That was money he had saved up from selling discarded mineral water bottles and cardboard boxes, together with a few of his newly met buddies.

He was saving up to buy a pair of pretty high heels for his mother.

At that time, a pair of heels cost thirty yuan, and he had saved up five yuan so far.

These were probably all that he owned, then.

His sister, equally young, naïve, and helpless, could only hug him with tears in her eyes.

As they had left in a hurry, she, too, had to leave behind her priced possessions—books, pencils, and pretty dresses that her mother had bought for her from bargain stalls at a marketplace.

The dresses had looked good on her despite their cheapness, so much so that young Xiao Jie would twirl around her, chanting, ‘Sis is like a fairy! You’re like a fairy!”

She could not bring any of those dresses with her when they escaped in a hurry.

“Mom… why are we running away?” he asked quizzically.

“That’s because… that man came looking for us.”

“Is he a baddie?”

“Yes! He’s a big, bad wolf.”

“Then, what about daddy?” Little Gong Jie broached this subject carefully with his mother. “When will daddy come and find us?”

He was startled to see tears rolling down her face just as he finished posing his questions. Quickly, he used his small hand to wipe away the sparkling droplets from his mother’s eyes, and since then, he dared not bring up the topic which had caused his mother to weep.

After that incident, Mu Qingcheng brought her two young children to settle down in a remote village.

It was a desolate place which was more than a thousand kilometers away from the capital. As it was an underdeveloped rural area, the villagers did not even have telephones. There was only a public telephone booth at a mini provision stall. It cost one cent to make a call each time.

This place was called Ewha Village, with agriculture as its main form of sustenance. Every household had dozens of acres of land, and most of the people in the village were simple and honest. Almost everyone over there was self-sustaining. If it was something they needed, they would ride their rickshaws to a faraway town to buy.

Mu Sheng had been unable to locate them since then.

The village head took pity on Mu Qingcheng—a woman alone with two small mouths to feed, and rented out his backyard to her at a very low rate. It came up to a hundred yuan a month.

The woman was absolutely delighted.

This was because there was a large piece of land behind the backyard, which she could convert into a small garden. This had always been her dream, so she started to plant moonflowers within the fence that she built.

She still had a couple of thousands with her, money that she had earned from moonlighting at nightclubs.

After settling down in Ewha Village, their lives turned peaceful and there were no more troubles.

Mu Qingcheng used to work at the hair salons, so she had picked up hair-cutting skills as well. Eventually, she partitioned the rented house and turned one side into a small hair salon.

Soon, the village women noticed this pretty and modern lady in their midst. Hoping to be more fashionable, they started to patronize her hair salon. In fact, her hair salon was the only interesting thing in the entire village.

All the young and old were her customers. Sometimes, a haircut would get her three yuan; at other times, a bag of rice or a bucket of cooking oil.

She would keep the bartered items for their consumption. When she had an oversupply, she would ride her rickshaw to sell at the town. When business was good, she could earn a few hundred yuan a month.

Gradually, their lives became better.

Of course, this came much later.

When they first settled down at the village, they had nothing.

Her two kids did not even have a change of clothes with them.