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

You are not alone!

Gu Niannian's clear yet firm voice, like a small hammer, gently but precisely struck the most vulnerable spot in Su Xueqing's heart.

Su Xueqing was suddenly startled; those eyes, which always held gentleness and knowledge,

He stared in disbelief at the little girl who barely reached his waist.

Her small hands, warm and strong, gripped her cold fingers tightly.

Her eyes were clear and earnest, without a trace of sympathy or pity, only pure sincerity that wanted to share the burden.

"I..." Su Xueqing's throat felt like it was blocked by something, and she couldn't say a word.

She was used to bearing it all alone, used to burying all her pain and fear deep in her heart.

With a gentle smile and profound knowledge, he built a thick wall around himself.

But at this moment, this sturdy wall...

But a six-and-a-half-year-old child easily poked a small hole in it.

Chen Zhiyuan looked at this strange scene, opened his mouth, but finally sighed and quietly withdrew, leaving them alone.

Inside the room, only the crackling sound of the kerosene lamp remained.

"Aunt Su, you don't want to go back to the provincial capital because you're scared, right?" Gu Niannian didn't beat around the bush. She knew that with someone as smart as Su Xueqing, any probing was pointless.

Su Xueqing's shoulders slumped almost imperceptibly, revealing a hint of exhaustion.

She neither nodded nor shook her head, but said in an almost murmured voice, "Niannian, the adult world is very complicated."

"No matter how complicated it is, there's a reason for it." Gu Niannian tilted her head back and retorted with clear logic, "My dad said that everything has a cause and effect. If you're afraid, there must be a reason for your fear."

For the next week, Gu Niannian did not ask any further questions.

But her sharp eyes, like radar, captured every detail that Su Xueqing inadvertently revealed.

When Su Xueqing was teaching her to sing the Soviet song "Katyusha," she would subconsciously skip over the lyrics about "defending the motherland's borders."

His gaze would drift into the distance, carrying a hint of inexplicable sadness.

When Gu Niannian used her newly learned physics knowledge to explain why a rainbow has seven colors,

Su Xueqing would smile and say, "In my father's study, there's a three-sided mirror. When the sunlight shines in, it looks even better than this."

After she finished speaking, her smile would immediately freeze, as if she had said something wrong.

Gu Niannian also discovered that Su Xueqing never brought up any topics related to "soldier" or "family".

She was like a wounded bird, wary of certain words with the fright of a startled bird.

Gu Niannian used her extraordinary memory to piece together, combine, and analyze these fragmented pieces of information bit by bit in her mind.

A blurry outline gradually became clearer.

It was another night, and Su Xueqing was helping Gu Niannian check her homework.

Gu Niannian casually mentioned, "Aunt Su, I heard my dad say that there are many universities in the provincial capital, and many, many great professors there, is that right?"

Su Xueqing paused for a moment, then nodded gently: "Yes, there are many."

"Then they must be very respected, right?" Gu Niannian asked innocently.

Su Xueqing's eyes dimmed instantly. She didn't answer, but instead drew a heavy red mark on her notebook with her pen.

Silence fell over the room once again.

After a long while, Su Xueqing put down her pen, raised her head, and stared blankly at the flickering flame of the kerosene lamp.

"Niannian, do you know about the 'Five Black Categories'?" Her voice was as light as a breeze.

Gu Niannian's heart tightened; she knew that Aunt Su was about to speak.

She didn't say anything, but silently sat down next to Su Xueqing and placed her small hand into her cold palm again.

"My father was a university professor." Su Xueqing's voice was calm, as if she were telling someone else's story. "He taught Western literature, liked Shakespeare, and also liked playing the piano."

My mother was a middle school Chinese teacher, and her favorite thing to do was to teach her students to recite Tang poems.

"I also have a younger brother, who is three years younger than me. Our family used to live in a building with a small courtyard in the provincial capital."

The yard was filled with roses.

There seemed to be a nostalgic smile on her lips, but that smile was more sorrowful than tears.

"Later, everything changed."

"My father's books were burned. His piano was smashed. He was labeled a 'reactionary bourgeois academic authority,' imprisoned, and accused of being a 'bourgeois reactionary academic authority.'"

"My mother... she was a weak person. She couldn't stand the gossip and pointed fingers, so she took my younger brother and went back to her parents' home in the countryside, severing ties with my father."

At this point, Su Xueqing's body began to tremble slightly.

Gu Niannian could feel the hand holding hers tightening little by little, its coldness biting to the bone.

"Because I am the child of one of the 'Five Black Categories,' I was sent down here. Almost five years have passed in the blink of an eye."

Gu Niannian finally understood.

Her family was broken, and her relatives were scattered. The provincial capital was no longer home for her; it was a tomb that buried all her happiness and dignity.

"Then...what about that photo?" Gu Niannian couldn't help but ask in a low voice, "The one in the military uniform..."

"That was my maternal grandfather." When she mentioned her grandfather, a hint of warmth finally appeared in Su Xueqing's eyes. "He was an old revolutionary soldier who sacrificed his life in the war. His war merits were like an umbrella, protecting me and preventing me from suffering more severe persecution. But at the same time, my father's 'crime' was like a shackle, making me unable to move."

A protective umbrella can also be a shackle.

Gu Niannian understood.

She remained silent for a very long time.

This story is too heavy for a six-and-a-half-year-old child.

But she didn't show any extra emotion; she just gripped Su Xueqing's hand even tighter.

She tilted her small face up, looking into those eyes that were wet with tears but stubbornly refused to fall, and said, word by word, with perfect clarity:

"Aunt Su, wait for me."

"When everything is better in the future, when I'm all grown up, I'll definitely help you find your father!"

"We'll bring him back!"

As soon as she finished speaking, Su Xueqing could no longer control herself.

The tear that she had been holding back for so long finally rolled down her pale cheek and landed on the back of Gu Niannian's hand.

It's piping hot.

She pulled Gu Niannian into a tight embrace, her thin shoulders heaving violently. The grievances and pain she had suppressed for so many years finally found an outlet at this moment.

Unbeknownst to her, her dependence on and trust in this child had long surpassed the bond between teacher and student.

Gu Niannian quietly let her hug her, her little hands gently patting her back.

Outside the window, the night wind blew, and the sound of news broadcasts came intermittently from the village's loudspeaker.

"...The central government is actively discussing certain policy issues concerning rural areas...and in the future, there may be...new changes..."

Those ambiguous words, like a pebble thrown into a lake, foreshadowed an impending, monumental transformation that would utterly change the fate of everyone.

Will Aunt Su Xueqing's fate be changed because of this?