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

Grandma Lin didn't say anything.

She walked to the steps in front of the house, lifted her clothes behind her back, and sat down steadily.

The steps were made of bluestone slabs, chilling to the bone, but she sat there steadily, as if she were on her own kang (heated brick bed).

"I don't believe they won't come back," she said, her voice not loud, but each word seemed to be squeezed out from between her teeth, carrying an undeniable certainty.

Wang Hehua was stunned for a moment, then realized what was happening and quickly found a tattered burlap sack in the house—no, in the yard—folded it up, and placed it under the old lady's bottom: "Mom, the ground is cold, don't sit on it and get sick." The old lady didn't appreciate it, but she didn't refuse either, and just sat there steadily.

Wang Hehua also found a place to sit down, which was an overturned broken wooden bucket. She tested whether it was stable, then sat down with her hands on her knees and her eyes fixed on the direction of the courtyard gate.

Lin Xiaohua refused to sit on the ground, finding it dirty. She stood leaning against the door frame, one leg on the ground and the other bent, her toes touching the ground, occasionally twitching it. She would look at the courtyard gate, then at the house door, then pick at her nails, humming an off-key tune, as if waiting for something good to happen sooner or later.

The three of them sat down in the courtyard.

He sat cross-legged, as steady as Mount Tai.

Three statues of deities have been moved here, waiting for people to make offerings.

Wang Hehua grew impatient sitting and changed positions several times, the broken wooden bucket under her bottom making her uncomfortable. She stood up, took a few steps, sat down again, and stood up again.

"Mother, they're not not coming back, are they?"

"Where else can you go if you don't come back?" Old Mrs. Lin didn't even lift her eyelids.

"What if..." Wang Hehua wanted to say, "What if they find out we're here," but she swallowed the words back. Saying it aloud would make her seem guilty, as if they were in the wrong. But then she thought, what did she have to be guilty of? Those two from the second wife's family ate and used everything from the Lin family; if they found something good and didn't share it with their own family, they were the ones in the wrong!

Thinking this way, she felt justified again, sat back down, and raised her chin as high as Lin Xiaohua's.

Lin Xiaohua had already started yawning.

She yawned dramatically, her mouth wide open, making an "Ah—" sound, then covered her mouth with the back of her hand and mumbled, "Mother, why aren't they back yet? I'm hungry."

"I'll endure the hunger," said Grandma Lin.

Lin Xiaohua pouted and dared not utter another word.

Lin Qianqian saw a crowd of people gathered at the gate of her yard from afar.

A dark mass, in small groups, stood on both sides of the road, whispering to each other, like a flock of crows blown by the wind. Some had their arms crossed, some had their hands in their pockets, and some were still holding rice bowls—clearly they had just run away from the dining table, their rice still in their bowls, eating as they looked around.

What's up?

Lin Qianqian's first thought was—is it on fire?

She glanced instinctively towards the top of the courtyard. There was no smoke, no fire, and not even the smell of burning.

That's not fire.

But if it's not a fire, why are so many people gathered around?

She quickened her pace, the cassava in her basket swaying and making dull thuds. A thought flashed through her mind—she hadn't cooked breakfast; the stove was cold, and even if she turned on the water, it wouldn't heat up.

She didn't even light a fire before leaving the house.

This morning we ate the cornbread that Tiger brought.

"Sis, isn't that our house?"

Lin Yulong's voice came from behind, carrying an inexplicable tension. His hand was already gripping Lin Qianqian's clothes tightly, his knuckles turning white.