Wang Ping looked at Wang Qingsong’s expression and somewhat restrained himself, but still spoke defiantly, “You think you’re the only one with an older brother? Don’t I have one too?”

He naturally also had an older brother.

However, his brother hadn’t come with them and was now working in the city.

Wang Qingsong looked at him and sneered. “Then why don’t you ask your brother for money? Why don’t you let your brother take care of you?”

After saying this, he glanced at Xiaomai, who was biting her lip, tears streaming down her face but not daring to cry out loud.

His heart ached, and he softened his tone, saying, “Xiaomai, finish your meal. We’ll go see the team leader.”

Mentioning his eldest and second brothers only made him angrier.

His eldest brother was just an ordinary worker. While he used to be able to provide some support, during these difficult times, even his own family was struggling.

His second brother had money and had given them quite a bit.

He even gave them five yuan a month.

This was no small amount, considering that temporary workers and apprentices in the city only earned a little over ten yuan a month, while regular workers earned around thirty.

His second brother hadn’t been in the city for long and was still an apprentice, earning just over twenty yuan. He had only recently become a regular worker, with a salary of 28.5 yuan.

But the price of grain these days was terrifying.

His eldest and second brothers had rations in the city. With grain tickets, they could buy cornmeal for 0.11 yuan per jin and wheat flour for 0.18 yuan per jin.

But without rations, they had to rely on the black market, where prices were exorbitant.

Now, with the grain shortage, black market prices for cornmeal had soared to three yuan per jin, and wheat flour had reached five yuan per jin.

As for meat, it was sold by the liang on the black market, at one yuan per liang.

The money his second brother gave them could only buy a little over one jin of grain.

Of course, the reason he could give so much was because he had married into a wealthy family last year. Before that, his second brother hadn’t been able to give them much.

This was also why Wang Qingsong was so furious.

All that money had been spent on buying grain to feed the family.

He had done it so that his younger sister could live a little better at home, and so he could focus on his studies, hoping to one day take her to the city with him.

But what had happened instead?

His sister had been turned into a “fatty.”

Hearing this, Xiaomai wiped her tears and gulped down the thin porridge in one go, barely needing to chew.

The cornmeal at the bottom of the bowl was so sparse it could almost be counted.

After finishing, she stood up.

“Let’s go!”

Seeing that his sister had eaten, Wang Qingsong went into the room to grab a few things, put a hat on Xiaomai, and helped her into one of his only two pairs of tattered cotton shoes. Then, he took her hand and headed outside.

Once outside, they were met with a vast expanse of snow and howling cold winds.

The temperature was around minus twenty degrees Celsius, and the biting cold stung their faces.

Their thin, frail bodies trudged through the snow, their footsteps crunching as they shivered their way toward the team leader’s house.

With so little food intake and not enough energy, combined with the freezing weather, both of them were trembling as they walked.

After the two left, Wang Ping said with dissatisfaction, “Mom, what do we do? If the family splits, the money his second brother gives won’t be ours anymore!”

Sun Xiuhe’s previously pitiful expression changed.

She pursed her lips and said, “Relax, as long as I’m here, this family won’t split. If Zhao Datian dares to agree, I’ll make his life a living hell.”

Then she continued, “Besides, even if they split now, who’s going to take care of that dead girl? Where will they live? They have no blankets, no food, no firewood to heat the kang. It’s not like they can fly to the heavens. Don’t worry, they’ll come crawling back.”

As she spoke, she got up and went back into the house.

She pulled out two dark, grayish cornbread buns and handed one to her eldest son.

“Alright, let’s eat.”

She broke the remaining bun in half and fed it to the youngest boy beside her.

Wang Ping grinned, took the bun, and took a bite.

Feeling it was a bit dry, he washed it down with a sip of the thin porridge.

…

“Third Brother, they ate eggs yesterday.”

As they walked, Xiaomai held her brother’s hand and said with a pout.

Hearing this, Wang Qingsong took a deep breath.

He smiled at her and said, “It’s okay, Xiaomai. Be good. Big brother will get you eggs to eat someday. Just wait a little longer.”

He didn’t dare promise her when she’d get to eat eggs.

After all, even in the city, people hadn’t eaten eggs in over two years—unless they had connections or bought them on the black market.

As for the eggs at home, there was no point thinking about them.

The family only had two chickens.

In these times, eggs were like a bank account—they were used to trade for daily necessities like salt, oil, needles, thread, and matches.

Even in normal times, eggs were rarely eaten, let alone during these difficult times.

Now that it was winter, the chickens hardly laid any eggs.

It took a long time for them to lay even one.

Naturally, none of those eggs went to him or his sister. The excuse was that they were traded for other things.

Hearing her brother’s reassurance, Xiaomai pouted and said, “Okay,” obediently not making a fuss.

After all, making a fuss wouldn’t change anything.

No one in any family was eating eggs.

After walking for a while, Xiaomai gasped and said, “Brother, I can’t walk anymore.”

Wang Qingsong looked down at his sister and knew it was the edema, combined with hunger, that made it hard for her heart to handle walking.

At this point, what she should be doing, like most people in the village, was lying in bed to conserve energy.

But he couldn’t go back. Today, the family had to be divided.

However, he wasn’t confident. He had been raising this issue for over ten days, and the team still hadn’t resolved it.

The current situation was like this everywhere—every family was struggling.

These kinds of family matters were hard to untangle.

Moreover, the Wang family wasn’t a prominent clan in the village. They had come here as refugees from elsewhere, so their voice carried little weight.

But today, it had to be resolved.

“Alright, I’ll carry you.”

With that, he hoisted the little girl onto his back and trudged through the snow toward Team Leader Zhao Datian’s house.

When they arrived at Zhao Datian’s door, Wang Qingsong called out, “Team Leader, Team Leader, are you home?”

Inside, Zhao Datian was drinking thin porridge. Hearing the voice, he felt a headache coming on.

He put down his bowl and sighed.

His wife, Li Guizhi, hearing the noise outside, looked at her husband. “What are you going to do? Are you just going to ignore this?”

Their children, grandchildren, and daughter-in-law were all watching.

Zhao Datian sighed helplessly. “I want to help, but how? It’s the middle of winter. Where can they go? If the family splits, they’ll have no food, no place to live. They’ll starve to death in a few days.”

Then he muttered, “I already told him to hold on a little longer. Once he gets into technical school, he’ll get subsidies. That’s when he’ll have the means to leave.”

“But… but ignoring it isn’t right either. Those two kids are pitiful.”

Li Guizhi’s wrinkled face showed a hint of sympathy.

Hearing his wife’s words, Zhao Datian thought for a moment.

Listening to the persistent calls outside, he finally put down his things and stood up.

Outside, Wang Qingsong, seeing that no one had opened the door, continued to call out with all his might.

He knew Zhao Datian had to do something.