Gu Tianfeng and Lian Yuhong exchanged a smile, while Lady Yu looked at these youngsters with relief, feeling equally content in her heart. The others didn’t chime in, but they all felt moved. After lunch, since they were going out to play tomorrow, Gu Qianqian and Gu Zishu were urged by Gu Qiaoqiao to quickly finish the homework left by their teacher. Gu Qiaoqiao then took Chang Qing for a stroll around Gu Garden. It was afternoon at this time. The sunlight was very bright. The breeze carried strands of warmth. On the branches of the Old Locust Tree, tender new shoots quietly blossomed. Great Grandma said, after a few gusts of spring wind, the locust tree in Gu Garden would be covered with locust flowers. Gu Garden truly lives up to its name. Especially in spring. It can even rival some gardens in Suzhou. It’s hard to describe the classical charm that pours out with historical importance. It seems Gu Garden has become a part of history standing here. Chang Qing’s gentle gaze was focused on Gu Qiaoqiao, who walked ahead, smiling brightly. He hasn’t seen her for over a year, and he truly missed her. Although they often talked on the phone and wrote letters, it was never the same as being face-to-face. And after over a year apart, he realized his Sister Qiaoqiao had changed a lot... But the one thing that stayed the same was her purest smile when she saw him. This text is hosted at novelꜰire.net Still so warm, still so beautiful. No one else in this world knows that the reason he’s where he is today, despite Uncle Gu helping him a lot, is his gratitude for Gu Qiaoqiao, his Sister Qiaoqiao. He could never forget her in his lifetime. She is his redemption and hope. When he was three, his mother passed away, and his father remarried. His stepmother brought a son and a daughter, and people often say with a stepmother comes a stepfather; though not always true, it was the case in his household. He matured early and had a good memory, never forgetting anything he saw. So, everything from the age of four, he remembered vividly. At three, his father hastily gave him the name Chang Gousheng just to divide the rations, saying a humble name was easy to raise. His stepmother hit him, scolded him, and never let him eat his fill. At a young age, he stood on a stool to feed the pigs; he was only five, and the sow kept at home could bite his head off in one go. Such things weren’t unheard of in the countryside. Yet his father seemed oblivious. In his eyes, the children fathered by another man were more important than his own son by ten thousand times. At seven, he learned to cook, dug wild vegetables, gathered pig grass in spring. Being too small to work with the adults, he was responsible for all the chores, including washing the family’s clothes, collecting firewood and leaves from the mountains each autumn, and tending to the family’s vegetable garden by seven. In short, anything he could do was his responsibility. No matter if done well or poorly, it always ended in a beating. And he never ate his fill. Every meal, his broken bowl contained only a bit of rice at the bottom, if it was corn cake, just a small piece. Even so, he was given only one meal a day. Initially, they lived in another village. An elderly person in that village couldn’t stand it any longer and persuaded the village secretary to talk to his father. His stepmother unleashed all her tantrums. She even cursed at the village secretary’s door for two days and nights. Eventually, no one dared to interfere anymore, but they couldn’t stay in that village. And somehow his stepmother found someone, and they moved to Stone Town, becoming neighbors with the Gu Family when he was nine.