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

"Yanqiu, do you want to give it a try?"

As soon as Cheng Tiezhu finished speaking, Gu Yanqiu's heart was in turmoil.

Full-time employee!

iron rice bowl!

City dwellers who eat government-subsidized grain rations!

These six words held a fatal allure for any farmer toiling in the fields in the spring of 1969.

That means a completely different life.

This means that Niannian can stand tall and tell everyone that her father is a member of the working class!

Gu Yanqiu's breath hitched as he stared intently at the printed words on the newspaper, his hands trembling slightly with excitement.

"Am I...can I do it?"

His voice carried a hint of humility that he himself was unaware of.

He was just a farmer who hadn't even graduated from junior high school, a "country bumpkin" who relied on his own haphazard attempts to repair agricultural machinery. How could he compete with the talented people in the whole county?

"Why not!" Cheng Tiezhu glared at him, his large, fan-like hand slapping him heavily on the shoulder. "Your machine repair skills are legendary, everyone around here gives you a thumbs up! You can read, can't you? How will you know if you don't try!"

Gu Yanqiu's heart was ignited by Cheng Tiezhu's words.

Yes, how will you know if you don't try!

For Nian Nian's sake, he had to try!

After seeing Cheng Tiezhu off, Gu Yanqiu, clutching the newspaper, paced back and forth in the courtyard, as excited as a young boy.

He couldn't wait to tell Niannian the good news.

But when he pushed open the door, he found that Niannian had already fallen asleep on the small table, her small body curled up, still clutching the five-cent pencil in her hand, and another line of delicate handwriting on the ledger in front of her.

Gu Yanqiu tiptoed, picked up the thin blanket beside her, and carefully covered her daughter with it.

Looking at his daughter's sleeping face, the boundless pride in his heart ultimately transformed into an immense sense of responsibility.

He must succeed!

As night deepened, Gu Yanqiu, by the dim light of an oil lamp, began to search through his few tattered junior high school textbooks.

Just then, a very light, furtive footstep sound came from outside the courtyard gate.

Gu Yanqiu felt a chill run down her spine and instantly became alert, grabbing the carrying pole by the door.

"Who?"

The shadowy figure at the door shuddered in fright, and a suppressed yet familiar voice rang out.

"Second brother, it's me."

It's my uncle, Gu Yandong.

Gu Yanqiu breathed a sigh of relief, put down the carrying pole, and opened the door.

Nineteen-year-old Gu Yandong peeked in like a thief, his face full of tension and unease.

"What are you doing here so late?" Gu Yanqiu asked, frowning.

Since the family split up, the two families have had very little contact.

Gu Yandong did not answer, but instead took out a letter from his pocket that was slightly damp from his sweaty hands, clutched it tightly, his lips trembling, unable to utter a single word for a long time.

"What's wrong?" Gu Yanqiu asked impatiently.

"Second brother..." Gu Yandong finally spoke, his voice trembling with tears, "I...I want to study."

Gu Yanqiu was stunned.

Gu Yandong unfolded the letter in his hand; it was an enrollment brochure for the commune middle school's correspondence course.

It turns out that, in response to the call, the commune middle school resumed its junior high school correspondence courses, which had been interrupted for many years, and students could obtain their graduation certificates in just two years.

In an instant, images from many years ago flashed into Gu Yanqiu's mind.

The Gu family has three brothers. The eldest son, Gu Yanchun, is the eldest and should naturally be supported.

Gu Yanqiu was quiet from a young age, and Wang Guifang considered him "lazy and not cut out for studying," so she sent him to work in the fields early.

Only the younger brother, Gu Yandong, was smart from a young age and always ranked first in the whole school.

But when he was in the second year of junior high school, Wang Guifang said that the family could no longer afford to support three children, so she forcibly pulled him back from school and made him work as an apprentice at a tractor station, sending money home every month.

This incident became a permanent pain in Gu Yandong's heart.

"I want to sign up." Gu Yandong's eyes gleamed in the darkness, a primal thirst for knowledge. "But... but the registration fee is five yuan, and I also need a recommendation from a brigade."

He didn't dare tell his family.

He knew that once he spoke up, Wang Guifang would definitely point her finger at him and scold him for being delusional, and Gu Yanchun would absolutely not agree.

In their view, studying is the most useless thing, far less practical than earning a few work points in the fields.

Gu Yanqiu looked at her younger brother's face, which showed both longing and despair, and fell silent.

He thought of himself, and he thought of Nian Nian.

They were all driven to the brink by fate and so-called "relatives".

He slowly pulled a cloth bag, neatly wrapped in a handkerchief, from his inner pocket.

He opened the cloth bag, inside were the hard-earned money he had saved up penny by penny from repairing machines and selling mountain products over the past few days.

He carefully counted out five one-yuan bills and handed them to Gu Yandong.

"Take it."

Gu Yandong's body jolted, and he looked at Gu Yanqiu in disbelief.

He thought his second brother would refuse, laugh at him, or at most just sigh sympathetically.

"Second brother...this..." His eyes instantly reddened.

"Take it!" Gu Yanqiu shoved the money into his hand, her voice leaving no room for argument. "I'll talk to Uncle Cheng about the recommender tomorrow. He'll give you the stamp out of respect for me."

With a "thump".

Gu Yandong knelt down straight down, and this nineteen-year-old young man cried like a child.

"Second brother, I will remember this kindness for the rest of my life!"

Just then, the door to the inner room creaked open.

Niannian rubbed her eyes and peeked her little head out from behind the door.

She looked at the scene in the courtyard without any surprise, and quietly walked up to Gu Yandong.

"Uncle."

Gu Yandong quickly wiped away his tears, got up from the ground, and was somewhat at a loss.

"Niannian...I...did I wake you up?"

Niannian shook her head, a faint smile appearing on her face.

"Uncle, I remember you used to secretly slip me boiled eggs through the crack in the window."

Gu Yandong was completely stunned.

He thought he could do things so secretly, how could this little girl know?

Before the family split up, Wang Guifang wouldn't feed Niannian, so he secretly saved some food from his own mouth and stuffed it into her mouth under the cover of night.

Niannian looked at his shocked expression, her eyes curving into crescents.

"You helped me before, and now Dad is helping you. This is called 'returning a favor'."

Her voice was clear and earnest.

"My mother taught me this."

Gu Yanqiu looked at her daughter, then at her younger brother who was so moved he couldn't speak, and her heart was filled with mixed emotions.

He knew that from tonight onwards, in this home, he and his daughter would no longer be fighting alone.

But he also knew that if Wang Guifang and Gu Yanchun found out about this, it would cause a huge uproar.

That home cannot accommodate anyone who wants to fly away!