Men are always attracted to novelty.

When a young lady was willing to elope desperately for her little brother, even Big Sister Yuan would feel some genuine affection.

She didn’t argue with her brother, instead handing him the fried eggs she had just prepared in the kitchen.

“Quickly take these in. She looks starved.”

Compared to Mother Yuan and Big Sister Yuan, Second Sister Yuan wasn’t as tall and robust. She had the delicateness of a southerner, and though not highly educated, she spoke softly: “Little brother has brought back someone else’s daughter. If it were me, I’d beat him half to death if I caught him. But when two young people have feelings for each other, it’s too pitiful to force them apart. Why not let the little brother take Miss Zhou to hide in the countryside? I know a place, you have to cross two mountains to reach the village, and they still don’t have electricity. No matter how capable the Zhou family is, they won’t find them there quickly.”

Second Sister Yuan looked worried and sympathetic.

Big Sister Yuan pushed her, “You’re the cleverest one. Little brother will listen to you.”

Mother Yuan remained silent, still weighing the pros and cons.

Things had already reached this point. If this was a heaven-sent opportunity for the Yuan family to advance, Mother Yuan couldn’t bear to let it slip away.

So they’d take the gamble.

As parents, could they be more stubborn than an only daughter?

Yuan Han had said everyone in Zhou Yi’s family, even distant relatives, were government officials. With such a family background, Yuan Han would never have met another girl like her if he stayed in this small hometown forever.

The Yuan family reached a consensus, and Zhou Yi, already blinded by love, was willing to go when she heard about a place disconnected from the outside world.

She had run away from home; her father must be furious.

Whether it was her or Yuan Han, there would be severe consequences if they were caught. After being anxious throughout her journey, Zhou Yi desperately wanted to hide.

Before Yuan Han could suggest it, Zhou Yi had already decided to make their relationship irreversible.

After a bumpy journey, they arrived at the isolated, backward village.

This was a distant relative of Yuan Han’s brother-in-law’s family. Yuan Han also believed no one could find them here. Second Sister Yuan hadn’t even told her husband, only the three Yuan women knew the location. The mother and daughters would never reveal it, making Zhou Yi and Yuan Han quite safe in that village.

The poor, backward village made Zhou Yi uncomfortable everywhere.

Yet it gave her a strange pride and satisfaction as if only this could prove that her love with Yuan Han was genuine.

She was sharing hardships with her lover. Yuan Han had even given up his career to stay with her in this isolated place. From any angle, Yuan Han’s sacrifice seemed greater.

As night fell, in the simple farmhouse, the kerosene lamp on the table flickered between life and death. Yuan Han held a blanket and pointed to the floor:

“Our relatives think we’re husband and wife, and there’s no extra room for us to sleep separately. How about you take the bed, and I’ll sleep on the floor?”

Zhou Yi shook her head and boldly started removing her clothes:

“Yuan Han, you fool, are you still pretending to be fake spouses? After I ran away with you, no one would believe we maintained boundaries even if you didn’t touch me! Since no one will believe we stayed proper… if you don’t dare touch me, are you even a man?”

Between being a beast and being less than a beast, Yuan Han couldn’t resist his natural desires.

In the flickering light, Zhou Yi’s young body was beautiful.

Among the Zhou siblings, Zhou Cheng was the best-looking, having inherited all the good features from Zhou Guobin and Guan Hui’e.

But Zhou Yi wasn’t ugly either; she could even be called pretty.

The blanket in Yuan Han’s arms fell to the floor. The kerosene lamp on the table went out at some point, and on the bed were two bodies intertwined.

Morning sunlight filtered through the wall cracks, and Yuan Han held Zhou Yi with satisfaction.

He was truly surprised. Zhou Yi had always had many friends, both male and female, spending days fooling around, and she’d had boyfriends before – he definitely wasn’t her first love.

But he turned out to be Zhou Yi’s first man.

Yuan Han hadn’t lied; he truly loved Zhou Yi, and this feeling reached its peak at this moment.

…

Zhou Yi had run away.

Zhou Yi had disappeared.

Bad news came one after another, and Jiang Hong was too sick to get out of bed.

The people Zhou Wenbang sent out only knew that Zhou Yi had indeed gone to find Yuan Han, but they couldn’t yet discover where the couple had fled.

Yuan Han was ruthless enough to abandon his job and hide away with Zhou Yi.

The Yuan household only had three women left, and Zhou Wenbang couldn’t possibly have them arrested – what would people say?

“That fool Zhou Yi, unable to see through such a clumsy deceiver…”

Zhou Wenbang violently threw his documents on the table.

“Yuan Han’s ex-wife indeed had a bad background. After divorcing Yuan Han, she vanished without a trace. If someone hadn’t personally seen her board a train, I would have suspected the Yuan family had harmed her!”

Now they couldn’t even find witnesses, and Zhou Yi and Yuan Han were in hiding.

Zhou Wenbang had handled so many major issues, yet when it came to his daughter, he was at a loss.

They were still keeping this from the Zhou family elders. Zhou Wenbang was exhausted from dealing with his unfilial daughter. Sitting in Zhou Guobin’s living room, Zhou Guobin felt sorry for his elder brother.

“Getting angry won’t help. Have more people watch the Yuan family. Zhou Yi disappeared with that Yuan man; his family must know where she is.”

At times like this, only Zhou Guobin dared to speak up.

Xia Xiaolan was in the kitchen with Aunty Zeng, not to cook but to relieve stress.

Aunty Zeng didn’t particularly like Zhou Yi and her mother, but having worked for the Zhou family for over a decade and watched Zhou Cheng grow up, she sighed at Zhou Yi’s foolishness: “Zhou Yi is too confused, breaking her parents’ hearts for a man.”

Xia Xiaolan hadn’t expected Zhou Yi to be this foolish either.

In just a few days, the situation had deteriorated rapidly. Since Zhou Yi boarded that train, things had spiraled beyond the Zhou family’s control.

It wasn’t that the Zhou family wasn’t trying hard to find them; they still had a face to maintain and couldn’t just arrest the three Yuan women for questioning.

In 1985, there were no surveillance cameras, and no GPS tracking.

If even a fugitive like Xia Ziyu could vanish without a trace, Zhou Yi could certainly hide successfully if she was determined.

Zhou Wenbang’s current fury wasn’t just about Zhou Yi’s defiance and stupidity; as a father, he was worried about her safety.

He no longer talked about breaking Zhou Yi’s legs; right now, Zhou Yi’s safety was the priority… No matter how foolish, at his age, Zhou Wenbang only had Zhou Yi as his only daughter.

He deeply regretted it all.

Regretted being too busy with work to educate Zhou Yi properly, letting his wife spoil her.

The position he held was one that even Wang Guangping coveted; it wasn’t easy for Zhou Wenbang to secure it.

Moreover, Zhou Yi was a daughter; he hadn’t expected her to uphold the family name anyway.

Now it was too late for regrets. An improperly raised daughter could cause such trouble!

Xia Xiaolan felt Zhou Wenbang’s headache. Even the best strategy would be useless – foolish people didn’t follow normal patterns. With Zhou Yi voluntarily offering herself up like a piece of fat meat, how could Yuan Han not bite and hold on?

She left the kitchen carrying two cups of tea and ran into Old Master Zhou entering.

The old master nodded at her but wasn’t so polite with his two sons:

“Zhou Yi has disappeared, and how long were you planning to keep this from me!”