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

"Yanqiu! Go back quickly! Your mother... your mother is dying!"

A relative from a neighboring village arrived at the agricultural machinery station, panting.

He grabbed Gu Yanqiu's arm, his face full of anxiety.

Gu Yanqiu was polishing a part at the lathe when he heard this.

The file in his hand fell to the ground with a clatter.

Is Mom dying?

How could that be?

When I delivered the living allowance to my family a couple of days ago, everything was fine, wasn't it?

Although he harbored deep resentment towards his mother, upon hearing this news...

Gu Yanqiu's heart clenched suddenly.

After all, she was his biological mother who gave him life and raised him!

His mind went blank, and he didn't have time to think it through.

I yelled at Lao Han to ask for leave, and then rushed home like a madman.

The bicycle chain rattled and clanked as he pedaled, as if it were about to fall apart at any moment.

He had only one thought in his mind: Faster! Faster!

When he rushed into the familiar house of the Gu family's main branch, covered in sweat and panting,

But they were stunned.

Inside the room, there was none of the panic and sorrow he had imagined.

The eldest brother, Gu Yanchun, sat on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) smoking, while his sister-in-law, Sun Xiufen, was preparing vegetables by the stove.

When he came in, she only gave him a lukewarm glance.

Wang Guifang lay on the kang (a heated brick bed), covered with a tattered cotton quilt; her complexion was somewhat sallow.

His breathing was a little heavy, but he didn't seem to be in any way "about to die".

"Mother, how are you?"

Gu Yanqiu rushed to the kang (a heated brick bed) in three quick steps, his voice trembling.

Wang Guifang opened her cloudy eyes, glanced at him, and groaned weakly twice.

"He's...he's not going to die yet..."

Gu Yanqiu finally breathed a sigh of relief, but what followed was a surge of anger at being fooled.

He turned his head and looked coldly at Gu Yanchun: "Brother, what exactly is going on?!"

Gu Yanchun felt a little guilty under his gaze, tapped the ash off his cigarette, and mumbled, "It's just... I caught a cold a few days ago, and my old ailment flared up again. I've been bedridden for half a month."

Half a month!

He, as the son, knew absolutely nothing about it!

Gu Yanqiu's heart ached and felt cold.

He looked again at his mother on the kang (a heated brick bed), and saw that her lips were chapped and her face was haggard.

He has clearly been ill for some time.

The other two people in the room acted as if nothing had happened!

Sun Xiufen even added sarcastically, "Oh dear, our second uncle is now a big worker in the county. He's a busy man, he doesn't have time to care about the lives of us country bumpkins."

Gu Yanqiu was too lazy to argue with her. He reached out and touched his mother's forehead; it was burning hot!

Have you seen a doctor?

"I saw a doctor, and he said it's an old ailment that needs to be treated slowly. He prescribed some medicine," Gu Yanchun replied.

"Where's the medicine?"

Sun Xiufen reluctantly took a paper package from the cabinet and threw it on the table.

When Gu Yanqiu opened it, he found only some of the cheapest herbs inside.

He understood everything.

Anger surged within him, but he suppressed it fiercely.

Without saying a word, he turned and left.

"Hey! Where are you going!" Sun Xiufen called from behind.

Gu Yanqiu did not turn around.

He returned half an hour later.

He was carrying a bag of Chinese medicine freshly obtained from the commune clinic, along with a paper package containing several pieces of golden rock sugar.

He handed the medicine to Sun Xiufen, his voice as cold as ice: "Medicine, three times a day, brew it for my mother to drink on time. Rock sugar is the medicine's guide."

Then, he took two crumpled bills out of his pocket and placed them on the table.

"Here's five yuan, to buy some food for Mom to help her recover."

After doing all this, he walked back to the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) and looked at Wang Guifang.

Wang Guifang lay on the kang (a heated brick bed), and these past two weeks had been the most desolate days of her life.

She couldn't rely on her eldest son, and her eldest daughter-in-law treated her like a burden.

Holding a bowl of medicine was like taking her life; she muttered "old geezer" under her breath.

The youngest son, Gu Yandong, was taking a correspondence course at the commune and only came home once a week.

It wouldn't be of much help.

The torment of illness and her daughter-in-law's cold indifference made her feel what despair was for the first time.

She couldn't help but think of Gu Yanqiu.

She thought of her second son, whom she had disliked since childhood.

Although he was taciturn and stubborn, his filial piety never diminished.

Although she treated him coldly, he would always obediently call her "Mother" whenever he saw her.

Especially that time, when she wanted to sell Niannian...

Wang Guifang's heart skipped a beat, and she dared not think any further.

She didn't think she had done anything wrong; that little brat was a jinx.

She's completely disgraced the Gu family!

But... she began to realize that perhaps, in her old age, the one she could truly rely on was her second son, whom she looked down upon the most.

That's why she sent a relative to deliver the news, and even embellished it.

He said he was "about to die".

She wanted to see just how hard Gu Yanqiu's heart really was.

Now, watching Gu Yanqiu get her medicine and pay for it for her...

A feeling that was hard to describe welled up in Wang Guifang's heart.

There was a sense of pride, a sense of peace, and a hint of guilt that she herself didn't even realize...?

Just then, a small head peeked in through the doorway.

It's Gu Niannian.

She heard the news that her grandmother was "critically ill" and was worried about her father.

He secretly followed them.

At that moment, she stood in the doorway, her small body hidden behind the door panel.

A pair of large, clear black and white eyes were watching everything happening in the room without blinking.

She watched her father bustling about, and her uncle's indifference.

Looking at my aunt's meanness, and also at the old woman with a sallow complexion on the kang (heated brick bed).

Her expression was complicated.

There was no sympathy, no resentment, only a cold, age-defying scrutiny.

Wang Guifang also saw her.

Eyes facing each other.

A hint of unease flashed in Wang Guifang's cloudy eyes.

She wanted to force a smile at the child, to let her be like the other children.

She rushed over and called out, "Grandma!"

But what she saw was Gu Niannian's eyes, calm and undisturbed.

That look made her inexplicably uneasy.

This girl is still holding a grudge against me.

Is this visit to the sick the beginning of a change in the grandchildren's attitude, or... just a trivial prelude to a new round of demands?

Gu Yanqiu also noticed his daughter at the door. He walked over, patted her head, and asked softly, "Niannian, what brings you here?"

Gu Niannian didn't answer, but tugged at her father's clothes, then looked up at Wang Guifang on the kang (a heated brick bed), and softly asked a question that stunned everyone present.

"Dad, why did she fake being sick to trick you into coming back?"