"Now that they eat in the cafeteria, the seventh and eighth kids can bring home a bowl of rice. They won't just sell them off!"

"Why don't we bring them here first, and then talk about the household registration after the famine? At worst, we can pay to get the household registration sorted out. Then you'll see how many households a village will lose. If they've been missing for three years, they'll definitely assume they're gone by now. Besides, their own families have already gone through these three years, and we don't even know if they'll be able to catch their breath!"

Cuixiang is a decisive and efficient person. In her opinion, taking care of what's in front of you is the most important thing.

Her suggestion was met with approval from Cui Mei.

"Exactly, we can't just watch the seventh and eighth sisters go hungry, can we? That's incredibly wicked. They already eat so little, and they're skimping on their food. If this continues, what if they're gone by the time we figure out a solution? Who knows what will happen in three years? It's not like we can't afford to feed them. At worst, we can just let the seventh and eighth sisters stay at home. There's not much harvest in these three years, so staying at home is better than them starving at their house, right?"

Cuihua and Cuiju exchanged a glance. As the eldest sister in the family, she also felt sorry for her two younger sisters. Since her sisters all said so, then let's do it!

After the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, they waited for their seventh and eighth sisters to arrive one by one. This time, they didn't let their two younger sisters leave.

"You should stay here from now on and not go out on weekdays. If you run into people from your village, things might get complicated. Just stay home. As long as we have a bowl of rice, you will have a bowl too. Don't worry about us skimping on your food. At least you can eat your fill. We won't go back. Once we get through these tough times, we'll figure out a way to change your household registration."

The production team distributed grain according to household registration and work points, so the household registration had to be transferred. Fortunately, even if the production team existed for the past three years, it was practically non-existent. The grain from the production team was simply not enough to make a living. Luckily, they had started saving grain in previous years, so they were able to survive these three years.

So the seventh sister changed her name to Cuifeng, and the eighth sister changed her name to Cuilan. No matter what they used to be called, they would be Cuifeng and Cuilan at home from now on.

Upon learning that Seventh Sister and Eighth Sister had returned, Xiao Jiu secretly sent Cuihua about ten duck eggs, seven or eight apples, and pears to help them recover.

"You silly child, you should keep this good stuff for yourself! You still haven't finished the eggs I gave you last time!"

Cuihua felt sorry for her little sister who always took everything out of her mouth, worried that she wouldn't have enough to eat, and was only thinking about this side. She wondered what would happen to the Tao family...

"That's enough, sis. I have some, and there's some over there too, don't worry! There's nothing I can do to help. The most important thing is for you to get well."

Besides this food, she had nothing else. She had no clothes, no things to use, and no money. If they didn't give her food and fruit, what could they give her?

"Big sister, remember to inform the Zhao family about this matter, lest they cancel the account when it's reported to higher authorities."

Tang Cuihua glanced at Tang Xiaojiu in surprise, and once again became certain that this younger sister was no ordinary person. She immediately went to discuss it with Cuimei.

If the household registration is cancelled, it will indeed cause a lot of trouble later. If we inform the Zhao family in advance, they might be able to help us transfer the household registration out in time.

Especially in Zhao Family Village where Lao Ba lived, there were Zhao family members there. After Lao Ba disappeared for a period of time, that family gave up, and his household registration was transferred out.

At worst, we can give them some money later and do the same thing with Tao's father's help, which can minimize the losses.

When the seventh and eighth brothers returned home, the biggest problem they faced was not food, but winter clothes.

Fortunately, the Tao family was a great help. They were wearing the brothers' cotton-padded clothes, which were a bit ugly, but at least they were much warmer than the thin clothes they were wearing. Not only were there cotton-padded clothes, but also cotton-padded trousers and even cotton-padded shoes. Zhao Lingli brought them over.

"If our family hadn't burned the offerings, we could have saved up quite a bit for you. It's a pity we ran into such unscrupulous relatives. Humph, they'll get their comeuppance sooner or later."

Wouldn't they get their comeuppance?

They are still being held in the detention center, and they will not be released until the matter is thoroughly investigated.

The latest news is that the man's identity has not yet been determined, and when asked, they cannot answer.

If the man's identity cannot be found after the New Year, or if they encounter someone eager to close the case, these two will most likely become scapegoats.

With no money or power, a bad character, and even a criminal record, Tang Jiabao could easily get a woman pregnant. Even if he doesn't die, he could be imprisoned for five, six, seven, or eight years.

Xiao Jiu felt no remorse whatsoever, and even thought they deserved it. Even if there was no evidence of arson, the villagers could attest to what the father and son had done over the years, which was enough to give them a hard time.

After the sisters reunited, although they didn't eat well every day, at least they could fill their stomachs with water. With the occasional delivery of various pickled vegetables, coarse grains, eggs, and duck eggs from Xiaojiu, none of them went hungry. They even took time to go out and collect firewood.

They only occasionally went over to eat at the communal restaurant, and when they closed the door to live their own lives, they regretted not bringing their seventh and eighth children home sooner.

However, back in Taoyuan Village, the old family home kept a close eye on them, making everything they did feel restricted. Now that they've returned to Xihe Village and are living with the Zhou family, they're much freer, which can be considered a blessing in disguise.

Unbeknownst to them, the adoptive parents of the seventh and eighth children had both reported the disappearance to the police. Fortunately, the Zhao family received a message from the Tang sisters and had a plan. Now, during the Lunar New Year, and since it was a girl (who would be involved in a criminal case), besides keeping an eye on the criminal cases in the surrounding area, there probably weren't enough police officers to go out and search for her alone.

When the two of them arrived in Xihe Village, it was always at night. They didn't go out during the day and stayed at the Zhou family's house. They didn't interact with the villagers on a regular basis, so naturally no one came to their house. Therefore, after they settled in, no one knew that the Zhou family had missing persons.

In the east room of the Zhou family's main hall, the eldest, second, third, and fourth sons slept on the large kang (heated brick bed), while the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth sons slept in the west room. It took two large kangs to fit so many people. To save firewood, they only heated the kangs when they felt they couldn't stay warm any longer. Fortunately, with so many people crammed together, it still provided some warmth. However, the houses in the countryside were quite large, and the insulation wasn't very good.

Unlike houses in Northeast China, which are built lower to keep warm, here, even with a heated kang (a traditional heated platform bed), only the head of the kang is warm; the rest of the house feels cool.

On the other hand, Xiao Jiu had her own room after she grew up. When asked, she said she wasn't cold and wouldn't let anyone light a stove for her because she had a warehouse. If she was cold, she could sleep in the temperature-controlled warehouse, which saved a lot of coal briquettes.

Grandpa and Grandma had a heated kang bed in their room, and they often invited Xiaojiu to sleep there. But she was stubborn and felt that she was too old to bother the old folks.

If she hadn't been healthy and hadn't never had frostbite, she probably would have been forcibly moved into her grandparents' room long ago.