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

"Ring ring ring—"

The crisp sound of bicycle bells echoed on the dirt road leading to Baima Town.

Gu Yanqiu rode that old-fashioned bicycle that rattled everywhere except for the bell. On the back seat sat Gu Niannian, who was wearing new clothes.

The little girl was tightly clutching a small bag wrapped in a handkerchief in her arms.

Inside was five yuan and a pair of insoles that she had sewn by hand over several sleepless nights.

The stitching on the insoles was still immature and crooked, but it was extremely dense.

Every stitch reveals the little girl's most genuine feelings.

It's been over a year since I last visited Baima Town, and the town is still the same as before, with the red flag of the supply and marketing cooperative still fluttering in the wind.

However, when Gu Yanqiu brought Niannian into the supply and marketing cooperative and inquired about Zhao Fengying from the sales clerk,

But they received unexpected news.

"Zhao Fengying? Oh, you mean Sister Zhao? She stopped working here last year!" A young saleswoman answered lazily, cracking sunflower seeds.

"She quit?" Gu Yanqiu's heart sank. "Do you know where she went?"

"I think she was transferred to the town's credit cooperative? I heard they needed a cashier, and since she knows how to use an abacus, she went there." The saleswoman pointed across the street, "Look, it's over there, the one with the red sign."

The father and daughter thanked him and then hurried to the credit cooperative.

The cooperative's storefront was small, and the interior was somewhat dimly lit.

A woman in her fifties, wearing reading glasses and rapidly working on an abacus, looked up when she heard someone enter.

Her face was already quite wrinkled, and her hair was streaked with silver.

Clearly, the past year or so has left its mark on her.

Gu Niannian's heart jumped into her throat.

is her!

It's Aunt Zhao!

Although he looked a bit older than I remembered, his stubborn yet soft-hearted, cold-on-the-outside-but-warm-on-the-inside demeanor remained unchanged.

Zhao Fengying adjusted her glasses and looked at the pretty little girl in front of her, dressed in clean clothes with pigtails, her eyes filled with doubt.

"Comrade, what kind of business do you need?"

Gu Yanqiu was about to speak when Gu Niannian tugged at his sleeve.

The little girl mustered her courage, stepped forward, looked up at herself, and asked in a clear, melodious voice, "Auntie, do you remember me?"

"You?" Zhao Fengying scrutinized her carefully, and the floodgates of memory slowly opened.

The little face in front of me seems somewhat familiar...

But she comes into contact with so many people every day that she really can't remember them all at once.

Seeing that she didn't remember, Gu Niannian wasn't in a hurry. She just smiled and reminded her, "More than a year ago, in winter, it was snowing heavily. I was wearing a red wedding dress..."

"A red wedding dress?!"

These three words were like a key, instantly unlocking Zhao Fengying's long-sealed memories!

Her eyes widened suddenly, and the abacus in her hand fell to the table with a "clatter," making a loud noise.

She pointed at Gu Niannian, her voice trembling with disbelief.

"You...you're that...that little girl who almost froze to death at the entrance of the supply and marketing cooperative?!"

"Auntie, it's me."

Gu Niannian smiled and handed over the small cloth bag she was holding.

"My name is Gu Niannian. I've come here today specifically to repay the money."

She opened the handkerchief and placed the five yuan inside, along with the brand-new insoles, on the counter.

"Back then, I drank your hot porridge here, and you even gave me three yuan for travel expenses, which helped me find my father. This is to repay you for the travel expenses, and the other two yuan is interest."

"These insoles are homemade. They're not very good, so please don't mind."

Zhao Fengying was completely stunned.

She stared blankly at the few bills on the counter, then at the pair of insoles with their delicate stitches but full of heartfelt care, and finally, her gaze fell on the little girl in front of her, who had grown taller and plumper and was smiling brightly.

That poor little thing, whose body was ice-cold and whose eyes were filled with terror and wariness, actually survived!

And she's so good-looking!

They really did come all the way here to repay the money!

Zhao Fengying felt a sudden heat in her eyes, and her vision was instantly blurred by tears.

She has lived for over fifty years and has seen far too many scoundrels who borrow money and refuse to pay it back.

I've also seen too many ungrateful people who forget kindness they've received.

But she never expected that her casual act of kindness would be remembered by a child for so long, and that the child would repay her in such a solemn way.

"You silly child...you foolish child..."

Zhao Fengying could no longer hold back her tears, which streamed down her face.

She pushed the five yuan away, her voice choked with emotion.

"Your auntie absolutely refuses to take the money! She didn't help you in the first place for this little bit of money!"

"I'm happier than anything if you're safe and sound, find your father, and live a good life!"

She picked up the insoles and examined them over and over in her hands. The rough fabric, rubbing against the calluses on her palms, made her heart burn even more than the smoothest silk.

"But I'll keep these insoles! They're more precious than anything else!"

Zhao Fengying held Gu Niannian's hand and asked her all sorts of questions, such as how she was doing, whether she was in school, and whether her father was good to her.

When she heard that Gu Yanqiu had become a technician in Chengjiawan and that Niannian had skipped a grade to fourth grade and always ranked first in her exams, she was so excited that she couldn't stop smiling and kept saying, "Good child, promising."

Before leaving, Zhao Fengying insisted on not letting Gu Niannian and the others go, and insisted on packing them a big bag of hot steamed buns from the cooperative's canteen.

"Take it! You have to take it! Otherwise, Auntie will be angry!"

The father and daughter couldn't refuse, so they had no choice but to accept it.

Standing at the entrance of the cooperative, Gu Niannian turned around and bowed deeply to Zhao Fengying.

"Auntie, take care. I'll come to see you again when I have the chance."

Zhao Fengying stood at the door, wiping away tears, waving her hand vigorously, and repeatedly saying, "Okay, okay, come often, come see your auntie often..."

She remained standing there until the bicycle turned the corner and disappeared from sight, unwilling to leave for a long time.

On the way back, Gu Niannian's heart was filled with a great sense of satisfaction and happiness.

The feeling of repaying a debt of gratitude is so wonderful.

In her notebook, after Zhao Fengying's name, she lightly drew a small checkmark with a pencil.

So, who's next?

It was the truck driver who saved her life, Uncle Zhang Dacheng.

Finding him was much more difficult than finding Aunt Zhao.

Niannian only remembers that he drove a blue Jiefang brand truck on long-distance trips, and that there was a scar on the back of his left hand from a cigarette burn.

In the vast sea of ​​people, where do you find a truck driver whose full name you might even forget?

"Dad," Gu Niannian said, her eyes resolute as she looked ahead at the road, "Shall we go to the transportation company in the county town and ask?"

"They must have a list of all the long-haul drivers there!"