In the courtyard, the three Qin siblings stood under the eaves, occasionally glancing toward a certain room.
Xu Sangluo had already returned to her room. She needed some quiet time to sort through her thoughts and memories.
The little one stood beneath the eaves, standing on tiptoe and peeking around, wanting to go inside to see Grandma but afraid of disturbing her.
“Dad, is Grandma asleep?”
Seeing his father come out, the little one immediately ran over, lowering his voice with a soft, childish tone.
“Mm.” Qin Zhiyi responded, holding a bowl in one hand while rubbing the boy’s head with the other. “Don’t disturb Grandma’s rest for now.”
“Mm-hmm. Auntie said Grandma needs to rest for a long, long time before her legs can get better. We can’t disturb her casually.”
Hearing this, Qin Zhiyi subconsciously glanced toward Xu Sangluo’s room.
The little one looked left and right, then raised his head. “Then Dad, can Yanyan go find Auntie to hear a story?”
“Hm?” His trouser leg was tugged. Qin Zhiyi looked down.
The little one blinked his round eyes. “I haven’t finished hearing Auntie’s story about the Dumpling Brothers yet~”
Qin Zhiyi glanced once more at the half-open door.
“Auntie is sleeping. Don’t go disturb her.”
Hearing this, the little one immediately drooped in disappointment.
“Alright then~”
Xu Sangluo had heard the entire conversation outside, which only made her emotions more complicated.
She looked around the room and sighed softly.
The Qin family’s house was built with earthen bricks and had already stood for more than twenty years, so it was naturally worn down.
Some of the walls even had dry grass poking out, and bits of dirt had fallen onto the floor.
Fortunately, the house was large enough, with six rooms in total.
At the moment, Xu Sangluo had one room to herself, while Mother Qin, Qin Zhiyu, and Qin Yan shared another room.
Qin Zhishu had a room of his own.
Qin Zhiyi and Qin Zhifeng shared one room.
Besides these, there was also a kitchen, a bathing room, and a storage room.
The room Xu Sangluo stayed in used to be Qin Zhiyi’s.
It was about twelve or thirteen square meters in size, with a single bed placed against the wall.
Next to it was an old wooden chest for clothes. By the window was a long desk with a bench, and beside it stood a washbasin rack.
Just as she was lost in thought, she noticed a small head peeking around at the doorway.
Xu Sangluo couldn’t help but smile. “I saw you.”
The little one froze for a moment, then poked his head out fully, revealing a cute smile. In a soft, milky voice he asked quietly, “Is Auntie going to sleep?”
“No. Come in.”
The little one’s eyes lit up. He secretly glanced toward the tightly closed door next door before scurrying in.
Children generally didn’t hold grudges very well. Besides, Xu Sangluo had only ever ignored him at most and had never caused him any real harm.
Now that she was smiling at him—and after that delicious meal earlier—the little one, who had grown up lacking a mother’s affection, had instantly been won over.
“Where’s your dad and the others?”
The little one leaned close to her ear and whispered, “Uncle and Auntie didn’t go to school today. Dad called them into the room.”
As he spoke, he even made a funny face. “He looked really fierce.”
Xu Sangluo suddenly understood.
At this time, schools didn’t have weekends—only winter and summer vacations.
The three children who should have been in school today all happened to be home, either because they had asked for leave or skipped class.
Xu Sangluo patted the bed. “Come up then. Didn’t you want to hear a story?”
The little one’s eyes lit up instantly, and he lifted his short little legs to climb up.
Xu Sangluo told him another fairy tale.
The afternoon breeze made people feel drowsy. As the story went on, both the big one and the little one fell asleep.
Xu Sangluo had a dream.
In the dream, she somehow entered the space again.
Inside the space, a wall of white mist had appeared.
After passing through the mist, she was delighted to discover that she had returned to her farmstay.
Although it was called a farmstay, it was actually more like a small village.
Besides the antique-style restaurant, Xu Sangluo’s farmstay also included ponds, farmland, orchards, mountains, and more.
There were various livestock and poultry sheds on the mountain.
Everything in the farmstay was just as it had been when she left—nothing had changed.
The crops in the fields were thriving, large fish swam around in the pond, and the orchard was heavy with fruit.
The only strange thing was that there was no one around.
The surroundings were eerily quiet, as if she were the only person left in the world.
Xu Sangluo felt a little panicked and ran aimlessly toward the restaurant.
But in her haste, she crashed into a door pillar. Stumbling, she fell to the ground, clutching her forehead and backside while gasping in pain.
Then her movements froze.
“It hurts?”
Thinking of something, she suddenly pinched her thigh hard.
The next moment, her eyes widened. “So I’m not dreaming? Then right now I’m…”
On the wooden bed, the spot that had been empty now had a person in it again.
Xu Sangluo sat up and turned her head, immediately seeing the child beside her still sleeping soundly. Her heart thumped wildly.
Her eyes were filled with surprise and joy.
Her farmhouse really had come with her. This was truly wonderful.
Just as she was about to continue exploring, an angry shout came from the next room.
It was Qin Zhiyi’s voice.
Xu Sangluo instinctively looked at Qin Yan beside her.
Seeing that he wasn’t affected at all, she carefully got out of bed and went to close the door.
However, when her hand caught the doorknob, she hesitated for a moment before stepping outside and pulling the door shut behind her.
Several muffled sounds of arguing came from the next room.
Xu Sangluo frowned, standing under the eaves as she hesitated about whether to go over.
Just then, the door suddenly swung open, and Qin Zhiyi’s deep, firm voice rang out.
“Your most important task right now is to study hard and get into a good university. You don’t need to worry about anything else.”
The tall and skinny Qin Zhishu was shoved out by the back of his collar. His glasses were crooked, and he looked rather disheveled.
“But—”
“No buts. Get back to school right now. If I find out any of you skip classes or ditch school again, I’ll break your legs.”
Behind him, the twin siblings stood like frightened quails, lowering their heads and not daring to make a sound.
Only then did the brothers notice Xu Sangluo standing under the eaves of the neighboring room.
The atmosphere suddenly froze for a moment.
Xu Sangluo stiffly forced a smile.
Qin Zhishu’s face instantly turned red. Annoyed, he straightened his clothes, ran back to the room, grabbed his schoolbag, and left.
The twins, who had been allowed to take a day off temporarily, also scurried back into the neighboring room with their heads lowered.
Only then did Qin Zhiyi let out a soft breath and turn to look at Xu Sangluo.
Xu Sangluo subconsciously straightened her back. “Uh, well… I heard some noise from inside the room.”
She stammered as she tried to explain.
Qin Zhiyi merely nodded. “Is Xiao Yan asleep?”
“Mm.” Xu Sangluo responded.
Then the air fell into another awkward silence.
Seeing how uncomfortable she looked, Qin Zhiyi thought for a moment before speaking.
“The dumplings were very good. Thank you.”
Xu Sangluo paused, then replied slowly, “Oh… I’m glad you liked them.”
Qin Zhiyi said nothing more and turned to check whether Qin’s mother had been woken by the noise.
At that moment, Xu Sangluo called out to him.
“Wait.”
Qin Zhiyi turned back to look at her.
Xu Sangluo clasped her hands behind her back, unconsciously rubbing the ground with the sole of her foot.
“Well… do you have time this afternoon?”
Qin Zhiyi turned fully around. “What is it?”
Xu Sangluo’s face stiffened. “Um… would it be convenient for you to accompany me to the city?”
Although she said she was going to the city, she was actually going back to the Xie family.
The air froze again for a second.
Xu Sangluo’s scalp tingled, and she felt a wave of regret.
Qin’s mother was still injured. Asking him to accompany her to the city at a time like this really wasn’t appropriate.
But she urgently needed money right now, and by herself she definitely wouldn’t be able to borrow a bicycle.
Just as she was about to take back her words—
She heard Qin Zhiyi say calmly, “Alright. When?”
Xu Sangluo looked up in surprise, then hurriedly said, “Whenever you’re free is fine.”
But Qin Zhiyi replied, “Okay. Get ready now. I’ll go borrow a bike.”
After saying that, Qin Zhiyi went next door to remind the twins of something.
Then he turned and walked out of the courtyard.
He simply assumed Xu Sangluo still hadn’t given up and wanted to go back home.
He had never intended to force her to stay anyway.
However, in that case, Xu Sangluo’s unusual behavior today finally had an explanation.
Xu Sangluo didn’t know that Qin Zhiyi had misunderstood. She let out a small breath.
After thinking for a moment, she jogged into the kitchen and took out a bamboo basket and some rope.
She planned to tie them to the bicycle later so that after extorting—
No, after asking for “living expenses” from her stepmother, she could conveniently buy some things to bring back.