Xiaoyue went inside to change her wet clothes. Thinking she had warm clothes to wear, but Liang Qi didn't have any clean clothes, Xiaoyue went to the stove and added a piece of wood.

When the kang (a heated brick bed) was scalding hot, Xiaoyue wanted Liang Qi to take off his clothes and put them on the kang to warm up and avoid catching a cold. She hurriedly pushed open the door and went out. When she saw Liang Qi at the gate, the snow had almost been swept away.

Xiaoyue walked up to Liang Qi and told him to go back and warm up his clothes before coming out to shovel snow, but Liang Qi refused. He pinched Xiaoyue's nose and laughed, "Let's shovel together after we're done."

Xiaoyue then grabbed a broom, bent down, and swept Liang Qi's shoes. She also swept away the remaining snow that the broom hadn't cleared. As the two of them were sweeping, someone at the gate called out, "Aunt Xiaoyue."

Xiaoyue put down the broom, dusted off her clothes, stamped her feet to shake off the snow, and went to the gate. She found the little boy standing there, hunched over, looking around.

Xiaoyue opened the courtyard gate, took Xiaodouding's hand, and noticed that Xiaodouding didn't even have gloves. She held Xiaodouding's little hand in her own to warm it.

As she shook hands, she led the little boy into the yard. The little boy abruptly pulled his hand away and threw himself into Xiaoyue's arms, bursting into tears and snot streaming down his face. Between sobs, he said:

"Aunt Xiaoyue, my mother is sick again. She keeps coughing and has even coughed up blood. This time it's very serious."

Xiaoyue slowly squatted down, put her hands on the little boy's shoulders, and looked at him with a gentle expression, saying, "When your father came back, your mother chose to live with him. At that time, I was afraid that your mother was sick, so I left her some money. You can go find a doctor."

Upon hearing Xiaoyue's words, Xiaodouding cried even harder, wiping away his tears as he sobbed, "My mother gave all the money to my father, and now she has nothing left. Also, my grandmother won't let my father feed my mother."

Xiaoyue frowned, wondering how this could be. She had clearly told Lu Xiaomei that she would keep the money and that she would no longer concern herself with Lu Xiaomei's affairs. Yet, Xiaodouding had come looking for her again.

Little Douding didn't see Xiaoyue's furrowed brows and continued, "Grandma found my dad a stepmother named Dalingzi. I heard from Grandma that the two of them had been engaged for a long time. Grandma said that Dalingzi would definitely give birth to a son. It was when your dad and I went to Grandma's house that Grandma said that."

Xiaoyue was startled. The things that happened in the previous life had still happened. Xiaoyue wiped the little bean's nose and led him into the house, thinking as she walked: Things didn't go exactly as they did in the previous life.

He sighed inwardly. Lu Xiaomei was treating him like a hypothetical enemy. He wondered what she had heard from Lao Ge's family or Ge Sanlin. Why was she acting this way ever since Ge Sanlin came back?

From the moment Lu Xiaomei returned to Ge Sanlin's side, she has been hostile towards me. Haven't I helped her enough? Her illness is aggravated by anger and stress, and her diet also needs to be adequate.

Xiaoyue felt a mix of emotions. She really didn't want to take care of Lu Xiaomei anymore, but when she looked at the little boy she was holding, she couldn't bring herself to do it.

Thinking back to her rebirth into the Ge family, she realized that she had always completely protected Lu Xiaomei. Not only did she take Lu Xiaomei and Xiaodouding into her home, but she also supported Lu Xiaomei in her divorce from Ge Sanlin.

Why not just see her before she dies? See if she has any last words? That way, I can at least repay her for the feelings she had for me in my previous life.

Thinking along the way, Xiaoyue led the little boy into the house. Once they were on the kang (a heated brick bed), Xiaoyue took off the little boy's shoes and then brought out the food. "You haven't eaten yet, have you?"

The little boy, with a timid look in his eyes, said shyly, "My mother hasn't eaten either."

Xiaoyue smiled and comforted the little boy, saying, "After you finish eating at Aunt Xiaoyue's, I'll prepare a meal for your mother and take you home."

When Xiaoyue said that, the little boy wolfed down a bowl of rice and was about to get off the kang (a heated brick bed). Xiaoyue knew what the little boy was going to do; she was worried about Lu Xiaomei. She quickly ate a bite of rice.

Yesterday, I sighed. It seemed I had no choice but to go. With that in mind, I packed some food for Lu Xiaomei, found a basket, carried it, and went to the yard, where Liang Qi was sweeping snow.

Just as Liang Qi was about to finish sweeping, Xiao Yue solemnly instructed him, "I'm going to the East Courtyard first. If I don't come back in a quarter of an hour, come find me. Remember, remember."

After giving her instructions, Xiaoyue took the little boy's hand, pushed open the gate, and stepped through the thick snow to Ge Sanlin's yard.

The courtyard of Ge Sanlin's house was surrounded by red brick walls, and the main gate was made of iron. Xiaoyue and Xiaodouding opened the small gate and crawled inside. The snow in the courtyard was also thick.

There was only a line of small footprints in the courtyard. Xiaoyue looked at the main house, which was a four-room brick and stone structure with clean windows and bright interior. Xiaoyue couldn't help but sigh. It seemed that her money had been spent in the right place.

Xiaoyue entered the main room, where Lu Xiaomei was lying on the kang (a heated brick bed) in the west room. Lu Xiaomei looked exactly the same as when Xiaoyue first arrived at Lao Ge's house, her hunched back leaning against the blue-and-white swastika-patterned backrest.

The filthy canvas blanket slipped to his feet, and his body was still coughing and trembling.

Her sparse hair was loosely tied back with a wooden hairpin. Her sickly, sallow face had no luster, her eye sockets were sunken, her eyes were dull, and her double eyelids drooped downwards. She coughed a few more times and then took out a yellowed handkerchief to cover her mouth.

Xiaoyue walked up to Lu Xiaomei and asked anxiously, "How did you end up like this? How did you end up like this? You were doing just fine when you went back to Ge Sanlin's side. You were even cooking for the Ge family! How did you end up like this?"

Xiaoyue questioned her repeatedly, but Lu Xiaomei remained sitting there motionless with her eyes closed. Xiaoyue's anger shot straight to the top of her head. "Ge Sanlin, is he a beast? How could a perfectly normal person become like this?"

Xiaoyue reached her hand under the covers and touched the kang (heated brick bed), finding it ice-cold.

Xiaoyue sighed, went to the yard and fetched a bundle of firewood. She called Xiaodouding over and told her, "Child, remember, you must go to the yard to fetch firewood every morning and evening, and then pour water into the pot."

If she was hungry, Xiaoyue went around the kitchen, washed the potatoes, and put them in the water while starting the fire. Once the water boiled and the potatoes were cooked, the kang (heated brick bed) would be warm, and your mother wouldn't be cold anymore.

As Xiaoyue added fuel to the fire, she told Xiaodouding about cooking. Lu Xiaomei listened from inside the house, and tears streamed down her face.

After everything was tidied up, Xiaoyue went into the west room, tucked the blankets into Lu Xiaomei's bed, and put the food on the kang (a heated brick bed). Seeing Lu Xiaomei's expression that she didn't want to see her, she said indifferently, "I only came here because of Xiaodouding."

“I already made it clear to you when I came to see you that day,” Xiaoyue said, then leaned close to Lu Xiaomei’s ear and whispered, “Do you resent it?”