"Oh, this is the sweater my mom knitted for you, along with a scarf and gloves. Come and try it on." As she spoke, she took the items out, gave them a shake, and prepared to have Shen Yi try them on.

Qin Jiao’s tone was natural, and she didn’t seem to think anything was amiss.

Shen Yi, however, was lost in a daze for a moment.

He remembered that year, not long after they’d gotten married. Qin Jiao had actually been trying her best to build a good life with him, so she had specifically gone and learned how to knit.

Her fingers had been pricked raw by the needles by the time she finally finished. And the finished sweater... well, its appearance was nothing to brag about.

But even if it had been a gorgeous sweater, Shen Yi wouldn’t have liked it.

Back then, when the sweater was done, Qin Jiao had excitedly brought it out for him to try. Shen Yi had just sneered and said, "This is awful. Whoever wants to wear it can go right ahead!"

The light in Qin Jiao’s eyes had dimmed, little by little.

Shen Yi desperately wanted to curse his past self. He bit his lip, forcing himself not to say the words "I’m sorry," and meekly allowed Qin Jiao to drape the sweater over his shoulders.

Then, for some reason, Qin Jiao also recalled that scene from her past life. Her hands paused for a moment before she shoved the sweater into Shen Yi’s grasp. "You... you try it on yourself."

She even took half a step back, her gaze slightly evasive.

Shen Yi frowned as he looked at her, but Qin Jiao immediately turned to speak with Grandpa Du. He didn’t say anything else, just silently took off his jacket and pulled the sweater on.

The sweater was exceptionally warm and fit him perfectly. The stitches were tight and even. But for some reason, Shen Yi found himself desperately missing the ugly little sweater that Qin Jiao had personally knitted for him back then.

Qin Jiao thought about her ridiculous past-life self. ’To think I actually knitted a sweater for Shen Yi, only to have him utterly despise it. I was such a fool.’

She didn’t want to stay there a moment longer, so she spoke up. "Grandpa Du, I need to get back to my books, so I’ll be going now."

Shen Yi was only halfway through pulling on the sweater and had been about to say something. He struggled with it for a moment, and by the time his head emerged, he could only see Qin Jiao’s retreating figure.

Shen Yi let out a soft sigh.

’Why does it always feel like she’s deliberately avoiding me?’

When Qin Jiao got home, she had just breathed a sigh of relief when Su Yun asked her, "Did the sweater fit Xiao Yi alright?"

How would Qin Jiao know if it fit? She just blurted out, "It fit perfectly! You’re amazing, Mom. By the way, if there’s nothing else, I’m going upstairs to study."

"That’s all, but don’t wear yourself out. As for your studies, I know you’re very diligent and working hard, and that’s enough for me."

Su Yun had once hoped her daughter would get into a good university. It would have made her proud, and it would have led to a good job and a better salary in the future.

But after everything that had happened in the past year, she had come to understand that while money was important, the prerequisite was for the family to be together, happy and whole.

Before, she and her husband had worked themselves to the bone as migrant workers. They thought that once they had money, they’d live a good life. But in the end, their child was left to suffer back in their hometown, and her in-laws were hopelessly biased.

’In the end, what was the point of working so hard?’

This was much better. The family was working hard together, and they were able to be together. Faced with that, Su Yun wasn’t afraid of any difficulty, no matter how great.

Qin Jiao went upstairs, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. It made her think of parents in later generations who were always chasing their children to study, spending money on all sorts of cram schools. Even elementary schoolers were as busy as spinning tops, with no time to play. It was an incredibly hard life.