Cheng Ying almost choked on a mouthful of blood. No wonder the young man looked so shy and bashful.

How could Cheng Ying have forgotten the subtlety of people in this era? They often conveyed emotion without saying a word, usually just through their eyes.

Those who understood, understood; those who didn't, well, things remained misty and indistinct. Oh dear, remembering what she had just said, how much misunderstanding could that cause?

No wonder Cheng Ming was getting anxious. Cheng Ying gasped, "My heavens, what am I to do?

I’m just too used to working around the house!" What she thought was: Please, don't let any gossip spread. Dayue remained silent.

The most pressing issue was that she had argued with Aunt Shenglin, and now she was washing the aunt's son’s lunchboxes. Wasn't that slapping her own face?

Slapping her grandmother’s face, no less. Her grandmother had cursed from one end of the village to the other that very night.

Who knew how Aunt Shenglin would talk about her now? Dayue was a kind soul and worried for Cheng Ying.

Aunt Shenglin’s mouth was notoriously irritating. Cheng Ying looked at Dayue, whose face was full of pity, and knew this situation couldn't end well if not handled properly.

She handed the lunchbox in her hand to Dayue and turned to go back. Reaching the campfire, she put on a smile and immediately took Chi Wu’s lunchbox.

Chi Wu was stunned, then blushed a little too. Cheng Ying raised an eyebrow.

“Give me all your lunchboxes. In this cold, they’ll freeze solid.

Why are you all touching them? Today, Dayue and I will clean them.

Tomorrow, the two of us will do it. We'll take turns getting our hands dirty.” With that, she forcibly took the two little girls' lunchboxes as well.

Chi Wu’s expression normalized. He pursed his lips and said nothing.

Cheng Ming looked across at Cheng Mao and Cheng Dong, raising an eyebrow. “Yingzi is right, saves your hands from freezing.” The small crisis was finally averted.

Cheng Ying thought to herself that living in the village really required constant vigilance. Otherwise, one’s reputation could vanish without even noticing, especially since the villagers were so conservative.

If you said something innocuous, they could easily spin seven or eight different interpretations from it. Truly bothersome.

Cheng Ying’s first day of school yielded one main achievement: she spent the whole day tracing letters in the sand. Her homework that evening was to write ten characters in a notebook.

Cheng Ying mused that this assignment was nothing. Students in the future would have assignments involving two whole test papers; compared to that, this was blissful.

She was already in the second grade, yet the problems were this simple. She could skip school entirely, really.

Furthermore, Cheng Ying was multitasking; during class, she understood the material being taught to the fourth and fifth graders next door. It could only be said that this set of textbooks was very easy to comprehend.

She didn't actually need to study. Cheng Ying thought that once she familiarized herself more, she could just study at home, and never have to walk twenty li every day.

Of course, she still needed to sort things out with her own grandmother; without her agreement, nothing would work. When school let out in the evening, the sun was still high.

The teacher cautioned the children, "Hurry home. Don't dawdle on the way, or it will be dark by the time you arrive." Hearing such words, you immediately knew that not many people lived nearby.

How worrying that was. Cheng Ying walked back looking dejected.

How was she going to manage these twenty li? Her foot had already developed a blister on the way there that morning.

She wondered when she had become so delicate. Chi Wu walked over and picked up Cheng Ying’s schoolbag.

From her gait, he could tell the girl must have a blister on her foot. Cheng Ming frowned, utterly impatient.

“Girls are just useless. I’ll carry you for a bit.” Second Uncle’s son, Cheng Shuan, didn’t talk much, but he echoed Cheng Ming, “If you’re tired, I’ll do it.” So, they planned to take turns carrying her—a relay race.

Chi Wu stood nearby holding several schoolbags. Being smaller, he couldn't carry a person.

Cheng Ying thought that asking him to carry her would be like employing child labor. He might be willing, but she wasn't.

Putting on a sour face, she snapped, “What’s wrong with a girl? A girl doesn’t need you to carry her.

I can walk fine. Hurry up, or it’ll be dark later.” With that, she took the lead and walked off.

Cheng Ming’s face darkened. That troublesome girl.

Always causing trouble. As if I want to carry you!

"If you can't walk, just say so. I can’t be bothered with you," he grumbled.

Though he said that, he kept watching Cheng Ying the whole time. This, after all, was the bond of brothers, of blood relation.

Cheng Tie, the eldest son of the First Uncle, was already in middle school. He took a different route.

So, Cheng Ming was the eldest here, responsible for looking after this group of younger siblings; they had to depend on him. In the village, people were grouped by blood relation; it was a segmented structure, always like this.

Cheng Ying thought about this kind of kinship, this protective affection, which truly made her nose sting. For these children, at this time, people like First Aunt, First Uncle, and Second Aunt could largely be ignored.

‘Blood is thicker than water’—that's what they meant by this kind of kinship. Cheng Ying was lost in thought, and inadvertently stepped on a sharp edge of a stone, nearly twisting her ankle.

Cheng Ming, standing nearby with an impatient look, grabbed her and pulled her up. “You trouble-maker, why are you so annoying?

If you just let me carry you obediently, it would cause so much less trouble!” Cheng Ying felt wronged. Do I want to twist my ankle?

With that, Cheng Ming squatted down, clearly signaling her to hurry up and get on so they could leave. Cheng Ying looked at his not-so-broad back, utterly unwilling to climb on.

It was over twenty li. Besides, she really could walk.

Cheng Shuan urged, “Hurry up, or it’ll be dark, and we’ll leave you for the wolf cubs to eat!” This was just meant to scare her. Cheng Ying knew that if she didn't have a mature mind, she might actually believe the two boys were bullying her.

Heaven knew, these two brothers just wanted to carry their little sister home quickly. Chi Wu chimed in, “What are you dawdling for?

You still have homework when you get back.” Cheng Ying held out her hands, feeling genuinely awkward. Being carried by a boy not much older than herself required a solid mental state.

And it felt somehow like she was being sent off as a bride—wasn't it only when a girl married that her older brother carried her out the door? She felt quite shy, her internal monologue overflowing.

Cheng Ming hoisted Cheng Ying onto his back. “It’s not the first time.

Growing a year older, you really think you’re sensible now.” Cheng Ying remained silent, realizing she had probably been carried to school quite often before. She genuinely wasn't used to this kind of treatment.

Fortunately, they hadn't walked several meters before a bicycle appeared ahead. Seeing her stepfather on the bike at this moment, Cheng Ying felt such relief that she no longer had to be carried by this annoying boy.

She quickly wriggled off Cheng Ming’s back, nearly making him stumble. Cheng Ming snorted in anger, “When Big Brother carried you, you weren’t this restless!” Cheng Ying retorted, “You said it was Big Brother carrying me.” Cheng Ming was so furious his temper flared.

He glared, almost reaching out to hit her. Chi Yong called out, “Yingzi, Mingzi, what are you doing?

Everyone get on the bike, we’re going home.” Cheng Ying took this to mean Chi Wu was getting on the bike with her too, but when they loaded up, it was a severe overload. Cheng Ying and Chi Wu sat on the main crossbar, very cramped.

However, since Cheng Ying sat in the back, Chi Wu blocked the cold wind for her. Cheng Shuan and Cheng Ming rode on the rear rack, and Chi Yong pedaled.

Five people on one bicycle. Cheng Ying thought that if two more got on, they could put on an acrobatics show.

She couldn’t imagine how tired Chi Yong must be pedaling. Chi Yong said, “When the holidays come, you all need to learn how to ride.

Then the four of you can take one bike each, taking turns carrying people. You won’t have to walk to and from school.” Cheng Ming was most enthusiastic hearing this.

“Uncle, you’re willing to let us ride?” Chi Yong replied, “Do you think I enjoy having to pick you all up and drop you off like this every single day?” Cheng Ming agreed immediately, “Fine, I’ll start learning tomorrow morning. I’ll be able to take them to school in a couple of days.” “That would be best,” Chi Yong said.

Cheng Ying thought that at least the crowding would end. But wasn't this a way of winning people over?

Riding back by bike was certainly much faster than walking that morning. When they reached home, the sky was still light.

Her mother had already left. Cheng Ying asked, “Why didn’t Mom stay a couple more days?” The old lady replied, “She went to learn skills; that’s not something you do casually.

Besides, Wuzi’s dad had to take your mother and then come back to pick you all up from school. Your mother is at your maternal grandparents’ place; she’ll leave with your uncle later, so she has company.

Don’t worry, hurry up and do your homework.” Cheng Ying said, “Ten characters? You’re asking me to do homework?

Isn't that making things difficult? I can scribble that out in less than a minute.” With that level of skill, she could go straight to university.

She felt immensely self-assured. Chi Wu set up the low Kang table and very solemnly started his homework on it.

The old lady didn't mind wasting electricity and lit the lamps for the two children, watching them do their work. Cheng Ying finished her assignment astonishingly quickly.

Chi Wu watched her work with envy. The old lady picked up Cheng Ying’s notebook.

“This is done?” Cheng Ying replied, “Mhm, done. Grandma, I’ll go make dinner for you.” With that, she was already off the ground, gathering firewood.

Chi Wu and the old lady stared at Cheng Ying's homework with a sense of bewilderment. Of course, Chi Wu basically worshipped Cheng Ying like a god now; this girl was the best no matter where she was placed.

The old lady, still worried about Chi Wu, took the homework book to show Chi Yong. “Yingzi is done with her homework.” Seeing the penmanship, Chi Yong could only say one thing: “The family lineage shows.

Yingzi must have taken after her maternal uncle.” The handwriting was truly excellent. “Mom, Yingzi’s homework is done very well.

It seems Yingzi isn't struggling with schoolwork; our family’s children are just smart.” The old lady loved hearing this. No one in the village didn't praise Chi Yong’s learning now.

If he said his granddaughter was good, she must be good. The old lady’s eyes lit up with happiness, and she walked away with the notebook, and because she was so pleased, she added an extra half bowl of coarse grain while cooking.

Chi Yong sighed inwardly. His own son was constantly being outshone by his niece in every way.

He wondered how that girl had been brought up. Chi Yong continued with the work in his hands.

These past few days, the production team had been dividing land. Chi Yong had to meticulously compile the newly allotted land into ledgers every day, requiring both precision and familiarity with the villagers.

Chi Yong was applying twelve-tenths of his attention to this. The next day, Cheng Ying expected to suffer through the walk to school again.

Who knew that overnight, the snow was already knee-deep? This meant no school!

Everyone in the village was busy sweeping snow. Sweeping snow in those days even involved clearing the roofs, because the snow was so thick that some roofs couldn't bear the weight.

Many lean-tos had collapsed under the pressure of the snow.