Reborn at Four and a Half: I Emptied the House and Ran Away From Home - Chapter 1

I was reborn. Four and a half years old, I was reborn three days before my death.

My mother was an educated youth who went to the countryside. After the college entrance examination was reinstated, she was admitted to a university in the capital. It’s said that on the day she received her admission letter, my father got into a fight with someone, causing them a permanent disability, and he was arrested and sent to jail.

In my previous life, Mom left while I was asleep.

I cried, searching everywhere for her, got caught in the rain, and came back with a high fever. Later, Dad returned home. I floated by Dad’s side and watched him bury me on the slope.

He guarded my small grave, his hair turning white overnight.

I woke up with a start from my dream, feeling the soft cotton quilt, a bit disoriented.

Outside, a familiar voice drifted in.

It was my grandma, who would later wrap me up and throw me into the back mountain after I died, and my mother, whom I couldn’t find no matter how hard I searched in the rain.

Mom’s voice was tearful.

“This money was given to me by Big Brother before for household expenses. Please don’t decline it. Just consider it as Big Brother fulfilling his filial duty to you, his elder!”

Grandma sighed, “If you want to leave, then leave. It’s that old [expletive] who let you down. Your elder sister-in-law made you some pancakes in the kitchen. You should take some dry food for the road.”

“Thank you for not blaming me. I… once I find my footing, I’ll come back to pick up Xixi.”

I pricked up my ears, somewhat understanding but not entirely.

My father’s name is Lin Chunlai, the eldest son of the Lin family.

The Lin family was the most ordinary family in the village. They valued the eldest son, doted on the youngest, and my father and third uncle, who were in the middle, were often overlooked.

During a three-year famine, my father and third uncle, unable to survive at home, went out begging for food.

Third Uncle was taken in by a kind person and became an adopted son. He was later sent to the army and proved himself capable, now having become a company commander.

My father had been a wanderer since childhood, doing many rough things to survive.

He knew many people from all walks of life. The thugs and ruffians in the surrounding villages feared him, and the Lin family also worried he would bring them trouble. However, the villagers quite liked him; with him around, petty theft decreased significantly.

My mother was an educated youth from the capital. When she accidentally fell into the water, my passing father rescued her. This led to their reluctant marriage and the birth of me, this child.

After the college entrance examination was reinstated, my mother was admitted to a university in the capital. It’s said that on the day she received her admission letter, my father got into a fight with someone, causing them a permanent disability, and he was arrested and sent to jail.

My mother used this opportunity to get a divorce certificate and returned to the city. It’s said that a childhood sweetheart was still waiting for her there.

I woke up from a nap and my mother was gone. I cried, searching everywhere for her, got caught in the rain, and came back with a high fever. When I regained consciousness, I, at four and a half years old, had become a ghost unable to touch anything.

My body was wrapped in a straw mat by Grandma and them and thrown into the back mountain. A young boy living at the foot of the mountain picked me up and took me home.

I floated around at the young boy’s house for several days until my father came home and put me in a coffin, burying me in a small grave.

Dad stayed by my small grave, his hair turning white overnight.

He guarded me day and night, worrying that I was afraid of the dark, that I was bored, that I was hungry, thirsty, or tired.

He told me stories and life lessons. He brought me delicious food and fun toys, but he often forgot to eat and drink himself, growing thinner day by day, blaming himself for not being a good father.

I floated in front of my small grave, throwing myself into Dad’s arms again and again, passing right through him each time.

I wanted to tell him to eat well and sleep well.

I wanted to tell him that his Xixi loved him the most, and he wasn’t the bad father he claimed to be.

But now, I seemed to have returned to the time before I died. Mom was leaving again, and I wouldn’t be able to find her later.

The moment I realized I could touch things, my first thought was to find Dad. However, after hearing Mom and Grandma’s conversation, I understood when this was and confirmed that Dad wasn’t home, so I lay back down.

Grandma would discard my stiff body, and Mom was leaving home. I was a little scared.

Mom chatted with Grandma for a few minutes, then returned to the room to continue packing her luggage.

She found Dad’s secret money box, sorted the money and tickets, and divided them into three portions: one for herself, one for her shoulder bag, and one for her suitcase.

Then she painstakingly moved the large wardrobe in the room, pried open a few blue bricks, and dug out a tin biscuit box from underneath.

My eyes widened in surprise.

Dad had raised himself since he was young, and he always knew how to plan for himself.

More than a decade ago, many remarkable people were sent down to the village. He secretly paid them tuition with grain and meat, learning many skills from them.

Repairing cars, tractors, watches, radios, and even some economic and philosophical theories that I didn’t understand.

It wasn’t a secret that he privately repaired things for people, and all the money he saved was there, so it wasn’t strange that Mom knew. But this biscuit box, Dad had secretly hidden it there with my own hands. How did Mom know about it too?

Inside the box were a small golden lock, small golden bracelets, and a few shiny golden fish that Dad had saved for me.

Dad said he had secretly exchanged them with a rich person using the grain he grew in the mountains and the ginseng he dug up, and that they were for my dowry later.

Because of their questionable origin, he hadn’t told Mom.

I didn’t know what a dowry was, but it was given to me by Dad!

I watched as Mom took my dowry box and put it into her suitcase, then tidied up the bundle again.

Dad had told me in front of my small grave that he and Mom were divorced. After divorce, Dad was Dad, Mom was Mom, and Dad and Mom were no longer a family.

Then it wasn’t quite right for Mom to take things from another family, was it?

The kitchen was one of the rooms in the east wing. Big Aunt’s voice drifted over, calling Mom to get the freshly made pancakes.

Mom left the room again, closing the door behind her.

I quietly crawled off the kang (heated brick bed) and headed straight for the suitcases and bundles Mom had packed on the floor.

There were quite a few things in the bundles and suitcases.

My dowry, Dad’s money, the dried meat and sweet potato jerky Dad bought for me, and the radio and watch in the suitcase.

Although Mom was wearing the watch and listening to the radio, Dad had bought them.

I skipped over the sponge cakes and walnut crisps that Mom had bought herself in the suitcase and bundles, took out the dried meat and sweet potato jerky Dad had prepared for me and put them back into the cupboard, then, clutching the money and tickets Mom had put in there that belonged to Dad, carrying my dowry box, watch, and radio, I crawled back onto the kang and hid under the quilt.

It’s better not to trouble Mom!

If she took them for safekeeping, and Dad and I couldn’t find her later, how would we get them back!

Now, I had already accepted the fact that Dad and Mom were going to separate, and that I would only have Dad in the future. I just didn’t know if I would still be alive to wait for Dad!

Mom came back into the room carrying a cloth bag, smelling of the wheat from the pancakes.

She saw that I was awake, paused, put down the bag, sat by the kang, stroked my hair, and her voice choked.

“Xixi, wait for Mom a little longer. Mom will come back for you once she finds her footing. Don’t blame Mom. Mom will definitely come back for you…”

Her words seemed to be for me, but also for herself.

I didn’t understand.

When I was a ghost, Dad told me that Mom, after leaving, formed a new family with her childhood sweetheart and had new children. It was good that I was there to keep Dad company.

But Mom was now saying she wanted to come back for me…

But I was still young, and it didn’t matter if I didn’t understand. I could ask Dad about this later.

Seeing how reluctant Mom was to leave me, I couldn’t help but ask cautiously, “Can Mom wait for Dad to come back before she leaves?”

If Mom didn’t leave, I wouldn’t need to go out in the rain to find her. If I didn’t get caught in the rain, I wouldn’t get a fever. Even if I did get a fever, Mom would take care of me, and I wouldn’t become stiff and be buried in a small grave again.

Dad wouldn’t be so sad either.

Mom seemed surprised by what I said. She opened her mouth, then her face became stern.

“Xixi, don’t make trouble! It’s a good thing for Mom to go to university. Xixi needs to be a good girl and listen to Grandma at home.”

No, no!

I shook my head anxiously.

“I’ll have a fever tonight, so hot, so cold. Without you, without Dad, I’ll become stiff…”

“Xixi, didn’t Mom tell you that lying isn’t being a good child?”

Mom’s face turned cold. She thought I was saying this because I didn’t want her to leave.

“No…” Xixi isn’t a bad child.

I tried hard to explain, “Dad will be back soon, in a few more…”

I fumbled with my fingers, wanting to give a specific time, but I couldn’t figure it out. Tears fell from my anxious eyes, and I could only grab her clothes, stubbornly continuing my previous words.

“Mom, don’t go. Wait for Dad to come back before you leave…”

“Enough!” Mom angrily cut me off.

“Your dad isn’t coming back!” she yelled at me, somewhat overwhelmed, not caring if I understood.

“He was arrested! I finally got into university, and your dad went to jail. If I don’t leave, I won’t be able to go to university, won’t be able to get an iron rice bowl, and I’ll be stuck digging for food in the fields like a mud-legged farmer for the rest of my life.”

Mom’s eyes were red, and she glared at me fiercely.

“Why don’t you want me to go? Why do none of you want me to go? You’re as heartless as your dad, who only knows how to hide things. You Lin family members are all heartless, none of you wish me well.”

Her emotions were a bit out of control. For a moment, I forgot to react.

Mom pried my fingers open one by one. I was gripping too tightly, and she used considerable force. My fingers made a crisp cracking sound.

Her hand paused slightly, but only for a moment. Then she picked up her packed luggage, took the cloth bag she had brought back, and left without looking back.

Her back disappeared from my sight.

“I was telling the truth!”

I mumbled softly, looking down at my plump hand with its dimples. The fingers that had been pried open were unnaturally bent and red.

I rubbed them apologetically.

“Mom, it hurts.”

I whispered, tears falling.

A drizzling rain began to fall, and before long, the rain intensified.

The pouring rain outside the window seemed like my search for Mom in my previous life.

I crawled back onto the kang. The kang, with its fire extinguished, still held a faint warmth.

I wrapped the quilt tighter around me.

I didn’t want to get caught in the rain, didn’t want to get a fever, didn’t want to become a small grave, and didn’t want Dad’s hair to turn white overnight.

I was a bit hungry. I wanted to eat sponge cake, walnut crisp, biscuits, and malted milk.

But all those things in the room were gone.

I knew some were packed in Mom’s suitcase and taken away, but some weren’t even in the suitcase. I didn’t know where Mom had taken them.

With the hand that didn’t hurt, I slowly ate a piece of sweet potato jerky from the cupboard, feeling somewhat lucky.

Good thing I saved these, otherwise I’d be hungry now.

In the afternoon, Grandma pushed open the door and sighed when she saw me holding the sweet potato jerky.

“You child, why don’t you know to go eat by yourself! You didn’t eat lunch, and you didn’t eat dinner. Now it’s all gone. Good thing you have this sweet potato jerky. You eat it to tide you over, and don’t forget to go eat tomorrow morning!”

There wasn’t much physical labor on those days, so the family only ate two meals a day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

I was still a bit afraid of her, so I just said “Oh,” and nodded obediently, thinking that I used to eat an egg every day. Since I didn’t eat one today, I wondered if I would get an extra one tomorrow.

Grandma was about to leave after speaking. I couldn’t help but raise my hand and call out to her.

“Grandma, my hand hurts.”

“It’s nothing, it’ll be fine after a good night’s sleep.”

Grandma’s tone was casual. The light in the room was dim, so she just thought I had accidentally bumped it somewhere.

It wasn’t uncommon for children in the countryside to fall and get bumps or bruises.

“But…”

I wanted to explain, but Grandma had already left the room.

“It still hurts so much!”

I softly finished the second half of my sentence. Looking at the rain still falling outside, I didn’t dare to go out. I could only rub my hand again, and tears fell uncontrollably once more.

I don’t know how I fell asleep, I just felt that the kang, which used to be warm, was now so cold.

The next day, the sun was gentle, with no wind or clouds.

I struggled a bit to put on my clothes, and peering out at the good weather, my mood brightened considerably.

The rain had stopped, and the sky was clear. I wouldn’t get caught in the rain and get a fever again.

And, Grandma hadn’t lied to me.

After one night, although my fingers still didn’t look straight and were purplish and unsightly, as long as I didn’t move them, they didn’t hurt so much that I wanted to cry.

When it was time for breakfast, I cautiously left the room, avoiding the puddles on the ground, and entered the main hall where meals were eaten.

Perhaps I walked too slowly, as the adults in the room had already started eating.

On the table was sweet potato paste and a stir-fried dish of cabbage.

Grandma saw me and scraped the bottom of an empty aluminum basin. Finding nothing, she poured in some warm water to rinse it and filled half a bowl of the watery paste for me, so watery you could see your reflection.

She also picked out a sweet potato from the steaming basket on the table, only the size of my fist, and gave it to me.

“Xixi, you’re still small. If you eat a big one, it’ll be a waste,” Grandma said.

I waited and waited, but didn’t get the egg I missed yesterday, or even one for today. The adults at the table were already eating their own portions.

Next to Big Aunt sat a small, chubby three-year-old boy, with crushed eggshells in front of him.

Diagonally across, my fourth uncle, who had just graduated from high school and was about to get married, held a half-eaten egg in his hand. When he saw me looking, he shoved the whole thing into his mouth.

Big Aunt rolled her eyes so hard they almost went to the sky. Grandma swat Fourth Uncle on the back impatiently. Grandpa and Big Uncle seemed very busy, their chopsticks never stopping.

“Xixi, why aren’t you eating yet? If it gets cold, you’ll get sick if you eat it then,” Fourth Uncle mumbled.

Get sick?

I can’t get sick!

I instantly forgot about the egg and everything else.

I looked down. There were no chopsticks or spoons for me on the table, nor was there the chair I used to sit on.

I, at four and a half, stood there, looking at my seven-year-old cousin, Big Ya, from Big Uncle’s family, who was also standing.

She seemed to always eat standing up.

I thought about it, then copied her, standing by the table, not daring to move my injured fingers. Awkwardly, I held the bowl, first drank the paste, then slowly ate the sweet potato.

No chopsticks, then no chopsticks!

My hand hurt, and I couldn’t use chopsticks anyway. It would even save Grandma and them from washing an extra pair.

I thought about asking Grandma about the egg later after I finished eating.

Dad had clearly said he gave Grandma money, and Grandma would give me an egg every day.

The adults ate faster. Grandma was clearing the dishes and chopsticks when she saw me, only halfway through my sweet potato, and spoke.

“Xixi, you’re big now. It’s time you learned to work. Later, you’ll learn to wash clothes with your cousin Big Ya. In our farming families, which girl doesn’t help with chores early on, washing clothes, cooking, cutting pig feed? You’re just spoiled by your dad and them…”

Families in the village generally favored boys over girls. Boys were valued for climbing mountains, going down rivers to catch fish and shrimp, and occasionally getting an extra egg or a piece of meat. Girls, from a young age, had to do all sorts of household chores and ate less well.

Among the girls in the village, few as young as me went to the river to wash clothes, but there were some who went with their elder sisters.

Grandma asking me to learn to wash clothes wasn’t abuse; in the village, it was just a common thing.

The family didn’t think there was anything wrong with it either. They also thought that I had been overly pampered by my parents before and didn’t have to do any work.

But now wasn’t then.

In fact, they thought it was good enough that they gave me food to survive at home.

I was stunned.

Dad used to tell me that I didn’t have to do those chores like other girls in the village. He said he would send me to school in the future, and that I would be like the children in the city, dressed neatly and beautifully, sitting in a classroom.

But now Grandma was saying this.

I was a bit confused, but it didn’t matter if I didn’t understand.

I raised my right hand, which was still a bit swollen and had fingers bent at an abnormal angle.

“Grandma, my finger hurts. I can’t move it. I can’t wash clothes.”

Grandma seemed very busy and didn’t even turn her head.

“Suit yourself. Our family is like this. If you don’t work, you don’t eat.”

I froze instantly.

Big Ya dragged a basket of clothes out of the room and called out when she saw me, “Let’s go quickly, otherwise we won’t finish washing today. Come and help me. We can carry it together, it’s very light.”

I looked at the extra-large basket she was dragging, much bigger than me, and then at my own purplish, swollen hand, bent at an abnormal angle. I shook my head frantically.

“I can’t. It hurts.”

I held out my fingers for her to see.

Big Ya was surprised for a moment, a little regretful, and a little envious.

“With your hand like this, it seems you really don’t have to work. Get well soon!”

She dragged her extra-large wicker basket and left.

The family members were busy with their own things and didn’t pay attention to me.

I walked to the main door and sat on the threshold, not knowing which direction to look so that I could see Dad the moment he returned.

Thinking of Dad, I looked down at my fingers again and carefully blew on them.

When the village chief came to the door, he immediately saw the little tot squatting by the entrance.

“Oh, Xixi is playing!”

I saw it was a familiar person and greeted him obediently.

Uncle Village Chief smiled, reaching into his pocket to pull out a piece of candy for me.

“Where are your adults?”

He was the village chief, and he had issued Mom’s divorce certificate and the letter of introduction for her to leave home for school. Knowing that both my parents were gone now, his gaze towards me was particularly sympathetic.

Lin Chunlai too, why did he disable someone this time and get caught? Now his city wife ran off, leaving behind this pampered little darling whom Lin Chunlai doted on so much, always afraid she’d be wronged. What was to become of her at home?

I didn’t understand the village chief’s complexity. I obediently answered his previous question: “Grandma and Big Aunt are at home. I don’t know where everyone else went.”

“Let’s go, Uncle will just find your grandma.”

As soon as the village chief and I entered the courtyard, we saw the door to our west wing room, Dad’s and mine, wide open.

Grandma and Big Aunt were rummaging through things. Big Aunt touched the soft quilt on the bed.

“This is good. After washing and dismantling, it can be used for Fourth Brother’s wedding quilt. Two thick quilts can be made from it.”

“These clothes are also more than 70% new, presentable. Fourth Brother can wear them for his wedding too.”

Grandma and Big Aunt didn’t mind those old clothes with patches.

“Your dad and them can wear these when they work.”

“Those are Dad’s! They’re all Dad’s!” I cried anxiously, rushing forward to grab them.

“Hey, you’re a child, you don’t understand. Stay put and don’t make trouble.”

Big Aunt didn’t care. She grabbed me, pulled me aside, and then continued discussing with Grandma how to divide each item, what each item could be used for, and how it could save the family money they would otherwise have to spend on buying new things.

“You can’t take them. Taking other people’s things is wrong.”

I thrashed my legs, and during my struggle, I hit my injured hand. Tears instantly welled up from the pain.

I ignored the pain in my hand, my attention fully on Dad’s clothes, but facing two adults, I was powerless.

“What are you doing?” The village chief, who had entered with me and hadn’t been noticed by anyone, spoke up.

I instantly brightened, turning my gaze anxiously towards the doorway, seeking help: “Uncle Village Chief, tell me, am I right? You can’t just take other people’s things.”

Big Aunt and Grandma finally saw the village chief and immediately became embarrassed.

“Hey, you child, are we ‘other people’?” Big Aunt said dryly.

Grandma sighed and complained.

“It’s just that Fourth Brother is getting married, and the family’s financial situation is like this, and Oldest Son here… It’s all family, just borrowing a little to get through this difficult time, right?”

The village chief understood her meaning, but he was just the village chief; he couldn’t manage everything.

He didn’t reply to her, only stating the reason for his visit.

“Your Uncle Lin fell and was sent to the clinic. So, I came to tell you.”

The Lin family, it seemed, was having a run of bad luck this year. Oldest Son Lin had gotten into trouble, gone to jail, his wife ran off, and Old Man Lin didn’t watch where he was going and fell quite badly.

“What?”

Grandma and Big Aunt immediately forgot everything else and ran out.

The village chief waited until everyone was gone before looking at me, his expression quite conflicted.

I was a little happy. Grandma and Big Aunt had left, and Dad’s things were left behind. But I also worried if they would come back and take them away again.

The village chief looked at the exquisite little tot in front of him and couldn’t bear it, so he carefully analyzed the situation for me.

“Your Fourth Uncle is getting married, and your family doesn’t have any spare rooms. Your room just happens to be tidied up nicely, so it will probably be used as the new couple’s room. And the things in the room, you’re still young and can’t protect them.”

The village chief was an outsider, and I was only a small child, a little four-year-old bundle, and I still had to rely on the Lin family to live. He didn’t know what was best to do for a while, and it took him a long time to come up with an idea.

“No one knows what your mom took when she left. Take advantage of this time, see if there’s any money left in your room, take some and hide it yourself. For small things, if you have a place to hide them, hide them too, and don’t tell anyone. If anyone in the family asks, just say your mom took them. Your grandma and them probably don’t even know what’s in your room. In the future, when you’re older, you’ll have some money and things to rely on, and life will be easier.”

Sigh, the village chief felt like he had endless sighs today.

As for Lin Lao Si’s matter, he had found someone to inquire about it. He didn’t know how the verdict would turn out yet, but it was true that he had disabled someone.

Since no one died, it was probably just a matter of how long he’d be locked up. But in these past years, those who were taken away for labor reform never came back.

This little tot in front of him, who knows what would happen to her in the future…

“Child, listen to Uncle. At home, you have to rely on the family to live. If you’re obedient and diligent, life will be easier. When you grow up, it will be better.”

The village chief left.

I hugged Dad’s military uniform, which had almost been taken, and carefully pondered his words, understanding little.

Why should my room and Dad’s be given to Fourth Uncle?

Why couldn’t my things and Dad’s be protected?

Without a room, without a quilt, without clothes, what would I do?

I would freeze to death!

Last night, even with everything, I was shivering from the cold.

Thinking about it, I had only one thought in my mind: I had to find a place so I wouldn’t freeze to death.

I put the dried meat and sweet potato jerky into a bag, tucked the money and tickets into my pocket, hugged the dowry box, carried a cloth bag, and even rolled up a military uniform much larger than me before heading out.

From afar, you could only see a moving mass of military green.

At the foot of the mountain, by the gate of the dilapidated courtyard with a fence.

I squatted there, laboriously poking my head out from the mass of oversized clothes, looking eagerly at the young boy in the courtyard. He was wearing an ill-fitting, oversized padded jacket and holding a self-made broom made of a bamboo pole with thin bamboo branches tied to it.

The young boy’s name was Feng Xun. He was eight years old this year and was a child picked up by an old hunter.

After the old hunter passed away, he lived alone in this dilapidated courtyard.

When I was a ghost, it was he who picked up my stiff, frozen body from the mountain and took me to his home. Later, it was at his house that I waited for Dad.

Feng Xun noticed the movement outside and came out. When he saw it was me, he was very surprised.

He quickly came over and rescued me from the oversized clothes that surrounded me.

“Xixi, why are you squatting here?”

Feng Xun knew Xixi.

He was an orphan and had to find a way to support himself. Besides earning work points by cutting pig feed and similar chores, he also went into the mountains and forests to find food.

When he was lucky, he could catch a wild chicken or a rabbit.

Lin Chunlai secretly fenced off land in the mountains to grow crops and raise chickens and ducks. He often went in and out of the mountains and occasionally met Feng Xun, who was scavenging for food. Seeing that it was difficult for him as a small child, he lent a hand, teaching him how to make traps and helping him sell his game.

Because of this, Feng Xun, though young, managed to get by without starving.

Few people in the village were willing to do the thankless task of helping Feng Xun. Xixi’s father, Lin Chunlai, was one of them, and he helped him the most.

As for the little girl he mentioned most often in his conversations.

Feng Xun had never met her, but he wasn’t unfamiliar with her.

I hung my head, not daring to look at him, only asking with some hope, “Brother, I’m going to be homeless. Can you pick me up and take me home now?”

I was a little uncertain. When I was stiff with cold, the young brother had picked me up and laboriously carried me.

Now I had walked over myself, and the young brother wouldn’t have to waste energy.

Surely, I would be more likable this way!

Feng Xun was a little shocked.

What kind of talk was this?

I anxiously shoved the cloth bag I brought into his hands. “I brought food and something to cover myself with. I can take care of myself. Brother, just give me a tiny bit of your room, and I’ll stay for a few days, just a few days will be fine.”

I would definitely be very well-behaved, just as well-behaved as when I was stiff with cold, not causing the young brother any trouble. It would be fine until Dad came back.

Feng Xun regained his composure, pulling me into the room.

“What exactly happened? Tell me, who bullied you at home?”

Uncle Lin had gotten into trouble, and yesterday Uncle Lin’s educated youth wife also ran off. Now with Xixi like this, Feng Xun subconsciously felt that she had been bullied.

Feng Xun couldn’t help but remember what he had experienced a couple of years ago when the hunter who adopted him had just passed away.

Every now and then, some obscure relative he had never heard of would show up at his house, and every now and then things would disappear. If it weren’t for the fact that this small courtyard was so dilapidated it looked like it could collapse at any moment, he probably wouldn’t even have this place to stay.

Later, he learned his lesson and started hiding things. Since there wasn’t much left at home anyway, his life finally settled down.

I hung my head.

“Fourth Uncle wants to live in my room and Dad’s room, and my things and Dad’s things are going to be divided by Grandma and Big Aunt…”

Feng Xun’s face grew uglier.

I looked at him, my voice getting softer and softer. Suddenly, I remembered what Dad used to say to him in front of my small grave.

I said with a bit of trepidation, “I have no place to live. Dad said we’re family, and you’re my little son-in-law. Don’t abandon me.”

I stole a glance at him, feeling guilty and out of breath.

I had lied. That was something I often heard in my previous life. Dad in this life hadn’t said such words yet.

At that time, Dad built a house and enclosed a courtyard in front of my small grave.

He had already recovered from his initial state of seeming ready to follow me at any moment.

Feng Xun was worried about Dad and appeared almost daily, occasionally staying overnight.

Dad would sometimes tease him, saying he was good-looking, and that he had originally wanted to bring him home to raise as a little son-in-law for me.

In private, Dad would also secretly tell me in front of my small grave that if I missed Dad coming home at night, I shouldn’t be afraid if I saw a pretty young brother I didn’t recognize.

Feng Xun looked as if he had been struck by lightning. It took him a while to regain his composure, stuttering.

“Oh, oh, okay, okay.”

His face was flushed.

Uncle Lin usually just said things like that to him, but why did he say it to Xixi too? Xixi was still so young!

The surprise came too suddenly.

“Brother, you agreed, right? You really agreed to give me a tiny bit of your room? Just a tiny bit.”

I raised my hand and made a very small gesture, my eyes sparkling, waiting for confirmation.

Feng Xun’s face turned red to the tips of his ears, and he gave a soft “Mm.”

I looked at him puzzled, then he returned to normal.

“As for your room and Uncle Lin’s room at the Lin family’s place, if they want to live there, let them. You can stay here with me from now on. This will be our home, just the two of us.”

Feng Xun looked at the little girl in front of him. He didn’t want her to experience the same things he had. Uncle Lin had always protected him before, and now that Uncle Lin wasn’t home, he would help Uncle Lin take care of her.

“Don’t be afraid, I’ll take care of you from now on.” Feng Xun’s expression relaxed as he figured things out, and he repeated it solemnly.

I stared blankly at the handsome young brother smiling at me, and my eyes felt warm.

Really? The young brother said this was my home!

He also said Dad was a good person, and he would take care of me!

The young brother was indeed as good as Dad said.

Feng Xun took Xixi back to the room to put down their things, then carefully asked about the situation. Knowing that no one was at the Lin family’s house at the moment, he simply took Xixi back there.

In Xixi and Dad’s room at the Lin family’s house.

Feng Xun put things into the basket he brought, while reminding me, “Let’s pack quickly whatever we need to take.” Feng Xun explained, “Everyone in the village is at the clinic now, so we still have some time.”

There weren’t many entertainment activities in the village those days. Old Man Lin breaking his leg was quite a rare event, so a large group of idle villagers followed him to the clinic to watch the excitement. There wasn’t a single person to be seen on the road.

There truly couldn’t be a better time than this.

My eyes lit up, and I quickly started searching everywhere.

Dad’s clothes, shoes, quilts, and blankets, the thermos bottle and enamel mug in the room—it would be even better if we could move everything!

Feng Xun first picked out the important things and put them into the basket, telling me to wait here while he took them back. He ran back and forth three times, finally moving most of it.

Except for large items like tables and cabinets that were inconvenient for us two small children to move, we scavenged everything we could.

Before leaving, Feng Xun also messed up the room and left several large and small shoe prints to erase our comings and goings, making it look like many people had come to take things.

I watched Feng Xun all the way, my eyes full of admiration.

He was a little embarrassed by my gaze and whispered, “Let’s not tell anyone that we took these things, otherwise they might take them back. If Uncle’s things fall into their hands, there won’t be a speck left.”

Feng Xun thought back to when the hunter had just passed away. At that time, he really didn’t understand anything. Fortunately, he understood now, and Xixi didn’t need to suffer the hardships he had endured.

The Lin family, who bullied Xixi, didn’t deserve to touch Uncle Lin’s things.

“Okay, I won’t say anything.” I was obedient.

Grandpa broke his leg. The barefoot doctor set his bones, and Big Uncle and Fourth Uncle carried him home.

However, when they arrived home, they saw the door of the west wing room wide open. Inside, it was a mess. Apart from the large items, everything usable had been moved out completely.

Grandma wailed and started crying. Big Aunt slapped her legs and cursed on the ground.

Many people had been following along to watch, and now the adults were whispering amongst themselves, saying that the petty thieves were heartless.

Feng Xun and I hid the things, and he repeatedly reminded me what to say if anyone asked. Once he saw I had memorized it, he took me back to the Lin family’s place.

Looking at Grandma and Big Aunt wailing and lamenting, I somehow felt very happy.

But then I thought of the room where Dad and I lived, and that someone else would be living in it, and tears of grievance fell again.

“Poor dears!”

When the villagers saw me crying, they also felt a pang in their hearts.

Mom left, Dad went to jail, and the belongings left by the couple were stolen. How would this little child live from now on?

Feng Xun wiped my tears. The villagers looked at us, feeling even more pity.

These two were children without fathers or mothers. Sigh! What would they do in the future!

No one thought that the house being emptied had anything to do with me, a four-and-a-half-year-old child. Even the village chief, who had offered me advice earlier, never linked it to me.

The crowd dispersed, and I followed the flow of people with Feng Xun back to the dilapidated small courtyard with the rickety fence.

Feng Xun led me into the room to show me his stored grain.

“Don’t be afraid. The village allocated grain per person to me. I also earned some work points by cutting pig feed, picking wheat ears and rice ears, and digging peanuts. Last autumn, I also picked chestnuts, dried vegetables and fruits. Plus, the three jin of sweet potato jerky and one and a half jin of dried meat you brought, we won’t starve to death.”

I nodded happily. Remembering something, I took out the money and tickets I had secretly brought back from my pocket.

“We also have this, Dad’s! Dad said he earns money for me to spend, so we can spend this.”

Feng Xun was very surprised.

He spread the money on the table with a broken leg and carefully counted it.

A total of one hundred and thirty yuan, of which one hundred yuan was ten large banknotes bundled together, and the thirty yuan was loose change kept separately.

There were also dozens of jin of grain tickets, and various scattered tickets like cloth tickets, oil tickets, candy tickets, kerosene tickets, etc.

Especially the grain tickets, they were a real lifesaver.

With these, Feng Xun felt the burden on his shoulders lighten considerably.

He rolled up the one hundred and thirty yuan.

“I’ll help you hide this money later, and when you’re older, I’ll send you to school.”

Okay!

Dad also said he would send me to school. It should be fine if my big brother sends me too, right?

I nodded obediently.

Feng Xun then pulled out a wooden box from the kang cavity.

Inside the wooden box was a collection of loose change, some in yuan, some in cents, and some in fractions of a cent, all neatly organized.

He explained.

“Some of this is from selling mountain goods, sometimes when I caught game in my traps, Uncle, your dad, would help me sell them, and the money I got from that is also in here. It’s a total of thirty-seven yuan, three mao, and seven fen. It’s enough for us to spend for a while. Originally, I didn’t have grain tickets, and I was planning to beg the team leader to lend me some for your food. Now that I have grain tickets, we have enough grain at home to last until the snow melts next year. When the snow melts, I’ll buy more at the commune.”

Having experienced the cold realities of human nature early on, Feng Xun never relied on the Lin family’s grandparents, uncles, or aunts.

Adults always had various excuses. He was still just a child now. The time he would waste risking danger and not even necessarily getting food was better spent going into the mountains, where he would get a greater return.

And after this year, he would be nine years old and able to do heavier farm work. If he worked hard and earned more work points, he would get more grain.

Xixi was young and ate little, and she could also get grain allocated per person.

If he went into the mountains again to pick mountain goods, dry some vegetables and mushrooms, and store some chestnuts, walnuts, hazelnuts, and wild yams to mix and eat, they would definitely both survive.

Feng Xun told me his plans little by little.

“I’ll listen to Big Brother!”

I nodded obediently. I didn’t understand much, but I felt very at ease.

Feng Xun was somewhat emotional.

“I thought Auntie, your educated youth mom, would take all the money, but she still left some for you. She’s actually quite kind.”

“No, she’s not.” I retorted softly.

“I secretly took it back.”

I poked my finger a little guiltily. Secretly taking things was a very bad habit, but I just didn’t want Mom to take my things and Dad’s things.

“Good job!” Feng Xun froze for a moment, then smiled.

I was very happy to be praised, and then I pointed to my biscuit tin, with a hint of smugness.

“Dad said this is the dowry he saved for me.” Dad gave it to me!

Dowry? Dowry?!

Feng Xun was silent.

His face must have been ridiculously red.

However, at the same time, Feng Xun clearly saw my hand.

It was bruised and purplish, and my fingers were still bent at a very abnormal angle.

Feng Xun was startled.

“What happened to you?”

From yesterday until now, for such a long time, I had almost gotten used to the pain in my fingers.

When Feng Xun asked, I still felt wronged.

“Mom left, and I grabbed Mom’s clothes. Mom pried them open, and that’s how it happened.”

I carefully blew on it again, coaxing myself in my heart.

I don’t hurt, I don’t hurt.

Feng Xun’s face was grim.

What was wrong with the Lin family?

This wasn’t the time for idle talk. He grabbed my wrist and started to walk out, but after only two steps, Feng Xun remembered the dowry box and turned back.

He opened the biscuit box, and it was sparkling with gold.

Feng Xun was genuinely stunned for a moment, but only for a moment. He quickly stuffed the one hundred and thirty yuan inside.

Then, he pried open a stone slab in the room and hid it.

He locked the room door, then took me out of the courtyard and headed straight for the barefoot doctor’s clinic.

The barefoot doctor at the clinic was very skilled in orthopedics. It’s said to be a family trade passed down through generations. He frowned when he saw my hand.

“Why did you only come now?”

He had just said that when he remembered something else and swallowed the rest of his words.

He bent my hand, making me cry in pain, and then he used a small wooden splint to bind it tightly.

I was also fiercely warned.

“If you don’t want it to be amputated later, be honest. Keep it bound like this, and when it straightens out, we’ll talk about what’s next.”

The doctor’s face was still somewhat solemn; it seemed my hand was very serious.

Feng Xun nodded cautiously.

“I’ll watch her.”

Later, when Feng Xun took me to change the ointment, we overheard the doctor at the clinic chatting with someone.

It was said that regarding the injury on my hand, the doctor casually mentioned it when he was re-examining my grandfather’s leg. He was worried they wouldn’t take it seriously, so he exaggerated the severity.

The Lin family was all very surprised, but no one said anything about bringing me back to the Lin family.

Since my hand was really injured and I couldn’t work, bringing me home would just be a waste of food and firewood. It was much simpler for me to stay outside and not eat the family’s provisions!

The Lin family all believed that if I stayed outside until I couldn’t survive, I would know to come home to find food.

They didn’t need to bother looking for me.

On the way home, Feng Xun looked at me cautiously.

But I was very happy. If the Lin family didn’t look for me, I wouldn’t have to go back and get stiff from the cold, and I wouldn’t have to be put into a small grave again.

Feng Xun and I continued to live in the small dilapidated courtyard at the foot of the mountain.

Lin Lao Si got married before the heavy snow sealed off the mountain. We didn’t bother to join in the excitement, busy going into the mountains and forests, picking firewood, picking mushrooms, raiding squirrel nests and mouse holes…

We brought home everything edible.

Although winter had arrived, we always managed to find something.

Occasionally, when luck was good, we would even find a wild chicken or a rabbit in the traps Feng Xun and my father had set before.

Feng Xun was very frugal.

He didn’t use any of our money, and we never ate the game we caught. Instead, we took it to Uncle Village Chief’s house and exchanged it for grain.

The village chief pitied us two children for our difficulties and gave us a very fair price.

Before the new year, we added half a basket of sweet potatoes, ten jin of coarse rice, one jin of white flour, and two jin of corn flour to our home, enough for us to eat for an extra half a month.

Every time we exchanged grain, Feng Xun, worried that I craved meat, would take out a piece of our stored dried meat and share it with me.

He ate very little, mostly just tasting it, and most of it went into my mouth.

It wasn’t until the snow got heavier that we stopped going into the mountains.

There was unusually heavy snow this year. The courtyard gate was already blocked by a thick layer of snow, and the fence around the small courtyard had turned into a high snow wall. We couldn’t leave the main gate anymore.

Feng Xun built three snow figures for me in the corridor. I was in the middle, and he and Dad were on either side, as if Dad was always with us.

I was very happy just looking at them.

The small dilapidated courtyard wasn’t very sturdy. The vast expanse of snow seemed like it could collapse the shaky house at any moment.

Feng Xun would sweep the roof with his bamboo pole broom every few days, hoping the house would hold up and not really collapse.

In the blink of an eye, it was New Year’s Eve.

In the afternoon, Feng Xun chopped up the two liang of lean meat allocated by the village and mixed it with cabbage to make filling.

We clumsily wrapped dumplings around the basin. There were also roasted sweet potatoes emitting a sweet aroma on the basin, and a few burst chestnuts.

It was our first time making them.

Although we had asked Big Aunt from the village chief’s family for advice when we exchanged grain, our dumplings were still lopsided and ugly.

Especially the ones I wrapped. Because my middle finger couldn’t move, I only used my thumb and pinky to pinch them, making them even uglier.

Feng Xun’s eyes welled up from how ugly they were.

I comforted him, “I’m still small. When I grow up, I’ll be able to make beautiful dumplings for Big Brother.”

“Okay.” Feng Xun smiled, but tears still fell.

“Brother…”

Don’t cry!

It was my first time seeing him cry. I was anxious to comfort him, but at that moment, there was a loud bang.

The roof and the ground seemed to shake, and dust fell from the ceiling. I quickly got up and shielded the meat filling and dumplings.

Feng Xun, with quick reflexes, pulled me into his arms and hid under the table. In my haste, I only managed to grab the basin of meat filling that we had specifically saved half of.

He held me tightly, and after waiting for a while with no other movement, he shifted his body, his voice hesitant.

“Perhaps, something collapsed?”

Their room wasn’t very sturdy, and the other rooms leaked rain and wind, making them uninhabitable. It wouldn’t be surprising if one collapsed.

Feng Xun and I crouched under the table for a while, sensing no movement, then pushed open the door.

A strong wind, laden with a blizzard, swept through. The adjacent room had half collapsed.

Standing in front of the only intact room, we were a little relieved, relieved to be alive.

The commotion here attracted villagers. Several people came when they heard the noise.

Someone shouted loudly, asking if the people inside were okay.

Feng Xun also shouted back, “Everyone’s fine! The collapsed room wasn’t occupied. Xixi and I are both fine, and this room we’re staying in is also fine.”

“Oh, oh!”

“Then you two wait a bit longer. Old Uncle Liu’s and Suozi’s Big Aunt’s houses have also collapsed, and people are buried. We’ll go help them first and come back later!”

The people who had come in a rush left in a rush.

Feng Xun and I looked at each other. Feng Xun was the first to regain his composure: “Come on, let’s go back and continue making dumplings.”

Anyway, there was no difference now from before.

Back in the room, the door was securely closed again.

I pulled the dumpling filling from under the table. The dumplings wrapped on the table were covered in dust.

I wanted to cry in distress.

“They’re all fine. Just blow on them, and they’ll be good to eat,” Feng Xun comforted me, then blew on the dumplings.

I saw the truly clean dumplings and nodded, “Hmm, just blow on them, and they’ll be good to eat.”

However, Feng Xun then tore off a piece of the dough reserved for wrapping dumplings on the first day of the new year and continued to roll out wrappers.

“Brother just figured it out. It seems like I can make prettier ones. Brother will make some for Xixi to eat. Xixi is so pretty, of course, she should eat prettier ones.”

Several houses in the village had collapsed under the snow, causing chaos. People were being dug out and hastily put into carts to be sent to the county hospital.

Just then, a jeep drove into the village.

It was said that Lin Chunlai, who had been arrested, got out of the car.

“What’s going on?”

“Hey, they were just dug out of the snow. Our village doctor can’t handle it, so they have to be sent to the city.”

The person driving the car was in military uniform. Seeing the situation, he immediately helped without a word.

Before leaving, he quickly explained Lin Chunlai’s situation.

This time, Lin Chunlai wasn’t arrested for fighting or getting into trouble.

He had met Lin Lao San, who was on a mission, and helped him intercept someone. The person he disabled was an enemy agent. He hadn’t returned for so long not because he was jailed for labor reform, but because he was known to the authorities and was cooperating with relevant personnel on the case.

The villagers sighed with emotion, teasing Lin Chunlai when they spoke to him.

Lin Chunlai rolled up his sleeves, intending to help out first and also inquire about his daughter’s situation from the villagers, but he saw them all hesitate.

Lin Chunlai’s heart sank with a thump. He immediately ran back to the Lin family house, heading straight for the west wing room.

He pushed open the door. The furniture inside was familiar, but the arrangement was strange. There were large red wedding characters pasted on the windows, and the large red peony pillowcases on the kang were very conspicuous.

He sneered, turning to look at the hesitant Lin family members who had followed him.

“Where’s Xixi?”

Lin Lao Si’s couple occupied the family’s room and instinctively stepped back two paces, feeling guilty.

Big Uncle Lin rubbed his hands.

“Second Brother, don’t get agitated. Xixi has been fond of playing with that little rascal at the foot of the mountain these past few days. She’s over there now, you…”

Lin Chunlai’s face was grim.

He walked back to the new room, picked up a stick, and started smashing things. He pulled out a box of matches, lit it, poured the kerosene from the table onto the fire, and then blocked the doorway.

He was too fast and ruthless. Before the adults could react, he had already completed this series of actions.

“Second Brother, what are you doing?”

“Second Brother!”

Lin Chunlai stood there, letting the flames behind him consume the wooden house. The Lin family wanted to put out the fire, but he blocked them completely, preventing them from even getting close to the door.

Big Uncle Lin, Fourth Uncle Lin, and the other laborers were all beaten black and blue.

Grandma stepped forward, patting his back, crying non-stop.

“What evil have I committed to give birth to you, you [expletive]? The family has been worried sick about you, and you come home and do this…”

Lin Chunlai acted as if he didn’t hear. The fire behind him had already started, black smoke billowed into the sky, and flames swept through half the room.

Only then did he take a big step out of the door, and within two steps, he started running.

The crying and cursing behind him were all left behind.

At this time, in the small courtyard at the foot of the mountain.

Feng Xun and I were boiling water, preparing to cook dumplings, when we heard a commotion outside, mixed with a few wails of “heartless” and “no justice.” The noisy sounds made the normally quiet winter village lively.

I pricked up my ears and asked Feng Xun uncertainly.

“Brother, is that Big Aunt and Grandma shouting?”

Our small dilapidated house was at the end of the village, separated by several houses from the Lin family’s location in the village center. I didn’t expect to hear them from so far away.

Feng Xun nodded.

He glanced at the tightly closed room door, then thought about the courtyard covered in snow.

“The room just got a bit warm. If we open the door, the cold wind will blow in and scatter the warmth. Even if we go out to the courtyard, we can’t get out of the courtyard gate, so it’s better not to join the fun.”

I thought carefully. The fence and courtyard gate buried by snow were several people tall, and if I stepped into the snow in the courtyard, it would bury half of me.

Indeed, it was better not to go out.

Feng Xun touched my head and praised, “Xixi is indeed well-behaved.”

I instantly brightened, my eyebrows curving with delight.

“Dad also says Xixi is the most well-behaved, most beautiful, most lovable, and his most, most beloved little treasure.”

Then I became sad again. When exactly would Dad come home?

These past few days, I often fumbled with my fingers, but no matter how I calculated, I couldn’t figure out when Dad would come home.

Feng Xun didn’t know what I was thinking. He looked at me with a smile in his eyes, wanting to speak but hesitating.

My head was covered with the flour that had rubbed off, my expressions changing constantly, completely unaware of my comical appearance at the moment.

Feng Xun finally couldn’t help but chuckle.

I was very confused and laughed foolishly along with him.

Lin Chunlai arrived at the small dilapidated house at the foot of the mountain, looking at the collapsed house buried in snow, his eyes tearing with rage. His fists clenched, making cracking sounds. He took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.

His daughter was still waiting for him.

Villagers who heard the commotion and rushed over, someone remembered something and reminded him.

“Second Brother, Xixi and them are fine. The one that collapsed isn’t the one they’re living in.”

Lin Chunlai regained his composure, and some hope rose in his heart.

His gaze fell on the tarpaulin covering a haystack not far away. He took a few steps forward, pulled off the tarpaulin, shook off the snow, and then spread the tarpaulin on the snow wall surrounding the courtyard.

Feng Xun and I heard the noise, pushed open the door, and peeked out. We saw someone placing a tarpaulin on the snowdrift of the fence not far away. Then, a familiar figure climbed over it.

I froze for a moment, feeling as if I was hallucinating. I instinctively ran in their direction.

“Dad!”

But I wasn’t a ghost anymore. The snow layer on the ground was dozens of centimeters thick. When I stepped out, half of my body sank into it.

Feng Xun quickly pulled me back.

Lin Chunlai, who had just climbed over the wall, saw the two small children under the porch. A wave of joyful reunion washed over him.

He shouted loudly at me.

“Xixi, don’t move! Wait for Dad!”

He pushed off with his feet, leaping up, doing a few rolls, and getting off the fence’s snowdrift, which was taller than an adult. He then quickly ran towards the porch, treading through the snow in the courtyard that reached his thighs.

I rushed straight into his arms.

He held me, and I held Feng Xun’s hand, just like the three snow figures that had been on one side for an entire winter.

In the room, Lin Chunlai looked at the clothes his daughter brought for him to change into, and then saw the thermos bottle, enamel mug, and the bedding on the kang, all familiar to him. He suddenly smiled.

He ruffled the heads of the two little children in front of him, one with each hand.

“Good job!”

The people outside didn’t know the situation inside, but since they were already there, they decided to help clear the snow.

Lin Chunlai changed his clothes and hugged his daughter, not letting go, still feeling lingering fear.

Feng Xun handed him a cup of warm water.

Only then did Lin Chunlai slightly loosen his grip. He looked at Feng Xun.

“Buddy, Uncle has to thank you. From now on, you’re Uncle’s blood brother.”

Huh?

My brain didn’t seem to be working very well.

Feng Xun was also a bit confused about this “brother” and “uncle” address.

But it didn’t matter. Anyway, whether “brother” or “uncle,” they were family.

With more people, there was more strength. The villagers quickly cleared a path and entered the courtyard. Seeing the harmonious family of three in the room, they chuckled exasperatedly.

“You didn’t even make a sound to let us know you were inside.”

People went in and then there was no sound. It scared them to death. They thought something really happened!

“It’s good that nothing happened, it’s good that nothing happened!”

Thank goodness nothing happened.

If something had happened here, they would also feel guilty.

Lin Lao Er had been fighting wits and courage with the enemy outside, and they couldn’t even help take care of his child.

I didn’t quite understand the villagers’ gazes at me. I just nestled happily in Dad’s arms, listening to them exchange pleasantries.

It was so good, Dad was back!

It was so good, I wasn’t stiff and buried in a small grave again, turning into that ghost who couldn’t touch him at all.

Before long, the villagers left.

Dad mixed more dough and wrapped all the remaining filling that Feng Xun and I had saved for making dumplings on the first day of the new year, then cooked them along with our ugly ones.

Brother might have been a little reluctant to use up the grain, and his eyes welled up again.

Dad’s eyes also seemed to have gotten something in them.

Only I was out of sync, happily eating the most beautiful dumplings Dad and Brother wrapped.

After dinner, Lin Chunlai chatted with the two children.

It was only then that I learned that when Dad returned to the Lin family, he saw Fourth Uncle and his new wife living in our room, and he directly set the room on fire.

As for the furniture in the room, he smashed some and burned some, leaving nothing intact for them.

I secretly curled my lips, unable to suppress my smile.

Lin Chunlai laughed wryly, “You’re that happy, huh?”

Mm-hmm! Super happy.

I happily hugged him and praised him.

“Dad is the best!”

I righteously complained to him.

“They’re bad. They tried to take my room and Dad’s, and they wanted to take our clothes and quilts too.”

It’s a good thing I was smart enough to come find Big Brother, otherwise, I would surely have frozen stiff again and become a small grave.

Lin Chunlai’s face was grim. He subtly inquired about what had happened during this period.

Regarding the divorce, Lin Chunlai’s situation was special at the time, so he couldn’t appear in person, but he had received the news and given his consent, which was why his ex-wife was able to get the divorce certificate at the commune.

So, when he came home and his wife was gone, he wasn’t surprised at all.

But Xixi’s situation was something he had not expected at all.

I nestled in Dad’s arms, unknowingly babbling on and on to him.

Lin Chunlai heard that his ex-wife had given the household money he left behind to the Lin family, and he wasn’t surprised. If it weren’t for that, the Lin family wouldn’t have let her leave so easily.

He heard that Xixi had retrieved the money and tickets his ex-wife was going to take, and he praised Xixi joyfully.

He heard that his ex-wife also wanted to take the dowry he had prepared for Xixi, and his face turned a bit grim.

However, none of this compared to the anger he felt when he heard how Xixi’s hand was injured.

The coldness in Lin Chunlai’s eyes almost solidified.

“Dad?” I sensed his emotions were off and looked at him somewhat uncertainly.

This Dad made me remember the time he guarded my small grave.

Lin Chunlai regained his composure.

“Dad’s here. It won’t happen again.”

He pulled out my hand, which was hidden in my sleeve, carefully not touching it, afraid of hurting me.

He had noticed the injury on my hand a long time ago, but he had only thought it was an accident and planned to ask about it slowly. He hadn’t expected the truth to be far more heartbreaking and guilt-inducing than he imagined.

It was also only when I talked about it that I remembered the injury on my hand.

Actually, at this point, if I didn’t deliberately look at the injury on my finger, I had already forgotten about it.

But at this moment, all my grievances surged forth again.

“Dad, it hurts. It hurts so much.” I held out my finger, which was still wrapped and fixed with a small wooden splint, and presented it to him plaintively. “I want Dad to blow on it.”

Lin Chunlai hugged me, “Okay, Dad will blow on it.”

His voice was very low, I almost couldn’t hear him.

Throughout the entire holiday season, we stayed at Feng Xun’s place and didn’t mention returning to the Lin family. During this time, Lin Chunlai took Xixi to the clinic.

The old doctor looked at my hand, his voice filled with regret.

“It’s recovering well, it hasn’t worsened.”

He applied more medicine to my finger and re-bound it.

Lin Chunlai and the doctor went into the inner room to get medicine and chatted privately for a few moments.

Feng Xun and I waited in the outer room, vaguely hearing the doctor sighing with Dad in the inner room.

“It’s just that she came a bit late, and she suffered a secondary injury. If she had come earlier, if she hadn’t been injured a second time, maybe there wouldn’t have been sequelae…”

I didn’t understand what “sequelae” meant, but Feng Xun’s face was grim. He held my hand, feeling both heartache and self-reproach.

Lin Chunlai came out, picked up Xixi, and no longer mentioned her hand, only calling out to Feng Xun to walk back together.

“Xixi, what do you want to eat? Dad will go out and find it for you later,” Lin Chunlai said, then looked at Feng Xun, freeing a hand to pat his shoulder. “You tell me too. From now on, the three of us will live together as a family.”

Feng Xun lowered his head and gave a muffled “Mm.”

I happily counted on my good hand’s fingers, listing them one by one.

“I want sponge cake, walnut crisp, little biscuits… and malted milk.”

I listed everything I had wanted to eat when I was hungry in the house.

Lin Chunlai happily agreed and went out for a few rounds.

When he returned, he had actually gathered everything for me, and even brought back dozens of jin of extra grain.

For the next few days, he was very busy, going out several times, each time for half a day, leaving only Feng Xun and me in the small courtyard at the foot of the mountain.

But I no longer felt anxious, and a smile appeared on Feng Xun’s face too.

This day, Lin Chunlai returned from his outing very happy.

I didn’t know what had happened, and I also chuckled foolishly along.

It was only then that Lin Chunlai told us what he had been busy with these past few days: he had adopted himself out.

Xixi’s experiences during this period had created a knot in Lin Chunlai’s heart regarding the Lin family. He didn’t want Xixi to suffer any more harm, so he simply adopted himself out, a permanent solution.

He was worried I wouldn’t understand, so he explained to me.

“Adoption means Xixi has a new grandpa.”

I generally understood.

My new grandpa was a grave mound. This grandpa didn’t marry a wife or have children, so there wouldn’t be a grandma controlling how much sweet potato I ate, nor would there be an uncle snatching my eggs, and no one would drag me to wash clothes.

I understood vaguely, but Dad was very happy, so I was happy too.

The Lin family had come to cause trouble, but with Lin Chunlai there, he blocked them all.

I wasn’t sure how he resolved it, but later, they indeed never came to the courtyard at the foot of the mountain again.

Few villagers would say anything about “burying the hatchet.”

The Lin family was indeed not very decent. Although they were all poor villagers, it wasn’t that people couldn’t understand their choices, but it was not wrong for a father to stand up for his daughter.

Just after the New Year, our family of three left the village together.

Because Lin Chunlai had performed a meritorious deed, he was rewarded with a quota for a permanent job at a steel factory in the city.

Our household registration was thus moved into the city.

The first thing he did upon arriving in the city was to sell one of the large golden fish from the dowry he had prepared for me and took me to a large hospital.

My fingers seemed to have cost a lot of money. We went to several cities to seek medical treatment, but it seemed there was no complete cure.

I didn’t feel anything. When I could remove the small splint, my hand didn’t hinder me in any daily activities, but he and Feng Xun were very careful, not letting me do anything with my hands.

Lin Chunlai’s city job was only temporary.

After policies were relaxed, he transferred his job at the steel factory to the village chief’s eldest son, who had graduated from junior high school and worked as a record-keeper in the village, and then became unemployed after land contracting. This was to thank the village chief for taking care of us during that period.

He himself, meanwhile, used the connections and resources he had made during those years to start a business.

He was a very resourceful person, knowing many people from all walks of life. His vision was also good, and he completed a large amount of capital accumulation in a short time.

Because he always remembered my pathetic appearance, living in a collapsed house in the snow, when he had money, he would buy houses all over the country, and then earn more money and buy more houses, all registered under my name, just in case I was ever kicked out and had nowhere to live again.

Houses were demolished and reallocated. Houses were demolished again and reallocated again.

It wasn’t until I graduated from university and married Feng Xun, when I was organizing our family’s assets, that I realized the number of property deeds we held had reached an alarming figure.

In the year 2000, I graduated with a master’s degree and stayed on to teach at the university. Feng Xun skipped grades all the way to complete his doctorate and joined a research institute in the capital.

We settled in the capital together, living in a property under my name, a traditional siheyuan (quadrangle courtyard) with three courtyards, located within the Second Ring Road.

This day, the family had a newly reallocated house in the suburbs that needed to be rented out, and we had to hand it over to the agent. I accompanied Dad to handle the formalities.

As we were leaving, we happened to encounter someone who wanted to rent a room.

It was a simply dressed middle-aged mother with a young girl wearing a shirt dress. The mother held out her right hand, missing two fingers, and pleaded with the agent.

“For just this single room, can the rent be lowered even more?”

She then complained about how difficult it was for her daughter to find a job after graduating from university, and how her husband and she were laid-off workers living a hard life, and so on.

I stared intently at that hand for two seconds, then shifted my gaze to her face.

Her features vaguely resembled the familiar contours in my memory, but she had likely endured much hardship over the years, and compared to my ambitious and successful father, she looked as if they were two generations apart.

Our footsteps did not falter as we left.

Lin Chunlai smiled and asked.

“What do you want to eat? Dad will make it for you when we get home.”

Over the years, he and Feng Xun, out of concern for the injury to my hand, had taken over all household chores, never letting me lift a finger again.

As I had done countless times before, I happily reeled off a long list of dishes.

“Brother said he won’t be working overtime recently and will come home to eat with us.”

“That’s wonderful…”

Lin Chunlai was also very happy.

The three of us, from that year onwards, had always been intimately close, with no room for anyone else to join us.

The agent and the real estate agent who saw us off sighed.

“Boss Lin owns several buildings in the capital and personally cooks for his daughter. He truly dotes on her!”

“Oh, several buildings? That many?”

The real estate agent was shocked.

“Mom, why are you crying?” The voice of the unfamiliar girl came.

“It’s already the lowest price, it really can’t be lowered any further,” the real estate agent added, assuming it was still about the rent, his tone helpless.

“Oh, it’s nothing. I just got something in my eye.”

I heard that voice, blurred in the depths of my memory, say that.

I walked away, arm-in-arm with Dad, without stopping, and smiled at him.

I didn’t ask anything.

How that person’s hand was injured no longer mattered to me.

We all had our own lives, and it was good that they were no longer intertwined.