Fu Bao’s mother had no choice but to set the chubby little baby she was holding down on the ground.
“Xi Bao, you and the others keep an eye on your little sister.”
Xi Bao immediately rushed over with a few of the other kids.
The little ones then huddled around Fu Bao and led her into the inner room.
Seeing that the children had gone inside to play, Fu Bao’s mother finally relaxed.
After all, Xi Bao was already eight or nine years old—usually sensible and gentle, especially when it came to taking care of her younger sister.
She trusted her completely.
She then went to the kitchen with her sister-in-law to start preparing lunch.
Inside the kitchen, the village head’s wife and a few other young women were helping out.
Old Madam Su and Sister-in-law Liu were acting as the main cooks, both clearly determined to show off their culinary skills at today’s birthday feast.
Old Madam Su was stir-frying pork. Wild boar meat had a stronger, gamey smell compared to domestic pork, and its texture was tougher.
She added plenty of scallions, ginger, and garlic to suppress the odor.
Once the dish was finished, unless someone had an especially picky palate, most people wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.
But everyone in the village hadn’t had meat in a long time. Although they had received quite a bit of wild boar meat the day before, most families would turn it into cured or smoked meat to save for the New Year.
Times were hard—some might not even have meat during the New Year.
So naturally, wild boar meat was something they would usually save for that occasion.
Meanwhile, things were getting lively on Fu Bao’s side—she had accidentally fallen in the room.
Her brothers were immediately startled and gathered around her, checking if she was hurt.
“Little sister, where does it hurt?”
Su Muyao rubbed her bottom and slowly got up from the floor.
“I’m fine, don’t worry. I just landed on my butt.”
That only made Su Mingxuan more anxious.
“No, let me check! I’ll rub it for you.”
As he spoke, he reached out to pull down her pants.
This scared Su Muyao so much that she quickly dodged to the side, but thankfully Xi Bao stopped him.
“You’re a boy—you can’t pull off your sister’s clothes, and you definitely can’t look at her butt!”
“Huh? Why? I can see yours, so why can’t I see hers?”
Hearing this, Su Muyao felt a headache coming on. This kid was strangely fixated on looking at people’s butts!
“You’re a boy and she’s a girl, so you can’t. Got it? From now on, you’re not allowed to pull off her clothes.”
Now Su Mingxuan looked even more confused, nodding slowly as he tried to process it.
Then he suddenly thought of something.
“But I saw her when she was taking a bath before! Why can’t I now?”
Su Muyao wished she could smack her silly brother on the head.
“That’s different, that was—” Xi Bao began, but Su Muyao quickly cut her off.
“Alright, alright, let’s stop talking about this. I’m totally fine!”
Inside, Su Muyao was screaming for help.
She had never been this embarrassed in her life—how was she supposed to go on living like this?
No, actually—even including her past life.
Her lifetime of dignity was about to be ruined in the hands of these little brats.
While they were playing, a few more children arrived.
When Su Mingxuan saw his friends, he quickly ran out into the courtyard.
“Goudan, you came to celebrate my sister’s birthday too?”
“I—I can… see… your sister?” Goudan stammered, being even younger than him.
“Of course, come on!” Su Mingxuan said, pulling him toward the room.
Seeing the snot-nosed child with mucus running into his mouth, Su Muyao screamed internally:
Please don’t come over.
I really don’t need friends. Seriously, I don’t. Please…
But she couldn’t just ignore a child’s kindness. What if she hurt his tender little feelings? That would be a sin.
When Goudan came closer, she realized that although he looked about three or four years old, his body was extremely thin.
At a glance, it was clear he was malnourished—big head, frail body, and not a hint of color in his face.
The little boy shyly stretched out his hand and gave Su Muyao a small wildflower.
“For you… little sister.”
Su Muyao looked at the half-wilted flower in her hand and fell into thought.
She recalled how kind everyone in the village had been. Ever since she learned to walk, every person she met had shown her warmth.
Thinking of that, and looking at the frail child before her, her nose stung with emotion.
Looks like I really need to push forward with my plan to make money.
Meanwhile, Xi Bao was practically fuming. Ever since Goudan gave that flower, her little sister had been staring at it in a daze.
She blamed herself for being foolish—she hadn’t even thought about giving a gift. After all, she didn’t have any toys or nice things.
And now an outsider had stolen the spotlight.
Her “position” as the favorite sister seemed to be in danger.
Xi Bao immediately squeezed Goudan aside.
“Little sister, wait here! I have a gift for you too!”
She ran back to her room and quickly returned, clutching two copper coins.
“Little sister, these are from when we went to town. My dad rewarded me for helping carry things—he said I could use them to buy buns.
Here, take them. When you go to town, you can buy buns to eat.”
Su Muyao looked at the two coins and accepted them without refusing.
Right now, two copper coins could only buy a single bun.
But for children from ordinary farming families, most didn’t even have one coin to their name.
It just showed how well the Su family had raised their children.
Inside the room, the kids were playing noisily, while outside the kitchen was bustling with activity. Before long, it was noon.
Villagers began arriving one after another, carrying their own tables and stools.
Just as the dishes were set on the tables and before anyone could start eating, a sharp, sarcastic voice rang out—
“Well, well! So many dishes! And so much meat—there’s even chicken!
Tsk tsk, look at that big bowl of pork. Has your Taoliu Village struck it rich or something?”
The village chief’s mother immediately took offense.
“Hey, you old woman—were you even invited? You came empty-handed, and this is our village’s banquet. How shameless can someone from another village be, coming here to eat?”
“Who are you calling shameless, you old hag? Do you think I’d come if I wasn’t invited?”
The speaker was none other than Liu Wen’s mother from the neighboring village.
Earlier that morning, Liu Wen had only come to see if there was anything good he could sneak back home to improve their meals.
He hadn’t expected the family to be up so early—and he got caught. So he could only say he came to help.
Even though he didn’t get anything, they did invite him to stay for the meal.
That was still something—at least not a complete loss.
So when he went home and told his mother, she—someone who never passed up a chance to take advantage—decided to come along herself.
She even brought her only grandson.
She had assumed it would just be an ordinary meal.
But when she actually looked at the table, she was stunned.
Right in the center was a huge basin of pork.
There was also a soup and two vegetable dishes, which seemed fairly normal.
She thought that alone was already impressive—but then more dishes kept coming out.
When she saw what was in them, she completely lost her composure.
There was fish, a whole stewed chicken, and even a stir-fried dish that looked like rabbit meat.
She glanced at the other tables—and they all had the same spread.
No wonder she had blurted that out earlier.
It was simply unbelievable.