Shen led a big and small pair of people in, and Zi Qing took a closer look to find that it was Zi Ping, whom she hadn't seen in years. Standing next to her was probably her son, who should be four years old this year. He looked like his mother, with double eyelids and long eyelashes, and was quite cute. His hair was parted in the middle and tied up in a ponytail that only reached the base of his ears. His clothes were a bit worn out and it was hard to tell what color they were.

  Zi Ping, who was just over twenty years old, looked disheveled with her hair messy like a bird's nest, held together by a wooden pin. Her face was pale yellow, and her clothes were also indistinguishable in color, except for her black pants. The overall impression she gave was one of dullness, as if she had given up on life. She looked so haggard that people might have believed her to be thirty years old, and Zi Qing had to use some effort to convince herself that the person in front of her was indeed Zi Ping.

  Ziying didn't know what had happened, Shen's face was full of anger, and he told Lin Kangping to go to the old house to invite Old Master and Tian back, "If Little Aunt wants to come too, please invite her as well, just say that Ziping is back."

  Lin Kangping nodded and went, he had never seen Zi Ping, only heard Chunyu mention her when they were engaged, seemingly a rather disreputable existence, just because of her, Chunyu and the others dared to scheme against Zi Qing, later he forgot to ask, and Zi Qing didn't bring up anything about Zi Ping either, so he curiously glanced back at Zi Ping twice.

  The old man arrived soon with Tian Shi and Qiu Yu, Qiu Yu still holding Mu Mu who was said to be three years old but actually only one and a half. After everyone sat down, Shen Shi finally brought up the matter of Zi Ping. Zi Ping just wailed on the side, lamenting her own bitter fate.

  Originally, Shen went to Anzhou today to buy some things. Who knew that on the street, she saw Zi Ping sweeping the big street and rummaging through the trash heap. At first, Shen didn't quite believe it, and after carefully observing for half a day, she finally approached her. Shen forced Zi Ping to take her home to take a look. The house was tidy but old and worn out. Her husband was drinking at home and saw Zi Ping return. He immediately started scolding loudly, asking why she came back so early today, and must have been fired.

  Shen was furious when he heard this. He didn't even bother to explain, and took his daughter Ziyu and left with her, leaving Hu Baosong alone in a daze. Along the way, Shen pressed for answers for a long time before finally learning that since Ziyu gave birth, things had been somewhat better during her confinement period. However, after Shen visited a few times, he got into a dispute with Zeng Ruiqing and Zhou Shi, and never went back to see Ziyu again. When Ziyu's husband saw that there was no one coming from his wife's family anymore, and there were no more benefits to be gained, he gradually revealed his true nature - lazy and gluttonous, spending money on wine and throwing tantrums, forcing Ziyu to go out and work while he stayed home idle, looking for fun, and occasionally even gambling with small amounts of money.

  Tian's wife wept as she listened, and wailed: "Good girl, this is all fate! In the past, you insisted on marrying her, crying and shouting, no one could persuade you otherwise. Your father was also worthless. So many years have passed, not even returning home, abandoning both parents and daughter. I suffered through ten months of pregnancy to give birth to him. Who knows who he takes after? How did I end up with such an ungrateful child?" Tian's wife burst into loud sobs as she spoke.

  "I said, when his wife first left him so easily, she must have had enough of him too. You're stupid, stupid to the point where you'd jump into a fire pit and ten cows couldn't pull you back. You've got the same temper as your father." Autumn Jade scolded.

  "Alright, enough of those useless things. The problem now is how to solve this matter," said the old man.

  "How can this be resolved? Are we going to divorce as well? Wouldn't that tarnish the reputation of our ancestors?" Tian said.

  "What's the point of slandering, my second aunt wasn't living a good life either, but she broke up someone else's family. My older sister is the same, her husband also divorced her. Zi Ping is another one, it's just one generation after another. If you want to slander, you should have done it earlier." Qiu Yu said carelessly.

  Zi Qing and Zi Ping were both bewildered, having never heard of these things before. Zi Qing's gossip was sparked by her curiosity, and she asked: "Little aunt, what's the story with Er Gu Po and Da Gu? Tell me all about it."

  "You're going to die, and you say these things to a young unmarried woman like her." Tian slapped Qiu Yu several times, then turned to Zi Qing and said: "Zi Qing, you too, not only did you hear but also had to ask, is this something a big girl like you should be asking about? Your mother always taught you like that?"

  "My mother may not have taught me well, but she didn't let me do that..." Zi Qing's words were cut off by Shen Shi, Tian Shi's face was gloomy and staring at her. Zi Qing had to shut up obediently, but this is big news, it turns out Chun Yu also broke up someone's family and got divorced, yet I hadn't heard about it before, back then she still had the nerve to mock Zi Ping and me, why didn't anyone scold her? It seems my old man was too kind after all."

  At this moment, Zeng Ruixiang entered the door and saw a big house full of people. He was startled and asked: "What happened? Is that Zi Ping? Child, you're back! How did you become like this?"

  Tian cried out about Zi Ping's grievances again and asked Zeng Rui Xiang how this matter should be resolved.

  Zeng Ruixiang stroked his beard for a long time before asking Zi Ping, "Zi Ping, what do you think yourself? Do you want to divorce or make it work with him?"

  "He's going to be fine, I'd rather go on like this. After all, he's also been good to me at times. The child has no father, how can I raise him by myself? In the future, won't they hate me to death? Besides, he's also said that I'm not allowed to remarry. Back then, when I wanted to find someone else, he interfered and now he wouldn't agree to a divorce even more. At least I can still support his son for him." Zi Ping cried.

  "In that case, you can stay here for a few more days and wait for him to come back and pick you up. We will have our own way of making him apologize to you." Zeng Rui Xiang said as he instructed Shen Shi to arrange a place for her to stay.

  "I'd better go back to my original house and stay for a few days, I want to go back there, chat with Grandma and Grandpa, Auntie is busy here, and there are outsiders, so I won't disturb them." Zi Ping said.

  The Shens stayed a little longer, but unfortunately, Zi Ping's mind was made up and she wanted to go back to her own room. The Shens saw this and didn't want to stay any longer either. Listening to this, their hearts felt sour, although they hadn't had contact with Zeng Ruiqing for some time, after all, they had watched Zi Ping grow up. On that day, they had also advised Zhou Shi to pay attention, but unexpectedly, the child still took a wrong path. For this reason, the Shens always felt a little guilty in their hearts. However, looking back on things, at that time, it could only be like this. Depending on Zhou Shi's temperament, if she really explained things clearly, Zhou Shi would not have been able to save face. The Shens sighed and had to find some of Zi Xi's old clothes from when he was a child. Zi Ping's figure was slightly taller than Zi Qing's. The Shens thought for a moment, then tore two pieces of fine flower-patterned cotton cloth, one piece of fine white cotton cloth, and one piece of light blue cotton cloth.

  "Here, take these things," said Shen to Zi Ping. "Auntie was in such a hurry to bring you over that she didn't even give you time to pack your clothes. These were worn by Zixi when he was young, so just make do with them for now. Hurry up and make two dresses out of this flowered fabric, use the fine white cloth to make undergarments, and this pale blue one is for the child's clothes - make two sets. You can make a pair of pants for yourself too. Auntie is busy and won't be able to come visit you often, so just take care of yourself and don't worry. Your uncle said he'll help you figure things out, but really, you're being too stubborn. Things have gotten to this point and you still didn't want to come home and tell us about it? If Auntie hadn't run into you today, who knows how much more suffering you would have had to endure?"

  Zi Ping took over the thing and cried, saying: "Even my own parents are not willing to see me now. How dare I come to trouble everyone? There's no need to add trouble for Grandpa and Grandma. Besides, Grandpa said it himself back then, this is the path I chose, can't blame others."

  "Even so, you can't degrade yourself like this. You're still young, why not do something else? Why must you go sweep the streets, pick up trash, and beg like a vagrant? Can't you at least let your child's father find some decent work to do? Otherwise, when the child grows up, they'll blame you too."

  "What can I do? I have to eat, right? Whatever I say, he doesn't listen. He says now that I don't even have a mother's home to go back to, so I can only follow him. He kindly took me in, what can I do?"

  Everyone who heard it could only sigh, Shen sent them away and was also depressed, saying: "This child, one step wrong, every step is wrong, not as good as her eldest aunt."

  Ziying asked her about Eldest Aunt, Shen Shi gave her a sideways glance, looked at Lin Kangping and ignored her. Ziying followed closely behind Shen Shi, asking: "Mother, just say it, I promise not to tell anyone, I'm also curious, otherwise I won't be able to sleep tonight."

  "You're a big girl, what's with all these questions? Kang Ping, take her away and let her do whatever she wants."

  Zi Qing only then realized that with Lin Kangping around, Shen Shi couldn't say those things. She had to suppress her curiosity and followed Lin Kangping out. The two walked to the back mountain, where Lin Kangping asked about Zi Ping's affairs. Only then did Zi Qing think of the events from back then, and how she still owed Lin Kangping an explanation. So she told him everything about Zi Ping, as well as Zi He and Zi Yu's affairs, including the grudges between their two families over the years.

  "It was because of my cousin's affair that year that my grandfather and his family moved to the city. My grandfather is a man who cares about face, so he drove my cousin out of the house and never saw her again, nor did he allow my grandmother to visit her. At first, my mother still went to see my cousin, but later because of my grandfather, the two families cut off contact, and my mother also stopped going."

  "It's not entirely mom's fault, your dad is also quite overbearing and unreasonable. It's just that my parents are too honest and kind-hearted, otherwise, they would have had a big fight long ago. I'm surprised, I remember you mentioning having an older brother and a cousin sister before, but we haven't seen them in years, not even at your brother's wedding. So this is what happened."

  "It's better if they don't come back, my mother-in-law is also a shallow person, similar to my aunt. In our family, we only suffer losses. When dividing the property, everything was given to them first, but when it came to paying for maintenance fees, they backed out. I'd rather they never come back."

  Lin Kangping sighed and pulled Zi Qing into his arms.

  In less than two days, Lin Kangping entered the mountain. Zi Qing was embroidering flowers at home. Shen Shi and Zi Yu went to the back mountain to pick up eggs. Zi Ping brought her children, wearing new clothes, and her husband accompanied her over.