The moment Brother Jianping heard Chen Lu speak, a trace of awkwardness flitted across his face. He lifted his eyes toward her, narrowed slightly in suspicion, though his lips curled into a half-smile.
“When did you get here?”
Chen Lu put on an innocent look. “Just now. I turned the corner and saw my cousin storming off, looking furious. I thought—what happened? Who made her so angry?”
Only then did Brother Jianping feel at ease.
After all, he was now one of the more promising youths from the shared courtyard, already assigned to the Power Supply Bureau. His status was no longer on par with the other kids he had grown up with. Face and dignity mattered now—he couldn’t let Chen Lu witness his humiliation.
So he quickly gave a laugh and said, “It’s nothing really. I just asked her about the divorce and the kids, and she flew off the handle. No idea what’s gotten into her.”
Chen Lu let out a sigh. “My cousin really… she’s changed. That temper of hers—doesn’t seem like the Shunhua I used to know. Back then, she wasn’t like this at all.”
Brother Jianping nodded. “Exactly. I didn’t provoke her or anything.”
Chen Lu smiled. “Don’t you think she’s like a whole different person now?”
Brother Jianping hesitated. “Hard to say. She spent eight years with the Corps in Inner Mongolia. It’s a tough place—would wear anyone down.”
Chen Lu replied, “Now that’s not entirely right. I visited her just a while ago, and her temper wasn’t like this. She even told me she planned to get divorced and return to the capital to sort out her hukou. She never mentioned anything about bringing the kids back. Who knew she’d suddenly act like she was possessed—turning around at the gate and running back just to drag both children with her. What on earth was she thinking?”
Brother Jianping frowned, considering it. “Yeah… what was that all about?”
Chen Lu sighed and glanced at him sideways. “Everyone just wants the best for her, but she won’t listen. You’ll see—her hukou won’t go through. And when it doesn’t… who knows what kind of scene she’ll make next.”
Upon hearing this, Brother Jianping felt a strange, indescribable emotion well up inside.
Gu Shunhua had been so angry with him—fighting to get the kids’ hukou approved. But what if she failed? Would she end up sending them back?
The thought, once it entered his mind, rooted itself like a seed. He couldn’t shake it.
Chen Lu observed him quietly, seeing right through him.
She wasn’t just any ordinary girl from the capital’s shared courtyards—she had come from another time entirely.
She had once been an ordinary office worker living twenty years in the future. One day, she ran into the CEO of her company in the elevator. He smiled gently and asked which department she worked in. That moment made her heart flutter.
The CEO was in his forties, older, but exuding the refined charm of a successful man.
From then on, she had quietly followed his news, collecting photos and videos online, even learning about his past. She grew jealous of the elegant woman who stood beside him at the annual gala—his wife.
They didn’t look suited at all, she had thought. If not for her, maybe he and I could have something.
Eventually, she landed a job in the executive secretariat, hoping to get closer to him. But reality didn’t follow her script.
There were seven or eight secretaries, and she was just one of many. The CEO treated her no differently than the rest. And one day, his daughter came by the office and—clearly disliking her—mocked her outright.
She had always dabbled in fanfiction, and that night, in a moment of emotional impulse, she wrote a story.
A story where the CEO divorced his wife and married her instead. Where she played the stepmother who won over both the man and his children. The rival daughter? Humiliated. She’d crafted the story to be delicious revenge wrapped in romance. In fiction, she was queen.
To her surprise, the novel went viral.
It caught the attention of readers—and of critics. Accusations flew that she had smeared real people. She was overwhelmed. But before she could figure out how to escape the scandal… she woke up inside her own story.
Now, she was the female lead.
And the world of the novel was real.
After Liberation, the old restaurants underwent public-private partnership reforms and were placed under the management of state-run food companies. Even so, Gu Quanfu remained as head chef and life was still reasonably comfortable. Whenever someone held a banquet, he’d be invited to take charge of the kitchen and could earn a solid food package. Thanks to his cooking, he had access to ration tickets—for grain, meat, and vegetables—and sometimes even brought home leftover foreign delicacies. The children at home never lacked for rich, flavorful meals.
But when Gu Shunhua was five, everything suddenly collapsed. Her father was denounced with big-character posters, stripped of his role as chef, and expelled from Huìyún Tower. After that, he worked for the food company hauling produce, doing hard labor. Life became a constant struggle.
As she recalled all this, Gu Shunhua noticed her father, Gu Quanfu, following her gaze toward the old blue dish of shredded pickled vegetables. He had sliced the pickles himself with practiced knife skills—so fine that they trembled slightly when picked up with chopsticks. A few drops of sesame oil gleamed under the lamplight.
But so what? In his heart, he still felt he’d failed this daughter.
He sighed. “Shunhua, go wash your hands and feed the children first. Don’t let them go hungry.”
Chen Cuiyue, ladling out porridge with a spoon, glanced at the blue cloth bundle resting on the bed. “Where did that come from?”
“Granny Tong gave it to me,” Gu Shunhua replied. “Said it’s a small quilt for the kids.”
Chen Cuiyue gave a cold snort and muttered under her breath, “As if we needed her handouts. Waiting eagerly for her to bestow something.”
Still, she liked the gift—who wouldn’t like a freebie?
While they spoke, Gu Shunhua poured water and washed her hands. Just then, Yuehua came into the room. The moment he saw her, he grew excited.
“Jie! Jie!” he called out.
Gu Shunhua was pleased too, but still smiled and reminded him, “Go wash your hands first.”
After washing up, the family sat down to eat.
Outside, it was freezing and now snowing. Every breath pulled icy air straight down the throat, chilling them to the bone. Sitting around the table now, holding a hot bowl of sweet potato and corn porridge, blowing on the steam before slurping it from the rim—its natural sweetness and hearty aroma filled the mouth and warmed the belly.
Chen Cuiyue beamed and asked the children, “Is it tasty?”
They nodded enthusiastically. “So yummy!”
Her smile deepened into true grandmotherly warmth. “Then eat more!”
Gu Yuehua added some stir-fried cabbage to the children’s bowls. “Eat your veggies too.”
Then he turned and grumbled at Chen Cuiyue, “Ma, my sister just got back and the kids are still little. Couldn’t you make something with meat? If not meat, at least fry up some eggs!”
Chen Cuiyue spat in mock disgust. “You think you’re the only one who cares about them? Why don’t you just turn yourself into an egg and jump in the pan?”
Gu Shunhua laughed. “They had egg pancakes this afternoon. The kids loved it. Oh right, Yuehua—how’s work?”
Her eldest brother, Gu Zhenhua, had been the first to be sent to the countryside. Gu Shunhua technically didn’t have to go, but she took Chen Lu’s spot and left too. Yuehua, two years younger than Gu Shunhua, was only thirteen at the time and stayed in the capital.
As he got older, there was no school and no job. He drifted about until recently, when someone helped him find temporary work hauling coal briquettes. One yuan a day, with a twenty-cent meal subsidy. One day off per week, thirty yuan a month at best.
But Gu Yuehua was never reliable. From childhood, he was scatterbrained and careless with his studies. Asking him to haul coal every day was impossible—he’d work three days, then skip two. Naturally, this made Chen Cuiyue angry, and she nagged him constantly.
When Gu Shunhua asked, Yuehua gave a cough and said casually, “It’s alright. I’ve got food and drink, not worried about much.”
Chen Cuiyue spat again. “You—when are you ever going to grow up?”
Yuehua just grinned and went back to playing with Manman and Duoduo, feeding Duoduo a big chunk of soft sweet potato. “My sis really knows how to have kids. Look at this girl—so pretty! Just like I was as a kid!”
Chen Cuiyue laughed and scolded, “If she’s like you, we’re in trouble!”
Gu Shunhua smiled quietly from the side without saying a word.
Her younger brother had always been unreliable—lazy and fond of leisure. The old folks in the courtyard used to say he was a “glass marble”—shiny but useless. No one ever counted on him.
That was what she used to think too.
But after reading that book, she finally understood. Years later, when she had divorced the professor and her reputation was in tatters, when she had fallen seriously ill—who was by her side, earning money to pay for her treatment?
It was this same unreliable younger brother.
He had no great skills, but he carried bricks on a construction site, earning ten yuan a day. He saved it to buy her Zhilan Zhai’s braised pork belly, just because she once mentioned in passing how tender and flavorful it was.
Even with his shoulders bruised and aching, he’d laugh and say, “I’m a man—it’s nothing.”
So in this life, you never really know who you can count on in the end.