Wei Nan didn’t explain any further. Instead, she reached out and took her younger sister’s hand.
“Come with me,” she said.
As she spoke, she led Wei Pei with her to the kitchen.
Wei Nan picked up the fire tongs and first pulled the cinders out of the stove.
Then she went to the balcony and picked up a piece of coal.
But when she stood at the doorway, she hesitated.
The original owner had been away from home for too long, to the point that her impressions of the neighbors had long since faded.
Aside from Wei Qiuxia, Wei Nan couldn’t recall the name of a single neighbor.
She didn’t even know what kind of people lived in the building.
Wei Qiuxia must already be at work at this hour.
So who should she ask to exchange a piece of coal with?
Wei Pei tugged at the corner of her clothes.
“Hm?” Wei Nan quickly turned her head.
“Sister, I can light it,” the little girl said timidly.
“You can light what?”
Wei Pei’s speech carried the rustic accent of the countryside, and her voice was very soft. Wei Nan couldn’t hear clearly at all and couldn’t help asking.
Wei Pei didn’t answer.
She took the fire tongs from her sister’s hand, returned to the balcony again, and picked up two more honeycomb coal briquettes.
Then, with practiced movements, she carried the three pieces of coal into the kitchen.
She walked around the kitchen once, clearly searching for something.
But after looking for quite a while, she still couldn’t find what she needed.
She tugged at Wei Nan’s sleeve again and glanced toward the doorway.
The meaning was obvious, she wanted Wei Nan to go out with her.
The two of them left the house.
Wei Pei kept her head lowered as she walked forward on her own, with no intention of explaining anything to her sister.
But her hand still tightly held onto Wei Nan’s.
Wei Nan didn’t ask any questions and simply let her pull her along.
Only when they reached a patch of wild grassy slope behind the residential compound that hadn’t yet been cleared did Wei Pei finally let go.
With great familiarity, she pulled up a large handful of dry grass and hugged it in her arms. Then she freed one hand and grabbed Wei Nan again.
“You’re going to light the stove, right?” Wei Nan finally understood.
Wei Pei nodded and pulled her back home.
Using the dry grass as kindling, Wei Pei quickly lit the stove. Her movements were swift and practiced, it was obvious she did this kind of work often and was used to it.
Wei Nan watched for a while and realized there was nothing she could really help with, so she simply went back into the room.
From the luggage she hadn’t had time to sort through yet, she took out a change of clothes and also found some soap and a comb.
It was clear the original owner had been a frugal person.
The soap was almost brand new, carefully dried and wrapped in soft paper. When she opened it, it still carried a faint fragrance.
Wei Nan rummaged through the luggage again and, surprisingly, found an unopened jar of Pechoin Snow Cream tucked away in a corner.
It had a white bottle with a green lid, wrapped in the original owner’s towel, the towel was so worn that the nap had almost completely rubbed away.
There was no memory of where these two items had come from.
Wei Nan didn’t have time to think about it. She gathered them together with the towel and clothes and carried them into the bathroom.
The biggest advantage of this house was that the entire place was connected to the chimney, including the kitchen and the bathroom.
The two rooms were close together, and once the fire was lit, the small bathroom quickly became warm.
Wei Damin had probably done this back then to attract customers.
Now, however, it finally allowed the Wei sisters to benefit from it a little.
Wei Nan set the large wooden tub in place, planning to let Wei Pei take a proper bath once the water boiled.
She didn’t know how long it had been since the little girl had last bathed; in any case, her whole body smelled.
Not only that, the clothes the child was wearing were completely unpresentable, if they were thrown out, even beggars probably wouldn’t pick them up.
When Wei Pei arrived, she hadn’t brought anything with her. She had come empty-handed.
As for a change of clothes, that was even more out of the question.
Right now, what Wei Nan feared most was that the little girl might have lice.
It wasn’t that she disliked her; she was just afraid that if they got into the house, it would become a huge nuisance.
The water soon boiled.
Right at the doorway, Wei Pei was stripped clean by her sister, and her clothes were thrown straight outside the house.
Her lips moved slightly, but she didn’t dare make a single sound.
Looking at her sister’s hair, which was matted together like felt, Wei Nan began to worry.
In the end, she couldn’t help asking cautiously, “Xiao Pei, would it be okay if Sister cut your hair short?”
Wei Pei nodded without the slightest hesitation.
After cutting her hair short and changing the bathwater three full times, they finally managed to wash the little girl clean enough to be presentable.
The original owner’s clothes were far too big. On Wei Pei’s body, they looked almost like a sack.
But there was no other choice.
Wei Damin had truly behaved terribly; he must have sent all the sisters’ old clothes to the countryside.
Wei Nan couldn’t find a single suitable piece to replace them.
With no other option, she rolled up the sleeves and pant legs as much as she could. The waist was far too loose, so in the end she had no choice but to tie a rope around the little girl’s waist.
“Xiao Pei, Sister is taking you out to eat. Let’s go have beef noodles, the ones from Qingxiang!”
After all that fussing around, it was already almost noon.
Compared to clothes, Wei Nan felt that the most urgent thing right now was to take her sister to eat first.
When she had been bathing her earlier, even though she had been mentally prepared and knew those heartless members of the Wei family would certainly not treat Wei Pei well, seeing the child’s body, skin stretched tightly over bones, so thin that she looked like the African famine victims Wei Nan had once seen in photographs, still made Wei Nan clench her fists in anger.
Now she understood why Wei Shuangquan had simply dumped her sister at the doorway and left without even meeting her face to face.
He had clearly felt guilty, afraid that if she saw the pitiful state her sister was in, she would become so furious that she would confront them again.
Wei Pei didn’t care at all about what she was wearing.
Even though her hair had been cut by her sister into something that looked like it had been chewed by a dog, and even though the oversized clothes made it difficult for her to walk, she was still extremely happy. Her eyes, as she looked at Wei Nan, were moist and filled with childlike affection.
Wei Nan took her sister to the beef noodle shop across the road from the factory hospital, the same place where she had earlier tricked Wang Sanhua into buying her noodles.
It wasn’t quite the peak dining time yet, but several tables inside the shop were already occupied.
It was a state-run restaurant, not very large, and the interior decorations were quite old.
But the food tasted very good.
The moment the thick cotton door curtain was lifted, the rich aroma of hot beef broth rushed out to greet them.
The two sisters couldn’t help swallowing at the same time.
“One bowl of two liang, and one bowl of four liang,” Wei Nan said.
According to the listed prices, she counted out the money and ration coupons and passed them through the service window.
She didn’t know how much Wei Pei could eat in one meal and was afraid that if she let her eat too much at once, the child might get overly full.
So she bought one large and one small bowl, planning for the two of them to share.
Food in those days was truly genuine in both quality and quantity.
As soon as the noodles were set on the table, the overflowing fragrance of beef made it impossible not to salivate.
There were a few slices of thinly cut beef on top, with slightly translucent beef tendon in them, clearly braised until flavorful.
A layer of golden oil floated on the surface of the broth, and chopped scallions and cilantro were sprinkled in the center of the bowl, making it look more and more appetizing the longer one looked at it.
Wei Nan placed the small two-liang bowl in front of her sister and went to the counter to get an empty bowl for herself.
She transferred some noodles from the large bowl into the small one, then set the large bowl between them.
Afterward, she explained to Wei Pei, “You eat first. There’s more here when you’re done.”
Wei Pei still didn’t speak, but she pushed the untouched beef noodles in front of her slightly toward her sister.
Wei Nan smiled and pointed to her own bowl. “It’s all the same. If I don’t have enough, I’ll get more.”
Then, afraid she wouldn’t believe her, Wei Nan picked up a slice of beef from the large bowl and put it into her own mouth.
Seeing her move her chopsticks, Wei Pei finally carefully picked up a strand of noodles and put it in her mouth.
She only took one bite, then suddenly stopped, silently picking up pieces of beef from her bowl and placing them one by one into the large bowl in the center.
Wei Nan was puzzled and asked, “You don’t like beef?”
Wei Pei raised her eyes and shook her head. “It’s meat. Tasty. For you to eat.”
The little girl resembled Wei Nan about eighty percent, both having the same big eyes.
Looking into the child’s clear, almost transparent eyes, Wei Nan felt her heart ache and soften.
She picked up a slice of beef and held it to Wei Pei’s lips. “Eat.”
Wei Pei turned her head to the side, covered her mouth, and insisted, “You eat. You’ll get fat.”
Wei Nan widened her eyes and reached forward with her chopsticks again. “If I tell you to eat, then eat. Kids should obey. Look how thin you are! If you don’t gain weight soon, I’ll take you to the hospital for a nutritional injection!”
Hearing the words “nutritional injection,” Wei Pei instantly looked shocked, as if she had heard something incredible.
She stared at the piece of meat, hesitated for a moment, and finally opened her mouth.
Wei Pei had probably never eaten anything this delicious. She barely chewed before swallowing the meat.
At the same time, she couldn’t help but squint her eyes in happiness.
Seeing her sister like this, Wei Nan felt an indescribable ache in her heart.
She didn’t even care about eating herself. She picked all the beef from both bowls and, piece by piece, fed it into her sister’s mouth.
Whenever Wei Pei showed signs of not wanting to eat anymore, Wei Nan would widen her eyes.
Seeing this, the little girl obediently ate everything.
The two sisters soon finished the two bowls of noodles between them.
Still wanting more, Wei Nan went and got two bowls of noodle broth, sharing them with her sister.
They ate until their bellies were full and warm all over before leaving the noodle shop.
“When I find a job, I’ll bring you here often to eat,” Wei Nan promised, patting her chest as they reached the doorway.
Wei Pei didn’t speak. She tightly held her sister’s hand and nodded slightly.
“Let’s go to the supply and marketing store and see if we can find some clothes that fit you,” Wei Nan said, glancing toward the area outside the factory.
Wei Pei looked down at the clothes she was wearing, still in good condition, with hardly any patches, and a flicker of confusion appeared in her eyes.
She shook her head vigorously. “No, no.”
“Come on, we have to buy you a padded jacket. The cold days aren’t over yet.”
Wei Nan didn’t have many extra clothes herself; the padded jacket she was wearing was the only one she had.
Earlier, to keep Wei Pei from freezing, she had given her the fleece and the only thick sweater she owned, and now she herself felt a chill on both front and back.
But Wei Pei was too young to understand her sister’s intentions.
As soon as she heard about buying clothes, she shook her head frantically.
Before Wei Nan could explain further, the little girl suddenly turned pale and, with a “waaah,” vomited all over the ground.