The auntie smiled and took the copper coin, then said, "Oh dear, young lady, you don't know this, but this lady inside is the wife of Wu Xiu'e's second son."

But just a few days ago, she kicked Wu Xiue out and her eldest and second sons, and then took over the house.

Wu Xiu'e, her two sons, and her grandson are living in a thatched hut at the foot of the mountain. Do you need me to take you there, young lady?"

With those two copper coins, the aunt became much more enthusiastic and even offered to take Song Zhili and the others over.

Hu Cuicui had squeezed through earlier, and upon hearing the aunt's words, she immediately replied, "Let's go, please take us there now."

After nodding, the aunt glanced at Hu Cuicui and Song Zhili again, a question rising in her mind. The more she looked at Hu Cuicui, the more familiar she felt, but she couldn't remember her for a moment.

Seeing that the aunt had agreed, Hu Cuicui didn't climb back onto the oxcart. Instead, she walked with the aunt to the foot of the mountain.

"Look, that's Wu Xiue's house. They live there now. What are you to Wu Xiue?"

The aunt pointed to two thatched huts at the foot of the mountain. Then, she became very curious and, driven by her gossip, she wanted to ask Hu Cuicui and the others what they had come to see Wu Xiue for.

"Thank you, young lady. I am Wu Xiu'e's daughter. Okay, I won't say any more. Let's go now."

Hu Cuicui had no interest in continuing her conversation with the aunt; instead, she hurried anxiously toward the two thatched huts at the foot of the mountain.

Song Zidong also drove the oxcart behind Hu Cuicui and drove past.

When the aunt heard Hu Cuicui say that she was Wu Xiue's daughter, she was so surprised that she stood there for a long time before she recovered.

After standing there for a while, she finally came to her senses and then ran quickly back the way she came.

Hu Cuicui and her companions arrived at the two thatched huts. The doors of the huts were open, and she glanced inside. There were only a few children squatting on the ground playing in the dirt in the yard.

She stepped forward and gently knocked on the door. The children in the yard heard the commotion outside and saw Hu Cuicui; their eyes were filled with fear.

The children huddled together, instinctively backing away.

Seeing this, Hu Cuicui was filled with doubt. What was going on? These children had all grown up. Did they not recognize her and that was why they were afraid of her?

Hu Cuicui recognized one of the slightly older children and waved to him, "Wu Chao, it's your auntie! Don't you recognize me? Don't be afraid, come to your auntie, I'll get you something delicious."

This child named Hu Chao is the eldest son of Hu Zhengqing, the eldest son of Wu Xiue. The last time Hu Cuicui saw him, he was only about five or six years old. Hu Cuicui couldn't be sure if he had any memory of her at all.

Upon hearing what Hu Cuicui said, Hu Chao carefully examined her, then cautiously walked towards her and whispered in front of her, "What do you mean?"

"Auntie, are you really my auntie?"

He remembered having an aunt when he was little, but she rarely came back, and he couldn't remember what she looked like.

"Yes, Chao'er, you've grown so much. Come here, Auntie has some melon seeds here. Take them to your younger siblings."

Hu Cuicui affectionately patted Hu Chao's head, then turned around and grabbed a handful of melon seeds from the oxcart, stuffing them into his hand.

Hu Chao was flattered to see the melon seeds in his hand. "Thank you, Auntie," he said to Hu Cuicui, then turned and ran back with the melon seeds to distribute to the other children in the yard.

Song Zidong glanced at the two thatched huts and saw that there was nowhere to park the oxcart, so he had to get off and park the oxcart in an open space.

Then he and Song Dashan and the others unloaded everything from the oxcart.

Song Zhili and the others were also busy, helping to unload the things from the oxcart. Hu Chao distributed the melon seeds to his younger siblings, and he thoughtfully ran out to help Hu Cuicui and the others carry things.

They unloaded everything from the oxcart and carried it into the courtyard, where Song Zhili then began to look around at the house they were staying in.

The house they lived in was extremely simple, even worse than the house Song Zhili had lived in before.

Then her gaze fell on the children in the yard. There were four children standing in the yard: three boys and a little girl.

Song Zhili noticed that their clothes were all patched up, and their straw sandals were so worn that their toes were sticking out.

The weather isn't too cold yet, but if it gets colder in another month or two, their toes will definitely get frostbite.

When the children saw her looking at them, the younger ones hid behind the older children in fear.

Seeing that the children were somewhat afraid of her, she felt a little helpless. She pulled Song Qiqi over and waved to the two younger children.

“Come here, her name is Song Qiqi, she’s about your age, come and play with her.”

"Yes, yes, let's play together. I saw you squatting in the yard just now, what were you playing?"

Song Qiqi also spoke warmly to the children.

When the two children heard what Song Qiqi said, they really wanted to play with her, but when they saw the clean clothes Song Qiqi was wearing...

“We were just playing in the mud in the yard. Your clothes are so clean and pretty, we shouldn’t get them dirty.”

The child speaking was a boy standing next to Hu Chao, a head shorter than him. This child was Hu Chao's younger brother, Hu Li.

Just as Song Zhili was about to speak, Song Qiqi interrupted her, stepping forward and taking Hu Li's hand. "Little brother, it's alright. My clothes are fine. I'll play with you. Oh, by the way, my aunt bought you some fun toys. I'll go get them for you now."

As Song Qiqi spoke, she ran to the back to rummage around. Soon she took out the little toys that Song Zhili had bought for them and distributed them to the children in the yard.

Song Qiqi was about the same age as the other children, and they quickly became friends. Song Ziming also joined them in playing.

Only Hu Chao was sensible enough to bring out a few small stools from inside the house for Hu Cuicui and Song Zhili to sit down.

"Child, why are only a few of you in the house? Where are your parents? Where did they go?"

As soon as Hu Cuicui sat down, she couldn't wait to ask about Wu Xiue's situation.

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