Xia Xiaolan felt she needed to have a serious talk with Zhou Cheng. At the very least, they should align their approach towards the Shi family. Xia Xiaolan always believed that teaching someone to fish was better than giving them fish. While she and Zhou Cheng could certainly afford to take care of the Shi family for life, what if one day they suffered a major setback and couldn’t even take care of themselves? How could they care for others then? As long as the Shi family had their means of survival, they could rely on their abilities if anything went wrong in the future!

Guan Hui’e was also uncertain. On their way, she discussed with Xia Xiaolan, “I wonder if that courtyard is for sale, Wei likes—” Guan Hui’e didn’t finish her sentence. Even if they gave a house to the Shi family, she wasn’t sure if Wei Juanhong would be satisfied. But this would completely change the nature of the situation.

Xia Xiaolan directly opposed this: “Aunt Guan, I don’t agree with this approach. Sister-in-law Wei might be stuck in a mental rut right now, but if we want to help the Shi family, we shouldn’t encourage her to develop thoughts of getting something for nothing. The Shi family has elderly parents and young children, and their only adult male is mentally challenged. For many years to come, the family will have to rely on Sister-in-law Wei’s support—your generosity wouldn’t help her, it would soften her backbone.”

Without a backbone, the head of the household might not be able to raise Shi Kai’s two children well in the future.

Guan Hui’e hadn’t expected such words from Xia Xiaolan. Upon careful consideration, she realized the truth in them. She sighed, “Whatever we do now seems to have lost its original meaning.”

If they didn’t follow Wei Juanhong’s wishes, she would likely think the Zhou family was heartless and that Xia Xiaolan was speaking from a position of privilege. If they did follow her wishes, giving her a house when she wanted one and immediately changing her job when she was dissatisfied, Wei Juanhong would just take it all for granted!

It wasn’t that Guan Hui’e wasn’t kind—she had considered buying the courtyard where the Shi family currently lived and giving it to Wei Juanhong, along with arranging an office job for her… A courtyard house would cost several tens of thousands of yuan, which was roughly equivalent to what Shi Kai would earn in a lifetime at current wage rates!

Even the state’s compensation wasn’t that high.

Guan Hui’e wanted to completely buy out her sense of debt to the Shi family. But while Wei Juanhong had become stubborn and awkward after getting stuck in her mindset, Grandmother Shi remained reasonable, even arguing with Wei Juanhong earlier. This stark contrast made it difficult for Guan Hui’e to make a decision.

Hearing Xia Xiaolan’s words, Guan Hui’e felt helpless. She knew in her heart that Xia Xiaolan was right.

Xia Xiaolan thought for a moment, “Auntie, would you like to visit Zhou Cheng?”

Guan Hui’e was stunned.

“It’s still noon, and Beijing to Shijiazhuang is only about 300 kilometers. By car, it might take less than five hours. Today is Saturday, Zhou Cheng should be resting at the academy. If we leave now, we could arrive by evening at the latest.”

Without asking Zhou Cheng, neither she nor Guan Hui’e could make decisions, as this matter ultimately stemmed from Zhou Cheng’s inner conflict!

Guan Hui’e couldn’t refuse Xia Xiaolan’s suggestion. What mother doesn’t want to see her son?

“Are you sure about driving?”

“It’s just a few hours of driving. We can stay overnight in Shijiazhuang and drive back tomorrow, it’s no problem.”

This was Xia Xiaolan’s sudden decision, and once proposed, she couldn’t resist the idea herself. Having a car had its advantages—since Beijing wasn’t far from Shijiazhuang, it eliminated the hassle of changing trains. In case of any emergencies, she could even drive there and back in a single day!

Guan Hui’e didn’t think long about it. She immediately called home to inform them, and Xia Xiaolan did the same. The two bought some necessities and prepared to depart.

Zhou Guobin was quite surprised when he received the call. He knew about Xia Xiaolan buying a car, but to take a long-distance trip to Hebei Province with a newly purchased vehicle?

However, his wife wasn’t the type to act recklessly, and Xia Xiaolan’s driving skills should be decent.

Zhou Guobin didn’t say much, only telling them to be careful on the road and not to make random stops.

“Take Kang Wei along, he’s just sitting idle at home anyway.”

While Kang Wei wasn’t allowed to drive, he could still ride as a passenger.

Zhou Guobin was concerned about Xia Xiaolan and Guan Hui’e, two women driving to Hebei Province. It had nothing to do with Xia Xiaolan’s driving skills; it was purely because the sparsely populated national highways weren’t entirely safe. This was already 1983, after the Strike Hard campaign. Before that campaign, when highway bandits were rampant, Zhou Guobin wouldn’t have agreed to let them drive at all.

Now, having a male companion would help avoid unnecessary trouble.

For long-distance travel, Xia Xiaolan’s Citroën wasn’t as comfortable as Kang Wei’s modified Jeep 212.

Xia Xiaolan simply switched to his car instead.

Kang Wei squeezed into the car, behaving like a quail in front of Guan Hui’e.

He had no choice but to behave—how long had it been since he’d been allowed out? A hundred days to recover from injury, and he’d been injured for four months, constantly restricted from leaving Beijing.

Given this rare chance to go out, if he didn’t behave well in front of Guan Hui’e, just one word from her to his mother would end any chance of going out!

Quail Wei sat like a primary school student, hands on his knees: “Aunt Guan, why did you and your sister-in-law suddenly decide to drive to Hebei Province?”

This was a spontaneous decision—if they had planned to visit Zhou Cheng earlier, leaving in the morning would have been better, allowing more time.

“Nothing special, just going to see Zhou Cheng.”

Guan Hui’e didn’t mention the Shi family matter, as Kang Wei was also a martyr’s orphan, and she was mindful of his feelings.

However, with Kang Wei present, Guan Hui’e recalled something from earlier: “Xiao Wei, if we were to buy the courtyard the Shi family is renting, roughly how much would it cost?”

Kang Wei hesitated.

The courtyard originally belonged to Zhou Cheng, so what was there to buy?

However, he had been the one who handled buying these properties for Zhou Cheng, and probably knew the prices better than Zhou Cheng himself.

“It would be around forty or fifty thousand, Aunt Guan. Are you thinking of buying it?”

What was there to buy? Brother Cheng had bought quite a few houses, more than the Zhou family could ever use. He kept it from his family, fearing Uncle Zhou would object. Kang Wei himself had also bought the property, similarly keeping it secret from the Kang family.

After all, the money he and Zhou Cheng had made came from trading cigarettes, exploiting policy loopholes—not illegal but irregular—so they couldn’t be too conspicuous about spending it.

Fortunately, they had quit early. The money Kang Wei would earn from legitimate business in the future could be spent openly.

Forty or fifty thousand was about what Guan Hui’e had expected.

The Shi family’s house wasn’t as nice as Xia Xiaolan’s courtyard at Shichahai, so naturally, it would be quite a bit cheaper.

However, for Guan Hui’e to spend forty or fifty thousand would still be a significant strain.

She and Zhou Guobin had high salaries, and neither had expensive habits. Zhou Cheng had joined the army early and didn’t need their money, and they didn’t have to support their in-laws, which was how they had managed to save several tens of thousands.

Knowing she could afford the courtyard if Wei Juanhong wanted it, Guan Hui’e felt more at ease.

With Xia Xiaolan driving, the three chatted along the way, arriving in Shijiazhuang by evening.

“I wonder if we can still see Zhou Cheng at this hour?”

Xia Xiaolan parked the car opposite the academy, and Guan Hui’e found a short-haired girl in a camouflage uniform at the front gate.

Why was Jiang Yan here as well?

—Guan Hui’e secretly glanced at Xia Xiaolan, wondering if she knew about Jiang Yan!