When Liuliu’s voice sounded in her mind, Jinjin also caught the doubt in their eyes.
She quickly blinked her big eyes to remedy the situation.
“Mom and Dad worked hard setting up the new home today. Jinjin wants you both to eat them. Jinjin can eat next time.”
Jin Yao and Liu Dujuan’s suspicions instantly vanished, their hearts deeply touched by their daughter’s sensible words.
The two shared a smile of relief.
Liu Dujuan said softly, “How about this: Dad is the patient, so he gets one egg today, and Jinjin and Mommy will share the other!”
“Okay!” Jinjin and Jin Yao agreed at the same time.
And so, the first meal in their new home was settled.
After the meal, Liu Dujuan cleaned up outside and brought the pot and wooden bucket—currently their only household utensils—inside the house.
Seeing Jinjin still sitting on the big stone outside, she came over, gently patted her head, and said softly, “Jinjin, it’s dark now. Let’s go inside. There are mosquitoes outside.”
Holding her broken bowl, Jinjin looked down at the scattered specks of light in the gully not far down the mountain. That was the village where they used to live.
“Mom, Xiaobai said it would come to play with me tonight!” Jinjin wanted to wait for her good friend to arrive so she could say good night before going to sleep.
“Jinjin, are you really not afraid of snakes?” Liu Dujuan sat down beside her and asked softly.
“I’m not afraid. Xiaobai is very cute!”
Liu Dujuan smiled and didn’t say anything further.
Although she didn’t agree with her daughter’s view—snakes were cold and clammy, so what could possibly be cute about them?—she respected her.
By the time the little white snake arrived, Jin Yao had just finished his chores and came over to sit with the mother and daughter on the big stone.
Jinjin placed Xiaobai in the bowl, letting her parents talk to Xiaobai while she acted as the interpreter.
After a bit of conversation, Jin Yao and Liu Dujuan actually began to feel that the little white snake was quite cute. They were no longer as frightened as when they first saw it during the day.
“Jinjin, it’s so nice that you have parents. I’ve never even seen mine!” Xiaobai said enviously while playing with Jinjin, looking at how affectionately her parents interacted.
Jinjin also glanced back and whispered to Xiaobai, “It’s great that Mom and Dad are so affectionate. I’ll have a little brother or sister very soon, and when the time comes, I’ll bring them to play with you!”
That was what the kids in her kindergarten used to say.
“Oh right, Xiaobai, where are your parents? How come you don’t have any?” Jinjin asked curiously.
Xiaobai shook its head. “I don’t know. Ever since I gained consciousness, I’ve only had friends, no parents!”
“Aww, Xiaobai is so pitiful. Then from now on, my Mom and Dad are your Mom and Dad too!” Jinjin said generously.
“Yay, yay, yay, Xiaobai has parents now!” Hearing that Jinjin was willing to let it call them her parents, Xiaobai tumbled happily on the grass, and Jinjin gleefully ran around it in circles.
The couple sat on the big stone chatting in low voices, occasionally glancing over at Jinjin, who was giggling as she played with Xiaobai on the nearby grass.
“I really didn’t expect our Jinjin to have such a miraculous encounter. Those few days when Jinjin was so feverish and delirious that she couldn’t wake up, I really didn’t know what to do!” Liu Dujuan rested her head on Jin Yao’s shoulder and murmured.
Jin Yao held her hand and comforted her, “It’s alright now. The ancients said that surviving a great disaster brings good fortune later on. Since our Jinjin met the old ancestor while she was unconscious, she will surely be a blessed child in the future. You don’t need to worry anymore.”
Liu Dujuan thought about it and agreed, letting out a soft response.
“What I’m most worried about now is your leg. For these next few days, let’s try Jinjin’s method first. If it heals faster, we’ll rest it properly for a few more days. If it doesn’t get better, we’ll go to town to find a doctor!”
Jin Yao agreed.
He felt that he was already recovering and probably wouldn’t need to go to town for a doctor.
However, once his leg got better, he really would need to make a trip to town. That item had to be sold; otherwise, his wife and child would starve along with him.
After playing with Xiaobai for a while, Jinjin said good night before holding her mother’s hand and following them into the house to sleep.
The next morning, Jin Yao was about to take the wooden bucket down the mountain to fetch water from the creek, but Liu Dujuan stopped him, telling him to rest properly for the day.
She carried the wooden bucket down the mountain to fetch water from the creek, carrying half a bucket at a time—once in the morning and once in the afternoon—which was just enough for the family’s washing and meals.
Jinjin held her own broken bowl and followed her mother, able to bring back half a bowl of water herself.
Unable to sit idle, Jin Yao slowly built a fence.
For lunch and dinner, the family still ate the same thing as the previous night: wild vegetable porridge.
In the morning, Yang Hu and Zhao Yun came by again, bringing Jin Yao two hoes and some seeds that Jin Yao had asked them to help find.
Zhao Yun also brought another bowl of rice, saying that there wasn’t much left at his house either, so they should make do with it for a few days until his leg healed enough to go hunting. Jin Yao agreed.
It was currently the lean season before the harvest when life was tough for everyone, compounded by the busy farming season of hoeing the fields. This was all the help the brothers could spare.
Over the next few days, Jin Yao didn’t go down the mountain. He and Liu Dujuan reclaimed wasteland on the slope opposite their house, intending to plant some corn, radishes, and Chinese cabbage.
It was late May, so corn, radishes, and cabbage could still be planted.
Jinjin took Xiaobai all over the hillside, searching for edible wild vegetables and medicinal herbs to heal Jin Yao’s injury. Aside from eating meals, Jin Yao drank three bowls of the medicinal broth Liu Dujuan boiled for him every day.
His wound was visibly improving; the scab grew harder, the swelling around the wound gradually went down, the area became drier, and the skin began to peel. The wound no longer bled or formed pussy bumps, so Jin Yao said it didn’t need to be bandaged anymore.
Liu Dujuan and Jin Yao grew even fonder of Xiaobai. Occasionally, when they dug up bugs or caught voles from the fields, they would chop them up for Xiaobai to eat.
The top of this hillside was a gentle, low slope that covered a wide area, consisting of wasteland and rocks. The slope leading down the mountain was also gentle enough for an ox cart to come up.
Sixty or seventy years ago, a group of refugees settled here, building wooden houses on this hillside and living there for over a decade.
Over fifty years ago, people built rammed-earth wall houses in the valley below. As more refugees moved in over the years, a large village gradually formed, which eventually got its official name: Xiaogou Village.
This evening, Jinjin sat on the big stone, holding her broken bowl as she stared blankly toward the distant gully.
Her tummy was so hungry!
Over the past few days, she only drank half a bowl of wild vegetable porridge each meal, all of which was absorbed by her intestines. She hadn’t pooped in three days!
If she were at home, her mother would have been worried sick by now.
But here, most people were like this. Her mother said it was normal because they ate so little food, and since it was all watery broth, everything vanished after a few pees.
She really missed the meals from before!
She wanted to drink milk and yogurt; she wanted to eat meat and white rice; she wanted to eat chicken legs, French fries, and hamburgers!
“Liuliu, what should I do? I just saw Mom use up the very last bit of rice at home. We won’t have any rice tomorrow. Do you think Jinjin, Dad, and Mom will starve to death?” Jinjin asked Liuliu worriedly in her heart.
Liuliu comforted her, [No, Host, your parents will find a way to feed you.]
“Liuliu, Jinjin wants to eat the delicious meat Mommy used to make. I want to eat yummy food, sob sob!” Jinjin whined to Liuliu in her heart, crying softly.
Just a few days ago, she was eating nutritious meals cooked by her mother and attending kindergarten, only to suddenly time-travel to this broken place and eat bitter, astringent wild vegetable porridge for days on end. The more Jinjin thought about it, the sadder she became.
She rubbed her flat belly, feeling that if someone gave her a bowl of meat—the kind she used to dislike for being greasy—she could devour the entire bowl right now!
Earlier this afternoon, when she saw Xiaobai eating the mouse meat her father caught for it, she actually felt a slight urge to snatch the meat from Xiaobai!
“Mommy, Jinjin won’t be a picky eater ever again. Jinjin wants to eat meat!” Jinjin held her broken bowl, gazing into the distance as she murmured choked up in her heart.
Looking at a line of text that suddenly appeared on the system control panel in front of it, Liuliu showed a complex expression.
Who would have thought that this little girl could actually trigger the system’s wishing function and merit value exchange function?
[Host, quick, look in your bowl!] Liuliu spoke up to remind Jinjin.
Huh?
Hearing Liuliu’s words, Jinjin looked down into her broken bowl, her eyes instantly widening in utter disbelief.