It wasn't that Xu Lin was indifferent to Cheng Dingfang's death.

The fact that he was able to lend Cheng Dingfang one or two taels of silver when his family was of modest means is enough to show how deep their friendship was.

But there are priorities and urgency in everything.

Before the world went into chaos, his family had hired doctors and used many good medicines to treat his eyes. They had very little money left, and his father even had to burn charcoal to sell for money to buy food.

This is because the weather is getting colder, and people need charcoal.

During droughts, there are few ways to earn money, so they eat wild grass, dig up tree roots, and eat wild fruits every day, living a very miserable life.

Xu Lin had been hoping for Cheng Xiucai to repay the money safely so he could support his family for half a year, and it had become an obsession.

Upon learning of Cheng Xiucai's passing, Xu Lin felt as if all his energy had been drained away. He slumped down at the table, his face filled with dejection.

Ye Wenxue: "......"

"Never mind." Xu Lin gave a wry smile, but quickly cheered up. "Please wait a moment, Miss. Lan Qing, go and call my father. He will explain to this young lady how to burn charcoal."

Just as Ye Wenxue was about to advise him to think more positively, the little girl Lanqing quickly ran into the house and called over Old Man Xu, who was working.

Xu Lin groped his way back into the house, his back looking particularly lonely.

First, the money he had been waiting for for half a year was gone; second, his classmate Cheng Xiucai, whom he had studied with for several years, had died.

These two events dealt him a huge blow, and it will probably take him a long time to recover.

Lan Qing glared at Ye Wenxue again, cursing her inwardly for not being more tactful. She should at least give a little hope to someone who was blind and had lost all zest for life.

In fact, she and Old Man Xu had long suspected that Cheng Dingfang was probably gone.

Otherwise, given Cheng Dingfang's character, which Xu Lin had mentioned from time to time, it was impossible for him to move house without returning the money.

However, they were afraid that Xu Lin would feel he was a burden to his family and leave, so they kept it a secret and dared not tell the truth.

Who would have thought that the person who accidentally stumbled into the valley would so casually blurt it out? Now, Xu Lin has lost all hope of survival; he's probably...

Having received Xu Lin's instructions, Old Man Xu specially brought Ye Wenxue down into the charcoal kiln to show her how to select suitable wood, how to build the kiln, and when to seal the kiln opening...

Old Man Xu didn't hold back at all, answering Ye Wenxue's questions one by one, and even pointing out where she could sell charcoal to exchange for grain and silver if she was short of money.

Ye Wenxue finally understood why the Xu family was so poor.

One or two of them were rather simple-minded, and the most shrewd one was still an inexperienced young girl who could only glare at people but couldn't do anything practical.

well.

Ye Wenxue felt a pang of conscience.

"Old man, aren't you afraid that if I burn charcoal and sell it cheaply, no one will buy it from you?"

Old Man Xu, who was silently putting wood into the charcoal kiln, chuckled and said, "I reckon this winter will be exceptionally cold, and we're short of charcoal. We won't have trouble selling it."

If Ye Wenxue was short of money and selling charcoal could solve his immediate crisis, he wouldn't say anything even if no one bought his charcoal.

"If we really can't sell them, we can keep them for our own use. It's so cold for Xiaolin after she went blind."

Ye Wenxue sighed again. No wonder Xu Lin was able to lend a huge sum of money to a classmate from outside the village. It turns out the root of the problem was with Old Man Xu.

Ye Wenxue watched as Old Man Xu demonstrated the entire process of charcoal making until the kiln was sealed before leaving.

She now knew what she was missing when she was making charcoal, and if she tried a few more times after going back, she might be able to succeed.

Before leaving, Xu Lin didn't leave the house. Old Man Xu was still telling Ye Wenxue that if she didn't understand anything, she could come again next time: "I've lived in the mountains for more than half a year and haven't seen many people. It's been a long time since Xiao Lin has spoken so much."

Ye Wenxue pursed her lips: "Can I go and say another word to Xu Lin?"

"Alright, why don't you stay for a meal? We still have some..." Old Master Xu's smile froze as he thought about what they had been eating these past few days, and he fell silent.

Old Man Xu took Ye Wenxue into the house, no longer worried that she would hurt Xu Lin, and then went to the charcoal kiln to finish the work.

Ye Wenxue slowly walked into the room. Xu Lin was sitting at the only desk, rummaging through the words on the books and papers, his face showing a hint of emotion.

It's hard to tell whether they're reminiscing about Scholar Cheng or longing for the days when they were still studying before they went blind.

Ye Wenxue didn't disturb Xu Lin. She put down two taels of silver on the table and turned to leave.

Cheng Xiucai was the husband of the previous incarnation, and she inherited the body of the previous incarnation, so it is only right that she repays the debt for him.

When the little girl Lanqing entered the house with a bowl of wild vegetable porridge and exclaimed in surprise at the broken silver on the table, Ye Wenxue had already walked into the rain without disturbing anyone.

*

In the valley, Dazhuang, Shuangshuang, Sanyuan, and Siwang sat in a row, propping their faces up with their hands and gazing at the continuous rain, their brows furrowed with worry.

"Big brother, Shuangshuang isn't itchy anymore after taking a bath. She just fell asleep because she was tired from playing. It seems the rash really was from mosquito bites. It almost scared me."

"Alas, it's my fault for being so careless. I should have reminded Mother earlier. She went out in the rain and I don't know where she is. I can't even look for her."

“Don’t blame my elder brother,” Sanyuan said, propping his face up with his hand, squeezing out the chubby cheeks that had grown from all the good food and drink he’d had these past few days. “Blame Master. He’s a doctor, after all. He didn’t even leave some medicine to expel insects and relieve itching.”

Dazhuang, Shuangshuang, and Siwang went to see Sanyuan together.

Dazhuang knew that Sanyuan didn't mean to blame Mr. Su, but was just worried about his mother too much, so he corrected his thinking: "You can't say that. Mr. Su is just a doctor, not a god. How would he know that we were bitten by mosquitoes?"

Da Zhuang sighed and continued, "I was just too stupid; I didn't make thorough preparations beforehand..."

Before his younger siblings could reply, Dazhuang jumped up and said, "I have to go to the kitchen and the cellar to see if we have enough food, so that something like this doesn't happen again."

Sanyuan and Siwang quickly followed.

They also want to grow up quickly and lighten their mother's burden!

Shuangshuang, however, took the short knife and continued practicing with it, following the method her mother had taught her.

Rather than blindly helping and causing more trouble, she wanted to work hard to learn martial arts and become capable of protecting herself as soon as possible.

With my older brother around, he can handle everything perfectly. But we can't let our mother take care of everything every time we encounter danger, and she even feels embarrassed because they are being controlled by him.

Time passed little by little as Dazhuang led his younger brother to inventory the stockpiled goods and practice martial arts together.

As night fell, Mother still hadn't returned.

Da Zhuang then cooked a meal with a heavy heart. He casually made a stir-fried wild vegetable dish with a little bit of chili oil, which was both spicy and fresh.

I made an egg custard for Yuanyuan, and only gave Siwang a spoonful. It was an egg laid by our own hen, and it didn't have any earthy smell. It tasted especially sweet.

The kids managed to do everything efficiently even without adults around. They washed up all on the bed in the main room, while coaxing little Yuan Yuan, who was crying loudly because she was itchy, to sleep.

Just as the sound of rain grew louder, Shuangshuang, who was half asleep, was suddenly awakened and frowned as she looked out at the valley path.

"What's wrong?" Dazhuang rubbed his eyes and turned to get out of bed. "Is Mom back?"

Shuangshuang forcibly pressed Dazhuang down on the bed, shook her head, and remained silent.

She had just vaguely heard a wail.