Xu Duomei is the second daughter of Captain Xu.

Captain Xu is under the command of Deputy Battalion Commander Yang, who is the son of Auntie Yang.

Xu Duomei was originally named Xu Duoyu because she was the second daughter and considered unnecessary.

Grandma Xu disdainfully said, “What name? She’s just an unnecessary expense, so let’s just call her Duoyu.”

And so, that name stuck.

Later, when Xu’s mother brought her children to follow the army, she secretly changed her daughter’s name from Xu Duoyu to Xu Duomei.

She hoped her daughter would grow up to be more beautiful.

When Grandma Xu found out about this, she didn’t make a big deal about a name affecting her daughter-in-law, but she still thought it was a case of being overly fussy.

The six people playing soccer stopped when Xu Duomei arrived.

They looked at Xu Duomei.

Her clothes had many patches, but they were clean.

The shy girl’s face turned slightly red.

She swallowed nervously and took a few timid steps forward.

“Lin… Lin Haizhi, I have something to tell you. Can… can we talk?” she asked.

Yibao glanced at everyone and shook his head, “No, you’re a girl, and I’m a boy. We can’t talk privately. People will gossip.” Eight-year-old Yibao wasn’t as naive as he was at five, thinking that talking privately with a girl was mischievous.

But he remembered what his mother had said about keeping a distance from girls.

Xu Duomei thought for a moment and pointed to a spot about ten meters away under a tree, “Then… can we talk over there? He Jiaxing and the others can see us. We’ll speak quietly. Is that okay?”

Yibao looked at the distance between here and there.

It wasn’t a corner, and there were people around.

He nodded, “Okay.”

Then he turned to Er Bao, He Jiaxing, and the others, “Xu Duomei and I will go over there to talk. Keep an eye on us.” With them watching, if anyone gossiped, there would be witnesses.

“We got it,” Er Bao said, “Brother, don’t worry. My eyes are big—I’ll see everything clearly.”

Yibao said nothing.

San Bao added, “Big brother, I’ll keep an eye out too.”

He Jiaxing and the others nodded in agreement.

So, Yibao and Xu Duomei walked under the tree, always maintaining about a meter of distance between them. “What did you want to tell me?”

Xu Duomei hesitated as she looked at Yibao’s calm expression.

She had no other choice.

Her mother was sick, her father was on a mission, and the family’s money was controlled by her grandmother, who refused to let her mother seek medical treatment.

Xu Duomei overheard her grandmother secretly muttering that it would be better if her mother died of illness, so her father could marry a new wife who could bear him sons.

But Xu Duomei didn’t want her mother to die.

She didn’t know what to do.

Normally shy and unsure whom to turn to, today she overheard Yibao and the others talking about red envelopes, knowing they had money.

So she came here to borrow some.

“If you’re not going to say anything, I’ll go,” Yibao said when Xu Duomei remained silent.

He wasn’t much of a talker himself, but this girl seemed even quieter.

“W-wait…” Xu Duomei hurriedly stopped Yibao, afraid he’d leave and take her hope with him. “Lin… Lin Haizhi, can… can you lend me some money?”

Yibao’s eyes widened at Xu Duomei’s request.

Asking him for money was almost like asking for his flesh.

But seeing Xu Duomei on the verge of tears, he asked, “Why do you need to borrow money?”

Hearing Yibao’s question, Xu Duomei quickly explained, “My father is away on a mission, my mother is sick, and our money is with my grandmother. She won’t let my mother get treatment because she hasn’t given birth to a son. She thinks it would be better if my mother died, so my father could marry someone who can give him sons…”

Xu Duomei didn’t hold back anything.

She disliked her usually sharp-tongued grandmother.

Though afraid of her, facing Yibao, a child like herself, her fear lessened. “So… I want to borrow some money to help my mother. I promise, when my father returns, I’ll ask him for money to repay you.”

Yibao couldn’t believe how cruel Xu Duomei’s grandmother was.

He couldn’t imagine anyone else’s grandmother being so mean, given how kind his own grandmother was.

But looking at Xu Duomei in her worn-out clothes, her pale, thin face, her eyes bulging from malnutrition, he started to believe her.

Some things didn’t need to be heard from others; you could see the truth with your own eyes.

“What amount do you want to borrow?” Yibao didn’t immediately agree or refuse, but asked this question instead.

These words gave Xu Duomei even greater hope.

She replied, “O… one yuan? Two yuan, is that okay?”

She didn’t know how much money her mother’s treatment would cost.

In her mind, one or two yuan was already a lot of money.

Xu Duomei didn’t know, and Yibao didn’t know either.

When he heard her mention one or two yuan, it was within the range he could accept.

But he didn’t immediately agree.

Instead, he said, “The money we have is earned by me, Erbao, and Sanbao together. I need to ask them first. If they agree to lend you the money, I’ll also need to ask my mother. Once she agrees, then I can lend it to you.”

“Okay, okay,” Xu Duomei nodded quickly.

It was only right. “So… when can you ask them? I… I’m worried that if we wait too long, my mother’s condition will get worse.”

Yibao didn’t hesitate either. “I’ll go ask now. You… you wait here.”

“Okay,” Xu Duomei replied.

After finishing their conversation, Yibao ran over to where Erbao was.

“Bro, what did Xu Duomei say to you?” Erbao asked curiously.

Sanbao and He Jiaxing also looked over, curious.

But Yibao didn’t answer right away. Instead, he said, “We have something to do at home. He Jiaxing, Yang Wenjie, Cheng Yingyong, let’s play ball again tomorrow.”

Upon hearing Yibao say this, Yang Wenjie and the others naturally agreed, “Okay, we’ll head home first. You go ask your aunt, we also want to plant sugarcane.”

“Got it,” Yibao nodded.

After bidding farewell to Yang Wenjie and the others, Yibao didn’t immediately call Erbao and Sanbao to go home.

Instead, he explained Xu Duomei’s situation to them: “Will you agree to lend money to Xu Duomei?”

Erbao and Sanbao listened without objection.

Erbao said, “Her grandmother is really bad. How can someone have such a bad grandmother?”

Erbao was a lively kid, so he was quite emotional.

This grandmother was too bad.

Sanbao didn’t say anything.

He blinked his innocent and clear big eyes and said, “I’ll listen to big brother.”

He wasn’t as emotional as Erbao.

Maybe because he was younger, he lacked empathy.

Yibao said, “Then let’s go ask Mom.”

Immediately, the three brothers ran back home quickly.

Ning Shu saw the three boys coming back so early.

They had only been out for a short while, so she was surprised. “Why are you back so early? Did something happen?”

Erbao and Sanbao looked at Yibao.

Whenever something happened, their older brother spoke for all three of them.

Yibao explained clearly, “Mom, when we were playing ball with He Jiaxing and the others, a classmate named Xu Duomei came to find me…”

Yibao recounted the events and then asked, “Mom, Erbao, Sanbao, and I have discussed it. We’re willing to lend money to Xu Duomei. Can we do that?”

Ning Shu wasn’t very empathetic.

She wouldn’t kick someone when they were down, and if she saw someone with a tragic fate, she might feel pity, but she wouldn’t act on it.

For example, she wouldn’t give money for free out of sympathy.

She believed everyone had their own destiny, and changing that destiny depended on their own efforts.

If you didn’t change yourself, no matter the outcome, it was your own choice.

Perhaps due to her upbringing where her parents weren’t affectionate, she considered herself emotionally detached.

She didn’t see this as a bad thing as long as she lived well herself.

“This is your own money, and the decision is in your hands. Since you’ve agreed, then of course, there’s no problem,” Ning Shu said.

“But since you asked me, I’ll give my opinion. Firstly, regarding lending money, if the other person is genuinely in a pitiable situation, and the amount you lend doesn’t affect your own life, then there’s no problem.

“Secondly, if you lend money and the other person doesn’t repay it, what will you do? So if someone asked me to borrow money, I would first consider their character. If their character is good and the amount isn’t large, like when Lin Xiaoshan borrowed money before, I trusted him and because the amount wasn’t large and he was in a hurry, I didn’t ask him to leave a note.

“But if the amount is larger, even if I trust them, I would ask them to write an IOU. It’s about being cautious. If everything is clear, you won’t lose out.”

“As for the two yuan you want to lend, you decide how to handle it yourselves,” Ning Shu said.

For such a small amount, lending two yuan was certainly not a problem.

Since it was the children being asked for the loan, Ning Shu let them handle it themselves, offering only some advice based on her own experiences with such matters.

Following Ning Shu’s words, the three brothers discussed among themselves and came to a decision. “Mom, we’ll lend two yuan to Xu Duomei, and ask her to write us an IOU, is that okay?”

Indeed, to Ning Shu, even fifty yuan wasn’t a large sum, but to the three brothers, two yuan was significant.

They hadn’t interacted much with Xu Duomei before, not even exchanged a word, so they didn’t know much about her character.

If it had been Yang Wenjie asking for money today, even if two yuan was a lot to them, they wouldn’t have asked Yang Wenjie to write an IOU.

“You decide for yourselves,” Ning Shu had already expressed her opinion earlier and didn’t want to intervene further.

She actually quite liked seeing the children make their own decisions.