The little Fubao in the deserted village made all the dignitaries in the court go crazy with envy

"Cough, cough..." Seeing the children approaching, Old Man Lin turned his head and coughed twice, trying to suppress the itching in his throat before turning his head back, his eyes glued to the faces of the three children, happy and concerned, "Song'er, Bai'er, Xiangbao... why did you get in?"

"Grandpa, my name is Baixiang, not Xiangbao." Baixiang blinked and Nunuo corrected.

Old man Lin smiled and said in a gentle voice, "Grandpa knows that our daughter's name is Baixiang. Grandpa calls you Xiangbao because little Baixiang is a child as precious as a treasure in Grandpa's eyes."

The two brothers of the Lin family were unwilling to be left out, and rushed to interrupt, "Grandpa, I want to be a treasure too! I am Songbao!"

"I'm Birbao! Birbao!"

"Okay, okay, you three are all treasures of our family... cough..."

Bai Xiang stared quietly at the smiling old man and put her small hand on his chest, which felt warm and comfortable. She liked this feeling.

Is she... a child as precious as a treasure?

"Okay, you two naughty boys, take your sister out to play. You can't stay here with grandpa for long, otherwise your grandma will scold you... She scolds very fiercely." After a while, old man Lin started to drive them away.

The itch in his throat became stronger and stronger, and he could hardly bear it any longer.

The children are all young, and we can’t let them stay here for too long, lest they catch the disease.

The brothers Lin Huaisong and Lin Huaibai were indeed afraid of being scolded by their grandma, so they reluctantly pulled Bai Xiang and prepared to sneak back to the main room.

Bai Xiang avoided their hands and moved closer to the old man. He stood on tiptoe and stretched out his little hand to touch the old man's neck gently. "Grandpa, does it hurt?"

The child's little finger still had the warmth from the simmered eggs, and it felt soft when it touched her neck. That little bit of warmth seemed to spread from her neck all the way to her heart. Old Man Lin was stunned for a moment, then smiled unconsciously, looking at his daughter with a softer look, "Grandpa, it doesn't hurt, it doesn't hurt."

"You'll be fine." The child stared at him with his bright eyes, and when he said this, he looked so serious, as if he was making some kind of promise.

This made Old Man Lin smile even more, and he responded, "Grandpa will be fine. When he is better, bring Xiangbao to play with the brothers."

After watching the children tiptoe out of the room and the door open and close, Old Man Lin withdrew his reluctant gaze.

He didn't know if it was an illusion, but after Xiang Bao touched his throat, the itchiness that he could hardly suppress just now actually subsided. Even the stuffiness that had accumulated in his chest for years dissipated a lot, and his breathing became smoother.

This thought flashed through his mind, and Old Man Lin shook his head and laughed, without thinking much about it.

It must be because the eldest brother and his wife finally had a baby, and Xiangbao was so well-behaved and cute, he was in a very good mood and even his pain seemed to have eased.

The sound of snow sweeping outside stopped.

Lin Jiang put the bamboo broom beside the door of the main room, entered the room and sat down next to the fire. The circle of snow stuck to the edge of his shoes melted immediately when it approached the fire, leaving a circle of water stains on the ground.

He put his hands into his sleeves, his nostrils twitching slightly, "Mom, sister-in-law and sister-in-law, do you smell anything? It smells a bit like herbs, but fresher and better -"

He was interrupted before he could finish his sentence.

Mrs. Lin pointed at the small pottery jar beside the fire, from which steam was emanating. "I'm boiling some medicine for your father. Isn't that the smell of medicine?"

After saying that, she glanced at the youngest, and directly pulled out his right hand from his sleeve, massaging his wrist, her eyelids drooping slightly, "Your face is pale from the pain, why are you still hiding it? If you really want to hide, put your face in your sleeve so that we can't see it."

Lin Jiang, "..."

Seeing her brother-in-law being humiliated, Zhang Cui'e gloated without hesitation, "You got scolded, didn't you? You deserve it. I told you not to listen to your mother. You are so stubborn."

Li Sulan looked at the embarrassed young man, feeling both amused and sad. She took the newly sewn wristband from the sewing basket and handed it to him, "I sewed it with some old cotton. Try it on later."

"Sister-in-law, save the cotton for Bai Xiang to make a coat. She hasn't got any clothes for the cold weather yet..."

"It doesn't matter if I take apart my old coat. The cotton is enough to make a set of winter clothes for the baby."

The wristband is made of gray-blue cloth with fine and smooth stitching, and a thin layer of cotton is inserted in the middle. Although it is not as soft as new cotton, it makes people feel warm.

Lin Jiang looked at his sister-in-law, then at the old woman who was rubbing his wrist. His chest was swelling, his nose felt sore for a moment, and the doubts he had previously had were forgotten.

Time passes quietly in the warmth and tranquility.

It was already afternoon when Lin Dashan and Lin Erhe arrived home. Their faces were covered in dust and both looked unhappy when they entered the house.

Mrs. Lin had just come out after feeding her husband medicine. Seeing the expressions on their faces, she was startled. "What's going on? Are you having trouble registering your child?"

"No, our household registration has been settled. The village chief personally accompanied us on the trip, and the town government didn't make it difficult for us." Lin Dashan walked into the house. He was tall, a nine-foot-tall man, and he gave people a sense of oppression just by standing in the main room. In addition, the three finger-long red scars on the left side of his face and the strange white and blurred eyeballs in his left eye made him even more frightening at first glance.

After he had cooled off a little, he picked up the little girl who was sitting obediently beside the fire and pinched her chubby face affectionately. "Bai Xiang, from now on you are your father and mother's child, a child of our Lin family, and your name is Lin Bai Xiang."

After saying that, he put the child down, took out a palm-sized sugar cake from his arms, divided it into three portions, and gave them to the three children, "Song'er, Bai'er, take your sister to the side to eat cakes and play for a while."

Lin Huaisong and Lin Huaibai took their sister aside without saying a word. This scene seemed very familiar to them.

When adults have something important to say, they always push them aside and don't let them listen.

There are cakes to eat, sugar cakes! Both sides are golden and sprinkled with sesame seeds! I was still thinking about this one!

Eating biscuits is important; children don’t like to listen to adults talking!

"Crack, crack, crack! Sister, eat it quickly! It's delicious!"

"This is the sugar cookie I mentioned. It's sweet and has sugar in it! Crunch!"

It was the first time that Bai Xiang had seen this kind of thing. He held the cake in his hand and looked at it for a long time before he took a big bite.

Joining the team of crunchy sounds, the taste made Bai Xiang open his eyes wide and his pupils sparkled.

good to eat!

So this is what sweetness tastes like!

Brothers Lin Huaisong and Lin Huaibai couldn't stop laughing when they saw her like this. Their sister was so funny. She ate eggs and sugar cakes as if they were tasting them for the first time, as if she had never eaten anything delicious before.

After sending the kids away, Lin Dajiang and Lin Erhe sat down by the fire, brows gloomy, and spoke to the family members who were waiting for them to answer their questions.

"I don't know when the bandits appeared in the north of the mountain. They came down the mountain to rob silver and grain last night and killed six villagers from Dashi Village. A wanted notice was posted at the gate of the government office. Now the people in the town and the surrounding villages are in a panic."

When these words were spoken, all the women in the main room gasped in fear.

Mrs. Lin turned pale and her lips trembled. "Oh my God! How could such a big thing happen?... Six lives! Those beasts killed people without blinking an eye!"

Zhang Cui'e was so frightened that the scissors in her hand fell off, and she still held on to her husband's arm tightly with both hands, "Dad, those bandits haven't been caught yet, right? Don't go to the town recently, and don't go to other villages! It's very cold now, and there's no work to do in the fields, so you should stay at home and stay indoors! Don't go out! If I run into them by accident and something happens, I won't survive, I tell you!"

"What are you talking about? Don't scare the children." Lin Erhe scolded and raised his hand to pat the back of his wife's hand to comfort her.

Li Sulan tightly grasped the embroidery needle, feeling sad.

Common people like them cannot afford to offend the nobles, cannot afford to provoke the bad guys, have to rely on the sky for food, and are as humble as ants, trembling in fear and asking for nothing more than a bowl of porridge and a meal, yet it is still so difficult for them to survive.

What a world this is.