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

After chatting for a while, as dusk approached, Ding Xiaohu picked up his basket and ran off in a flash.

"Sis, do you think Tiger is the fastest runner in our village?" Lin Yulong teased seriously.

Lin Qianqian was caught off guard by his remark and shook her head with a smile.

The two went to bed early—they had a big project to do tomorrow.

Actually, she saw the Lin family hiding in the corner all day.

She knew that the family wouldn't let it go.

It was Wang Hehua who arrived. She always felt that Lin Qianqian and her brother were up to something, but after squatting there all morning, she only saw the two of them engrossed in fiddling with the poisoned potatoes, their mouths practically agape—these two idiots, were they really going to eat that stuff? They should be poisoned to death!

When Wang Hehua returned, she embellished the story and repeated it, causing an uproar throughout the Lin family.

"They must be starving." Ding Yuxiang said with a smug look on her face. "Those two little bastards would be better off dead."

Lin Yurou and Lin Yuanyuan laughed so hard they almost fell over. They usually didn't back down from each other, but they were surprisingly united in their dislike of the siblings.

"You brat, you dared to talk back to me yesterday, you have no manners at all!" Old Mrs. Lin scolded with a dark face.

"Born of a mother but not raised by one," Lin Xiaohua retorted viciously, still remembering the blow she received yesterday. "She looks just like their dead mother; she's disgusting to look at."

Lin Guozhu sat in the corner, saying nothing.

What did he say? And what could he possibly say?

Lin Qianqian doesn't care about the Lin family's affairs.

In her dream, her cassava starch was selling like hotcakes, and she made a fortune. She lay on a pile of gleaming silver, her mouth agape in a wide grin.

"Haha—" Lin Qianqian laughed out loud.

Lin Yulong was startled. Seeing that his sister was dreaming, he didn't dare to wake her—his mother had said that you shouldn't talk nonsense while someone is dreaming, or they'll go crazy.

He turned to look out the window; it was almost dawn.

The crowing of the chickens next door woke Lin Qianqian up.

She opened her eyes, stared blankly at the dilapidated roof beams for a moment.

It was just a dream.

Yulong was already awake and was lying on the pillow looking at her.

"Sister, are you dreaming?"

"I dreamt that we became rich, with lots and lots of silver," Lin Qianqian recalled, a smile unconsciously creeping onto her lips.

"Sister, your smile is practically reaching your ears," Lin Yulong teased with a laugh.

As the two were chatting and laughing, Ding Xiaohu's voice rang out from outside the door again.

"I told you, your Brother Tiger is really dedicated, a role model!" Lin Qianqian said as she quickly put on her clothes and got out of bed to open the door.

Lin Yulong was completely bewildered: "What role model? What kind of steamed bun is that? Is it tasty?"

Lin Qianqian was amused by him: "All you ever think about is food. Get up now!"

Lin Yulong readily agreed.

Ding Xiaohu was already waiting outside, eager to witness the next step in the poisonous potato incident.

Lin Qianqian walked to the water vat, scooped out a piece of cassava, and smelled it closely—it was soaked, and the bitter almond smell had almost dissipated.

She scooped out a few pieces and put them in the pot, then called to the two little ones, "Come on, let's go get some water."

The three of them carried the wooden bucket back and forth several times until the pot was full of water. Lin Qianqian lit a fire, and the flames in the stove licked the bottom of the pot. Soon the water was bubbling and gurgling.

It's cooked.

Lin Qianqian picked up a piece with her chopsticks, blew on it, took a bite, and nodded with a smile: "Delicious."

The two little ones squatted by the stove, looking at each other, but neither of them reached out.

Lin Qianqian thought they were scared, so she said in a relaxed tone, "It's okay, eat up! I've taken care of everything, it's not poisonous."