Sold into a ghost marriage? Four-year-old and his thuggish father go on a killing spree.

"Is Cheng Tiezhu here? Someone's looking for him!"

Cheng Fulai stood at the entrance of the Chengjiawan Brigade office and shouted, his voice echoing several times in the empty mountain valley.

The brigade headquarters consisted of three mud-brick houses, with a crooked flagpole standing at the entrance, the red flag on it flapping loudly in the wind.

An old yellow ox was tied up at the gate, chewing on dry grass, its eyelids drooping, looking like it had seen the world.

Niannian stood behind Cheng Fulai, looking up at the place.

Chengjiawan was smaller than she had imagined.

Along a mountain gully, dozens of mud-brick houses are scattered on the slopes on both sides, like chess pieces scattered on a chessboard.

Smoke billowed from the chimneys of every household, and the air was filled with the aroma of firewood and cornmeal.

Dry firewood and corn stalks were piled up in front of and behind the house.

Chickens are scratching for food on the earthen embankment.

A skinny dog ​​squatted at the doorway, basking in the last rays of the setting sun.

On the dirt road at the village entrance, several women carrying firewood stopped and looked over curiously.

"Who's that? Leading a girl?"

"Why does he look like Cheng Fulai? Didn't he move to the county town?"

"Whose daughter is that? She's so skinny, like a monkey."

Niannian heard these comments, but she didn't turn around.

Her gaze swept over every mud-brick house and every courtyard wall, as if she were searching for something.

She didn't know which house her father lived in.

She didn't even know what her father looked like.

His mother never described what he looked like. She only left him a name and an address.

The door to the brigade headquarters creaked open.

The man who came out was in his forties, with a square face, thick eyebrows and big eyes. He was wearing a cotton-padded jacket made from an old military uniform, and his shoulders were as broad as a door panel.

This is Cheng Tiezhu, the captain of the Chengjiawan Brigade.

When Cheng Tiezhu saw Cheng Fulai, he was stunned for a moment, then forced a smile.

"Uncle Fu Lai? What brings you here? You've come all this way—"

"Tiezhu, I need to talk to you." Cheng Fulai pulled Niannian from behind to the front. "This girl's name is Niannian, and she's looking for someone."

Cheng Tiezhu looked down at Niannian.

The little girl was too small; she didn't even reach his waist when she stood in front of him. Her little face was red from the cold, and a dirty strip of cloth was wrapped around her forehead. Her cotton-padded coat was three sizes too big, and even after rolling up the sleeves several times, it was still too long.

But those eyes—bright black, staring straight at him, neither afraid nor looking away.

Cheng Tiezhu's heart skipped a beat.

"Who should I look for?"

Cheng Fulai took out the note from the inner layer of Niannian's cotton-padded jacket—the one Zhao Fengying had sewn in—torn it open, and handed it to Cheng Tiezhu.

When Cheng Tiezhu took it and looked at it, his expression was as if he had been doused with a bucket of cold water.

"Gu Yanqiu?!"

His voice suddenly rose, and he almost crushed the note in his hand.

"Gu Yanqiu—" He swallowed the rest of his sentence, glanced down at Niannian, gritted his teeth, and asked Cheng Fulai in a low voice, "Uncle Fulai, are you sure? Is this really Gu Yanqiu's daughter?"

"It's clearly written on the note that her mother's name was Song Wanqing, and she's gone. This girl ran away to find her herself."

Cheng Tiezhu's brows furrowed into a knot.

He served as the team leader in this brigade for eight years, managing over a hundred people, and he encountered all sorts of unpleasant things.

But finding a daughter for Gu Yanqiu is truly a first.

Gu Yanqiu—everything he associates with this name has nothing to do with the word "reliable".

He showed up for work but didn't put in any effort, dozed off during meetings, and left half of his two acres of private land to fall into waste. A bachelor in his thirties lived in a half-collapsed old house, and no one knew what he was doing all day.

How could someone like that suddenly have a daughter?

"Are you sure?" Cheng Tiezhu asked again.

This time, it was Nian Nian who answered the question herself.

"Uncle Captain, my mom said my dad is here."

Her voice was still hoarse, but she spoke each word clearly.

Those eyes were fixed on Cheng Tiezhu, without a trace of doubt in them.

She didn't doubt what her mother said.

If Mom says Gu Yanqiu is in Chengjiawan, then he is in Chengjiawan.

If Mom says he's Dad, then he is Dad.

Cheng Tiezhu felt a little uneasy under the gaze of a four-year-old girl and coughed twice.

"Alright, I'll have someone go and call him."

He shouted at a young man standing at the door, "Erwa! Go to the Gu family's old house and fetch Gu Yanqiu for me! Tell him the brigade headquarters needs him urgently!"

Erwa agreed and ran off.

It ran back in less than five minutes.

"Captain, we can't get him to come. Gu Yanqiu said he's 'lying down' right now, and we can talk about it tomorrow."

Cheng Tiezhu's face darkened.

"Go and call him again! Tell him the brigade leader wants him to come! If he doesn't, he'll lose a month's work points!"

Erwa ran away again.

He returned seven or eight minutes later, looking troubled.

"Captain, he said he didn't have many work points left this month, so let them deduct them."

Cheng Tiezhu slammed his hand on the table, causing the teacup lids to jump up.

"He's gone too far!"

He strode out, then after a few steps remembered something and turned back to look at Niannian.

The little girl stood quietly by the table in the brigade headquarters, her fingers gripping the edge of the table.

Her lips were pursed, and something in her eyes trembled slightly.

It wasn't fear. It was nervousness.

She's about to see her father.

This was something she had never seen before, the only thing her mother had mentioned before on her deathbed.

She crawled out of the coffin and walked all the way here to find the person.

Cheng Tiezhu sighed.

"Girl, you wait here and don't wander off." After saying this to Niannian, he winked at Cheng Fulai.

Cheng Fulai nodded and sat down on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed).

"Wait, your dad's coming soon," he said to Niannian.

Niannian hummed in agreement.

The paper windows of the brigade headquarters rustled in the wind. A kerosene lamp sat on the table, unlit.

It was getting dark, and the last rays of the setting sun shone through the window paper, casting an orange-red patch of light on the ground.

Niannian stood at the edge of the patch of light, looking down at her feet.

Aunt Zhao found her a pair of old cotton shoes, which were a bit big and the uppers were crooked outwards.

Her feet—the frostbite on her left foot hadn't fully healed, and she walked with a limp.

She didn't know how long she had been standing there.

Cheng Tiezhu's cursing voice drifted in from outside, intermittently.

"Gu Yanqiu, you get the hell up—!"

"Are you just curled up in bed waiting to die in the dead of winter?!"

"If you don't go to the brigade headquarters today, believe me, I'll tear your door apart!"

Then came a commotion—the sound of a bench falling over, someone cursing, and the laughter of a few onlookers.

A very, very long time passed.

So long that Cheng Fulai lit the kerosene lamp, the orange flame dancing inside the lampshade, casting shadows that stretched and shortened in the room.

Footsteps finally sounded at the door.

It wasn't just one person's footsteps. It was two people's—Cheng Tiezhu's steps were heavy and fast, while the other person's steps were dragging, as if they were shuffling along the ground.

The wooden door of the brigade headquarters was pushed open.

A cold draft blew in, and the flame of the kerosene lamp flickered violently.

Niannian raised her head.

A man was standing at the door.