"I didn't steal it, I really didn't steal it. Grandma said I could take a little," Hanhan whispered in protest.

"You stole it! My mom said your whole family are thieves!" The boy who spoke was Tang Hu, the son of Hanhan's uncle. He was five years older than Hanhan, but half a head taller, big enough to fit Hanhan inside him.

"I didn't steal it, give me the bucket." Hanhan didn't dare to speak loudly, but she still persisted.

Qin Xiaoyu remembered that the family had run out of coal, and Hanhan had begged her grandmother for some coal dust. The old lady reluctantly agreed, but then Tang Hu came to cause trouble again.

Qin Xiaoyu didn't want to hear any of this. She stood up unsteadily and walked towards the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed).

The dusty window faced the courtyard. Tang Hu stood menacingly with his hands on his hips, while Hanhan had already been pushed to the ground by him.

Qin Xiaoyu turned her face away, lifted the blanket that smelled of urine, gritted her teeth and crawled inside.

Just then, Tang Hu kicked out and landed squarely on Hanhan's stomach. Caught off guard, Hanhan let out a soft "humph."

It was just a soft sound, yet it felt like a knife piercing Qin Xiaoyu's heart. The sound was all too familiar; it was the sound that had unconsciously escaped her lips years ago when she was hurt and suddenly felt a sharp pain. Tears welled up in her eyes. She had endured it, endured it—for twenty-five years—and what had happened? She still died with her eyes wide open in disbelief. A fire ignited within her, quickly spreading like wildfire.

She rushed out of the house like the wind, and when she passed the kitchen, she already had a kitchen knife in her hand.

"Try hitting my son again, go ahead, hit him!" Qin Xiaoyu's eyes widened as she raised a kitchen knife and approached Tang Hu step by step.

Tang Hu turned pale with fright and kept backing away. His sister-in-law rushed out of the house and pulled Tang Hu into her arms; it turned out she had been observing the situation the whole time.

"Why are you pointing a knife at the child? You've gone mad again!" This sister-in-law was no pushover either. She had clashed with the host before, a fierce battle that ended in a draw. Now she was trying to take advantage of Qin Xiaoyu's illness and get back at her, wasn't she? Qin Xiaoyu's lips twitched, and she gave a cold smile. The sister-in-law had actually backed down.

"Mom, look! Second son's wife has gone crazy!" The eldest sister-in-law started calling for reinforcements. It wasn't that she was on the same side as her mother-in-law, but anyone in this family could kick Qin Xiaoyu while she was down, and it wasn't illegal to bully her.

Grandma Hanhan ran out from the inner room, yelling, "What's all this noise about! Aren't you ashamed?!"

When she saw the kitchen knife in Qin Xiaoyu's hand, she was stunned. She exchanged a glance with her sister-in-law. Since Tang Wenzhi passed away, Qin Xiaoyu had been lying in bed for more than three months and had not uttered a single word. Now she was fully recovered.

"I'm putting this out there today: if anyone dares to lay a finger on my son, I'll take a knife and talk to them!" Qin Xiaoyu's voice wasn't loud, but every word carried weight, like nails to the ground.

"It's normal for kids to fight and play; adults shouldn't get involved." Tang Hu's father came out of the house. With a man backing them up, his sister-in-law and Hanhan's grandmother felt more confident.

"Exactly, who are you trying to scare by pulling out a knife?" The older sister-in-law rolled her eyes and pushed Tang Hu into the house first.

"Stop! Are you just going to leave like that?" Qin Xiaoyu took a step forward and pointed the kitchen knife in her hand, startling her uncle and sister-in-law so much that they took a big step back. Her uncle's steps were a bit too big, and he shrank back into the house. Her sister-in-law chased after him angrily and slapped him twice.

"What are you doing? Don't stare like that, it's scary. Let's talk this out." Seeing that things weren't right, Grandma Hanhan softened her tone and advised.

"Apologize to my son, now!" Qin Xiaoyu pointed the knife forward. The three people were already terrified, but the eldest sister-in-law was quick-witted and pinched Tang Hu.

"Oops! Ah, um, um, I'm sorry." Tang Hu learned his lesson pretty quickly.

"Come here, collect the coal and bring it inside!" Qin Xiaoyu persisted, and the older sister-in-law was completely frightened. She came over with Tang Hu, collected the coal on the ground, and placed the bucket at her door.

"Let's go home." Qin Xiaoyu pulled Hanhan into the house and slammed the door shut.

"Mom, you're amazing!" Hanhan exclaimed, her eyes filled with admiration.

Qin Xiaoyu was speechless. She realized that she had just made a big mistake. Why did she give him hope?

"Mom, are you going to work?" Hanhan asked again, still worried.

Qin Xiaoyu searched her mind for information about the job, and only after Hanhan reminded her did she realize that the original host was not a housewife.

"Let's go check on the situation first," Qin Xiaoyu thought, unable to bear looking at the worried look in his eyes any longer. For a five-year-old child, the responsibility on his shoulders was too heavy.

She had just found out that the host was a female worker in a textile factory who had to cycle to work every day, a journey that took about forty minutes, and her work hours started at eight o'clock...

Oh my god, is she going to be late?

Qin Xiaoyu hurriedly got off the ground, picked up her clothes and put them on. It was a set of dark blue work clothes. The clothes of that era were not tailored to fit the waist, and they were baggy and big. In addition, she had lost a lot of weight in the past three months, so she looked like a flour sack. She looked around and had no other choice but to wear it.

Before leaving, she looked around, but there was no mirror in the house. She could only look at her reflection in the dark glass window. Her face was deathly pale, no bigger than a palm, with a pair of large, dark eyes. The whites of her eyes were small, and the pupils were too dark, devoid of any light, as deep as black holes. It was still her face, but her expression had completely changed. Before, she was full of humility, always smiling, with a cautious look in her eyes, but now everything was filled with hostility.

She straightened up, sighed, and realized nothing was satisfactory. The bicycle was stuck in the entrance hallway, pinned down by two other old-fashioned bicycles. It took her a lot of effort to pull it out, leaving her drenched in sweat and feeling weak in the legs.

She wobbled as she got on her bike and, relying on the route she remembered, rode towards the textile factory.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!