“It was the Zhou family. They came to demand compensation for Zhou Dalang’s death.”  

“I didn’t take it—Zhou Erlang stole it and gambled it all away.”  

“They wanted our daughter’s life.”  

“They almost killed her. They have to pay for this, or I’ll never be able to swallow this anger.”  

Lan Qingshuang’s voice trembled with a mix of fury and fear, her words laced with venom.  

Ye Zhoushan knew about Lan Qingshuang’s past. When they decided to be together, they had been completely honest with each other.  

He hadn’t expected it to be the Zhou family.  

With his wife and daughter now involved, old grudges and new grievances made Ye Zhoushan swear that the Zhou family would pay dearly.  

“Alright, whatever the Zhou family owes you and our daughter, I’ll make them repay it. Don’t be angry anymore—take care of your health.”  

【Mmm… Baby’s hungry…】  

The milky, delicate voice startled the couple. They exchanged glances, sharing an unspoken understanding.  

Beneath their surprise was joy—they could still hear their baby’s voice. She was okay.  

Ye Zhoushan helped Lan Qingshuang sit up, and the tiny bundle slowly slid from her chest down to her belly.  

The weather was still chilly, and the little one was completely naked, relying solely on Lan Qingshuang’s body heat to stay warm.  

Curled up tightly, just like in the womb, the baby rubbed her little face against Lan Qingshuang’s slack belly.  

【Baby’s starving to death.】  

Her voice was soft and sweet, tinged with grievance, her tiny temper on full display. The couple couldn’t help but chuckle inwardly.  

Lan Qingshuang quickly moved the baby to her chest.  

Instinctively, the little one latched onto the milk source and began sucking. After a few tries with no success, she pouted and burst into tears.  

“Wahhh…”  

【Daddy’s bad, starving baby.】  

Ye Zhoushan’s eyes widened in shock. How was he the bad one? What did he do?  

Lan Qingshuang’s heavy heart lightened a little, and she gave her husband an amused, exasperated look.  

Ye Zhoushan had no choice but to bear the unjust blame.  

“Do you have milk?”  

Lan Qingshuang nodded. “There should be some—I feel a bit engorged. But she’s too weak to suck it out.”  

Ye Zhoushan sighed. “Let me try.”  

Lan Qingshuang’s thin face flushed, but she didn’t object.  

Ye Zhoushan’s strength was indeed considerable, and Lan Qingshuang winced in pain.  

“Gently!”  

Ye Zhoushan wiped sweat from his brow—he hadn’t even used much force yet.  

As the couple busied themselves, little Fuman’s crying suddenly stopped.  

She blinked her big eyes, belatedly realizing she had been born.  

She had survived the ordeal and could now grow up happy and carefree.  

Unable to contain her joy, she curled her tiny lips into a smile and wiggled her arms and legs.  

But then she noticed something amiss—her daddy was stealing her milk!  

“Wahhh!”  

【Daddy’s bad, Daddy’s bad! It’s baby’s milk! Baby’s hungry! Daddy’s the worst!】  

Her cries were earth-shattering, startling the young parents.  

Hearing her milky, indignant complaints, they were at a loss for words.  

Such a tiny thing, yet so possessive of her food.  

Ye Zhoushan wasn’t sure whether to keep going—he didn’t want his daughter to think he was greedy.  

Lan Qingshuang nudged him. “Hurry up, the baby’s starving.”  

Ye Zhoushan gritted his teeth. What a little tyrant.  

Just as little Fuman’s face turned red from crying and she began hiccuping, the milk finally came in.  

Lan Qingshuang kicked Ye Zhoushan away, wiped the milk source clean, and stuffed it into the baby’s mouth.  

The deafening cries stopped, and Lan Qingshuang sighed in relief.  

Still, she was happy—if the baby could cry so loudly, she must be healthy.  

Ye Zhoushan, now discarded after being used, stood up from the floor, rubbing his sore backside.  

He couldn’t resist poking his daughter’s chubby cheek. “You little troublemaker.”  

【Mean!】  

The little one waved her tiny fist, clearly annoyed.

Lan Qingshuang burst out laughing.  

Ye Zhoushan shot his wife a resentful look—what kind of leaky little cotton-padded jacket (a term of endearment for daughters) had they raised?  

“I’ll go get you something to eat first, then figure out how to get a swaddling blanket. Our daughter needs to be wrapped up.”  

She couldn’t stay naked forever.  

He’d been running around all day trying to scrounge up baby clothes, swaddling blankets, and diapers.  

Their home was dirt poor, with nothing to spare, so he had to improvise.  

Originally, he’d thought he still had two months to prepare—he was sure he could manage by then. But yesterday’s unexpected events had ruined his plans.  

Lan Qingshuang hugged her bare little daughter, her heart aching. “Where are you going to get them?”  

Ye Zhoushan’s expression darkened. “I’ll go back to the old house.”  

Lan Qingshuang frowned.  

The Ye family used to be landlords. After being denounced in previous years, they became a peculiar presence in Minsheng Brigade.  

Their property was gone, their house was gone, and they were forced to do the hardest labor for the least work points.  

Isolated and shunned, no one wanted anything to do with the Ye family.  

The dozens of family members now lived in the servants’ quarters that the Ye family had once built for their hired laborers.  

Old Man Ye, Ye Zhoushan’s grandfather, had six wives—both primary and secondary.  

Even after the new marriage law was enacted, dissolving their official marital status, and even after the Ye family fell from grace, none of those six wives left.  

There were over ten legitimate and illegitimate children, followed by grandchildren and great-grandchildren, all living together.  

Now, among the older generation, only Old Man Ye and his youngest concubine, Wu Shi, were still alive.  

Ye Zhoushan was the youngest son of Old Man Ye’s primary wife’s eldest son—a legitimate grandson in the direct line.  

Old Man Ye didn’t treat this legitimate grandson particularly well or badly—he just didn’t care much. With so many grandchildren, one more or less made no difference.  

The entire family lived together without dividing the household. The current matriarch was Wu Shi, who now lived with Old Man Ye as his wife.  

Wu Shi had a son and a daughter.  

Her son was in his forties, already married with children—and even a grandfather himself.  

Her daughter was a late-life child, only eighteen now, named Ye Zhenzhen.  

This “pearl from an old oyster” was doted on by Old Man Ye and Wu Shi like the apple of their eye.  

In the Ye family, Ye Zhenzhen was a little tyrant.  

Thanks to Wu Shi, family resources were all funneled toward her and her brother, with Old Man Ye turning a blind eye.  

Naturally, the rest of the family resented this.  

The household was constantly embroiled in noisy squabbles.  

Ye Zhoushan’s father, Ye Youwei, was the legitimate eldest son. In the past, he would have inherited the family estate—now, he was nothing.  

Born without the privilege of a young master but acting like one anyway, he strutted around the house barking orders, putting on more airs than even Old Man Ye.  

He had married Zheng Juan, the daughter of a poor scholar.  

Zheng Juan knew a few characters and had lofty aspirations.  

She managed the household and raised the children diligently, the picture of a virtuous wife and mother.  

The couple had four children in total. Ye Zhoushan was the youngest, with two older brothers and a sister, all already married.  

In the year-plus since Lan Qingshuang and Ye Zhoushan had married, she had only met her mother-in-law once.  

Her impression was neither good nor bad—just that something about this woman felt off.  

If she claimed to care for Ye Zhoushan, it was all lip service with no real action.  

Otherwise, Ye Zhoushan wouldn’t have had to scrounge for food day after day, supporting his parents while being guilt-tripped into filling the bottomless pit that was the Ye family.  

At over twenty years old, no one had even arranged a marriage for him.  

And when the two of them did marry, Lan Qingshuang had sensed her mother-in-law’s displeasure—even anger.  

The day after their wedding, the couple had been sent packing to this tiny, broken-down shack.  

They were told it was so the newlyweds could live in peace.  

But they were given nothing—not a grain of rice, not a stick of firewood.  

The house was in such disrepair it was barely livable.  

And yesterday, when things had gotten so dire, not a single person from the Ye family had come.  

Not even the mother-in-law who claimed to care so much for her son.  

As an outsider, Lan Qingshuang saw things more clearly.  

But since Ye Zhoushan still seemed to have some attachment to the Ye family, she didn’t press the issue.