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

"Dad, don't worry, I won't be bullied."

Under the big locust tree at the village entrance, Gu Niannian held her father's rough fingers, looked up at him, and tried her best to force a smile.

Her eyes were large and bright, like two black gems immersed in clear water, clearly reflecting Gu Yanqiu's face, which was filled with reluctance and guilt.

Today is the day Gu Yanqiu reports to the county agricultural machinery station.

Working in the county town means I can't go home every day.

In the county town, they had no home, and there was nowhere to settle a five-year-old child.

After tossing and turning all night, Gu Yanqiu made an incredibly difficult decision—

He went to work in the county town, leaving Niannian temporarily in Chengjiawan, entrusted to the care of the kind-hearted Aunt Wang.

He rides his bike back once a week.

This decision was like a knife, cutting into his heart with excruciating pain.

He had just rescued his daughter from the wolves' den.

Now, however, he has to leave her alone in this perilous place.

"My dear child, Daddy...I'm sorry."

Gu Yanqiu squatted down, her nose stinging with tears, her voice choked with emotion.

He felt that he was the most useless father in the world.

Niannian shook her head, stretched out her little hand, and gently patted his shoulder like a little adult.

"My dad is working hard to support me, how has he wronged me?"

"I live with Grandma Wang, and I can go to Uncle Chen's place every day to learn to read. Have you forgotten? I'm a 'child prodigy'!"

She blinked casually, "I'll wait for you to come back. Every Sunday, I'll wait for you under this big locust tree."

Gu Yanqiu could no longer utter a single word.

He hugged his daughter tightly, as if he wanted to meld her into his very bones.

Then, he hardened his heart, turned around, hopped on the old, dilapidated bicycle, and rode off towards the county town without looking back.

He dared not turn around.

He was afraid that if he turned back, he would never be able to leave again.

Niannian stood under the big locust tree, her small figure all alone.

She kept watching, watching her father's figure on the country road, becoming a smaller and smaller black dot, until it completely disappeared on the distant horizon.

A gust of wind blew, lifting the stray hairs from her forehead.

She didn't cry.

On this day, the five-year-old child learned to see people off.

……

County agricultural machinery station.

When Gu Yanqiu arrived, almost everyone at the station was already there.

This is a typical courtyard house in the style of the 1970s, with a strong smell of diesel and engine oil mixed in the air.

Several brand-new "Dongfanghong" tractors were parked in the yard, gleaming red in the sunlight.

Station Master Han, the same decisive middle-aged technician from the interview, simply nodded and pointed to a young man wiping parts next to him when he saw him.

"Xiao Li, take the new guy to the dormitory and tell him about the station's rules."

After saying that, he went about his business.

The young man named Xiao Li, in his early twenties, was tall and thin. He glanced at Gu Yanqiu with an undisguised look of contempt in his eyes.

"Come with me."

He tossed the rag aside and led Gu Yanqiu through the noisy repair workshop to a row of low bungalows in the backyard.

"There are seven people in the station: the station manager, two experienced workers, three permanent employees, and... that's you."

Xiao Li pointed to the smallest and darkest room in the far corner, and curled his lip.

"Here, that's your dorm room. It used to be a storage room for miscellaneous items. You can tidy it up yourself."

Gu Yanqiu looked in the direction he pointed, and it was more like a tool room than a dormitory.

The room was narrow and dark, with only a small window no bigger than a palm. It was filled with discarded tires and rusty parts, and smelled damp and musty.

This is where he will live in the future.

"The rules are simple," Xiao Li said, arms crossed, leaning against the doorframe, in a condescending tone, "get off work from seven in the morning to six in the evening, lunch provided. Don't be late or leave early, and don't touch anything you shouldn't, especially the experienced workers' tools."

"And another thing," he sneered, looking Gu Yanqiu up and down at his patched shirt, "knowing you're from the countryside, you'd better be quick and efficient, do more work, and be more polite. Otherwise, once your probation period is over, you'll have to go back to where you came from."

The harsh words pierced Gu Yanqiu's pride like needles.

He clenched his fists so tightly that his nails dug deep into his palms.

But he didn't say anything, he just silently lowered his head and said, "I understand, thank you, Master Li."

Xiao Li snorted and turned to leave.

Looking at the dark and damp warehouse, Gu Yanqiu recalled her uncle Gu Yanchun's sarcastic remark: "Making a living in the county town is not easy."

He finally understands now.

There are no fellow villagers from Chengjiawan here, and no care from Cheng Tiezhu.

Here, he was just a despised temporary worker who had crawled out of the mud.

He put down the simple luggage wrapped in an old cloth from his shoulder without the slightest complaint.

He went into the "warehouse" and carried out the odds and ends one by one, arranging them neatly.

He found a broom and a bucket and swept away the dust and grease on the ground little by little.

After a whole morning of work, he had tidied up the storage room, which was originally too cramped to even walk in, until it was spotless.

Sweat streamed down his face, soaking his clothes, but he felt unusually calm.

He told himself, what's a little hardship?

Compared to the suffering Wanqing endured, and compared to the good life Niannian was destined to have in the future, it was nothing!

At lunchtime, the canteen served a large pot of stewed cabbage and tofu, along with golden cornbread buns.

Gu Yanqiu received a portion and wolfed it down.

This was the best meal he had ever eaten in his life.

Because this was the first meal he had earned in the county town through his own skills.

As he was eating, Station Chief Han sat down opposite him, carrying his rice bowl.

"Is the dorm all packed up?" Old Han asked without looking up.

"All packed up, Station Chief Han," Gu Yanqiu quickly put down the steamed bun and replied respectfully.

"Hmm." Old Han snorted through his nose and pointed with his chopsticks to a small mountain of parts covered with tarpaulin in the corner of the workshop.

"After you finish eating, go and clean up that pile of stuff for me."

Gu Yanqiu looked in the direction he pointed, and her heart sank.

It was the engine of a Soviet-style combine harvester that had been completely dismantled. The model was outdated, and the parts were severely rusted, making it look like a pile of real scrap metal.

"Station Chief Han, this is...?"

"This machine was scrapped two years ago and has been sitting there for two years."

Old Han raised his eyelids, and his eyes, which had been dealing with machines for many years, were as sharp as an eagle's.

"You're new here, I don't care who recommended you."

It doesn't matter how capable you were in the past.

"At the agricultural machinery station, practical skills are the only thing that matters."

He stuffed the last bite of steamed bun into his mouth, stood up, looked down at Gu Yanqiu, and said, word by word:

"I'll give you three days."

"Put this pile of scrap metal back together exactly as it was."

"If you can't spell it out, don't bother coming back tomorrow. Go back to where you came from!"