At just over four months old, Little Bai Guo had her first taste of meat.

Although it was only a bit of meat broth—a light dab with chopsticks for her to sample—it wasn’t real meat.

Yet, she smacked her lips and seriously savored the taste of chicken soup.

The chicken soup that Li Qiurong let her try was as clear as water, without a hint of oil or seasoning, completely bland.

But once the aroma of meat entered her mouth, it was as if it exploded with flavor.

The experience of tasting it was entirely different from just smelling it.

Normally, just smelling the aroma of meat wouldn’t tempt Little Bai Guo in the slightest.

Once it entered her mouth, it turned into an irresistibly rich and alluring flavor. A small taste didn’t seem enough—she felt like she could have a bit more.

Little Bai Guo decisively opened her small mouth, signaling to Li Qiurong for more.

It was the first time she had ever actively asked for food, and Li Qiurong couldn’t help but laugh.

“You’ve learned to enjoy chicken soup, huh? Alright, have another taste.”

She dipped the chopsticks into the soup bowl again and fed it to Little Bai Guo.

Little Bai Guo held the chopsticks in her mouth, savoring the aroma of the chicken soup.

She liked it.

When the chopsticks no longer had any flavor left, she continued to ask for more.

But Li Qiurong didn’t give her any more.

“Be patient, my good little one. Today’s just a taste. You’re not quite ready for a full serving.”

“When you’re a bit older, you’ll be able to drink chicken soup and even eat chicken drumsticks.”

According to Bai Shu, Little Bai Guo would start eating solid food after she turned five months old.

For now, she only had formula milk, but soon she could have rice soup, rice paste, and steamed eggs.

Little Bai Guo wasn’t satisfied with just a taste of chicken soup.

She clung to Li Qiurong’s clothes and cried out, “Ah, ah, ah!”

Grandma, look at how well-behaved I am—just a little more, please! Just a tiny bit!

“Grandma, Little Sister still wants to eat. Give her just a little more,” pleaded Little Zi Su.

She felt sorry for her sister, who was asking for food for the first time.

Poor Little Sister only drank formula milk every day, and now she finally wanted some chicken soup.

Why wouldn’t Grandma give her any?

“Eat your own food,” Bai Zhu said, pulling her back to her small stool.

Unable to get more chicken soup, Little Bai Guo pouted but didn’t make a fuss.

That night, the entire house was filled with the aroma of meat.

Smelling it, Little Bai Guo suddenly found her formula milk unappetizing.

She wished she could grow up quickly, grow teeth, and be able to drink chicken soup and eat meat.

Being a child was so pitiful—she could only watch others eat and drink.

Then again, growing up wasn’t all that great either.

As a baby, she could lie around like a salted fish every day. But once she grew up, she’d probably end up like Little Zi Su, being taken everywhere and even having to walk on her own.

That didn’t sound so fun. What a dilemma!

As Little Bai Guo wrestled with her thoughts, ten days passed in the blink of an eye.

Lin Yongcheng and Bai Ji returned home.

Lin Yongjia and Lin Yongye had become temporary workers, and Bai Ji had transferred her job to a high school student.

She was back home to prepare for exams and wouldn’t be going to the county for a while. The double-harvest season was also over, marking the end of the busiest time of the year.

Lin Yongcheng had come back specifically to teach Lin Yongliang how to drive a tractor.

The matter of the tractor had already been arranged with the commune. Every year, during the grain tax season, the commune lent out tractors.

This was a standard procedure for every brigade.

However, borrowing a tractor from the commune also meant relying on their drivers to help.

Because no one in the Shanglin brigade could drive a tractor, they had to rely on the commune’s driver. This meant enduring their arrogance, being overly polite, and treating them well to avoid offending them.

With Lin Yongcheng back, things were much simpler. They wouldn’t need to depend on the commune’s driver anymore.

Riding on two bicycles, they set off: Lin Yongcheng with the team accountant Lin Dazhuang on his back seat, and Lin Yongliang with his father Lin Changjin. Four people in total.

Once Lin Yongcheng left, Little Zi Su couldn’t sit still anymore.

She clearly wanted to see the tractor herself, but she wouldn’t admit it. Instead, she used her sister as an excuse. “Mom, Little Sister hasn’t seen a tractor yet, and she’s never ridden in one. I want to take her to see it, but I can’t carry her.”

“Your dad just left; he won’t be at the commune so quickly,” Bai Ji said with a glance at her.

“I feel like Dad’s been gone for a really, really long time,” Little Zi Su said, fiddling with her fingers, convinced that a lot of time had passed. “Let’s go out and check.”

Seeing how much she wanted to go, Bai Ji had no choice.

“Alright, let’s go take a look.”

Carrying Little Bai Guo and followed by Little Zi Su, Bai Ji walked slowly toward the village entrance. Under the big banyan tree at the entrance, a group of villagers was cooling off.

With the double-harvest season over, they were now free, and the banyan tree had become a gathering spot.

About a dozen men and women sat on stools, fanning themselves with palm-leaf fans, chatting about who-knows-what gossip. The ground was littered with pumpkin seed shells.

When Bai Ji arrived with her two children, Aunt Liu, who lived by the village entrance, greeted her warmly.

“Yongcheng’s wife is here. Come, have a seat.”

The rumbling sound of the tractor grew louder and louder. Little Zisu spotted Lin Yongcheng driving the tractor from a distance and started shouting excitedly nearby.

“Mommy, Daddy’s back!”

“Daddy is amazing! He can even drive a tractor!”

“When I grow up, I want to drive a tractor too! I want to be just as amazing!”

Bai Ji’s lips twitched. “…”
No, you don’t want to.

When you grow up, you won’t like it anymore.

Little Baiguo glanced at the tractor a couple of times but quickly lost interest.

What was so great about a big, clunky, black hunk of metal?

It was loud and smelly—Yu Yu didn’t like it at all!

She yawned and wanted to go home.

The tractor entered Shanglin Brigade.

The only wide and flat area in the brigade was the drying yard, but the yard was on high ground, surrounded by rice fields, and inaccessible by vehicle.

There was no suitable place in Shanglin Brigade for Lin Yongliang to practice driving the tractor.

When they reached the village fields, all four people on the tractor got off.

Lin Changjin slapped his forehead in frustration.
“Ah, I miscalculated.”

“Don’t worry,” Lin Dazhuang said cheerfully. “The Liangtian Brigade next door has a spacious area. Let Yongliang practice there. Now that we’re already in the village, let’s ask someone to bring the grain over and load one batch of public grain first. Then we’ll head straight to Liangtian Brigade afterward.”

What else could Lin Changjin do?
He and Lin Yongliang split up to call for help, while Lin Dazhuang headed to the granary to register the grain.

Lin Yongcheng stayed at the village entrance to watch over the tractor.

Little Zisu ran to Lin Yongcheng. “Daddy, I brought my little sister to see the tractor!”

“So excited?” Lin Yongcheng picked up his eldest daughter and playfully lifted her high into the air. Seeing her eyes filled with curiosity, he placed her on the tractor.

“What about my little sister?” she asked, turning around to look behind her.

The tractor had stopped rumbling, but the diesel smell lingered. Bai Ji, holding Little Baiguo, had just approached when the strong odor made the baby cry loudly.

“Let’s go, quickly!”

“Don’t worry, we’ll leave right now,” Bai Ji soothed her, patting her back.

They quickly retreated a good distance. Little Baiguo, usually quiet even when bitten by mosquitoes, now wailed loudly—clearly uncomfortable.

“What’s wrong with our little darling?” Lin Yongcheng saw the scene and immediately became anxious.

Their youngest daughter had always been a well-behaved baby, rarely crying or fussing.

He jumped off the tractor.

Little Zisu was also panicked. “Is my little sister crying?”

“You stay right there and don’t move. I’ll go check,” Lin Yongcheng instructed before running after Bai Ji, who had just calmed Little Baiguo down.

Little Baiguo had stopped crying but now lay limply on Bai Ji’s shoulder.

The unpleasant smell had dissipated with distance, but the nausea it triggered lingered. She felt terrible but couldn’t express it.

“The moment we got close to the tractor, she started crying. Now she’s stopped, but she’s completely out of energy. I’ll take her home to rest,” Bai Ji said, deeply worried. Apart from the time with the bedbugs, she had never seen Little Baiguo cry so hard.

Children who cried often were less concerning.
But when a quiet child fussed, it was deeply worrying.

Just as Bai Ji was about to leave, she remembered Zisu on the tractor. “Hurry back and watch Zisu. I’ll take Little Darling home.”

“Alright…” Lin Yongcheng barely nodded before seeing Little Baiguo start spitting up milk—large amounts of it. His expression changed. “Take her to the clinic right away.”

It wasn’t normal spit-up; this was too much.

Bai Ji panicked and left immediately without saying another word.

Lin Yongcheng returned to the tractor, pulled Zisu off, and carried her to catch up with them.

…

Little Baiguo, in her daze, realized she was sick.

Her mind felt foggy, and even while lying flat, she was restless and uncomfortable. She occasionally let out little whimpers.

The little salted fish, sick for the first time, thought she was going to die. If she died, she might turn back into her true form as a salted fish spirit.

Would the Heavenly Dao Father send her into another book?

What if she became the protagonist next time? She didn’t want that; she just wanted to be a lazy supporting character!

Wuwuwu… Yu Yu didn’t want to go back!

Heavenly Dao Father, Yu Yu hasn’t fulfilled her role as a little villain yet.

Don’t let me die so soon!

The little salted fish got so anxious she started crying again!!

Bai Ji’s heart was breaking.

Her eyes were red from crying. “Dad, Little Darling is burning up and so uncomfortable. Even when she sleeps, she cries. How bad must she feel?”

“It’ll pass in a few days,” Bai Shu reassured her.

Although Bai Ji had studied medicine, when it came to her child, she was as frantic as an ant on a hot pan.

He had told her at least five times that it was just a normal fever from teething. Little Baiguo’s lower teeth were about to break through. She’d feel better in a few days.

But Bai Ji was too anxious.

She wanted Bai Shu to prescribe some fever medicine to make Little Baiguo more comfortable.

Lin Yongcheng was also worried.

Little Zisu had had a fever while teething, but it hadn’t made her this restless, crying even in her sleep.

“Dad, can’t you just prescribe something? Look at how much she’s suffering.”

“Is it good for children to take so much medicine?” Bai Shu rolled his eyes at him. Usually calm and collected, why was he panicking now?

Little Zisu’s eyes were teary too. “My sister is sick.”

The three of them were in complete disarray.

“Keep her temperature down. If it gets too high, I’ll prescribe medicine,” Bai Shu finally said. “And make sure she drinks plenty of water.”

Under Bai Shu’s firm stance, there was no medicine prescribed.

Little Baiguo remained sick for three days. She fussed whenever she was laid down, making the whole family exhausted. They had to take turns holding her and pacing around the house.

One sick child wore out the entire family.

Even Zisu, overly worried about her sister, lost some weight.

That day, when Bai Ji had rushed to the clinic with Little Baiguo and Lin Yongcheng had followed with Zisu, villagers gossiping under the big banyan tree had seen it. Naturally, such chatter-loving villagers quickly spread the news.

Seeing the family’s anxious demeanor, many guessed it had something to do with Little Baiguo.

Though few knew Little Baiguo’s full name, the rumor spread that Lin Yongcheng’s youngest daughter was sick.

Over the next three days, the family’s exhaustion was visible to everyone.

Lin Yongcheng even biked to the county town—a rare trip he usually only made every few days. This time, he went and returned the same day.

As a result, the rumors became more exaggerated.

By the third day, gossipers were saying that Little Baiguo was on the verge of death.