The village head had experienced fleeing famine in his earlier years. After hearing the news Lin Zheng brought back—and seeing the blood covering his body—he knew the information was very likely true.
He immediately made a decision: pack up at once. The sooner they left, the better.
He sent his sons to notify the villagers, then wiped the sweat from his brow. “It’s all thanks to you, lad. You were gone for so many days without news, and looking at your injuries, you must have suffered a lot.”
Lin Zheng glanced at Lin Sisi as if unintentionally. “The injury isn’t serious. Sisi treated it for me—it’s much better now.”
“Never mind that. It’s good you came back alive. You two should hurry home and pack as well.”
Lin Sisi had been waiting for exactly those words.
“Uncle Village Head, you don’t know—while my brother was gone, my second uncle’s family moved all our grain away.”
“That grain was brought back by my brother after great hardship. I want to take it back. Please help me.”
The village head knew the children of the Lin family’s eldest branch were good kids. And since Lin Zheng had just delivered such important news, he naturally wouldn’t refuse.
“Let’s go now!”
At Second Uncle Lin’s house—
The more Madam Li thought about it, the angrier she became. “If you ask me, that wretched girl is just a sickly thing. Let’s just go tie up Lin Niannian and bring her back. What can she do about it?”
Second Uncle Lin was an ordinary middle-aged man, thin and lanky, his eyes drooping at the corners. “Her tongue’s sharp now. Why didn’t you just take the girl earlier?”
Madam Li choked, not daring to admit she had been frightened by Lin Sisi’s gaze. She stiffened her neck and retorted stubbornly, “I just didn’t react in time. It’s not too late to go now.”
Just then, the courtyard door was suddenly pounded.
Madam Li went to open it, grumbling, “Who is it at this hour—”
When she opened the door, she saw the village head standing outside, Lin Sisi behind him, and several village women gathered to watch.
“A few days ago, Second Uncle and Second Aunt moved all the grain from my house. Now we’ve run out of food and truly can’t survive. I ask Second Aunt to return our grain.”
Lin Sisi stood there, thin and frail, looking troubled and pitiful.
Yet when she lifted her eyes, Madam Li could clearly see the cold mockery in them.
Second Uncle Lin came out with his hands tucked in his sleeves. Seeing the village head present, his expression instantly changed.
“Your second aunt meant well. You’re young and can’t manage a household, so we kept the grain for safekeeping.”
“You lack experience. Sending Niannian to work for a wealthy household would save her life and earn some food. We could get through this famine safely. Not only are you ungrateful, you even laid hands on your second aunt?”
He turned to the village head. “These past days that girl was lying unconscious in bed. Medicine and fine grains were used to keep her alive—we’ve already used everything up. What grain is left to return?”
In just a few sentences, he painted Lin Sisi as rebellious, unfilial, and greedy.
Madam Li added bitterly, “Little wretch, just like your shameless mother—trying to get something for nothing!”
Lin Sisi’s previously indifferent expression instantly hardened.
In her previous life, she had been an orphan. She’d never known familial warmth and once believed she didn’t need it.
But while unconscious earlier, she had personally felt the kindness her family had shown her in these inherited memories.
Even if she had never met her parents in this life, she would never allow anyone to insult them.
“Second Uncle, are you saying I remembered wrongly?”
“You took over a hundred jin of grain from our house. Are you saying that while I was ill and with only my half-grown sister, we managed to eat over a hundred jin in less than a month?”
The surrounding villagers began whispering.
“Why is Lin Lao’er always like this, picking on his elder brother’s family?”
“Exactly. Lin Zheng is capable—he brings back so much grain every month. Instead of taking care of the two girls, he bullies them.”
Aunt Yang, listening nearby, couldn’t bear it. “Lin Lao’er, return the grain! You’re clearly in the wrong!”
Second Uncle Lin’s face twitched. Seeing the village head’s darkened expression, he forced a smile. “Maybe I remembered wrong. But your illness just recovered—how can you move the grain? Why not—”
Lin Sisi smiled faintly. “No need to trouble yourself.”
“Fellow villagers, my health is poor. If anyone is willing to help me move the grain home, I’ll pay one jin of grain per person.”
No one in the village would refuse extra grain—especially for such light work.
Madam Li watched red-eyed as Lin Sisi led people to carry away more than half the grain. It felt like her flesh was being carved away.
She turned to go inside, unable to watch.
“Wait.”
Lin Sisi hadn’t intended to pursue further, but her sharp eyes caught something tucked in Madam Li’s collar. She reached out and yanked it free.
Madam Li panicked. “Little wretch, what are you doing?!”
Lin Sisi laughed in anger. “I’d like to ask Second Aunt—this jade pendant was left by my mother. How did it end up with you?”
“Your mother ran off instead of staying home to care for you. Who knows where that jade came from—maybe some lover gave it to her!”
The more Madam Li spoke, the more confident she became, her guilt disappearing.
“I always knew she wasn’t decent. Looking like a vixen, origins unclear—yet she became a daughter-in-law of the Lin family. Your father must’ve been blinded by beauty—”
Lin Sisi didn’t let her finish. She raised her hand and slapped her hard.
“You dare hit me?!”
“I’m hitting you,” Lin Sisi sneered. “With a filthy mouth like yours, you don’t deserve any dignity.”
“My mother left to find my father. Before leaving, she deliberately left this jade pendant for me and my sister!”
This wasn’t for Madam Li—it was for the village head and the onlookers.
She didn’t care what Madam Li thought, but she wouldn’t allow outsiders to slander the gentle mother in her memories.
The crowd, hoping for grain from Lin Sisi, kept silent. And since the village head said nothing, no one dared speak ill.
Lin Sisi returned home with over a hundred jin of grain. After paying the promised shares, she still had twenty jin of white flour and seventy-six jin of coarse grain left.
When no one was watching, she tried storing part of it in her space.
It worked.
The space didn’t just contain a spiritual spring—it could also serve as storage.
On the road of fleeing famine ahead, at least their survival would no longer be a problem.