The world is broken, the cubs mend it

"Dad, why did you take the grass home?"

Yuanyuan tilted her head and looked at the bundle of round-leafed grass in his hand, not understanding how it was different from the grass thrown on the ridge of the field.

"This is not grass but wild vegetable. Dry it and make dumplings to eat."

Chen Jiahe saves as much as possible and brings home everything edible. Things that don’t cost money are the best.

This wild vegetable with round leaves is called purslane. It tastes great whether it is eaten cold or used as stuffing.

Normally, Chen Jiahe would eat cornmeal porridge alone at night, but looking at his still growing child, he reluctantly made a bowl of noodle dumpling soup.

Once the village chief finds the man’s parents, he will get back everything he has paid for.

Apart from not liking sour food, the child is basically not picky about food and will eat whatever you give him.

I put the bowl on a small stool for her and she squatted beside it and ate slowly, but her eating speed was a little slow.

At night, he boiled some hot water and poured it into a wooden barrel. Chen Jiahe put her next to the barrel and motioned for her to take a bath by herself.

Yuanyuan obediently sat cross-legged in the wooden barrel and looked at him.

"Wash yourself."

Chen Jiahe is not good at serving others, and there are many things he cannot think of.

"it is good…"

Yuanyuan scooped up some warm water and rubbed it on herself, then watched him go back into the kitchen.

Less than a minute later, the sound of water in the main room stopped. Chen Jiahe felt something was wrong, so he walked out and saw the child sitting cross-legged and playing with his feet.

"Didn't I tell you to take a shower?"

"I'm done!"

Yuanyuan touched her arms and found that they had all been washed with water.

"..."

Chen Jiahe stared at her for a few seconds, then walked over to her side, squatted down and resigned himself to giving her a bath.

He thought he was overthinking it. Children of this age probably wouldn't be able to take a bath by themselves.

Ever since he could remember, he had always taken a bath and dressed himself. He had never experienced what it felt like to be served like this.

In rural areas where conditions are backward, most people use soap beans for bathing. The clothes worn by children are very torn and the fabric feels hard to the touch.

"Are your family members not nice to you?"

Chen Jiahe asked for no reason, then lowered his head and put the clothes on her.

“You’re good to me…”

Yuanyuan was also a little confused by the question. She stared into his eyes for a while before answering.

"I'm asking about your family."

"You're family, Dad!"

"..."

Chen Jiahe wordlessly wrapped her in clothes and carried her to the bedroom.

A child of her age should be able to recognize her family members even if she has a bad memory. Why does it seem like she knows nothing?

Clothes made of this kind of fabric would make the body itchy when sleeping. In the middle of the night, he would always hear the child tossing and turning, with his two little hands touching his neck, seeming to be uncomfortable.

Chen Jiahe lit the kerosene lamp, stood up and helped her take off her shirt, then took out his old jacket and put it on her. Only then did she sleep much more soundly.

The next morning, Wang Mazi from next door came and knocked on the door, asking him if he wanted to go to the market together.

"I heard from others yesterday that the village chief brought a child to you. I want to see where the child is."

"I don't want to go today, you find someone else."

Chen Jiahe felt that there was nothing good to buy and it was a waste of time to go back and forth for a whole day.

At this time, the child ran out of the main room and curiously leaned on the door to look at the people outside.

"Is this the child?" Wang Mazi looked at the little guy's face and clapped his hands, thinking that the two looked quite similar: "Oh! It's fate!"

"What fate? I'll send her away after staying for two days!"

Chen Jiahe is a person who takes things one step at a time and does not fantasize about the future.

This child must have parents to have grown up this big, and he doesn't want to invest too much emotion in them.

"Maybe it's your cub, are you...ah...hehe..."

Wang Mazi's smile was somewhat obscene, implicitly conveying some kind of message to him, perhaps he had done something that he refused to admit.

But it's not bad for a bachelor like him to have a child. Otherwise, he would be so lonely in his old age without even someone to talk to.

"What are you talking about?"

Chen Jiahe was not angry, he just thought he was annoying.

"The clothes this child is wearing are so old that they are no longer usable. Why don't you buy her some new clothes? Don't you have anything else to buy?"

Wang Mazi couldn't see any change in his expression, and was even less sure what he was thinking, so he changed the subject.

"..."

Chen Jiahe turned his eyes to the child. The clothes were indeed very old and unbearable to look at, but what did this have to do with him?

But he inexplicably recalled the scene of the child scratching his body last night, and hesitated for a moment.

I don’t know how long the child will stay with me, and he doesn’t even have any clean clothes.

"Just go and take a look. It doesn't cost any money. Why are you so stingy every day?"

Seeing that he didn't say anything, Wang Mazi walked up and pushed his shoulders twice.

"Dad, where are you going?"

Yuanyuan looked at him curiously with her bright eyes, wondering what place they were talking about.

"Okay, let's go take a look."

Chen Jiahe didn't hear clearly what the child was asking, so he turned and went into the house and didn't come out until a long time later.

The two of them took the child to the town on a tricycle. The mountain road was difficult to travel on and the ride was very bumpy.

After getting off the car, Chen Jiahe felt a little weak in the legs, but the child seemed to be riding in this kind of car for the first time and was very excited along the way.

The town is very lively on market day, with small stalls set up everywhere and the sounds of hawking one after another.

The street was crowded with people. Chen Jiahe held the child in her arms, rolled up her sleeves halfway, and pressed her arms against the cloth covering the child.

After walking for a while, he felt the cloth rubbing against his arms and it was a bit uncomfortable. Looking at the unresponsive child in his arms, he began to wonder if his skin was too tender.

"Don't you feel uncomfortable wearing your clothes?"

"I don't have any other clothes..."

Yuanyuan also felt that the clothes were stiff and ugly, but the house was bare and there was nothing else to wear.

"..."

Chen Jiahe suddenly remembered that when he gave her a bath last night, there were several red marks on her body, which might have been caused by the rubbing of the clothes.

"Hey, what do you think of this dress? I'll buy it for Chunhong."

Wang Mazi's eyes suddenly lit up and he pulled him forward, picked up a light pink floral skirt, gestured and asked him to be his advisor.

He and Chunhong had known each other since childhood, but because he was not good-looking, Chunhong looked down on him at first and got married early.

Last year, Chunhong's husband got divorced, so he wanted to try again, maybe there was still a chance.

“Isn’t it too bright?”

Chen Jiahe glanced at the stall in the distance, which was selling clothes and pants for children.

"What do you know?"

Wang Mazi thought that this color would definitely look good on Chunhong, so he took it to bargain with the owner of the stall, without realizing that the person next to him had left.