After sending off Nansheng, the mood at home felt a little low.

Tang Liren went to arrange for the elderly and children in the clan to go to bed. Lili and Xingxing went to wash the dishes. Bai Dongsheng sat in the yard massaging Tan Fenghui’s legs, while Bai Zhengqian was chatting with Song Zhi.

Bai Taotao leaned against Song Zh and listened to their conversation.

Bai Zhengqian was asking Song Zhi if anything had happened in the village during the days he was away.

Song Zhi answered briefly, then suddenly remembered something. He said, “Oh no, I almost forgot,” and then pulled Bai Taotao’s hands off his arm, walked to the side, took something out of his satchel, and handed it to Bai Taotao.

When Bai Taotao took a closer look—

It was the small grapevine planted in the broken enamel cup?

Taotao smiled.

Song Zhi sat back down on the chair.

Bai Taotao naturally placed the small grapevine on her lap, then held onto Song Zhi’s arm with one hand while pinching one of the only two small leaves on the vine with the other.

Little Grape’s panicked voice immediately rang out—

[Taotao, Taotao! Why weren’t you home these past few days?]

Taotao: [I had something to do in the city!]

Little Grape was about to die of anxiety: [Taotao, hurry back home, okay? Something happened at home!]

[What happened?]

There was no one at home, so what could have happened?

Little Grape cried anxiously: [Wuwuwu, last time you said your whole family was hungry… I told Grandpa, and he led everyone to help you. We spent two days figuring out how to get Sweet Bamboo Brother to your house…]

Bai Taotao: [!!!]

Little Grape: [But who knew you’d suddenly be gone? Now Sweet Bamboo Brother has filled your house with bamboo shoots… If you don’t hurry back and collect them, your house will turn into a bamboo forest. Wuwuwu, the roof will even get pierced by bamboo!]

Bai Taotao was dumbfounded.

Just then, Li Cui’er finished packing her luggage and carried it outside, placing it under the eaves for convenience when leaving early the next morning. She happened to run into Tang Liren, who had just finished tending to the elderly and children and was coming out of the house. The two sisters-in-law exchanged glances.

Li Cui’er said, “Eldest sister-in-law, what’s for breakfast tomorrow?”

Tang Liren replied, “We’ll talk about it tomorrow morning.”

Li Cui’er protested, “No, we’re catching the first bus back tomorrow morning, so you’ll need to get up early to prepare breakfast! Oh, by the way, when we came, I saw some stalls selling meat buns. I think meat buns for breakfast tomorrow would be great!”

Tang Liren didn’t even want to respond to her.

Feeling pleased with herself, Li Cui’er added, “Eldest sister-in-law, let me say this upfront—since we’ve already split the family, I’ll go back and tidy up the house tomorrow! The rooms you all were living in before—they’re mine now…”

Tang Liren turned her head, her eyes burning as she stared at her.

Li Cui’er couldn’t contain her excitement and grinned, “Don’t worry! Even if I find the four hundred yuan your husband left behind, I’ll give it back to you!”

Tang Liren sized her up and immediately understood her hidden meaning—she wanted to take advantage of the fact that the main branch wasn’t home to ransack the house?

Tang Liren couldn’t help but sneer inwardly—luckily, the family’s money had already been deposited in the credit union!

Still, Li Cui’er was truly shameless.

Tang Liren half-seriously said, “Our money…”

She stopped halfway, then had an idea and lowered her voice to make something up.

“…isn’t at home. After all, there are so many kids in the house. What if one of them accidentally found it and caused trouble?”

“So, I hid the money in the safest place possible. I guarantee you won’t find it! Not only can’t you find it, you wouldn’t even dare to imagine where it’s hidden!” Tang Liren said with a smile.

She had originally planned to trick Li Cui’er into stirring up trouble at the ancestral hall…

But Li Cui’er’s eyes lit up, “Could it be you really hid the money in Mom’s room?”

Tang Liren froze, wondering if Li Cui’er had a pig’s brain. First, of course, she wouldn’t hide the family’s money in Chen Juxiang’s room! Second, hadn’t Li Cui’er already learned her lesson last time with Taotao?

How could someone fall into the same trap twice?

What a pig-headed fool!

Yet Li Cui’er wore a knowing smile and said, “That’s right—the most dangerous place is the safest place!”

Tang Liren couldn’t be bothered with her anymore and turned to leave.

Li Cui’er’s eyes darted around as she called out, “Eldest sister-in-law, Mom said she heard you’re taking Fourth Uncle and Grandma Qi to the hospital tomorrow. She wants to go too. Can you take her along?”

—Chen Juxiang had no such plans. She had already agreed to return to the village tomorrow morning with the second, third, and fourth families. This was just Li Cui’er’s scheme to get Chen Juxiang out of the way so she could ransack her things first.

Tang Liren smiled, “Sure! But however much she spends tomorrow, I’ll write it down and collect it from you and the Third Sister-in-law later.”

“Alright! I’ll pay you back when you return!”—Pay back my foot! Li Cui’er cursed inwardly.

Still, thinking about how the main branch wouldn’t be back for a while, she felt thrilled at the chance to ransack the place first. Humming a little tune, she turned and went inside.

Bai Taotao overheard everything.

She stroked the grapevine’s leaves and said, [Little Grape, can you pass a message to Sweet Bamboo Brother for me?]

Little Grape quickly responded: [Of course! Do you want me to tell Sweet Bamboo Brother to slow down? But he’s already trying to hold back… Still, he couldn’t help himself, and now your house is filled with sweet bamboo shoots—about half as tall as you…]

Taotao: [Tell Sweet Bamboo Brother to grow freely!]

[Huh?] Little Grape was stunned.

Taotao: [Just avoid the things in my room and grow only in the open spaces. It’s fine even if the shoots pierce through the roof!]

Little Grape was shocked: [Why? If your house gets damaged, you’ll get wet when it rains!]

Taotao simply explained: [We’ve already moved. We’re moving to the other side of the river. My most hated Fourth Aunt is trying to take our old house and said she wants to ransack it while we’re away. I don’t want to let her…]

Little grape was confused but vaguely understood. Plants, too, had seeds that left their parent plants to grow elsewhere, carried by wind, rain, birds, or herbivores. Was this what humans called “moving”?

Little Grape said, [Oh, oh, I get it now! I’ll tell Sweet Bamboo Brother to block all the doors and windows and grow tall enough to pierce through the roof!]

Taotao couldn’t help but laugh.

Everyone chatting in the courtyard stopped and looked at Taotao, who was holding a potted grapevine and grinning foolishly. They sighed silently.

Taotao didn’t care about any of that!

She told Little Grape, [Just stop Fourth Aunt from rummaging through things. It’s enough to give her a scare. Don’t block the room completely—we still need to go in and get stuff.]

After a long while, Little Grape said, [Taotao, Taotao! I’ve already told Sweet Bamboo. He said no problem!]

Only then did Bai Taotao feel relieved.

She thought for a moment and asked the little grapevine, [Little Grape, can you ask Grandpa a question for me?]

[Sure!] The little grapevine’s leaves curled slightly before spreading out again, looking especially cheerful.

Taotao asked, [How can I collect spiritual energy?]

Little Grape was stunned. [What’s spiritual energy?]

Bai Taotao: …

She didn’t know how to explain it to Little Grape.

But soon, Little Grape relayed Grandpa’s message. [Taotao, Grandpa said he doesn’t understand what spiritual energy is either. But if you go see him and explain it in person, he might be able to find the right memory.]

Bai Taotao: Looks like she needed to find a way to trick Song Zhi into going deeper into the forest soon.

When night fell, Tang Liren called everyone to bed.

Bai Taotao insisted on sleeping with Song Zhi—

This made Song Zhi’s face turn bright red, and Tang Liren was so embarrassed she quickly had Lili and Xingxing drag her silly daughter away.

Taotao felt terribly wronged—she just wanted to absorb a bit of spiritual energy! Why was cultivation so hard? It was even more difficult than eating meat!

Late at night, the three sisters lay in bed chatting.

To be precise, Lili and Xingxing noticed that Taotao was sulking and tried to cheer her up.

But as they talked, Lili and Xingxing started chatting about something else.

Xingxing said, “Third Sister, when will the was to resiste the US and aid Vietnam end?”

Lili replied, “How should I know? Why are you asking about that?”

Xingxing asked, “Do you think Second Brother will be sent to the battlefield this time?”

Lili said, “No way. Isn’t he just a new recruit?”

Xingxing said, “But what if he is?”

Lili snapped, “Pah^[1]Pah is like the spitting sound. You spit out when you say someone bad to cancel it out., don’t say such nonsense!”

Bai Taotao held back her questions.

—Her silly younger sister was acting way too weird and constantly worried that their Second Brother would go to war and die.

What was going on?

After chatting for a bit, the sisters fell asleep.

Taotao, however, stayed awake, unable to sleep.

She waited for a long time. When she finally heard Xingxing’s steady breathing, Taotao carefully took Xingxing’s fingertip, transferred a tiny bit of spiritual energy, and then tentatively asked, [Xingxing, what’s wrong with Second Brother?]

In her sleep, Bai Xingxing’s breathing became rapid. [Brother… he died on the battlefield, and they couldn’t even find his body! Wuwuwu^[2]The sound of crying… Hurry and think of a way to stop him from going to war…]

Bai Taotao: !!!

Thinking quickly, Bai Taotao asked, [How do you know?]

This time, Bai Xingxing didn’t respond.

Taotao changed her approach and asked, “When will it happen?”

Bai Xingxing replied, [I-I don’t know when he’ll go to war, but… by next year’s Mid-Autumn Festival, we’ll receive the news of his death.]

Bai Taotao drew in a sharp breath.

Taotao liked her Second Brother and didn’t want him to die.

Then she thought about it—hadn’t Bai Xingxing occasionally muttered about the fates of other family members too?

Taotao began asking questions, one by one, little by little.

By the time she finished asking, Bai Taotao was completely shocked—this family was way too tragic!