The beloved but ungrateful girl is reborn: This time she has truly changed.

Director Wang took the note, stood at attention, and saluted: "Yes, sir! I guarantee I will complete the mission!"

Ling Heping nodded and turned to leave.

That afternoon, Ling Heping drove Qi Weiwei and the two children back to his grandfather's house.

In the courtyard, Grandpa Ling and Qi Zhuangzhuang were waiting.

Upon seeing the car return, the two men went to greet it.

The car door opened, and Qi Weiwei led her two children out of the car.

When Grandpa Ling saw how thin and bony the two children were, his eyes immediately welled up with tears.

He knelt down, his voice choked with emotion: "Good child...you've suffered so much..."

Qi Zhuangzhuang burst into tears.

This towering man looked at his two petite nieces and cried like a child.

"Come on, come on in." Grandpa Ling wiped his eyes and led the two children into the house. "Stay at Grandpa's for a few days, take a break, and rest and recuperate, okay?"

The two children looked at him timidly, then at Qi Weiwei.

Qi Weiwei nodded: "Call him Grandpa."

"...Grandpa," the older one called softly.

The younger one sweetly greeted, "Hello, Grandpa!"

Grandpa Ling's tears welled up again, and he nodded repeatedly, "Good, good, good child..."

The group entered the house.

Sister Chen had already prepared the meal—eight dishes and a soup, filling the entire table.

Braised pork, steamed fish, scrambled eggs, stewed chicken soup... these are all rare delicacies in this era.

The two children stared wide-eyed at the table full of food.

"Eat, eat whatever you like." Grandpa Ling served them food, "Eat whatever you like."

At first, the two children were too afraid to touch their chopsticks, but with Qi Weiwei's encouragement, they cautiously picked up a piece of food.

Their favorite dish is braised pork.

The fatty meat with skin on is glossy, dark reddish-brown, tender, and flavorful.

The two children ate heartily, their cheeks bulging out like two little hamsters.

However, the stomach and intestines, which have been malnourished for a long time, quickly reacted when suddenly ingested so much oil and water.

That evening, both children had diarrhea.

Qi Weiwei didn't sleep all night, staying by their bedside, washing them and feeding them water.

Grandpa Ling also got up and found some antidiarrheal medicine for the children.

Fortunately, it wasn't serious, and I felt much better the next day.

For the next few days, Ling Heping went to the county town almost every day.

He went to the supply and marketing cooperative seven or eight times and bought two new sets of clothes for each of his two children—they were better looking and made of better material than the previous ones.

I also bought a full set of daily necessities: toothbrush, toothpaste, towel, face cream, hair ties, hair clips...

He also bought food: tin box cookies, peach shortbread, glutinous rice strips, White Rabbit milk candy... He bought everything delicious that he could find.

Grandpa Ling asked someone to bring several old hens from the countryside and made chicken soup every day.

Every meal consists of eight dishes and a soup, prepared in various ways.

The two children's complexions visibly became rosy.

They were originally called Xie Kuya and Xie Jianya—names given by Xie Chunqiao, full of malice and curses.

The formalities haven't been completed yet; the name can only be changed after the household registration is transferred to Qi Weiwei's name.

But Qi Weiwei has already given her two children new nicknames.

The older one is called Dandan, and the younger one is called Xixi.

"Dan means red," Qi Weiwei said, stroking her eldest daughter's head. "Qian also means red. Mom hopes that your lives will be prosperous and full of hope from now on."

She wanted to take advantage of China's good fortune to change the children's bad luck.

These past few days, the adults have been calling the children by their new nicknames.

At first, the two children weren't used to it, but they quickly adapted.

"Dandan, come and eat."

"Sissi, stop running, slow down."

"Dandan is such a good girl, she can comb her little sister's hair now."

"Sisi, here, have this candy."

……

A week later, Dandan and Xixi were already familiar with everyone.

Dandan is introverted and speaks softly, but she is very sensible and always takes care of her younger sister.

Sisi, however, is a chatterbox. She gets along well with everyone, is lively and cheerful, and loves to laugh and make noise.

But both children have become much more cheerful, with more smiles on their faces and a light in their eyes.

After a week of rest, Qi Weiwei and Qi Zhuangzhuang are taking the children back to Beijing.

Ling Heping said he would take them back, and he actually got on the train.

On the train, two children who had never left their courtyard were incredibly excited as it was their first time riding a train.

Leaning against the car window, watching the scenery rushing past, she chattered incessantly:

"Mom, is that a mountain?"

"Mom, why is that house so small?"

"Mommy, the train is going so fast!"

Qi Weiwei sat next to them, patiently answering each question with a gentle smile on her face.

Ling Heping sat opposite, watching the interaction between the mother and her two daughters, a smile on his lips.

Upon returning to Beijing, Qi Weiwei did not take the children directly to her parents' home.

Her thinking was very cautious—

With the children appearing so suddenly, and the railway family quarters being a noisy place, it was inevitable that some people would ask all sorts of questions.

Moreover, she didn't know what the situation was like with Tang Aijun—if he discovered the money was missing, he certainly wouldn't let it go easily.

If Tang Aijun comes knocking, the children may suffer further harm.

So she decided to take the children to their grandfather's house in the suburbs first.

Ling Heping got a car from the military base in the suburbs of Beijing and drove them there.

The car drove into that familiar area of ​​bungalows and stopped at the gate of Grandpa's house.

Qi Weiwei led her two children out of the car.

The courtyard was quiet, with only the old jujube tree swaying gently in the wind.

But when she pushed open the courtyard gate, she was stunned.

Around 4 PM, there was a huge crowd at home—

My sister-in-law Ma Lan, my two nephews Qi Yang and Qi Xing, my second sister Qi Lingling, my fourth brother Qi Chunchun, and my fifth brother Qi Maomao—they were all there!

The room was packed with people, and the atmosphere was heavy.

Everyone stood up when they saw Qi Weiwei enter.

Grandpa came to greet her, his face grim: "Weiwei, you're back... Don't panic, let's think of something together!"

Qi Weiwei's heart sank: "Grandpa, what happened?"

Grandma came out of the house, her eyes red and swollen, her voice trembling: "Weiwei... your parents... your parents were taken to the land requisition committee by Tang Qu!"

After he finished speaking, the room fell into a deathly silence.

Dandan and Qianqian held Qi Weiwei's hands tightly, their little faces filled with fear.

Qi Weiwei was struck dumb, frozen in place, as if the blood in her body had frozen in an instant.

"When did this happen?" Her voice trembled, almost incoherent.

No wonder... no wonder she sent a telegram from Shandong Province saying that the child had been found, but did not receive a reply from the parents.

She thought it was just that the telegram hadn't been delivered.

She never expected this...

Grandpa's face darkened: "The night before last, in the middle of the night, a group of people banged on the door, dragged your parents out of bed, and took them away."

Qi Weiwei's vision went black for a moment, and she almost couldn't stand up.

Second sister Qi Lingling quickly helped her up: "Weiwei, sit down and talk."

She was helped to sit down in a chair, her hands still trembling: "What...what charges did they arrest them on?"