The beloved but ungrateful girl is reborn: This time she has truly changed.

On Sunday morning, Kyoto was shrouded in a thin layer of morning mist.

The railway staff quarters have become lively.

In front of the public water room, people lined up to get water, the basins clattering together; over at the coal shed, someone was chopping firewood, the axe falling and wood chips flying; the aroma of porridge wafted from the stairwell, mixed with the salty fragrance of pickled vegetables.

Tang Aijun arrived around 7:00.

He made a point of dressing himself neatly—he ironed his half-new navy blue Zhongshan suit with the bottom of a kettle, combed his hair neatly, and even applied some hair wax.

But he didn't even wash his two sons' faces before pulling them out the door, one in each hand.

Tang Yaozong and Tang Yaozu were still wearing the same dirty cotton-padded jackets they wore yesterday, their little faces streaked with black and white, and their hair a mess like a chicken coop.

They slept late and got up early, and Tang Aijun had dragged them out of bed. Now they were rubbing their eyes and walking unsteadily.

As soon as they arrived at the family building, they attracted a lot of attention.

"Hey, isn't this the Tang family's kid?"

An older woman carrying a shopping basket stopped and looked him up and down. "How did you manage to get the child like this?"

"Yes, how did these two kids get so dirty?"

Another middle-aged woman who was hanging clothes to dry also looked over, her eyes filled with disgust.

Tang Aijun's heart tightened, but he forced a smile and said, "The child was naughty and rolled around on the ground. We haven't had time to wash him yet."

He didn't say anything more, and quickly led the two children toward Building 2.

The further you go in, the more people there are.

On Sundays, when people don't work, the residential buildings are especially lively.

Some people were eating breakfast at the door with their bowls in their hands, some were chatting together, and others were holding their tickets and preparing to queue up at the grocery store.

When they saw Tang Aijun leading two dirty children over, everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to look at them.

That look was strange.

Not curiosity, not sympathy, but... contempt? Mockery? Schadenfreude?

Tang Aijun felt extremely uncomfortable being stared at, but he had already gone downstairs, and the die was cast.

He took a deep breath and stopped.

Then, she raised her foot and kicked each of her two sons in the buttocks.

The force wasn't strong, but it hurt enough.

"Wow--!"

Tang Yaozong and Tang Yaozu both burst into tears.

The sound was shrill and particularly jarring in the early morning air of the residential compound.

Everyone looked over.

Tang Aijun straightened his back, raised his head, and shouted loudly towards the window of room 201:

"Weiwei! Qi Weiwei! Are you there? How can you be so heartless? Don't you want your son anymore?"

His voice was very loud, almost like a shout.

The entire residential compound fell silent.

There were only the cries of two children and the distant sound of a train whistle.

Tang Aijun continued speaking, his voice carrying a deliberately feigned pain and forgiveness:

"Weiwei, I know you were just confused for a moment!"

You lied to me and stole money from home, but I don't blame you!

I'm willing to forgive you!

I, Tang Aijun, am a magnanimous person!

For my son's sake, for the sake of this family, I can forgive you!

"As long as you promise not to do anything foolish again, we'll still be family..."

He spoke with great emotion, but out of the corner of his eye he was observing the people around him.

Those people's expressions became even stranger.

Some people pursed their lips, some shook their heads, and some simply crossed their arms, as if watching a show.

Tang Aijun was apprehensive, but the show had already begun and couldn't be stopped.

Just then, he saw an acquaintance—Aunt Zhang, Chen Hongxia's neighbor and a good friend of many years.

Aunt Zhang, in her fifties, slightly plump, with fashionable permed hair and wearing a dark red cotton-padded jacket, was standing at her door, coldly watching him.

Tang Aijun was secretly delighted.

Aunt Zhang and Chen Hongxia have a good relationship. Aunt Zhang is a kind person, so she might be able to put in a good word for him later.

He hurriedly pulled his two still-crying sons over, forcing a smile on his face: "Aunt Zhang, you're here. Weiwei has caused you a lot of trouble these past few days, hasn't she? She's so old and still so immature. I apologize on her behalf..."

Before she could finish speaking, Aunt Zhang flung away his outstretched hand.

The force was so great that Tang Aijun staggered and almost fell.

"Weiwei didn't come back at all!" Aunt Zhang's voice was shrill, her eyes like knives scraping his face. "What kind of act are you putting on? Huh? Who are you trying to fool?"

Tang Aijun was stunned: "What? She didn't come back? Where did she go?"

"I don't know!" Aunt Zhang rolled her eyes. "No one's home there, not for days! Your father had her parents arrested and detained at the land acquisition committee for days. Don't tell me you didn't know about these things?!"

Tang Aijun genuinely didn't know.

He opened his mouth, wanting to say "impossible," but looking at Aunt Zhang's angry face, the words stuck in his throat and he couldn't say them.

Actually, this is all Tang Qu's fault, his errand boy.

—Previously, Tang Qu sent someone to the courtyard to find Tang Aijun, to let him know that Qi Weiwei had returned and that Qi Weiwei had negotiated with Tang Qu.

But the underling couldn't find the person at all, and dared not tell the truth, so he lied and said that he had delivered the message.

Therefore, Tang Aijun remained completely unaware of the situation.

He still thought Qi Weiwei had just run away with the money and was hiding at her parents' house.

But now Aunt Zhang says that Qi Weiwei didn't come back at all, and her parents were even arrested and detained by her father for a few days.

"Huh?! How could this be?" Tang Aijun's face turned pale. "I...I don't know..."

"You don't know?" Aunt Zhang sneered. "You think you don't know what your father did? Tang Aijun, what are you pretending to be innocent for? Everyone knows your Tang family, father and son are cut from the same cloth! Look at your two... two... tsk tsk!"

People around them burst out laughing.

It was the kind of undisguised, mocking laughter.

Tang Aijun's face burned.

He steadied himself and tried to salvage the situation:

"Aunt Zhang, you've misunderstood."

Without a mother to take care of the child, and being a mischievous boy, the child naturally turned into a mud monkey in just a few days.

Sigh, I never knew Weiwei could be so cruel!

These are her two sons, whom she carried for ten months and gave birth to!

His voice was choked with sobs, as if he were truly heartbroken.

But Aunt Zhang didn't buy it at all.

She took a step forward, pointed at Tang Aijun's nose, and raised her voice:

"Pah! These two...the little ones...their own mother, wasn't she already sentenced to 11 years? You brought them to Weiwei's side, are you trying to disgust her to death?"

These words struck Tang Aijun like a heavy hammer blow.

He froze, rooted to the spot, like a stone statue.

My mind went blank with a "buzz".

Aunt Zhang... how did she know that the two sons were Tang Tiantian's?

Moreover, judging from the unsurprised expressions and disdainful looks of the people around them, it seemed... they all knew?

Tang Aijun's face went from white to red, then from red to purple, and finally turned bluish-gray.

He opened his mouth, his voice dry: "Aunt Zhang, what...what did you say?"