He put down his pipe, turned around and went into the inner room, took out a few sweet potatoes, and prepared to peel and eat them.

There wasn't enough oil at home to fry sweet potatoes, so he often made candied sweet potatoes instead.

"Old man, what have you been stealing to eat again?" Granny Wei asked sharply, her hands behind her back.

Old Party Secretary Lin ignored her and picked up a kitchen knife to start peeling sweet potatoes.

He now understands that his wife is an ungrateful wretch who sends everything she has to her parents' home.

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Lin family sent six snow skin mooncakes, and she took half of them back to her parents' home.

Normally it would be one thing, but these snow skin mooncakes were specially given to him by Ayan to satisfy his cravings, and she did it even though she knew the truth.

"It's just a sweet potato, people who don't know better will think you've been stealing meat..." Granny Wei muttered.

Clang!

Old Party Secretary Lin threw down the kitchen knife. "Stealing food?"

"Don't I get a share of the money in the house? Do I need to steal it?"

"I'm warning you one last time. If you send your things back to your parents' house again, I'll..."

"What do you mean, 'you'?!" Granny Wei was so angry that she put her hands on her hips, wishing she could pounce on him and bite him.

We've made it through all these years. There wasn't much food before, but things are different now.

My son and daughter both work in the factory, and they give me more money. They also give me a lot of gifts during holidays.

What's wrong with her sending some back to her parents' home?

“I’ll send you back to your parents’ home so you can live out your days there. It’s better to stay away from them.” Old Party Secretary Lin took a bite of sweet potato, but his front teeth were loose and he couldn’t bite it anymore.

Granny Wei glared at him, then turned around and left angrily, heading back to her parents' home.

In the Lin family courtyard.

Jiaojiao was eating candied sweet potato, her eyes squinting, and she was smiling brightly.

Grandma didn't eat, so she made a cup of lemon tea for each of them.

"It tastes even better than last time, my mouth is going to be happy!" the chubby girl exclaimed after taking a sip of lemonade.

Lin Ziyan put the double-skin milk in the refrigerator before coming out of the main room.

She also made mango milk, one cup for each person.

Lin Ziyan said, "You two are pregnant, so just add a small amount of ice. It's fine to drink it occasionally."

"I'll make some more beef strips later, and pack them up for you to take back and have a taste."

Fangjie took a sip of mango milk, breathed a sigh of relief, and felt the tightness in her throat from pregnancy finally ease.

The chubby girl nodded vigorously. Cao De could cook any dish, but he wasn't good at making snacks or drinks.

While Lin Ziyan was frying beef strips, the chubby girl, despite her large belly, sat in the kitchen, reluctant to leave.

Fangjie was so captivated by the sight of Fangjie mixing the spicy beef strips that she couldn't move her feet.

She wasn't a good eater before, could it be because she's pregnant?

Fangjie wanted to eat but was also worried about gaining weight, fearing that her figure would be out of shape and she wouldn't be able to lose weight again.

"Jiaojiao, why didn't you invite Huzi to eat with us?" the chubby girl asked suspiciously.

Jiaojiao's face turned deathly pale, and she remained silent.

Lin Ziyan looked up at her, a dark glint flashing in her eyes, but she didn't ask any further questions.

"How about Pearl goes with you to Aunt Huang's house to ask Tiger for help..."

"No!" Jiaojiao's voice suddenly rose, and she ran out of the kitchen.

Hearing the footsteps, Lin Ziyan knew she was coming upstairs, so she didn't immediately follow.

"Why is she suddenly angry? Did she have a fight with Tiger?" the chubby girl murmured.

Fangjie yawned, feeling sleepy, and simply leaned back in the rattan chair to wait.

Jiaojiao, who had run up to the second floor, put a stool by the window and looked at Aunt Huang's house next door.

There was no one in the Huang family's courtyard, and there was no sound of a television.

Suddenly the front door opened, and Aunt Huang returned home. She looked around before walking into the main room.

A short while later, she rushed out the door again.

"No way... Tiger must have gone somewhere else to play and forgot to come home." Aunt Huang muttered to herself, her expression flustered as she ran around the village paths.

As she walked, she stumbled and fell to the ground.

It was dinnertime, and there were few people on the path.

Aunt Huang quickly got up and walked back to the pond.

She searched every corner of the village like a headless fly, but there was no sign of Hu Zi.

When she arrived at the door of the Li family's house, she saw Granny Li steaming rice. She mustered her courage and went up to ask...

"Grandma Li, have you seen my Tiger?"

"Tiger?"

"You were just playing here with Big Fatty, didn't you go home?" Granny Li quickly got up.

After the incident with Xiao Pang, Grandma Li's heart ached terribly whenever she heard that a child was missing.

Aunt Huang breathed a sigh of relief. "They probably went home with Da Pang. I'll go look for them at Li Liu's house."

Her smile froze, and her legs trembled.

Grandma Li said, "Then I'll go with you to look for it."

She turned around, locked the door, and followed Aunt Huang to Li Liu's house.

Hearing the sound of the television, the two exchanged a glance and quickly walked inside.

However, inside the main room, Big Fatty was staring intently at the television, not even blinking.

There were two people standing outside the door, but he didn't notice them.

"Big Fatty".

Grandma Li called out, and Big Fatty jumped up from his rattan chair in fright.

Big Fatty breathed a sigh of relief when he saw who it was.

"Fatty, where's my Tiger?" Aunt Huang rushed up to him and grabbed his wrist.

"Ouch!" Big Fatty cried out in pain.

Grandma Li felt sorry for her grandson and quickly stepped forward to pry Aunt Huang's hands apart.

“He…he said he was going to pick lotus pods in the pond…” the fat man stammered.

Aunt Huang's legs went weak, and she could barely stand by holding onto the chair next to her.

She went to the pond to look for him, and even used a bamboo pole to push aside the lotus leaves to check, but Tiger wasn't there.

Seeing her expression, Granny Li hurriedly said, "Let's look around elsewhere. No outsiders have come to the village today..."

Aunt Huang's blood seemed to freeze; no outsiders were present.

That was probably done by the villagers?

She turned and left the Li family. Grandma Li wanted to follow her, but she was worried that it would be unsafe for Da Pang to be home alone, so she decided to stay and wait for her son to come home before leaving.

Aunt Huang ran home, increasingly certain that those were the people who took Tiger away.

Otherwise, Tiger would already be at home watching TV right now, with his favorite cartoon playing.

She had barely stepped inside when the phone rang in the main room.

Now she is incredibly grateful that she didn't stop her eldest son from installing a telephone.

"Hello," Aunt Huang's voice trembled as she heard Hu Zi's voice on the other end of the phone, and she collapsed to the ground.

"What exactly do you want?" she asked in a low voice, trying to calm herself down.

But Tiger was crying so bitterly on the other end that she couldn't calm down at all.

The recipe you gave me last time was fake. You can't... within two days.

Aunt Huang's head throbbed; she was stunned by the news.

Fake formula?

So she was exposed?

Aunt Huang gripped the phone tightly, her voice trembling, "Aren't you sending me to my death?"

"The Lin family's grandmother must have discovered something."

"Smack!"

The call was disconnected; they wouldn't listen to her explanation at all.

Aunt Huang's hands trembled; fear seemed to have drained all her strength from her body.

Lin Atai must have discovered it, otherwise she wouldn't have used a fake formula to lure her in.

But what could she do when they threatened her with the tiger?