After being reborn, I have seven older sisters.

Song Chunsheng looked down at his seventh sister, whose face was covered in tears, and a feeling of warmth and reunion after a long separation instantly washed over him.

The mother and sixth sister were both startled by the sudden turn of events, but when they looked up and saw Song Chunsheng's figure, they were completely stunned.

Sixth Sister Song Chunzao screamed and collapsed to the ground, staring at the door for a long time without making a sound.

The mother, Liu Yan'e, stared wide-eyed at her son. After a moment's hesitation, she murmured, "Chunsheng, my child, are you reluctant to leave your mother and have come back to see her one last time?"

Song Chunsheng immediately realized that his mother must think that he was not a living person, but the spirit of her deceased son, which was why she said such strange things.

"Mom, I'm not dead, I'm alive! I was just knocked unconscious by the water!"

Song Chunsheng quickly offered an explanation.

Hearing this, the seventh sister, Song Chunmiao, who was crying, first looked up at him, then immediately pressed her head against his chest to listen carefully. She instantly turned and shouted, "Mom, there's a heartbeat! It's not a ghost, it's Chunsheng! He's not dead, he's still alive!"

Song Chunsheng looked at his seventh sister with a wry smile.

She thought to herself, boldness and wit are exactly what she should be like.

With Seventh Sister's courage and intelligence, she should have had a better life in the future, instead of becoming that pitiful woman who died of illness after divorcing her unfaithful husband and raising her child alone.

Upon hearing that her son was still alive, Liu Yan'e, the mother, could no longer hold back her tears and rushed towards him, crying out, "My son..."

Sixth Sister Song Chunzao also got up from the ground, went up to Song Chunsheng, took his hand, and cried and laughed at the same time.

On the earthen bed in the east room of the main hall, the eldest sister Song Chuntao and the second sister Song Chunxing were sewing mourning clothes for their deceased younger brother. Upon hearing the crying, they immediately got off the bed and opened the door to see what had happened.

When the two saw their younger brother Chunsheng standing at the door, while their elderly mother and two younger sisters were already crying, they were instantly stunned.

My brother isn't dead, he's still alive!

The eldest and second eldest sisters are both in their thirties this year, and there is a large age gap between them and Song Chunsheng. Therefore, they are not as close to their younger brother emotionally as the sixth sister Chunzao and the seventh sister Chunmiao.

But blood is thicker than water, and seeing that his younger brother was still alive, he couldn't help but burst into tears to release the frustration that had been building up inside him.

Immediately, the whole family burst into tears.

"My child is still alive?"

Just as the mother and her five daughters were weeping uncontrollably around Song Chunsheng, who had come back from the dead, a trembling voice, filled with shock and overwhelming grief, drifted over from the courtyard.

Father Song Mantun was standing at the door of the east wing, holding a pipe, motionless like a stone pillar.

"Dad, Chun Sheng is alive, he just choked on water and passed out!"

Seeing her father's sorrowful expression, Song Chunmiao quickly added a sentence.

"Dad, our kid's fine, not a single part of him is missing!"

Having looked her son up and down dozens of times, Liu Yan'e, overjoyed, looked at her husband Song Mantun and shouted loudly.

Upon hearing this, Song Mantun let out a long sigh, wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with the corner of her sleeve, and walked towards her son with a smile.

When he got closer and touched Song Chunsheng's damp clothes, he immediately frowned and looked at his wife with a worried expression.

"Old woman, the child can't be dressed like this, all wet and damp. He'll get sick!"

After being reminded, Liu Yan'e and the others realized that Song Chunsheng had been wearing this outfit ever since he was pulled from the water by the militia. The funeral clothes that he was preparing to wear for his encoffining were still being sewn by his eldest and second daughters.

"Oh dear, look at my brain! I got so excited I completely forgot about that!"

Liu Yan'e laughed and slapped her thigh hard. She pulled her son and headed straight for the west room of the main hall. But after taking only two steps, she suddenly turned around as if she remembered something and pulled Song Chunsheng straight to the east room where she and her husband lived.

At the same time, she turned to her four daughters, who were staring at her, and said, "Don't just stand there, hurry up and find your brother some new clothes!"

As soon as she finished speaking, the eldest daughter, Song Chuntao, glanced at the earthen bed in the east room and hesitated, "Mom, the new clothes... my second sister and I only made half of them, we haven't..."

"Oh dear, how did I end up with such a silly goose (Northwest dialect, meaning someone is a bit 'foolish')!"

Liu Yan'e was so angry at her eldest daughter's sudden remark that she almost fainted. "Don't you know who you're making those clothes for? Open your eyes and look at your brother. Can he even wear them now?"

Seeing her eldest sister being scolded, the second sister, Song Chunxing, quickly tried to smooth things over, "Mom, don't be angry. My eldest sister has been busy with chores on the kang (heated brick bed) with me since she arrived this afternoon. She's been working with her head down ever since, and maybe the blood isn't flowing smoothly in her brain, making her a little confused!"

"Second Sister is right, my head is still buzzing!"

Song Chuntao quickly climbed down using the bamboo pole handed to her by her second sister.

Liu Yan'e gave a helpless snort. She had been quite angry at her eldest daughter's thoughtless words, but when she turned around and saw her son Chunsheng looking at her with a smile, her anger instantly subsided by more than half.

"My child, don't stand at the door, hurry inside and get on the kang (heated brick bed). Your father added firewood to the stove this afternoon, it's still warm!"

After watching her son enter the room and sit on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), Liu Yan'e casually picked up an enamel basin from the basin stand inside, stood sideways in the doorway, and said:

"Go quickly and get some hot water for Chunsheng to wash up, then go to the kitchen... turn on the stove... and boil a few more eggs!"

"I'll go get some hot water!"

In an attempt to atone for her earlier ramblings, the eldest daughter, Song Chuntao, quickly snatched the washbasin from her mother's hands and ran towards the kitchen outside the main room.

"Sixth Sister, you go find some eggs, I'll light the fire, let's go boil some eggs for Chunsheng!"

Before the sixth sister, Song Chunzao, could speak, the second sister, Song Chunxing, had already dragged her out of the main room to find eggs.

"Miao, don't just stand there! You're the one who always tidies Chunsheng's room, you know exactly where every piece of clothing is. Quickly find some clean clothes and take them to the child!"

"Um!"

Song Chunmiao agreed to her father's request and immediately went into the west room where her younger brother lived. The kerosene lamp inside was soon lit up.

Song Mantun smiled with relief. He had thought he would die without an heir today, but he never expected that his son would be alive and walk back on his own.

It seems that God does have eyes!

Thinking of all this, he smiled broadly and walked quickly toward the room where his wife and son were on the east side!

At this moment, Song Chunsheng was sitting on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), one of his hands tightly held in the palm of his mother, Liu Yan'e, while his father, Song Mantun, leaned against the cabinet opposite the kang, smiling broadly at him.

The mourning clothes that were originally half-sewn by her two older sisters and placed in the middle of the kang were crumpled into a ball and stuffed into a large wooden box by the head of the kang the moment her mother entered the room, for fear that her son Chunsheng would take another look.

"Oh dear, my child suffered terribly today!"

As Liu Yan'e spoke, tears streamed down her face.

"The child is alright now, so please stop crying and don't let the child think about those upsetting things!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Yan'e quickly wiped away her tears with her sleeve. "You're right, I should be happy that the child is alright. Don't cry, don't cry!"

After washing up, Song Chunsheng ate six boiled eggs in one go, changed into a dry blue velvet thermal underwear, and sat down on the kang (a heated brick bed) next to his mother, Liu Yan'e.

Looking at the few gray hairs at his mother's temples and the faint crow's feet at the corners of her eyes, he put his arm around her shoulders and whispered, "Mom, I will take good care of you from now on!"

Feeling the warmth of her son's breath, Liu Yan'e struggled to hold back her tears. "Mom knows, Mom knows my child has always been filial!"

Seeing that his mother was perfectly fine, Song Chunsheng breathed a slight sigh of relief. He had finally made it back before that tragedy struck!

As long as his mother is doing well, he feels at ease!

Just then, he suddenly noticed that his sisters were all looking at him with eager anticipation, as if they were waiting for something!

"Alright! It's getting late, let Chunsheng get some rest. We have to work in the fields tomorrow. Eldest and second eldest, you two can stay with your two younger sisters for the night and go back when it's light!"

Mother Liu Yan'e knew what they were waiting for; they simply wanted to hear Chunsheng tell them in person what had happened to him that day.

But she didn't want to do that; rather, she couldn't bear to.

Because she felt that making Chunsheng talk about those things would only reopen the child's wounds, and no mother would do anything bad to her child!

After watching her daughters leave, Liu Yan'e immediately stood up and looked at her husband, "Let the kids sleep on our kang tonight, and we'll sleep in the west room!"

Song Mantun nodded, looking at her son with concern, "Yes, the kang (heated brick bed) is warm, let the child warm himself up properly, and make sure he doesn't develop any health problems!"

Song Chunsheng sat on the edge of the kang without moving. He wanted to refuse and tell his parents that he was fine and could go back to his room to sleep.

To his surprise, his father, Song Mantun, immediately bent down to help him take off his cotton shoes, and pushed him further into the kang (heated brick bed), saying with a serious expression:

"Listen to me, if you don't warm yourself up properly after wearing wet clothes all day, you'll develop health problems later."

As her mother, Liu Yan'e, made the bed, she chimed in, "If a boy develops a chronic illness at such a young age, it's no laughing matter. So no matter what, you have to stay in this room tonight!"