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

Qi Lingling pulled Qi Weiwei along, insisting on "cutting in line".

She stood with her hands on her hips: "What's that compared to what you guys have? My troupe's big sewing machine has been broken for over half a year and no one has fixed it. If we had those little screwdrivers, I could take it apart myself and fix it. I wouldn't have to carry all those stage costumes home to mend them anymore! Weiwei, I don't care, I have to be number one in line next month!"

As he spoke, he shook Qi Weiwei's arm violently, almost dislocating it.

Qi Jiajia shook Qi Weiwei's other arm, saying that most of the screws on the shelves in the supply and marketing cooperative's warehouse were loose, and the warehouse keeper had been applying for repair funds for more than half a year but hadn't received approval. If Qu Fei saw this, he would go crazy. Lingling was first, and she had to be second.

Seeing the order collapse, the crowd started arguing again, albeit half-jokingly.

Qi Weiwei listened to her family members chattering away, laughing until tears almost streamed down her face.

Wang Fang sat next to Qi Chun Chun, smiled with pursed lips, and put a piece of pork rib into Qi Chun Chun's bowl.

Wang Yun sat next to Qi Maomao, her face flushed. She would steal glances at Qi Maomao every now and then before quickly lowering her head again.

When Wang Yun was mentioned, Qi Weiwei glanced at her a few more times.

Wang Yun's younger brother, Wang Rong, has already become a warehouse keeper in the logistics department of the Ministry of Industry.

This was a spot that Qi Weiwei obtained by exchanging her family welfare position in the Ministry of Industry.

As soon as Wang Rong's job was secured, Wang Yun's parents' expressions immediately changed. The warehouse manager position was a permanent, secure job with good benefits, including dormitory accommodation and a meal allowance in the canteen; countless people would kill to get it.

Wang Yun's father went to the matchmaker's house early the next morning and relented.

Wang Yun's mother was even more practical; that very afternoon, she brought two pounds of chicken cakes to the Qi family and finalized the wedding date with Chen Hongxia.

October 2nd.

Qi Weiwei calculated that there was still more than a month left.

Looking at Wang Yun's round face, still a little chubby, and at Qi Maomao's clumsy yet attentive manner as he peeled shrimp for her, she felt much more at ease.

She remembered Qi Maomao's fate in her past life very clearly—she was forced by Qi Weiwei to do private work for Tang Tiantian, caused a fire by illegally connecting electrical circuits, was given a demerit and dismissed, and later got into a fight that resulted in someone's death and was sentenced to death.

On this day in his past life, Qi Maomao was nearing the end of his life.

Now, he sits under the pomegranate tree, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, revealing his two strong forearms, struggling with a boiled shrimp. The shrimp shell is peeled to pieces, and the shrimp meat is stuffed into Wang Yun's bowl, covered with a stain of soy sauce.

"Fifth Brother," Qi Weiwei suddenly spoke.

Qi Maomao looked up: "Hmm?"

"Your toolbox—" Qi Weiwei deliberately dragged out her words, "I've thought about it, and your spot can be moved up a bit." "Really?!" Qi Maomao jumped up, almost knocking over his chair.

"Really." Qi Weiwei smiled and glanced at Wang Yun. "Consider it a wedding gift for Fifth Sister-in-law."

Wang Yun's face flushed red, like a boiled shrimp.

Qi Maomao grinned so wide his mouth almost reached his ears, and kept bowing to Qi Weiwei.

Ling Heping raised his hands in surrender: "I can't argue about this! I'll give way! Weiwei, then I'll be first in line next month!"

Qi Chun Chun chimed in, "I'm second!"

Qi Lingling said, "I'm third! That's enough!"

"You... no, Second Sister, you..." Qi Zhuangzhuang let out a mournful howl, only to be slapped on the back of the head by Ma Lan.

The whole courtyard was filled with people laughing so hard they were doubled over.

Just then, Ling Heping suddenly put down his chopsticks.

He raised his hand and pressed his palm down.

The movement was very subtle, but almost everyone in the courtyard who was laughing and joking fell silent at the same time. Qi Dayou's wine cup stopped in mid-air, Wen Sumei's hand, which was peeling peanuts, stopped on her knee, and Dandan put the chicken leg back into the bowl.

Then, everyone heard it.

Outside the courtyard, just across the wall, came a rustling sound.

It wasn't a cat, it wasn't the wind, it wasn't a neighbor getting up in the middle of the night. The sound was very soft and fragmented, like something slowly rubbing against the wall.

The rustling sound of shoes scraping against the broken brick floor, the sound of clothes brushing against the wall, and the sound of someone trying hard to suppress their breathing but still letting it leak out.

Someone is tearing down the base of the wall.

Qi Maomao slammed his chopsticks on the table and rushed out in three quick steps.

His skills, honed by climbing utility poles, made him as fast as a raccoon.

The courtyard gate slammed open, followed by a short gasp from outside, then a muffled thud of struggling and the sound of someone being dragged by the collar.

A moment later, Qi Maomao dragged someone into the courtyard.

Everyone in the courtyard turned to look.

It was Tang Aijun. Qi Maomao was grabbing Tang Aijun by the back of his neck, and he was hunched over, looking like a hedgehog whose vital point had been grabbed.

He was wearing a wrinkled gray shirt with yellow stains on the collar, and a button was missing from the cuff, revealing half of his thin, bony wrist.

The trousers were made of navy blue polyester, worn shiny at the knees, and the cuffs were stained with a ring of grayish-white wall plaster.

He was wearing a pair of dirty, oversized canvas shoes.

He looked up and forced a smile.

That smiling face made Qi Weiwei feel nauseous.

In her past life, this was the face she loved most.

Thick eyebrows, a high nose bridge, thin lips, and a smile that carries a hint of roguishness and a touch of dashing charm.

But now, his face is emaciated, his cheekbones protrude like two knives, his eye sockets are sunken, his lips are dry and cracked, and there is a patch of bluish stubble on his chin.

Those eyes—she stared at those eyes—were not his original eyes.

The original pair of eyes had slightly lighter-colored pupils, and when they looked at people, they had a nonchalant and lazy air about them.

The eyes now were cloudy, the pupils gray, and the way they moved within their sockets had a stiff, sluggish quality. She knew those were Tang Qu's eyes.

Qi Weiwei gripped her chopsticks tightly.

Tang Aijun looked at the large family, his gaze sweeping from the stone table under the pomegranate tree to the stool at the entrance of the main room, from the wine cup in Qi Dayou's hand to the watermelon juice on Dandan and Qianqian's faces.

Among them were people he knew—Qi Dayou, Wen Sumei, Qi Weiwei, and her brothers and sisters.

There were also unfamiliar faces—he saw Wang Fang and Wang Yun, whom he didn't recognize, but they were sitting next to Qi Chunchun and Qi Maomao, and their relationship was self-evident.

All eyes in the courtyard were on him.

There was no welcome in their eyes, only astonishment, disgust, and a kind of nausea at seeing a fly land on a plate.

He forced a fawning smile, his voice weak and breathless: "I...I know I shouldn't have come. But...I need to see Weiwei about something."

Qi Weiwei put down her chopsticks and stood up.

The voice was icy cold, each word like a nail driven into the blue brick floor:

"Get out."

Tang Aijun didn't move. He stood there, his hands fidgeting along the seams of his trousers, his lips moving as he forced out an even uglier smile:

"Weiwei, I really have something important to tell you. I swear, I'm not here to... pester you."