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“???”
Wan Chunmei put down her half-eaten bowl of thin rice porridge, picked up little Qiyue, and asked in confusion, “Didn’t she just eat? Could she be hungry again?”
Old Tan turned back and said, “Maybe she ate too much, and her stomach is feeling bloated. Yiliang, take the baby from your mother so she can finish her meal.”
Tan Yiliang, staring at the chubby little baby, was instantly smitten. He quickly took the child from Wan Chunmei’s hands and cradled her carefully. “Little Qiyue, be good, be good. Big brother will buy you candy, lots of candy.”
Nestling into a cozy spot in his arms, little Qiyue settled down peacefully and fell asleep.
Nearby, Tan Erqian, who had been watching with envy, suddenly lost interest in his fish. He walked over and said, “Big brother, let me hold her too.”
Tan Yiliang was reluctant to let go. “No, no, I just started holding her.”
Tan Erqian was a bit dissatisfied. “Second brother, you’ve already held her. Let me hold her for a bit too.”
Tan Yiliang, still cradling little Qiyue, turned his head. “No, just no.”
Tan Erqian lowered his head, his eyes darting around. After a moment, he looked up and said, “Big brother, big brother, little Qiyue peed, she peed.”
Tan Yiliang quickly looked down, but with the baby blocking the view, he couldn’t see anything. He thought little Qiyue had indeed peed and handed her over to Tan Erqian. Then, he glanced down at his own clothes, only to see that aside from some mud splatters from earlier, there was nothing else.
“Ah! Second brother, you tricked me!”
By the time he reacted, Tan Erqian had already run off with little Qiyue in his arms.
Tan Yiliang shot him a glare but didn’t press the issue. After all, he was the older brother. He sat back down and continued eating. “I’m not arguing with you, I’m eating, eating.”
He picked up his chopsticks, intending to grab a piece of fish from the table, but after some thought, he decided to split the fish in his bowl into three parts, placing a piece in each of his younger brothers’ bowls.
The fourth and fifth brothers were so delighted that they nearly jumped up, carefully picking up the fish and savoring it.
After dinner, when Old Tan was cleaning up the stove, he glanced at the rice bin—it was almost empty.
Fengping Village was nestled in the hills, and every household made a living by farming rice on terraced fields.
The Tan family’s land was poor and unproductive. They had tried growing rice there for many years, but it never thrived. The harvest was barely enough to cook some thin rice porridge to eat.
Old Tan was a tough man. No matter what, he couldn’t let his family starve, so he often went to the village head’s house to do hard labor.
He would help plant the rice and harvest the crops.
The village head was a learned man, honest and upright, but he had bad luck—he married a petty, sharp-tongued, and overbearing wife who bore him two good-for-nothing sons.
Since Old Tan was already in the business of hard labor, the village head decided to pay him fifteen wen per day for his work. However, the village head’s wife cheated him out of some of that money, leaving him with only ten wen a day.
This infuriated Old Tan, but he had no choice. For the sake of his family not starving, he gritted his teeth and endured it.
The year before, the village head’s two sons had beaten up Tan Erqian. In a fit of rage, Old Tan stormed into the village head’s house with an axe but ended up accepting a thin chicken as compensation, but as a result, he lost the job that paid him ten wen a day.
Even so, Old Tan was a man who refused to back down. He went from one end of the village to the other, offering his labor to anyone who needed it. He didn’t care if it was ten wen or even just five; he would take whatever he could get.
It was through this grueling work, risking his life every day, that he managed to keep his family of seven alive until now.
He covered the rice bin, his rough, dark face showing signs of fatigue. Tomorrow, he’d have to go out and find more work.
At that moment, Tan Yiliang, who had been feeding the chickens in the backyard, rushed in, out of breath. “Father, you need to come see, quick, come see!”
Old Tan quickly wiped the weariness from his face and replied, “What’s going on? Why the fuss?”
Tan Yiliang smiled and said, “Father, the chickens laid eggs again!”
“So what if they laid eggs? Why are you making such a big fuss about it?” Old Tan replied dismissively.
Tan Yiliang tugged at Old Tan’s hand, pulling him along. “Father, come with me and have a look.”
Old Tan allowed himself to be pulled and followed him to the backyard.
The backyard wasn’t very large, enclosed by a pile of broken grass.
But in that patch of land, there were eggs everywhere.
Looking around, it was impossible to count them all.