Wang Qiqi got out of the car and thanked Song Ziwen for driving her home. "......Thanks, brother, thanks, sister-in-law. Sister-in-law, come to my place for dinner tomorrow. I won't ask you to come up today."

Song Ziwen waved, signaling Wang Qiqi to go up..."It's fine. I'll bring your sister-in-law tomorrow. It's cold outside, hurry up inside." Only when the lights in Wang Qiqi's house turned on did Song Ziwen start the car and slip away.

Yang Jing sat in the car, having pondered for a long time before finally asking about the behaviors she had observed at the dinner table—things that were obviously unreasonable but everyone else had either overlooked or simply found normal.

Song Ziwen considered for a moment before speaking, and Yang Jing was stunned as she listened. She truly hadn't expected things to be that way. She compared the situation in her mind and had to admit that if it were her now, she might not have done what Wang Qiqi did. "Qiqi is quite something." Yang Jing had almost said 'pitiful,' but then she considered that the elders in her own family hadn't benefited from Wang Qiqi, so she swallowed that thought. "Right, back then your family..." Yang Jing couldn't believe that such a huge sum of money would only interest Wang Dagui. Regarding this question, Song Ziwen felt rather awkward and pinched the bridge of his nose..."Why wouldn't my parents be tempted? But my mother said that if she took it, she could keep it safe for Qiqi, and then give it to her when she got married." As for how much truth and how much exaggeration lay in those words, that was entirely up to personal interpretation.

Song Ziwen looked embarrassed, and Yang Jing felt her cheeks flush, but she couldn't accuse her mother-in-law of being greedy. Anyone else suddenly confronted with such a large fortune might see it as a huge surprise. For a moment, the car compartment was utterly silent.

Not long after Wang Qiqi returned home, she heard someone knocking at the door. This startled Wang Qiqi greatly. She had given Wang Dagui no pleasantries at the dinner table earlier, and both Wang Dagui and his daughter had looked at Wang Qiqi with ill intent. Just before heading home, Song Yao had explicitly warned Wang Qiqi to be careful about her household. Wang Qiqi certainly took this to heart; a cornered person might actually do anything. Fortunately, she wasn't on the top or bottom floor. As soon as she got home, Wang Qiqi locked all the doors and windows, and the gas valve was shut tight.

"Who is it?" Wang Qiqi, having produced a large iron rod from somewhere, also found a heavy book on the nearby shoe cabinet. Though it still felt somewhat insecure, it could at least buy her time until help arrived. She couldn't vouch for others, but she felt certain her future mother-in-law would come to her aid.

Luo Hongjuan, standing outside the door, heard the tremor in Wang Qiqi's voice...She had intended to just say she was back and then leave. Since her son wasn't home, she needed to keep an eye on her daughter-in-law. But why did Wang Qiqi's tone sound so strange? This made Luo Hongjuan abandon her thought of simply announcing herself and leaving. "...Qiqi, it's me. Open the door."

Hearing Luo Hongjuan's voice, Wang Qiqi let out a massive sigh of relief. "...Auntie, it's you." Wang Qiqi frantically unlatched the two doors to let Luo Hongjuan in.

Luo Hongjuan stepped inside, looked around, noticed the large iron rod by the door, and the heavy dictionary on the shoe cabinet. "What happened?" Her stance suggested she was prepared to deal with a burglar. Why would Wang Qiqi be prepared like this today?

Wang Qiqi recounted everything that had happened at Wang Damei's house. "...I just feel like the way Wang Dagui and the others looked at me was wrong." It felt like being targeted by a cobra; it made her utterly uncomfortable.

When Luo Hongjuan heard Wang Qiqi's account, although she thought Wang Qiqi was overreacting slightly, she knew the current state of Wang Dagui’s family. Even someone like herself, who only went out for work and otherwise stayed home, had heard the gossip. It was certainly possible that such people, having nothing left to lose, might do something drastic. "Be careful from now on. A man like him is just a mangy dog; he might just jump up and bite you someday. I'll sleep with you tonight." After saying this, Luo Hongjuan turned, unlocked Wang Qiqi's door, went to the apartment across the hall, and shut her own doors and windows.

Wang Qiqi hadn't expected Luo Hongjuan to offer such a response after hearing her story. Wang Qiqi had anticipated Luo Hongjuan might look displeased or blame her for causing trouble. Instead, Luo Hongjuan offered to sleep over and then went to turn off her lights and lock up across the hall. This made Wang Qiqi uneasy. Although Wang Qiqi and Luo Hongjuan had developed a good relationship recently, she couldn't get used to sleeping in the same room, let alone the same bed, as Luo Hongjuan, especially with her breath potentially reaching her face.

Wang Qiqi felt conflicted, but she dared not refuse the kindness of her future mother-in-law.

Luo Hongjuan found sleeping in Wang Qiqi's bed completely unfamiliar. It wasn't about the bed being too soft or too hard, nor was it just about being used to sleeping alone. The issue was that Wang Qiqi insisted on running the air conditioning while sleeping. Luo Hongjuan moved her lips a few times but remained silent. Earlier, her son had mentioned that in Beijing, the houses had central heating, and last year when he came home for winter break, he felt he couldn't adapt—he thought the house was too cold.

Wang Qiqi initially felt awkward having Luo Hongjuan in the bed, but perhaps because Luo Hongjuan smelled faintly of her mother, or perhaps because having someone nearby felt deeply reassuring, Wang Qiqi started snoring shortly after lying down.

Luo Hongjuan had intended to comfort the girl a bit, but she had fallen asleep in just a moment. Luo Hongjuan sat up, turned the air conditioning temperature down a bit—the temperature difference between indoors and outdoors was bad for the body—tucked the blanket in properly, and then closed her eyes to sleep. Today was Little New Year's Eve, the last workday. Everyone had rushed to finish their tasks around nine in the evening, returning home with thick red envelopes. Although the family's financial situation had improved considerably over the past two years—especially since her son, while not sending her money, had declared he would buy a place in Beijing after the New Year and wouldn't rely on the family—Luo Hongjuan felt a pang of loss. Her son was mature early and highly capable, but for a sophomore in college to be planning to buy a house in Beijing without needing her financial support made Luo Hongjuan feel she had no role as a mother, absolutely no sense of presence.

When Wang Qiqi woke up, she smelled the rich aroma of porridge filling the room. That scent made her want to cry. Although for the last two-plus years, whether in her hometown or Beijing, Wang Qiqi had lived with Shi Man and Zhu Lina, not once had she woken up to the fragrance of porridge. Her roommates would either wait for her to cook breakfast or just go out and buy something ready-made.

Wang Qiqi hid under the covers, trying hard to suppress her emotions and keep the tears from falling. After a long while, she finally climbed out of bed. "Auntie, you got up so early to make breakfast?" Wang Qiqi saw Luo Hongjuan still busy preparing the side dishes in the kitchen.

Luo Hongjuan turned off the gas stove when she saw Wang Qiqi awake. "Mmm, hurry up and wash your face and brush your teeth, then come eat."

Wang Qiqi walked over to Luo Hongjuan and hugged her tightly. "Auntie, thank you so much..."

Luo Hongjuan was startled by Wang Qiqi's gesture. Her own son was filial, but he never did anything so thoughtfully comforting. At most, he would just say, "Thanks, Mom." It was no wonder people said daughters were the truly caring ones. Before, when people said that, Luo Hongjuan would always argue that sons weren't bad either, but comparing the two now...well, there was a big difference. "Hurry up. We need to go buy candles and other things later." Luo Hongjuan planned to go to the temple early the next morning to burn incense. Although incense was sold near the temple, she found the prices expensive, and she felt bringing it from home showed greater sincerity. Therefore, every New Year's Eve morning, Luo Hongjuan made it a point to stop and buy some candles and related items.

Wang Qiqi murmured an acknowledgment and quickly went to the bathroom to take care of her personal hygiene. In truth, Wang Qiqi felt it was too much trouble for Luo Hongjuan to bother buying candles at home when they weren't short of money now.

Wang Qiqi spent the early morning running around buying the cooked dishes needed for the evening's New Year's Eve dinner, then returned home carrying heavy baskets of groceries. As soon as she got back, she saw Wang Damei and the others gathered downstairs. Wang Qiqi found it very odd. "Aunt, Uncle, what are you...?" Although they were supposed to have lunch, it was quite early—just past ten o'clock. Wang Qiqi thought how fortunate she had gotten up early; otherwise, they might have been standing outside shivering for a long time. She could manage for the others, but if Tao Tao got cold, Wang Qiqi felt she should throw herself in a river to atone for her sin.

"Song Ziwen, who values friends over romantic interests, had to leave early to pick up his girlfriend. We had no choice but to come early. We didn't expect..." Song Yao had assumed the lazy Wang Qiqi would still be home, but when they arrived enthusiastically, they found the door locked.

Wang Qiqi held up the groceries in her hand. "We’ll eat at my place again tonight. Auntie and I just went grocery shopping." Wang Qiqi knew that Song Ziliang would likely be having dinner at his future mother-in-law's place tonight, and since there were only two people at her own home, it was better to gather together for a livelier meal.

Song Yao shot Wang Qiqi a sidelong glance. "We weren't planning on going back for dinner anyway. Just make sure you buy enough groceries for lunch, and then all our families can eat together tonight." It would be more festive that way.

Wang Qiqi suddenly remembered something. "Sister, why aren't you going to your in-laws' house for New Year's Eve dinner?" Gong Peixing was living quite well now, and the two elders of the Gong family were desperately trying to mend fences with their eldest son and daughter-in-law to extract more benefits to subsidize their younger son. It made no sense that they wouldn't ask their son and daughter-in-law over for the main evening.

Song Yao waved her hand dismissively. "Go there for what? They just keep crying poor. Tch, both of them have pensions; how poor can they be? Besides, no one would see if we gave them money. It's better to carry big bags of things from the entrance of the complex to their door every time, letting those old neighbors see how good we are to them, even if they acted dishonorably back then."

Song Yao knew her in-laws didn't value the things she brought over much; after all, a thousand yuan could buy many things, and while the quantity looked large each time, the items weren't truly valuable, but they were practical. But Song Yao enjoyed this gesture. If they wanted the stuff, fine; if not, they could say so directly. She figured they wouldn't dare tell their son that they weren't being given money or anything like that.