When Lin Xizhi returned to Aunt Hui’s house, she had barely stepped through the gate before Aunt Hui called out to her.
“Where have you been?”
“The fire under the stove was burning like that, and you just disappeared without a word?”
“Why didn’t you just burn my whole house down while you were at it?!”
“And when you left, why didn’t you move the pot off the stove?”
“That pot of winter melon soup was almost boiled dry!”
“If Yunnuo hadn’t noticed it in time, the pot would’ve burned right through!”
“You’re really going to drive me to death!”
Pei Yunnuo emerged from the kitchen carrying a plate of lettuce stir-fried with crispy pork lard.
Smiling apologetically at Aunt Hui, she said,
“Master, don’t be angry.”
“My sister definitely didn’t run off because she wanted to play.”
“I’m sure she had something important to do.”
“Let’s eat first.”
As she walked past Aunt Hui, she deliberately exposed a bright red blister on her hand, pretending it was accidental.
“Master…”
“Do you have any medicine for burns?”
“I… I’m not very used to cooking on this kind of stove.”
“I wasn’t paying attention just now and burned myself.”
Aunt Hui exploded.
“The two of you are equally useless!”
“Lin Xizhi!”
“Don’t even think about eating dinner!”
“If it weren’t for you, your sister wouldn’t have gotten burned!”
“Stand in the front courtyard as punishment!”
With that, Aunt Hui dragged Pei Yunnuo inside for dinner.
Night had completely fallen.
The only light in the house came from a dim kerosene lamp.
The front courtyard was shrouded in darkness.
With the two of them sitting inside the house, they couldn’t even tell whether Lin Xizhi had moved.
Lin Xizhi quietly took a few steps.
When she saw that Aunt Hui wasn’t paying attention to her, she slipped into a corner beside the wall, using the large water jar as cover before quietly entering her pocket space.
The space preserved everything perfectly.
Earlier, while taking inventory of her belongings, she’d found several packets of walnut pastries.
Now was the perfect time to eat something to fill her empty stomach.
The pastries were as fresh as the day they’d been bought.
Lin Xizhi devoured three of them in large bites.
When they started to feel too rich, she wandered over to the vegetable patch in front of the wooden cabin.
She dug up several sweet potatoes, planning to take them outside later and roast them in the stove’s embers.
But the moment she stepped out of the space, she ran straight into a sneaky-looking Pei Yunnuo.
“Sister Xizhi, where were you hiding just now?”
Pei Yunnuo held half of a coarse-flour steamed bun in her hand, smiling eagerly.
“Look how nice I am!”
“I deliberately didn’t eat this.”
“I saved it for you!”
“Master said you made a huge mistake today and isn’t letting you eat dinner so you’ll learn your lesson…”
Suddenly she wrinkled her nose.
“Jie… why do you smell like walnut pastries?”
Holding the freshly dug sweet potatoes, still covered in damp earth, Lin Xizhi calmly looked at her.
“Yunnuo, is something wrong with your nose?”
“These are sweet potatoes.”
“Where would a walnut pastry smell come from?”
Pei Yunnuo circled around Lin Xizhi.
She couldn’t spot anything suspicious.
Then, still unconvinced, she rummaged through the sweet potatoes in Lin Xizhi’s arms.
Sure enough.
They were indeed sweet potatoes.
But she’d definitely smelled walnut pastries just now!
Looking at her sympathetically, Lin Xizhi smiled.
“I know you’re craving walnut pastries so badly that you’re imagining the smell…”
She sighed.
“But you don’t have to be too upset.”
“I actually went to see your brother at the village entrance just now.”
“He’s working on the road construction team now, swinging a pickaxe.”
“As long as he finishes his daily quota, he gets a fifty-cent bonus.”
“I’m sure he’ll save up and buy you walnut pastries.”
Pei Yunnuo’s attention was instantly diverted.
Her eyes widened in shock.
“My brother is swinging a pickaxe?”
“He’s building roads?”
“Who sent him there?”
“Wasn’t he training with Captain Song in the Coastal Defense Team?”
“Why has he suddenly been transferred to road construction?”
“Sister Xizhi, please save my brother!”
“How could he possibly endure that kind of work?”
“Working under the scorching sun and rain every day…”
“Something’s bound to happen to him!”
It was obvious she truly cared about her brother.
After only a few sentences, her eyes had already turned red, tears rapidly welling up.
The sight put Lin Xizhi in an even better mood.
Smiling faintly, she said,
“I’m starving.”
“Let me put these sweet potatoes into the stove to roast first.”
“Then we can talk.”
Pei Yunnuo was nearly frantic.
She hated Lin Xizhi.
How could she be so indifferent about my brother now?
She no longer cared whether the sweet potatoes were dirty.
Instead, she rushed over to help Lin Xizhi with the work.
Only after all the sweet potatoes had been buried in the hot ashes did Lin Xizhi dust the dirt from her hands and leisurely say,
“Your brother’s situation isn’t as bad as you think.”
“After these days of training, I noticed muscles starting to show in his arms and legs.”
“That’s a good thing.”
“And besides…”
“Didn’t you want walnut pastries?”
“His road construction bonus is just enough to buy them for you.”
Fresh tears immediately spilled from Pei Yunnuo’s eyes.
Eat? Eat what?!
Are walnut pastries more important than my brother’s life?!
“Sister Xizhi, what are you thinking?”
“Even loose walnut pastries cost eighty cents per jin!”
“That’s the equivalent of a day and a half of my brother’s wages!”
“How could I possibly bear to spend that kind of money?”
Pei Yunnuo warned her fiercely.
“If you see my brother again, don’t mention walnut pastries to him!”
“I might not be willing to spend the money…”
“But he definitely would buy them for me.”
“I don’t want to eat walnut pastries bought with his blood and sweat!”
“I could go my entire life without eating them!”
“Did you hear me?”
Still expressionless, like a wooden puppet with no emotions, Lin Xizhi replied coldly,
“How can you think like that?”
“Wages are earned through labor.”
“After working hard, you’re supposed to enjoy the fruits of that labor.”
“If he earns money but doesn’t spend it on you…”
“Then what’s the point of saving it?”
“Yunnuo…”
“You should think more positively.”
“Your brother would be happy to spend money on you.”
A sharp flash of hatred crossed Pei Yunnuo’s eyes.
It disappeared almost immediately.
Lin Xizhi noticed it.
She simply pretended she hadn’t, focusing instead on the sweet potatoes roasting inside the stove.
“No…”
“I need to ask Master for leave.”
“I’m going to visit my brother tomorrow.”
“I have to tell him to take better care of himself…”
Wiping away her tears, Pei Yunnuo walked away.
Watching her retreating figure, Lin Xizhi revealed an icy, indifferent smile.
How laughable.
Once upon a time, the Pei family had lived lavishly in Pearl City, enjoying wealth built on the fortune left behind by her father.
Now…
Not only had they been sent down to the countryside…
They were counting every last cent over a fifty-cent work bonus and walnut pastries that cost eighty cents a jin.
Yet from Pei Yunnuo’s reaction toward Pei Yuncheng, Lin Xizhi suddenly realized something else.
She finally understood why Pei Yunnuo had poisoned her.
Could it be…
Pei Yunnuo is in love with her own brother?
Because Lin Xizhi had always been Pei Yuncheng’s fiancée in name.
Even setting that aside, everyone saw them as childhood sweethearts who were inseparable.
Unable to bear the thought of sharing her brother with another woman, Pei Yunnuo’s mind had become twisted and warped.
She’d wanted to eliminate Lin Xizhi so she could have her brother all to herself.
The thought sent a chill down Lin Xizhi’s spine.
How could biological siblings feel that way?
That kind of love is horribly distorted.
Unless…
Pei Yunnuo isn’t actually the Pei family’s biological daughter?
Thinking about it carefully…
Pei Yunnuo really didn’t resemble Pei Zhikuan at all.
Could it be…
She suddenly felt as though she’d uncovered an earth-shattering secret.
If that were really the case…
Wouldn’t it make Pei Zhikuan’s already miserable life in the countryside even worse?