Zhou Chengbin went to visit his uncle in prison.
Zhou Yulin was still smirking, asking if he had come to see how a piece of mud disappeared from the earth.
Zhou Chengbin left without a word. He thought he might see remorse, but he had overestimated.
Zhou's father and mother received the news a bit late. They rushed over and met Zhou Chengbin as he was coming out.
"Chengbin~"
Zhou's mother looked as aged as an octogenarian: "Did you beg your aunt?"
Zhou Chengbin asked indifferently, "Beg with what? Face? Money? Or favors? Uncle asked me to divorce Xiaomai."
"After cutting off this only tie, who are you? Who am I? Which of the Li family will recognize us?"
Zhou's father was surprised, "Then who will look after Xiaomai?"
"Do we still need to worry about that?"
Zhou Chengbin looked his father in the eye, "What's the point of portraying me as steadfast and unyielding? No matter how the outer shell changes, I am still me."
Having said that, Zhou Chengbin continued forward, brushing past his parents.
Zhou's father glanced back at his son, then hurried to catch up with his wife.
...
Zhou Chengbin went directly to the Ku mountains to find Li Min, "Aunt, I don't want to divorce Xiaomai. Please tell Uncle, unless I die."
"What do you mean?"
Li Min glared at Zhou Chengbin, "Are you threatening us? It's not that hard to die. The Ku River isn't covered."
Zhou Chengbin ignored Li Min's sarcasm, "Aunt, in this life, I am Xiaomai's husband, and no one can change that."
After Zhou Chengbin left the courtyard, Li Min called her sister-in-law and told her what Zhou Chengbin had said.
Tian Jing looked at the uncle and nephew sweeping fallen leaves in the distance, "I know, I'll tell your Uncle."
Li Zhengguo returned from sweeping leaves, "Whose call was that?"
"Li Min."
"Is something wrong?"
"Nothing, just chatting."
This Lunar New Year, the Li family all gathered in the valley. Xiaomai counted the people arriving, "Whose children are these? Where is my eldest sister? Where is Xuanxuan?"
Looking at the spirited Xiaomai, Ouyang Meihua thanked her sister-in-law. She should have been the one to manage Xiaomai.
Tian Jing chided, "What's between you and me? Xiaomai only trusts me and Brother Zhengguo right now. Didn't you take care of all the housework for the specialized training team?"
How much housework could there be in the specialized training team?
Ouyang Meihua knew her sister-in-law was comforting her. If she stayed away for too long, it would be difficult to get back into the specialized training team.
...
Winter turned to spring. Before the Qingming Festival, Tian Jing went down the mountain to bring Li Min's family up for tomb sweeping. Zhou Chengbin grabbed Chen Suozhu and said to Tian Jing, "Aunt, please take me to see Xiaomai. Without Xiaomai, I'm like a walking dead man."
The empty days were too unbearable. With nothing to do, Zhou Chengbin felt he was going crazy.
Chen Suozhu "..." Please don't leave me alone, why is Chengbin dragging him?
Tian Jing threw out a vine and wrapped it around Zhou Chengbin, "The person you should be begging is not me."
Zhou Chengbin's face lit up with joy, as long as he could see his uncle.
Li Zhengguo raised his foot and kicked Zhou Chengbin, who was kneeling before him, away.
After being kicked out, Zhou Chengbin crawled back on his knees, "Uncle, I'll live here with Xiaomai and guard Grandma's tomb all year round. I can also guard Grandpa Xiao's tomb."
"Someone is needed here, and I'm very suitable. Xiaomai is doing well here, and she doesn't have to face all sorts of rumors outside."
Li Zhengguo kicked him away again.
He crawled back on his knees again.
Li Zhengguo simply dodged him.
Xiaomai ran to Zhou Chengbin and, mimicking her uncle's earlier action, raised her foot to kick him.
Zhou Chengbin cooperated and rolled out.
"Giggle giggle, fun."
Watching Zhou Chengbin roll on the grass, Xiaomai clapped her hands and laughed.
After sweeping the tombs, they had lunch in the valley. Tian Jing prepared to see Li Min's family and Zhou Chengbin off. Zhou Chengbin knelt by Li's mother's grave and refused to leave, "Uncle, Aunt, Xiaomai needs a playmate."
No matter how much he insisted, he couldn't resist Tian Jing's vines.
He could only plead with Xiaomai, "Xiaomai, Xiaomai, can I stay and play with you?"
Xiaomai looked at her stern father and then at her silent uncle. She quickly retreated behind her aunt, "You should go home, your mother is calling you home for dinner."
...
The temperature in the mountains was low. They only started digging the land to prepare for planting vegetables after the Qingming Festival. Tian Jing and Li Zhengguo, busy with their work, heard Xiaomai's giggling. They didn't pay much attention, wondering what fun Xiaomai had found again.
However, Xiaomai's laughter grew louder, and she even said a few words from time to time. Had someone arrived? Tian Jing put down her hoe and went to find Xiaomai.
She saw Xiaomai playing with Zhou Chengbin, who was in ragged clothes.
Tian Jing frowned, "How did you get up here?"
"I climbed up myself."
Zhou Chengbin smiled and pointed to two large bundles beside him, "I saw a smaller cave and platform on the other side of the mountain. I want to settle down there, is that okay?"
Tian Jing turned to look at her husband, who was walking over.
Li Zhengguo beckoned to Xiaomai, "Xiaomai, go scatter the seeds."
"Okay!"
Xiaomai got up from the grass where she had been kneeling, "Little Zhou, I have to do my work. When I have time, I'll find you to play again."
"Okay."
Zhou Chengbin nodded, "You go ahead and be busy."
Her husband and Xiaomai left. Tian Jing looked at Zhou Chengbin's bundles, "What did you bring?"
Zhou Chengbin smiled, "Some clothes and bedding, and some tools for handicrafts. I plan to cut some bamboo to make household items."
Seeing that Zhou Chengbin seemed to have shed a heavy burden, Tian Jing knew he had truly let go of the outside world, "If you need anything, ask Xiaomai to get it for you."
Zhou Chengbin thanked her sincerely, "Thank you, Aunt."
"Don't be polite."
Tian Jing waved to him, "You should leave quickly."
Zhou Chengbin shouldered the two extremely heavy bundles and walked towards the other side of the mountain.
Tian Jing returned to the vegetable patch and continued digging. Xiaomai, while scattering seeds, asked, "Aunt, has Little Zhou left?"
"He has."
Tian Jing asked back, "Why do you call him Little Zhou?"
Xiaomai looked up and smiled at Tian Jing, "Little Zhou asked me to call him that. He said he's not called Chengbin anymore."
"Do you like playing with him?"
"Yes, he's very fun."
"Would you be happy if he became our neighbor?"
"Mm-hmm."
Xiaomai nodded repeatedly, "If he's our neighbor, I'll have a playmate."
Tian Jing glanced at her husband and said to Xiaomai, "If he comes to borrow something, lend it to him."
"Okay."
...
In the blink of an eye, it was summer vacation again. Yu Siji, who had finally been admitted to military school, brought his five younger brothers to the valley to escape the heat.
The arrival of six children turned the quiet valley into chaos. Coupled with Xiaomai's childlike nature, they were about to tear the valley apart.
Unable to stand the noise, Tian Jing told Xiaomai to take her nephews to bother Zhou Chengbin.
Zhou Chengbin was on the other side of the mountain, but Tian Jing didn't hear any noise.
Tian Jing curiously went to observe and found that they had all gone with Zhou Chengbin to catch wild rabbits.
She returned to the cave and asked her husband, "Has he not passed the test yet?"
"Wait a bit longer."
Li Zhengguo shook his head, "His wild survival skills are not enough yet."
Tian Jing was indifferent. She could live anywhere, and her younger son had decorated this place very comfortably.
...
Halfway through the summer vacation, the children hadn't started their homework yet. Li Zhengguo confined them, making them do their homework in the cave.
Yu Siji, who was the only one without homework, took his second aunt to patrol the mountains with his second uncle every day.
The good times didn't last long. He was called back to participate in pre-school military training.
Yu Siji left, and without anyone to take Xiaomai out to find Zhou Chengbin, she was in a frenzy, "Aunt, take me to find Little Zhou."
Tian Jing sat still, "Can't you go yourself?"
Xiaomai scratched her head, "Little Zhou doesn't allow me to leave the valley alone. He says it's not safe outside."
The valley, for dozens of miles around, had almost been devastated by them. Where was it unsafe? The wolf packs had long since migrated into the depths of the mountains.
However, Xiaomai remembered Zhou Chengbin's words clearly, "Sipei, go to the neighbor's and ask Little Zhou to take Xiaomai out to play."
"Okay!"
Li Sipei ran faster than a rabbit. He had been confined to the cave by his grandfather for several days without being allowed out.
When Zhou Chengbin came to take Xiaomai, Li Zhengguo gave his grandsons and grandnephews a holiday, "Go play with your second aunt."
"Starting tomorrow, one person will take turns playing each day, but if you don't finish your homework, you'll know what it means to 'play' and 'finish'."
"Yay!"
"Yay yay!"
The five Si screamed and ran out of the cave, "Thank you Grandpa (Uncle), thank you Grandma (Aunt)."