His hands, like sharp claws, instantly struck toward Lin An Yuan’s face.
Lin An Yuan dodged to the side. The straw hat on his head fell to the ground. In the faint moonlight, his long hair came loose, and his face was as handsome as a demon spirit.
The scruffy, bearded man’s eyes suddenly widened.
“A ghost!”
He let out a shriek and took to his heels.
Lin An Yuan: …
After a moment of silence, he judged from the man’s reaction that he probably wasn’t one of that group.
He stood by the stream for a while, then, by the faint, flickering moonlight in the mountains, Lin An Yuan continued deeper into them.
…
…
Having gone to bed early, Ye Wan woke up the next day just as the sky was brightening. She stretched lazily, got up, and went out into the courtyard.
The early morning air was truly fresh and pleasant. The distant mountains were a vibrant green. Although the house was dilapidated, its location was quite good. There was no smell of various kinds of manure, and the solitary courtyard meant she didn’t have to interact with the surrounding neighbors.
Seeing Er Ya emerge from the house yawning, Ye Wan asked casually, “Where’s your father?”
Lin An Yuan hadn’t come back all night. It seemed this man was hardly ever home, unafraid of accidents happening to his three children left by themselves.
Er Ya shot Ye Wan a glare and left without a word.
A moment later, Da Ya also came out of the house, carrying San Ya, and placed her on the ground.
“I’m going to work today. I’ll have to trouble you to watch San Ya.”
Da Ya truly didn’t know how to address Ye Wan, so she simply walked away quickly.
“Hey, you’re all leaving? Aren’t you eating breakfast?” By the time Ye Wan finished speaking, they were already far away.
Ye Wan had San Ya sit by the doorway while she went to the kitchen.
The mushrooms and wild vegetables she had brought back yesterday were still in the kitchen. There was also some coarse rice in the earthenware pot, but nothing else besides that.
Coarse rice and wild vegetable mush. She never wanted to eat that again in this lifetime.
Peeking through the window and seeing San Ya sitting obediently, she quickly slipped into her space.
The space had changed a lot overnight. Originally empty, it was now lush and green.
She had even dug a small pond to raise fish, and the fish had grown quite a bit in one night.
What a pity she had only caught one rabbit yesterday. Otherwise, if she had raised them, she would have an endless supply of rabbits to eat in the future.
“San Ya, come have some soup.”
Ye Wan had caught a fish and made fish soup. Just as she called out to San Ya, she saw the girl chewing on a leaf in her hand again.
She frowned and pulled San Ya over. San Ya’s eyes were filled with a bit of terror.
Looking at the child’s malnourished state, Ye Wan’s heart softened. She spoke gently, “You’re not allowed to eat leaves anymore. From now on, I’ll make sure you have enough to eat.”
“Mother, you’re so nice. You’re the best mother,” San Ya said, her eyes sparkling as she looked at Ye Wan.
There were two bowls of fish soup. Ye Wan and San Ya each drank one, and Ye Wan also picked the bones from the well-cooked fish meat and gave it to San Ya to eat.
The fish wasn’t very big, and San Ya licked her lips, looking as if she wanted more.
“You’ll get a stomachache if you eat more. We found money yesterday, so I’ll take you to town to eat something delicious.”
As she spoke, Ye Wan washed San Ya’s face and hands and tied up her hair.
She braided her own hair into a plait. The women in this place all wore their hair in a round bun at the back of their heads. It looked heavy on such a hot day, and she wasn’t used to it.
Once Ye Wan was ready and about to take San Ya out, she saw Lin An Yuan returning from outside, carrying a willow-branch basket.
Ye Wan craned her neck to look and saw that it surprisingly contained some herbs and spices. Her eyes lit up.
Lin An Yuan went into the house for a moment and changed back into the long robe he had worn when they first met.
This was Lin An Yuan’s only set of clothes for going out. It had no patches. On days he wasn’t going to town, he wore his tattered clothes.
“Let’s go.”
Ye Wan had been secretly moving some things into her space. Hearing his words, she jumped in surprise and subconsciously asked, “Go where?”
Lin An Yuan stroked his chin and looked at Ye Wan with a raised eyebrow. “Aren’t you going to town? I know you want to talk to me, but you don’t have to act so foolish to get my attention.”
Ye Wan: …
Like hell I want to get your attention.
Brother, you’re really asking for a beating talking like that.
“Mother.”
San Ya grabbed Ye Wan’s hand.
Ye Wan rolled her eyes at Lin An Yuan and picked San Ya up.
The child had thin arms, thin legs, and a large head. After eating for two days, her complexion didn’t seem as sallow, but holding her still felt extremely awkward.
She turned and shoved San Ya into Lin An Yuan’s arms. “I can’t carry her. You hold her. Let’s go, or we’ll die of heat later.”
Ye Wan had originally thought she would have to run her legs off to get to town again today, but to her surprise, Lin An Yuan led her to the village entrance to take an ox-cart.
From a distance, she could see four or five people, both men and women, already sitting on the ox-cart at the village entrance, talking animatedly.
“You guys haven’t heard? Lin An Yuan bought another woman. This time, she’s quite pretty, so delicate and fresh.”
“The last one was good-looking too, wasn’t she? Didn’t she run off after having a child? I reckon this one will run off too. A man like him…”
“Shh, Lin An Yuan is here!”