Chapter 4

“Big Brother, do you smell that?” Bei Bei sniffed the air, a fragrant scent of rice porridge wafting toward them.

Just smelling the aroma made her feel so happy.

Da Bao had also smelled it.

“Who’s cooking porridge? It smells so good!”

The two children greedily inhaled the scent of the porridge, their faces showing satisfied smiles.

They didn’t even remember the last time they had tasted rice porridge.

Gu Qinghuan held a flashlight in one hand and an aluminum lunch box in the other, and walked slowly toward them.

It was impossible for the original owner to have a flashlight, but she had found one in the emergency kit at the villa.

Late at night, there was no electricity in the house, not even a single kerosene lamp. She could only use the flashlight for now.

A strong beam of light shone on the bed.

A slender figure appeared in front of them, and for a moment, it looked like a corpse, which startled Gu Qinghuan.

The man was so thin, his bones almost visible, like a skull from a TV drama, especially eerie in the night.

The reason for such an intuitive feeling was that the man’s lower body was almost completely naked, only covered by an old towel, with his thighs and feet exposed, his body frighteningly gaunt.

His face was also sunken, his eye sockets deeply hollowed, his high cheekbones protruding sharply, his hair disheveled and spread out on the bed, his beard unshaven for a long time. He looked like a junkie.

Although he looked weak, he strangely had a sickly kind of beauty. This guy must have been very handsome before, even crazed like this, he still had a captivating presence that made it hard to look away.

He was very tall, bound with a hemp rope as thick as a finger, by looking at his state, it’s obvious that his life wasn’t easy.

Liu Guifang wasn’t kind to this second son. When there were others around, she would pretend to serve him food.

When no one was around, she called him Madman, often forgetting to feed him for days.

She did it on purpose, hoping he would starve to death so everyone could get rid of him.

However, things didn’t turn out as she hoped.

Though the crazy second son was as thin as a skeleton, he stubbornly survived.

The two children often gave their own food to the man and even helped clean him up, allowing him to survive, though barely…

The two little ones, though not as frightening, were also very skinny, wearing ill-fitting, tattered clothes. However, their faces were clean.

They huddled close to their father, looking at Gu Qinghuan like frightened birds.

The little girl was trembling in her Big Brother’s arms.

They had already learned that their grandmother had spent money to hire a stepmother to take care of their father.

The children in the village told them that stepmothers were scary, cannibalistic, and would not feed them, and will eventually throw them away.

Thus, the two children instinctively feared Gu Qinghuan, even though she looked so beautiful and the most beautiful person they had ever seen.

The man on the bed sensed the bright light and slowly opened his eyes.

He furrowed his brow, his eyes slightly open, showing an expression of impatience, like a lion about to roar.

Clearly, he didn’t like the harsh light, and a feeling of unease spread within him, his whole body agitated.

Gu Qinghuan hurriedly directed the flashlight away, afraid of angering the Madman and causing trouble.

The man slowly closed his eyes again.

The two children’s gazes suddenly fixed on the white rice porridge in her hand.

So, it was their stepmother who made the rice porridge.

It smelled so good!

They licked their lips but didn’t dare to ask for any.

Past experiences had taught them that anything good to eat or drink in the house was not meant for them.

Gu Qinghuan looked at the two pairs of fearful yet naive eyes.

She felt an indescribable emotion in her heart. She placed the rice porridge on the broken wooden table by the door.

“This is for you. Share it and eat it. Don’t worry about washing the lunch box; just leave it by the door, and I’ll come pick it up tomorrow.” After speaking, she turned and walked away.

She was hungry too.

When Gu Qinghuan returned to her space, she suddenly remembered that she had forgotten to give them utensils. But she shrugged it off, thinking they would probably figure it out on their own. She didn’t want to go back again—those eyes from the Madman had been too terrifying.

She sat down to enjoy her own dinner: three medium-sized buns, two boiled eggs, and a bowl of rice porridge, which filled her up nicely.

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Meanwhile, the two children stood looking at the direction in which Gu Qinghuan had left, completely bewildered.

She was actually giving them rice porridge?

A whole lunch box full of rice porridge!

Bei Bei, who was only four years old, was at the age when she was always hungry, and she greedily stared at the steaming rice porridge. “Big Brother, we’re going to eat rice porridge!”

She gave them rice porridge… their stepmother was such a good person!

Da Bao, who was six years old, had already learned that there was no such thing as a free meal in this world.

He warily said: “Er Dan said that before kidnappers take children, they always give them something tasty to confuse them. She’s not trying to sell us, is she?”

In fact, Da Bao had an even more terrifying thought. He believed that the stepmother surely couldn’t stand the two of them and might even want to poison them. But he didn’t dare to tell his little sister about that.

The two children had experienced so little kindness in their short lives that even the smallest bit of kindness made them feel there was an ulterior motive.

But it was precisely because they were so cautious and vigilant that they had survived this long.

When Bei Bei heard that they might be sold, she shrank back in fear. “Then, Big Brother, what should we do?”

The two children stared at the fragrant rice porridge but didn’t dare to eat it, fearing that once they did, they might never see their Dad again.

Their stomachs began growling again.

They hesitated for a while.

Da Bao looked at his pitiful little sister. He bit his lip as he made a decision.

“I’ll try a small bite first. Wait a while, and if nothing happens to me, we can split it. But if anything happens to me, you must never touch that porridge.”

Bei Bei tried to hold her Big Brother back, but she was too small to stop him.

Da Bao, as if bravely accepted the role of a sacrifice, climbed down from the bed and carefully took a sip of the rice porridge.

The warm porridge slid smoothly down his throat into his stomach, fragrant, soft, and sticky…

It was so delicious, he had never tasted anything this good before in his life. Even in the future, when he recalled the taste of this rice porridge, it would remain vividly in his memory….

Having tasted such a delicious dish, even if he were to be poisoned, he would accept it.

He returned to the bed and lay stiffly, waiting for his body to react.

Bei Bei licked her lips. “Big Brother, does the rice porridge taste good?”

She had never eaten rice porridge in her life.

A tear of sorrow trickled from the corner of Da Bao’s eye. He vaguely remembered that before he was three, he had lived a relatively decent life. But once he was sent to Xu Family Village, he started experiencing hunger, often going without food.

His little sister, who came when she was just one year old and had just been weaned, had never even tasted rice porridge.

“It’s delicious, Bei Bei. Big Brother will make sure you get to eat rice porridge every day in the future.”

Da Bao wished he could grow up quickly so he could take better care of of his Dad and little sister.

The two children waited for a long time, until the rice porridge had cooled down. Da Bao’s body showed no reaction—he didn’t faint, nor did he die.

So, the rice porridge should be safe, right?

They could eat it!

That was such a relief!

Da Bao carefully brought the rice porridge back to the bed, and with the moonlight as their guide, the siblings took turns eating the porridge, each taking a bite.

Although it had cooled, it was still a rare treat, and they ate it with great appreciation.

Da Bao took only a small portion and left the rest for his little sister and Dad.

Bei Bei, being considerate, stopped when there was only half left.

Da Bao fed the remaining porridge to his Dad, and only then did he lie back down, satisfied.

“Big Brother, the rice porridge is really good.” Bei Bei patted her little belly.

“Good girl, go to sleep. We’ll need to wake up early tomorrow to find something to eat.”

Da Bao was troubled, unlike his little sister, who was more optimistic.

Why did that stepmother gave them food?

Such precious rice porridge, too.

Their Dad and them had been kicked out. 

What would their future look like?

Winter was coming soon. Would they be able to survive the harsh winter in this old house that leaked everywhere?

There were so many problems to solve. He wished he could grow up quickly, because when he did, everything would be better….

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T/N: My poor babies~ T__T

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