He was a disabled military officer who doted on his research work in the Northwest.

Mu Chengyuan silently memorized these two faces.

Just then, the door to Unit 2 of Building 3 opened again. A middle-aged man wearing a Zhongshan suit and with his hair neatly combed walked out, carrying a briefcase, looking like he was in a hurry to go to work.

"Yaoyao!" The middle-aged man's face immediately lit up with a smile when he saw Shen Yao, his tone filled with undisguised doting affection. "Be good when you go to the Zhao family today. Answer your uncle's questions properly. Oh, by the way, the factory gave out two jin of brown sugar coupons this month. I asked your mother to save them for you. Remember to pick them up when you come back."

"Thank you, Dad!" Shen Yao smiled sweetly, took Zhao Jianhui's arm, and skipped away.

Shen Guoping watched his adopted daughter's retreating figure, his face filled with the satisfaction of a loving father. He then straightened his briefcase and strode towards the factory area with an air of smug satisfaction, as if he were a newly appointed official.

Mu Chengyuan stood under the old elm tree by the roadside and saw the whole scene clearly.

His signature gentle smile still lingered on his lips, but the warmth in his eyes had turned cold.

Brown sugar coupons, apples, and a floral dress—for my adopted daughter.

A letter severing ties, a three-hundred-dollar paycheck, and being kicked out of the house—all for his own daughter.

The biological daughter was abducted and sold for fifteen years, suffering countless hardships before being rescued. However, she didn't even stay at home for a full week before being abandoned like a discarded child. Meanwhile, the adopted daughter, who took the place of the biological daughter, was treated like a precious gem and pampered in every way, and was even used to curry favor with the factory director's family.

The position of deputy factory director.

The timing of promotion.

Mu Chengyuan slowly withdrew his gaze. It seemed that the Shen family was unaware of the Mu family's true background.

The two families were engaged years ago because the old man had been saved by the old man of the Shen family on the battlefield. However, the two families had not had much contact over the years. Before he passed away, the old man repeatedly instructed, "The Mu family owes the Shen family a life. When the children grow up, they should become in-laws and repay this debt of gratitude properly."

The act of repaying a debt of gratitude refers to repaying the life-saving grace of Old Master Shen.

Instead of raising the adopted daughter as their own, they encroached on everything that should have belonged to their biological daughter. When they learned that Mu Qinghan had an accident, they disliked her and refused to marry her, and then turned around and pushed their newly found flesh and blood to take the blame for the Shen family.

Giving them the Mu family's way of repaying their kindness would be a waste.

"Brother Chengyuan?" Su Mingyue's voice pulled him out of his thoughts.

Mu Chengyuan snapped out of his reverie and smiled, "Let's go, let's wander around some more."

The two strolled around the residential area again. Mu Chengyuan subtly chatted with a few elderly women cooling off downstairs, learning more about the Shen family—

When Shen Tang was rescued, the entire residential area knew about it. Some people went to the Shen family to see the child and said she was thin and dark-skinned, with calluses all over her hands from hard labor, as if she had been dug out of the ground. But what did Shen Guoping and Li Juan do? Not only did they not take good care of her, they also thought she was uncouth and shameful, and that it would be embarrassing to take her out.

Shen Yao's reputation in the residential area was also quite complex. On the surface, everyone praised her for being well-behaved and sensible, but privately many felt she was cunning, a hypocrite, and capable of subtly manipulating people. One elderly woman even bluntly stated, "That girl always has a smile on her face, but behind the scenes, she has the whole family under her thumb. Old Shen and his wife are completely under her control; she can even push her own daughter away."

Mu Chengyuan absorbed all this information into his mind, his smile remaining unchanged.

Su Mingyue followed beside him, but didn't say much.

It wasn't until the two of them left the residential area and sat down to have lunch at a small noodle shop by the roadside that Su Mingyue finally spoke up, her voice muffled.

"Brother Chengyuan, is Shen Tang... in a really bad situation?"

Mu Chengyuan picked up his chopsticks but did not answer immediately.

"She was abducted for fifteen years, and finally got home, only to have her family sell her to curry favor with the factory manager." Su Mingyue stirred her noodles, her voice growing softer. "She even signed that severance agreement... How old was she? About my age, right?"

Mu Chengyuan took a sip of soup: "Eighteen."

Su Mingyue remained silent for a long while.

She recalled how Shen Tang walked past her in the hospital corridor yesterday, carrying a lunchbox—his back was ramrod straight, his eyes were calm, and there was even a faint smile on his lips.

It's not a feigned composure. It's the resilience that comes from being repeatedly battered and bruised by life, yet never bending one's back.

"Brother Chengyuan." Su Mingyue put down her chopsticks, looked up at him, her stubbornness and cheerfulness still there, but with a new seriousness she hadn't shown before. "I've always wondered—Brother Qinghan was so badly injured, and the Shen family was clearly trying to frame her, why was she still willing to stay and take care of him?"

Mu Chengyuan looked at her but didn't reply.

"Now I think I understand a little," Su Mingyue said softly. "She has no home anymore. Qinghan's courtyard is probably the only place in this world where she can stay."

Mu Chengyuan put down his chopsticks and wiped his mouth with a napkin.

"Mingyue, what kind of person do you think Shen Tang is?"

Su Mingyue thought for a moment and said honestly, "She's a little better than I expected, and... she seems different from her family."

Mu Chengyuan nodded: "Mingyue, you're right. The Shen family is the Shen family, and Shen Tang is Shen Tang."

On the way back, the jeep bumped along the Gobi Desert highway. Su Mingyue leaned against the window, looking at the endless desert outside, her heart filled with complex emotions she couldn't quite describe.

Before coming to the Northwest, she harbored a burning desire—she wanted to see for herself whether there were other women around Mu Qinghan. If so, she wanted to see if that woman was worthy of him. If she wasn't, Su Mingyue would risk everything to drive her away.

But now...

She recalled the expression on Mu Qinghan's face when he asked Shen Tang to serve soup to his older brother and herself in the hospital room yesterday.

He didn't call her Xiao Li or the nurse, but Shen Tang, as if it were a natural part of his life.

And yesterday evening, she deliberately slipped away to Mu Qinghan's yard, wanting to see him one last time. Through the yard wall, she saw Mu Qinghan's wheelchair parked next to the flower bed, and Shen Tang squatting on the ground pulling weeds.

Mu Qinghan was looking at Shen Tang.

His gaze rested quietly on her, as if he were looking at a lamp.

Su Mingyue had known Mu Qinghan since childhood. She had seen him coldly reject the political commissar's daughter's confession, and she had seen him act like an iceberg, impervious to all women.

But she had never seen Mu Qinghan look at anyone with that kind of gaze.

"Brother Chengyuan," Su Mingyue suddenly spoke, her voice muffled, as if she had made a great decision.