Xiaohe hadn’t suffered much hardship at first—her parents doted on her, and their branch of the family only had her as their only child.
When Xiaogu was born, things got even harder for their household. The people at the old house didn’t want to keep Xiaogu around.
They even thought about secretly abandoning the baby so they could try for a boy.
If Xiaohe hadn’t taken her sister everywhere she went, they might have actually succeeded.
When Xiaoman was born, Qian Sancao threw a massive fit—wailing and thrashing on the ground. On one side, she insisted they dispose of the newborn, demanding the baby be killed right after delivery. On the other, she pressed Lin Cai to adopt a nephew from her own family, arguing that since he was doomed to have no male heir anyway, he might as well raise a boy—otherwise, there’d be no one to carry on his lineage after he died.
Conveniently enough, her family had plenty of grand-nephews to spare—three or four in every household branch.
If one came over, he’d surely produce sons too, and then they wouldn’t have to worry about ending the line.
Of course, Lin Cai refused. He wasn’t stupid—why would he raise someone else’s child instead of his own precious kids?
That would be crazy.
The old couple, who already didn’t like their branch of the family, became even worse. They took out all their anger on the third branch and made them do all the hardest work.
Lin Cai fought to split the household, but they barely got anything out of it.
He actually resented his father quite a bit. Outsiders all thought his stepmother was the one stirring up trouble, but his father wasn’t any better.
The stepmother was openly wicked—his father was wicked to the bone.
The two little sisters ate their porridge, their eyes curving into happy crescents. It had been so long since they’d eaten this well. And these wild vegetables didn’t have even a hint of bitterness.
Back when times were better, they’d add chili and garlic to mask the bitter taste of wild greens. Those had strong flavors that could cover it up.
Now that things were tough, forget chili and garlic—they couldn’t even afford a drop of oil or a pinch of salt.
Who would have thought that boiled this way, there’d be no bitterness at all?
“Xiaogu, go check if Xiaoman is awake yet. If she is, I’ll scoop up her porridge.”
“Okay!”
“She’s awake!”
Xiaoman was so skinny she looked like a big-headed doll. She was over a year old already—at Xiaogu’s age, she’d already been walking, but Xiaoman couldn’t even stand steadily.
It was because of hunger.
“Sis, let me feed her!” Xiaogu took the bowl from her sister’s hands. “Go check if Mom and Dad still have a fever.”
After eating their porridge, the couple had taken the fever medicine and felt drowsy—they’d fallen asleep a while ago.
Lin Xiaohe reached out and carefully felt their foreheads. The medicine worked well—they weren’t as hot as before.
After feeding Xiaoman, Lin Xiaohe tidied up quickly and took her two little sisters to bed.
Being full for the first time in a long while, the whole family slept soundly.
It was already daylight, and no one had woken up yet.
Erya paced outside the door, frantic with worry. What time was it already? Why was there no sound at all? Had they passed out from hunger?
The door was bolted from the inside, so she couldn’t get in. She also didn’t dare make too much noise—if Grandpa and Grandma found out she’d come here, she’d get a brutal beating for sure.
“Xiaohe! Xiaogu! Are you two awake? Can you hear me?”
The ancestral hall’s windows were small and high up—she couldn’t reach them, so she could only call out from below.
Lin Xiaohe sat up groggily. “Erya?”
“Yes, yes, it’s me! Why aren’t you up yet this late? Did something happen?” Erya replied excitedly.
“Nothing happened—we just slept a little longer.” Sunlight was streaming through the window—it was probably late morning by now.
“Good, good, as long as nothing’s wrong. I already went out to dig for roots. I saved some for you and left them by the door. Hurry up and get them before someone else takes them.
I’ve gotta go now, or they’ll start yelling at me at home.”
When Lin Xiaohe came out, Erya was already gone.
On the ground lay a small pile of grass roots.
The people at the old house kept close track of how many roots could be dug up each day. For Erya to set some aside for them, she must have woken up even earlier than usual.
“Sis, what are you thinking about? Why are you just standing at the door?”
“I’m thinking about how to help Erya. Her voice sounded weak just now—she must be really hungry.”
“Erya will definitely come by again tomorrow to bring us roots. We could give her some food then?” Xiaogu suggested.
“Good idea. Now, let me lock the door—let’s go pick wild vegetables over there.”
The two carefully bolted the door from the inside, sliding both latches into place.
“I’ll cook some porridge first. It’ll be ready by the time we get back.” Lin Xiaohe grabbed a handful of rice and set it to cook in the small clay pot.
Underneath the little stove was charcoal—saved from when they’d burned firewood.
When the wood burned down to no open flame, they’d take the embers out and put them in a large clay jar with the lid tightly sealed—they could use it later with almost no smoke.
The charcoal was a bit crumbly, but it worked fine for their own use.
By the time the charcoal in the stove burned out, the porridge would be done.
Once everything was set, the two headed out to dig for wild vegetables. Today’s goal was to gather as much as possible.
Lin Xiaohe not only brought her basket but also two burlap sacks.
With a blink, the two appeared in the familiar place again—the ground still covered with wild vegetables.
In this unfamiliar place, they didn’t dare wander too far and stayed nearby to pick.
“It’s you again! I saw you yesterday too.”
A familiar voice rang out not far away. The two sisters looked up in unison.
“You’re still picking those worthless wild greens? Come on, follow me. The greens up ahead are way tastier and bigger. We only pick those.”
Yu Ya thought they couldn’t find the good stuff and enthusiastically offered to lead the way.
The sisters exchanged a glance, then looked at where she was pointing, and decided to follow.
“The wild vegetables here taste much better—not bitter or astringent at all. The ones I gave you yesterday were from this spot.
They’re all over the mountains—tons of them. Too bad they don’t fill you up. You can only eat them as a side dish; they won’t work as real food. No matter how much you eat, you still feel hollow inside.
My grandma says it’s because you’re not eating real grain. We mountain folks have plenty of wild greens, but we’re always short on food.
My family are hunters. Sometimes we catch something good, and we take it down the mountain to trade for money and buy some grain.”
Yu Ya was a talker too, chattering nonstop along the way and basically spilling all her family’s business.
Lin Xiaohe didn’t know many characters, but she knew about the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties—and this place wasn’t any of them.
It was called the Great Yan Dynasty.
“Hurry up and pick your greens! I’m going to see if I can catch some fish. I really want to eat fish. You know what my name is? It’s Yu Ya. Fish Girl.
My grandma says people who live by the sea never run out of fish—she lived by the sea when she was little.” Yu Ya’s chatter never let up.
“Okay, thank you. My name is Xiaohe, and my sister is Xiaogu. He—as in rice seedling, and Gu—as in grain.”
“I got it! You’re Little Rice Seedling, and your sister is Little Grain!”
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