Rebooting 60, let's go on a rampage with the orange cat!

“You’re all talk and no action, they’ll accept you eventually,” Huai’an comforted her with a hint of sympathy, as he pulled a wad of banknotes and a few grain coupons from his pocket and handed them to Mu Yinghong.

"I wasn't prepared at the moment and didn't know what gift to give you. Please accept this money and food coupons. Supplies are quite scarce in the countryside. You can use these to buy things as needed."

Upon hearing this, Mu Yinghong hurriedly waved her hands in refusal: "Oh dear, Huai'an, this is really too much! We didn't even plan to have a wedding banquet; we just wanted to get our marriage certificate and then head straight to the countryside. How could we accept such an expensive gift from you? I'm so embarrassed!"

Huai'an, however, held the stack of money and grain coupons tightly, insisting that Mu Yinghong accept them.

She earnestly advised, "Sister Yinghong, please stop making excuses! Once you get to the countryside, you'll have to start all over again, and there are so many things you'll need to adapt to gradually. Besides, having some money on hand will always make things easier. Trust me, I think you should pack more food and clothes to take with you, so you'll feel more at ease."

Mu Yinghong was still a little embarrassed, but seeing Huai'an's firm attitude, she didn't know how to refuse for a moment, so she quickly said, "Huai'an, don't worry, Liu Hui has actually saved up some money himself. Besides, he has also learned a masonry skill before, which may come in handy when he goes to the countryside! So, we shouldn't have too much trouble."

“He is him, and you are you. When a girl is out and about, it’s always good to have some money on hand for protection and self-defense,” Huai’an said earnestly as he handed her the banknotes.

Mu Yinghong looked at the money in front of her, hesitated slightly, and after a while slowly asked, "Then, can I write to you in the future?"

Upon hearing this, Huai'an's face immediately lit up with a warm smile, and she nodded without hesitation, replying, "Of course! Let's keep in touch more often." After saying that, she quickly reached into her pocket, rummaged around for a while, and pulled out a fountain pen and a few sheets of clean white paper.

Then, she carefully bent down and wrote down the school's detailed address on the paper, stroke by stroke, and handed it to Mu Yinghong, instructing her, "Once you get to the countryside and everything is settled, remember to write to me."

Mu Yinghong took the note, gently clutching it in her hand, a hint of gratitude in her eyes.

After a long period of polite refusals, Mu Yinghong finally gave in to Huai'an's kindness and accepted the money and food coupons.

She took a deep breath, as if gathering her courage, and suddenly opened her arms, hugging Huai'an tightly.

The hug lasted for a moment before Mu Yinghong released her hands, smiled and waved to Huai'an and the others standing beside her, then turned and walked away with firm steps.

Watching her receding figure, Shi Huai'an's gaze lingered for a long time. The slender figure gradually disappeared from sight, but it left a deep imprint on her heart.

Recalling her past life, Shi Huai'an couldn't help but feel a pang of emotion. Back then, she was equally lonely, helpless, and alone, and the pressures of life forced her to make the difficult choice of marriage.

However, fate played a cruel trick on him; the person he entrusted his life to was not a good match, and he ultimately suffered the consequences of his actions.

Looking at Mu Yinghong in front of me, her personality is completely different from that of my previous life.

Mu Yinghong was so bold and courageous that it seemed nothing in the world could stop her from moving forward.

People often say that "character determines destiny," and that is certainly true.

Some people choose to endure and be cowardly when faced with difficulties, silently bearing all the injustices; while others, like Mu Yinghong, rise up in resistance and never bow to fate.

Shi Huai'an thought to himself, if he had had half of Mu Yinghong's courage back then, perhaps life wouldn't have been so bad.

But life has no "what ifs," and the past cannot be changed. The only thing we can do is cherish the present, not expect anything from others, but change ourselves first, draw strength from self-improvement, and strive to write our own wonderful chapter.

Suppressing a faint sense of sorrow welling up inside him, Huai'an took his mother's hand and turned to walk towards the supply and marketing cooperative not far away.

Throughout the journey, Xiuzhi couldn't contain her curiosity and couldn't help but ask, "Who is that girl? I don't think I've ever seen her before."

Huai'an turned his head to look at Xiuzhi, nodded and replied, "Yes, she is indeed not a classmate of ours. Her family situation is rather special. After her father remarried, he had a young half-brother. This time, the quota for going to the countryside to work was given to her, and she is preparing to get married and go to the countryside."

At this point, Huai'an couldn't help but sigh softly. Although he knew that no one could stop the torrent of fate, in the face of the great tide of the times, each person was just a small bubble stirred up by the times—a tiny and powerless bubble, how far could it drift?

“Sigh—that’s how it is now. Every household has to send one person to the countryside as an educated youth. I heard that your birth mother’s family will send Huaiyuan to the countryside, since he’s a boy. They might leave your fourth sister in the city. But that makes sense, life in the countryside is tough. It’s better for girls to stay in the city.” Xiuzhi thought it was normal, since every family was like that.

"When are we going? Brother Huaiyuan didn't tell me." Huai'an was a little surprised, not expecting it to be so soon. She looked down and counted the days that happened in her previous life.

"They might not go until after the New Year, right? Anyway, it can't be delayed until next year at the latest. Only he and the fourth child in the family are unemployed and are in high school. Nowadays, unless you are an only child like yourself, all young people over the age of 18 without a formal job are sent down to the countryside. Families with many children have to send at least one of them."

Xiuzhi muttered to herself, "However, some families favor sons over daughters and often send daughters in place of sons. Your birth mother's family is considered open-minded; they treat their daughters quite well."

Shi Huai'an quite agreed with what his mother said.

She knew perfectly well that her biological parents and their family doted on her fourth sister.

In their past life, they even gave their biological father's enviable job opportunity to their fourth daughter, allowing her to successfully take over his position and enter the banking system, a dream industry for many, and rise through the ranks.

Fifth Brother, however, went through many difficulties to return to the city from the countryside and eventually had no choice but to work in the sanitation department.

The biological mother, on the other hand, worked tirelessly to help her eldest and fourth daughters take care of their young children. Because she disliked the fifth son's wife, who was from the countryside, she also treated her grandchildren poorly.

All of this infuriated Huaiyuan, the fifth son. He always believed that his parents had treated their children unfairly and were clearly biased towards his fourth sister.

Whenever Huaiyuan saw his parents showering his fourth sister with affection and care, a surge of resentment would well up within him, lingering for a long time. Even in his later years, the fifth brother still harbored resentment, weeping at his mother's grave.

In reality, whether it's the traditional preference for sons over daughters or this seemingly unusual phenomenon of favoring daughters over sons, it's ultimately caused by the parents.

It is precisely because they cannot treat each of their children fairly and justly that they become the fuse that ignites resentment and hatred among their children.

Where in this world is there absolute fairness? Everyone's choices seem to be the result of careful consideration, but some results are simply unbearable and devastating.

However, poor Huai'an was the unbearable lightness of her family of origin; she was the daughter who was sent away from home at a young age.

She never enjoyed love and care from her biological parents, and naturally lost the right to express her opinion, because fairness was not on her side.

As Huai'an silently pondered her past, she couldn't help but feel a strange sense of loss. Sometimes she felt that she had come to terms with it and no longer cared about her birth parents' abandonment of her; other times, she felt a strange pang of sorrow, as if a void had been forcibly carved out of her heart, an emptiness that could never be filled.

Austrian psychologist Alfred Adler once said: Happy people use their childhood to heal their whole lives, while unhappy people spend their whole lives healing their childhood.

That's true...

Xiuzhi gently took Huai'an's slightly cold hand and said softly, "Oh dear, why are your hands so cold? You didn't even wear gloves when you went out. This can't go on, what if you get frostbite?"

As she spoke, she frowned slightly, revealing a hint of concern and worry.

Immediately afterwards, Xiuzhi reached out her warm hands and tightly grasped Huai'an's cold hands, beginning to vigorously rub them back and forth. As she rubbed, she muttered, "You're such a grown-up, yet you still don't know how to take good care of yourself. It's really worrying!"

Huai stood there quietly, feeling the warmth emanating from Xiuzhi's palm, and a warm current surged in his heart.

She silently watched the busy yet kind figure before her, and her eyes couldn't help but well up with tears.

From childhood to adulthood, Xiuzhi has always cared for and looked after her like her own mother, making her feel endless warmth in this cold winter.

At this moment, Huai'an secretly felt fortunate that she had this kind and gentle adoptive mother by her side, accompanying and protecting her...

They chatted all the way and soon arrived at the entrance of the supply and marketing cooperative.

The place was unusually lively today because the supply and marketing cooperative had just received a batch of fresh fish. Each household could only buy one, and the limited quantity attracted many customers who came with their fish tickets and household registration certificates to purchase them.

A long queue had already formed in front of the fish stall, with people anxiously waiting for their turn to choose their favorite fish.

Seeing this, Huai'an and Wang Xiuzhi did not think of asking acquaintances for help to cut in line or use back channels as usual.

Perhaps they were simply too lazy to go back and deal with Wu Yue'e and her troublesome affairs, or perhaps they felt that queuing was a unique experience.

In short, the two tacitly chose to obediently stand at the back of the line and wait leisurely.

"Mom, we didn't bring our household registration documents, did we?" Huai'an asked quietly.

"It's alright, Old Wang from the supply and marketing cooperative and your dad are old acquaintances," Xiuzhi said with a smile.

Finally, they arrived. Old Wang's honest and simple face broke into a bright smile as he greeted them warmly: "Oh my, Sister Shi, you've finally come! Oh my, look at little An'an, she's grown so tall! If she weren't standing next to you, I almost wouldn't have recognized her!"

Upon hearing this, Huai'an quickly greeted him sweetly, "Hello, Uncle Wang!" Then he grabbed a handful of White Rabbit milk candies from his pocket and said, "These are for your child to sweeten their mouth."

As Old Wang cut the meat, he chuckled and joked, "Wow~ this girl is so generous. If I didn't know you were still in school, I would have thought it was wedding candy. Uncle Wang, you're welcome. Thank you."

Xiuzhi nodded with a smile and agreed, "Our An'an has indeed grown quite a bit taller." As she spoke, she deftly handed over the fish tickets, meat tickets, and banknotes she was holding, and said, "We have guests at home today, so please bring two lively fish and a pound of the best pork belly."

Old Wang quickly took the items and then turned around to get to work.

His skillful movements seemed to have been repeated countless times, and he quickly packed the large, fresh fish and the fatty and lean pork into the vegetable basket that Xiuzhi had brought.

At the same time, he kept muttering, "This meat would be absolutely delicious and juicy when steamed with rice flour. I heard our An'an went to study in Beijing? That child is really promising! You two old folks have finally gotten over your hardships and can enjoy your retirement now!"

Upon hearing this, Xiuzhi smiled so much that her eyes narrowed into slits, and the crow's feet at the corners of her eyes became even more pronounced, but those were traces of happiness.

She replied with no small amount of pride, "That's right! It's all thanks to everyone's help. It's all thanks to you all! By the way, I heard that your sons are almost ready to start working. You and your wife can finally enjoy your retirement in peace!"

"Oh dear, don't even mention it! My sons at home are such a worry! I have to work myself to the bone to save money for their weddings!" Old Wang said, frowning and deliberately putting on a bitter face, as if a huge burden was weighing on him.

Those standing behind him burst into laughter upon hearing this, joking, "That's right! They say you can only be happy for two days after having a son: one is when he's born, and the other is when he gets married! The rest of the time, well, you're in for a rough time..."

"Yes, yes, having a son means you have to prepare a house for him, which is quite an expense! Unlike daughters, daughters are so sweet and caring..." Several old ladies echoed, nodding to Xiuzhi who had just squeezed out of the line, muttering to themselves.

Others said, "You can't say that. My daughter is like a leaky, worn-out cotton-padded jacket! She always sides with her family, and all she does is ask her parents for this and that. It's driving my husband and me crazy!" After saying that, the person shook their head helplessly.