Xu Yan barely slept all night, and it wasn't until dawn that she heard what sounded like footsteps at the front door.

She jumped up and strode out of the house, where she met Xie Zhuo's gaze as he held a baby in each arm.

"You're back," Xu Yan said without stopping. She walked to Xie Zhuo's side and was relieved to see that he was unharmed and that the two kids were alright.

"Why are you only coming back now? Did something happen?"

As Xu Yan asked, he glanced outside the gate but didn't see Lin Dong.

"I'll take Da Bao and Xiao Bao inside first," Xie Zhuo naturally saw Xu Yan's actions, his eyes darkened, and he carried the children into the house.

Xu Yan quickly followed and lifted the curtain for him.

After Xie Zhuo put the two children back on the kang (a heated brick bed), took off their shoes, covered them with blankets, and then the two of them went out again.

Xu Yan wanted to ask another question.

Xie Zhuo was gone for a day and a night, taking the two children with her. Heaven knows how she felt waiting and waiting, but the two children never came home.

She rushed to the school to ask, only to find out that Xie Zhuo had asked for leave for Da Bao and Xiao Bao that morning.

They didn't even tell me beforehand!

Xu Yan had a lot to say. Before Xie Zhuo came home, she even thought about how she would scold him for his irresponsible behavior.

But now, seeing Xie Zhuo's tired face and hearing his voice sound off, she couldn't say anything.

"What's wrong?" Xu Yan reached out and took Xie Zhuo's hand, which was hanging by his side.

Xie Zhuo didn't speak, but when Xu Yan's soft fingertips touched his large palm, he suddenly pulled her into his arms, then put his head in the crook of her shoulder and gently sniffed her.

Xu Yan paused slightly.

She raised her other hand and wrapped it around Xie Zhuo's waist. After a long while, she asked softly, "Didn't you... find Lin Dong?"

Xie Zhuo remained silent until Xu Yan felt like she was about to be suffocated by the hug. Only then did Xie Zhuo release her grip, step back slightly, and rub her face vigorously to restore her voice to normal.

“Found it,” Xie Zhuo said.

"Then..." Xu Yan looked at Xie Zhuo's slightly reddened eyes, pursed her lips, and continued to ask, "Is he having a hard time?"

Xie Zhuo didn't answer this question again. He raised his hand and pinched his eye sockets hard a few times, his voice becoming hoarse again.

"Oh no, they're in a hospital in the city right now. I'm coming back to drop off Da Bao and Xiao Bao, and to pick up the money while I'm at it."

"Hospital?" Xu Yan's expression changed abruptly, and his brows furrowed.

Then, without waiting for Xie Zhuo to answer whether Lin Dong's illness was serious, she turned around and went into the house. After opening the box and taking out the money, she urged Xie Zhuo to take her to the hospital.

With money in their hands, Xie Zhuo and Xu Yan walked towards the city. It was then that Xie Zhuo told Xu Yan about his journey to find Lin Dong.

When Xu Yan heard that Lin Dong had been beaten to the point of near death by Old Man Li and dumped near his ancestral grave, he was so angry that his hands trembled. "How dare he? Isn't this intentional murder and then dumping the body in the wilderness?!"

It was just dawn, and they were the only two people on the road. Xie Zhuo reached out and took her hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

“Everyone in the village says Lin Dong died of illness,” Xie Zhuo said.

Xie Zhuo was also very angry. Even when he finally managed to bring Lin Dong out of the mountains to borrow an oxcart from the brigade, the brigade leader looked at Lin Dong with an expression as if he were looking at a "dirty thing".

Xie Zhuo almost couldn't resist punching him in the face.

"Is this how your brigade treats human life so lightly?" Xie Zhuo, barely able to contain his anger, coldly questioned, "A mere child, beaten like this!"

"Hey, what nonsense are you spouting, kid?" The captain's expression changed, and his voice rose several decibels. "This kid clearly died of tuberculosis. Who hit him?"

No sooner had he finished speaking than Xie Zhuo punched him in the face!

He originally wanted to go find that old man Li, but unexpectedly, the old widower had gone to play cards in another production brigade and hadn't come home.

In his dilapidated thatched house, which offered neither shelter from the wind nor the rain, lived three little girls who looked like kittens.

The three girls were shockingly thin, their faces covered in injuries, but none of them were easy to get along with. When Xie Zhuo saw that there was no sign of Old Man Li, he prepared to turn back. One of the girls picked up a small clod of dirt and threw it at his shoulder.

Xie Zhuo turned his head and glanced at her with cold eyes. The girl immediately lowered her head and shrank behind the broken door.

But as Xie Zhuo turned to continue walking, she threw another clod of dirt.

Seeing that Xie Zhuo didn't react, she chuckled twice and called to the other two girls to throw clods of dirt together.

Xie Zhuo never looked back.

Only after walking back to the brigade leader's house did he pat the mud off his clothes and punch the brigade leader in the stomach.

Presumably because Xie Zhuo was too ruthless, or perhaps because his gaze was not quite right at the time, the captain did not say anything more and agreed to send Lin Dong to the city by oxcart.

Both Da Bao and Xiao Bao had swollen eyes from crying.

She was very careful the whole time, and dared not touch Lin Dong.

The two kids only ate two steamed buns a day, plus the little one's leftover half of a peach shortbread. Their stomachs were growling with hunger, but they still left the big one's half of the peach shortbread.

At this moment, Da Bao was gently placing the half-piece of peach shortbread near Lin Dong's mouth, quietly urging him to eat it.

Unfortunately, Lin Dong had already fainted.

Apart from faint breathing, there were no other vital signs.

Finally, Da Bao placed the peach shortbread on the wheat straw next to Lin Dongtou.

Xu Yan comes from the 21st century and has almost never gone hungry since birth. The biggest changes she has experienced in her life are her parents' divorce and her transmigration into a book.

This chapter is not finished, please click the next page to continue reading!