“Auntie, we will find Senior Sister Shan. Not just me, but so many people haven’t given up hope,” said Xia Xiaolan.

Shan’s mother nodded, her eyes still swollen from crying during her journey here.

“Xiaolan, thank you all.”

Shan’s mother wasn’t much of a talker, or perhaps with her daughter’s fate unknown, she wasn’t in the mood for conversation. Xia Xiaolan could only update her on the current situation, to which Shan’s mother simply nodded along.

“Yu Jun is strong and responsible. While she might give up if she were alone, with two students by her side, she’ll hold on until the rescue team finds them.”

The Gao brothers’ grandmother, having heard that Teacher Shan’s family had arrived, dragged her ailing body to meet Shan’s mother. Upon meeting, she immediately tried to kneel before her.

Speaking with unclear pronunciation and a heavy dialect, she rambled on, essentially saying that the Gao family had wronged Teacher Shan. If the older Gao boy hadn’t gone wolf hunting with his rifle, Teacher Shan wouldn’t have escorted the two boys home, and she wouldn’t have gotten into trouble.

She added that if anything happened to Teacher Shan, the Gao family would be forever guilty. Even if you counted all three members of the Gao family plus their sheep, they weren’t worth as much as a strand of Teacher Shan’s hair!

Shan’s mother helped the old lady up.

“Elder, it’s a teacher’s duty to protect their students. Yu Jun just did what she was supposed to do. It was the right thing to do. No one’s life is worth more than another’s. I just hope she returns safely with the two children.”

The old lady’s cloudy eyes were filled with tears.

Xia Xiaolan remained silent.

While Shan’s mother believed all lives held equal weight, Xia Xiaolan didn’t entirely agree. Good people’s lives were worth more than bad ones, and someone who could contribute to society with their knowledge was worth more than foolish adventure seekers who got themselves into trouble.

In her previous life, Xia Xiaolan had seen news about missing hikers in no-man’s lands requiring extensive rescue operations. Those people brought trouble upon themselves and then complained about rescue costs. Xia Xiaolan never sympathized with such fools!

But Shan Yu Jun was different – she got into trouble while escorting two students home.

Xia Xiaolan didn’t think the Spring Festival was more important than Shan Yu Jun’s life.

Nor did she think mobilizing so many people for the rescue was a waste of resources.

Even if it wasn’t Shan Yu Jun, any volunteer teacher in such a situation deserved rescue. When people are doing the right thing, their value shouldn’t be measured by simple arithmetic. The county where Shan Yu Jun volunteered understood this principle.

If they didn’t rescue her now? Well, others’ passionate dedication would be cool, and who would want to come to this place again?

Time ticked by minute by minute.

Each message that came back brought disappointment.

At 3 PM, Shao Guangrong dragged back an unshaven Kang Wei, saying, “You might go without food, water, or sleep, but planes need refueling and pilots need rotation!”

Kang Wei stumbled as he walked.

“Xiao Shan is waiting for me. I have to find her.”

A hand reached out with two steamed buns: “You must be Xiao Kang. I know about you. You’re a good kid. Yu Jun is waiting for you to find her. You must stay strong.”

Kang Wei turned to see a woman who resembled Shan Yu Jun.

“Auntie Cheng, Shan Yu Jun’s mother.”

Cheng Qurong’s eyes were bloodshot as she nodded at Kang Wei.

Kang Wei called her “Auntie Cheng” but couldn’t say anything more.

He had always wanted to meet Shan Yu Jun’s family and wanted to bring Shan Yu Jun home to meet his parents, but neither wish was fulfilled before they broke up. Two years after their breakup, he finally met Shan Yu Jun’s mother, but not how he wanted. He would rather have kept those unfulfilled wishes than meet Shan Yu Jun’s family under these circumstances.

Cheng Qurong asked him to eat the steamed buns.

“After you finish eating, I’d like to talk with you.”

What did Cheng Qurong want to tell Kang Wei?

Xia Xiaolan noticed that Cheng Qurong was remarkably composed. She hadn’t wailed or screamed since arriving at the village, as if she had used up all her tears on the journey.

She didn’t blame anyone either.

Perhaps this wasn’t composure but true strength, just like the seemingly gentle Shan Yu Jun. Mother and daughter shared many similarities.

After finishing the buns, Kang Wei wanted to rush out to continue searching.

But Cheng Qurong saw that Kang Wei was near his breaking point. This young man needed more support:

“Stay and talk with me for a while. I can only tell these things to you because you were Yu Jun’s boyfriend. Will you keep me company? We’ve never met before, but Yu Jun mentioned you. I owe you an apology… Yu Jun’s decision to break up with you might have been partly my fault.”

Kang Wei didn’t understand why Cheng Qurong was saying this now.

Whether he and Xiao Shan were together didn’t matter – what mattered was that Xiao Shan needed to be alive!

Xia Xiaolan held him back, “Listen to what Auntie Cheng has to say.”

“With Yu Jun missing, only I could come. Her father is still at the dam. A dam built over 20 years ago has developed cracks. Though he didn’t build it, the organization called him, and he had to take on this responsibility. As Old Shan would say, when the dam has problems, it affects more than just one family – his own family, his daughter, must come second. This Spring Festival, Old Shan will spend it at the dam again. This is common in the Shan family. He’s a good person, an excellent dam engineer, but he’s not a good husband, and he can hardly be called a good father!”

Cheng Qurong spoke matter-of-factly, stating what she saw as truth.

But wasn’t there a complaint hidden in this calmness?

As a wife, Cheng Qurong could accept her husband’s complete dedication to the dam, giving all his energy to work.

But as a mother, when her daughter was missing and her husband still couldn’t leave the dam, always prioritizing work, Cheng Qurong naturally had the right to complain!

Cheng Qurong paused for a moment, steadying her emotions before continuing:

“When Yu Jun was born, Old Shan couldn’t leave the dam construction site to come home. When Yu Jun was sick, her father was always absent. He truly was the most unqualified father, yet Yu Jun admired him and wanted to become someone like her father. She said that after her father dies, the dams he helped build would still stand, proving he hadn’t lived in vain. Life is just a few decades long, and she also wanted to leave something behind for the name ‘Shan Yu Jun.’ She was always a curious child, wanting to try everything, and never settling down. Even after getting into Huaqing to study civil engineering, she wasn’t sure about her career until she heard about the ‘Young Eagles Take Flight’ program. She felt that was what she wanted – she yearned for change!”

She yearned to change herself and to change the place where she volunteered.

Cheng Qurong forced a bitter smile.

“I told her I couldn’t control her father, and I couldn’t control her either. If she wanted to volunteer or stay in the Northwest, it was her choice… But her father wasn’t a good husband, and she was destined to struggle to be a good wife. She could pursue her dreams, but she shouldn’t burden others – why should others sacrifice for her ideals? That was selfish!”

This was a mother’s attempt to hold back her daughter.

Deep down, she didn’t want her daughter to suffer in the Northwest, but she had to respect her daughter’s ideals and choices, so Cheng Qurong had to resort to such methods.

As a result, prompted by her mother’s complaints and thinking of her father Shan Jingye and mother Cheng Qurong’s marriage, Shan Yu Jun broke up with Kang Wei before coming to the Northwest.