Chapter 16

Wang Dafeng was finally persuaded by Ding Gui and his wife to return home. After all the drama within their family, the villagers were full of gossip.

“Good thing that old woman has a third son, or she wouldn’t have survived this famine.”

“Exactly. I think she’s starting to change. She never treated Ding Gui and his wife like humans before.”

“If you ask me, they’re all just bored and hungry. There’s hardly anything to eat, and they’re still fighting like they’ve got the strength.”

The moment food was mentioned, despair washed over everyone’s faces.

After being assigned their housing, nearly every family started rummaging through the place—but no luck. Just like everyone else, they found nothing. The original owners had already taken everything when they left.

How on earth were they supposed to survive the days ahead?

Everyone was worried.

“Ma, I didn’t expect you to be so bold today. If it weren’t for you, who knows how badly that woman would’ve beaten Xiaodie!”

Back at home, Ding Gui was purposely praising Wang Dafeng to the skies.

The old woman snorted proudly, “That wretched Zhu woman was never a decent person anyway. I finally let off some steam today. Xiaodie, if she dares bully you again, just come to Grandma—I’ll get revenge for you.”

Little Xiaodie clapped her small hands. “Grandma is the best to Xiaodie. I want to reward you with a candy!”

Wang Dafeng’s eyes widened. “What?! Candy?”

Where could you possibly find candy in times like these?

Zhang Xiu quickly explained, “Xiaodie’s a clever little thing. Maybe the heavens pity her. Her luck’s better than anyone else’s. While looking for a house with her father earlier, she accidentally stumbled upon a bag of candy.”

As she finished speaking, Xiaodie took out a pack of gummy candies.

They were round, colorful, and looked delicious.

But Wang Dafeng, at her age, had never seen such candies before. All she’d ever known were white sugar cubes and brown sugar. What on earth was this colorful stuff?

While she stared in shock, Xiaodie gave one each to her parents and then popped one into Wang Dafeng’s mouth, keeping one for herself too.

The three of them watched her expression closely.

From confusion to surprise, and then pure joy—she burst out laughing.

“Sweet! It really is candy!”

“……”

“Oh my, how can candy look so pretty?” Wang Dafeng exclaimed, staring longingly at the packet in Xiaodie’s hands. They were so poor that sweets were a rare luxury. She hadn’t eaten candy in years, let alone expected to taste any during a famine.

Watching her beam with delight, the Ding family trio felt both amused and saddened.

The old lady might be mean and fickle, but the look of childlike curiosity on her face, like she was discovering a whole new world, made her seem a bit pitiful too.

After finishing the red one, she asked for a green one.

Wang Dafeng squinted happily. “Oh, this one’s sweet too! I thought the different colors meant different flavors!”

The three just stared in silence.

To keep her from blabbing to others, Ding Gui lightly cleared his throat and said, “I heard once that this kind of candy comes from the Western Regions. That’s why it’s so colorful—probably this kind.”

Wang Dafeng’s eyes sparkled even more. “Who would’ve thought an old woman like me would ever get to taste candy from another country in this lifetime!”

“Nana, don’t tell anyone, or they’ll try to steal it!” Xiaodie said, pretending to be worried like a little kid.

“Don’t worry, Grandma’s not stupid.”

After eating just two, she was reluctant to finish the rest. Her eyes were practically glued to the bag, so Xiaodie handed her the remaining three pieces.

The old lady quickly took them and hid them in her sleeve before going off to nap.

But it was barely past noon.

Days without enough to eat always dragged on forever.

Ding Gui and his wife took Xiaodie out for a walk. It was hot, but the first thing they thought of was to visit the government office in Yangliu Town—maybe they could find a map to see where the road ahead led.

Otherwise, wandering blindly like this could lead to who knows what kind of disaster.

Unexpectedly, Village Chief Laifu had the same idea.

Just as they finally found the local yamen (government office), Laifu and Dabao arrived too.

“Huh? What are you doing here?” Chief Laifu hadn’t expected to see them either. Everyone in the village was exhausted, and with the scorching sun, most folks wouldn’t move a step unless they absolutely had to—for fear of burning off what little rice soup they had in their bellies.

The Ding family couldn’t admit they were here for a map. Someone like the original host wouldn’t have been that forward-thinking.

So Ding Gui quickly said, “My mother was starving, so we came out to see if we could find something to eat.”

“Everyone’s starving,” Laifu waved a tired hand. “Dabao and I came here on purpose. Wanted to check the yamen for clues—see where the people of Yangliu Town went. Maybe they all headed for the capital too.”

He finished speaking, but the Ding family just looked confused.

Laifu sighed. “Let’s go in together. We’ll all head back later.”

The Ding family nodded quickly.

Creeeak—

Dabao pushed open the yamen doors.

Once a place that symbolized justice and order, the building now stood wide open, with cobwebs draping the walls and ceilings. Even the magistrate’s desk was covered in a thick layer of dust.

The courtyard was overgrown with weeds, and just then, a mid-sized snake slithered past—meat?!

Dabao’s eyes lit up with excitement, but before he could move, his father warned, “Don’t eat anything from the yamen. What if it’s a dragon in disguise?”

And just like that, Dabao froze. No way was he going to mess with a dragon—he quietly followed his dad to continue searching.

Xiaodie looked at poor Dabao and thought, Poor kid. A dragon? What, some bored celestial being turned into a snake just to hang out in the weeds for fun?

With that thought, she sprang into action.

Meat in these times was a treasure—pure protein!

She stepped forward and stomped on the snake’s head, then grabbed it firmly by the neck.

“I caught it! I caught it!”

Xiaodie proudly held the snake by its head. It wasn’t huge, but it had decent weight to it.

Hearing her, Chief Laifu turned around—and his face changed. He was super old-school and believed the yamen was sacred, nothing inside should be touched. But Xiaodie had already caught it, and it was too late to stop her now.

Meanwhile, Ding Gui and Zhang Xiu joined in excitedly: “We can eat snake meat now, Chief!”

Looking at his son Dabao, whose eyes were practically glowing with longing, Laifu sighed.

The poor boy had suffered a lot since birth—caring for his mom, then his grandma, and even the ninety-year-old great-grandmother needed someone by her side constantly.

Without Dabao and his brother Erbao, life wouldn’t even be livable right now.

In the end, everyone turned to Laifu.

He clenched his teeth and gave in with a wave of his hand. “Grill it!”