Xiaoguo slowed the donkey cart so she could hear the conversations going on behind her.

“What did they mean by her brother being hurt?”

Xiaoguo frowned, feeling a little anxious. She increased the speed of her whip.

The donkey cart soon arrived at the entrance of the Qin residence. Xiaoguo tied up the donkey and opened the two dilapidated doors, holding on to Zhuang Zhuang’s hand.

Before she had gotten through the door, she heard a cough coming from inside the house.

Xiaoguo’s heart tightened. She took two quick steps and pushed the door open. “Brother!” she called out nervously.

Qin Anming suddenly heard Xiaoguo’s voice and was in a daze. He thought that he was hearing things.

Qin Anming came back to his senses and continued to reach for the glass of water on the table. He was seated on the bed and stretched bit by bit, in order to reach for the glass. He was almost going to touch it!

This was the scene that unfolded in front of Xiaoguo when she entered the room. Brother QIn’s face, which looked very similar to Xiaoguo, was pale and sickly. His once rosy lips had become dry and peeling. He was slumped on the bed, and was trying to reach for a glass of water nearby.

Xiaoguo stepped forward with a sigh and picked up the glass of water. She handed it to him.

Qin Anming was stunned. He saw the slender fingers wrapped around the glass, handing the glass over to him. His eyes were filled with shock as he looked up at the person standing against the light.

“Xiaoguo?” His voice was shaky, as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Immediately he started coughing.

Xiaoguo didn’t say anything. She just looked at him and patted his back when he coughed. Qin Anming didn’t dare to look into her eyes. He avoided eye contact and took the glass of water from her hand when he stopped coughing.

After taking a sip, Qin An wanted to put down the cup, but he didn’t have much strength left in his body. When he tried to sit up earlier on, he had exerted most of his strength. Now his hand was frozen in mid-air.

Xiaoguo did not realize his predicament. She watched as he finished the water and took the glass from him. After putting down the glass, she sat beside him and looked at him.

Qin Anming didn’t know what to say. He looked at his sister, whom he hadn’t seen in a long time. She seemed to be living a better life than he had imagined. He and his parents could now put their hearts at ease.

Xiaoguo looked at the man in front of her and saw how he suddenly looked very relieved. She felt angry and amused all at the same time!

“How many days have you been sick? Why didn’t you tell me?” She asked with a sobbing voice.

When Qin Anming heard Xiaoguo’s words, he didn’t know what to say. He opened and closed his mouth but didn’t utter a word. In the end, he saw Zhuang Zhuang hiding behind Xiaoguo.

“This is Zhuang Zhuang, right?”

As Qin Anming spoke, he stretched out his hands, beckoning Zhuang Zhuang to come to him.

Zhuang Zhuang looked at Xiaoguo first and saw that she didn’t seem to object. He obediently walked up to Qin Anming and grabbed his hand.

Qin Anming looked at Zhuang Zhuang happily and excitedly. He carefully squeezed Zhuang Zhuang’s chubby hands.

“Uncle.”

“Hi!” “Father, Mother, did you see that? Zhuang Zhuang called me uncle!” Qin Anming thought excitedly to himself.

Xiaoguo did not interrupt the two of them. After they got to know each other better, Xiaoguo asked Zhuang Zhuang to come back to her side.

Zhuang Zhuang reluctantly let go of Qin Anming’s hand and came into her arms.

Xiaoguo gently patted his back a few times. When Zhuang Zhuang seemed comforted, she suddenly looked up at Qin Anming.

Qin Anming was shocked by Xiaoguo’s sudden action and his throat started feeling scratchy again. He was about to cough when Xiaoguo’s question stopped him.

“Tell me,” Xiaoguo asked calmly.

“It was a while ago when I was harvesting the crops. It suddenly poured and I was caught in the rain. I didn’t take care of myself and caught a cold.”

Qin Anming summarized everything in a few words.

Xiaoguo knew it couldn’t be that simple. Although he made it sound so simple, she knew there must be more to it.

“If you don’t tell the truth, I’ll ask someone else!”

Xiaoguo’s tone was a little threatening. As expected, Qin Anming panicked when he heard this. However, he still stammered and did not speak. His eyes darted around, avoiding eye contact with Xiaoguo.

Seeing him like this, Xiaoguo sighed. What could she do if he refused to tell her? “Have you eaten? If not, I’ll cook for you.”

Xiaoguo knew that if she continued asking him like this, he would never tell her. She would take her time to find out.

Qin Anming heaved a sigh of relief when he saw that Xiaoguo had stopped her questioning. But what she said next shocked him.

“Yes! Yes!”

Qin Anming hurriedly said, worried that Xiaoguo would cook for him.

Xiaoguo didn’t think there was anything wrong at first, but seeing how anxious he was, she found it strange.

Xiaoguo didn’t know why, but her instincts told her that something was not right. He was definitely hiding something from her. With that in mind, she followed her instincts and went to the kitchen.

Ignoring Qin Anming’s attempts to stop her, she went straight to the kitchen and opened the rice jar. It was empty. Xiaoguo held back her tears and opened the noodle jar. It was the same. There was nothing inside.

Xiaoguo looked around again. The bottles and jars on the table were empty. There was not even a speck of dust to be seen.

The vegetable basket looked like it had been left empty for a long time. When she just entered the house, she had not noticed it. Now that she was outside the house, she saw that the vegetable field that used to be filled with vegetable crops, looked like it had been deserted for a long time. The soil was so dry that it had cracked.

At this moment, Qin Anming had used his entire strength to come out the door, with hands grabbing onto the door frame. Leaning against the door, he was still trying to put on a brave front, “I didn’t have time to buy anything. I had just finished eating those things just a while ago.”

Xiaoguo turned around and looked at him. She realized that the clothes he was wearing had also been mended multiple times. There were many uneven patches and uneven threads. The fabric had been so washed out that it was impossible to tell the original colors. The shoes on his feet were also mended and patched…

Seeing all that, Xiaoguo couldn’t hold back any longer. Her tears began to flow.

“Xiaoguo, stop crying.”

Qin Anming didn’t know how to comfort Xiaoguo. He stood rooted to the ground helplessly. As Xiaoguo cried harder and harder, he dragged his weak body to Xiaoguo’s side. Then with much effort, he raised his hand and placed it on Xiaoguo’s shoulder. He was using all of his strength to comfort her.

Zhuang Zhuang felt terrible when he saw Xiaoguo crying. He started crying too.

Xiaoguo hugged Zhuang Zhuang. Both of their tears were like a broken pearl necklace— they just couldn’t stop.

Qin Anming stood at the side. A man, 1.8 meters tall. His eyes were also welling up with tears.

Xiaoguo cried for a long time. When her emotions eventually subsided, she carried Zhuang Zhuang to Qin Anming’s bed. The boy was tired from crying. She came out from the room,and helped Qin Anming back to his bed to lie down.

After coaxing Zhuang Zhuang, Xiaoguo wiped her tears and looked at Qin Anming.

“Aren’t you going to tell me the truth now?”

Looking at his sister’s red eyes, he felt very uncomfortable. A conflicted look appeared in his eyes.

After a while, he exhaled heavily and told her the truth.

There was no more food at home. In order to ensure that their daughter would not suffer, Mr. and Mrs. Qin married her off to Jiang Danhe from Peach Blossom Village. This was because they had heard that the Jiang family used to be wealthy. Although they had fallen into decline, a scrawny camel was still bigger than a horse¹. No matter what, she would never starve. She would be better off with the Jiang family than staying with them. Therefore, they did not seek Qin Xiaoguo’s opinion about the marriage and just married her off to Jiang Danhe.