The aroma of cooking filled the house: I sent my eldest brother to become the Grand Secretary.

"What?" Mr. and Mrs. Shen did not hear Shen Cao's words clearly.

Shen Cao had no choice but to explain that she thought she could sign it herself, but it turned out that an adult's signature was required.

"Hahaha!" They rarely saw frustration on Shen Cao's face, and were immediately amused by her little expression.

"You always say Qing'er and Wan'er are children, but now you know, you're a child yourself!" Mother Shen said, her voice trembling with emotion. Indeed, ever since Shen Cao fell and woke up, she has become very sensible, taking care of everything at home. Even cooking, which she used to dislike, she has taken on all the responsibilities since then, leaving her to only occasionally lend a hand.

Sometimes she felt disoriented, as if she were the child who needed to be taken care of, and Cao'er was the adult who was in charge.

Shen Cao knew her mother felt sorry for her, but she had long since changed her soul. In her previous life, she was already over thirty years old, which would be enough for her to be a grandmother in this era.

But she was still moved by her mother's words.

"Dad, Mom, these are things I enjoy doing, and I do them voluntarily. You don't need to feel indebted to me."

To convince them, Shen Cao nodded solemnly. "Really, you don't need to feel guilty. I'm happy to share the burden with our family."

Shen's mother patted Shen Cao's head, "I know you're a sensible child."

"You can leave the house-buying process to your dad. You've forgotten, the house we live in now was bought by your dad from the village chief back then."

Oh right, Shen Cao actually forgot about this.

"However, just in case, we should still go to the school to call Chen'er. If we move to the county town in the future, Chen'er can come home to live."

"Chen'er is a sensible child. He never worries us. Knowing that the family is short of money, he never asks for more. He hasn't been home for almost a month. I wonder how he is doing at school."

At the same time, a slender but handsome man in school clothes, who was reading a book in Xin'an School, sneezed. He was Shen Cao's older brother, Shen Chen.

Shen Chen can be said to be the most diligent and intelligent student in the entire Xin'an Academy.

He always ranked first in every assessment.

The teachers at the school felt sorry for this child. His family was not well-off, and he only ate a little food each day, just enough to sustain his basic needs. Several times, the teachers heard his stomach growling during class. However, this child was very smart and hardworking. Given time, he would surely achieve great things, but only if his family had the money to support his continued education.

The top students in the school were unwilling to be friends with someone from a poor family like him.

Those from well-off families were even less willing to associate with such a poor, pedantic scholar.

Therefore, Shen Chen had no friends in the entire school. He spent all his free time reading, and he had already read most of the books in the school's library.

He knew his family was very poor, and his education was his only path to education. His family had already sacrificed so much to support his studies, and he didn't want to add any more burden to them.

However, he wasn't sure how many more years his family could afford to send him to school, so whenever he had time, he would study as hard as he could, and he would look at books whenever he had the chance, for fear that one day he would not be able to continue his studies.

“When Chen’er came back last time, I noticed he had lost a lot of weight. He must be trying to save money by only eating one meal a day,” Shen’s mother said with some concern.

This was the first time Shen Cao had heard about her older brother from her parents since she transmigrated, and she asked in confusion, "Mother, is my brother not getting enough to eat at school?"

"Alas, my family is poor. After paying tuition, there's hardly any money left in the house."

“Your brother always says he has a small appetite and can’t eat much. He only needs sixty coins a month for food. He spends more on things like paper and pens, so he gets two hundred coins a month. But your brother spends most of it on books, so he probably doesn’t have much left for food.”

"Then let's go see our brother tomorrow. Now that we have money, we should let him put aside his worries and eat well. Otherwise, if he collapses from exhaustion, it will be too late." Shen Cao felt sorry for her older brother. He must know the family's situation best. He has placed all the family's hopes on her, studying hard without caring about his own health. Sooner or later, something terrible will happen.

“Perfect timing. I’ll cook something nice tomorrow and bring some to my brother. I still have a lot of money left over, so I’ll give it to him then.”

Upon hearing that it concerned their elder brother, Shen Qing and Shen Wan, who hadn't seen him in a long time and missed him dearly, immediately said anxiously, "I'll go tomorrow too," and "Me too."

Mr. and Mrs. Shen also felt very sorry for their eldest son. He was the most sensible child in the family and the one who would never complain. They had been busy with Shen Cao's affairs lately and had neglected their eldest son.

"Okay, then we'll all go see our eldest brother tomorrow."

"it is good."

Shen Cao thought about the beef sauce she had made before in the refrigerator in her storage space, so she went to the kitchen, washed a few jars, and decided to pack a jar of beef sauce for her brother to take tomorrow. She would just say it was pork, since her brother rarely eats meat and definitely wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

The next morning, Shen Cao got up early. Although she didn't need to sell vegetable dumplings today, she was going to visit her older brother and wanted to make some for him to try.

Because she was making it for her older brother, she put in a lot of meat. She used up all of the more than one pound of meat she bought. After thinking about it, she made some more dough and planned to make a few meat buns for her brother to try. Since it wasn't hot today, she figured they could keep for a few days.

By the time everything was ready, it was almost noon, and the family headed towards the county town with their bags and packages.

"Shen Chen, your family is here and waiting for you at the door."

Shen Chen was reading a book. It was almost noon, and he was completely out of money for food. He only had three coins left, and there were still five days until the next holiday. He had already eaten breakfast, so everyone else went to eat, while he stayed in his room reading.

He was starving and was reciting "When Heaven is about to place a great responsibility on a person, it will first test their will and determination..." to numb himself when he heard someone say that someone had come to his house.

Fearing something might have happened at home, he ran all the way to the door.

"Dad, Mom, why are you here?"

"Brother, we're here for you too." Shen Qing ran up to his older brother and waved.

Shen Cao looked at her older brother. He had inherited the good looks that the Shen family had always had. However, even though she had heard from her parents that her older brother had lost weight, she did not expect him to be this thin. His school clothes were so loose that they looked like a child wearing adult clothes.

Although she was thin, her eyes were bright and full of hope.

Shen Chen turned around and looked at his younger brother and sister. It had been almost a month since he last saw them. They had gained weight and grown taller. He smiled with satisfaction.

Shen's parents did not tell their son, Shen Cao, about his injury, for fear that he would worry.

Shen Chen reached out, intending to greet his younger siblings, but he had been running too fast and hadn't eaten enough, so his vision went black and he fainted.

"Chen'er!"

"Big brother!"

Caught off guard, the group reached out to catch Shen Chen as he was about to fall.