Ji Xiaochun looked at the three people in front of her who cared about her; their eyes were full of concern.

The child is still young, and these past few months have been a struggle for her, filled with loneliness and fear. It is this genuine care that makes her feel that she is still alive.

The little girl broke down in tears.

Chang Xiaohu was getting anxious, but Song Yan waved his hand to stop him from speaking, letting Ji Xiaochun cry her heart out.

After Xiaochun finished crying, she said intermittently, "...She doesn't give me food when she's happy, and she doesn't give me food when she's unhappy."

They hit me at first, but then Captain Wu spoke up, and they stopped hitting me…

Sun Lan made me do chores, and she watched me while I cooked, afraid I'd sneak some food. She usually locked up all the edible things…”

Xiaoxiao couldn't help but ask, "Doesn't your brother care at all?"

Sun Lan said that if Ji Dagang made her unhappy, she would not stay with him and would get a divorce.

Sun Lan said she married into the family so her younger brother could go to school without spending money... Now that her brother can't go to school either, she feels like she's lost out terribly...

Ji Dagang didn't say anything, he was afraid that Sun Lan wouldn't live with him anymore...

Song Yan, Xiao Xiao, and Xiao Hu were all speechless.

“What Gao Zhiqing said at the dinner table was true. Sun Lan had previously said that the old men in their village paid double the bride price to get married. She said that when I grow up, I can also ask for double the bride price.”

From the moment I heard those words, I didn't want to change their betrothal gifts.

Sun Lan smelled meat on me and called me a traitor. She said I ate well outside but never thought about them eating meager meals at home. She said she wouldn't feed me anymore, but I'd find somewhere else to eat anyway. She said she'd exchange me for a dowry sooner or later.

She's dreaming if she thinks she can use me to get a bride price.

I'm so happy because I had a nice dinner today.

Everyone is so kind to me. Brother Tiger even said he'd use his salary to buy me food.

You're all so kind. I can't say goodbye to each of you individually. I just want to see Brother Tiger so he can tell you all my gratitude...

I plan to put rat poison in the rice porridge when I cook breakfast tomorrow morning…

Xiaochun's face showed a resoluteness beyond her years.

Xiaochun called Ji Dagang by name the entire time, without ever calling him "brother." Because she wanted to say goodbye, Xiaohu noticed something was wrong…

"You silly child, if you do this you're doomed, you know that?" Xiaoxiao and Xiaohu both cried.

"I'm not afraid. Ji Dagang isn't my brother! If he wants to starve me to death, then I'll let him die first."

"Sun Lan even wanted to use me to make money. Ever since she came, I've had a very difficult time every day," Ji Xiaochun said.

Song Yan: "Are you really not afraid of anything anymore?"

"I'm not afraid! I'm not afraid of anything." Ji Xiaochun bit her lip, her little face tense.

"What if you were to live alone, not with Ji Dagang and the others?" Song Yan asked.

Ji Xiaochun shook her head: "I can't live alone. If I don't do their laundry and cook for them, Ji Dagang won't let me stay at home."

"You have two rooms in your house. If one of the rooms were yours, would you be able to make a living?" Song Yan asked.

“I’m a girl, the house can’t be given to me,” Xiaochun said.

This is a rule in the countryside, and in Song Yan's eyes, this rule is utter nonsense.

“The brigade leader is here. We’ll all help you, and maybe we can get a room in the house,” Song Yan said.

"Second Sister-in-law, are you saying that Xiaochun should separate from the family and live on her own?" Chang Xiaohu said.

Song Yan remained silent, looking at Ji Xiaochun. She was still young; it was cruel to make her face everything alone. But if she couldn't face it herself, how could she escape Ji Dagang and Sun Lan?

"...I'm not going to school anymore. I'll earn work points. I can cut pig feed...I can go to the fields...It doesn't matter if I don't earn many work points, Captain Wu is a good person, he won't let me starve to death. You are all good people, you're all helping me. If it weren't for everyone giving me food these days, I would have starved to death."

"I definitely won't starve on my own. Now that we've separated the family, they can't use me to buy a dowry anymore..." No one wants to die if they can live, and Ji Xiaochun realized she still had a way to survive. She smiled through her tears...

Ji Xiaochun is too young and a girl. If she wants to separate from the family and live independently, we will definitely have to think of a way.

Song Yan told her to calm down.

Song Yan reassured Xiao Chun that with so many people worried about her, she wouldn't be alone.

At least Ji Xiaochun left with a hint of happiness. It wasn't that despairing, lifeless silence anymore.

It's really hard to say whether an eleven-year-old girl can survive independently. But Song Yan doesn't regret giving her the advice. It's better than her using rat poison, ending both herself and others. Those who deserve to die do, but Xiao Chun is pitiful.

…

Captain Wu's grandson, Wu Qianjin, is also in the literacy class, and he tells his grandfather everything he hears there.

Jiang Xiaoxiao and Song Yan said that everyone was giving Ji Xiaochun food, but the child was still so thin. What does that mean? It means that the adults at home don't give her any food at all.

Just a few days later, when Captain Wu was inspecting the work, he said that Ji Dagang was not working hard enough, which meant that he had a problem with the work assignments!

The job involved shoveling manure, including from toilets. Actually, there wasn't much manure in the toilets; most families had their own toilets. The manure was kept for their own land use. It mainly consisted of cow dung and horse dung from the cowsheds, and pig dung from the village pigsties.

But cleaning up the manure in the cattle and pig pens wasn't Ji Dagang's job. His main responsibility was transportation.

Since he was dissatisfied with the work assigned by the brigade, Captain Wu gave him even more work: cleaning the pigsty as well!

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