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

Lin Qianqian and her brother had just run away from the Ding family's house when they bumped into Lin Xiaohua.

"You little brat, you're born of a mother but raised without one!" Lin Xiaohua cursed.

Lin Qianqian was about to apologize, but upon hearing this, she turned around and yelled, "You're yelling at yourself!" Then she grabbed her younger brother and ran away.

"You little brat, who are you calling names—" The shouts were left behind.

The two stopped at the alley entrance, panting heavily.

"Sister...you're really different now," Lin Yulong said cautiously. "You never dared to before..."

"From now on, no one will dare to bully us." Lin Qianqian interrupted him. "If we get hit, we'll fight back; if we can't win, we'll run away."

"Sis, I can run fast."

Lin Qianqian almost choked on her own saliva when Lin Yulong replied to her.

"Let's go home and eat steamed buns." She patted her younger brother's head. "Sis, aren't we going to save some? We just ate some during the day," Lin Yulong asked softly. He was afraid—afraid that once they were gone, there wouldn't be any left.

"What's the point of keeping you here? You're still growing, and I'll need you to protect me in the future."

"Okay, I'll protect my sister when I grow up."

After finishing the steamed buns, Lin Yulong grinned, his greasy lips parted in a wide smile. He should be like this at his age, yet he's been stuck with this kind of life.

That evening, Hu Zi brought over a bamboo basket and two other baskets. Lin Qianqian insisted on paying, but Hu Zi brought up his mother's words: "If you take money, I won't accept anything from her in the future." Lin Qianqian had no choice but to give up.

"Sister Qianqian, are we going again tomorrow?"

"Let's go, but we'll have to see what we find. The wild vegetables in that patch were all picked clean last time."

"Okay, I'll come again tomorrow morning." Ding Xiaohu said and ran off in a flash.

"This child," Lin Qianqian said with a smile, shaking her head.

Ding Xiaohu arrived before dawn the next day.

"Sister Qianqian, let's go!"

Lin Qianqian rubbed her eyes as she opened the door, almost screaming in fright at the dark figure at the entrance.

"You silly child, it's not even dawn yet!"

"Going early will save the villagers from finding out," Ding Xiaohu said matter-of-factly.

Several people came out carrying baskets on their backs, their eyes sparkling, not at all like they had just woken up.

The three of them walked to the village entrance in the dark. Suddenly, Lin Qianqian stopped and pricked up her ears.

"What's wrong?" Lin Yulong asked anxiously.

Shh—listen.

A rustling sound came from afar, as if someone was rummaging through something.

Ding Xiaohu lowered his voice: "Could someone have stolen our wild vegetables?"

Lin Qianqian rolled her eyes: "Those are from the wild. Whoever picks them keeps them. What do you mean by stealing them from us?"

The three of them crept over stealthily, parting the bushes—

A round hedgehog was digging into the grass roots when it was startled by the sudden light and curled up into a ball.

The three of them paused for two seconds, then burst into laughter.

"That's it?" Lin Yulong laughed so hard he couldn't straighten up. "I thought it was Er Gouzi from the next village!"

"Er Gouzi wouldn't do that," Ding Xiaohu said seriously. "Last time he stole my family's eggs, and my mother chased him for three blocks."

Lin Qianqian squatted down and gently poked the hedgehog ball with a twig: "Alright, stop playing dead, we're not going to eat you."

The hedgehog tentatively poked its little head out, glanced at them with its beady black eyes, and slowly rolled into the grass.

"Let's go," Lin Qianqian stood up and clapped her hands.

The group continued deeper into the mountains, taking a different route this time. The wild vegetables from their previous trip had been almost completely picked; they would wait until next year to harvest them again.