A jinx, me? But I bring good fortune to my whole family!

The air in the room seemed to freeze. Nuannuan opened her little hands, which were covered in blood. Ye Qing lay lifeless in her arms.

Su Xiulan screamed and rushed over, trying to help Ye Qing up, but she couldn't muster the strength.

"ah--!"

"Quickly lend a hand and get him onto the kang (heated brick bed)!"

Gu Jianguo also got anxious and helped with his crutch. Da'an and Xiao'an worked together to lift Ye Qing onto the kang (a heated brick bed), and the room became a mess.

Su Xiulan unbuttoned Ye Qing's clothes and burst into tears when she saw the open wound on his back; blood seeped out and stained the mattress red.

"Salt, quickly bring the salt water!"

Gu Jianguo roared. This was the most primitive method on the battlefield. It could disinfect, but the pain was unbearable for most people.

With tears in her eyes, Su Xiulan brought over salt water and used a cloth to wipe the blood around the wound.

Even while unconscious, Ye Qing's body was tense from the excruciating pain, her brows were tightly furrowed, and her forehead was covered in cold sweat.

Nuannuan stood motionless by the kang (a heated brick bed), her big eyes filled with tears that streamed down her face.

It's Nuannuan's fault. If he hadn't been protecting Nuannuan, the little brother wouldn't have gotten hurt, and his wound wouldn't have reopened and bled so much.

It was all Nuannuan's fault. The little girl felt bad and clenched her fists so tightly that her nails dug into her flesh.

She quietly retreated to the corner of the wall, and whispered something to her heart while facing her small cloth bag.

"Little Green, Little Green, come out here!"

What's going on? It's so noisy! I want to sleep!

The impatient voice of the ginseng spirit, Little Green, echoed in my mind.

"The young man is dying; he's bleeding so much."

Nuannuan pleaded, her voice trembling with tears, "Please, please save him, I beg you."

"Save him? Why should I save him? He's not your own brother!"

Little Green snorted and said, "My juice is very precious; every drop used is a drop less!"

"But he got hurt protecting Nuan Nuan!"

Nuannuan stamped her feet anxiously and said, "If you don't save him, Nuannuan will never give you water again!"

[You ungrateful human brat, how dare you threaten this old man!]

Little Green was furious, but the thought of the sweet spring water immediately made her back down.

Okay, okay, I'm scared, just one drop, that's the most I can do!

Meanwhile, at the other end of the village, at Old Lady Gu's house.

Zhang Aidi cursed at Old Lady Gu, "You old hag, what kind of terrible idea was this? Now we haven't even gotten the person and we've caused all this trouble. They're coming to our door every day demanding that fifty yuan debt!"

Grandma Gu was so ashamed by the scolding that she couldn't lift her head, and she was also holding back her anger.

"What's all the fuss about? It's just fifty dollars!"

She spat, a glint of malice flashing in her eyes, and said, "I've already planned my escape route. Go find Wang Guixiang!"

Zhang Aidi was taken aback and asked, "Why do you want to see her?"

"She hates that wretched girl too. She knows a lot of people there. I heard that some families over there can't buy sons, so they spend a lot of money to buy girls to be their child brides!"

Grandma Gu lowered her voice, a greedy smile on her face.

"Fifty dollars is for beggars, this time we want this amount!"

She held up five fingers.

"Five hundred yuan?"

Zhang Aidi was very surprised.

"Yes, five hundred yuan!"

Grandma Gu gritted her teeth and said, "When the time comes, you and Wang Guixiang's family will each receive two hundred, and I'll take one hundred. I don't believe that little troublemaker can escape our grasp!"

Family-oriented.

Inside the house, Su Xiulan and Gu Jianguo were keeping watch over Ye Qing, their faces full of worry.

While her mother was emptying the bloody water, Nuannuan drew a drop of spiritual spring water from her space and dripped it into the bowl of cool water next to her.

She then retrieved some hemostatic herbs from her spatial storage and chewed them.

The bitter taste spread in her mouth, and Nuannuan wrinkled her little face, but still spat the chewed herbs onto a clean cloth.

She carried a bowl of water and a bandage of medicine, and ran to the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) with her short legs.

"Mommy, Nuannuan is feeding her brother water."

Su Xiulan was worried, but without thinking too much, she nodded.

Nuannuan carefully lifted Ye Qing's head, brought the bowl to his chapped lips, and fed him little by little water mixed with spiritual spring water.

Then, she imitated her mother and pressed the cloth with hemostatic herbs onto Ye Qing's wound.

After doing all this, she finally breathed a sigh of relief, lay down on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), held Ye Qing's cold fingers, and fell asleep without realizing it.

After an unknown amount of time, Ye Qing's consciousness struggled out of the darkness.

He felt warm all over, and the wound on his back didn't hurt as much anymore, leaving only a slightly numb feeling.

He struggled to open his eyes, and the first thing he saw was a small face covered in tears under the lamplight.

The little girl was asleep by the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), with tears still clinging to her long eyelashes, as if she had suffered a great injustice.

Her little hand was still tightly gripping her index finger, as if afraid he would run away.

Ye Qing's heart was suddenly struck by something, feeling a bittersweet ache.

He fled from Beijing, witnessing countless betrayals and cold stares, and he saw the evil in human nature more clearly than anyone else.

But the little girl in front of him, the one he used as bait, was genuinely crying and worrying about him.

This pure kindness left him bewildered and also cracked a fissure in his frozen heart.

He wanted to pull his hand away, but he couldn't bear to part with that little bit of warmth.

For the next few days, Nuannuan became Ye Qing's little shadow.

"Brother, drink some water. Nuannuan put some sugar in it for you, it's sweet!"

"Brother, have a bun! This one's meaty and smells delicious!"

Ye Qing was initially very resistant, his face so cold it seemed like ice crystals could fall off. But Nuan Nuan tirelessly circled around him, gradually changing him with her soft voice and sweet smile.

When Xiao An returned from work at the forest farm, this was the scene he witnessed.

Nuannuan was standing on tiptoe, trying hard to stuff a piece of fruit candy into Ye Qing's mouth, muttering, "Eat candy, and the wound won't hurt anymore!"

Although Ye Qing's face remained expressionless, he did not dodge.

Xiao An felt inexplicably uneasy.

He pulled a bright red wild fruit from his pocket; it was one he had specially picked for his sister in the mountains.

"Warm and cozy."

"Wow! Second brother is back!"

Nuannuan saw the wild fruit, happily ran over to take it, and took a big bite, exclaiming, "So sweet!"

She took two bites, then ran back to the edge of the kang (heated brick bed) and held the fruit up to Ye Qing.

"Brother Ye Qing, you should have some too! This fruit is so sweet!"

Xiao An walked away sullenly, feeling a pang of sadness in her heart.

How could my own sister be siding with outsiders?

Ye Qing's injuries healed quickly, and he was able to get out of bed and walk around in just a few days.

That day, Nuannuan ran up to him, looked up at him with her little face, and pointed to her pigtails.

"Brother, can you braid Nuannuan's hair?"

Ye Qing stared at her soft, fine hair, and froze.

He's a grown man, how could he do this?

But under Nuannuan's expectant gaze, he nodded as if possessed.

His hands, accustomed to wielding knives and guns, awkwardly spun through the girl's soft hair, taking a long time to get it right.

Finally, I managed to tie a crooked braid, with one side higher than the other.

Even Ye Qing herself couldn't stand it anymore, but Nuan Nuan touched her little braids and happily spun around in place.

"Wow! Ye Qing's braids are the prettiest! They're even prettier than Mom's!"

Su Xiulan and Gu Jianguo watched from the side, their feelings complicated.

"Look at these two children..."

Su Xiulan whispered to her husband.

Gu Jianguo frowned, thinking to himself, "Why do I feel like my daughter is about to be taken away?"

But Nuannuan is only five years old; they must be overthinking it.

Once she was fully recovered, Ye Qing took the initiative to find Gu Jianguo.

"Uncle Gu".

He got straight to the point: "I'm from Beijing. Something happened at home and someone wants my life, so I need to hide here for a while."

He paused, then solemnly promised, "Once this matter has passed, I will leave immediately and will never implicate your family. I, Ye Qing, will definitely repay this kindness in the future."

Gu Jianguo remained silent for a long time before finally nodding heavily. "You can stay here with peace of mind."

Peace returned to the home, and the days went by one by one.

That evening, right after the family finished dinner, Da'an, as usual, picked up a pile of scrap metal he had collected from the junkyard and started tinkering with it in a corner.

Everyone was used to his hobby, and nobody cared.

suddenly!

"Sizzle—"

A piercing crackling sound of electricity rang out, and a burst of blue sparks suddenly erupted from the corner!

Everyone in the room was startled and turned to look at Da'an.

He was holding a strange object pieced together from various parts. It was making a buzzing sound, and a broken light bulb on it was flashing.

"Da'an, what... what is that thing?" Su Xiulan stammered.