After the family split up, my stepmother and scumbag father begged me to come home.

Lin Qianqian slung her basket over her shoulder and called out to Ah Long, "Let's go dig for wild vegetables."

Lin Yulong followed behind eagerly. His stomach was already rumbling with hunger. His sister wouldn't let him eat the porridge that morning, so he hadn't dared to touch it—now that he thought about it, he was glad he hadn't eaten it, because the sand had knocked out his baby teeth.

He glanced at his sister walking ahead and sensed that something was different about her.

"Sister, you seem to have changed." Lin Yulong finally managed to say after a long pause.

"Oh?" Lin Qianqian continued walking. "What's changed?"

"I can't quite put my finger on it... but it's just different." Lin Yulong scratched his head.

His older sister used to be gentle and would never say a word even if she was bullied. But now—he thought about the bowl of porridge he had that morning, and then looked at his sister's back—she knows how to fight back now.

Maybe they were bullied too badly.

However, he likes his current older sister.

"I want to invite Tiger to come play together," Lin Yulong asked tentatively.

"Not this time." Lin Qianqian refused without even thinking. There's only one egg, how are we going to divide it?

She knew how good Ding Xiaohu and Aunt Ding had been to her and her siblings, and she would repay them when she had the chance.

I can't even feed myself right now, so thinking too much is pointless.

"Call him again next time." She shook the eggs in her hand. "I'll give you something good to eat later."

"Eggs?" Lin Yulong's eyes lit up, then dimmed again, his face showing horror. "Aunt's eggs? Sister, you stole them? Didn't Ding eat them?... Don't take them next time. If Grandma and Aunt find out, you'll get a beating again. I don't want you to get beaten."

"Eat it if they give it to you." Lin Qianqian patted his head. "Don't worry, they can't catch you."

The two entered the mountain and walked for a while until they could no longer see anyone around. Lin Qianqian picked up a few dry branches, intending to start a fire to roast the eggs.

Lin Yulong squatted to one side, looking troubled: "Sister, how do we start a fire without a flint?"

"I have a solution."

Lin Qianqian squatted down and, following the method she had read in a book, found a flat piece of wood and picked up a straight, thin stick, and began to rub wood together to make fire.

The wood was dry enough, and the friction was fast enough. Sure enough, a wisp of smoke rose from the trough in no time.

"Sis! It's smoking!" Lin Yulong exclaimed excitedly in a low voice.

Lin Qianqian carefully added a few thin twigs, and the flames leaped up. She then added some coarse firewood, and as the fire burned brightly, it gradually weakened until only a pile of glowing embers remained before burying the eggs inside.

Lin Yulong squatted down beside it, his eyes fixed on the fire.

"Sis, I've never eaten an egg before," he said softly.

Lin Qianqian was taken aback: "Never eaten it before?"

She remembered how Ah Long had watched her eat the egg yesterday, without making a sound about wanting any. At the time, she thought he was just being considerate, but now she realized—

This child has absolutely no idea what an egg tastes like.

Lin Qianqian felt a pang in her heart.

To be honest, when she was in modern times, her grandmother would nag her to eat more eggs every day, and she would find it annoying. Now? How heartbroken her grandmother would be if she knew she was dead.

She looked at the thin, small boy in front of her—his mother was gone, his father was practically nonexistent, and he had never even eaten an egg. Now, even his older sister was gone; he was all alone.

She was nothing more than a lonely soul occupying this body.

Lin Qianqian reached out and gently patted A Long's head.

Ah Long looked up at her, his eyes shining.

—I will definitely protect you.

Lin Qianqian thought to herself, "I'll make sure you have a good life."

Looking at the buried eggs, Lin Qianqian said softly, "They're cooked."

Lin Yulong was very excited, but he stopped.

"Sister, you eat. You need nutrition," Lin Yulong said softly.

"Just eat it, I ate it yesterday." She said, peeling the egg open and stuffing it into Lin Yulong's mouth while he was talking.

Lin Yulong chewed a few times and said, "It's really delicious. No wonder my aunt loves it."

These words almost brought Lin Qianqian to tears.

"Later... wait a bit, I'll let you eat eggs every day," Lin Qianqian said after a pause.

"Sis, we can't eat eggs every day! We'd be doomed! We're lucky if we can have them once in a while," Lin Yulong said with a smile.

"You seem quite satisfied." Lin Qianqian stroked Lin Yulong's thin body.

The nine-year-old child is so thin; he's clearly malnourished. It seems we need to separate from the family and start earning money soon so we can provide a better life for Ah Long.