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

"Sister Qianqian, look at that!" Ding Xiaohu shouted again.

This time, his voice was different—lowered, with a cautious excitement.

Lin Qianqian looked in the direction he was pointing.

A dead old tree lay there, half of its trunk hollowed out, most of its bark peeled off, revealing grayish-white wood.

Right there in the crack of the dead tree trunk, a large piece of honeycomb was embedded there. It was yellowish-brown, with a pitted surface and a ring of amber liquid hanging around the edge, gleaming darkly in the dim light.

On the honeycomb, there were still a few wild bees crawling around, their bodies black and yellow, their wings thin and transparent, and their tails slightly upturned, as if they were surveying their territory.

Lin Yulong's eyes lit up, and he immediately reached out to grab it.

"Don't move!"

Lin Qianqian grabbed his wrist with such force that Lin Yulong hissed, but he didn't dare to break free.

"Be careful, these wild bees sting the most." Lin Qianqian stared at the wild bees, her voice low, as if she were negotiating with something unseen.

She is the most qualified to speak on this matter.

When she traveled to the dense forests of Xishuangbanna, she accidentally attracted a swarm of wild bees. The bees were small and inconspicuous, but their stings were quite severe—she still remembers the stinging pain of that moment, like being pierced by a red-hot needle, and then her whole skin swelled up, itchy and painful, burning hot.

My eyes are so swollen I can barely open them.

She spent the entire afternoon at the local health center that day, and the ice packs were changed three times before the swelling finally went down.

"What should we do then?" Ding Xiaohu squatted not far away, his eyes fixed on the honeycomb, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down.

Lin Qianqian released Lin Yulong's wrist, looked around, and bent down to pick up a few dry branches.

"Step back a bit."

She started to make a fire by rubbing sticks together, and soon smoke began to rise. She held the dry twig in her hand to the fire, and after a while, a flame suddenly shot up.

Smoke rose.

The bluish-gray smoke drifted with the wind toward the withered tree, starting as a thin wisp and then growing thicker, like a snake winding its way into the cracks in the trunk.

The wild bees began to stir.

They flew up from the hive, swirling in the smoke, their wings beating with a buzzing sound, like a protest or a discussion.

A few of the bolder ones circled Lin Qianqian twice, but the smoke was too thick, and they ultimately didn't stop, flying away one after another.

"Quick, pick the honey!" Lin Qianqian urged, her hands still busy, adding a few more damp firewood to the fire to make the smoke thicker. "We need to be quick, they've gone to find help. Once the help arrives, we'll be in trouble."

As she spoke, her voice tightened. She knew all too well—when the wild bees' helpers arrived, it wasn't just a few, but a whole swarm, a dark, overwhelming mass. At that point, there would be no one to call for help, and no way to escape.

Ding Xiaohu and Lin Yulong dared not delay.

Ding Xiaohu was bold and was the first to approach. He reached his hand to the side of the beehive, then pulled it back. After hesitating for a moment, he gritted his teeth and broke off a large piece.

The surface of the honeycomb was sticky, and his hands were covered in honey that stretched into strings. The sweetness spread instantly, so strong that it felt like he could smell sugar particles exploding in the air.

Lin Yulong joined in, and the two of them didn't care whether the wild bees would suddenly fly back; they were only thinking about getting faster, faster, faster.

One person broke off two pieces, and Ding Xiaohu broke off another piece. He tore off the edge of the honeycomb with a crisp "crack" sound, like breaking open a piece of old ginger.

"Alright, alright, that's enough!" Lin Qianqian shouted, stomping out the fire with her feet and kicking a few handfuls of dirt to cover the embers.

The two little ones came back panting, carrying a bunch of honeycomb in their arms, their hands and arms covered in sticky honey.