Chapter 317 - 319: County Town
An Ning’s gaze was like a bottomless black hole, and Du Guijuan, caught in it, felt a profound terror.
’She’s telling the truth.’
Everything she had seen and heard at the An family’s home that day confirmed the truth of An Ning’s words.
"A person must learn to be content. What’s meant to be yours will be yours. Don’t covet what isn’t."
As An Ning finished speaking, she spun around to stare directly at An Ercheng, who had been about to help Du Guijuan. The intangible pressure shifted entirely onto him.
"Second Uncle, for all her faults, Second Aunt was at least looking out for your own little family. She has no blood ties to First Uncle or my dad, so her scheming against them is one thing. I can understand that."
"But what about you?"
That single question filled An Ercheng with a mixture of shame and helpless rage.
An Ning sneered and took a step forward. An Ercheng, terrified, scrambled back three steps, stumbling before catching his balance.
"I suggest you remember, Second Uncle, that An Dacheng is my first uncle and An Sancheng is my father. You just happen to share the An surname."
"For people I don’t care about, I have a thousand ways to make their lives a living hell. I imagine you have no desire to find out what they are, Second Uncle."
After An Ning spoke, the room fell utterly silent.
The sheer force of her presence was like a crushing weight on Du Guijuan and An Ercheng’s shoulders, pinning down their restless ambitions.
"Good. I hope we can be a harmonious family from now on."
The sight of An Ning’s back as she left was like a sharp sword piercing the hearts of the family of three.
An Xiaoming watched her leave not with hatred, but with a newfound sense of admiration.
The moment An Ning stepped out of the room, her sharp aura vanished. She greeted Lin Cuihua, who was just coming inside with some bok choy, with a happy smile and cheerful words.
She was the very picture of a sweet, well-behaved girl next door.
No one would ever connect her with the person she had been just a moment ago.
In the days that followed, that conversation was never mentioned, but it was seared into the memories of those three people.
Lin Cuihua brought the bok choy into the house, planning to wash and prepare it to make steamed buns with bok choy, pork, and glass noodles for An Ning.
But before she could even start, she was taken aback by a surprisingly diligent Du Guijuan.
’It wasn’t unheard of for Du Guijuan to be diligent, but where had this smiling, genuinely hardworking version of her come from?’
’What happened to her usual scheming expression? Why had it suddenly vanished?’
Lin Cuihua couldn’t figure it out for the life of her, but she didn’t have time to dwell on it.
An Ning needed to catch a ride to the county seat on An Guoming’s vegetable truck, which would also drop the family of three back home.
A little over an hour later, An Guoming returned with the truck. An Ning went to her room, quickly packed her things, grabbed the small, hot-water-dough buns Lin Cuihua had made for her, and climbed aboard.
An Ercheng’s family of three left with her. With not a single person at the door to see them off, the truck pulled away.
The entire journey passed in silence.
The family of three in the back was so quiet that An Guoming wondered if An Ning had fed them a potion to make them mute.
After all, on the drive over, Du Guijuan had been relentlessly peppering him with questions, trying to find out how much money the An family was making and how they were doing it.
Of course, Du Guijuan’s petty tricks were useless against An Guoming.
After more than four hours on the road, the truck finally reached the county seat. An Ning told An Guoming to go sell his vegetables while she went to check on An Ercheng’s family home.
An Guoming wasn’t worried in the slightest. His little sister was better off on her own than with him tagging along and holding her back.
One had to admit, An Guoming had a very clear understanding of his own limitations.
An Ning followed An Ercheng and his family to their home in the county seat.
The couple currently lived in an old-fashioned tube-style apartment building.
The apartment was a small unit assigned by An Ercheng’s work unit, and it had been adequate when it was just the two of them.
Later, the house where Du Guijuan’s parents had lived was repossessed. Apparently, the original owner had returned and reclaimed all the units that the property had been divided into.
They wanted to protest, but you can’t fight city hall. In the end, they took a meager sum of money and moved out.
After moving out, her parents had no choice but to move in with Du Guijuan and her family.
The two elders had helped raise the children. Since both An Ercheng and Du Guijuan worked, their three kids were raised almost single-handedly by the grandparents.
"We’re here."
Du Guijuan spoke two quiet words. An Ning looked at the building before her.
The walls were mottled and the paint was peeling. The building was four stories tall, with bamboo poles jutting out from the windows, some holding laundry, others drying vegetables.
As An Ning stepped inside the building, only one word came to mind: cramped.
Each floor housed nearly twenty families, with apartment doors facing each other across the hall. A single staircase ran up the center of the building.
The hallway was cluttered with all sorts of jars and boxes, muddy shoes, and plastic buckets, not to mention cooking stoves and honeycomb coal briquettes.
The entire corridor was so narrow that only one person could pass at a time, and the air was thick with a complex smell, impossible to distinguish whether it was stench or rot.
An Ning followed them up to the fourth floor and all the way to the end of the hall, where Du Guijuan took out a key and opened their door.
The first thing she saw was a bunk bed shrouded by a curtain. Near the window was a simple plank bed, and opposite it stood a dining table piled high with clutter.
Who would have thought that the impeccably dressed Du Guijuan lived in a place like this?
For a moment, An Ning almost found herself understanding Du Guijuan.
Her methods were wrong, but An Ning could understand her desire for a different life.
The room was empty. Du Guijuan set down her bags and said, "Have a seat. I’ll get you some water."
"Don’t bother. I’m leaving now."
An Ning stopped her, said goodbye to An Xiaoming and An Ercheng, and left.
She left without another word, and Du Guijuan, trailing behind, didn’t dare to ask a single question.
After An Ning was gone, Du Guijuan simply sat on the bed, silently weeping for a long, long time.
’Was I wrong? Did I just throw away an opportunity with my own hands? A chance to change my family’s life?’
Du Guijuan was filled with regret. She began to weep for her entire life.
"It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have been so reckless with money."
"It’s all my fault."
As Du Guijuan sobbed, An Ercheng pulled her into his arms.
In truth, their lives didn’t have to be this difficult. But Du Guijuan loved looking good and was obsessed with keeping up appearances, so she always made sure she was dressed to the nines.
After their daughter, An Jing, was born, another fashion-lover was added to the family.
An Ercheng, being carefree himself, didn’t stop her; he encouraged it.
With that kind of spending, the family hadn’t been able to save any money for years, making it impossible to afford a new home.
An Ning didn’t know about Du Guijuan’s tearful breakdown, but she would find out soon enough.
Once in the county seat, An Ning contacted several factory managers, delivered new design drafts, and had a meal with them.
After that, she invited Du Guijuan’s supervisor and the head of An Ercheng’s work unit out for another meal to learn more about their situation.
Over the course of the meal, she learned the truth about their salaries and spending habits.
The next day, Du Guijuan, her eyes swollen from crying, opened her door to leave for work.
"Good morning. I’ve already called you out of work for the day. We’re going to look at houses."