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

I told you, I won't report you to the brigade.

Gu Niannian looked at the boy who was tense all over, like a hedgehog with his whole body erect in defense, took a few steps forward, and spoke in a calm and serious tone.

"You live in there, don't you?"

The boy did not answer, his lips pressed tightly together, his eyes still showing the same wariness.

He was as thin as a bamboo pole, his tattered clothes hanging loosely on his body.

Gu Niannian could even see the purplish-blue marks on his arms beneath his rolled-up sleeves.

The scar stung Gu Niannian's eyes.

She remembered herself, remembered that winter when her grandmother and aunt locked her in the woodshed.

I was cold and hungry, and my body was covered in bruises.

The eyes of the boy before me were so similar to my own when I lay in despair in the snow.

"You don't need to be afraid of me."

Gu Niannian softened her voice, trying to make her expression as harmless as possible. "I'm just curious. Why do you live there?"

Perhaps it was because Gu Niannian was too young, or perhaps it was because there was no malice in her clear eyes.

The boy's tense body finally relaxed a little.

He hesitated for a long time before speaking in a dry, hoarse voice.

"I...I'm Lin Xiaobei, and I'm fifteen years old."

Through fragmented narration, Gu Niannian pieced together a tragic story.

Lin Xiaobei is from the nearby Hongxing Commune and attends junior high school in the town.

His father was originally a Chinese language teacher at the town's middle school. Because he had written a few poems that were considered "romantic and sentimental,"

He was labeled a "stinking intellectual" and was dragged out for public criticism and made to clean toilets every day.

His mother couldn't bear the blow and fell ill, passing away last year.

The father soon married a widow as his stepmother.

That woman constantly beat and scolded Lin Xiaobei, making him do all the dirty and tiring chores at home, yet she wouldn't even give him a full meal.

A few days ago, he was beaten half to death by his stepmother with a fire poker for breaking a bowl and was kicked out of the house.

"My dad... he was right there watching, and he didn't say a word."

As Lin Xiaobei spoke, her eyes reddened, but she stubbornly tilted her head back, refusing to let the tears fall.

His clear eyes were filled with despair and pain at being abandoned by his loved ones.

Homeless, he wandered around until he finally discovered this abandoned old house on the back mountain of Chengjiawan.

During the day, he would hide inside and dare not go out. Only at night would he dare to sneak out to find some wild fruit in the mountains to fill his stomach, or take advantage of the darkness to run to the town more than ten miles away and help people carry bags at the dock to earn some money to buy some dry food.

"I didn't steal or rob, I just want to... survive."

After Lin Xiaobei finished speaking, she lowered her head, her voice pleading, "Little sister, please, don't tell anyone. If the brigade finds out, they'll send me back... I don't want to go back, I'd rather die out there!"

Gu Niannian fell silent.

Looking at Lin Xiaobei's injuries and the despair in his eyes, she was deeply moved.

Unlike other children, she didn't run to tell the adults.

Because she understands better than anyone what it feels like to be abandoned by the whole world.

"I won't tell," Gu Niannian promised him.

She turned around, took something out of her small cloth bag, and handed it over.

It was a white steamed bun that was still warm from being touched.

This is her dinner tonight.

"for you."

Lin Xiaobei was stunned. He stared at the white steamed bun, unable to believe his eyes.

In those days, white flour steamed buns were an incredibly precious food for a rural child.

"you……"

"Here you go." Gu Niannian shoved the steamed bun into his hand. "Eat it quickly, or it'll get cold."

After saying that, she didn't say anything more and turned to leave.

From that day on, Gu Niannian had an extra secret mission.

She started trying to find ways to secretly send food to Lin Xiaobei.

The family's food rations were fixed, so she couldn't make it too obvious.

So every day at mealtimes, she would deliberately set aside a small portion of her food and hide it at the bottom of her bowl.

She said she couldn't eat anymore.

Then, before going to Su Xueqing's house that evening, he made an excuse to go to the back mountain to gather pig feed.

They secretly delivered the food to the dog hole next to the old house.

A cornbread bun, half a piece of pickled vegetables, or sometimes just a handful of stir-fried soybeans.

Although it wasn't much, it was a life-saving rain for the starving Lin Xiaobei.

Lin Xiaobei was initially wary of her, but gradually he found that this little girl, who was only six and a half years old, was more reliable than any adult he had ever met.

She never asked many questions, nor did she ever appear as a savior.

Each time it puts something down, it quietly leaves, like a little field mouse that comes and goes without a trace.

One time, Lin Xiaobei couldn't resist and, as she put down her things and was about to leave, he came out from behind the wall.

"Why...why are you helping me?" He looked at Gu Niannian, his eyes filled with confusion and gratitude.

Gu Niannian was about to leave when she heard the question. She stopped, turned around and looked at him. Her face was expressionless, but her tone was very serious.

"Because, when I was about to starve to death, someone gave me a steamed bun."

"This is not charity, this is passing on."

After saying that, she disappeared into the twilight.

Lin Xiaobei stood there, stunned, for a very long time.

Looking at the still-warm cornbread in his hand, and then thinking about the phrase "this is called passing on," the boy, whose life had tormented him to the point of near numbness, felt his eyes well up with tears for the first time.

However, the truth will eventually come out.

Gu Niannian's unusual behavior of suddenly reducing her appetite quickly attracted the attention of others.

This person was her uncle, Gu Yandong, who had taken good care of her.

"Niannian, what's wrong with you these past few days? Why are you eating like a cat?"

At the dinner table, Gu Yandong looked at the half-eaten bowl of rice left in Gu Niannian's bowl and finally couldn't help but speak up.

Gu Niannian's heart skipped a beat, but she remained calm on the surface: "I...I'm hot and I don't have an appetite."

"No appetite?" Gu Yandong frowned, looking incredulous. "You used to have the best appetite in the summer, you could eat two big bowls by yourself. Something's wrong, you're definitely hiding something from us!"

Grandpa Gu Dehou and Grandma Wang Guifang also cast puzzled glances at them.

Gu Niannian's heart jumped into her throat.

She knew that her honest and simple uncle could be incredibly stubborn, and nothing could change his mind.

If he discovers Lin Xiaobei's secret... the consequences will be unimaginable!

"Uncle, I'm really fine!" Gu Niannian, quick-witted as ever, immediately clutched her stomach, feigning discomfort. "Ouch, my stomach hurts, I'm going back to my room!"

After saying that, without waiting for Gu Yandong's reaction, she picked up her bowl and ran back to the mud-brick house where she and her father lived.

As Gu Yandong watched her hastily fleeing figure, the suspicion in his eyes deepened.

"This girl is definitely up to something!"

He put down his chopsticks and said to his grandparents, "No, I have to go with her tomorrow and see what's going on!"