Sold into a ghost marriage? Four-year-old and his thuggish father go on a killing spree.

Just as dawn broke, Gu Yanqiu was awakened by a knock on the door.

No—it wasn't knocking.

It's a push-open door.

The two broken wooden doors were pushed open from the outside.

A cold wind, carrying the morning light, rushed in, along with a sharp voice.

"Yanqiu, are you up yet? Your sister-in-law is here to see you."

Sun Xiufen stood at the door, her hands tucked into the sleeves of her cotton-padded jacket, a smile that sent chills down one's spine.

Niannian was awakened by the cold wind.

Her first reaction upon opening her eyes was to shrink back—an instinct she carried over from the coffin.

At the slightest breeze, sound, or movement, the body automatically curls into a ball.

Then she saw Sun Xiufen at the door.

That forced smile on his face in the yard last night.

Niannian narrowed her eyes slightly.

Gu Yanqiu sat up on the bed, rubbed his eyes, and a hint of unease flashed across his face.

"Sister-in-law, what's up?"

"Oh, I've come to see my new niece." Sun Xiufen stepped into the room with a smile, her eyes scanning the room.

His gaze swept over the empty stove, the empty water vat, and the half-empty bag of sweet potatoes in the corner—

Then the corners of her mouth curled up slightly.

not worried.

They were dirt poor.

Just as she expected.

"Oh, this house is so cold." Sun Xiufen rubbed her hands together, her tone full of concern. "The stove isn't lit, there's no water, how are you going to raise the child?"

Gu Yanqiu didn't say anything, but lowered his head to tuck the blanket around Niannian.

Sun Xiufen walked around the room, her gaze finally landing on the half-bag of sweet potatoes.

"Is this all there is left?"

"Enough to eat," Gu Yanqiu replied in a muffled voice.

Enough to eat? Sun Xiufen sneered inwardly. That half-bag of sweet potatoes would at most last three days. And after three days?

After confirming what she wanted to confirm, she got down to business.

"Yanqiu, let me tell you something from the bottom of my heart." Sun Xiufen sat down on the edge of the tattered bed, patting non-existent dust off her cotton-padded coat. "You can't even feed yourself, yet you're raising a little girl. You're something else."

"But—" she changed the subject, "the family's food is distributed per person. You know how much food our Gu family has received in total, and in previous years it's always been a tight squeeze. Now that you're an extra person, your food rations need to be discussed separately with Mom, and deducted from your own share. Don't expect it to come from the family's public accounts."

These words are well-reasoned and supported by evidence; there is nothing wrong with them.

But everyone can tell that it's drawing lines.

Draw a line to tell Gu Yanqiu: Your daughter has nothing to do with us. You gave birth to her, so raise her yourself. Don't even think about taking a single drop of porridge from my bowl.

Gu Yanqiu pursed his lips.

He knew what kind of person his sister-in-law was.

Gu Yanchun married Sun Xiufen because he valued her shrewdness—she knew everything about the household, from the smallest grain of rice to the last piece of firewood.

Being shrewd is a good thing. But being shrewd to this extent turns into being mean-spirited.

Niannian sat quietly in bed, listening intently.

She didn't interrupt.

Sun Xiufen glanced at Niannian, then put on a smile again: "My niece is quite pretty. She's just a little thin; she'll be fine if she eats more."

This sounds like concern, but it's actually a reminder—eat more? What are you going to give her to eat?

After saying that, Sun Xiufen stood up, patted her bottom, and prepared to leave.

Just before leaving, she casually added, "Oh, right, Yanqiu, you've finished your half-bag of sweet potatoes, but you can't touch the food rations in the kitchen; they're distributed per person. If you want more, you'll have to talk to your mother."

The meaning of this couldn't be clearer—

If you go to your mother for food, you'll be in big trouble.

The curtain fell, and Sun Xiufen left.

From the courtyard came the sound of her greeting someone, her voice filled with laughter and lively chatter.

The room fell silent again.

Gu Yanqiu squatted in front of the stove, her hands tucked into her hair, without uttering a sound.

Niannian crawled out of bed, her feet touching the cold ground, and walked to Gu Yanqiu's side.

"dad."

Gu Yanqiu looked up at her.

Niannian said earnestly, "She's afraid I'll eat her food."

These words, spoken by a four-and-a-half-year-old child, were so precise they were startling.

Gu Yanqiu was stunned for a moment, then smiled wryly.

His bitter smile carried an indescribable bitterness—his daughter shouldn't understand these things. A four-and-a-half-year-old should be rolling on the floor, whining, and demanding candy. She shouldn't be here analyzing the intricacies of adult relationships.

"Dad," Niannian said again.

She tilted her little head, as if she was seriously thinking about something very important.

"I can eat a little less."

"I can endure hunger very well."

"When I lived at my grandma's house, I only ate one meal a day, sometimes not at all. And it was fine."

This was said in a very casual way, as if it were just saying "The weather is bad today".

But every word felt like a fine needle piercing Gu Yanqiu's heart.

He squatted down.

Look directly into Niannian's eyes.

There was no resentment in those bright black eyes—she no longer knew what resentment meant.

For her, hunger is the norm, and not being hungry is an occasional reward.

Gu Yanqiu's throat felt like it was blocked by something, and his Adam's apple bobbed up and down several times.

"Nian Nian".

"Um?"

"You won't have to put up with it anymore."

Niannian blinked.

"Dad will earn it."

When Gu Yanqiu uttered those three words, even he himself felt they were not quite real.

挣。

He had been a lazy bum in Chengjiawan for several years, spending his days wandering around and shirking his duties.

He earned the fewest work points in the whole village. He stayed in this dilapidated house, sometimes not knowing where his next meal would come from, but he didn't care—as long as he was alive, it didn't matter whether he lived well or not.

But now—

Standing in front of him was a four-and-a-half-year-old girl, so thin she was hard to touch. She said, "I can eat less; I can endure hunger very well."

She climbed out of the coffin.

She ran barefoot in the snow all night.

She traveled over a hundred miles by herself.

Imagine a child standing in front of you, telling you, "I don't have to eat."

Gu Yanqiu felt as if he had been stabbed hard in the heart for years, and then a spark was leaking from the wound.

It's a very small amount.

But it's burning.

"Dad will earn it."

He repeated it again.

This time it's heavier than the last time.

Niannian looked at his face.

Something was changing on that thin, stubble-covered face that had looked worn out for years—it wasn't that it had become more handsome, but rather that it had become more robust.

Like a piece of iron that has been burned, it begins to regain its shape.

Niannian did not say "okay".

She simply extended her small, bandaged hand and gently grasped Gu Yanqiu's fingers.

I held on for a second and then let go.

But in that instant, Gu Yanqiu felt as if someone had thrown a fire back into the stove that had already gone cold.

Outside, the north wind was still howling.

The voices of Sun Xiufen and Wang Guifang could be heard faintly from the other side of the courtyard. They were hard to hear clearly, but the sarcastic tone in their voices could be heard even across the courtyard.

Gu Yanqiu stood up.

He glanced at the half-full bag of sweet potatoes in the corner, then at the empty water vat, and then at the cracked wall and the door that wouldn't close properly.

Then he looked at Niannian.

The little girl squatted in front of the stove, adding firewood into the firebox.

The firelight shone on that little face.

There was something about that face that had crawled out of the coffin that made Gu Yanqiu's whole body burn—

trust.

She believed him.

She had never met him before, but based solely on a note from her mother, she traveled over a hundred miles to find him.

They found a lazy bum, a good-for-nothing, a spineless coward who couldn't even support himself.

But she still believed him.

Gu Yanqiu clenched his fist.

My fingernails dug into my flesh, causing a slight stinging pain.

"Nian Nian".

"Um?"

"Dad is going to work tomorrow."

Niannian turned her head, and the flames from the stove flickered twice in her pupils.

"I'm waiting for you at home."

That night, Gu Yanqiu slept for less than two hours.

He tossed and turned in his thoughts—what would he do at work tomorrow? He hadn't been to the threshing floor for half a month, and the number on his work points book was pitifully low. If Cheng Tiezhu asked, how could he possibly answer?

But then he remembered what Niannian had said.

"I can eat a little less."

That sentence was like an awl; every time I thought about it, it stabbed me in the heart.

Gu Yanqiu woke up before dawn.

This was the first time he had woken up before dawn in the years he had lived in Chengjiawan.