Chapter Thirty: Three Years Later

Meng Yun hurried home overnight, her face pale as she boarded the carriage. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she recalled Meng Xuan’s words from noon; even Fu Bao, infected by her mother’s mood, grew quiet and subdued, neither crying nor making a fuss.

Meng Xuan had told her the dam break had occurred in the Dabie Mountain region, seemingly near the Cang River. At that moment, Meng Yun’s hands and feet went cold. Clutching her daughter to her chest, she was determined to return home, and Madam Meng couldn’t help but send Meng Xuan to escort his sister back.

Seeing his sister’s pallid face, Meng Xuan felt a deep ache in his heart. Why on earth had Lin Sanlang gone to such a place? Was it because the family was short on money, or some other reason? And now, with the dam broken, who knew whether he was dead or alive?

Meng Xuan thought anxiously—if something happened to Lin Sanlang, given how obsessed his sister was with him, who could predict what she might do? The more he considered it, the more unsettled he felt, his own face growing paler with fright from his own imagination.

With heavy hearts, the siblings drove nonstop toward Lin Family Village. Yet, when they arrived and glimpsed a familiar figure lounging under the old tree in the courtyard of the Lin family estate, their sorrowful expressions faltered.

“Little Wolf, bring tea to your uncle!” Lin Sanlang called out without even opening his eyes when the gate creaked open, behaving as if he were a grand lord waiting to be served.

A silence fell.

Lin Sanlang?

Wait—there was murderous intent!

Lin Sanlang’s eyes opened to find his wife and brother-in-law glaring darkly at him.

Lin Sanlang: “……”

And suddenly, chaos erupted in the Lin household.

Little Wolf sat with Fu Bao in his arms, munching on rice cakes brought back by his aunt—delicious! He wondered idly why his uncle was behaving so strangely.

Later, in the west chamber of the Lin home, Lin Sanlang knelt on the thick washboard, finding it hard and his knees sore. His wife forbade him to move—not that he was alone in his punishment.

Looking at Fu Bao in his arms, Lin Sanlang had only one thought: the Meng family’s meals were good—this little girl had gotten chubbier!

Fu Bao was overjoyed to see her father, who had been gone so long. She wriggled in his arms in delight.

Is it always this hard?

Meng Yun looked closely at the man kneeling on the floor, noticing how thin her husband had become. The fear in her heart dissipated, replaced by an overwhelming tenderness.

How much hardship had he endured? “Alright, get up,” she said, her words sounding like music to Lin Sanlang’s ears. He got up quickly and leaned against her.

“You nearly scared me to death! If anything had happened to you, how would Fu Bao and I go on?” Meng Yun’s relief turned to fresh tears.

Lin Sanlang’s heart ached for her. He set Fu Bao aside and comforted Meng Yun, leaving Fu Bao feeling bewildered.

Through Lin Sanlang’s recounting, it turned out that Tian Laosi and Ma Jinbao had been causing trouble for Lin Sanlang and his companions. They were constantly assigned new tasks and bullied, barely given enough to eat. On the night before the dam break, Lin Sanlang and Lin Dashuan went up the mountain hoping to hunt some wild game, craving something tasty after so many days of deprivation.

But they found no food—only a series of traps, poorly dug and clustered together. The unlucky pair managed to stumble into each one in turn.

Finally, they crawled out to discover that the manure hauling area and even their tent had vanished—below the mountain was a vast expanse of water. The Cang River had burst its banks!

Terrified, they scrambled back to Lin Family Village.

Meng Yun shuddered in relief. If her husband hadn’t been craving wild game, she would have been a widow now.

Lin Sanlang: “…… Can’t you put it more nicely?”

With nothing left to worry about, Meng Yun let the matter go. Her brother had returned home, and surely her parents were informed and wouldn’t be anxious. She gradually relaxed.

Meng Yun was blessed with a generous heart.

From now on, however, the Lin family would no longer participate in such perilous work.

Three years passed.

At the gate of the Lin family’s small courtyard, a little dumpling squatted in a corner, busy with something and muttering, “One little ant, two little ants, four…”

A boy beside her burst out laughing at her counting. “Fu Bao, after two comes three, not four.”

“Oh, Hai Hai brother, don’t interrupt me! I’m playing with the ants!” Fu Bao protested unhappily.

Six-year-old Cen Hai looked at his little aunt’s daughter, Fu Bao, and shrugged helplessly. “OK, as long as you’re happy!”

Fu Bao was now three, and at home, only Cen Hai kept her company.

Dog Egg brother—no, now known as Lin Censhen—was eight and had already started attending private school. There was also Little Wolf, whose formal name was Lin Cenyu, who, despite his resistance, had been packed off to school by their grandmother, who insisted that only through study could one succeed; a life without education would be one of hardship.

Little Wolf: “……” Sob, sob.

As for Fu Bao and Cen Hai, being younger, they stayed home for now, feeding the chickens and ducks, and if they ran out of animals to feed, there were piglets they could try their hand at.

Cen Hai: “…… Maybe I’ll go catch some fish instead!”

Fu Bao: “Piggies! Yes!”