Zhou Cheng felt waves of regret.

He disliked wasting effort, and when dealing with a woman, he wouldn’t resort to petty actions – he found them troublesome, and minor inconveniences were pointless. He wanted to hurt Xia Ziyu decisively in one go.

Though Zhou Cheng had never met Xia Ziyu, he found her quite “interesting.”

“Interesting” was certainly derogatory – Xia Ziyu was far inferior to his wife, and Zhou Cheng couldn’t understand why this woman kept fixating on Xiaolan.

Limited perspective in the village was one thing, but now studying in Beijing, weren’t there many worthwhile things to do?

Yet Xia Ziyu refused to do anything worthwhile!

While she wasn’t completely without ability – she’d recently started some tutoring classes, showing she had something in her head. Xia Ziyu had desperately snatched away Wang Jianhua, and for that, Zhou Cheng should thank her for making things work out. But Zhou Cheng wondered about something – from what he remembered, Wang Jianhua was somewhat good-looking, certainly standing out in the village. But in Beijing, why was Xia Ziyu still so devoted to Wang Jianhua?

Was a stolen man more precious?

Or did Wang Jianhua have other attractions for Xia Ziyu?

Zhou Cheng had to consider the underlying reasons. His wife had been naive – when she liked Wang Jianhua, she surely didn’t know he was a “fallen young master.” The calculating Xia Ziyu must have known about the Wang family’s situation to work so hard to steal him away.

What Zhou Cheng couldn’t understand was where Xia Ziyu got her confidence that Wang Guangping would return and be reinstated!

Or was Xia Ziyu just gambling on that slim chance?

To truly hurt someone, you had to destroy what they valued most. Xia Ziyu valued Wang Jianhua above herself, and Zhou Cheng had originally planned to leave Xia Ziyu empty-handed. If Wang Guangping couldn’t be reinstated, how disappointed would Xia Ziyu be?

Now the situation had exceeded Zhou Cheng’s expectations – the Zhou family couldn’t interfere with Wang Guangping’s return!

Zhou Cheng’s uncle’s position couldn’t be returned to Wang Guangping – his uncle had earned it through his qualifications and abilities. No position could be permanently reserved for someone – how could they keep it for Wang Guangping after several years away? But the Zhou family was in a sensitive position now – preventing Wang Guangping’s return would make them seem overbearing as if Zhou Cheng’s uncle feared Wang Guangping… His uncle was already sensitive about this, and Zhou Cheng couldn’t put the whole Zhou family in a difficult position just to get revenge on Xia Ziyu.

However, letting Xia Ziyu succeed and get everything she wanted was hard for Zhou Cheng to swallow.

If he couldn’t prevent Wang Guangping’s return, there was still room to maneuver regarding his new position assignment.

State-reassigned jobs varied in actual authority – this would be difficult to manage, but possible by leveraging other forces. Zhou Cheng made his decision secretly, without telling Xia Xiaolan. While Xia Xiaolan took revenge without harming innocents, Zhou Cheng’s style differed somewhat from hers.

Wang Jianhua wasn’t exactly innocent – who told him to have such poor judgment in choosing Xia Ziyu!

Marrying the wrong wife could bring misfortune for three generations. If Xia Xiaolan hadn’t taken her revenge, Zhou Cheng would have grabbed all three members of Xia Ziyu’s family and broken their hands. Now he was just making trouble for Wang Guangping – Xia Ziyu got what she wanted, but hopefully she wouldn’t be too disappointed later.

…

“Jianhua, I contacted some old friends about your father’s situation. After much effort in getting the materials submitted, we finally had a positive response. He meets the conditions for returning to the city. Your whole family can finally reunite. You’ve had it tough, managing to test back into Beijing from that rural place.”

“Thank you, Uncle Zhang. I’ll never forget your help to our whole family!”

Wang Jianhua, a grown man, was so moved his eyes turned red. From having nowhere to turn for help to finally getting a definite answer, from his return to Beijing until today, it had taken a full year. Old acquaintances grew distant without contact, and besides running around diligently, Wang Jianhua had spent over ten thousand yuan on this effort.

This money would have been nothing before, but now it was more than Wang Jianhua could afford.

Of this ten thousand, Xia Ziyu contributed a small portion, while the rest came from Wang Jianhua’s part-time work and loans from Senior Sister Liu – though called a senior at the teachers’ college, she was two years younger than Wang Jianhua, who became a junior student due to his late university entrance.

Wang Jianhua couldn’t forget Senior Sister Liu’s help.

He could only gradually repay this debt of gratitude; responding to her feelings was impossible – he already had Ziyu.

Ziyu was certainly good too. Recently he’d been busy running around making connections, greatly reducing his time with Xia Ziyu. Now that he had definite news, he naturally wanted to share it with her.

When Xia Ziyu received this news, she was even happier than when her tutoring classes had filled up with new students.

“That’s wonderful, Jianhua, that’s wonderful!”

Xia Ziyu couldn’t hide her excitement. Wang Jianhua was also touched – Ziyu was thinking wholly of him, concerned about his parents, which explained her great joy!

“It is wonderful. Uncle Zhang said official notice will come in the next few days. Ziyu, I want to go to the farm personally to bring them back!”

Wang Jianhua wanted to go to Ha Province.

His mind was full of his parents’ return to the city; any job his father got in Beijing would be fine, as long as they left that harsh farm. Though Xia Ziyu had told him earlier about Xia Changzheng’s injury and bringing her parents to Beijing, Wang Jianhua couldn’t think of that now. His future in-laws couldn’t compare to his parents in importance. Xia Ziyu didn’t remind him at this moment – in her heart, Wang Guangping’s reinstatement was certainly more important than Xia Changzheng’s amputation!

Though the tutoring classes still needed attention, Xia Ziyu couldn’t care less now.

At a time like this, how could she not establish her presence before Wang Jianhua’s parents?

“Jianhua, I want to go to the farm with you, to share this good news with Uncle and auntie together… is that okay?”

It was summer vacation, and Wang Jianhua estimated he could handle everything before school started if he made the trip now. Of course, Xia Ziyu could go. Wang Jianhua nodded excitedly, “I’ll go buy our train tickets right away!”

Wang Jianhua spoke without hesitation, and Xia Ziyu felt relieved.

Choosing Wang Jianhua when his family was down showed her foresight.

Now that the Wang family was rising again, Xia Ziyu feared his parents might have different opinions, thinking she wasn’t good enough for Wang Jianhua.

The last time they met, Ran Shuyu had liked her, sharing many intimate conversations, but Wang Guangping hadn’t seemed very satisfied with her… Xia Ziyu feared that too much delay might cost Wang Guangping and Ran Shuyu their chance to return and be reinstated and that if things went too smoothly now, they might turn their backs on her.

Whatever happened, she wouldn’t give up Wang Jianhua!

Xia Ziyu accompanied Wang Jianhua on the train to Ha Province. Being summer, the journey was much easier even with transfers. The summer farm was lush and verdant, forming a stark contrast with winter’s deadly cold. People’s moods also contrasted – when Wang Jianhua and Xia Ziyu arrived at the farm, the documents for Wang Guangping and Ran Shuyu’s return had also reached the farm.

Those who had been harsh to Wang Guangping and Ran Shuyu now showed dramatic reversals in attitude.

Though still wearing old clothes, Wang Guangping carried himself with a certain dignity. When Xia Ziyu called him “Uncle,” his attitude was even colder than at their first meeting.