Chapter 16 – A Vicious Move

In the middle of the night, a figure tiptoed out of the house. Just as he was about to climb over the wall, he suddenly noticed a tall, lean figure leaning casually against it. A pair of blazing green eyes stared quietly at him.

“Damn! You scared the hell out of me!”

The voice was low, laced with annoyance.

The owner of those green eyes gave a short, mocking laugh, straightened up, and with a powerful motion of his long legs vaulted cleanly over the wall. “Let’s go. I’ll keep watch for you.”

“As if I need you to keep watch? Who do you think you’re looking down on?”

Despite the words, Wei Qingshan also climbed over, muttering under his breath as the two figures vanished swiftly into the night.

Inside the house, apart from Wei Ci who was sleeping soundly without a care for the world, the others lay awake, staring at one another with wide eyes. After a while, someone waved a hand, signaling to just sleep. With Brother Zhan following, surely Wei Qingshan wouldn’t cause too much trouble.

The next day, when Wei Qingshan and Gu Zhan returned after having been gone all day, neither of their expressions looked good. Even so, they hadn’t forgotten to bring back some food from the state-run restaurant: braised pork, braised fish, and pickled cabbage dumplings for Wei Ci and Wei Qingfeng.

“Brother, where did you and Brother Zhan go?”

Wei Qingshan shot him a glare. After sitting down, his expression grew serious.

“Qingfeng, have you quarreled with Qingmiao before?”

Wei Qingfeng had his mouth stuffed with braised pork, so he couldn’t speak. He shook his head instead.

In truth, their relations with their second and third uncles’ families had always been good. They would share even a single bite of food with them. Back in those three years of famine, if it hadn’t been for Father and them helping out, those families wouldn’t have made it through so peacefully.

Gu Zhan’s gaze, however, had fallen upon the little girl’s delicate eating manner. For each dumpling that she nibbled on, she needed several small bites. It seemed she didn’t care much for meat—her chopsticks rarely touched the braised pork or braised fish. Instead, she buried her head, concentrating entirely on gnawing at dumplings. Yes, gnawing.

Wei Ci was almost in tears. If she had known earlier, she wouldn’t have filled herself up with fruit from her space before the meal. Now she was so stuffed she had to force herself to eat, afraid she might burst.

“Hic～”

Wei Ci blinked, covering her lips shyly. She lifted her head only to meet Gu Zhan’s deep gaze. Flustered, her face flushed red.

The bowl in her hands was suddenly taken away by Wei Qingshan. A large, warm hand gently rubbed her head. “If you can’t eat anymore, don’t force yourself. Give it to me.”

He then quickly polished off the leftovers in just a few mouthfuls—food that she could never have finished on her own. His mouth seemed like a bottomless pit, able to swallow two or three dumplings at once.

Gu Zhan looked away in distaste. How had he never noticed before how crude Wei Qingshan was when eating? Nowhere near as pleasing to the eye as the little girl. What a waste of a handsome face.

Wei Ci, who had never really done much housework before, suddenly realized that ever since her big brother returned, she had practically become a pampered little slacker: clothes handed to her, meals served, everything prepared. The most exaggerated thing was—even her morning wash water was fetched and placed neatly on the washstand, with toothbrush, towel, and soap all carefully laid out.

Wei Ci pressed a hand to her forehead with a sigh. At this rate, I’ll completely degenerate… But really, who could resist? Not working, still getting money, and living in comfort with food and care—who wouldn’t envy a life like this?

Living at the back of the mountain and rarely stepping outside, Wei Ci had no idea that the village had been in chaos these past few days.

First, Wei Qingmiao inexplicably broke her leg. Then misfortune struck the entire third uncle’s household in succession—even the aunt who had run back to her mother’s home was hit on the head by a falling rock, nearly splitting her skull open.

As for the third uncle himself, it was as if the god of misfortune had taken up residence on his shoulders. Stepping in dog shit was just the daily norm. While working, his legs buckled and he smashed his knee. While walking, he slipped out of nowhere and nearly drowned in the river. Once, while digging a flower bed, the hoe flew out of his hands, and before he could even react, someone nearby was already bleeding from being hit.

Wei Qingmiao knew exactly who was behind this. She had already heard that Wei Qingshan had returned. She hadn’t even gotten the chance to see him before her own leg mysteriously broke. Thinking about it made her grit her teeth with hatred as she stared at her splinted leg.

If only… if only I had killed Wei Qingfeng along with Wei Ci! If that whole family had been wiped out, I refuse to believe that Wei Qingshan could have kept on serving as a soldier without a care in the world!

She knew she was guilty—guilty of having caused the death of her uncle and aunt. If Wei Qingshan discovered the truth… he was nothing like the dim-witted Wei Qingfeng, who would never notice anything. Wei Qingshan had always been sharp, his instincts far keener than ordinary people’s. Otherwise, how could he have been specially recruited into the army?

But people must look out for themselves, or heaven and earth would abandon them. What she wanted, they were unwilling to give. Then she could only seize it with her own hands! The process didn’t matter—the only thing that did was being the one who laughed at the end.

The next morning, when Wei Ci stepped out of her room, she was stunned wide-eyed at the sight before her. She had just woken up, her drowsy charm not yet faded. A teardrop still hung at the corner of her eye, born of a yawn.

The once bare courtyard had undergone a complete transformation. From the front gate, a path paved with smooth pebbles led inward. On the left, a stone table and chairs had been set up, with a grape arbor newly built beside it.

“Where did the grape seedlings come from?”

The men working with heads bent looked up at her, their expressions softening. She was their commander’s little sister—which meant she was their little sister too. Of course, she had to be doted on.

Wu Da, the liveliest among them, grinned wide enough to show his little tiger teeth. He pointed toward Wei Qingshan and Gu Zhan, who were still busy working. “These two—our Commander Gu… uh, I mean Brother Zhan, and Brother Wei. They managed to get them, because Qingfeng said you like grapes.”

Wei Ci did indeed love grapes. She had planted many varieties in her space—like Summer Black and Shine Muscat. But she hadn’t expected that an offhand remark about liking grapes would be remembered, and even turned into action: her brother actually went and made it happen.

Her eyes curved as she smiled, her fair cheeks glowing in the warm morning sunlight, looking even more delicate and flawless. Her little dimple blossomed deep, sweet enough to melt the hearts of her two brothers.

She felt that she was truly happy now. Though she still missed her mother, she had the best two brothers in the whole world by her side.

Gu Zhan’s eyes grew darker. He shifted his gaze away from the girl, his movements roughening as he tamped down the soil harder and firmer.

Unaware of the looks cast her way, Wei Ci eagerly volunteered to cook. She was in a good mood and wanted to make something tasty for her brothers.

She actually knew how to cook many dishes—thanks to her mother, who loved to eat but hated cooking. Because of that, Wei Ci had been forced to learn all sorts of kitchen skills, to the point where she often suspected her mother had given birth to her just for amusement.

Early morning meals weren’t suited for heavy, oily food. So she prepared a big pot of cornmeal porridge. On the side, she steamed some sweet potatoes in a bamboo steamer—the kind of rustic dish she had learned from her aunt. It didn’t look like much, but it tasted incredible, especially since she used well water, which made the flavors several times richer.

She also fried up a big plate of chive-and-egg pancakes, made a vegetable slaw, washed a few fresh scallions, cilantro, and cabbage leaves, prepared a fried-egg sauce, and took out some of her father’s pickled cucumbers to serve.

By the time the fragrance of the chive pancakes drifted out of the kitchen, the men working in the courtyard were already restless. The smell was so enticing their stomachs growled, making it impossible to concentrate.

“Our little sister’s cooking smells this good?” one of them muttered.

Wei Qingshan’s eyes flickered with amusement as he turned toward Wu Da, who had been the one to speak. His smile was more of a sneer as he drawled, “Whose little sister? She’s my little sister.”