It was unclear whether they died from overeating or choking.
Jian Yue fell silent.
The original owner’s manner of death was hard to approve of, and she even felt like saying coolly: What does any of this have to do with me?
But this body now seemed to be hers.
Jian Yue: …Taking the blame again, this might become a dark chapter in history.
“Here, stop crying. Have an egg to calm your nerves.” Jian Yue returned with the eggs, refusing to admit that she was the one who scared the child into tears.
“Hic—” The little girl stared blankly at the few round eggs in front of her.
Her tearful eyes were so bright and clear, as if they had been washed, and with that hint of surprise and eager curiosity in them, anyone who saw her would want to give her a hug.
Jian Yue rubbed her thumb against her index finger, her hand itching a little.
But her brain told her that children were too fragile and couldn’t be touched carelessly, so she suppressed the urge to hug and pinch those little cheeks.
“Eat up.” Jian Yue pushed the eggs forward.
The little girl swallowed hard. Even though her beautiful big eyes were already fixed on the eggs, she shook her head vigorously.
Little San, on the other hand, looked at Jian Yue with a hint of wariness, along with a trace of confusion he himself didn’t understand.
Seeing the two little ones, Jian Yue immediately knew what was going on—it was nothing but the aftermath the original owner had left on them.
“Eat quickly. If Little Qi doesn’t eat, I’ll hit Little San. If Little San doesn’t eat, I’ll hit Little Qi. If neither of you eats, I’ll hit you both.” Jian Yue crouched to the side and said leisurely.
This made the two little tykes suddenly widen their eyes, as if they had heard something terrifying, and they also found it somewhat bizarre.
But the stepmother’s talk of hitting people left them no room to overthink.
“Don’t hit brother. Qi, Qi’er will eat.” Ye Xiqi was the most nervous and scared. The moment she thought that not eating would get her brother beaten, her hands trembled as she reached for an egg and began shakily peeling it.
“You’re not eating?” Jian Yue noticed Little San hadn’t moved, and turned her head with a somewhat playful expression to ask the little one who was still staring at her.
“Brother eat, brother eats too.” Little Qi had just peeled an egg and directly shoved it into Little San’s mouth.
“…”
Little San had no choice but to withdraw his gaze and handed the now-cold egg back to his sister, Little Qi.
“Sister eats. Brother will peel his own.”
But Little Qi shook her head, broke the peeled egg in half, stuffed one half into her brother’s mouth, and hurriedly took a bite of the other half herself.
Then, with a bit more trembling, she said softly to Jian Yue, “Mother, Qi’er eats, brother eats too…” So don’t hit brother and Qi’er.
She didn’t dare say the rest, but Jian Yue could read the meaning from those bright, watery eyes.
Jian Yue watched and felt an inexplicable ache in her heart. These children…
She wanted to reach out and pat their heads, but seeing the fear in their eyes, she ultimately gave up on that thought.
Instead, she nodded at Little Qi, whose eyes held a hint of hope.
“Mm, I won’t hit you two. Eat well, and don’t choke.”
Hearing Jian Yue say she wouldn’t hit them, Little Qi let out a sigh of relief.
Only then did she savor the fresh fragrance of the egg. Even though it was already cold, in this early summer season, there was no worry about it being too cold, and she ate it with increasing care.
It had been so, so long since she’d last eaten an egg, and it was her stepmother who let her have it. At that thought, her nose tingled with a bit of sourness. She wondered if she could save a little for her other two brothers and the younger one, but she didn’t dare ask.
Little San, meanwhile, ate while his dark, shiny eyes kept glancing at Jian Yue from time to time, as if trying to see some kind of flower in her.
Jian Yue noticed but said nothing. She wasn’t the original owner, and the difference was ultimately vast. She couldn’t imitate the original owner’s ways, nor did she need to.
Looking at the sky, it was already evening. From her memories, there should be five children, but right now only two were by her side. So where were the other three?
Jian Yue looked at the two little ones beside her, nibbling at their eggs in such a cute, endearing way, and then thought of the other three. She found herself looking forward to them with a fondness that extended from her love of these two.
“Where are Little One, Little Two, and Little Five? Where did they go?”
Jian Yue’s words made the two children stop. For a moment, there was confusion.
Who were Little One, Little Two, and Little Five in their stepmother’s words?
“Your eldest brother and the others.” Jian Yue noticed the confusion of the two little ones and reminded them again.
Looking at these adorable children, she had inexplicably made up random names again—her old habit acting up once more.
Little Qi understood and lowered her head with a hint of grievance, while Little San, who wasn’t yet good at hiding his emotions, looked at Jian Yue with a bit of resentment.
Jian Yue had no idea what the original owner had done this time. Fortunately, Little Qi spoke up in a low voice.
“Mother made us go into the mountains to find food. After we came back, they went again.”
“They’re in the mountains?” Jian Yue couldn’t stay calm upon hearing this.
In this ancient era, the mountains held fierce beasts and large prey. Even hunters wouldn’t dare venture too deep into the woods.
Jian Yue’s brow furrowed deeper. “You two stay home. Don’t go anywhere. Wait for me to come back.”
Jian Yue was already heading up the mountain as she spoke. The thatched cottage they lived in was at the foot of the mountain, so the mountain wasn’t too far away.
According to the original owner’s memories, this family consisted of one father with five children.
They hadn’t lived in Xinghua Village before. Apparently, they had fled here during a famine, and the authorities had processed them to settle in Xinghua Village, which was how they ended up building a house at the foot of the mountain—a location that wasn’t particularly good.
But no matter how you looked at it, there were wild beasts on the mountain, so the safety level at the foot was still somewhat lacking.
However, this family had lived here for three years, and the original owner had been with this family for over a year and a half.
When she first arrived, she had been well-behaved for two months. After those two months, the stepmother’s behavior became increasingly obvious, and now she was completely unbridled.
Jian Yue sorted through the original owner’s memories while keeping a steady pace, already entering the mountain.
The further she went in, the more she could spot the occasional pheasant, rabbit, or other small game.
Jian Yue glanced at them but didn’t look a second time. Instead, she quickened her pace, wandering through the mountain, searching for fresh tracks. The main priority now was to find those kids.
Thinking about it—the oldest was only nine, the second was eight, and the youngest was just three years old!
Such young children—if anything went wrong… it would be a one-way trip to the Yellow Springs.
At that thought, Jian Yue’s heart tightened inexplicably.
She quickened her steps, rapidly checking every fresh trace she found.
“Xiao Yi, Xiao Er, Xiao Wu.” Jian Yue even called out a couple of times. She would have liked to call the children by their full names, but the original owner simply didn’t know them.
As time passed bit by bit, and the sky was about to turn dark, Jian Yue still hadn’t found them.
The further she went, the more large weasels and hedgehogs she encountered—two of each—but still no sign of the children.
Suddenly, Jian Yue heard some noise and stopped, pressing her ear to the ground to better determine the direction.
It sounded like something was repeatedly crashing against a tree?!
A possibility occurred to her, and without a second thought, Jian Yue headed in that direction. Soon, she spotted a wild boar weighing over a hundred jin, its long tusks bared, fiercely ramming a large tree, causing it to shake continuously and showering the ground with leaves.
And up in that tree—there were the people she was looking for.
Xiao Yi was tightly holding Xiao Wu, his legs wrapped around the tree trunk, while on a higher branch nearby was another child—Xiao Er.
He was also clinging tightly to the trunk, fear in his eyes, staring fixedly at the wild boar below that kept ramming the tree.
Who knew how long they’d been up there—their strength seemed to be nearly spent.
The hands gripping the trunk were already trembling. If the boar kept ramming like that, just three or four more hits…
The children up there would surely fall, and the consequences would be unimaginable.
Seeing this, Jian Yue felt her heart clench sharply.
She either had to drive the boar away… or the boar had to die.
A cold glint appeared in Jian Yue’s eyes.
It was a pity, though—the original owner’s body was still a bit weak, and she had no tools at hand.
If she’d brought a knife before leaving, the situation might have been better. But that was only a maybe—she’d been in such a hurry to go up the mountain after them that she’d forgotten to bring any weapons.
But that was fine.
Just as the boar rammed the tree again, the children’s grip on the trunk trembled even more, on the verge of giving out.
Jian Yue was thinking about how to safely drive the boar away when she overheard the little ones’ conversation up in the tree.
It made her pause for a moment.
“Second brother, I’ll pass Xiao Wu up to you.” Ye Xixing, as the eldest, was calculating against the wild boar.
If it rammed two more times, he and his brothers would all fall. As the older brother, he had to think of a way.
Fortunately, the boar seemed to have some brains—it wasn’t mindlessly ramming the tree. Instead, it would hit hard, then stop and shake its head a few times, recover a bit, and ram again.
This repeated cycle was the only reason the three little ones had managed to hold on until now.
“Okay.” Ye Xihua, the second brother standing higher up, nodded at the eldest’s words, bracing his feet to steady himself and reaching down to take Xiao Wu.
“Brother…” Xiao Wu clutched the eldest’s hand in fear.
“Don’t be scared, little brother. Let Second Brother hold you.” Nine-year-old Ye Xixing calmly soothed his little brother, then handed him up.
“Big brother, what are you planning to do?” Ye Xihua, now holding the younger one, sensed his eldest brother’s intention and asked nervously.
“You protect little brother. I’ll lure the boar away—otherwise, all three of us will die here.”
“But—”
“Second brother, little brother is still young. Protect him.” Ye Xihua’s words were cut off by the eldest, Ye Xixing.
Hearing his big brother’s words, Ye Xihua’s nose stung with emotion, but he knew he couldn’t be willful. Holding the younger brother protectively in his arms, he clenched his fist and said, “Big brother, be careful.”
Ye Xixing grunted and observed the position of the wild boar beneath the tree.
He climbed down a bit, preparing to jump from a certain distance, so as to land away from where the boar was.
That way, he would have more time to lure the boar away.
Jian Yue saw this and knew she couldn’t just stay put any longer—otherwise, the child would really jump down.
So Jian Yue spoke up to stop him: “Xiao Yi, don’t come down.”
At the same time, she quickly scanned her surroundings for anything she could use.
Ye Xixing, who had already steeled himself and was about to jump, froze abruptly at the sound of her voice, his body stiffening mid-motion.
The voice was somewhat familiar, yet carried a hint of strangeness. But Ye Xixing thought it couldn’t be—he must be hearing things. How could his stepmother possibly care about them or protect them?
Let alone call him “Xiao Yi.”
Besides, that stepmother had died near noon this morning—there was no way she could appear here.
Ye Xixing looked around but saw no one. He almost laughed at himself.
Was it that, at this moment between life and death, he still wished for someone who loved them, who would guard them—just like their father had—so they could be carefree children again?
But that person could never be their stepmother.
Even if she were still alive, that selfish woman who never treated them as children would never show up here.
Ye Xixing gritted his teeth, clenched his fists, and suppressed the longing for someone to protect him.
He was already a big kid now—he didn’t need to rely on anyone. As the eldest brother, he could only rely on himself to protect his younger siblings.
The thought lasted but a moment. Ye Xixing let out a breath, having already steeled himself, a new resolve shining in his eyes.
He had already slid down to a certain height on the trunk. Jumping from here, his legs might cramp for a split second.
But as long as he kept his eyes on the boar, as long as he dodged that one moment, he could lure the boar away.
Ye Xixing’s mind raced.
Jump!