Watching him leave, Wang Qinghe stood there, took a deep breath, and sat down on a chair in the main room, lighting a cigarette.

He took a deep breath and looked at the items on the table, feeling a bit unsettled.

Then he said to his wife beside him, “You know, back when the family was busy, it was mostly me and my eldest sister who raised him. He wasn’t like this before. You know that, right?”

At this point, he couldn’t continue.

After a moment, he choked up, then took another deep breath and said, “You… you know what? The more sensible he becomes, the more… the more it weighs on my heart. Do you understand?”

Wang Huiru looked at her husband, biting her lower lip, hesitating, “Maybe… you should take it to him later.”

Wang Qinghe wiped his face and shook his head, “No need. That kid is just as stubborn as I am. If he wants something, he won’t hold back. If he doesn’t want it, even if you force it on him, he won’t take it. Unless he’s truly out of food.”

Hearing this, Wang Huiru didn’t know what else to say.

She stood there silently, not bringing up the matter of returning to her parents’ home again.

…

Wang Qingsong left the compound with Xiaomai.

He carried the little one on his back and headed toward the main road.

“Brother, why didn’t you take the things Second Brother gave you? Our family doesn’t have those things!”

Wang Qingsong smiled, “It’s nothing. If we took them, what would Second Sister-in-law eat? She’s pregnant, after all. Besides, you saw it yourself earlier—Second Brother and Second Sister-in-law were arguing. Do you want them to fight?”

“No!”

Xiaomai quickly shook her head.

“Then that’s that. Don’t worry, we’ll have enough to eat every day from now on.”

“Mm!”

Xiaomai nodded seriously.

Third Brother was always right. He wouldn’t lie to her.

Wang Qingsong took Xiaomai to the main road, waited for over ten minutes, and then boarded a bus to Fuchengmen.

Sitting on the bus, he fell into deep thought.

When he got back, he had to thoroughly investigate the secret of the “haunted house” and figure out what was really going on.

He had gone there before and returned safely, so it shouldn’t be dangerous, right?

Maybe there would be unexpected gains!

But how had he gotten there in the first place?

And how had he returned?

What if last time was just a coincidence? What if he couldn’t come back next time?

It was all a mystery.

And it filled him with deep worry.

After arriving at Fuchengmen, he took a bus to the county town.

As they walked, Wang Qingsong felt his hands trembling, and his heart grew anxious.

He knew it was because he was hungry.

Xiaomai also whispered to him that she was hungry.

“Don’t worry, we’ll cook as soon as we get home.”

Xiaomai nodded gently and sat quietly.

Wang Qingsong suddenly remembered something and pulled out two pieces of sorghum candy from his bag, one for each of them.

Xiaomai ate the candy, her face full of delight, “Brother, it’s so sweet!!”

Hearing this, Wang Qingsong looked up and noticed everyone on the bus staring at them. He quickly whispered, “Just eat it, don’t talk!!”

“Oh!!”

Xiaomai let out a soft “oh” and obediently sat there eating her candy.

The last time she had eaten candy was during last year’s New Year, when Second Brother had given her a little.

Between the bus ride and walking, he wasn’t sure exactly how much time had passed, but it was definitely long past mealtime.

When they got home, Xiaozao was in the room wiping sweat from Widow Feng’s forehead.

It seemed she had just returned.

Thinking about it, he hadn’t stayed too long at Second Brother’s place, and Widow Feng walked much slower than he did.

“Qingsong, you two eat first. I saved some food for you.”

Xiaozao looked at him and said this.

At the same time, she handed a bowl of rice to Widow Feng, who had just caught her breath.

Widow Feng took the bowl and smiled at him, “Why are you back so soon? Hurry up and eat. It’s already past noon. You must be hungry.”

Wang Qingsong smiled, “Yeah, Second Brother and his wife were going to her parents’ place, so we came back.”

Then he turned to Xiaozao and said, “Alright, let’s eat. I’m starving.”

After that, he went out to serve the food.

The midday meal was a relatively thick porridge, though most of it was made from ground corncobs.

Both of them were so hungry that they quickly picked up their bowls and started eating.

The corncobs hadn’t been ground by a machine, so they were a bit coarse, making the porridge slightly rough on the throat.

But both of them were used to it.

At most, they occasionally furrowed their brows.

In a black ceramic bowl, there was a fist-sized portion of black paste.

They dipped their chopsticks into it and ate it with the porridge.

There wasn’t much to begin with, and soon they had finished the entire bowl of porridge.

After eating the warm porridge, they felt a comforting warmth spread through their bodies, easing the discomfort they had felt earlier.

After finishing the meal, he finally took out the things he had bought from the hospital.

He began instructing Xiaozao, “Xiaozao, these are from the hospital. Eat a little of these soybeans every day for a month, but don’t use too much at a time.”

Xiaozao looked at the soybeans and nodded.

The family actually had about two taels of soybeans, but they couldn’t eat them. They had to save them for planting next year, or else they wouldn’t have any seeds.

“There’s a lot of this protein meat. You should divide it into portions for a month, wash it, and then cook it with the soybeans to make soup. Give it to Auntie and Xiaomai, and you can have some too.”

He picked up the protein meat and explained this to Xiaozao.

Xiaozao memorized it.

Finally, there were the chlorella powder packets.

There was the most of this.

He smiled and said, “This is prescribed for long-term use. Brew it with hot water in the morning, noon, and evening. Use a lot—there are six catties here!”

The powder was light, and one catty filled a large bag.

“Alright! I’ll go brew some for them to drink.”

Xiaozao said this happily and went to the main room.

Soon, she returned with a chipped enamel mug and a wooden spoon.

She scooped out a large spoonful and went back to brew a full mug of hot water.

Then she brought out two black ceramic bowls and poured them full.

“Xiaomai, time to take your medicine.”

She handed one bowl to Xiaomai and the other to Widow Feng.

Xiaomai looked at the green paste curiously, blew on it, and took a sip.

“What does it taste like?”

Wang Qingsong also asked curiously. He hadn’t tried it either!

Xiaomai smacked her lips and shook her head, “I don’t know what it tastes like! It’s kind of weird.”

“Qingsong, there’s still some left. Try it.”

Xiaozao handed him the enamel mug, which still had about a third left.

Wang Qingsong took it and had a sip.

He smacked his lips, “It just tastes like grass!”

It had a faint duckweed flavor, with no other distinct taste. It was a bit sticky and hard to swallow, but otherwise, it was fine.

“Xiaozao, you try it!”

He then said to the curious Xiaozao.

Hearing this, Xiaozao swallowed and took a small sip.

She also nodded in agreement, “Yeah, it does taste like grass. Will this work? Can it cure my mom’s illness?”

“It should, right? This stuff can only be bought with a hospital prescription now, so it must be useful. When I was studying in the county, they said this was good stuff.”

Wang Qingsong wasn’t entirely sure, but he said it anyway.

It was all hearsay.

But for now, he had no choice but to trust the doctors.

Xiaozao let out a soft “oh” and divided the remaining portion between Widow Feng and Xiaomai.

After finishing, Wang Qingsong started thinking about the “haunted house” again.

Looking at the sky outside, he decided to go take a look and clean it up.

If he could uncover its secrets, he might move there in the future.

He could use the excuse of clearing the weeds to see if he could find any useful information.

Once he had the idea, he acted on it.

He turned to his younger sister and said, “Xiaomai, stay at Auntie’s place. I’m going to borrow a shovel from the team and clean up Old Wang Xi’s house. Be good, okay?”

“Mm, I understand.”

His younger sister nodded obediently.

Seeing this, Wang Qingsong then said to Widow Feng, “Auntie, I’ll head over now!”

Hearing this, Widow Feng hesitated, “Are you really going to live in that house? That house is…”

She didn’t finish her sentence.

She didn’t want to scare them…

Wang Qingsong nodded, “I know. But we don’t have a choice. We can’t afford to build a new house.”

Hearing this, Widow Feng sighed.

Her family could accommodate them temporarily, but it wasn’t a long-term solution.

Wang Qingsong smiled and said, “Auntie, you should rest for a bit. You stayed up late last night and got up early this morning. I’ll head over now.”

With that, he said his goodbyes and left.