The little one shivered from the cold wind, curled up in a ball, and cried out, "Little Fu Bao is so cold! Daddy, Mommy, where are you?"
Little Fu Bao curled up for a while, then suddenly felt a warmth on her body. A little boy picked her up and asked, "Why aren't you wearing clothes?"
The little boy looked to be about seven or eight years old.
Little Fu Bao's teeth were chattering from the cold. "Big brother, Little Fu Bao is so cold, so cold! So hungry!"
The little boy took off one of his clothes and wrapped it around Xiao Fubao, then broke off some of the steamed buns he had stolen and stuffed them into Xiao Fubao's mouth, saying:
"Actually, I'm so cold and hungry too. Oh well, we're both orphans, unwanted children. Let's just rely on each other for survival in our final moments!"
"Young man, I live in Group 9 of Niushan Village. My parents are very good to me... but bad people... bad people dragged me here!"
Little Fu Bao spoke haltingly, but because of his young age and the extreme cold, his speech was somewhat unclear. However, the little boy still caught the key words: Group 9, Niushan Village.
"I'll carry you down the mountain to look for you, but please don't die!" The little boy was dressed very thinly, and the only thicker coat he had was used to wrap up Xiao Fubao.
The seven or eight-year-old's body was carrying the one-year-old, twenty or thirty-pound baby, and it still felt a bit heavy. Fortunately, it also warmed the baby's body.
After walking down the mountain and past Zhaoping Village, he happened to run into Shen Yu and Niu Da, who were leading government officials to search for someone. He didn't know how they had found their way here.
As soon as Shen Yu saw Xiao Fu Bao, she immediately hugged him tightly and cried loudly, "My son!"
Niu Da's eyes also reddened.
She noticed that Xiao Fubao wasn't wearing her usual clothes, but rather the clothes of the little boy in front of her, and quickly asked, "Xiao Fubao, where are your clothes?"
Little Fu Bao's teeth were still chattering: "Granny Zhao... threw it away!"
She gave the little boy a grateful look.
The little boy looked at the little girl in front of him and suddenly felt as if the figure of the little girl who had saved him in his previous life overlapped with her.
His eyes held a hint of melancholy. He had thought she was a pitiful person like himself, but who knew that her parents cherished her so much.
His parents were actually very good to him, but unfortunately they both died. After his parents died, his uncle said that he was not his parents' biological child and could not live in the house, so he kicked him out.
Then, he made a living by stealing food. Afraid of being harassed, he settled in the deep mountains. The clothes he was wearing were made for him by his adoptive parents when he was five years old, and he had been wearing them for four years.
Seeing the little boy walking deeper into the mountains and forests, Niu Da said, "Kid, aren't you going home?"
“I’m not a child. I’m ten years old (by Chinese reckoning). I have a name. My name is Xiao Heng. I don’t have parents either. And I’m going home right now. My home is right here in this forest!” Xiao Heng said.
He lived two lives.
Little Fu Bao was wrapped in several layers of clothes, which warmed her up a bit. She opened her sleepy eyes and said, "Big brother, will you come home with my daddy? My family has lots of delicious food!"
Niu Dadao: "Xiao Heng, you saved my daughter. Now you can come home with us. We will take care of you, and you won't have to suffer from hunger and cold in these deep mountains and forests anymore!"
Xiao Heng said, "I can eat a lot, and I steal things, aren't you afraid I'll steal things from your house?"
Why did you steal?
"Hungry"
"So, did you steal money?"
He doesn't steal; he only steals food.
"You steal because you're hungry. If you weren't hungry, would you still steal?"
Xiao Heng thought for a moment and said, "No."
"Stealing is wrong, but as long as you can change, you're a good child. If you correct your behavior and return all the things you stole from others, you'll still be a good child!"
Chen Yu wiped away her tears and said, "Good child, did you see my other daughter and a little boy on the mountain?"
Xiao Heng said, "No!"
When Xiao Fubao heard Niu Baolan mentioned, she mumbled in her sleep, "Sister, women's branch, dog, cliff! Dog... cliff!"
Niu Dadao:
"I'll go with a few constables to continue searching the cliff. You and your second brother take the two children back to warm up by the fire, and we'll bring the oxcart back later!"
Niu Er responded.
Little Fu Bao shivered incessantly in Shen Yu's arms as the biting cold wind blew in gusts. It wasn't until they got home and warmed themselves by the fire that the six little girls around the fire were all very curious about the new big brother.
Niu Xiaomei also asked, "Sister-in-law, whose child is this?"
“His name is Xiao Heng, and he’s from Zhaoping Village. He saved Xiao Fubao. His parents have both passed away, and when we saw that he was an orphan, we took him in and raised him as our son!”
Niu Xiaomei laughed and said, "We have seven or eight girls in our house, it would be nice to have a boy too, but I wonder what his number is?"
"I am ten years old in the traditional Chinese age reckoning." Although Xiao Heng has lived two lives, he still retains some of his roguish charm, after all, he has been stealing chickens and dogs everywhere since he was six years old.
Even when he wielded immense power, he remained a ruthless killer.
“I’m also ten years old (by Chinese reckoning), I’ll be ten years old after the New Year, what month are you born in?” Niu Cuihua asked.
"September," Xiao Heng said.
“I was born in August, so you’ll be my little brother from now on!” Niu Cuihua said. Niu Meihua, Baozhu, Ke’er and Qiao’er all called him brother.
"That old woman Zhao is so hateful! I wish Baolan could be found too!" Niu Xiaomei said through gritted teeth.
"That damned woman, she'll get what's coming to her!" Xiang Jinlan cursed along with her.
Little Fu Bao said, "Sister Bao Lan, everything will be alright!"
Shen Yu was still feeling unwell and, not wanting everyone to worry about her condition, handed Xiao Fu Bao to Xiang Jinlan, saying:
"Auntie, could you watch the kids for me? Everyone hasn't eaten yet, I'll go cook!" Chen Yu hid in the kitchen and cried.
Niu Cuihua stood up and said, "Aunt, I'll go start the fire. Meihua, please keep an eye on Ke'er and Qiao'er!"
Chen Yu cooked a bowl of ginger tea and red date soup for Xiao Fubao and Xiao Heng, added brown sugar, and stir-fried a few home-style dishes, which they ate with pickles.
Xiao Heng was momentarily at a loss: "Is this for me?"
“Now that you’re here with us, you can study and eat with us, just like your second uncle!” Chen Yu said.
"Little brother, you eat it! I'll give you half of mine!" Little Fu Bao said. "It's sweet and delicious!"
As Xiao Fubao spoke, she poured half of it for Xiao Heng.
Niu Da and Niu Er also returned.
"Is Gouzi really at the bottom of the cliff? Dead?" Chen Yu asked.
"No, not at all. Speaking of which, Gouzi was lucky. When he was thrown down, he got caught on an old, crooked tree! It's just that Old Lady Zhao was too cruel. She drugged the child and threw away all his clothes. She probably thought that if he didn't die from the fall, he would freeze to death."
"However, Old Lady Zhao didn't fare well either. She was crushed to death by a pile of stones, and her body was never found. When we arrived, our path was blocked by collapsed stones. After we moved the stones, we saw Old Lady Zhao's blood-stained clothes and her hair."
Shen Yu was not a kind-hearted person. One of her daughters almost froze to death, and the whereabouts of another daughter were still unknown. She truly hated Old Lady Zhao.
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