When her brother, who was carrying her on his back, heard this, he calmed down and scolded her: “Are you scared now? Do you know how scared the family was when they knew you were lost?”

Taotao obediently admitted her mistake. “Brother, I’m sorry.” After thinking for a moment, she timidly added, “Brother, help me…”

Dongsheng: …

At that moment, Tang Liren came running over in tears. Just as she was about to speak—

Dongsheng interrupted, “Mom, Taotao’s feet are covered in blisters—there are more than ten of them! And… she’s starving. Let’s get her something to eat first!”

Tang Liren’s anger instantly melted into distress. She walked behind her son and examined her dirt-covered, silly daughter from head to toe. Tears streamed down her face. “My child, what were you doing? How did your feet get so many blisters? You must be hungry, right? Mommy will make you steamed egg custard, okay?”

Then she urged Dongsheng, “Hurry up! Walk faster! Your dad’s worried sick at home—let’s go and let him see Taotao. He’s been beside himself with worry…”

Song Zhi, who had fallen a step behind, heard the words “steamed egg custard” and was startled. His face was full of embarrassment, and he didn’t know whether to leave or stay.

When he realized no one was paying attention to him…

Only then did he calm down and slowly follow along.

When they entered the house, Tan Fenghui, holding her pregnant belly, anxiously asked, “Taotao, where did you go? Why didn’t you tell me before leaving? The whole family has been worried sick looking for you…”

Taotao softly said, “Sister-in-law, I’m sorry!”

Dongsheng placed her on the kang.

Lizi and Xingzi gathered around—

“Taozi, where did you go? Did someone bully you?”
“Fourth Sister, don’t ever run off without saying a word again—you scared us to death…”

Hongdou and Huangdou chimed in—

“Fourth Aunt, you were naughty!”
“Fourth Aunt, you ran away, and Grandpa and Grandma cried. Dad, Third Aunt, and Fifth Aunt searched for you all night…”

Taotao felt incredibly guilty.

She quickly took out the false banana seeds she had carefully wrapped in a handkerchief and showed them to the family. She also explained that she had gone out to find these wish seeds, intending to sew them into a scented sachet to send to her second brother.

Taotao earnestly apologized to every single family member—

“Dad, I’m sorry. I won’t sneak out again.”
“Mom, I’m sorry for making you worry…”
“Brother, I’m sorry…”
“Sister-in-law, I’m sorry…”
“Third Sister…”

…

Even little Huangdou, who wasn’t yet four years old, received Taotao’s sincere apology.

The whole family fell silent.

They simply looked at Taotao, her face smudged with sweat and dirt, yet still beautiful and adorable. Her expression was filled with unease, her eyes misted with tears, as if she might burst into sobs at any moment…

All their anger vanished.

Immediately, Tang Liren told Lili to boil water so Taotao and Song Zhi could take a bath. She also instructed Xingxing to fetch water for Taotao to wash up. Then she arranged for dinner, deciding that since steaming eggs took time, she’d have Lili make extra poached eggs in vegetable soup and give everyone one.

After a flurry of activity, Taotao and Song Zhi were both clean, and dinner was served.

Taotao was starving. Seeing the steaming hot dishes on the table, she, who usually only ate half a bowl of rice, finished an entire bowl and even had two more servings of soup. Finally full, she let out a satisfied burp and relaxed completely.

Only after seeing that everyone had eaten did Song Zhi speak. “Uncle, Aunt…”

As soon as he opened his mouth, the whole family turned to stare at him, their eyes filled with resentment—like poor villagers glaring at a hungry wolf that had snatched away their only piece of fatty meat.

Song Zhi awkwardly said, “I-I… I want to, um, say…”

Before he could finish his sentence, his face darkened with embarrassment. Feeling guilty, he glanced at Taotao.

Taotao knew what he wanted to say, but she strongly disagreed.

Humans were truly strange creatures. So what if she had taken a few bites of him? It wasn’t like she had slept with him. How had it suddenly turned into a situation where they had to get married? Besides, he didn’t even want to marry.

Song Zhi, under immense pressure, lowered his voice and said, “I want to marry Taotao. I hope you two will agree.”

The entire family fell silent.

Zhengqian and Tang Liren exchanged a glance.

In truth, two years ago, the couple had already come to a mutual understanding—was Song Zhi courting Taotao?

Emotionally, as parents, they certainly hoped their silly daughter could have a good home.

That said, even if Taotao never got married, Dongsheng and Hui’er would take care of her. At the very least, she would always have food to eat and clothes to wear. But no matter how much her brother and sister-in-law cared for her, it wouldn’t be as intimate as having a husband by her side…

Rationally, however, Song Zhi was a city man, an intellectual, a teacher who taught students to read and write, and fluent in three foreign languages. Although he was in the countryside now, who knew when he might return to the city? And he wouldn’t be going just anywhere—he’d be returning to the capital!

Would Taotao be happy following him? Could a simple, foolish village girl and a highly educated city man gain the approval and blessings of his family, relatives, friends, and teachers? If those people refused to acknowledge Taotao or accept their marriage, how much suffering would Taotao have to endure in the future?

It was a dilemma.

But now that Song Zhi had taken Taotao into the deep mountains for a night or two?

Zhengqian and Tang Liren’s perspective shifted.

“We’ll talk about this later,” Zhengqian said.

How could Song Zhi not understand the hidden meaning behind his words? He was prepared to work hard to convince the couple…

Taotao suddenly spoke. “Mom, did they catch the black bear?”

Tang Liren said, “No!” Then she told them about the joint patrol with Jixiang Village that night and explained how the family had realized Taotao was missing.

—That evening, the group discovered a black bear near the cornfields by Jixiang Village. They immediately banged gongs and shouted, driving not one, not two, but three black bears deep into the dense forest. They kept chasing them for two to three hours until they were sure the bears wouldn’t return anytime soon. Only then did they head home together.

But the moment Tang Liren and Dongsheng arrived home, they realized Taotao was gone!

Xingxing, crying, recounted everything to her mother and brother—

——In the late afternoon, around four o’clock, Fourth Sister said she was tired from tidying up the yard and wanted to take a nap. Xingxing didn’t disturb her, but by the time it got dark and everyone at home was waiting for her to eat, they knocked on her door several times, but there was no response. Only when they pushed the door open did they realize—she was gone! Then they saw a note left on the table, saying she had gone to the ancestral house to look for Zhenzhu?

Zhengqian didn’t want to trouble his pregnant daughter-in-law, so he took Xingxing with him and set out to look for her at the ancestral house.

At that time, the village was under strict lockdown, and the women’s patrol team wasn’t allowing people to go out. But seeing that this pair—a sick man and a frail girl—were in distress, the patrol team ran the errand for them and went to the ancestral house to ask around…

The response they got was: Taotao had never gone there at all!

That immediately stirred up a hornet’s nest.

Leaning on his crutch, Zhengqian insisted on going to the back mountain to search, suspecting that his precious daughter might have been carried off by a bear…

The women’s patrol team tried their best to stop him, and the argument grew heated, with both sides turning red in the face, until Tang Liren and Dongsheng rushed back and heard that Taotao was missing.

Dongsheng quickly gathered the remaining search team, and together they searched the dense forest all night—until they finally found her.

At this point, Tang Liren sniffled, then jabbed her foolish daughter, who had no sense of worry, hard with her finger. “If you ever run off like this again, I’ll…”

But after that single jab, she suddenly noticed the delicate skin on her daughter’s forehead had turned red from the poke?

Tang Liren’s heart ached again. “Look at your skin, even more tender than tofu. You must’ve suffered a lot in the forest, haven’t you?” She had completely forgotten the harsh words she was about to say.

Taotao felt a bit aggrieved. “The soles of my shoes are worn through. My feet hurt.”

Tang Liren immediately grabbed her daughter’s foot for a look, and her heart ached even more. “Oh my dear! How did you get so many big blisters?”

She quickly instructed Lili, “Go get some alcohol and a sewing needle. I’ll pick these blisters for Taotao…”

Taotao immediately pulled her foot back. “Mom, I’ll do it myself! Let me take a bath first, and then I’ll pop them on my own!”

Meanwhile, Song Zhi was already talking to Zhengqian about what he and Taotao had seen when they went into the dense forest looking for a false banana—a decades-old crashed airplane.

Zhengqian’s expression turned serious. “That’s a big deal. We have to report this to the higher-ups immediately.”

Song Zhi said, “Uncle, I’ll go to the county first thing tomorrow. How about you wait for me to return before making the report?”

Zhengqian had always understood Song Zhi’s intentions. After considering for a moment, he nodded. “No rush. I trust you. Handle it first, and we’ll talk after.”

In the corner, Xingxing clearly heard Song Zhi proposing marriage to her parents—he wanted to marry her fourth sister?

She looked at Song Zhi in surprise, then at her own fourth sister.

——In her dream, Song Zhi had married Yan Naqian. Could it be that just because she, this little butterfly, had flapped her wings, everyone’s fate had changed?

Xingxing tried hard to recall that dream and finally remembered a detail:

——Song Sui later became a billionaire. When he and Yan Naqian hadn’t yet divorced, a magazine had published an article about their stunning love story. It had mentioned in passing that Yan Naqian’s previous marriage had been one of mere apLiliances, and after her divorce, she felt insecure about her status. Song Sui had encouraged her, saying that modern women, even after divorce, had the right to pursue true love—let alone the fact that her previous marriage had only been a superficial arrangement.

So, in the past life, Song Zhi and Yan Naqian’s marriage had really just been a formality?

Then what had led Song Zhi to marry Yan Naqian in the first place?

Xingxing hadn’t paid much attention to Song Zhi in her dream, but looking at him now, he clearly had no feelings for Yan Naqian. It must have been the same in that world too—which meant that Song Zhi had agreed to a sham marriage to avoid an even bigger problem!

Xingxing bit her lower lip, deeply worried.

Her fourth sister was so lovely—she couldn’t let her suffer such grievances! If marrying Song Zhi meant she would be wronged, then Xingxing would rather things stay as they were in the dream, where she provided for her fourth sister instead. Even if the two of them had to live a poorer, harder life, at least they wouldn’t have to endure mistreatment.

Just then, Xingxing heard Song Zhi say he was going to the city tomorrow?

She thought: Last time she had written to Song Sui, it had already been half a month. If he had any intention of replying, she should have received his letter by now. If he wasn’t willing to respond, then she had to go to the city to check in person. If that didn’t work, she would have to think of another way.

So she spoke up, “Brother Song Zhi, if you’re going to the city tomorrow, could you take me along…” She hesitated for a moment, realizing that going with Song Zhi alone might not be appropriate, so she changed her words. “Could you take me and my mom? We want to go to the city to buy some supplements for my sister-in-law. Her due date is coming up in a few days.”

Taotao immediately said, “I want to go too!”

Tang Liren snapped, “You’re not allowed! Look at the blisters on your feet! You need to rest at home!”