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

Gu Yanqiu carried Niannian as they walked along the dirt road in Chengjiawan.

The night was as dark as ink poured down, and a few windows in the distance emitted a dim yellow light, like holes poked in a black cloth.

The wind was as hard as a knife, stinging my face.

Niannian nestled on Gu Yanqiu's shoulder, her ear pressed against his neck, able to hear his pulse.

They jumped "thump, thump, thump".

Jump very fast.

It wasn't because we were in a hurry.

It's because of nervousness.

Niannian could sense that Gu Yanqiu's pace was getting slower and slower—from walking briskly to walking normally, and then from walking normally to dawdling.

The closer he got to that direction, the heavier his steps became.

The Gu family's courtyard was located at the eastern end of Chengjiawan, consisting of three main rooms and one side room.

The courtyard walls were made of rammed earth, and two faded red lanterns hung on the gate.

The courtyard gate was open.

The courtyard was full of people.

Before Gu Yanqiu even reached the door, he saw that all the lights in the main room were on—not kerosene lamps, but three lamps, one each in the main room, the kitchen, and the side room, illuminating the room brightly.

Cheng Tiezhu had sent someone to notify him in advance.

The entire Gu family already knows.

Gu Yanqiu stopped at the gate of the courtyard.

"Dad?" Niannian sensed his hesitation and called out softly.

"It's alright." Gu Yanqiu lifted Niannian up a bit to make sure she was settled, then stepped into the courtyard.

The first person to block my way was Grandma Gu, Wang Guifang.

The woman, in her fifties, had her hair pulled back into a bun, her face drooping loosely, and her eyes, though small, were very shrewd—not in the sense of intelligence, but in the sense of calculation.

Wang Guifang stood with her hands on her hips, blocking the entrance to the main room like a wall.

"Whose bastard is this? What makes them claim to be from the Gu family?"

As soon as that voice rang out, the neighbors who had been whispering in the courtyard all fell silent.

"You say so, but do you have any proof?"

Wang Guifang's gaze swept over Niannian with undisguised disgust—like looking at a stray cat that had been thrown out of someone's doorstep.

"Mom—" Gu Yanqiu had just opened her mouth when she was interrupted by a voice from behind her.

"The second son messed around outside, had a child, and then brought it home? We, the Gu family, are not a charity."

The speaker was the eldest uncle, Gu Yanchun.

He was in his early thirties, more robust than Gu Yanqiu, with a square face and thick eyebrows. He wore a much better cotton-padded coat than Gu Yanqiu. He stood on the door frame of the side room, arms crossed, a cold smile on his lips.

"Big brother—"

"Yanqiu." Another voice drifted over from the direction of the kitchen, shrill and sharp, like a needle pricking the heart.

Aunt Sun Xiufen poked half her body out of the kitchen door, a fake smile on her lips.

"A mere girl isn't enough to feed you for eighteen years! Who knows if she was just some random woman you gave her to? There's a paternity test... no—what proof is there that she's your child?"

That may sound harsh, but in the rural areas of 1964, it wasn't considered outrageous.

Who would believe it if a bachelor suddenly brought home a child?

Gu Yanqiu stood in the middle of the courtyard, holding Nian Nian in his arms, surrounded by a circle of cold faces.

He glanced at Wang Guifang by the door, then at Gu Yanchun on the doorframe, and then at Sun Xiufen by the kitchen door.

Not a single person showed even a hint of welcome on their face.

Inside the main room, the old man, Gu Dehou, sat in a grand chair, holding a pipe in his hand, taking puffs one after another.

He didn't speak.

He didn't say a single word from beginning to end.

The smoke obscured his face, making it difficult to see clearly.

Niannian nestled in Gu Yanqiu's arms, her eyes sweeping over the cold faces one by one.

She saw everything.

Grandma's face—Zhao's greedy, cold face.

Second Aunt's face—Liu Cuihua's snobbish and mean face.

The old lady of the Wang family had a face full of fat, a face that looked like she was chewing a pipe.

Now it's these same faces again.

Different people, the same expression.

Looking at these faces, I saw not a single trace of kindness.

But she didn't cry.

It wasn't because she was strong—it was because she had already cried all her tears half an hour earlier at the brigade headquarters.

Those were tears for Dad.

These people don't deserve it.

Niannian slid down from Gu Yanqiu's arms.

Two small feet landed on the frozen mud, and a sharp pain shot through the soles of their feet—the frostbite on their left foot hadn't fully healed yet.

But she stood firm.

Standing straight.

He raised his head and looked at Wang Guifang.

"grandmother."

Niannian's voice rang out clearly in the courtyard.

"My name is Gu Niannian. My mother's name is Song Wanqing."

The whispers in the courtyard disappeared.

Everyone stared at the little girl, who was as thin as a stick.

"You can disown me."

Niannian's gaze shifted from Wang Guifang to Gu Yanchun, and then to Sun Xiufen.

Those bright black eyes were as calm as two deep wells—the bottom could not be seen.

"But my dad acknowledges me, and that's enough."

The entire room fell silent.

When these words came from the mouth of a four-and-a-half-year-old child, all the adults in the yard were stunned.

Including Wang Guifang.

Her hands, which were on her hips, loosened slightly, and a crack appeared in her expression—not that she was moved, but that she was stunned.

A four-year-old girl speaks like an adult. No—she's even more assertive than an adult.

Wang Guifang opened her mouth, but for a moment she didn't know how to respond.

Gu Yanqiu stood behind Niannian, his hands trembling, but at that moment, his back straightened.

He took a step forward, shielding Niannian behind him.

"This is my daughter."

Gu Yanqiu's voice was not loud, but steady.

"Acknowledge it or not, it's up to you."

Four words.

Gu Yanchun's cold smile froze on his face.

Sun Xiufen's mouth was open, and she couldn't close it for a long time.

Wang Guifang's face turned a deep purplish-red, and she tapped her pipe twice on the table.

"Fine! Fine! Fine! You're getting tough now, aren't you?" Wang Guifang's voice shrilly. "You brought him back, so you can raise him! Don't expect him to eat a single grain of rice or burn a single piece of firewood! That room of yours—that woodshed at the west end—you can live there if you want, or get out of Chengjiawan!"

"Okay," Gu Yanqiu readily agreed.

He bent down and picked Niannian up again.

He turned and left.

No turning back.

Niannian leaned on his shoulder and glanced back at the Gu family's courtyard.

Inside the main room, the old man, Gu Dehou, remained silent.

But at the moment Gu Yanqiu turned around, Nian Nian saw it—

The old man paused for a moment in the hand holding the pipe.

It was so brief. So brief that no one else present noticed.

But Nian Nian saw it.

Her eyes were sharper than any adult's.

As Gu Yanqiu carried Niannian out of the courtyard gate, Sun Xiufen's voice came from behind him, sarcastic and deliberately low, just loud enough for him to hear.

"Let them raise her. What can a little girl possibly grow up to be? She'll just be a money-losing burden once she's married off.

Gu Yanqiu paused for a moment.

His shoulder tensed for a moment.

Then they continued walking.

Niannian buried her face in his neck.

She didn't say anything.

But she remembered Sun Xiufen's face in her heart.

I remember it very clearly.

The cold wind pulled the lights in the Gu family courtyard further and further away, and the figures of the father and daughter disappeared into the twilight of Chengjiawan.

In the distance, from the direction of the Gu family's old house, came the sound of Wang Guifang slamming a stool.

Gu Dehou, sitting on the grand master's chair in the main room, finally put down his pipe.

The old man's cloudy eyes stared at the doorway—the father and daughter had already walked away.

He opened his mouth.

But he didn't make a sound.