But no sooner had he finished speaking than a fire broke out to the south. Gu Hanting, terrified, turned and ran south. Jiang Weihan was stunned. "Hey, what are you doing? That's not in the mountains, it looks like it's on a slope—"

Gu Hanting wouldn't listen to any of this, so Jiang Weihan could only hurry back, put the things down, and tell his family to quickly take the tools and head south. Although it was on a slope, if the fire wasn't put out, it would soon spread to the woods over there.

Not to mention Jiang Weihan, everyone in the village, upon seeing the fire, grabbed their tools and ran south.

Jiang Qiao and the others happened to pass by the place where the fire started. Because of the dry weather and the wind, the fire started very quickly. The three children, along with the people who were visiting graves nearby, all joined in and tried to beat the fire with tree branches. However, the fire spread too fast, and their strength was not enough. Moreover, the wildfire had already spread to the edge of the forest.

Jiang Qiao was anxious. What would happen to their family's ancestral graves if the fire burned inside?

Just as she was about to summon water from her spatial storage to put out the fire, she saw a crowd rushing towards her in the distance, and she could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

However, seeing the woman who was hurriedly crying and helping to put out the fire, Jiang Qiao was puzzled. What was going on? Everyone is very careful when visiting graves, so how did this woman manage to start a fire?

Upon closer inspection, she was stunned, for what the woman had burned was not something else, but the corpse of a child.

Not only did she notice it, but everyone around her saw it too. However, no one could bring themselves to say anything to blame her. The child had died, and everyone was heartbroken. If they were to blame her at this moment, it would only make things worse for the woman.

Jiang Qiao walked over and said, "Auntie, please accept my condolences."

The woman glanced at Jiang Qiao, then squatted down and sobbed. People she knew came over to comfort her.

"The dead cannot be brought back to life. You still have other children to take care of, so please take good care of yourself."

Jiang Qiao looked at Gu Zhixuan beside her with a puzzled expression, "Is this one from our village?"

Gu Zhixuan shook his head. "No, it should be people from the villages to the south. Our village takes good care of the children, and none of them have died. It's hard to say about other villages."

Faced with this situation, what could Jiang Qiao say? She couldn't say anything. This was the current situation. She wasn't a saint. She had already given up everything she had, and she figured she was doomed.

"Qiao'er, Zhixuan, Zhihong—"

Gu Hanting's panicked voice rang out, and Gu Zhixuan quickly replied, "Grandpa, we're alright, we're all fine."

Villagers were already putting out the fire, so Jiang Qiao and his group no longer needed to help. The fire was basically extinguished, and the remaining people were covering the still-sparking areas with soil.

Seeing that all three children were standing in front of him unharmed, Gu Hanting could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Are you alright?

Jiang Qiao shook her head. "Grandpa, we're fine. Let's go home."

Gu Hanting glanced around and, not needing Jiang Qiao's help, pulled the three children back. As they walked, Jiang Qiao explained the cause of the fire.

"Sigh, this kind of situation is nothing new. What can we do? Maybe things will get better this year."

Jiang Qiao had a gut feeling that things might not get better this year. People say things don't happen more than three times, and this is only the third year; it might just hit a snag on the third.

"We can't be so optimistic. Let's wait and see. Maybe this year will be the same."

Gu Zhixuan left with Jiang Qiao this time. High school is about to start, and he needs to go back to prepare.

"Brother, how's it going? Living with your dad? Happy, right?"

Gu Zhixuan smiled and said, "At first I was pleasantly surprised, but after a while, it just became the same. We can only see each other at night at most. During the day, we are busy with our own things. Sometimes my dad is busy and can't come back. Now I can cook for myself, but I can't cook as well as you. I can at least get the food cooked."

"Brother, I brought back some noodles. If you're too lazy to cook, just make some noodles and eat them with some pickled vegetables. I also brought some milk powder and honey. Remember to drink them yourself."

Also, if a stranger knocks on the door, don't open it—"

Jiang Qiao told Gu Zhixuan about what had happened in the past two days.

"Wow, is that really true? Good heavens, I really need to be careful from now on."

"By the way, that ugly daffodil is so annoying! She wants to be my stepmother, but she should at least ask me if I agree. I've never seen such shamelessness."

Jiang Qiao sighed, "There's no point in reasoning with those shameless women. Just remember not to open the door."

As soon as the brother and sister entered the city, Jiang Qiao saw a little beggar rushing past her. She recognized the beggar and quickly grabbed him.

"What's going on? What are you doing?"

Upon seeing Jiang Qiao, the little beggar seemed to see a glimmer of hope. "Sister, please come and help us. We've been looking for a sick auntie, but we can't help her. That's why we came to find you, but you're not home. Please come with me to take a look."

Jiang Qiao told Gu Zhixuan to go back first. She and the little beggar went to the dilapidated house where they were staying. Inside, there was a disheveled woman who looked like she had a high fever.

After taking her pulse, Jiang Qiao quickly gave her acupuncture and then fed her medicine. She also checked the room; although it was simple, it was quite clean.

I casually asked, "Have you eaten? Do you still have any food?"

“We haven’t eaten yet. The others went begging for food. We still have some food left at home, but we can’t bear to eat it.”

Jiang Qiao patted Er Ya's head and said, "Don't be reluctant to eat. Wait here, I'll get you some food."

He pulled a handful of noodles out of his basket. "You start cooking first, and we'll eat together when everyone gets back. What's this woman's background?"

Er Ya shook her head. "I don't know either. Mengzi and the others brought her back. They said she collapsed on the street and no one helped her, so they had no choice but to bring her back. Sister, what should we do?"

Jiang Qiao understood Er Ya's concerns. These little beggars already had trouble getting enough to eat; if another one were to be added to their diet, things would become even more difficult for them.

"It's alright, we still have my sister. Let's wait for her to wake up and then ask her what's going on."

Jiang Qiao helped the woman clean herself up. The woman in front of her wasn't very old; she didn't look forty at first glance. She had regular features, and although her clothes were dirty and tattered, the fabric seemed to be of decent quality to Jiang Qiao.

Jiang Qiao found this face particularly familiar. She searched her memory but couldn't recall ever seeing a woman like this before. Why did this face seem so familiar?

After taking a closer look, she suddenly realized that this woman looked somewhat like Wang Dahua in some ways. How should I put it? Although Wang Dahua looks old and frail now, she was quite good-looking when she was young.

But why does this woman look like Wang Dahua? Could she be her niece or grandniece?

If she remembered correctly, Wang Dahua had a daughter back then. Jiang Ping and his wife had once said that she seemed to have starved to death on the way. Could it be that she didn't starve to death?

Many thoughts raced through her mind, but since the woman remained unconscious, none of her ideas could be verified.