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

"Yanqiu—your sister-in-law has come to see you!"

Sun Xiufen's face has never changed so quickly in her entire life.

Three days ago—she would have wished the father and daughter could be blown away by the wind when they went out.

Today—she stepped into the courtyard of the dilapidated house with a warm smile on her face.

Niannian was squatting in front of the stove washing dishes.

Upon hearing the sound, he paused in his actions.

He didn't turn around.

"Niannian—" Sun Xiufen bent down, her voice drawn out sweetly, "Where's your father?"

"Not here."

"Where did you go?"

"Training course".

Gu Yanqiu returned to Baiyang Commune early this morning.

The training course is over, and I have to go back to class.

Sun Xiufen's lips twitched.

Pounced empty.

But she didn't leave.

She sat down by the stove and wiped away non-existent dust from the stool with her sleeve.

"Your sister-in-law has something to tell you."

Her gaze swept over the stove—it was empty.

I glanced at the burlap sack in the corner—it was empty too.

"Sister-in-law, I heard your father went up the mountain and picked some good stuff—wood ear mushrooms, mushrooms, and things like that. Did he make a lot of money?"

Nian Nian put down the bowl.

I wiped my hands.

When he stood up—he only reached Sun Xiufen's waist.

He raised his head and looked into his aunt's eyes.

"Aunt, just say what you need to say."

Sun Xiufen was momentarily speechless at the tone of a four-and-a-half-year-old child—but she quickly switched to another set of words.

"It's nothing serious—you see, we're all family. Even though we've separated, blood is thicker than water. Your father is busy outside, and you're just a little girl at home; he can't take care of you all by himself. Your sister-in-law was thinking—if you go up the mountain to gather things again, why don't you have your uncle and Mingyuan go with you? They can help out and keep an eye on you."

Mingyuan—the eldest son of his uncle's family.

I am seven years old this year.

She is two and a half years older than Niannian.

He usually followed behind Sun Xiufen—he listened to whatever Sun Xiufen said.

Niannian looked into Sun Xiufen's eyes.

Those eyes—were smiling.

But the laughter was inappropriate.

The smile only reached the corners of his mouth—not to his eyes.

What's in his eyes—it's calculation.

I see it all clearly.

"Aunt, thank you for your concern."

Her voice was flat—without anger or sarcasm.

"The things on the mountain belong to everyone—anyone can go and pick them. You don't need to come with me."

Sun Xiufen's smile froze.

What this means is—if you want to take advantage of me, go do it yourself. Don't try to profit from me.

A four-and-a-half-year-old child.

He speaks with perfect tact and precision.

Sun Xiufen sat for a while and found that she couldn't get any useful information out of Niannian—not a single word was missing, not even which hillside, what location, or how much was collected.

She stood up sheepishly and patted her bottom.

"Well then—I'll head back now. Be careful while you're home alone."

Her expression changed when she reached the door.

He wasn't laughing.

It's that kind of resentment that's squeezed out after being rejected—it's coming down from the corners of your mouth.

Niannian stood at the door, watching Sun Xiufen's figure disappear behind the low wall.

She knew things wouldn't be that simple.

Sun Xiufen ran into a snag—but she had others backing her up.

Gu Yanchun.

Wang Guifang.

These two people won't have made a wasted trip.

--really.

The next morning.

Niannian is airing her quilt in the yard—supported by bamboo poles and draped over a low wall.

I could hear footsteps going uphill in the distance.

It wasn't just one person's footsteps—it was several.

She climbed up to the low wall and stood on tiptoe to look outside.

Gu Mingyuan was leading three children—Gou Dan and Lai Fu from the east end of the village, and another child whose name she didn't know—up the gentle slope behind the mountain.

Gu Mingyuan was carrying a bamboo basket.

The other children were holding sticks.

Chattering away—

"Brother Mingyuan said there are wood ear mushrooms on the mountain—they're very valuable—"

"It costs a little over one cent per pound—"

"Hurry up, hurry up—"

Niannian rested her hand on the low wall.

She didn't move.

Watching those figures disappear into the thicket of trees on the slope.

The corners of her mouth curved slightly.

It's not a laugh.

It's a cold, detached curve.

Let them be.

--afternoon.

Gu Mingyuan came down with his men.

The bamboo basket was half full—a mixture of dark and grayish-white substances.

Niannian stood at the gate of the courtyard and glanced at it from afar.

I counted them in my mind—

The black ones are wood ear mushrooms.

The grayish-white ones are mushrooms.

There were a few more—white, with round umbrella-shaped caps and slender stems, covered with a grayish-white membrane—

It looks like she's wearing a little skirt.

Niannian's gaze froze.

White-skirted mushroom.

It's poisonous.

She squatted at the gate of the courtyard and thought for a while.

Two thoughts were fighting in my head.

My first thought was to feed them.

Deserve it.

Who told them to steal her business?

The second thought—

The incident happened in the same village.

Mingyuan from my uncle's family is seven years old—no matter how naughty he is, he's still a child.

The few little kids who went with them were even younger—the youngest was only five years old.

Eating poisonous mushrooms—if you delay, you could lose your life.

The two ideas fought for three minutes.

The second one won.

But Niannian doesn't plan to tell her uncle's family directly.

That's too cheap for them.

She walked out of the courtyard gate, circled around the base of the low wall—

We arrived at the back door of Aunt Wang's house.

"Knock knock knock—"

The door opened.

Aunt Wang was holding a bowl of porridge, about to eat her dinner.

"Nian Nian?"

"Grandma Wang—" Niannian looked up, her voice not loud, but very clear.

"Do you know what a white-skirted mushroom looks like?"

Aunt Wang was taken aback.

"A white dress? You mean... the white poison umbrella?"

"Hmm. A round umbrella, a thin handle, wrapped in a skirt—it's poisonous."

"Everyone knows that—what's wrong?"

"Mingyuan and his friends picked a basket of mushrooms on the mountain today. I took a peek from afar—and it looked like there was one in a white dress among them."

Aunt Wang's expression changed.

Are you sure?

Niannian tilted her head slightly: "I can't see it very clearly—but it looks like it. Could you please remind me? Just in case someone gets sick—"

She didn't say, "I see it very clearly."

They didn't say "I'm sure."

Instead, it says "like"—leaving room for interpretation.

In this way, even if the uncle's family is reminded, they won't feel like they're being "meddled" or "doing a favor."

It was just that Aunt Wang showed concern "casually".

It's acceptable on the surface.

Nian Nian's abacus calculations are so sophisticated that they don't seem like something a four-and-a-half-year-old would do.

Aunt Wang put down her bowl and went out the door.

Niannian watched her hurried figure walk towards the courtyard.

Turn around—

"Let them go."

She muttered something.

"It's better to eat the poisonous mushrooms—they won't bother us anymore."

These are just words.

That's not what I really think.

She put both hands into the pockets of her cotton-padded coat—there was a piece of fruit candy in the pocket.

It was the one left for Granny Wang.

I forgot to give it to you earlier.

I'll give it to you tomorrow.

—That evening.

The news came from Aunt Wang's side—four white death cap mushrooms were mixed in with half a basket of mushrooms.

Luckily, it didn't have time to be cooked.

Sun Xiufen was so frightened that her face turned pale.

With a dark expression, Gu Yanchun dumped the entire basket of mushrooms—including the good ones.

do not know.

I can't tell the difference.

What a waste of a day.

There was almost an accident.

Niannian listened to the sounds coming from the other side of the low wall while she was in bed.

The faint sound of Sun Xiufen cursing Mingyuan drifted over—

"You need to be capable of doing something beyond your capabilities! Don't go if you don't know the right person! You almost ruined my whole family—"

Niannian turned over.

He closed his eyes.

Regarding the supply of mountain products—my uncle's family won't be bothering us again in the short term.

People who don't know the species go up the mountain to pick mushrooms—they're gambling with their lives.

I gambled once—I dare not gamble a second time.

But Nian Nian also understood—

My uncle's family won't give up.

If they can't disrupt the business of mountain products, they'll turn their attention to other things.

As long as Gu Yanqiu and his daughter's lives continue to improve, they will inevitably face pressure from that side.

This was the first rule she learned in this family.

It's not that other people are happy just because you're doing well.

You're doing well—some people will feel uncomfortable about it.

If you feel unwell, you'll resort to remedies.

She wrapped the blanket tighter around herself.

"The road to selling mountain products—" she thought to herself.

"We can't rely on just one approach."

"We need to find something else."

But what kind of path is one that others can't disrupt?

Thinking about this question, I slowly closed my eyes.

Moonlight streamed through the cracks in the broken tiles outside the window.

A thin silver line.

It landed on the empty sack on the stove—like a finger pointing into the distance.