A domineering country girl flirts with her son, and Commander Huo can't resist.

Aunt Liu immediately understood, "If you trust me, I'll have my daughter-in-law come and pick them up to take them to my house."

Currently, it seems that the only person Qiao An truly trusts in the entire Lianchi Village is Tian Yongfu.

"Okay, then I'll do as Aunt Liu says." Qiao An nodded.

Aunt Liu called out to her daughter-in-law, Li Dongmei, who was watching the commotion in the crowd.

The two of them went to the side room with Joan.

Joanne explained to the three children that she had an urgent matter to attend to at the machine tool factory and didn't know when she would be back.

They were told to go to Tian Yongfu's house with Aunt Liu's daughter-in-law and spend the night there.

"Second Aunt, don't worry, I'll take care of my younger brother and sister."

Huo Fang got up from the kang (a heated brick bed).

"This child, even though he's so badly injured, is still thinking about his younger siblings. He's such a good child."

Li Dongmei witnessed Shen Xiufang beating Huo Fang that day, and Huo Fang was almost dead.

She had only been with Qiao An for two days, and she was already almost fully recovered.

It must be said, Joan is truly kind-hearted.

After settling the children in, Qiao An and Aunt Liu got into the jeep together.

They disappeared at the end of the road amidst the envious gazes of the crowd.

Standing in the crowd were the five members of the Mu family.

They were sent to labor camps for reform through labor. The other villagers had finished work and gone home early, and they had all finished eating by now.

The five of them, however, had just returned from the fields, carrying iron hoes and spades.

Before I even reached the cowshed, I saw a group of people gathered in front of Qiao An's house, so I came up to take a look.

I never expected to see her get into a small jeep.

"I just heard those people say that the people who came to pick up Qiao An were from the town's gear factory, and it seems they wanted her to fix something." Fang Hui skillfully set up a pot to cook porridge.

There was only a pitiful half-full handful of brown rice and a few cabbage leaves in the water.

"Qiao An has never been to school, she's illiterate and a good-for-nothing. What could she possibly know?" Mu Zhiyuan said disdainfully, leaning against a haystack.

"That's right, my older brother is a top mechanical engineering student who studied in D country."

Mu Zhifeng's words reminded Fang Hui.

"Linjiang, what do you think? If we let Zhiyuan try his luck at the machine tool factory, would he have any hope of getting in...?"

Mu Linjiang's eyes flickered, as if he was also considering the feasibility of this matter.

Finally, his gaze fell on Mu Yu.

Because of Mu Yu's momentary negligence, Hao Renming has been ignoring her recently.

Mu Yu went to the commune several times, but found it empty.

Without Hao Renming's help, the Mu family's meals have plummeted.

The family of five could only share a bowl of plain brown rice porridge with no oil in the evening.

Even though they know that two years will pass.

But that's been two years.

A full 730 days!

"Mu Yu, is Hao Renming still refusing to see you lately?" Mu Linjiang asked in a deep voice.

Mu Yu sat in the corner, her eyes vacant, seemingly looking away.

"I'm asking you a question!"

Mu Linjiang suddenly raised his voice, and Mu Yu's body shuddered.

"I...I..."

"Take the initiative, stop acting like a spoiled young lady. We're not in Shenzhou anymore." Fang Hui seemed to be reasoning with her, but she didn't really care about Mu Yu's thoughts at all.

At this moment, Mu Yu couldn't quite describe the feeling in her heart.

Initially, she got together with Hao Renming to improve her life.

Her family felt somewhat guilty towards her, and Fang Hui even cried because of this.

But as time went on, everyone got used to Mu Yu selling her body.

She might even get angry with Hao Renming for not winning his favor.

Mu Yu felt as if she had fallen into a huge vortex.

Her life seemed to have gone astray, a feeling she couldn't quite put her finger on.

It was as if an invisible hand had altered the trajectory of her life.

Fang Hui leaned closer and took a small glass bottle out of her pocket.

"While I was working recently, I discovered a stone-smelling herb (fabricated) at the foot of the mountain. This herb, when crushed and applied to the body, has a scent that can seduce men..."

"I don't need to teach you the rest, right?"

Fang Hui's family used to be a well-known herbal medicine merchant in Shenzhou, and she had been exposed to it since childhood, so she knew a little about it.

I never expected it to be used in matters between men and women.

Mu Yu took the small glass bottle, expressionless, and said, "I understand."

"I'll go tomorrow; we're starving at home."

Fang Hui's tone was filled with resentment and accusation.

"Remember, after it's done, mention your older brother to Hao Renming. He can't be a permanent employee because of his status, but even if he works as a temporary worker in the machine tool factory, our family's life will be a little better."

"Do you understand?"

"Mmm." Mu Yu lowered her head, her voice muffled.

In Fang Hui's eyes, as long as Mu Zhiyuan entered the machine tool factory, he would definitely gain the favor of the leaders.

He's a highly educated student who returned from studying abroad. Even if his family background isn't good, as long as he has real talent, people will still respect him.

If Mu Zhiyuan can gain a foothold in the machine tool factory, and with Hao Renming's connection, they might be able to leave Lianchi Village.

She didn't want to live that kind of life of digging ditches every day, suffering from hunger and cold, for even a single day longer.

The moonlight was sparse, and the small jeep bumped along for a long time before finally driving into the gate of the machine tool factory.

Although Aunt Liu often comes to town, this was the first time she entered the machine tool factory, and she came in by car.

She leaned against the window, looking at the rows of tall factory buildings and the workers in gray-blue uniforms walking under the streetlights.

I've really learned a lot.

The jeep soon came to a stop in front of a workshop.

Zhao Zhengang personally opened the car door for Qiao An.

"Come with me quickly."

Qiao An and Aunt Liu followed Zhao Zhengang into the workshop.

Although it was already past 8 p.m., the workshop was still incredibly noisy, with a group of people gathered around a machine, talking all at once.

"Make way, everyone!" Zhao Zhengang shouted.

"Chief Engineer Zhao, it's Chief Engineer Zhao who's back."

"Chief Engineer Zhao, you were in such a hurry to leave just now, were you going to fetch an expert?"

"Where are the experts? Have they arrived yet?"

"If the equipment can't be repaired, our progress will be delayed."

Judging from their age, they should be senior technicians in a machine tool factory.

Aunt Liu was a little scared.

Chief Engineer Zhao hired Qiao An. What if Qiao An can't fix it?

"Make way for me." Zhao Zhengang cleared a path for Qiao Anqing.

"This is the machine. It was originally imported from Country D. Experts from Country D only come to maintain it once a year. We treat it like a treasure and never dare to operate it beyond its capacity."

When everyone saw that Zhao Zhengang had hurriedly invited a young girl, they immediately had objections.

Sun Xiwang has worked in the machine tool factory for thirty years. With his unique skill of scraping (manually correcting flat surfaces to a precision of 0.001mm), he became the factory's first level eight worker.

Everyone respectfully calls him Old Master Sun.

"Chief Engineer Zhao, are you crazy? Is this the expert you invited?" Sun Xiwang pointed at Qiao An and sneered.

"Mr. Sun, don't underestimate Comrade Qiao just because she's young. She's a talent in mechanical engineering. She's on our grinding machine design drawings..."

"I've never heard of a woman who knows mechanical engineering, not even in our machine tool factory, let alone in the provincial capital."

Sun Xiwang looked at Qiao An with a disdainful expression.

They were practically saying "ignorant country bumpkin" out loud.