Dog Egg broke his leg!…  

“Shh.” Just as Jiang Huan was about to speak, Jiang Le signaled her to keep her voice down.  

Jiang Huan was puzzled but still lowered her voice, staring at the brownish-red liquid in the cup: “Is this… brown sugar water?”  

Back when their family was still relatively well-off, Jiang Huan had drunk brown sugar water before, but only occasionally, and never this concentrated. She wasn’t even entirely sure.  

Seeing Jiang Le nod, she finally confirmed it. Only her little brother would be so generous with brown sugar.  

Brown sugar was such a rarity. In the village, if a woman could drink brown sugar water during her postpartum confinement, it was something to be envied—proof that her husband and mother-in-law treated her well.  

“Drink it quickly before it gets cold,” Jiang Le urged, worried as he watched his sister hesitate. He’d just asked the system to cool the water a bit, afraid she might scald herself. Good thing he did—otherwise, with the way Jiang Huan was acting, she’d have burned blisters all over her mouth.  

Jiang Huan hesitated, clearly still craving it, but pressed her pale lips together: “Little one, I want Mom, Dad, Grandma, and Second Brother to taste it too. Is that okay?”  

How could she bear to drink all this brown sugar water by herself?  

But Jiang Le shook his head. He’d given it to Jiang Huan secretly because he didn’t know how to explain it to the rest of the family. After all, the others weren’t as easy to fool as Jiang Huan.  

“No, and you can’t tell them either,” Jiang Le said sternly.  

“Why not?” Jiang Huan clutched the cup, her mood dampened.  

Jiang Le, afraid she might spill the secret, emphasized: “If you tell them, not only will they not get to drink it, but you won’t either. If you keep quiet, you can have it every night from now on.”  

Jiang Huan immediately shook her head: “Then… then I won’t tell.”  

She wasn’t stupid. Even if she didn’t understand why Jiang Le was doing this, the brown sugar water was given by her little brother. If he said so, there must be a reason. If she told the family, not only would they miss out, but she wouldn’t get to drink it either—clearly a losing deal.  

Jiang Le sighed in relief, then comforted his guilt-ridden sister: “Don’t worry, sis. One day, our whole family will get to drink brown sugar water.”  

He needed to figure out a way to bring out the brown sugar openly.  

Hearing this, Jiang Huan instantly brightened. She handed the cup back to Jiang Le, then fetched another cup shortly after, pouring some of the brown sugar water into it and passing it to him: “You drink some too.”  

Jiang Le looked into his sister’s shining eyes, unwilling to admit how moved he felt again. He blinked, then took a sip of the brown sugar water.  

Too sweet. He wasn’t used to it.  

…

The next day, Grandma Jiang originally steamed five eggs—one for each person, and the remaining eggs would be fried one per day, lasting several days.  

But Jiang Le had already anticipated this. He got up early and, while Grandma wasn’t paying attention, slipped an extra egg into the pot.  

When the pot was opened, Grandma Jiang stared at the extra egg inside: “???”  

Guagua laughed uncontrollably: [Host, you’re so mischievous! Grandma’s questioning her life choices.]  

Jiang Le retorted indignantly: [What do you know? This is called filial piety! Grandma wanted to save her egg for later—not a chance!]  

Guagua gave him a thumbs-up: [Wow, host is so amazing~]  

Jiang Le grew suspicious: [Why does that sound sarcastic?]  

Guagua denied it—and even if it were, it wouldn’t admit it.  

But when it was time to eat, Jiang Le was dumbfounded. After he finished one egg, Grandma Jiang handed him another: “Share this with Huanhuan. You two are still growing—eat an extra half each.”  

Jiang Le sighed inwardly. In modern times, even though he was an orphan, he’d lived during an era of national prosperity. Back then, schools had egg-and-milk programs, and some classmates didn’t want theirs, so they didn’t take them—which basically meant more for Jiang Le.  

Once, he ate a record eight eggs in one go, making himself sick. But he was frugal and couldn’t bear to waste them, so he forced himself to finish them all.  

But now, he realized just how precious eggs really were.  

Jiang Le took the egg, peeled it, but didn’t eat it. Instead, he held it right up to Grandma’s mouth and deliberately said, “Grandma, I’m already stuffed! You eat it—if I have any more, I’ll feel sick!”  

Jiang Huan also chimed in cleverly: “Yeah, I’m full too. I don’t want it.”  

Grandma Jiang looked at her grandchildren and finally ate the egg. She’d been foolish—from now on, she couldn’t skimp on her own food like this, or the kids would be upset.  

She was old, but she wasn’t senile. She knew exactly what the kids were doing—they wanted her to eat it.  

Grandma Jiang sighed, but her heart swelled with joy. Her grandchildren were so filial.  

…

Jiang Le skimmed through the junior high school textbooks and was about to head to the scrap yard to see if he could find any high school books when he noticed two little kids, no older than seven or eight, peeking into his house from the doorway.  

Curious, Jiang Le stepped outside. The little girl with two braids immediately called out, “Little Jiang! We’re going to the back mountain—wanna come?”  

Jiang Le: “…”  

He scowled and walked over, looking down at the tiny kid who barely reached his waist. “Call me big brother.”  

The little girl instantly shrank back and obediently said, “… big brother.”  

She still looked a bit reluctant, though.  

The little boy beside her eyed Jiang Le warily. Noticing how similar they looked, Jiang Le asked curiously, “Are you twins?”  

The little boy immediately puffed up with pride. “Yeah! Hmph, jealous?”  

Jiang Le couldn’t help but laugh. “Yeah, yeah, so jealous.”

The little boy, perhaps because Jiang Le had admitted it so straightforwardly—unlike other kids who were jealous but stubbornly denied it—found him much more likable. His attitude softened considerably: “Little Jiang, let’s go to the back mountain! My sister and I will take you mushroom picking and firewood gathering.”  

Jiang Le was both amused and exasperated: “You two little beans are taking me?”  

“What’s a ‘little bean’? Can you eat it?” The little girl looked confused. “It was Mom who told us to call you. She said something about… us being brothers…”  

The little boy shook his head. “No, it’s brotherly family! Mom said: ‘Little Jiang said we’re a brotherly family. Poor thing, he’s only got those village troublemakers to hang around with. I misunderstood him before—this kid’s a good one. You two take him with you so he doesn’t play with those no-goods anymore.'”  

The boy imitated his mother’s tone perfectly, spilling every word she’d said.  

Jiang Le’s lips twitched. The phrasing sounded familiar. “Is your mom Auntie Sun?”  

Both children nodded eagerly, then pressed impatiently: “Are you coming or not? If we don’t hurry, Third Ya will gather more firewood than us!”  

Jiang Le thought for a moment. He hadn’t been to the back mountain yet, and he didn’t feel embarrassed about being led around by kids. He nodded immediately. “I’m coming. Let me grab a basket.”  

The little boy urged, “Hurry up!”  

Once Jiang Le went inside, the little girl whispered to her brother, “Little Jiang’s legs are still fine. He’s a good person.”  

The boy nodded vigorously. “Yeah, yeah! Mom said Gou Dan and the others went to that house on the east side of the village—the one where that older brother doesn’t have parents—and tried to steal from him!”  

The girl added, “But Gou Dan somehow fell and broke his leg as soon as he went in. They spent a lot of money on medicine! Little Jiang’s legs are still fine, so he definitely didn’t go.”  

Children’s logic was strange. As far as they were concerned, since Jiang Le’s legs were unharmed, he clearly hadn’t gone stealing with Gou Dan.  

The boy agreed. “Mhm! Mom said Gou Dan is a troublemaker, and we shouldn’t let Little Jiang play with him. Little Jiang is so pitiful—he probably only hangs out with Gou Dan because no one else plays with him. If we play with him more, he won’t… won’t need Gou Dan anymore.”  

The little girl beamed. “Brother, you’re so smart! That’s exactly what we should do!”  

Jiang Le had no idea just how “pitiful” he seemed in the eyes of these two kids.