Little baby Lin Mei spent the entire day eating, sleeping, pooping, and peeing.
As a newborn, she was awake only for very short periods each day and slept nearly ten shichen—almost twenty hours. Because of that, she had no idea it was already near the end of the Hour of You, around sunset, and that her father, Lin Sanyong, still had not returned home.
Tian Guihua had already learned from her eldest son Fuping that her husband had gone back to her parents’ home again, but she did not know why. Anxiety gnawed at her heart as she worried something might have happened there.
Now it was already dark outside, yet her husband still had not returned. The longer she waited, the more uneasy she became.
Just as Tian Guihua’s worry reached its peak, voices sounded outside the courtyard.
It was Lin Sanyong’s voice.
He returned with quite a commotion, immediately attracting the attention of the family members who had been chatting in the main hall.
Lin Dayong was the first to walk outside.
“Third Brother, why did your father-in-law call you back over? Why are you returning so late?”
The night was so dark that Lin Dayong could not see Lin Sanyong grinning from ear to ear.
“Meeeh! Meeeh!”
A sheep’s bleating interrupted Lin Sanyong’s answer.
“A sheep? Third Brother, where did you get a sheep?” Old Man Lin asked as he walked out of the main hall with his hands clasped behind his back.
“Father, my father-in-law gave it to us. This morning when I went to announce the birth, I casually mentioned that Niu Niu was drinking goat’s milk. He remembered it and somehow found a ewe from an acquaintance whose sheep had recently given birth.”
“A ewe like this costs at least three and a half strings of silver. Later your mother will give you the money, and tomorrow you can bring it to your father-in-law,” Old Man Lin said.
“No need,” Lin Sanyong hurriedly replied. “Father-in-law said this is a gift for his granddaughter. He told me not to give him money, or else he won’t let me enter his house anymore.”
“Your father-in-law is always this generous,” Old Madam Lin chimed in as she stepped outside. “When Guihua gave birth to those two boys, he also sent expensive gifts. And now this again. If you two ever dare treat your father-in-law badly, I’ll have your father break your legs first!”
“Yes, yes, of course,” Lin Sanyong answered repeatedly. “Father, Mother, Eldest Brother, Second Brother, Fourth Brother—I’ll take the sheep to the back courtyard first.”
As he spoke, he dragged the sheep toward the back yard.
Unfortunately, the ewe was stubborn beyond belief and absolutely refused to move, bleating nonstop the entire way.
That was also why a journey that normally took half an hour had taken Lin Sanyong nearly two hours tonight.
After finally tying up the sheep, Lin Sanyong returned to the main hall to greet his parents before preparing to go back to his room. By then, his brothers had already returned to theirs.
Old Man Lin stopped him and said his mother was cooking noodles for him. He should eat before resting.
Originally, Lin Sanyong had not wanted to trouble his mother and had planned to simply endure the hunger for one night. He never expected Old Madam Lin to specifically cook noodles for him.
While waiting for the noodles, Lin Sanyong returned briefly to his room.
The moment he entered, Tian Guihua immediately asked anxiously:
“Husband, why did Father call you back? I couldn’t hear clearly from inside the room. Did something happen at home?”
“Nothing happened, don’t worry,” Lin Sanyong reassured her after drinking a mouthful of cool water and wiping his mouth. “Father gave Niu Niu a ewe. This morning when I mentioned she was drinking goat’s milk, he secretly went looking for a sheep somewhere and later sent someone to tell me to go fetch it.”
“Father is always like this,” Tian Guihua complained emotionally, both touched and distressed. “When Fuping and Fu’an were born, he gave two taels of silver and a longevity lock for each of them. Now that Niu Niu is born, he’s given us a sheep. My younger brothers still aren’t married yet, but Father never thinks to save some money for himself.”
At that moment, little Lin Mei had already been awakened by her father’s booming voice.
She did not make a sound, instead quietly eavesdropping on her parents’ conversation with great interest.
Just as she was listening happily, something sticky repeatedly poked against her lips.
Lin Mei did not dare open her mouth to cry out. She could only clamp her lips shut even harder, terrified that the sticky thing would slip into her mouth. Meanwhile, she twisted her tiny body desperately in resistance.
Nearby, little Fuping and Fu’an had their heads pressed together while whispering who-knew-what.
Fortunately, Lin Sanyong soon noticed something was wrong.
Why was his daughter wriggling nonstop?
Tian Guihua, meanwhile, was still lost in thought and had not noticed anything.
“Fuping, Fu’an, what are you doing? Don’t disturb your little sister while she sleeps,” Lin Sanyong asked gently.
“Daddy, we’re sharing yummy food with little sister!” Fuping said proudly, his face clearly proclaiming I’m such a good big brother.
“Brother and I each only licked it twice before giving the rest to little sister!” Fu’an announced proudly as well, his expression equally saying I’m a good big brother too.
“What did you little rascals feed your sister? She’s still tiny—she can only drink milk!”
Lin Sanyong hurried over while speaking.
The closer he got, the more his heart nearly stopped.
Fu’an was holding a piece of sticky rice cake and continuously trying to shove it into Lin Mei’s mouth while little Niu Niu struggled desperately for her life.
Lin Sanyong instantly snatched away the rice cake.
Then he sternly lectured the two boys:
“Your sister is still little! She doesn’t even have teeth yet! She won’t be able to eat cakes like this until she’s as old as Fu’an. If she accidentally swallows it now, she could choke to death—and then you won’t have a little sister anymore. Before your sister grows teeth, you absolutely cannot feed her random things without Father and Mother’s permission. Understand?”
Seeing their father’s serious expression, the two boys became frightened and nodded repeatedly.
At that moment Tian Guihua also snapped back to her senses.
“It’s all my fault,” she blamed herself. “I was too worried about you and my parents’ family. I only looked away for a moment, and these two little troublemakers caused another disaster.”
“Waaahhh!”
The moment the sticky thing left her mouth, Lin Mei finally could not hold back anymore and burst into loud sobs.
“Dear heavens, I almost died!”
“When can I finally grow up?!”
“There really is truth in the saying that surviving childhood depends entirely on being tough enough!”
The more Lin Mei thought about it, the sadder she became, and the louder she cried.
She no longer cared.
She wanted to cry.
Crying was the only thing she could do anyway.
There was nothing else she was capable of.
Tonight, nobody was stopping her.
Lin Mei’s cries became louder and louder, fiercer and fiercer.
Now both Tian Guihua and Lin Sanyong were completely flustered. No matter how they coaxed her, she would not calm down.
The two little troublemakers nearby were also terrified by their sister’s thunderous crying.
Just then, Old Madam Lin entered carrying a bowl of noodles.
Seeing little Niu Niu crying so hard she could barely catch her breath, Old Madam Lin hurriedly set down the bowl, wiped her hands, and took Lin Mei from Tian Guihua’s arms.
“I’ll do it, I’ll do it. Third Son, hurry and eat your noodles. I’ll take Niu Niu to the eastern room and soothe her. If she calms down, she can sleep with us tonight.”
The moment Lin Mei fell into Old Madam Lin’s embrace, she caught a familiar scent.
It smelled exactly like her grandmother from her previous life.
Her crying gradually slowed.
Such a familiar smell…
Grandma?
Did Grandma also come to this world?
Wrapped in that warm and familiar embrace, Lin Mei slowly stopped crying. Still sniffling softly with puffed cheeks, she drifted into sleep.