Qin Zhonghui had initially been reluctant to leave his parents. However, after his father faked a terminal illness to trick him and nearly caused his younger daughter to get lost, the kind, soft-hearted man had grown completely disheartened.

From now on, he would just have his older brother take money back to them during the holidays. Beyond that, there was nothing more to be said or done.

They had to take care of selling their things at home, not to mention arranging for Xiao Shi’s school transfer. Fortunately, Du Liya said she knew someone who could handle the transfer, which was one less thing for Su Yun and Qin Zhonghui to worry about.

As for choosing a location for their shop and all the logistics that followed, that was all just a plan for now. They would have to revisit it once they were settled in North City.

When Qin Bogang’s family heard that Qin Zhonghui and his family of four were moving to North City, they made a special trip to visit that weekend.

Qin Bogang frowned and said, "Isn’t everything fine here? Why are you moving?"

Qin Zhonghui said, "Xiao Jiao is going to school in North City, and our family doesn’t want to be separated."

Qin Bogang was completely baffled. "Aren’t Xiao Jiao’s test scores out yet? How can you be so sure she’ll get in?"

Qin Zhonghui was displeased. "My Xiao Jiao is brilliant. How could she possibly not get in?"

Qin Bogang looked a little sheepish after being rebuffed by his younger brother. His wife, Sun Li, who was sitting beside him, couldn’t take it anymore. She kicked her husband and said, "It’s a good thing you’ll be settling down in North City. When we visit the city, we can come and see you."

"Of course, that’s no problem at all."

Qin Zhonghui replied, then turned to his older brother. "From now on, for the holidays, I’ll transfer our parents’ money to you. You can help me take it back to them."

Qin Bogang was taken aback. "Zhong Hui, what do you mean by that? You’re not coming back anymore?"

"We’ll see," Qin Zhonghui said evasively. He was utterly heartbroken by his own parents, especially after what they had said when Xiao Shi was still missing: "So what if you lost a daughter? Don’t you still have another one at home?" Those words, more than anything, had been unbearably painful and chilling.

Qin Zhonghui knew his parents looked down on him, and even more so on his two daughters. But those two girls were the apple of his and his wife’s eye.

Thank goodness Xiao Shi had been found. Otherwise, he and his wife would have gone insane.

But Qin Bogang just fell back on his usual "eldest brother" routine. "Zhong Hui, as your big brother, I have to say something here. Dad was wrong to lie to us about being critically ill, but the real problem was our third brother. He was the one who was greedy for your house. I don’t mind you blaming him, but you can’t blame Mom and Dad. They raised us, after all. No matter what, we can’t forget the debt we owe them for that."

’Great. Classic guilt-tripping.’

Qin Jiao was furious when she heard this. ’This uncle of hers is always so high and mighty, but why doesn’t he ever step in to solve these problems himself?’

’Back when Qin Jiqun and his wife were trying to take Qin Zhonghui and Su Yun’s house, wasn’t it just because they were broke?’

’If you’re so good at resolving conflicts, why didn’t you just throw some money at Qin Jiqun and his wife to make them shut up?’

This time, however, it was Qin Xiaolan—who had been chatting with the sisters Qin Jiao and Qin Shi—who spoke up, clearly annoyed.

"Dad, can you just stop talking for a second? You’re being really annoying. Why is it that every time you go back to our hometown, you don’t say a single word to our youngest uncle, but you come here and lecture Second Uncle endlessly?"

Qin Xiaolan took after her mother, Sun Li; she had a fiery and formidable personality. She also couldn’t stand that gaggle of relatives back in their hometown. In fact, she used to dislike the sisters Qin Jiao and Qin Shi as well. But after spending the better part of a year with them, she now looked up to Qin Jiao as "Sister Qin" and treated Qin Shi like her own little sister.

She had told her parents more than once that her second uncle and aunt’s cooking was amazing, while theirs was terrible. She even claimed that if she had grown up eating their food, she’d probably be a few centimeters taller.