A lucky little peasant girl is reborn and brings prosperity to her entire family.

Song Yueping returned near dusk, all smiles, occasionally letting out a silly grin.

Tian Denghua whispered to Song Yanyan, "Judging from your second brother's pathetic state, he's definitely been thoroughly manipulated by someone."

Song Yanyan stopped Song Yueping in the courtyard and looked him up and down: "Second brother, why are you only coming back now?"

Song Yueping then remembered something and chuckled foolishly: "Oh, I'll take Sister Cuihong back to Shuiwanggou first. It's dark and the road is slippery."

Song Yanyan looked at Song Yueping's worthless appearance. It was dark and the road was slippery, so you took her back to Shuiwanggou. Why didn't anyone think that it would be even darker and the road would be slipperier when you came back?

Song Yanyan pouted.

Song Yueping remembered something else, reached into her bosom, and pulled out something wrapped in oil paper.

"Yanyan, here you go." Song Yueping handed it to Song Yanyan.

Song Yanyan was somewhat surprised that her love-struck second brother could still think of her while he was out at the market with another girl.

Song Yanyan curiously took the oil paper package, opened it, and found a large piece of maltose, a pale yellow color that looked very tempting.

Tian Denghua caught a glimpse of this from the side, and her anger subsided somewhat.

At least her silly son still knows to care about his family.

Song Yanyan exclaimed in surprise, "This must have cost a lot of money! Second Brother, you're so good to me!"

Song Yueping ruffled Song Yanyan's hair: "What are you talking about? It's only natural for your second brother to spend money on you."

Song Yanyan happily broke off a piece of maltose and fed it to Song Yueping. Song Yueping did not refuse, put the maltose in her mouth, and smiled, "It's so sweet."

Song Yanyan broke off another piece and happily fed it to Tian Denghua, who was standing next to her.

Looking at her daughter, who was all smiles with a single piece of candy from her second brother, and then at her second son grinning foolishly beside her, Tian Denghua felt a surge of anger welling up inside her, but she couldn't vent it anymore.

The sweetness in my mouth seemed to extend all the way to my heart.

After watching her second son grinning foolishly for a while, Tian Denghua's mindset calmed down considerably.

"Do you really like that girl surnamed Zhai?" Tian Denghua asked Song Yueping with a sidelong glance.

Song Yueping blushed and nodded.

What else could Tian Denghua do? She sighed.

Although she didn't find the Zhai girl appealing, her son liked her, and besides, the Zhai girl didn't have any major flaws in her character... so she decided to leave it at that.

Tian Denghua pondered, "...After the New Year, I'll have someone come to your door to propose marriage. Once we've reached an agreement and gone through the formalities, the wheat in the fields should be ripe by then. This year's snow is so thick; they say a good snow promises a bumper harvest, so next year's harvest should be good. If we sell some more wheat, we should be able to raise enough money for your wedding."

After Tian Denghua put it this way, Song Yueping's smile almost reached the sky.

"Mom! I'll go to the county again in the next few days to see if there are any places where I can do odd jobs! I'll earn more money!" Song Yueping said with a silly smile.

Tian Denghua chuckled, didn't reply, and turned to urge Song Yanyan, "Alright, stop standing there like an idiot, hurry up and go inside. It's freezing cold, if you get sick, your old mother will have to pay for your medicine!"

Song Yanyan said "Oh" and obediently followed Tian Denghua into the house.

The room was warm and cozy, with a heated kang bed burning inside. As soon as you lifted the curtain and went in, the heat hit your face.

Amidst the rising steam, Song Yanyan appeared preoccupied.

She dreamed that her second brother and that girl Zhai from Shuiwanggou almost got together, but... later, Zhai Cuihong's younger brother and another young man both fell for the same girl, and their jealousy and rivalry eventually escalated into a fight.

Normally, fights don't involve bullying women, but Zhai Cuihong, relying on the number of people on her side, went over and started tearing at them. The other side didn't tolerate Zhai Cuihong and swung a big stick at her, beating her directly.

Song Yueping, who had been trying to calm Zhai Cuihong down, couldn't stand it any longer when he saw the big stick coming down and stepped in to block it.

Song Yueping took the blow for Zhai Cuihong and rolled down the mountain path, breaking her leg.

The person who assaulted the man realized things were going badly and fled that very night.

When the Zhai family saw that Song Yueping's leg was broken, their attitude immediately changed, and they refused to acknowledge the marriage that the two families were about to finalize.

Zhai Cuihong said that she hadn't begged Song Yueping to step in; it was Song Yueping's own choice.

Enraged, Tian Denghua grabbed a stick and smashed the Zhai family's house to pieces.

But no matter what, it's all for naught to bring Song Yueping's legs back.

During that time, Song Yueping broke a leg and was abandoned. Lying on the kang (a heated brick bed), she was utterly heartbroken and almost didn't want to live anymore.

Later, Zhai Cuihong's brother met Song Yanyan by chance and changed his mind, saying that if Song Yueping wanted to marry Zhai Cuihong, that would be fine too. The two families could exchange marriages, and Song Yanyan could marry Zhai Cuihong's brother.

Zhai Cuihong was initially unwilling, but after being severely beaten by her own mother, she reluctantly agreed.

They acted as if the Song family had gotten a great deal.

After a long period of depression, Song Yueping struggled to sit up on the kang (a heated brick bed), his body trembling violently. For the first time, he roared at Zhai Cuihong without any politeness, telling her to get out! Get far away from her! He would never allow his younger sister to marry Zhai Cuihong's brother, and he did not want to have anything to do with Zhai Cuihong again!

Thinking of this, Song Yanyan's face couldn't help but tighten.

How should she tell her mother?

Continuing with the dream, she told her mother not to propose marriage to her second brother?

But the crux of the matter is not whether her mother proposes marriage or not.

The bottom line is that it all boils down to her brother's love-struck mind!

Song Yanyan sighed again.

On the surface, all she had to do was stop her brother from helping the Zhai family fight in the village brawl, but in reality, what she wanted to change was the way her second brother's eyes were blinded by love.

For example, a few days ago, when the Zhai family made her second brother sleep in the woodshed, Song Yanyan pointed out that Zhai Cuihong didn't care about her second brother at all, and Song Yueping was depressed for a while.

But later, he perked up again and even took Zhai Cuihong to the market to buy things!

Isn't this just another case of being appeased again?

Well, it’s hard to comment.

Song Yanyan felt that she had a long way to go and a heavy responsibility to shoulder!

As the days go by and the cold wind howls, the New Year draws ever closer.

When Song Yanyan and her older brother Song Risheng went to the county school to pick up Song Xingming for his winter vacation (i.e., the ancient winter vacation), they heard about something.

Someone from higher up came to investigate corruption in the county government, which implicated many officials in the government.

Even outside the county school, there were soldiers coming and going, which was quite unsettling.

Under that solemn atmosphere, most people didn't dare to utter a sound. They basically picked up their own children and left, unwilling to get involved in anything.

Song Risheng and Song Yanyan did the same, avoiding the soldiers and officers.

The gatekeeper still remembered Song Yanyan, and greeted her cheerfully when he saw her.

Song Yanyan smiled sweetly at the gatekeeper: "Hello, Grandpa!" She took out a handful of roasted chestnuts from her bosom and handed them to the gatekeeper. "These were roasted by my mother. They're delicious. Grandpa, you should try some too."

The gatekeeper was all smiles, he was so happy.

Women were generally not allowed to enter the county school, but since it was currently a holiday, many sons from wealthier families had servants going in to help with preparations. The gatekeeper secretly opened the side door and gave Song Yanyan a wink, indicating that she could go in directly.

Song Yanyan smiled sweetly and waved, "Thank you, Grandpa!"

Song Risheng rolled up Song Xingming's bedding and clothes together and tied them tightly into a bundle. Song Risheng was extremely strong and easily carried the bundle of luggage on his back, without letting Song Xingming lift a finger.

Song Yanyan broke off a piece of the malt candy that Song Yueping had bought for her and stuffed it into Song Xingming's mouth—she hadn't been willing to finish it and had specially saved it for her third brother.

The three siblings had just left the monastery when they heard a commotion outside.