Shu Youfu and the others caught wind of it right after Shu Yan's second sister's divorce. For sure some relatives in town had told them about it. They had just arrived home but rushed right back out to town again.

"What had gotten into you? You didn't even bring it up to us before you get a divorce?" Lin Zixiang pointed at Shu Li angrily. She glanced over at Shu Yan and strongly suspected that Shu Yan was behind all this.

Shu Yan found herself a seat. Why did everyone think that she was the one who instigated this? Even a rabbit will bite when forced into a corner. The family was already plotting to give up on a live, it was only normal that Shu Li, as a mother, would fight back.

"What was the point of telling you? You and Dad would just tell me to bear with it. I don't want to bear with it anymore," said Shu Li with tears in her eyes. "Don't you worry. I will not bring my kids back to your place and expect you to help me out. I will get a job and support my children and I."

Lin Zixiang let out a sigh of relief when she heard Shu Li's words. Shu Li and Shu Yan were not the same. Shu Yan had gotten a lot of money and her two children were healthy. If she was to move back home, they wouldn't cost much to support. 

Shu Li had gotten some money too, but that amount couldn't cover anything. It would be all gone after a few trips to the hospital for Pingan. Then, the money would be all gone and the child would be lying in the hospital. 

Shu Li would go back to the village and cry. As the grandparents, they had to chip in and even her three sons would need to contribute something. Otherwise they would never hear the end of it in the village.

Shu Li started to cry for real after she saw her parents' reactions. They could at least make an effort to hide how they truly felt.

"You don't need to worry about Second Sister. Just take care of yourselves." Shu Yan looked over at Second Brother and Second Sister-in-Law following behind them and asked, "How come you two are here also?"

"Your brother hurt his leg and the doctors in town weren't helpful, so we thought we would head to the city and have it checked out." Second Sister-in-law was Shu Yan's true sister-in-law by the name of Qiaoju. She was tall and stocky and could do as much work as her Second Brother. She was one of the few that was relatively nice to Shu Li and Shu Yan.

"Is everything okay?" asked Shu Yan.

"I'm alright. I said I am fine but your sister-in-law insisted for me to go see a doctor." He sounded like he was complaining but his tone was happy.

Qiaoju gave her husband a cross eye, pulled Shu Li to one side and said to her in a low voice, "Every man cheats. Lu Qingwei has a high paying job. You are just giving him up for others by getting a divorce. 

Besides, what are you going to do as a single mother with two children? Pingan is not the healthiest child either."

She truly had Shu Li's best interest in mind. She felt that Shu Li was making it too easy for Lu Qingwei and that widow by getting a divorce. She should have just dragged it out. The Lu family would not dare treat her the same way that they used to with Shu Jianyang behind her.

Shu Li shook her head. What was the point? She was better off leaving with the money that she had gotten. She had already been through the worst. She trusted that there was nowhere else to go but up from this point forward.

"I know you see that Shu Yan is doing great right now, but that was because Ye Zhiqiang was wealthy. How much do you think Lu Qingwei could give you? It is not easy to raise two children on your own. You.....really need to think this through." And that was about all Ye Qiaoju could say.

"I understanding, sister-in-law. Niuniu is old enough to take care of Pingan now and she could also do laundry and cook. She is very capable. With Niuniu with me, I can focus on making money. One way or another, I will put her through school. As for Pingan, if he couldn't be care in City Xi, I will go to capital city, or City Nan. I will find a way. I am not afraid as long as my family stays together."

Kids were sensitive. They knew well who liked them and who didn't. Especially Pingan, being ill, he was even more sensitive to others' feelings toward him. He had, in more than one occasions, seen the look of disgust from his aunt and his grandmother. They wanted him gone.

The divorce was already final and there was not much more to say about it. The couple obtained their divorce decree the next day and Shu Jianyang was able to get his hand on 5 plane tickets for Shu Yan to bring Shu Li and her two children with her to City Nan.

"Little Aunty, are we going to ride in the plane?" asked Niuniu timidly.

Her look and tone were exactly the same as JingJing back then. That and her being dark and skinny, Shu Yan's heart softened uncontrollably and said to her, "Aiya, don't be scared. It's just like riding in a car."

The three of them had looks of disbelief on them. One flew in the sky and one ran on the ground. How could they be the same?

Once they were through security checkpoint, Shu Li held on tightly to her children's hands and her palms were sweaty.

Shu Yan had Shu Li sat next to the window and Pingan next to her. Niuniu too, sat by the window, next to Shu Yan. Feng Zeyu was singled out.

It was a three-hour flight from City Xi to City Nan. Shu Li and her two children never closed their eyes once during those three hours. They stared out the window intensely and let out little exclamation noises from time to time. Niuniu was a lot livelier than she normally was and had a million questions to ask Shu Yan.

"Look, Little Aunty, there's a rainbow over there. Is that the same one that we see on the ground?"

"Niuniu, you had been watching this whole time. Let you little aunt get some rest," said Shu Li to Niuniu.

"It's alright. I am not tired. We are almost there," said Shu Yan with a smile.

Time flew in their chattering and Shi Li and her children were stunned by how bustling City Nan was when they got off the plane. They had always thought that City Xi was bustling but, compared to City Nan, City Xi was way behind.

"We will be living here from now on?" asked Shu Li, a little intimidated.

All of her big words were gone while she was standing at the feet of this city. The city made Shu Li felt small. She was dazed and had no idea where to go and what to do.

"Don't worry. You are my big sister. I've brought you here and I will help you get settled in." Shu Yan pinched her lips some. She had given it some thought before they came. Shu Li was even worse than original owner and didn't even attend grade school. She was illiterate. She didn't know how to speak mandarin nor did she have any skills.

She thought about it some and decided that she could help her open up a stationary shop by the school. It wouldn't matter that she didn't know how to be a salesperson, she just had to hire one.

 She only needed to be in charge of merchandizing and man the cash register. The two children would attend the school nearby and she could also watch out for them. Mainly this place was very close to the hospital and it wouldn't take them long to get Pingan to the hospital when he fell ill. It was perfect.

Shi Li asked hesitantly after hearing Shu Yan's plans. "How much would it cost to open up a stationary shop? All I have on me is the 18,000 yuan I got from Lu Qingwei. I am sure that will ot be enough."

"I'll loan you the remaining amount. You can pay me back after you start earning money." Shu Yan had thought about loaning her money to buy a house so they can truly settle down in City Nan as well but, after she had given it more thought, she realized that she couldn't do that much for her even if they were real siblings. 

People will appreciate whatever little help they received during their hardest time but, if that kept up, they would feel hateful for life if one falls short somewhere in a long run.

After taking off from the airport and being picked up by the chauffeur, Shu Li was a little shocked. She knew that her sister was wealthy now and doing well for herself but she didn't know that Shu Yan has her own chauffeur. She was shocked again when they arrived at Nanfu Mansion.

"You live here?" The house was too pretty. Better than all the other ones in City Xi. Shu Li felt that if Shu Jianyang was going to build houses, he should build something like this.

"Yes, I bought a house here. It's a bit on the small side but it will do for tonight."

Sure, whatever you say.

They followed Shu Yan up the elevator and saw that the inside was very clean once the door opened. The mother and her children were too intimidated to even walk inside.

"Boss lady is back?" Aunty came out of the kitchen. She knew that Shu Li and the kids would be over and had been preparing lunch. She smiled at them and said, "Lunch will be ready soon. Get settled in then come eat."

Shu Yan gave everyone a pair of slippers and brought them to the bathroom. They had already learned how to use the sink at the airport and Shu Yan didn't need to go over that with them again. They would worry about showering that night.

Shu Li carefully tugged at Shu Yan's hand and asked in a low voice, "Who is that?"

"Oh, a domestic help that I have hired. She is the one who takes care of the cooking and cleaning around here. You can call her Aunty just like I do." Shu Yan had Aunty cleaned up JingJing's room for Shu Li and Niuniu. She thought about having Pingan shared the room with Tianbao but worried that he would be scared on the first night so she had three layers of blankets put on the floor to be his bed. His "bed" was very soft and warm.

Shu Li gasped. She had no idea what Shu Yan did but having her own company, chauffeur, and domestic help made her sound mightier than Shu Jianyang.

It didn't matter what Shu Yan do or how much money she had. It had nothing to do with her. Shu Li wanted to look for a place to stay the very next day. It was awkward not living in one's own house and the kids were reserved too. They needed their own place even if it was a subpar place.

"Don't worry about looking for a place. You can stay at my other house for now and rent your own place in the area after you have opened up your shop. Right now you don't even know where your shop will be located."

That made sense. They would just have to work again if they found a place that was too far away from her shop.

Mainly Shu Yan's other place would be free and they could grow their own vegetables and save some money. Shu Li only had 18,000 yuan on her. Pingan wasn't the healthiest and Niuniu needed to go to school. Any penny saved would help.

School matters was easy to take care of. JingJing and Tianbao didn't attend school here so Niuniu could take their spots. As for Pingan, Shu Yan thought it would be best for him to hold off school for a year and focus on his health. He could return to school after he got better.

From Shu Yan's perspective, there was nothing seriously wrong with Pingan. He was just born weak and also not getting enough nutrients at home.

They took him to a doctor at the No. 4 Hospital and he had confirmed Shu Yan's speculation. He was weak and needed time to get better.

"I have included ginseng in his medicine list. It's a bit on the expensive side and he will need to have it for at least a year. You need to be prepared for that." The doctor paused a little and said, "If that is a problem, I can switch to a different prescription. It will also be effective, but will take a little bit longer."

Shu Li clenched her fist and looked over at Pingan. "No, go ahead. I will go with the more expensive one. As long as he can recover, money is not a problem."

"Mom, we can skip it?" Pingan said quickly when he saw that his mother was unhappy. "Let's go with the cheaper one. I'm used to drinking herbal soup already. It will just take a few years. We don't need to waste money."

Tears welled up in Shu Li's eyes. "Hush. You don't get used to drinking herbal soups. Once you have recovered, you won't need to have it again."

As they had included expensive medicines in the prescription, that would cost around 1,000 yuan a month. 1,000 yuan in 1993 was not a small amount. Shu Li was a bit pale when she paid for it. She thought she could use the money to open up a shop and could bypass asking Shu Yan for a loan if she could help it. The faceslapping sure came quickly.

With Lao Hu's help, they quickly found a decent storefront that was close to the school. It was a spacious place. Two rooms together came out to be almost 90 square meters. It was 2 and a half floors. The attic was for storage and the second floor was where the landlord used to stay. Now that their child had gone to a university that was out of town, the two also decided to rent the place out and move with their child.

"Isn't 600 yuan for rent a bit high?" Shu Li had never done business before and was intimidated immediately by the rent amount. 600 yuan a month. Lu Qingwei only made 400 yuan a month. How much did she need to sell every month to pay for rent? And that didn't even include the cost of utilities. Shu Yan also mentioned hiring a salesperson. Shu Li couldn't even begin to think about her monthly expenses.

"Don't worry. Trust me," said Shu Yan with a smile.