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

Dad is gone.

Life seemed to slow down all of a sudden, yet it was filled with a completely new rhythm.

During the day, Gu Niannian spins like a top, rapidly moving between school and home.

She attends classes, does her homework, feeds the chickens, sweeps the yard... She keeps her small home in perfect order.

What she looks forward to most each day is the arrival of evening.

As the setting sun paints the sky a warm orange-red, that gentle figure always appears on time at the gate of her house.

"Niannian, I'm here."

Su Xueqing's voice, like a clear spring in a valley, always washes away Gu Niannian's fatigue after a long day.

During the days her father was away, Su Xueqing became her closest adult.

That small mud-brick house also became their private classroom.

Under the dim light of a kerosene lamp, what Su Xueqing taught her went far beyond the scope of the fourth-grade textbook.

"Nian Nian, read after me, APPLE, apple."

Su Xueqing's pronunciation was standard and pleasant to the ear. Gu Niannian followed her and, in her childish voice, pronounced her first English word.

Su Xueqing also brought a glass and a chopstick. When she put the chopstick into the water, Gu Niannian was surprised to find that the chopstick actually "broke"!

"This is called the refraction of light, a physical phenomenon," Su Xueqing explained with a smile.

She also taught Gu Niannian to sing "Let Us Row Our Boats", taught her to recite "The bright moonlight before my bed", and told her stories about the Great Wall and the Egyptian pyramids.

Those novel pieces of knowledge, like colorful doors, slowly opened before Gu Niannian.

She was like a dry sponge, frantically absorbing every drop of knowledge that Su Xueqing brought.

The speed of progress is astonishing.

Sometimes, when Su Xueqing looked at that small, eager-to-learn figure under the lamp, she couldn't help but sigh.

"If this child had been born in the city and had access to better educational resources, her future would have been limitless. Not to mention the gifted youth program, she would have been more than qualified to get into Tsinghua or Peking University."

She increasingly cherished this unpolished gem.

Gradually, she began to hide herself away, but she also took out her few treasured books to share with Niannian.

It was a night like any other.

Su Xueqing brought a yellowed copy of "Three Hundred Tang Poems".

Gu Niannian helped her take the books out of the cloth bag, preparing to tidy them up.

Suddenly, there was a soft "click".

A photograph slipped out from between the pages of a book and fell onto the kang (a heated brick bed).

It was an old black and white photograph.

The photo shows a middle-aged man wearing a crisp military uniform.

He stood like a javelin, his brows and eyes deep-set, his gaze sharp as a knife.

His chin was taut and stern, exuding an air of authority without anger.

Two bright five-pointed stars were adorning the collar of that military uniform.

Although Gu Niannian didn't understand military ranks, she could sense that the man in the photo must be an extremely important person.

"Aunt Su," she said curiously, picking up the photo and holding it up to Su Xueqing, smiling as she asked, "Who is this person? He looks really imposing!"

As soon as she finished speaking, Gu Niannian sensed that something was wrong.

The air froze instantly.

Su Xueqing's gentle smile froze instantly, becoming stiff and unnatural.

She stared intently at the photo, a complex emotion flashing in her eyes that Gu Niannian couldn't decipher at all.

There was shock, pain, and nostalgia, but more than anything, there was a deep-seated... fear.

"Give me!"

Her voice became sharp and urgent.

She practically pounced on Gu Niannian and snatched the photo back from her hand, her movements as fast as if she were grabbing something life-saving.

That hand, which was always warm and soft, was now trembling slightly, unable to stop itself.

"Someone...someone I used to know."

Su Xueqing quickly stuffed the photo back into the book, then hugged the book tightly to her chest, as if it were something that would burn her.

She tried hard to force a nonchalant smile, but the corners of her mouth just wouldn't lift.

The atmosphere in the room instantly transformed from a warm classroom to a cold icebox.

Gu Niannian was so frightened by her sudden and violent reaction that she didn't dare to breathe.

She had never seen Su Xueqing like this before.

Aunt Su, who was always calm, composed, and gentle, seemed to become a stranger the moment she saw this photo.

"That's enough for today... that's all for today."

Su Xueqing's voice was dry and hoarse. She stood up and hurriedly packed her things.

"Auntie wasn't feeling well and went home first. Please...lock the door yourself."

She didn't even dare to look Gu Niannian in the eye again. Almost as if fleeing, she opened the door and quickly disappeared into the night.

"Bang."

The door was gently closed.

Inside the room, only Gu Niannian remained, along with a kerosene lamp that flickered in the wind.

She sat on the kang (a heated brick bed) in a daze, the scene from just now replaying in her mind over and over again.

Who exactly is that man in military uniform?

Why did he make Aunt Su so scared?

A huge mystery, like an invisible net, instantly enveloped Gu Niannian.

She had a vague feeling that she had inadvertently touched upon Aunt Su's deepest and darkest secret.