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

There was nothing at home except for that half-bag of sweet potatoes.

Lin Qianqian made up her mind that she would eat roasted sweet potatoes for dinner and burn the bird eggs she had collected that day.

Ding Xiaohu turned to leave as soon as he saw it. He knew that Qianqian had a hard life; that half-bag of sweet potatoes was probably all the food the two siblings had to get through the past few days.

"Tiger, let's eat here." Lin Qianqian grabbed him. "It's nothing fancy, but it'll fill you up."

Lin Yulong chimed in, "Eat up! There's extra food today."

Ding Xiaohu was stunned. Didn't they just have an extra meal at noon?

A delicious aroma was already wafting from the stove.

Several small, round things were roasting by the fire.

"This is... a bird egg!" Ding Xiaohu's eyes widened.

"The three of us, three each," Lin Qianqian said with a smile as she counted.

"Isn't my sister amazing!" Lin Yulong raised his little face, full of pride. "She pulled out a whole nine!"

The three of them sat around the fire, eating with gusto. Ding Xiaohu had been craving the eggs yesterday when he delivered them, but he knew they were for Sister Qianqian to nourish her body, and he couldn't touch them.

These bird eggs smell really good today.

When he was at home, his mother would save up eggs to exchange for salt, lamp oil, and paper and pens for their studies.

"Tiger," Lin Qianqian suddenly spoke, "Are you going up the mountain tomorrow?"

"Go." Ding Xiaohu said without thinking, with half a bird egg still stuffed in his mouth.

"Do you dare go to the deep mountains, Brother Tiger?" Lin Yulong puffed out his chest, his words tinged with a hint of boasting.

"Deep in the mountains?" Ding Xiaohu's eyes widened. "Aren't there man-eating monsters in there?"

"That's all made up by adults to scare kids." Lin Yulong waved his hand dismissively, completely forgetting that just yesterday he himself believed it wholeheartedly and didn't even dare to go into the deep woods at the foot of the mountain.

Lin Qianqian was amused by her younger brother's mature demeanor, and with a smile, she gently patted his head.

"If you dare to go, I dare to go!" Ding Xiaohu stiffened his neck and laughed.

"Okay, let's go together first thing tomorrow morning," Lin Qianqian decided.

The sun was setting, and it was getting dark. Ding Xiaohu patted his bottom and stood up: "Sister Qianqian, I should go back now. Parents will worry if I'm late."

"Okay, I'll take you there."

"No need, no need!" Ding Xiaohu waved his hand and darted out the door. "I know the whole village with my eyes closed. You two should get some rest!"

Before the words were even finished, the person had already run far away.

Inside the house, the siblings looked in that direction and burst out laughing at the same time.

Both are members of the Lin family

As fellow members of the Lin family, Lin Qingyuan's family, located at the east end of the village, was also affected by this turmoil.

Because of the troubles that happened to his older brother's family, their entire branch of the family felt inferior when they went out. They always felt like people were pointing and whispering about them when they walked around the village.

Zhuang Yaqin threw the half-finished shoe sole into the basket, her brows furrowed in a frown: "Listen to what people outside are saying about our Lin family! The eldest branch has no shame, but we, the second branch, still do! Guoliang and Guodong haven't even found wives yet. If they get dragged down by this, I'll never forgive them!"

Lin Qingyuan squatted on the threshold, smoking his pipe with his head down, the smoke flickering on and off.

"Alright, that's enough."

"I'd rather not say anything!" Zhuang Yaqin couldn't hold back her voice. "Now that this has happened, can't we even say a few words about it? Aren't you frustrated?"

Lin Qingyuan didn't say anything, but tapped the tobacco pipe on the sole of his shoe.

Zhuang Yaqin grew angrier the more she thought about it, and couldn't stop talking: "Lin Guozhu is a brainless idiot! He doesn't love his own flesh and blood, but dotes on this child who isn't related to him by blood? I don't know how much water is in his brain. Marrying such a vicious thing into the family, and look what he's ruined!"

"Do you think everyone has such good taste like me?" Lin Qingyuan suddenly said in a muffled voice.

Zhuang Yaqin was taken aback, then spat at him, but couldn't help but smile.

"You old lecher, never serious!"

The atmosphere inside became more relaxed. The moon outside had climbed to the treetops, casting a cool, clear light.

Lin Qingyuan put away his pipe and stood up: "Those two kids... are quite pitiful. Now that they've been separated, you know your sister-in-law, she probably didn't give them anything. We still have some coarse rice in the house, pack some up and take it over tomorrow when you have time."

Zhuang Yaqin remained silent for a while, sighed, and stood up to lift the rice jar.

"Okay, I'll help if I can."

She bent down to scoop rice into the bag, her voice low: "We can't follow in my brother's footsteps and do those immoral things."

Moonlight streamed through the window, falling on her slightly hunched back and on the small bag of brown rice.

The siblings who lived in the east end of the village had no idea that someone else was also thinking about them!