After swallowing the biscuit in his mouth, Lin Yinan said, "Brother, I'm here. Come in."
Seeing his younger sister wolfing down her pancakes, Lin Yiheng felt a pang of sadness. "Are you hungry?"
As Lin Yinan chewed, she pulled a pancake from her pocket and handed it to him, saying indistinctly, "Brother, here."
Lin Yiheng quickly waved his hand, "You eat, I'm not hungry."
Seeing that he didn't seem to be faking it, Lin Yinan tossed the pancake back into her spatial storage.
After finishing her meal, she drank some hot water and felt much better.
"What brings you here?"
Lin Yiheng told her about the meeting that the Yun family and the village had discussed.
The weather is unpredictable, so they shouldn't linger on the road. They'll continue their journey as soon as the snow stops. For the wounded who are unable to walk, the Yun family will provide several carriages where they can lie down.
The villagers and the Yun family didn't have much food. The clan chief had previously thought that if they traveled slowly on the road, they could find some food on the mountain after the snow melted.
The Yun brothers disagreed, believing that no one knew when the Hu people would continue their southward advance.
"Brother, do you think the Hu people will move south?"
Lin Yiheng hesitated for a moment, then shared the Yun brothers' opinion: "Last year, there was a severe drought and the harvest failed. People fled south in droves. Even though the Hu people occupied so many cities, apart from those who were captured, there was hardly any grain left. They can still eat people now, but what will they eat after everyone has fled?"
Lin Yinan thought it made sense. "They will definitely head south to plunder! So, as soon as the snow stops, we need to hurry on our way."
"Also, there are the injured villagers. The Yun family suggested that we help each other, especially those families that suffered heavy losses. My uncle and I discussed it and decided to bring Lin Qingxiang's family over to join us. What do you think?"
"Lin Qingxiang's house?"
Lin Yinan only knew a few families in the village.
"His family suffered the most damage. His parents were killed in the bombing, his wife and two daughters were injured, and he himself was slashed in the leg by bandits."
Upon hearing this, Lin Yinan knew who it was.
“I have no objection. I’ll put some grain on the cart later, and you can cover for me.”
The brother and sister agreed to come out of the tent, only to find the boy with his hands tied behind his back, thrown beside the fire.
Before Lin Yinan could even ask a question, Hu Shao smiled, raised his head, and walked forward with his chest puffed out.
"Sister, when this kid pretended to go to the bathroom, he tried to sneak away from our horse. Luckily, I was quick-witted and discovered it in time, preventing him from succeeding."
Grandma Zhao stirred the food in the pot, turned around and spat at the boy, "Pah! You ungrateful wretch!"
Zhang glared at him angrily, while Li Shulan patiently said, "You came to our house and didn't say a word no matter what we asked. You ate and slept with us. We've treated you well, so why are you repaying kindness with enmity?"
Upon hearing Li Shulan's words, the boy's chest heaved violently, his eyes widened, and he was extremely agitated.
Lin Yinan found his hatred for him inexplicable and asked him coldly, "We have no prior dealings with you, so tell me where this hatred comes from?"
The boy suddenly raised his head, his eyes fixed on her, filled with boundless hatred and a fierce glint in his eyes.
"You all deserve to die! You were the ones who brought the bandits here, and in the end, it was my family who died. You had the ability to save people, but you just stood by and watched them die!"
Having not spoken for too long, the boy roared out the hatred that had been bottled up inside him in a hoarse voice.
Lin Yinan pursed her lips, her gaze sharp as a knife, making the boy feel suffocated.
After a long pause, she slowly spoke, "Why should we save those unrelated people? My family kindly took you in, provided you with food and clothing, and then you mistakenly thought we owed you something, so you acted recklessly, trying to hurt my brother and let our horses go?"
Do you think I'm too soft-hearted to hurt a child?
Lin Yinan took a step forward, and the boy shrank back, his back pressed against the cart, leaving him nowhere to retreat. The murderous aura emanating from her frightened him; just last night, he had witnessed her kill without blinking an eye.
Lin Yinan was pleased to see fear on his face. "I'll give you two choices. One is to stay with me and behave yourself. If you have any disloyal intentions, I will kill you. The other is to leave immediately and never appear in front of me again."
Her pale face held no trace of a smile, and her words were utterly devoid of warmth.
"Hu Shao, untie him."
Once untied, the boy glanced at everyone present, then, ignoring his numb arms, scrambled and crawled up the mountain.
Li Shulan sighed, "How can he, a child, survive in the mountains in such cold weather?"
Lin Yiheng sneered, "It was his own choice. His life and death are up to fate. He has no one to blame but himself. We gave him a chance."
Glancing at the boy's departing figure, Grandma Zhao tapped the side of the pot with her spoon.
"Dinner's ready. With one less ungrateful person, we can each have a little more food saved."
"Grandma is absolutely right!"
Hu Shao smiled broadly and handed the bowl in his hand to Old Mrs. Zhao, looking at her pitifully.
Seeing that he had behaved well, Grandma Zhao scooped up a large spoonful for him.
Lin Yinan sat by the fire, holding a bowl, warming herself by the fire while taking small bites of the porridge in the bowl.
When Yun Mo came over, he saw that she was eating not coarse grain and wild vegetable porridge, but the most delicious food in the world.
He held his umbrella in the snow and watched from afar.
He only approached her slowly after she finished eating and put down her bowl.
"Miss Lin, my brother has something to discuss with you. Would you please come out for a moment?"
From the moment he appeared, Lin Yinan had already caught a glimpse of him out of the corner of her eye. If he didn't come over, she would pretend not to know.
Lin Yinan stood at the edge of the tarpaulin. "What is it?"
Yun Mo glanced at the Lin family members and other villagers who were looking at them curiously.
"It's not convenient to talk here, Miss Lin, please come with me."
"Anan, I'll go with you." Lin Yiheng put down his bowl and came out.
"Brother, no need, I'll be right back."
She knew what Yunye was going to say.
Yun Mo moved the umbrella in his hand closer to her, and the two left under one umbrella.
Su Yunzhi happened to be looking for Lin Yiheng when she saw the two of them from behind. The man was tall and straight, and the woman was slender and graceful. They looked so well-matched.
This scene deeply pierced Su Yunzhi's heart. He couldn't care less about finding Lin Yiheng, and turned away in a daze.
His mother's actions broke his heart, and he asked himself countless times if there was really no possibility between him and Anan.
"Miss Lin, when you killed the bandit leader, was he still carrying explosives?"
Stepping into the tent, Yunye didn't beat around the bush and asked her directly, but his tone displeased Lin Yinan, making her feel like she was being interrogated.
"Yes," Lin Yinan said without hiding anything.
"May I exchange something with you, young lady?"
Yunye looked at her, his eyes filled with expectation and a hint of probing.
"cannot."
Yunye was a little anxious, "Miss Lin, this thing can only be truly effective in the hands of the Yun family's secret guards."
"Is it about killing more people?"
Lin Yinan's voice was icy, and a barely perceptible hint of mockery appeared at the corner of her lips.
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