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

Although the teacher forcibly suppressed the disturbance on the blackboard, its impact continued to ferment in secret.

Zhao Xiaohu became even more outrageous.

He dared not provoke Gu Niannian in front of the whole class anymore, but he kept making small moves behind her back.

Today, Gu Niannian's pencil was broken in two.

Tomorrow, a page has been secretly torn from her textbook.

Gu Niannian silently endured it all.

She sharpened the broken pencil with a knife, making both ends usable.

She carefully glued the torn textbook back together with the glue she got from her father.

She neither complained nor made a fuss.

Because she knew it would be useless to say anything.

Zhao Xiaohu saw her silence as weakness and submission.

This made him even more complacent and arrogant.

Finally, he came up with what he considered the most brilliant way to get revenge.

That noon, the lunch break bell rang.

The students took out their lunches from their bags.

Most of them were multigrain steamed buns or cornbread brought from home in the morning.

Those with better living conditions will receive a boiled egg.

Gu Niannian's lunch consisted of two steamed white flour buns that her father, Gu Yanqiu, specially steamed for her before dawn, with pickled vegetable shreds inside.

She carefully opened the lunchbox wrapped in a clean handkerchief, ready to eat.

But she froze the moment she opened the lunchbox.

The lunchbox was empty.

The two steamed buns, still warm from the heat, have vanished!

Her heart sank.

Without even thinking, she knew who did it.

She looked up, her gaze sweeping across the classroom before quickly settling on Zhao Xiaohu.

Zhao Xiaohu and his henchmen were munching on meat buns while winking and making faces at her, their faces full of undisguised schadenfreude.

Zhou Xiaomei noticed Gu Niannian's unusual behavior and came closer.

"Niannian, where's your steamed bun?"

"...gone."

"It must have been Zhao Xiaohu who stole it! I'm going to tell the teacher!"

Zhou Xiaomei's face turned red with anger, and she stood up, ready to rush into the office.

Gu Niannian grabbed her arm.

Don't go.

"Why? He stole your things!"

"There's no evidence." Gu Niannian shook her head, her voice soft but calm. "If you go, he'll say I'm framing him. The teacher will only tell me to put my things away properly in the future."

Zhou Xiaomei was stunned.

She knew that what Niannian said was true.

"Then...then you can eat mine!"

Zhou Xiaomei broke off a large portion of her cornbread and gave it to Gu Niannian.

Gu Niannian shook her head and pushed the pancake back.

"No, thank you. I'm not hungry."

How could she eat her friend's lunch?

She knew that in this day and age, every grain of food was hard-earned.

Zhou Xiaomei was about to persuade her again when the school bell rang.

Gu Niannian attended classes on an empty stomach all afternoon.

My stomach felt like it was on fire, with waves of cramping pain.

She couldn't hear a single word the teacher was saying on the podium.

My vision blurred and I started to feel dizzy.

Finally, school was over.

Gu Niannian slung her schoolbag over her shoulder and walked listlessly home.

As she passed the state-run noodle shop across from the school, a rich, overpowering aroma of noodles wafted out and wafted straight into her nose.

That was the aroma of minced meat, mixed with the rich flavor of bone broth.

It also has the unique alkaline aroma of freshly cooked noodles.

Gu Niannian's stomach rumbled even louder.

Her steps came to an uncontrollable halt.

She stood outside the glass window of the noodle shop, tiptoed, and peered inside.

The store was steaming hot.

Several workers wearing white aprons were kneading dough and pulling noodles.

Inside a huge copper pot, milky white broth was bubbling and churning.

When a customer orders noodles, the chef grabs a handful of snow-white noodles from the side and throws them into the pot.

Stir it a few times with long chopsticks, and soon scoop it into a large porcelain bowl with a red peony printed on it.

Then pour a large spoonful of fragrant minced meat sauce over it and sprinkle with a pinch of bright green scallions.

A bowl of mouthwatering plain noodles would be perfect.

Gu Niannian stared, her eyes wide with amazement.

She couldn't help but swallow hard.

She had never eaten noodles from a noodle shop before.

She simply stood quietly at the door for a while, as if by doing so, she could inhale the aroma and fill her empty stomach.

Then, she lowered her head, preparing to turn and leave.

Her father was still working overtime at the agricultural machinery station, so she needed to go home early to start a fire and cook.

"Wait a moment."

Just then, a gentle, pleasant voice, like a spring breeze, called out to her from behind.

Gu Niannian turned around in confusion.

A young woman wearing clean blue overalls and with two long braids was standing behind her, looking at her tenderly.

This woman was in her early twenties, with fair skin, delicate features, and a faint scholarly air about her.

Judging from her attire, she didn't seem to be a villager; she looked more like an educated youth from the city or a cadre from the commune.

The woman walked up to Gu Niannian, slowly squatted down, and lowered her to eye level with her.

"Little friend, did you... not eat?"

Her voice was soft and gentle, with an irresistible charm.

Looking into her clear, concerned eyes, Gu Niannian felt a lump in her throat and almost burst into tears.

But she stubbornly held back.

She shook her head.

The woman laughed.

She reached out and gently patted Gu Niannian's head.

"Come on, Auntie will take you to eat noodles."

Without giving Gu Niannian a chance to refuse, the woman took her cold little hand and led her into the state-run noodle shop that she had been longing for.

"Comrade, a bowl of plain noodles, please, with extra minced meat!"

Soon, a steaming bowl of fragrant noodles was placed in front of Gu Niannian.

Gu Niannian could no longer hold back.

She picked up her chopsticks and devoured the food in a whirlwind.

She ate so fast and hurriedly that soup splashed all over her face, but she didn't even notice.

This was the most delicious thing she had ever eaten in her life.

The woman sat opposite her, quietly watching her eat, a gentle smile always on her face. Every now and then, she would use a napkin to wipe the grease from the corners of her mouth.

Gu Niannian quickly finished the bowl of noodles, soup and all.

She let out a satisfied burp before raising her head, somewhat embarrassed.

"Thank you, Auntie."

She looked at the woman in front of her and said very seriously and solemnly.

"When I grow up and have money, I will definitely pay you back."

The woman was amused by her grown-up-like demeanor.

"No need to pay it back."

She took a handkerchief out of her pocket and carefully wiped Gu Niannian's face clean.

"As long as you study hard and make progress every day, that will be enough to repay your aunt."

Gu Niannian nodded heavily, deeply engraving the image of the unfamiliar aunt and the warmth of the bowl of noodles into her heart.

Her name is Su Xueqing.

A new educated youth who had just arrived at Baiyang Commune to report for duty.

Many years later, when Gu Niannian recalled her eventful life,

She would always think of that dusk.

She thought of the woman who changed her and her father Gu Yanqiu's fate.

And this bowl of plain noodles, which started all the stories.

But was Su Xueqing's appearance really just a coincidence?

What story lies behind her extraordinary kindness and gentleness?

Why did she come to this poor and remote Chengjiawan?