The beloved baby has a space

Chapter 10 Snowy Night
The Wang family would naturally consider the 20 taels of silver they earned from selling snake skins and gallbladders, but they wouldn't really covet it. The family hadn't divided their assets, and the old lady managed all the finances. Having been poor for so long, they didn't feel they should have any money on hand.

“Our family doesn’t have much money. Over the years, we’ve spent a lot of money on medical treatment for our second son and your father, and we owe a lot of favors. I plan to use this money to pay off our debts.”

Old Wang's poverty was not caused by one or two things.

The second son of the Wang family has been paralyzed in bed for almost five years. Old Wang developed a chronic illness when he was young, and started walking with a limp last year. He also suffers from pain from time to time, often sweating profusely and unable to do anything, requiring medication to recover.

Not to mention such a large family, if anyone has a headache or fever, even if it only costs ten or eight coins, it will still be a huge expense.

When there was corvée labor, the three brothers would take turns going. The corvée labor was heavy, and each time they came back they would fall seriously ill and need to recuperate for one or two months to recover.

Over the years, they had not saved any money; instead, they had accumulated a debt of more than ten taels of silver.

It is said that in addition to what is publicly known, the parents also owe a large sum of money, but the exact amount, the creditors, and when the debt will be repaid are unknown.

Their parents didn't tell them, and they didn't dare to ask.

Old Mrs. Wang didn't intend to go into the details with everyone. She only said, "Our family owes more than thirteen taels and eight mace for famine. This is what we owe them. We'll make it fifteen taels, including the principal and interest, and pay them back. Eldest son, your family owes you three taels of silver. You and your eldest son can go and pay it back together next spring. As for the second son's family..."

After explaining everyone's division of labor, Old Mrs. Wang said, "Keep the rest of the money at home, but no one is allowed to think about it. Just pretend it doesn't exist!"

"I know what you're thinking. It's freezing cold, there's absolutely no grain in the fields, and none of your families are well-off, you're probably struggling to make ends meet." Old Mrs. Wang looked at her daughters-in-law, ignoring their expressions, and said sternly, "I don't care what you're thinking, but at this critical juncture, no one is allowed to betray their family! The meat, the grain, even the firewood we have, all belong to the Wang family. Don't even think about taking anything to your parents' home right now! Even if your parents starve to death, you're not allowed to! Otherwise, I'll beat you all to death right here today, do you understand?!"

The second son's wife, Ma, narrowed her eyes. She had actually considered asking her mother-in-law for some meat and grain to secretly send back to her parents' home.

Her family was even poorer than her husband's; her poor mother might have even starved to death.

"I ate..." Little Zhang's mouth was wide open, but before she could finish speaking, she was frightened by Old Mrs. Wang's murderous gaze.

Xiao Zhangshi was the maternal niece of Old Mrs. Wang. Since she shared the same surname as Old Mrs. Wang, everyone called her Xiao Zhangshi.

"You think you're so kind? You think you're so devoted to your own family?!" Old Mrs. Wang looked at her with exasperation, then glanced at Wang Chuanfu, "Eldest son, you tell her why!"

Wang Chuanfu stammered, "Um... Third sister-in-law, when we went out earlier, the villages outside were already eating children. At that time, they weren't short of food yet, and they even asked if there were any children in our village who wanted to exchange food..."

He didn't want to say these things, afraid of scaring people.

At this point, Wang Chuanfu couldn't continue.

The snow was so heavy that everyone was afraid of dying. When that fear reached a certain point, they were willing to do anything.

Zhang's face turned pale instantly.

Cannibalism?!
They dared to eat people even when there was no food shortage. If there really was a severe food shortage, and they knew she brought food to her parents' home, would her family be treated well? Even her husband's family's village, Hujia Village…

Everyone understood this point and dared not have any other thoughts.

Seeing that the daughters-in-law were all frightened, Old Mrs. Wang gave her sons a few more instructions before letting everyone disperse.

In a few days, it will be the Chinese New Year.

The villagers were in a better mood after getting the snake meat and began to make preparations one after another.

They started making multigrain pancakes, glutinous rice balls, and snake meatballs.

Those who had leftover fabric scraps at home would tear the red cloth into strips and hang them on the surrounding tree branches.

Old Master Hu was in a good mood, so he took out some red paper from his stock and wrote a couplet for each household, charging a penny as a token of appreciation.

Everyone put up Spring Festival couplets, and it looked quite festive.

Before you know it, the New Year is just around the corner.

The elders were right. On the 29th day of the Lunar New Year, another heavy snowfall arrived. This snow was heavier than any previous snowfall, and the swirling snowflakes quickly covered the ground.

The snow that had just thawed froze solid again.

The village chief called on the able-bodied men in the village to patrol the village, and told everyone else to stay indoors unless there was a major problem. Families, regardless of age or gender, should all huddle together to keep warm, as long as they didn't have any conflicts.

Little Ayu had already been wrapped up in layers of blankets by her family, huddled under the covers. The little lamb hadn't died for several days, always nestled in Little Ayu's arms, keeping each other warm.

Seeing that it wasn't dying, the family fed it some porridge, just a few bites, which barely kept it afloat.

【Baby, please don't feed it anymore, it's so precious!】 That night, Xiao Ayu felt the little lamb twitching in her arms, so she took some Wanling Water from her space and held it in her hands to give it to drink.

The little lamb twitched its nose, greedily licked it, and then licked Xiao Ayu's palm all over.

Because it was so itchy, Xiao Ayu tried very hard to hold back her laughter, afraid of waking up her family.

In the past two days, Xiao Ayu has fed the lamb water two or three times, and the lamb is getting more and more energetic, struggling more forcefully.

Little Ayu wanted to give water to her mother and the others, but she hadn't found the opportunity yet.

The fairy also said that she must never let her family know where she got it from, or they would be swallowed up.

Little Ayu didn't dare to take it directly.

After drinking the water, the little lamb seemed to have endless strength. It broke free from Xiao Ayu's hand and jumped to the ground.

The bedroom door wasn't a door at all; it was made of completely unusable old cotton wadding and bamboo strips, and the little lamb crawled out from the soft cloth at the bottom.

"Little lamb!" Little Ayu called out anxiously, trying to follow.

[Honey, you're not dressed yet!]

Actually, she was wearing quite a lot of clothes, since the blankets at home weren't warm enough, but she hadn't put on her thickest padded jacket.

It'll freeze to death outside!

Unfortunately, no matter how Tuanzi called out, Xiao Ayu didn't respond; she only felt that the little lamb had disappeared.

Winter nights are very dark, and the Wang family didn't have money for oil lamps, so it was pitch black all around.

Xiao Ayu crawled out of bed, tucked the blankets in, and followed her memory out of the bedroom.

She was going to find the little lamb.

The lamb was her playmate.

"Go back!" Tuanzi paced anxiously in the space.

This little brat is really giving me a headache when he gets stubborn.

Xiao Ayu hurriedly slipped on her shoes and left the bedroom, without being noticed by the sleeping Wang Chuanman and Liu Shi.

She was coaxed by Tuanzi to drink two spoonfuls of Wanling Water every day, and now she is very healthy and has excellent eyesight.

The courtyard was right outside Wang Chuanman's bedroom, and as soon as Xiao Ayu came out, a cold wind blew at her.

Little Ayu trembled, but still resolutely continued walking forward.

Because she vaguely saw the shadow of a lamb.

【I'm really scared of you!】Tuanzi had no choice but to activate the limited energy in the space to make a warm protective shield for Xiao Ayu.

Little Ayu suddenly felt no longer cold, but she had no energy to care about that anymore and just followed the little lamb's footsteps.

The protective shield was burning with loving energy, and Tuanzi was heartbroken. If they didn't use it, the little guy would freeze to death!
Just as Tuanzi was feeling helpless, it suddenly sensed a special kind of energy.

【Huh? What's that?】

[Honey, that's the direction! Hurry, someone needs your help!]

No, no, no, you go back and call the adults—go back—you go back first!

(End of this chapter)