old lady raising her cane and swinging it at Chen Erjun.

As she angrily struck out, she also tore open Chen Erjun’s shameful past with her words: “Chen Erjun, you stuffed yourself full while starving your parents and children to death. What an accomplishment you’ve made of yourself!”

“I ought to hang two black flags for you and see if blood can wash them red.”

The old lady struck him. Chen Erjun, in pain and anger, wanted to fight back.

But Chen Niu blocked the way. Faced with a choice, he instinctively locked his arms around Chen Erjun first.

The old lady was no longer at the age where she could afford reckless scuffles, and her health had always been poor.

Seeing the opportunity, Zhang Peyue showed no mercy—she aimed carefully, landing blow after blow on Chen Erjun’s legs and backside.

Chen Erjun howled in pain: “Ow!”

“Niu’er, let go of Second Uncle!”

“Second Uncle, you should leave.” Chen Niu held him tightly, dragging him away.

Zhang Peyue, huffing with fury, kept swinging, though Chen Niu’s dragging made her strikes land only every few steps.

Even though her steps were shaky, when it came to beating Chen Erjun, the cane always came down.

Her stubbornness showed through vividly.

Watching this, Shi Qian worried and quickly followed alongside the old lady with small steps, afraid she might fall.

Already pierced to the heart by her words, now beaten as well, Chen Erjun couldn’t break free. Enraged, he roared at Zhang Peyue: “You venomous old hag, spouting nonsense! You’re nothing but a bag of bones, a cripple—why are you still alive? Just to drag everyone down? Hurry up and die already!”

Chen Niu’s mind was clouded, but he knew those words only poured fuel on the fire. He quickly clamped his hand over Chen Erjun’s mouth.

“You don’t need to worry. Even if I die, this will always be my grandson,” Zhang Peyue snapped with a cold laugh. “If he dares to acknowledge you as his father, I’ll climb out of my coffin and discipline him myself!”

At those words—perhaps out of anger—Chen Niu also caught a swing of her cane, pain shooting through the muscles of his leg.

His grip loosened, and Chen Erjun pried his hands free.

Eyes red, teeth clenched, Chen Erjun spat viciously: “Let’s see how much longer you live. I’ll wait for you to die—then I’ll set off firecrackers, ten full strings of them, and you’ll hear them from the grave—”

Before he could finish, Chen Niu covered his mouth again.

Then, tucking him under his arm, Chen Niu forcibly dragged him away.

He had to separate the two of them. That was the only thought in Chen Niu’s mind, and he acted on it without hesitation.

In the midst of this struggle, Lin Nanyin and the others happened upon the scene. They froze, then quickly rushed forward.

Xu Guozi and Lin Nanyin hurriedly took the old lady by each arm to steady her.

Shi Qian finally breathed easier—at last, the old lady was “safe.”

Meanwhile, a square-faced young man, prompted by Xu Guozi’s look, moved to restrain the near-mad Chen Erjun.

With one man and two “bodyguards” around him, he could do nothing but behave.

Chen Niu noticed the help—it was the educated youth teacher—and when he turned his head, he also saw Lin Nanyin and Xu Guozi.

All three were neatly dressed and composed.

Xu Guozi’s family was well-off, and he had a proper job. The educated youth teacher and Lin Nanyin both carried the refined air of the well-read.

And as for him—he was in the most helpless, humiliating moment of his life. His painful past was suffocating him.

Had they all heard it?

Chen Niu’s face slowly flushed red. After a moment’s silence, he looked at his furious grandmother and said, “Grandma, I’ll send him back first.”

His lips moved, but in the end he didn’t voice the words of comfort.

Shi Qian guessed the words he swallowed back were something like: Grandma, don’t get angry.

Because it was obvious—Zhang Peyue’s eyes were still blazing as she glared at Chen Erjun.

She turned her gaze on her grandson and added harshly: “If he dares come again, I’ll beat him to death!”

“Mmph!” Chen Erjun tried to respond, veins bulging on his neck, but Chen Niu’s hand still covered his mouth.

Chen Niu couldn’t promise his grandmother anything—he could only do his best.

Turning to Xu Guozi, he said: “Guozi, please help look after my grandma.”

“Alright, don’t worry.” Xu Guozi nodded. “Go on, go on.”

Chen Niu’s gaze swept past Lin Nanyin, noticing the bundle she carried. But he didn’t linger—just turned and dragged his Second Uncle toward his house.

The square-faced young man, who looked quite scholarly—Xie Guo’an—saw that Chen Niu could handle it himself, but still asked carefully, “Need any more help?”

Chen Niu shook his head. “Thanks, no need.”

Summoning all his strength, he simply hauled Chen Erjun away by brute force.

Now that the old lady was restrained and no longer chasing to hit, and Chen Erjun had no chance to resist, dragging him off was smooth.

Watching them go, Xu Guozi gently coaxed the old lady toward the house: “Grandma Chen, don’t bother with such muddle-headed folk. It only hurts you to get angry.”

“Come, let’s go inside and drink some water.”

Lin Nanyin softly rubbed the old lady’s back, easing her rapid breathing.

The old lady felt much better, and after a glance at the worried Little Niu nearby, she said: “I’m not angry. Thank you. I can go back myself.”

Without her cane, her legs couldn’t bear weight—it was even more inconvenient.

Xu Guozi let go with a smile, though Lin Nanyin hesitated, her hand hovering nearby.

Xu Guozi said: “Grandma Chen, this is Comrade Lin, an educated youth. Thanks to your Chen Niu and Qian Niuhua today, we managed to catch that man so quickly. She asked me to bring her over to thank your family.”

Xie Guo’an, standing behind, curiously studied the little yellow cow.

He too noticed the worried expression and behavior it had shown earlier, and thought to himself—this little cow truly did seem to understand people.

Shi Qian didn’t realize that he had already been noticed first by the so-called “male lead.”

The man observed him for a while, then pointed out to Lin Nanyin where the cooled boiled water and bowls were. Only after watching the old lady drink a couple of sips did he feel slightly reassured.

Still, he was deeply shocked by the Chen family’s affairs, so much so that he had no mind to pay attention to Jie Guoan.

On the other side.

Chen Niu dragged his second uncle far away, only letting go of the hand covering the man’s mouth once they reached a deserted spot.

Chen Erjun gasped for air. “Niu’er, do you… do you want to suffocate your second uncle to death? Cough, cough—”

“Second Uncle, don’t come here anymore, okay? I’m begging you,” Chen Niu pleaded in pain.

“You didn’t used to treat your second uncle like this.” Chen Erjun started complaining. “I should never have listened to Xu Youguang’s mediation. Now your whole heart has been taken in by her, and you don’t think of your second uncle anymore.”

He began muttering about the past—how he used to bring food to Chen Niu, how he took him out to play…

That was half a year after the famine, when Chen Niu was only seven or eight.

Back then, the old lady was already bringing him to the fields, making him work at everything.

At that age, nobody else would have the heart to make a child labor so much.

Little Chen Niu couldn’t fully understand the family’s situation then. Seeing his playmates free to run around while he himself had to toil bitterly, he naturally resented it, thinking the old lady treated him badly.

At that time, Chen Erjun would come by from time to time. Sharing the same surname, being close kin on the grandfather’s side, he easily won over the boy with those small “kindnesses.”

By comparison, Chen Niu felt even more that the old lady wasn’t good to him.

But people grow up. As Chen Niu matured and learned more, he naturally realized which kind of care was true responsibility.

He had suffered plenty under his grandmother’s hand—working the fields, climbing mountains, crossing rivers. Whatever she knew, he had to learn; whatever she didn’t, he had to figure out.

But after enduring hardships, he also tasted the sweetness that came after.

And he knew well that his grandmother suffered even more than he did.

Still, Chen Niu couldn’t deny that he had received kindness from Chen Erjun. In those years, he had indeed felt a joy from him greater than what he’d ever felt from his father.

His father was half-simpleminded. If the grandmother carefully taught him farm work, he could manage. Beyond that, he knew little.

He couldn’t make kites, couldn’t whistle, not even the simplest games of lifting a child high or weighing them on his arms.

In Chen Niu’s memory, his father only ever sat smiling at the side, while his mother had to worry about everything. As a child, Chen Niu sometimes even felt like his father was another “brother” who competed with him for his mother’s attention.

Hearing his second uncle go on about those past events, Chen Niu said, “Second Uncle, I can never be your son.”

“You look down on your second uncle too,” Chen Erjun’s face twisted with bitterness. Then, aggrieved and indignant, he asked, “Niu’er, can you really bear to watch your second uncle die without descendants?!”

Chen Niu lowered his head slightly, his sharp black-and-white eyes fixed on him. “Second Uncle, you had another child once. But when Second Aunt was pregnant, you made her abort it with your own hands.”

“You—you, how do you know that?” Chen Erjun was stunned.

At once, panic rose in him. “Who told you?! Who told you?! They’re slandering me—I didn’t know anything—”

“Someone else.” Chen Niu cut him off. “Second Uncle, it doesn’t matter who told me.”

“Just remember what I’m saying. It’s the same as what Grandma has always said—it’s impossible.”

“Even if one day my grandma is gone, I will never acknowledge you as my father.”

As he spoke, he recalled the image of Second Aunt crying and begging him.

At that time, she had laughed and wept, usually timid and quiet, yet cursing her husband with bitter words—that he would die without descendants.

Back then, Chen Niu was only about ten. He didn’t fully grasp the weight of such a curse, but he knew that Second Uncle had wronged Second Aunt. So he promised her, and promised to keep it secret.

Thinking of that scene now, his resolve only hardened.

He easily pushed aside his uncle’s clutching hand. “Second Uncle, let go. You know I hit hard.”

“If you dare anger my grandma again, I really will beat you.”

Still unwilling, Chen Erjun asked obsessively, “Was it that old hag’s fabrication? Not a single word from her mouth can be believed!”

“She says I killed my children—how could that be? My son and daughter, one had just learned to call me ‘dad,’ the other already knew how to cook. How could my heart not ache? Even now, when I think of it, the pain in my chest is like knives cutting into me.”

His voice grew emotional, and he lifted his hand to wipe his eyes.

Chen Niu almost wanted to ask: when his own parents died, did his grandmother not feel the same kind of pain?

In the village, no one dared bring up such sorrows. They all knew that remembering them only tore open wounds.

His expression turned cold. “I should just take you to see the Party Secretary. You promised yourself not to bring up these things again.”

Everything in Shengli Village—from work points to grain—was in Xu Youguang’s charge. Hearing that name, Chen Erjun’s face darkened further.

“Niu’er, must you really treat your second uncle so ruthlessly?”

Chen Niu didn’t want to hear more. He clamped a hand over his uncle’s mouth again and dragged him toward Xu Youguang’s home.

Having suffered from this before, Chen Erjun began struggling hard again, this time pulling desperately toward his own doorway.

Back at the Chen house.

Lin Nanyin put down her thank-you gift—half a jin of red sugar—then left with Xu Guozi’s fiancée.

Shi Qian moved closer to the old lady, noticing her hand gripping the edge of the table tightly, forcing herself not to make a sound, as though she wanted to swallow all her emotions back inside.

Qian Niuhua nudged her with its head. “Moo, moo.”

Grandma, don’t be sad.

Zhang Peyue came back to herself, looked down at the calf, and gently stroked it. “I’m not angry, there’s nothing worth being angry about.”

Shi Qian: …

That tone clearly meant she was very angry!

Zhang Peyue continued softly, “Qian Niu’er, you really are such a good child.”

“Do you truly not remember the past? Not even a little—”

“Have you recalled… anything at all?” the old lady asked in a low voice. The resentment and unrest in her brows faded with the question.

Shi Qian shook his head in confusion.

He didn’t know what the old lady wanted him to remember.

Zhang Peiyue looked at Little Niu’s innocent eyes, thought for a moment, and then said softly, “It’s fine if you can’t remember. Things are good as they are now.”

“Having enough to eat, clothes to keep warm, and even some reason and fairness in life—it’s a peaceful and good time.”

Peaceful?

Shi Qian did the math. The old lady must have lived through those years that were anything but peaceful.

So Shi Qian coaxed the old lady in a low voice: “Moo, moo.”

Things will only get better. The future will be even brighter.