It doesn't matter if your souls are scattered, as long as you die.

In the early morning, the Xiangyang Brigade in Liulipo gradually became lively in the morning light.

As the smoke from each household dissipated, villagers carried various farm tools to the fields.

The most conspicuous of them are the five children.

The oldest girl was about eleven or twelve years old, and the youngest was only about one year old. The oldest girl carried her on her back.

There were also three that looked to be between five and ten years old.

At a fork in the road, the eldest girl and the second eldest boy waved to the other two children.

The five children split into two groups and headed in different directions.

The two children headed towards the pig farm, each carrying a bamboo basket, and walked down the mountain.

The two older children went to the field and skillfully did the same work as the adults.

Yunli watched a middle-aged man picking stones from the dam five kilometers away.

The man was very thin, with a dark face. Perhaps because he was so thin, the bones in his cheeks protruded, making him look fierce.

This is Li Chutou, the child who was switched at birth by the elderly Chen family.

Yun Li did not rush forward to explain his background, but waited for him to finish work.

As evening fell, Li Chutou and his group finished work. They walked together, and Yun Li, not finding an opportunity, followed behind them all the way to his house.

Before Li Chutou even entered his house, he heard a heart-wrenching cry. He paused, then quickly ran home.

When I ran into the yard, I saw my eldest daughter with her arms outstretched, protecting her younger brother and sister who were huddled together.

Opposite the eldest daughter was her grandmother, who was holding a stick and looked fierce.

The man was filled with grief and indignation. He walked up to his eldest daughter and shielded the other children behind him.

"Mother, why are you hitting the children? Aren't they your grandchildren too?"

Upon hearing this, the old woman spat to the side and shrieked in a shrill voice, "What? You have a problem with how your grandmother disciplines her grandchildren?"

Seeing his mother like this, Li Chutou felt extremely sad. He couldn't understand why his mother loved his second brother's and third sister's children so much, but he hated his own children.

Sometimes, he really doubted that he wasn't her child, otherwise why would there be such a big difference?

Looking back at her children, her eyes welled up with tears when she saw the youngest child being protected by his older siblings.

Seeing this child reminds me of his mother who died in childbirth.

He didn't hate the child; on the contrary, he felt guilty. The child had never drunk a drop of milk by the time he was two years old, and even the rice cereal he ate was sent by the child's maternal grandmother who had saved up to provide it.

"father!"

The eldest daughter looked up at her father and called out.

The man reached out and touched his daughter's head, looking at the red marks on her face, and asked softly, "Luwei, tell Daddy, why did Grandma hit you today?"

Li Luwei's eyes stung, and she sniffed, trying to hold back her tears, but she was just too wronged, and the tears flowed uncontrollably.

"Dad, today when my younger brother and sister were cutting pig feed, they met Uncle Gui who was coming back from town. He gave them two candies, but they didn't want to eat them."

When we got home, I fed one to my little brother, but my second uncle's son, Hu Zi, saw it, so I gave the other candy to Hu Zi.

He wasn't satisfied with that, so he complained to his grandmother. Then she got angry, accusing him of eating alone, and pried open his mouth to take the candy away.

"My little brother's mouth is bleeding from picking at it."

Li Chutou reached out and picked up his youngest son to check him. He then discovered that his mouth was not only bleeding but also swollen.

He was so angry that he trembled all over.

Although my youngest son is two years old, he has developmental delays due to malnutrition since childhood. He can't speak or stand steadily, and he's no different from a one-year-old.

He simply couldn't imagine how anyone could harm such a young child.

Especially since this person is the child's biological grandmother.

Once again, he felt certain that he was not his mother's biological son.

As he turned around, his eyes were bloodshot. The old woman instinctively took a step back, and after realizing what was happening, she swung her stick and started hitting him.

"What, you're going to hit your mother too? You unfilial son!"

Li Chutou, holding the child, did not refrain from fighting back or dodging as before, but instead reached out and grabbed the wooden stick.

"Mother, why? Why?!"

He shouted the last three words, which startled the old woman, whose face was filled with disbelief.

"From the age of three until now, I have been working, doing any job, no matter how tiring or dangerous, just to earn more money."

The one who ate the worst food, never read a book in forty years, could even count the number of times he ate meat on one hand.

"After Cuixia married me, she kept working. Even when she was pregnant, she was busy in the fields until she was about to give birth. She had five children. Except for the last one, she didn't even have a full ten-day postpartum period before the first four."

"As for the second brother and third sister, they didn't need to do anything from childhood to adulthood, they could still study, and they could eat refined grains and meat."

"My children, except for the youngest, all started working at the age of three, and the food they ate was just as bad as what I, their father, get."

"And my second brother's children, not only do they not have to work, they can also go to school and eat sweets, snacks and meat."

"Mother, what is it that makes you so biased?"

"Mother, please tell your son!"

Li Chutou's eyes were red, filled with doubt, confusion, and sadness.

The old woman probably didn't expect him to question her so loudly, and for a moment she couldn't think of a reply, so she just stood there.

Just then, an old man came out of the house, glanced at Li Chutou, and sighed helplessly, "Chutou, don't blame your mother, she has her reasons."

"What exactly is the reason for your predicament?"

In the past, whenever Li Chutou expressed dissatisfaction or had questions, the old man would always say with a helpless yet restrained expression that the old woman had her reasons.

As a kind and understanding son, Li Chutou never pressed for answers after hearing these words, silently enduring the injustice.

But today, he asked it.

The old man was also surprised by his change in behavior today, and immediately realized that his wife had gone too far.

"Chutou, don't ask anymore, your mother..."

"Why!"

The old man called out to his wife, "Chunhua, stop standing there! You've been working on the dam all day, you must be starving. Let's eat!"

The old woman gave Li Chutou a cold look before turning and heading to the kitchen.

The old man also went into the main room. Li Chutou's second brother and his family, who had been watching the commotion in the courtyard, also went into the main room, leaving only Li Chutou and his five children in the courtyard.

Li Chutou looked up at the sky, his heart filled with sorrow.