Today is the day to build the house. Two big pots of sweet porridge cooked early in the morning were placed on the table. They were still steaming and exuding a rice aroma. Cao Xiangnan was not going to the town today. There were many things to do at home today. Wanfeng was afraid that he would not be able to handle it alone at home, so he was going to stay at home today.

As usual, Cao Gang and his friends went to the town to set up the stall before dawn. There were things to do there, and they could not help him much. He had to work alone on this side.

The door of the yard was opened early today. People from the village would come to their house to eat porridge soon. Not knowing how many people would come from the village, Cao Xiangnan simply cooked two big pots of porridge. More is better than less. Otherwise, it would be more embarrassing if people came and had nothing to eat.

Last night, Cao Xiangnan invited several families he was close to to come over today, and specifically invited Li Zheng to come over, after all, Li Zheng's seniority was there. He also went to his uncle's place, but the bad-tempered old man didn't immediately agree to come like others.

As for other people in the village, he didn't have a particularly good relationship with them, so he didn't go out of his way to invite them.

Cao Xiangnan didn't invite the Cao family compound either, because he didn't want to provoke them if he could avoid dealing with them now. It was hard for the people there to not come to him recently, and he wouldn't go there to invite them.

The sun had just peeked out in the east. Unexpectedly, the first person to come to the door was Li Zheng. Cao Xiangnan smiled and welcomed him in, "Seventh Master, please come in."

Chen Hong and the brothers who usually brought him food also came over. They helped with the work as soon as they arrived. The brothers gathered together and talked and laughed. People from the village also came over one after another, saying nice things. Chen Hong and the other diligent ones helped to entertain the guests, serving porridge to everyone and washing the used dishes.

A half-grown child was standing in the corner, barefoot, with several holes in his clothes that had not been repaired. A little brother who was a head younger than him followed by his feet. Both brothers were dirty. Goudan held a broken bowl in his hand and said to Xiaomao who followed him, "Brother, wait here. I'll get you something to eat."

Xiaomao, who was so thin that he only had two big eyes left, listened to his brother's words and looked eagerly at the place where people were coming in and out. His eyes were full of longing, "Brother, come back soon."

"Then I'll go. You wait here and don't run around." Goudan held a broken bowl tightly in his hand, and it was obvious that he was nervous. He heard that there was food to be taken here, so he brought his brother here to get something to eat for his brother.

They hadn't eaten anything since they got up in the morning. The last meal they had was half a bowl of leftovers from last night. Now their stomachs were empty and their intestines were rumbling.

The two brothers ate one meal and then another, and both looked pale and thin, with a desire for food in their eyes.

Goudan took two steps, then turned his head to look at his brother standing there looking at him, and walked forward with a gnashing of teeth. He stood at the door of someone else's house and secretly peeked in, looking at the big pot inside, where someone was scooping food out, and he couldn't help swallowing his saliva, standing there and not daring to go in.

Many people came in and out of Cao Xiangnan's house today, and many people came to his house to eat porridge.

Someone with sharp eyes saw the half-grown child standing at the door, hesitating and not daring to go in. The grandmother was also kind-hearted. She put down the bowl in her hand and walked towards Goudan. Seeing the broken bowl in his hand, she took his bowl, went in and filled a big bowl of porridge for him, and said, "Take it."

Everyone in the village knew about Goudan, a child who usually snatched food from other children in the village. If they met a kind-hearted person, they would not beat him and would give him some food, considering that he had no father or mother, and it was not easy for a half-grown child to live with his younger brother. If they met an unreasonable person, they would scold Goudan for snatching his child's things, and some would even slap him twice.

"Thank you, grandma." Goudan said to his grandma, holding a big bowl of porridge in both hands. His face was so dirty that it was hard to tell what it looked like before. He smiled and said to his grandma. He

happily carried the porridge to his younger brother who was waiting there. Xiaomao saw his brother coming back with food and shouted "Brother, brother." Goudan pursed his lips, lowered the bowl to his younger brother's mouth, and let him drink a sip.

The two brothers stood in the corner, drinking the porridge one sip at a time.

"Pah!"

A small stone was thrown over and hit Goudan's back of the head. Goudan turned his head and saw a few boys standing not far from them. They were all boys from the village. He had fought with some of them.

Goudan gave the bowl to his younger brother, stood in front of his younger brother, and glared at the boy who threw the stone at him. Xiao Mao behind him grabbed his brother's hand. Xiao Mao had grown up now and knew that his brother would get hurt every time he fought. He didn't want his brother to fight, "Brother."

Another stone was thrown at him, and Goudan didn't dodge. If he had dodged, the stone would have hit his brother.

"Hahahaha..." Several half-grown boys were laughing, "You little bastard, we caught you, let's see where you can run today." The fat man stretched out his short hand and said, "Boss, it was Goudan who stole my food that day." The

leading boy had an old grudge against Goudan. He lost the last time he fought with Goudan, and now he wanted to fight back with his men. "You run to the back in a while, and brother will catch up with you, do you know?" Goudan pulled his brother's hand and said to him in a low voice with his head down. Xiao Mao had tears in his eyes and cried "Brother."

"Be obedient!" Goudan pursed his lips and pulled away his brother's hand.

Goudan was just one person, and there were four or five of them. He was no match for them at all. He quickly lost the upper hand and had to be beaten. Goudan was beaten without saying a word. Some boys saw the little brother standing there. They all knew that Goudan was protecting his younger brother, so some of them wanted to bully the little brother.

"Fatty, if you dare to touch Xiaomao, I will kill you!" Goudan said this with a ferocity that really looked like he was going to kill the other person.

The fat man was no longer afraid of him because there were so many people. He curled his lips and said, "Humph, I will beat him!"

Xiaomao stood there with his two big eyes staring at the fat man walking towards him. He was so scared that he didn't know what to do. When the other person stretched out his hand to hit him, he grabbed the other person's hand and swallowed it directly.

"Wow..." The fat man started crying and threw away the little brother who grabbed him.

Goudan, who was over there, desperately rammed the person who hit him, and pushed him away. He ran to where his brother fell and hugged him in his arms, "Where did you fall? Ah, you idiot, didn't I tell you to go first?"

Xiaomao didn't cry either. His forehead was bleeding from rubbing against the ground, and two tears rolled in his eyes.

"Bad boy!" The leader was just hit by Goudan, and he got up from the ground and wanted to take revenge.

Several boys were fighting here, and finally an adult came out and saw it, and shouted, "What are you doing, boys?"

Goudan quickly carried Xiaomao on his back, turned around and ran away, because he knew he would be beaten if caught.

The fat man who was bitten was crying loudly. It happened that his mother was eating porridge at Cao Xiangnan's place. When she saw his son being beaten, she started to scold him. The scolding was very ugly. Some people saw the boy at home, pulled him over, and slapped him, "Why are you fighting with Goudan again? Why are you bullying him?"

Reasonable people would scold their children when they saw their children fighting with Goudan.

Qi Wanfeng heard the noise outside and came out. He asked others what happened, "It's just a fight between a few boys in the village." At this time, in the minds of these people in the village, Qi Wanfeng was a person who was going to live in a big house with green bricks and tiles, and her husband made money by doing business. Their attitude towards him changed a lot compared to before.

The man talked about Goudan, and naturally he also talked about his mother, "This child is also pitiful. His father died, and his mother ran away with someone, leaving him with a half-grown brother. His mother is not a good person either. Last year, his mother wanted to sell his brother to Lame Li from the next village to be raised as a child bride..."

Although Goudan was still a half-grown boy at a young age, Goudan firmly disagreed to let his brother be sold to Lame Li. Since then, he cut off contact with his mother and uncles, and the half-grown boy lived with his younger brother. The family's fields had long been occupied by his mother and divided among his younger uncles. As a half-grown child, he lived with a younger brother who was younger than him. When he was hungry, he would steal food in the village.

It was common for Goudan to fight with other children in the village. Even if Goudan didn't steal their food, some kids in the village would want to bully them because they didn't have a father or mother.

Many people in the village knew about the two brothers Goudan, but even if they knew, what difference would it make? Their whole family was starving, so how could they care about other people's affairs?

Qi Wanfeng just remembered that he seemed to have heard someone say that year that a boy in the village ran away with someone and left two children behind. It seemed that it had been two or three years since that happened. As for the two children, he had never seen them. He sighed after hearing this, and after watching the lively people leave, he turned around and went home.

"What's wrong, Wanfeng?" Cao Xiangnan didn't go out, so naturally he didn't know what was going on outside. When he saw his son Wanfeng coming back with a bad face, he asked.

Qi Wanfeng shook his head and said, "Nothing."

A group of people came to eat porridge and another group came. Their porridge was still cooked with rice. It was thick and thick. The whole pot of porridge was full of rice. It was not like some families who had little money and built a new house to cook sweet porridge for their neighbors. The whole pot of porridge was full of water with only a few grains of rice. Those who came to Cao Silang's house to eat porridge that day and went back had good things to say about Cao Silang.

Unexpectedly, the third uncle also came later. Cao Xiangnan hurriedly entertained the third uncle with a bad temper and praised him. The third uncle who came to eat a bowl of porridge went back.