Chapter 10

Qin Jiashu’s sweet little voice calling her “Aunt” filled Xu Jiaojiao with delight.

“Oh my, Xiao Shu is finally willing to call me Aunt!” Xu Jiaojiao exclaimed happily, cupping his small face in her hands.

Qin Jiashu was a handsome child. Despite the freezing weather that left other children with ruddy cheeks, his remained fair and unblemished.

“Xiao Shu’s ‘Aunt’ sounds so sweet. Can you say it again?” Xu Jiaojiao coaxed softly.

Qin Jiashu’s face flushed crimson. His shy eyes darted around, avoiding Xu Jiaojiao’s gaze.

“Good boy, Xiao Shu. My sweet baby, just say ‘Aunt’,” Xu Jiaojiao insisted playfully, holding his face and showering him with affection.

Completely unable to resist Xu Jiaojiao’s charm, Qin Jiashu reluctantly complied, his face cradled in her soft, warm hands. “Aunt.”

“Yes!” Xu Jiaojiao beamed. “Xiao Shu is such a good boy.”

Praising him, she planted two more kisses on his cheek.

“Should we put another one of Aunt’s padded coats on you?” Xu Jiaojiao asked after dressing him. She picked up her own thick padded coat, intending to wrap it around him.

Her oversized garment could completely envelop Qin Jiashu from head to toe.

A child wearing adult-sized clothes might find it difficult to walk, but the little one looked especially adorable—like a baby penguin.

“I can’t walk anymore…” Qin Jiashu wrinkled his small face, shuffling a few steps before glancing down and realizing he couldn’t even see his shoes.

“Then Aunt will take off your big cotton-padded coat. Tell me if you get cold, okay?” Xu Jiaojiao watched his clumsy, endearing struggle and decided to let him off the hook.

“Okay,” Qin Jiashu nodded.

The courtyard outside was buried in thick snow. It must have started snowing early last night, accumulating nearly twenty centimeters overnight.

Xu Jiaojiao looked up at the sky. Seeing no sign of the weather clearing, she guessed the snowfall would continue.

“Shall we have sweet potato porridge again today?” Xu Jiaojiao always asked Qin Jiashu’s opinion when planning meals.

Though he rarely voiced preferences, she wanted to show him this respect.

“Okay,” Qin Jiashu agreed without hesitation, as expected.

As usual, Qin Jiashu stayed in the kitchen with Xu Jiaojiao while she prepared breakfast, helping her tend the fire in the stove.

Today, however, he sat on the low bench with a faint air of melancholy, occasionally glancing uneasily out the window at the sky.

Her adorable three-year-old nephew seemed genuinely unhappy about the snow, as if it had given him something to worry about.

Xu Jiaojiao watched Qin Jiashu with amusement as she deftly diced sweet potatoes and added them to a small pot to boil.

“Aunt is going to shovel the yard. Xiao Shu, watch the fire,” Xu Jiaojiao said, wiping her hands.

“Okay.”

Lacking a proper shovel, Xu Jiaojiao used a cooking spatula to clear the snow.

The snow in the yard was particularly thick, and she didn’t intend to clear it all. She simply cleared a narrow path for easy walking.

Even this modest task left her drenched in sweat.

By the time she finished, the sweet potato porridge in the kitchen was ready. Paired with Mother Xu’s pickled vegetables, it made for a satisfying breakfast.

With the snowy day too cold for outdoor activities, Xu Jiaojiao heated water to refill the hot water bottle and retreated to bed to knit.

Qin Jiashu was also pulled under the covers. The bored child sat watching Xu Jiaojiao knit, his little brow furrowed with anxiety.

Assuming he was bored, Xu Jiaojiao wanted to teach him how to play cat’s cradle with a piece of yarn.

“Aunt, I want to go outside and play,” Qin Jiashu said, pointing timidly with his little finger after what seemed like a long struggle to muster the courage.

He wanted to check on San Gouzi and Jie Di. Last night, Aunt had held him close as he slept, keeping him warm and happy, and he hadn’t even realized it had snowed.

But while he had Aunt to hold him, San Gouzi and Jie Di didn’t have anyone. He worried his two little friends might still be hungry.

“Xiao Shu wants to play outside in this freezing weather?” Xu Jiaojiao naturally didn’t believe him.

She could tell the little boy had been preoccupied since waking up and guessed he wanted to go find his friends.

But Qin Jiashu had suffered from hunger and cold since childhood, leaving him severely malnourished. At over three years old, he was barely eighty centimeters tall.

In this bitter cold, the snow outside was almost knee-deep on him.

“Mhm.”

“Can Xiao Shu tell Aunt where he wants to play? How about Aunt goes with you?” Xu Jiaojiao asked gently, trying to negotiate.

Qin Jiashu hesitated for a moment, then shook his head. He couldn’t reveal his and his friends’ secret hideout to his aunt.

“Xiao Shu will go alone,” he insisted, tugging at Xu Jiaojiao’s sleeve and gazing at her with pleading eyes.

Xu Jiaojiao couldn’t resist the boy’s earnest gaze. She already adored him and wanted to spoil him rotten. Watching him tug at her sleeve, she found herself unable to voice her objections.

Oh well, she thought. Even little ones have their secrets. It’s already a victory that he’s warmed up to me and isn’t afraid after just a few days. Gaining his complete trust will take time.

“Then Xiao Shu, be careful,” she said, pinching his earlobe gently. “It’s freezing outside. Promise you’ll come back in half an hour? Your aunt gets lonely and scared when you’re gone.”

“Aunt won’t be scared,” Qin Jiashu reassured her, his lips curving upward at her consent. Wrapped in Xu Jiaojiao’s oversized cotton coat, he stood up and patted her hand. “Xiao Shu will be back soon.”

Xu Jiaojiao smiled back. “Then let’s pinky promise and seal it with a thumbprint.”

Qin Jiashu obediently held out his little hand, chapped with frostbite, for Xu Jiaojiao to hook fingers and stamp their promise.

“Thank you, Aunt,” he said, flashing his tiny white teeth after the promise was sealed. Then he nimbly slid off the bed.

“Xiao Shu, come back early, okay?” Xu Jiaojiao called out, craning her neck.

“Xiao Shu knows,” he replied, bending over to put on his little leather shoes. He opened the door and glanced back at Xu Jiaojiao on the bed with a smile before scampering away.

Xu Jiaojiao smiled back but didn’t get up. Instead, she leaned over and reached for another ball of yellow yarn from the bedside.

Originally, she had planned to knit two sweaters for Qin Jiashu first, then use any leftover yarn for mittens. But the weather was bitterly cold, and Xu Jiaojiao remembered from the original owner’s memories that winters in Southern Province, despite its southern location, were long and harsh, lasting from November until March.

With nearly three months of severe cold still ahead and Qin Jiashu’s frostbite showing little improvement despite daily ointment applications, she decided to prioritize knitting him a pair of mittens. She would use blue and yellow yarn to create a patchwork design.

When she bought the yarn, she had purchased plenty—enough to knit two sweaters and still have some left over.

Xu Jiaojiao had left a small crack in the window for ventilation. As she picked up her knitting yarn and turned her head, she saw Qin Jiashu sneaking along the path she had shoveled, his small figure quickly disappearing into the distance.

Qin Jiashu clutched two raw sweet potatoes. Only after leaving the house did he realize the snow was thick, completely covering the path.

His small stature made walking difficult. He had to rely on his memory and the surrounding environment to roughly determine the direction, occasionally stumbling and falling into the snow.

Fortunately, he had a good memory. Before long, he spotted small footprints leading toward their secret cave.

“Brother Gouzi, Jie Di…” Qin Jiashu gasped as he entered the small cave.

This cave was originally a sweet potato cellar dug by a deceased villager. Later, it became the secret hideout for the group of children. Inside, San Gouzi and Jie Di were huddled around a small fire.

“Here.” Qin Jiashu crawled in and pulled out the sweet potatoes, handing one to each of them.

“Sweet potatoes!” San Gouzi and Jie Di’s eyes lit up with hunger.

Gulp. The two children exchanged glances and hesitated, swallowing hard.

“Xiao Shu, did you sneak these from home?” San Gouzi asked worriedly.

Qin Jiashu nodded without hesitation. “Yeah.”

San Gouzi’s expression changed instantly. He shook his head and snatched the sweet potato from Jie Di’s hand, shoving it back into Qin Jiashu’s. “Take it back. We’re not hungry.”

Qin Jiashu had stolen a sweet potato once before and been scolded and spanked by his aunt.

“…” Jie Di swallowed hard, her mouth watering.

“You guys eat it. Aunt won’t scold me,” Qin Jiashu said calmly, pressing the sweet potato back into their hands.

He hadn’t told his aunt he’d taken the sweet potato, but he just felt she wouldn’t be angry even if she found out.

“…” San Gouzi and Jie Di’s resolve began to waver.

Even adults struggled to resist hunger; otherwise, there wouldn’t be so many failed dieters.

San Gouzi was five years old, and Jie Di only four. By now, their stomachs were pressed flat against their spines.

“Xiao Shu, are you sure your aunt won’t scold you?” San Gouzi asked, his voice tinged with doubt and envy.

Qin Jiashu was warmly dressed in clothes completely different from theirs. His aunt seemed really nice.

Qin Jiashu nodded. “She won’t.”

Not only wouldn’t she scold him, she would praise him, pat him, and kiss him. This morning, she had even called him “her good little darling.”

“Brother Gouzi, I’m hungry,” Jie Di said, her eyes gleaming green as she stared at the sweet potato. She tugged at San Gouzi’s sleeve.

She had gone to the stream to wash clothes the previous afternoon, but the cold had slowed her down. By the time she returned home after dark, there was no food left.

San Gouzi eyed the sweet potato. “Are we really going to eat it?”

“Go ahead!” Qin Jiashu encouraged.

Only then did San Gouzi pick up a small wooden stick and begin poking at the firewood to roast the sweet potato.

“I’m eating it raw,” Jie Di declared, too hungry to wait for it to cook.

She stood up, grabbed the sweet potato, and hunched low as she exited the small cave. Outside, she rubbed the thick layer of snow against the potato skin until it was clean, then took a bite.

Seeing Jie Di eating the raw sweet potato, San Gouzi swallowed hard and followed suit.

Crunch, crunch—the sound of raw sweet potatoes being devoured filled the cave.

“Xiao Shu, are you hungry?” San Gouzi asked after a few bites.

“I’m not,” Qin Jiashu replied, shaking his head.

He had eaten his fill the previous night, and his aunt had even rubbed his tummy afterward!

Assured that Qin Jiashu wasn’t hungry, the two children continued to devour the sweet potato. Determined not to waste a single bit, San Gouzi and Jie Di even ate the skin, leaving no trace behind.

“I should go home now,” Qin Jiashu said when they finished. “My aunt might be worried…”