When the eight o'clock bells of Blue City Park rang, the fireworks lit up the night sky right on schedule.
No one could resist such a spectacular display.
Especially for children who had never seen fireworks before.
During Chinese New Year, they had only seen red firecrackers, never such beautiful fireworks.
For others, the most precious thing at this moment wasn't the brilliant display in the sky, but the spontaneous smiles that appeared on those innocent young faces.
Security guards kept watch from a moderate distance.
This group of people were used to being young masters and misses, and weren't good at taking care of others. Compared to everyone else's lack of awareness, Sister-in-law Xiao had truly worn herself out that evening.
They say children from poor families mature early, and these children were incredibly well-behaved, not the kind of troublesome kids that people dislike. They didn't run around everywhere or cry for toys.
Each little one in their red coat was like a little angel.
They hardly needed special attention, except for one confused little boy who required extra care.
The rest of the children were both obedient and sensible.
Despite there being more than a dozen children, they weren't difficult to look after.
By the time they had safely returned all the children to the hotel, it was already eleven o'clock.
For Shi Ruan, this was when nightlife usually began, so it wasn't particularly late.
However, for the little ones, if they had been at home, they would have been asleep long ago, enough time to have had two sweet dreams about eating big chicken legs.
On the ride back to the hotel, all the children had fallen asleep.
For someone like Shi Li who maintained a regular schedule, eleven o'clock wasn't early either - it was time to get ready for bed.
Shi Li rarely stayed up late, believing that only adequate sleep could maintain good spirits and allow for a more energetic state of mind the next day for life and studies.
Moreover, early to bed and early to rise was good for health - work and study were secondary; good health was what truly mattered.
When it was time to go home, Ji Chunsheng wanted to first drop off both ladies at the Shi residence before heading home himself.
Zuo Hengyi thoughtlessly said, "That's not necessary! My brother is heading that way anyway, he can just take Shi Ruan and Shi Li home."
Zuo Hengyi thought herself quite clever, believing her careful planning could save the country so much energy.
Ji Chunsheng smiled politely, "That might not be convenient, doesn't your brother need to take Miss Lu home?"
Zuo Hengyi scratched her head, indeed that was an issue - she had forgotten about his future sister-in-law.
Shi Ruan casually said, "How about this: Lanshan can stay at our place."
When they were young, the children from both families often visited each other.
Lu Lanshan also thought this suggestion was fine, saying, "Sure, sure! It's been a long time since I stayed at your place."
Ji Chunsheng watched his girlfriend leave with some dejection.
The second young master Fu, with his casual nature, hadn't noticed Ji Chunsheng's discomfort; only Fu Huixing gave him a couple of extra glances.
But even he only looked at Ji Chunsheng briefly before the second young master Fu's sports car zoomed away.
The Shi residence felt somewhat unfamiliar to Lu Lanshan now, but the people were still the same, even the servants' faces hadn't changed.
Except when facing Youngest Uncle Shi, Lu Lanshan felt a bit uncomfortable. After all, he had once been her aunt's husband. With other elders, she maintained the same attitude as before.
Lu Lanshan stayed in the same guest room she used to use, and to show their close relationship, Eldest Aunt Shi personally supervised the room preparation.
Lu Lanshan called her parents to inform them she wouldn't be returning home and would stay at the Shi residence.
Because of the incident between Lu Lanshan's aunt and Youngest Uncle Shi, the two families had fallen out. Now that Youngest Uncle Shi and Hong Yan were divorced, relations between the families had improved, though they remained neither good nor bad.
The Lu family had been angry with the Shi family because of Youngest Uncle Shi, but they trusted the Shi family members themselves, as their character was beyond reproach.
Even Youngest Uncle Shi, despite his intellectual shortcomings, was only lacking in intelligence, not integrity.
Lu Lanshan only stayed at the Shi residence for one night, and after lunch the next day, the Lu family sent a driver to pick her up.
During her stay, Shi Li took the opportunity to influence Lu Lanshan's thinking, indirectly suggesting that the eldest Zuo brother wasn't a good match and that she should carefully consider their relationship.
When others said such things, Lu Lanshan would dismiss them, but when Shi Li spoke, she took it seriously.
After all, her previous fiancé had been a scoundrel, which Shi Li had also hinted at before.
Could this one be the same?
Shi Li probably didn't realize how much weight her words carried with Lu Lanshan.
Even Shi Ruan, her own cousin, had been advised countless times to break up, yet her relationship with Ji Chunsheng only grew stronger.
During the New Year period, Shi Ruan was quite busy, going out with the children and helping to take care of them.
Ten days later, after safely delivering all the children back to their parents, their group returned by private jet.
When the plane landed safely, Xiao Feiyu could finally breathe a sigh of relief - her brother's life was probably saved.
Although there had been some deviations from the plan, and her sister-in-law still hadn't conceived a child, none of that mattered now.
When Shi Li was busy, it was hard to think about her previous life.
During quiet moments, listening to Shi Ruan talk about the interesting things that happened while taking the children on their educational tour,
Shi Li suddenly remembered that it hadn't been like this in her previous life. In that life, Elder Brother Xiao had led a team to teach in a mountain area and died in an accident.
This life had changed.
But this wasn't a bad change.
If Elder Brother Xiao hadn't met with an accident, Shi Ruan's romance wouldn't have encountered any ripples.
As a sister, she naturally hoped for her sister to live well and happily.
From this day forward, Shi Li stopped trying to convince Shi Ruan to break up with Ji Chunsheng, choosing instead to wait and see how things would develop.
After sending the children home, Shi Ruan's holiday was coming to an end. While the students' winter break still had some time left, teachers needed to return to school early for meetings.
Before returning to school, Shi Ruan had many preparations to make.
During these remaining days, Shi Ruan was busy with various preparations, so busy that she didn't even notice Shi Li's change in attitude.
The family of three would stay in the old mansion villa until the Lantern Festival, after which they would return to their own home.
After the Lantern Festival, Huang Jie would return to her maiden home, and Shi Li would accompany her to stay at her maternal grandparents' house for a while.
Xiao Feiyu had thought that as long as they avoided that small teaching location, her brother would be safe. Who could have imagined that just going out to see the lanterns during the Lantern Festival would result in encountering a disturbed person seeking revenge on society by driving into crowds on the street.
When Xiao Feiyu and her parents rushed to the hospital after receiving the call, her sister-in-law's clothes were covered in blood.
Though she looked disheveled, she wasn't injured.
Shi Li learned about the incident from her class group chat, which warned everyone not to go out that day, and only then did she realize such a thing had happened in Blue City.
This incident felt unfamiliar to Shi Li; searching through all her memories, she couldn't recall this happening in her previous life.
What shocked Shi Li even more was that Elder Brother Xiao had become one of the victims of this malicious incident.
