"Don’t worry about him. There’s food at home, so he won’t go hungry. Let him be." Aunt Peng was delighted. Aiguo rarely interacted with the villagers, so his agreement to drink today meant he was genuinely willing to open up to outsiders.
Aunt Peng was well aware of her grandson’s situation. But given their family’s unique circumstances and the fact that most of the villagers were prone to jealousy, she felt helpless about his growing silence and could only let him do as he pleased. Now that there was a positive change, she was naturally overjoyed.
"It’s fine. I made plenty of food today—enough for him," Bai Jiu said, knowing Aunt Peng was worried she hadn’t cooked enough.
Zhou Qingshan and Weimin also felt a bit embarrassed, but neither of them was good with words, so for a moment, they genuinely didn’t know what to say.
Everyone enjoyed the meal immensely, especially the three children, who even made plans to go catching birds together the next day. However, having just returned from the hospital, there was no way Bai Jiu would agree to that.
After dinner, Zhou Qingshan and Weimin escorted Aiguo and Aunt Peng back home. Bai Jiu helped the children wash up and coaxed them to sleep.
Once the two children were asleep, she took out some grain and steamed buns from her spatial dimension to bring next door. Aunt Peng had mentioned that the doors of Bai Jiu’s house were closed when she came over. It was likely that the neighbors next door had helped lock up on the night of the accident.
"Who is it?"
"It’s me. Open the door."
The moment Bai Jiu spoke, the person inside opened the door.
"Why are you here? You just got back today, you should rest more at home," Zhou Lan said with concern as she stepped aside to let Bai Jiu in.
"I’m fine. I brought you some things, and I’ll go back to sleep soon." Bai Jiu carried a large bag inside. "Here is some refined grain, along with steamed buns I bought on my way back today. It should be enough to last a while. I won’t be going out much before the New Year, so I bought extra this time."
Bai Jiu placed the bag on the floor and took the items out one by one as she spoke. "Since you don’t need to go to work in the fields right now, take this chance to nourish your bodies and build up your health."
Watching her pull out item after item, the four elders felt their hearts melt. It had been a long time since anyone had treated them so well.
"Good child, this must have been hard on you. How are Xiuxiu and Zhengyang doing? Did the injuries leave any lasting effects?" the elders asked, their primary concern being the children. After such a terrible accident, how could they not ask?
"The children are fine and haven’t suffered any permanent damage. They just need more rest, since it was a head injury after all." A concussion required plenty of rest, and they didn’t even need to take medicine anymore.
Hearing her words, the four breathed a sigh of relief. "That’s good to hear. As long as they’re alright."
"Everything is here. I also bought a pot for you this time, so you can stew some soup on regular days. I brought some dried goods too. While they might not be as good as meat, they’re still not bad." These dried goods were actually taken from her dimension. She had brought some meat as well, but stewed meat simply didn’t taste very good. It was better off being stir-fried for their daily meals.
"You child, this must have taken a lot of effort. Don’t do this next time. We’ve managed to survive all these years; we don’t need such precious things." Zhou Lan’s heart trembled at the sight of so many supplies.
The other three elderly men also felt incredibly warmed. Even their own relatives weren’t as thoughtful as she was.
"Good child, thank you. You should head back now. We won’t keep you any longer; we have plenty of days ahead to spend together," Elder Wu said to Bai Jiu after calming his emotions. This child was simply too honest and sincere. "You’ve been tired all day too. Hurry back and rest."
Bai Jiu nodded. "Alright, I’ll head back first. Let me know if you need anything. Don’t mistreat yourselves. You can only defeat the enemy if you have a strong body." Afraid they would be reluctant to eat the food, Bai Jiu made sure to offer some words of encouragement before leaving.
"We understand, don’t worry. Our old bones are hanging on just to see the sun rise again. We won’t neglect ourselves." Old Li and the others shook their heads with a smile. She was quite young, yet she worried so much. "Hurry back now. It’s getting late, so go to bed early."
Bai Jiu didn’t dawdle. She picked up her cloth bag and walked out.
After she left, the four of them exchanged glances, each seeing a profound warmth in the others’ eyes.
"She’s a good child."
"It’s just that she’s had a bitter life. Let’s help her out whenever we can in the future."
"My family is missing a granddaughter."
"You think you’re the only one? I don’t have one either."
The three old men immediately began to bicker.
Unaware of all this, Bai Jiu returned home, cuddled her two children, and slept comfortably on the heated brick bed until dawn.
"You’re up so early." When Bai Jiu woke up, both children were already awake. However, they were neither noisy nor fussy, merely lying quietly under the covers without daring to move, afraid of letting the cold air in and freezing their mother.
"Morning, Mom," the two children greeted with bright, blooming smiles upon seeing her awake.
Bai Jiu kissed the two little ones. "Morning, Xiuxiu. Morning, Zhengyang."
"Lie down for a bit longer. Mom is going to get up and make breakfast." Seeing that it was already bright outside, Bai Jiu immediately got out of bed.
"We want to get up and help Mom too."
Seeing how sensible the children were, Bai Jiu felt as sweet as if she had eaten honey. However, it was still too early and freezing cold. "No, wait a little longer before getting up."
She needed to heat up the brick bed and get the fire going in the kitchen first. Only then could she let them get up; otherwise, they would definitely catch a cold. "Mom will start the fire first, then you can get up."
Bai Jiu made a very simple breakfast, taking dumplings out of her spatial dimension. The children were young anyway, so she could easily gloss over where the food came from. Since they were still at an age where they could be easily fooled, she had no intention of making life harder for herself. She would just have to be a bit more secretive about it when they grew older.
Once she made a light seaweed and egg drop soup, breakfast was ready.
The two children got off the bed, put on their clothes, and came to the table to wait for their meal. "Hurry and eat. Have some soup first, but blow on it. Careful, it’s hot," Bai Jiu instructed as she placed two small bowls in front of them.
After breakfast, Bai Jiu was just planning to take the two children over to Aunt Peng’s house for a walk when, to her surprise, Aiguo came over.
"Aiguo, what brings you here?"
Peng Aiguo had arrived carrying two fish in his hands. "Where did these come from?" Bai Jiu asked, noticing that the fish were frozen solid.
"The production brigade is harvesting fish today, and our family was given several. Grandma told me to bring two over for you." It was evident that Peng Aiguo was in a pretty good mood. However, he also looked a bit embarrassed because he felt he had made a fool of himself yesterday.
"Ah? Harvesting fish? How come I didn’t know about this?" The original owner of this body also earned work points, so how could she not know about the brigade harvesting fish?
"You didn’t know?" Peng Aiguo paused for a moment but quickly realized the reason. "Oh, you were still in the hospital at the time, so you wouldn’t have known. But it’s fine. There’s still plenty of fish left, and you can exchange work points for them."
Bai Jiu took the fish Aiguo handed her. She was actually quite interested in the fish harvesting. "Have they finished harvesting all the fish yet?"
"Not yet. They’re still at it." Harvesting fish wasn’t something that could be done quickly. Given how freezing it was, it would probably take until noon.
"Then I’ll go over and have a look too." After placing the fish in the kitchen, Bai Jiu closed the door and stepped back outside. "Let’s go. We should join in the fun too." She had truly never participated in such an activity before.
"Xiuxiu, let me carry you." Seeing the two little toddlers following alongside them, Aiguo scooped Xiuxiu up into his arms.
"Thank you, Aiguo, but I can walk by myself." Xiuxiu was a sensible child and didn’t want to tire Aiguo out.
"It’s fine. I’m strong enough to carry you." Now that he had already picked her up, there was no way he was putting her down. Besides, Xiuxiu and Zhengyang hadn’t completely recovered from their injuries yet.
Bai Jiu picked Zhengyang up as well. She couldn’t play favorites. Since someone was carrying Xiuxiu, Zhengyang needed to be carried too.