What do you think your brother is like?

The smile on Li's face gradually froze, as if she had thought of something sad.

“It’s nothing, I just told him the reason why Chunfeng is mentally challenged.” Li smiled sadly. “Chunfeng, I’ve never told you the reason why your brother is mentally challenged, have I?”

"Why don't I have a good talk with you today and see if you still dare to covet your sister-in-law with such wolfish ambitions!" Madam Li closed her eyes, as if recalling something extremely painful.

Seventeen years ago, in Zhangjia Village.

Ten-year-old Zhang Chuntian paced anxiously in the yard, holding her nine-month-old sister, Zhang Chunfeng. The little girl cried incessantly from hunger, her face flushed red. Zhang Chuntian gently rocked her in her arms, and seeing that she was still crying, she softly sang a lullaby to soothe her to sleep.

Hearing the lullaby, nine-month-old Zhang Chunfeng stopped crying a little. Zhang Chuntian quickly took this opportunity to walk to the door.

It was already dark, and Mother still hadn't returned!

This year has been truly terrifying. In the summer, the Jiangnan district was first hit by floods, which destroyed countless houses and left many refugees displaced. Then, the plum rain season lasted for two months, drowning all the planted rice paddies. Now, in late autumn, swarms of locusts have appeared, and the already meager harvest has been completely destroyed by them!

There was absolutely no food to cook in the entire region, so Li went out early in the morning to dig for wild vegetables in search of food. She should be back by now.

Zhang Chuntian was extremely anxious, fearing that Li Shi wouldn't return, and even more so that she hadn't found any wild vegetables. Since the day before yesterday, the only thing he and Li Shi had to eat was a piece of overcooked tree bark; they survived the rest of the time on water.

If there's no food today, he doesn't dare think how much longer he, his mother, and his little sister will live. Zhang Chuntian is young, and his only concept of death is his father's death a few months ago.

If she dies, she'll never see her father again. Zhang Chuntian looked at his younger sister, whose eyes were tightly closed, in his arms. He could go hungry for another meal, but if his sister didn't have anything to eat, would she die too?

He would never see his little sister again?! Just thinking about it made Zhang Chuntian want to cry. This was his little sister, such a lovely little sister, the sister who would grab his face with her little hands every day, smile at him, and stick her drool on his face.

His sister was so soft and beautiful that no one and nothing could take her away.

As darkness deepened, Zhang Chunfeng, who had finally managed to stop crying, began to sob again, shaking back and forth.

"Little sister, my dear little sister, don't cry, what if you ruin your voice?"

His repeated words couldn't stop Zhang Chunfeng's sobs. The entire courtyard was pitch black, and a cold wind enveloped the two of them. Zhang Chunfeng was cold and hungry. Looking around, she couldn't see Li Shi or anyone else.

Only Zhang Chunfeng's sobs grew louder and louder.

But before long, Zhang Chuntian keenly noticed that Zhang Chunfeng's crying was getting weaker and weaker. Even though he hadn't sung any lullabies, Zhang Chunfeng gradually quieted down. His mouth, which had been wide open, slowly closed, and his bright black and white eyes, which had been looking at him with endless curiosity, also slowly closed.

Zhang Chuntian gradually sensed that something extremely bad was happening. He shook Zhang Chunfeng and gently poked his sister's cheek with his finger.

"Spring Breeze, Spring Breeze, little sister." Zhang Chuntian called out twice, but Zhang Chunfeng in her arms still didn't cry.

With a bang, Zhang Chuntian couldn't hold back and burst into loud sobs.

He was only ten years old and had not yet truly experienced death.

Zhang Chuntian picked up Zhang Chunfeng and rushed out of the house.

"Mother! Mother! My sister has stopped crying! Mother!" Zhang Chuntian ran wildly along the village road, shouting at the top of her lungs.

It was pitch black all around, and there was no response from any of the houses he passed. He ran back and forth on the road, but he couldn't find Li or anyone else.

Zhang Chuntian felt like he was falling. More than his trembling legs, the fear he felt for his younger sister in his arms was overwhelming.

Suddenly, as if remembering something, he shoved Zhang Chunfeng to the ground, knelt down with a thud, and began to kowtow.

"Guanyin Bodhisattva, Tathagata Buddha, my mother said you would protect everyone. Please save my sister, please save my sister!" Zhang Chuntian pleaded repeatedly, his head hitting the rough yellow dirt road again and again.

"I beg you, please save my sister. I will do anything for you from now on. I can't live without her, please." Zhang Chuntian kowtowed for so long that blood streamed down his forehead, but his sister, who was placed beside him, still didn't make a sound.

He wiped his forehead, thinking of teasing Zhang Chunfeng with his fingers again.

So he put his finger in the child's mouth.

Suddenly, he felt Zhang Chunfeng's newly grown teeth move slightly, as if they were biting his fingers.

Zhang Chuntian was overwhelmed with joy; his sister, his sister had not left him.

Zhang Chuntian poked Zhang Chunfeng's mouth again, and suddenly noticed the bloodstains on his fingertips. It turned out that he had accidentally stained his fingers with blood from his forehead and put them in Zhang Chunfeng's mouth, giving Zhang Chunfeng a taste.

As long as his sister eats something, she will get better! Zhang Chuntian felt that he had come up with a great idea. He immediately bit his index finger and let the blood drip into Zhang Chunfeng's mouth. Blood has a taste, and he was afraid that his sister would not be used to it, so he only lightly smeared it on Zhang Chunfeng's lips before putting it into Zhang Chunfeng's mouth. He felt his sister sucking with her newly grown teeth.

A moment later, Zhang Chunfeng, who had been silent, finally let out a faint sob again.

Zhang Chuntian was overjoyed and quickly carried his younger sister home.

He only felt exhausted when he got home. He was only ten years old, and he had only drunk water in two days. He had just been running around like that, kowtowing and feeding Zhang Chunfeng his blood.

Zhang Chuntian closed her eyes, but dared not sleep. What if her mother came back soon, then they would have food. What if she fell asleep and didn't hear her younger sister crying? Her mother had always told her that her sister needed to be fed at least every three hours.

Zhang Chuntian endured the hardship. There were no candles lit in the room, only a chillingly bright moon shining outside the window. The moon was so cold and biting. Zhang Chuntian held his younger sister and squatted on the bed.

So hungry, so hungry. So sleepy. Zhang Chuntian felt she couldn't hold on any longer; waves of drowsiness washed over her.

He pinched his arm hard, unable to sleep.

A short while later, Zhang Chunfeng started crying again. Zhang Chuntian, having no other choice, put his fingers into Zhang Chunfeng's mouth once more. He realized he had to find food; if he starved to death, his sister would starve to death too.

Just then, a whooshing sound rang out. Zhang Chuntian looked closely and saw a mouse trying to slip out from the corner of the wall.

Rats! This isn't food delivered to our doorstep!

Zhang Chuntian placed her younger sister, who had stopped crying, on the bed, and then quietly got off. Children from poor families in the village were always good at catching mice.

He spotted the mouse, gripped his shoe, and with a thud, slapped the mouse to death with the sole of his shoe.

Without the slightest hesitation, Zhang Chuntian, who was so hungry he wanted to hug the table and gnaw on it, picked up the rat and sucked its blood.

With this meager supply, he managed to hold out until the latter half of the night.

The door slammed shut, and Li was carrying a basket of wild vegetables home.

Zhang Chuntian quickly stood up, his emotions, which had been suppressed all day, burst forth instantly. He grabbed Li's leg and burst into tears.

The ten-year-old child was so frightened that Zhang Chuntian cried uncontrollably. Li gently patted Zhang Chuntian's back, "Sweetie, don't cry. Crying too much will only make you hungrier."

Zhang Chuntian immediately shut his mouth, but suddenly felt breathless. He swayed and collapsed to the ground with a thud. Li Shi hurriedly touched him and found that Zhang Chuntian was burning up. Li Shi thought that Zhang Chuntian had caught a cold, so she put him on the bed and quickly cooked porridge for the two children.

Seventeen years later, at the Zhang residence.

"But I never imagined that when my spring woke up again, my brain was already damaged!" Li shouted hoarsely, looking at Zhang Chunfeng.

"Spring Breeze, you keep saying I'm biased, thinking that sharing half of what you have with Spring is doing him a favor. Don't you know that he gave you your whole life! You grew up on his blood, and he sacrificed his best years for you. Now that you've achieved success, you're even taking his wife away!"

Tears streamed down Li's face as she spoke, "And that time in the spring when he hit his head, was it really because he was chasing a butterfly? Or did he stumble upon you and Li Xiuman engaging in illicit affairs, which led to this misfortune!"

Zhang Chunfeng's hand, hidden in his sleeve, trembled slightly.

She heard Li mutter to herself again, "If spring hadn't been so foolish for you, if he could have gone to school like you, why couldn't he be the one in red robes, riding a flying horse, the empress with flowers in her hair today! Spring has ruined all possibilities for you! Spring Breeze, don't you feel any heartache?!"

Zhang Chunfeng closed her eyes, trying to suppress all the turmoil in her heart. She didn't know that Zhang Chuntian's madness was due to this. Honestly, Zhang Chunfeng had never intended to harm her brother. She had considered being a normal sister-in-law with Li Xiuman, she had severed ties with others, and she had considered the harm this matter would cause her brother. But every possibility was ultimately abandoned because that person was Li Xiuman.

Her emotions had long since outweighed her reason.

"Did you say the same thing to Lee Soo-man that night?" Zhang Chunfeng asked, his face still as calm as water.

Li's heart sank halfway down, and she nodded.

"What's even more ridiculous is that he actually knelt down and begged me to forgive him for everything, saying that he would repay spring by being a cow or a horse in his next life."

"Ridiculous? Is it really ridiculous?" Zhang Chunfeng asked rhetorically, almost imagining how much pain Li Xiuman, who had been gentle and docile all his life and had never fought with anyone, must be suffering, his heart buried under a mountain of guilt.

If anyone owes Zhang Chuntian, it's Zhang Chunfeng who owes her, not Li Xiuman. It's not Li Xiuman's place to repay all of this, yet Li Shi insisted on telling Li Xiuman all of this, wanting Li Xiuman to make up for this debt.

“Mother, what’s done is done. My brother has gone mad. There’s no going back! My brother has sacrificed his whole life for me. I will take care of him myself. Li Xiuman has nothing to do with this!” Zhang Chunfeng turned to leave.

Li screamed and suddenly pulled out the gold hairpin from her hair, its sharp tip piercing her neck.

"Zhang Chunfeng! If you're going to find Li Xiuman today, you'll step over my dead mother's body!"

Zhang Chunfeng paused, seeing Li's fierce expression, the sharp point already piercing her skin, and drops of blood sliding down her neck.

"Mother, do you really have to go this far?"

Li sneered, "Chunfeng, I gave birth to you and raised you, and I've finally seen you get to this point. I can't let anyone ruin you! How can you not understand! How can you not understand! I've done all this for your own good!"

Zhang Chunfeng took two steps back. Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her ears. From childhood to adulthood, Li always said that she was doing it for her own good. Such "goodness" was truly suffocating her.

"Mother, you really have a kind heart." Zhang Chunfeng laughed sneer.

Li Shi refused to budge an inch. "Chunfeng, let me tell you the truth, I forced Li Xiuman in the same way. Even if you go looking for her now, our house is empty. Li Xiuman left with your brother a long time ago. You won't find her!"

Zhang Chunfeng's face darkened. "Mother and I had already planned everything out when we came here." She wasn't asking Li Shi this question; she was telling the whole story.

Ever since she witnessed Zhang Chunfeng and Li Xiuman embracing by the river, Lady Li had meticulously planned everything. Seven months passed, and Li Xiuman had long since vanished without a trace. Zhang Chunfeng threatened to kill himself if he went to find her. Lady Li didn't care if Zhang Chunfeng sent people to search for her; the journey was long and arduous, and she knew all too well that whoever she sent would only pocket the money. Lady Li only wanted Zhang Chunfeng to stay in the capital and continue his official career.

"Mother, please get up," Zhang Chunfeng said thoughtfully. "Compared to your life, I certainly cannot kill my own mother."

“However…” A cold expression suddenly appeared on Zhang Chunfeng’s handsome face. “Since Mother is putting her life in danger today, my bond with Mother is severed here. I will still take care of Mother in the future, but if there is a next time, Mother’s golden hairpin will be of no use to me.”

Zhang Chunfeng strode out of the living room, and Li Shi's body went limp, the gold hairpin in her hand falling to the ground.

She clutched her robe tightly. It's alright, it's alright. Zhang Chunfeng is just a child at heart. After seeing more handsome men, he'll forget about Li Xiuman.

"If only I had known! If only I had known! I shouldn't have let Li Xiuman into the house!" Li Shi said with heartache. "I shouldn't have spent those twenty copper coins!"