Meng Jianhua looked at Meng Jiao’s sensible demeanor and patted her head.
Actually, he had come to Blue Bay Village to escape the chaos.
The Meng family affairs were too complicated, and he couldn’t be bothered to deal with them.
Little did he expect that despite having no children of his own, he would gain a daughter through this misfortune.
Meng Jiao was very sensible and never caused him any trouble.
This gave Meng Jianhua, who initially only planned to treat Meng Jiao as an inexpensive daughter to occasionally look after, a suddenly different feeling.
In that moment, he truly felt that he had become a father.
“Alright, tomorrow I’ll get you a small basket and sickle. Go with Xiao Cao and the others, but don’t wander too far, and be careful.”
Meng Jianhua was just worried that Meng Jiao would get bored staying here every day.
Finding something for her to do would also help Meng Jiao make more friends.
“Okay, I understand, Dad.”
Early the next morning, Meng Jianhua prepared a small old basket and a polished small sickle for Meng Jiao.
He took Meng Jiao to the neighbor’s house and greeted Xiao Cao’s mother.
Xiao Cao’s mother repeatedly assured him not to worry, then called for Xiao Cao to come out.
Soon, Xiao Cao emerged. She was a dark-skinned, thin girl who smiled shyly when she saw Meng Jiao.
Xiao Cao’s family wasn’t very wealthy. She had an older sister and a younger brother, and the family’s burdens fell entirely on her parents’ shoulders.
Her older sister had married early and no longer lived in Blue Bay Village, so now only Xiao Cao and her younger brother were at home.
Being sensible, she didn’t want to add to her parents’ troubles, so she stopped going to school.
Whether it was digging for wild vegetables or cutting pigweed, Xiao Cao would do anything that could help support the family.
Meng Jiao also felt quite fond of Xiao Cao; she liked well-behaved children.
At least she wasn’t like Meng Feifei, who was always causing trouble.
The two girls went out together.
Along the way, Xiao Cao didn’t talk much but took good care of Meng Jiao, telling her which types of pigweed the livestock preferred and where they grew abundantly.
Meng Jiao learned attentively, though her movements were slow since this was her first time doing such work.
While cutting grass, she paid attention to the plants on the ground and, comparing them with the knowledge from medical books in her mind, recognized several common herbal medicines.
For example, plantain and dandelion—she quietly picked some of the better-looking ones, planning to try planting them in her dimension when she returned.
The place where they cut grass wasn’t far from the village, at the foot of a hillside.
Meng Jiao unintentionally looked up and suddenly spotted a familiar figure in a nearby valley.
It was Gu Yan.
He was easy to recognize; probably in the entire Blue Bay Village, only Gu Yan dressed in tattered clothes, looking like a beggar.
He was also cutting grass, his movements far more skilled and efficient than Meng Jiao’s. With each swift cut of his sickle, he quickly gathered a handful.
The worn-out basket behind the young man looked much larger than Meng Jiao’s and was already half-filled.
He still wore the same dirty clothes, with messy hair, standing alone in that corner, clearly separated from the groups of children chatting and laughing while cutting grass.
Xiao Cao, observing this scene, quietly told Meng Jiao that the village children didn’t like Gu Yan, let alone play with him.
Meng Jiao nodded to show she understood.
Whether adults or children, they all remained wary of those who were different.
Gu Yan seemed to sense the gaze and suddenly looked up, his eyes locking onto Meng Jiao.
Under the sunlight, his face was slightly flushed from labor, with fine beads of sweat at his temples and a few strands of black hair sticking to his smooth forehead.
When he saw Meng Jiao, his eyes turned cold, then he noticed the sickle she clumsily held and the sparse handfuls of grass in her small basket.
That expression and gaze seemed rather surprised.
Meng Jiao waved at him, wanting to say hello.
He quickly lowered his head, refusing to look at them any further, and sped up his movements as if to shut out all external distractions.
Xiao Cao followed Meng Jiao’s gaze and whispered, “He comes every day to cut a lot of grass—it earns him quite a few work points… He just doesn’t like talking to people.”
Her tone held no prejudice; instead, there was a hint of admiration.
Xiao Cao simply thought Gu Yan was very capable.
If she could cut that much grass, maybe she could earn a lot of work points too.
It was just a pity she wasn’t very strong. Even though she spent a long time here every day, she only managed to gather a little.
Meng Jiao hummed in acknowledgment, withdrew her gaze, and continued struggling with the pigweed in her hands.
But in her heart, she thought, So this is one of the ways he makes a living.
Was he cutting grass so desperately to exchange for food, or… to survive on his own as much as possible?
On the first day she went out with Xiao Cao, Meng Jiao, unused to labor, went straight to bed after returning.
Meng Jianhua had even said that if she was too tired, she shouldn’t go.
But Meng Jiao wasn’t one to give up halfway.
Over the next few days, Meng Jiao went out with Xiao Cao every day to cut pigweed.
Gradually, her movements became much more skilled.
She noticed that Gu Yan was almost always in that fixed hollow of the hills, as if it were his exclusive territory.
He never grouped up with the other children, always staying alone.
Since he worked so fast, others didn’t want to work with him either.
Sometimes when Meng Jiao fell behind due to her slow cutting, she would occasionally look up and catch his gaze before he could fully withdraw it.
The young man’s eyes held a trace of confusion, but when Meng Jiao looked back, he abruptly averted his gaze.
Meng Jiao didn’t speak to him either, and the two seemed to develop a silent understanding.
She had lived with Meng Jianhua in Blue Bay Village for nearly half a month, unaware that the Meng family had long been in turmoil.
After Meng Jiao left, Meng Feifei couldn’t wait to activate the bracelet.
But strangely, even though she also used blood to activate it, the bracelet showed no reaction at all.
Unwilling to give up, Meng Feifei tried many other methods, but the result remained the same.
“This shouldn’t be. Could it be that my method is wrong?”
Meng Feifei frowned, deep in thought.
Just as she was pondering, a fierce argument erupted from the living room downstairs.
Meng Feifei rushed down immediately to find Meng Liyang with his hand raised high, while Lin Hanqiao sat on the sofa, covering her face.
“Go on, hit me, Meng Liyang! You’ve got nerve—you dare hit me now?”
A clear slap mark was visible on Lin Hanqiao’s right cheek, obviously from Meng Liyang’s recent strike.
“Lin Hanqiao, I don’t want to argue with you, but you’d better know your place. Those who do evil will meet their doom.”
Meng Liyang took several deep breaths, uttered these words, and then lowered his hand.
Recently, there had been many rumors at the factory about Lin Hanqiao and Meng Pengtao.
Coupled with the old man’s hints the other day, Meng Liyang suddenly realized why sometimes Lin Hanqiao and Meng Pengtao seemed more like a married couple.
While with him, they were more like strangers.
He had doted on Lin Hanqiao for so many years, yet this was the first time he realized that the person sharing his pillow was of a different heart.
How could Meng Liyang swallow this anger?
Moreover, the moment he returned today, Lin Hanqiao immediately asked him for money, which infuriated Meng Liyang even more.