At this point, the old man's tears fell, and he looked as pitiful as could be.

Jiang Qiao was puzzled. "I've left you guys with almost a year's worth of food rations. What's going on? It's still not enough. Really?"

The old man lowered his head, like a child who had done something wrong. "We took all the grain and oil from our house to exchange for other things—"

Jiang Qiao was exasperated. "You two can't even take care of yourselves. What are you going to do with anything? What if I had come back a few days later? You two would have been dead. You're both over a hundred years old combined. How can you not understand this? What's the point of having inanimate objects if you're already dead?"

Ma Liu mumbled, "We want to save up more for your dowry so that your husband's family will take you seriously after you get married."

Jiang Qiao sighed, "I'm telling you, my two grandfathers, how old am I? I'm far from getting married. Besides, if anyone dares to bully me, I'd be lucky if I didn't bully anyone."

Don't you guys think about what time this is? This is a new society now, and those old ideas don't apply anymore.

From now on, you have to listen to me. Life is the most important thing. Without life, you have nothing. You've lived to such an old age, it's not easy. For the sake of those brothers who didn't live to your age, you have to take good care of yourselves!

Okay, I won't say anything more to you. What do you want for lunch? I'll make it for you.

Ma Liu looked up pitifully, "I want to eat meat—"

Grandpa Qiao nodded in agreement, "Steamed buns and rice are both fine, as long as they're not tree bark or grass roots, I can eat them."

Jiang Qiao sighed. How could she not know the situation after coming all this way? "Given your current condition, you can't eat a lot of meat right away. Let's have some meat soup instead. I'll make you some mutton soup."

She turned and went out, and after a short while, she brought the old man two cups of prepared milk powder. "Drink this first to replenish your nutrition. All the weight you gained before is gone."

Ma Liu and Qiao Jie happily held their cups and slowly drank. It was fragrant, sweet, and delicious.

"Oh, it's so good that Qiao'er is back, brother. I'm alive again. Now that I think about it, it was worth exchanging grain and oil for those things. If we hadn't taken action, who knows who would have gotten them into the hands of?"

Although they're worthless now, they'll be valuable someday. We won't live to see that day, but Qiao'er can live to see it. Leave some old things for the children; maybe when they see these things, they'll miss us and burn more paper money for us.

Qiao Jie sighed, "Let's wait a couple of days and then take the kids to sweep the graves. At least let them get acquainted with the place. After we pass away, we can come back and visit our parents."

Ma Liu happily replied, "If someone is burying me, that's great! I can stay with my parents. Where else can I find such a good thing?"

Actually, he felt a little guilty. He had always suspected that Jiang Qiao would abandon the two of them here, but he didn't expect that the child would come back and even bring food. Given the situation outside, milk powder is not so easy to buy.

Qiao Jie said with a satisfied look, "It's so good to have a granddaughter, and a capable one at that. Liu Zi, from now on, we'll just focus on eating and not ask how the child came to be. If someone with ulterior motives finds out, it will cause trouble for the child."

Ma Liu is a shrewd man. He's been in the palace for so long and managed to get out safely. How could he not be perceptive?

"Okay, big brother, I'll follow you guys from now on. Oh, this is so sweet—"

Jiang Qiao had no idea that the two old men were still reminiscing like this inside the house. She had to hurry up and cook. She checked the kitchen and found that there was nothing left except for seasonings, so she quickly rummaged around for food.

She had steamed buns in her space; she could just take them out and heat them up. Simmering the lamb bones would take time, so she wasn't in a hurry.

He turned around and gave some of the snacks and fruits he had brought back to the old man and the others.

"This can't be eaten as a meal, save your room for mutton soup. It's good for your health. Grandpa, you guys have some fruit—"

The two old men sat inside, slowly munching on bananas and oranges.

"I can't take it anymore, I need to go for a walk in the yard, my stomach is so full—"

Not to mention Ma Liu, even Qiao Jie was the same. As they walked, he sighed, "Don't you think it's a bit outrageous of us two? Everyone else is starving, but we're stuffed. If the neighbors knew, they'd be green with envy."

As the old man walked, he talked to Jiang Qiao, who was busy in the kitchen. After learning about the old man's plan, Jiang Qiao agreed without hesitation.

"But you two need to rest for a few days. We're not in a rush. This afternoon, I'll call my dad. I'm worried he won't receive my messages. I'm really anxious."

Jiang Qiao was right. Gu Zhengfeng really didn't have time to pay attention to his daughter's movements at first. A few days after he returned, his appointment came down, and he was directly promoted to brigade commander.

He was busy taking office as a new official during this period. After everything was settled, he realized that his daughter hadn't written back. When he inquired about his wife, Wen Jingwan sighed.

"My daughter didn't stay at her maternal grandmother's house for more than two days before leaving with Uncle Qiao, saying she was going to visit an old friend. My father also wrote to say that the child didn't go back, and I don't know where the two of them are right now."

Sigh, this child, really, he should at least let us know where he's going. He's been so quiet, it's making us worry. My dad even asked if he's come back yet, but I didn't dare tell him.

Zhengfeng, where do you think Uncle Qiao took the child?

Gu Zhengfeng gave a wry smile. "How would I know? But the girl is definitely alright. Let's wait and see, she should be fine soon."

His intuition told him that the girl was most likely off to get grain, and that she was guarding the Jiangnan region. He felt that his daughter wouldn't let this opportunity slip by.

His daughter really didn't give him much to look forward to. Soon the phone rang, and when he heard his daughter's voice, Gu Zhengfeng's heart was so excited it felt like it would jump out of his chest.

Especially after learning why the child was delayed on the other end of the phone, she nodded repeatedly, saying, "That's how it should be. He's a pitiful person too, but it's just that you're suffering because of him—"

When Gu Zhengfeng heard his daughter vaguely mention that she had gone out for a while, he almost slammed the phone down. He didn't simply think that she had just taken a trip around the country.

"You silly girl, you can't do that. Who can trust you to go out alone? After you've shown the place to your Grandpa Qiao and the others, come back as soon as possible. Write to your father if anything happens."

There are some things that are really inconvenient to say over the phone, because there's an operator in between, and they can hear everything they say.

Jiang Qiao knew this, of course, so she didn't say anything more. She hung up the phone and started mailing things again, but this time she changed the post office.