Lan Sisi had no interest in offering warmth only to be met with cold indifference, so she simply pulled Lan Sinian along and walked away quickly.
After Lan Aimin’s death, the future of the still-young Lan Sinian and Lan Sisi became an issue. The village chief and the team leader had proposed that their grandmother, Liu Guihua, and grandfather, Lan Tianzhu, take them in. However, Liu Guihua and Third Aunt Yu Shi had cried poverty and caused a scene to reject the idea. They were unwilling to take in two burdens, completely disregarding the villagers’ scornful gazes, and forgetting how many benefits they had taken from the second branch.
At that time, Lan Sisi had also immediately stated that she did not want Liu Guihua to raise them. Back then, she had still been the original owner, but she had her own pride and stubbornness. Gritting her teeth, she had carried the entire household on her own.
“Mom, aren’t those Sister Sisi and Brother Sinian?” Yu Shi’s six-year-old son, Lan Guangming, called out behind them in a childish voice.
“What sister? That’s just a jinx. She brought death to your Second Uncle and his wife, and now she wants to eat our family’s grain. From now on, you don’t have that brother or sister anymore, remember that,” Yu Shi said without any attempt to lower her voice. Lan Sisi and Lan Sinian had not gone far and heard everything clearly.
Upon hearing that they might eat his family’s grain, Lan Guangming immediately showed a look of nervousness and disgust. “The eggs are mine!”
“Alright, alright, keep your voice down.” Yu Shi pinched him, making him cry out in pain.
Eggs were a rare commodity these days. People preferred to eat them in secret, and the less others knew, the better.
The villagers working nearby all showed expressions of disdain.
“Some people really have no conscience,” said Hong Xiulian, known as Sister Hong, who had never gotten along with Yu Shi. She had always been fiery in temperament.
“Who has no conscience? Hong Xiulian, did you eat dung today without brushing your teeth? Why is your mouth so filthy? You can’t even control your own man, yet you come to meddle in other people’s affairs. Be careful, one day your man might bring that little one home, and the three of you can share a room,” Yu Shi shot back without hesitation.
Not far away, Fang Shi curled her lips. She and Yu Shi were constantly scheming against each other at home, and she was more than happy to watch the drama unfold.
Hong Xiulian’s husband had been entangled with a young widow from a neighboring village, even helping her with farm work. This was no longer a secret in the village, though people usually only talked about it in private. Now that Yu Shi had exposed it publicly, Hong Xiulian became furious with embarrassment. She dropped her farming tools and began fighting with Yu Shi.
As for what happened afterward, Lan Sisi and Lan Sinian did not know. The two of them were called to the office by the village chief.
The village chief held an envelope in his hand. When he saw them arrive, he handed it to Lan Sisi. “This is a subsidy from above. I applied for it on your behalf. Everyone knows your family’s situation. It’s not much, only fifty yuan. Keep it safe, and don’t let your grandmother and the others trick it away from you.”
This was truly an unexpected blessing. Lan Sisi and Lan Sinian repeatedly thanked the village chief.
“No need to thank me. Your father was a good man. He helped me quite a bit before. It’s just that I’m not capable enough to help you more. This is the only thing I can do for you,” the village chief said.
These days, every household was poor. Who could afford to take in two extra children without burden? Lan Sisi understood this well.
As evening fell, the two of them returned home under the glow of the setting sun.
As soon as they pushed open the courtyard gate, Lan Sinian took the farming tools from Lan Sisi and went to put them away. Then he fetched water for her to wash her hands and face.
“You’ve worked all day too. Wash up and go rest. I’ll cook dinner,” Lan Sisi said.
“I’m not tired. I’ll help you tend the fire,” Lan Sinian replied.
Seeing this, Lan Sisi let him be.
Entering the kitchen, Lan Sinian skillfully began to light the fire. Lan Sisi pretended to fetch grain from the jar, but in reality, she took out a bag of flour and four eggs from her storage grid.
When Lan Sinian saw the flour and eggs in her hands, he was stunned. It took him a while to recover. “Sis, these…”
Lan Sisi knew that since Lan Sinian lived with her every day, she could not keep making up lies to explain where these things came from. It might work when he was young, but what about when he grew older? However, the farm was too important to reveal.
“Sinian, these are part of a secret of mine. I didn’t steal or rob them. I just want us to never go hungry, and in the future, I want to send you to school. Do you trust me?”
After listening, Lan Sinian nodded firmly. “I trust you, Sis. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone, and I won’t ask where these things came from.”
Lan Sisi gently patted his head. “Good boy. Wait here, I’ll make noodles for you.”
Seeing that Lan Sinian truly had no doubts and was obediently tending the fire, trusting her wholeheartedly, her heart softened completely.
She poured the flour into a chipped ceramic bowl, added water, and began kneading the dough. Some flour accidentally scattered and fell onto Lan Sinian’s pants. He looked at the bright white flour, dipped a finger into it, and put it into his mouth. It was sweet. He looked up. Lan Sisi’s focused side profile, illuminated by the firelight, felt warm, like the vague image of their mother in his memory.
In her previous life, Lan Sisi had lived alone, so cooking was never a problem for her. Soon, the noodles took shape on the board. After the water in the pot came to a boil, she added the noodles and cracked four eggs into the pot, making poached eggs. The most natural aroma of food drifted into the siblings’ noses, and both of them swallowed unconsciously.
When the noodles were ready, Lan Sisi served two bowls, sprinkled some salt on top, and placed one poached egg on each bowl. She also scooped two extra poached eggs into a separate bowl.
“Sinian, take these two eggs to Aunt Sun. Tell her we found wild eggs while cutting pig fodder in the mountains,” Lan Sisi said.
It was not that she was unwilling to share flour with Aunt Sun, but everyone knew that her family was already at the end of their resources. Taking out flour would only arouse suspicion.
Lan Sinian nodded and ran out with the bowl.
After a while, he came running back. The poached eggs were gone, replaced with two potatoes, two fresh tomatoes, and a cucumber.
These vegetables were grown in Aunt Sun’s private plot. Lan Sisi’s family also had a small private plot, but all the vegetables had been taken by Liu Guihua and Yu Shi. Even the remaining seedlings had been trampled into a mess.
“Sis, Aunt Sun gave these,” Lan Sinian said, placing the bowl on the stove, his eyes fixed eagerly on his own bowl of noodles.
Lan Sisi could not help but smile. She handed him the bowl. “Go ahead, little glutton.”
Lan Sinian took the bowl and immediately began eating. The noodles had only a pinch of salt and nothing else, yet to him, it was a delicacy he had never tasted before.
Lan Sisi took a bite of the poached egg. There was no fishy taste at all, only rich fragrance filling her mouth. She widened her eyes in surprise. The eggs from the farm were incredibly delicious, and the noodles were chewy and springy. As she chewed, the natural sweetness of wheat spread through her mouth.
For a while, the siblings were too busy eating to speak. Before long, their bowls were empty.
Lan Sinian let out a satisfied burp and said somewhat shyly, “Sis, I haven’t eaten this full in a long time.”
Then he rushed to wash the bowls.
“What happened to your face? Let me tell you, you’re already sixteen, it’s time to talk about marriage. Don’t go running around all day. If you don’t earn enough bride price for your younger brother’s marriage, I’ll beat you to death!” At the Lan family’s old house, Yu Shi scolded Lan Meili.
Hearing this, Lan Meili swallowed the words she had intended to use to complain. The hatred in her heart toward Lan Sisi deepened, her eyes filled with venom, without the slightest reflection that she had been the one to provoke the siblings first.
It was already completely dark. At this hour, there was little entertainment. After dinner, people either blew out the lamp and went to sleep or visited neighbors to chat.
No one came to the siblings’ house. Since Lan Sisi planned to send Lan Sinian to school, she lit a kerosene lamp and taught him how to write on the table using water. Lan Sinian was very intelligent, grasping things almost instantly. Lan Sisi could not help but envy his sharp mind.
“I used to sneak over to the Production Team primary school to listen to their lessons,” Lan Sinian said shyly.
That night, sitting on the bed, the siblings took out the envelope given by the village chief. Inside were five ten-yuan banknotes. It was the first time Lan Sisi had seen large-denomination currency in this world, and she found it quite novel.
After admiring it for a while, she placed the money directly into her storage grid.
After Lan Sinian fell asleep, Lan Sisi entered the farm. The wheat she had planted had already matured again, and the chicken coop was once more filled with dozens of eggs. She collected everything, then spent over an hour removing all the wheat grains and storing them in bags. She figured that after some time, she could make a trip to town and exchange some goods for money at the black market. In the original owner’s memories, Lan Aimin had occasionally gone to the black market as well, trading the wild game he hunted for other items.
After replanting the wheat, Lan Sisi received a notification that she had leveled up. She was rewarded with one thousand coins. Her land expanded by two plots, and rice was unlocked, meaning she could finally eat white rice. The chicken section in the shop also became available, costing ten coins per chicken. Without hesitation, she bought six chickens, bringing the total to ten.
Of her six plots of land, she planted half with wheat and half with rice. After planting, the fields turned into paddy fields, which would revert to normal after harvesting.
The rice had the same one-hour growth time. Lan Sisi waited, watching as the rice gradually grew, becoming taller than she was. It no longer resembled ordinary rice. A thin yellow husk wrapped around translucent, crystal-like grains, literal “big rice,” each grain as large as two fists combined.
Holding the rice, Lan Sisi felt like crying. With rice this large, what kind of pot could possibly cook it? Was she supposed to gnaw on it raw?
Suddenly, the rice in her arms burst open with a muffled pop, scattering grains all over her head and face.
Lan Sisi fell silent.
Fortunately, the familiar leaf pockets were still there. She placed the rice grains into the leaf bag, tied the opening, counted down from three, and with a pop, she obtained half a bag of distinct, normal-sized rice.
As someone who loved white rice, Lan Sisi was on the verge of tears of joy. It had not been easy at all.
The small wooden house had not changed. In the game, it would only expand at level ten, and it was likely the same here.