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“What’s going on?” The man strode over, his tall and long-legged figure reaching the spot in a few steps. But there was nothing, just an empty garden, not even a flower bloomed, let alone any humans.

“Where is she?” He asked his younger brother.

Gu Ning shook his head. He did not know.

The two brothers searched nearly every corner, but in the end, they still couldn’t find the child.

“Perhaps, she hid herself,” the older man patted his younger brother’s shoulder. This was the most logical explanation unless her family happened to find her just then. But both possibilities seemed unlikely.

Is it possible that Gu Ning was experiencing some kind of hallucination, mistakenly thinking he had found a little girl?

Gu Ning put his hand around his neck, his necklace was gone.

He turned to look at the flower bed, his dark eyes filled with indescribable emotions.

“Let’s go,” The older brother put his arm around his younger brother. “Look at you, so short while I’m 183 cm tall, you’re only 165 cm. Eat more, or else you won’t even be able to get a wife.”

The dim streetlight cast elongated shadows of the two men. What represents the length of time, and what symbolizes its fleetingness?

Life.

A person’s life seems lengthy, yet feels incredibly short.

After the figures of the brothers disappear and the road’s extension converges into a diminutive point, a small figure emerged from behind a wall.

It was Tang Yuxin, who had been hiding away.

She lowered her head, touching the necklace hanging around her neck. The pendant was likely an authentic jade, shining with a milky hue. It had warmed to her body temperature, but she could still detect traces of Gu Ning’s cool and peaceful aura.

She bit her lower lip, turned around, and ran off.

After wandering around for a whole night, she finally settled down in front of a dumpling shop. She then sat on the steps outside and hid her little hands inside her clothes.

The morning was even colder than the night. The biting cold made her feel fragile and tempted her to cry.

Tang Yuxin held back. She did not cry.

After an unknown period, the door of the dumpling shop finally opened. A woman yawned as she walked out, and was taken aback when she saw Tang Yuxin outside.

“Hongjun, come out here,” she called inside, before taking off her own coat to wrap the child in. However, once she saw the child’s red, swollen face and the injuries covering her body, she was shocked.

At that moment, a man staggered out, wondering what the commotion was.

“What’s the matter, what happened?”

The man was wearing only one slipper, and his shirt was on backward.

“Come quickly, there’s a child here who looks like Tang Zhinian’s little girl.”

“Let me see,” the man crouched down.

What happened to her face? He did not dare to touch it. Despite the swelling, there was no mistaking her features. In a small village like theirs, where everyone knew each other, it was impossible not to recognize the little girl they’d watched growing up. It was for this reason that Lin Yang, the wife of Zhang Hongjun, had hurriedly called her husband out.

“Yuxin, Yuxin…”

Zhang Hongjun gently patted Tang Yuxin’s little face. How badly must the girl have been hurt to look like this, and how long had she been on her own?

Tang Yuxin opened her eyes, and upon seeing Zhang Hongjun, tears began to stream down her face uncontrollably.

“Don’t cry, please don’t cry.”

Lin Yang gently wiped Tang Yuxin’s face. Just during the New Year, this child had come over to her house, along with Little Sisi from Zhang Xiangcao’s family. What a pretty face she had had, now it was swollen so heavily?

“Let’s go inside,” Zhang Hongjun carefully picked Tang Yuxin up, only to find that underneath her clothes, there were injuries all over her arms and legs, seemingly inflicted by a stick.

“Yang, go get some hot water for the child. Bring whatever food we have.”

“Ok,” Lin Yang hurriedly fetched a cup for the hot water, as well as the steamed Bun she had prepared earlier in the morning.

“Here, drink some water,” she didn’t have children of her own yet, but Lin Yang loved kids. Seeing Tang Yuxin’s injuries, she couldn’t help crying first.

“Thank you, Auntie,” Tang Yuxin grasped the bun and gobbled it down like a famished wolf.

“Take your time, no need to rush. There’s plenty more.”

Lin Yang touched Tang Yuxin’s forehead anxiously, fearing that the morning chill might have taken its toll on the child.

After eating two buns and drinking half a cup of hot water, Tang Yuxin was no longer hungry. Looking at the kind couple in front of her and thinking back to the missed opportunities in her past life, her heart felt extremely aching and sad.

If she had come to this place in her past life, could she have found her way back home? Would she have avoided a lifetime of suffering? Yet, in the end, what she told Gu Ning was only the Wei Family’s address. She had forgotten that her father once told her if she ever encountered difficulty, she should turn to Zhang Hongjun for help. Zhang Hongjun, a childhood playmate of Tang Zhinian’s, and his wife were originally farmers. However, due to circumstances, they started selling buns and achieved moderate success, eventually becoming the first wealthy family in the village.

The person who persuaded her father to allow Sang Zhilan to take her away was Zhang Hongjun’s sister-in-law, Huang Aimei.

Tang Yuxin admitted she was a revengeful person.

If it weren’t for Huang Aimei, she would not have been taken away by Sang Zhilan, nor would she have had to relive her miserable past. As such, she held Huang Aimei partly responsible. She would make an example of Huang Aimei, as a warning to those who dared to speak for Sang Zhilan in the future.

With regards to finding Zhang Hongjun, it was her way of expressing gratitude to him and his wife. Zhang Hongjun and his wife had always been oppressed by the sister-in-law in their family, which led to their low status at home. Otherwise, they would not have left the village and strived for livelihood in unfamiliar environs.

This time, it was their turn to enjoy good luck. Of course, this was also because Zhang Hongjun was a genuinely good person. In her previous life, when she was about to attend college, her father had borrowed money from everyone in the village but was still short. Zhang Hongjun had then made up the difference. Without him, her father would not have been able to afford her college fees, and she would not have become a doctor.

Favours, she remembered.

Debts, of course, she remembered too.

“Yuxin, tell me who did this to you?”

Lin Yang dabbed her tears, “How heartless must someone be to beat a child like this?”