To make up for the debt owed to Lin Qingping and Gu Juncheng

Suddenly, he heard Gu Juncheng's voice outside, as if he was ordering him to stand in the corner again.

She quickly got up and washed, and saw Gu Juncheng coming out of Zhiyuan's room.

Upon seeing her, Gu Juncheng coughed twice and looked away.

Lin Qingping: ...What is this person thinking?

What happened to Zhiyuan?

Gu Juncheng's expression returned to normal. "You brat, you've learned to run away from home! I caught you at the village entrance!"

Lin Qingping suddenly remembered Zhiyuan's words from yesterday: He will leave...

They actually left!

She still carried a glass of milk into Zhiyuan's room.

Despite his small stature, Zhiyuan stood at attention perfectly, his little body ramrod straight, and he didn't even turn around when he heard someone coming in.

"Zhiyuan," she called to him, "haven't you had your milk yet today?"

Zhiyuan tilted his head slightly, ignoring her.

There's still no ice between her and Zhiyuan.

Ever since she married into the family, she has ignored Zhiyuan. Zhiyuan doesn't like her, but he is very clear about one thing: she is Uncle Gu's wife and one of his own. Therefore, he must protect her no matter what, even if someone outside slanders her, because it is to protect Uncle Gu's reputation.

Lin Qingping looked at the little boy and felt a pang of pity.

"Here, drink some milk first," just like last time, feeding it to him.

This time, he didn't drink; he lowered his head and avoided it.

"What's wrong? Can you tell me?" she asked patiently. "I heard from your Uncle Gu that you're leaving?"

The word "leave" finally made him move, but he lowered his head even further. "I'll leave after Uncle Gu returns to the army."

"Why are you leaving? Where are you going?" she asked in surprise.

Zhiyuan fell silent again.

Lin Qingping thought for a moment, then put down her milk glass. "What if I said I wouldn't let you leave?"

Upon hearing this, Zhiyuan suddenly raised his head.

Lin Qingping noticed that, sure enough, the child's eyes were red again.

“I won’t let you go, Zhiyuan,” she repeated.

"Then...then give me eggs, give me milk powder..." the little guy stammered.

"What does this have to do with you leaving?" She didn't understand either.

Zhiyuan lowered his head. "That's how it is in plays and storytelling. They give the guests good wine and food, a small gift, and then send them off..."

Lin Qingping: ...

It turns out it was all a misunderstanding.

Sensitive and precocious children really overthink things...

"me……"

Lin Qingping hugged Zhiyuan, who had been calling her "me" for a long time. "Zhiyuan, that's not what I meant. You misunderstood. From now on, you'll have eggs to eat and milk to drink every day. I'll make them for you right here in this house. I just hope you grow up tall and strong, like Uncle Gu."

Zhiyuan didn't speak, but Lin Qingping sensed it; the spot where Zhiyuan's eyes were pressed against her thin summer shirt was damp.

Zhiyuan, thank you for calling me "Mom". In this life, we've both started over...

Lin Qingping didn't let Zhiyuan continue standing in the corner. After watching him drink the milk, she boiled an egg for him and then started preparing the meal.

In her previous life, she worked in the catering industry and was quite skilled in cooking. However, during her time with Gujia, she was known for being lazy and gluttonous. Not only did she never do any work, but she also never shared her favorite dishes.

But today, she went into the kitchen.

The mother-in-law looked as if she had seen the sun rise in the west.

“Um… Chengzi finally came back, so I’ll make him something to eat,” Lin Qingping explained. “You… you go and do something else, I’ll do it.”

No matter how demanding her daughter-in-law was, Liu Fen felt a little better knowing she cared for her son, and she gave her the kitchen.

In the countryside during that era, resources were extremely limited. Oil and sugar were treasures that the mother-in-law cherished and were reluctant to use. Lin Qingping didn't dare to waste them either, so she cooked a meal using only the available ingredients.

I steamed a large pumpkin, mashed it into a puree, and mixed it with cornmeal to make a whole bowl of pumpkin pancakes. I couldn't bear to fry them, so I pan-fried them with just a little oil, but they were delicious. The pumpkins I grew in the countryside were naturally sweet, and the result was exactly the perfect level of sweetness that people would love decades later when desserts became popular.

Then, the tofu was directly baked until cooked, sprinkled with chili powder and salt. Although it didn't have the amazing effect of the bursting juice of the tofu with a crispy skin, it was much better than my mother-in-law's cooking skills, which only knew how to stir-fry tofu and often burned it.

The green beans were burnt in the iron wok, as were the green peppers. When they were all stir-fried together, the aroma was so strong that my mother-in-law thought she had burned down the kitchen.

After stir-frying a large plate of cabbage, the rice was ready.

As soon as the pumpkin cakes were served, Zhiyuan stared at them with shining eyes, and his mother-in-law was also shocked.

Lin Qingping first gave Zhiyuan two pumpkin cakes, and then said to her mother-in-law, "Mom, you eat first, I'll go call Dad and Chengzi back for dinner."

She thought Gu Juncheng was helping his father-in-law with the work, but when she got to the field, she found that only her father-in-law was there.

After calling him "father-in-law," she continued her search for Gu Juncheng. She walked around the village but didn't see him. Instead, she saw the villagers running towards the back mountain.

"Quick! There's a landslide on the back mountain! I heard someone's injured!"

"Go! Go and see!"

The villagers, young and old, were very enthusiastic and all ran up the mountain. Lin Qingping felt a chill; could it be that Gu Juncheng was also on the mountain? She had searched everywhere but couldn't find him!

She took off running with the villagers up the mountain.

We soon arrived at the site of the landslide.

Lin Qingping was looking up from below and could only see Gu Juncheng hanging from a tree, one hand gripping a branch and the other hand pulling at someone: Chen Xia.

The only sound in the valley was Chen Xia's cries, "Brother Cheng, Brother Cheng, don't let go! I'm scared..."

Lin Qingping's heart was entirely on Gu Juncheng; the tree he was clinging to was already teetering on the brink of collapse.

The two people weren't actually very high off the ground. If Gu Juncheng let go and jumped down, neither of them would die. However, it was hard to say whether they would break an arm or a leg.

Most importantly, Gu Juncheng died young in his previous life, and Lin Qingping already had a shadow in her heart, so she couldn't bear to see him encounter any danger.

She didn't even dare to shout, for fear of startling Gu Juncheng and causing him to fall.

The villagers spread out their fishing nets at the foot of the collapsed cliff and shouted to the people above, "Chengzi, come down! We'll catch you!"

"Okay! I'm letting go! Tighten!" Gu Juncheng shouted.

Then, Gu Juncheng let go, and the two of them fell into the fishing net together.

Lin Qingping breathed a sigh of relief the moment she saw Gu Juncheng fall safely into the net. But what about the two people inside the net?

Chen Xia hugged Gu Juncheng's neck and burst into tears, "Waaah, Brother Cheng, thank you, waaah, Brother Cheng, you really scared me to death..."

Lin Qingping noticed that Chen Xia was wearing a green top.

She suddenly remembered the figure that had flashed past behind the big tree that day...

A woman's intuition—an alarm bell rang in Lin Qingping's ears.

Chen Xia is the one who broke off her engagement with Gu Juncheng because she disliked Zhiyuan.

But didn't Chen Xia get engaged to a young man from the city who came to the countryside for training and move to the city? That was before she married Gu Juncheng, so why is she here now?