The system makes me so beautiful that I don't care about anyone else's life or death.

Teacher Gao's home isn't far from here.

On a nearby hillside, there are no streetlights in the village. Only the bright moon in the sky illuminates a silvery path. If you keep walking forward, you can see Teacher Gao's house in the shade of the trees.

It was a low, red-brick house.

Unlike the trendy, retro-style red brick houses in the city, Teacher Gao's house looked old and worn. He had some thoughts, though. The cement used to build the red bricks had been scraped into dust, and when he touched it, pieces of it crumbled off.

When Su Ran arrived carrying a jar full of rice wine, Xiao Tao was outside burning coal with her younger brother on her back.

A woman's shouts came from inside the house.

"Xiao Tao, go to the chicken coop and pick out a rooster, boil water and kill it."

Su Ran frowned. Xiao Tao was only six years old. Was she really going to let a six-year-old girl kill a chicken? Could she even lift a knife?

"Okay, Mom." Xiao Tao put down the fire tongs, and soon the coal stove under her hands lit up. She quickly added some dry leaves and scraps to start a small fire.

By the flickering firelight, she saw a tall, slender figure slowly walking towards her along the forest path.

The figure was carrying a jar, and his face looked like that of an immortal in the moonlight. Xiao Tao thought she was hallucinating from exhaustion and rubbed her eyes.

Then I heard the immortal speak.

"Xiao Tao, don't kill the chicken anymore. I'll take you to eat something delicious later."

"Why does your voice sound so much like Ranran's?" Xiaotao asked.

"I'm Sister Ranran, don't you recognize me?" Su Ran approached.

"Wow, Ranran, you've become so beautiful!" Xiaotao, without a second thought, stared at Su Ran with sparkling eyes.

Su Ran couldn't help but pinch her little cheek, "You have such a sweet mouth, what do you want to eat? I'll take you."

"I want to eat cake," Xiaotao said, her little face scrunching up again. "Mom won't let me go."

"Then let's not let Mom find out. After we finish eating, bring this jar of rice wine back, and she won't scold you."

"No," Xiao Tao shook her head, "Mom will kill me if she finds out."

"Xiao Tao, then take me to see your mother," Su Ran said.

"Okay!" Xiao Tao said happily. She carried her younger brother on her back and walked ahead with some difficulty. Su Ran wanted to take him, but Xiao Tao refused, saying that her brother was covered in coal dust and would dirty her clothes.

Su Ran followed behind her, passing through the straight persimmon tree in front of the house, and arrived at the main room.

Inside the main room, Teacher Gao's wife, Su Chunhua, was knitting a sweater in front of a lit fire. Hearing footsteps, she didn't even look up. "Boil more water, we'll scald the chicken feathers later."

Little Peach called out in a clear voice, "Mommy, Ranran is here."

Su Chunhua looked up, and upon seeing Su Ran, her thin face immediately darkened. "What are you doing here?! It's all your fault! You killed my Lao Gao!"

After saying that, she scolded Xiaotao, "Why did you bring the person who killed your father here? Wasn't it enough that he killed your own father, did you want to kill your own mother too?"

Xiao Tao was so frightened that she didn't dare to utter a sound, her small body trembling slightly as she stood there.

"Master's wife, I've come to deliver rice wine to you." Su Ran raised the item in her hand and placed it on the counter next to her.

Su Chunhua's eyes lit up when she saw the rice wine, but her face darkened a few seconds later. "This is what Lao Gao deserves. Leave the food and get out of here!"

Su Ran tightened her grip on her hands at her sides.

She didn't want to target Su Chunhua, after all, Su Chunhua was partly responsible for Teacher Gao's passing.

From a young age, Su Chunhua looked down on Su Ran, let alone agree to Teacher Gao's offer to sponsor her tuition.

So every time, Teacher Gao would secretly save money by living frugally or working part-time to help others farm, in order to scrape together some money to secretly give to Su Ran.

Actually, Su Ran doesn't dislike Su Chunhua.

After all, Teacher Gao's family wasn't very wealthy, and it was understandable that Su Chunhua wouldn't let Teacher Gao help her, considering the family's expenses.

So every time she met Su Chunhua after school, she felt guilty, thinking that she had taken away the money that Teacher Gao's child would need for school.

The only thing that bothered Su Ran was that Su Chunhua not only looked down on Su Ran, but also on Teacher Gao.

Teacher Gao came to Xiaojiang Village as a volunteer teacher when he was young.

Su Chunhua found people from the city fascinating back then and tried every means to win over Teacher Gao.

One day, she mistook the person going to the cowshed for Teacher Gao and followed him in. Unexpectedly, she was taken advantage of by a stranger and became pregnant.

She insisted that it belonged to Teacher Gao.

As a stranger in a strange land, Teacher Gao couldn't explain himself even if he had ten mouths. So, under pressure from his fellow villagers, he married Su Chunhua.

Not long after, Su Chunhua suffered a miscarriage.

Then she began to complain that Teacher Gao was too rigid and dogmatic, and that as a teacher, his salary wasn't very high.

The man who took advantage of her ended up becoming the richest man in the village.

She began to dislike Teacher Gao more and more, and would curse at him in any situation.

Teacher Gao wasn't good at arguing, and he couldn't out-argue Su Chunhua, let alone hit a woman, so he could only sulk each time.

He told Su Ran, "As a man, no matter how wronged I am, I can't hit a woman, especially since she's my wife now. I'm not a domestic abuser."

Su Ran said, "But it can't always be like this."

Teacher Gao smiled and said, "I'll wait until my two children grow up and I've raised them to be successful before I take care of my own affairs."

"Teacher Gao, where are your parents? Aren't you going home?"

Teacher Gao's eyes were full of confusion.

"I don't have a mom and dad anymore, so I want to be a good dad."