Old Mrs. Song is reborn; get out of here, you scumbag husband and illegitimate child!

Nie Erhua squatted down to hug Gao Xiaoying.

"Xiaoying, I'll take you to the clinic." Nie Erhua's voice trembled as she helplessly tried to cover the blood on Gao Xiaoying's forehead. "That damned Lanlan hit me so hard."

Countless nights, Nie Erhua could only sigh in frustration. She wanted to help Yan Lanlan, but the girl looked down on her and only wanted money from her. She didn't know what the future held.

I don't understand why Lanlan has always disliked her mother since she was little. "Xiaoying, what exactly is your aunt doing this for?"

Gao Xiaoying leaned against Nie Erhua's chest, her face as white as paper, but her eyes were surprisingly firm.

"Grandma, I'm fine." Gao Xiaoying tugged at Nie Erhua's sleeve. "Don't go to the clinic, it's too expensive. We can just wash it with water at home."

"You're already disfigured, and you still want to let me have my way?" Nie Erhua's eyes were completely red.

"Grandma, don't tell my mom. She's easily frightened and knows she'll cry. I don't want to make her sad."

Nie Erhua was stunned.

This girl is so young, yet she's more insightful in her speech and actions than Yan Fangfang.

Gao Xiaoying watched Yan Fangfang being beaten by Gao Youqian and Yan Lanlan being arrogant and domineering since she was a child.

She didn't want to follow in her mother's footsteps; if she didn't stand up for herself, she would be bullied.

She also understood that her aunt and mother were both her maternal grandmother's daughters, and that her maternal grandmother was too soft-hearted to stand up for her.

Nie Erhua wiped away her tears.

He picked up Xiaoying and carried her home.

As soon as I entered the courtyard of the old house, I heard hurried footsteps outside.

Er Ying and San Ying ran in barefoot, carrying small baskets for beachcombing.

"Sister!" Sanying yelled as soon as she entered the door, "I heard from others that you were beaten bloody by that bad woman."

Yan Fangfang was sitting in the kitchen picking vegetables when she heard the noise and quickly came out.

The bloody gash on Gao Xiaoying's forehead and the swollen half of her face were shocking.

"Xiao Ying".

Yan Fangfang rushed over, cupping her daughter's face in her hands, completely at a loss. "Who hit you?"

"Mom, I'm fine." Gao Xiaoying stepped back slightly. "Liu Azu saved me. Oh no... he chased my aunt away."

Yan Fangfang trembled all over, tears welling up in her eyes.

She looked at the bloodstains on her daughter's clothes, and then at Erying and Sanying, who were barefoot and fuming beside her.

Despite her constant attempts to hide and back down, Yan Lanlan still refused to let them go.

Gao Youqian went to jail, and Yan Lanlan took out all her anger on the children.

"Mom, don't cry." Gao Xiaoying said sternly, "The more you cry, the more she'll think we're easy to bully. Next time she comes, I'll take a knife and chop her up."

Yan Fangfang was greatly shocked.

She suddenly felt ashamed.

She couldn't stand up for herself as a mother, which drove her nine-year-old daughter to take a knife.

Yan Fangfang gritted her teeth and forced back her tears.

"You don't need to take a knife," Yan Fangfang said hoarsely. "From now on, Mom will protect you. If Yan Lanlan dares to lay a finger on you again, I'll risk my life for her. From now on, I won't have any younger sisters, and I won't let her bully you."

She went to fetch water to clean Xiaoying's wounds.

From that day on, Yan Fangfang was like a different person.

I used to walk with my head down, but now I stand up straight and work harder than anyone else.

She later went to work in a food factory, studying while working.

She is determined to educate her three daughters so that they can become women who have the confidence to choose their own lives.

Song Xianglan heard the news of Yan Lanlan causing trouble at the factory.

She didn't go to the old house to inquire about it.

The path is one's own to walk; if Yan Fangfang doesn't even have the determination to protect her own offspring...

Others can help you temporarily, but not forever.

Summer has arrived.

Song Xianglan went to the orchard outside the village.

The longans are ripe, and the branches are laden with fruit.

Zhao Shengli was leading a group of people to weigh items by the roadside, working up a sweat.

"Boss Song, you're here." Zhao Shengli wiped his face with the towel hanging around his neck. "We harvested over three thousand catties of longan today."

Zhao Shengli and his daughter Zhao Yuan settled down in Xiaoquan Village.

The two lived in a dormitory in the living area, which Song Xianglan specially arranged for them to have two bedrooms and a living room. She said it was a preferential treatment for the daughter of a martyr and a veteran who had been on the battlefield.

Zhao Shengli's legs are much more agile than before.

Song Xianglan glanced at the plump longans in the bamboo basket.

"The dried longan produced in our factory is destined for other provinces, so the quality must be up to standard. Those that are cracked or too small are picked out separately."

Zhao Shengli nodded in agreement:

"Don't worry. I'm keeping an eye on it. People from other villages are also bringing fruit over to sell."

"The weather has been good these past few days, so we're speeding up the harvest. We're also buying all the longans that villagers have brought back from other places, since our prices are fixed anyway." Song Xianglan wouldn't try to lower the price just because there were plenty of longans.

Days passed by one by one.

Having a job makes a difference in a person's energy and spirit.

Three years have passed in the blink of an eye.

Shenzhen.

The weather in early July was as hot as a steamer.

Song Xianglan sat in the spacious and bright living room, holding a cup of cold tea in her hand.

Two years ago, Song Xiangdong was transferred to Shenzhen after studying at the Party School, and Shen Huijun also got a stable job at the Economic and Trade Bureau.

After retiring, Mr. Shen had nothing to do, so he moved in with us.

Shen's mother brought out a slice of watermelon from the kitchen and placed it on the coffee table.

Song Xianglan heard that Shenzhen was actively attracting investment and wanted to buy a piece of land there to build a potato chip factory. She rushed from Qingyang to Shenzhen, and as soon as she entered her son's house, she complained that the weather was unbearably hot.

"My dear in-law, have a slice of watermelon to cool off." Mother Shen sat down next to Song Xianglan and sighed, "The summers in Shenzhen are so stifling."

Song Xianglan took a slice of watermelon:

"If you don't like living here, go back to Haishi for a while."

"Xiangdong and Huijun are busy with work every day, so I have to stay here to take care of their child." Shen's mother shook her head. "A while ago, my husband and I took a trip to the surrounding cities. Those places in Dongguan are too chaotic."

There were all sorts of people at Guangzhou Railway Station, including those who snatched bags, scammers, and robbed people.

"The new town is better; it's smaller, so even if there are outsiders, they won't openly steal or rob."

Mr. Shen, wearing reading glasses, sat at the other end of the sofa reading a newspaper.

"What do women know?" Mr. Shen turned a page of the newspaper. "Shenzhen is undergoing a major development, which has boosted the economy of factories in the surrounding cities."

People from all over the country flock here.

Look at what's in this newspaper; so many people have made their fortunes in Shenzhen. Opportunity and risk are inextricably linked. Social development always requires the sacrifice of some people.

"You think you know everything?" Shen's mother rolled her eyes at him.

Song Xianglan sighed:

"Shenzhen is different from Shanghai. Shanghai has a solid foundation and its rules have been established for a long time. Shenzhen is like a young man who has just ventured out into the world, recklessly charging around and fearing nothing. There will definitely be a period of chaos in the next few years. Some people will make a fortune here, while many others will lose their lives."

That makes sense.

Shen's mother leaned closer to Song Xianglan, "I've lived most of my life, and the person I admire most is you. Even at an age when you should be enjoying your retirement, you're still out there working so hard, and your business is only getting bigger and bigger."

Song Xianglan took a sip of tea.

"Since I'm just idling around anyway, I'll find something to do to make myself feel more at ease."

Mr. Shen found Mrs. Shen too nagging and closed the newspaper.

"You guys chat. I'm going to find Old Wang to play chess." Father Shen picked up his purple clay teapot and strolled out the door.

With only the two of them left in the living room, Shen's mother's eyes immediately lit up.

She looked around and kept her voice down.

"My dear in-law, guess who I ran into when I went to deliver groceries the other day?"

Song Xianglan raised an eyebrow: "Who?"

"It's from Song Qiang's family." Shen's mother said excitedly.

The old lady used to dislike eating melons, but now she wants to eat them every day.

Song Xianglan frowned.

That sticky, gooey Song Qiang has made so many ridiculous mistakes over the years that they could fill a book.

"What kind of trouble has he caused this time?" Song Xianglan asked.

"This is a big juicy story." Shen's mother squeezed closer to Song Xianglan. "Song Qiang's ex-wife, Yang Liu, lives in the same neighborhood with her three daughters. They live in the same building and on the same floor."

Song Xianglan was stunned.

"They're divorced but still living on the same floor? Is she sick, or is Song Qiang sick?"

"Who says otherwise?" Mother Shen pouted. "Yang Liu said that she needs to take care of her three daughters, and it will also be convenient for her to take care of Sifeng and Xiaowu, who are with Song Qiang."

And guess what? That woman named Xue'er was the mother of that illegitimate child. She also lived next door with her son, whom she had later.

Song Xianglan was genuinely surprised this time.

"Didn't Xue'er get married again back then?"

"She divorced her husband after having a son with him. She said she couldn't stand the poverty and now she's come looking for Song Qiang."

"There are five households on one floor, and these three families occupy three of them."

Song Xianglan almost choked on the herbal tea.

"Do you have a show to watch every day?"

"The remaining two households didn't move out. I just listened to them arguing every day and treated it like a show," Shen's mother described vividly. "I heard that Yang Liu and that Xue'er argue in the corridor every day."

They'd hurl the most offensive insults at anyone. Song Qiang rarely came home; when he did, the two of them would fight over who would bring him food.

"Sometimes the two of them would even throw used sanitary napkins at each other."

"That precious son, Sifeng, and Xiaowu live with Song Qiang. There is a nanny at home who takes care of them."

Song Xianglan shook her head.

"What's the point of this willow tree? Why does it have to waste its time in that muddy swamp?"

Shen's mother sneered, "Tu Songqiang is good at making money, isn't he? He now runs a customs brokerage firm. Plus, he's set up a security company in Shenzhen, and his business is even better than the one in Guangzhou."

Song Qiang is too busy to take care of the children, and that illegitimate son has been spoiled rotten by Xue'er. Who knows what will happen in the future? Yang Liu also wants to fight for her daughter's inheritance.

Song Xianglan had no interest in this trivial matter.

They disliked Song Qiang even more.

Fortunately, none of the other members of the Song family were as scoundrel as Song Qiang.

I was just about to change the subject.

Suddenly, Shen's mother changed the subject.

"That day I was delivering vegetables to Yang Liu, and when I got to their building I saw something strange." Shen's mother's expression turned very serious.

"What is it?"

"There was an old lady standing downstairs, holding a little boy's hand and leading a little girl. They were about to go upstairs." Mother Shen's voice was very low. "I saw Xue'er run downstairs with my own eyes and tell the old lady to take her people and get out of there, and not to bring that little girl over."

Song Xianglan put down her teacup.

"Who is Xi Mei?"

"It's that little girl." Mother Shen's eyes widened. "My dear in-law, you didn't see what that little girl looked like with your own eyes. I was standing close by and only caught a glimpse of her."

Goodness, that little girl's face looks exactly like Song Qiang's fifth son; they're practically identical.