After transmigrating, he supported his family by working at a garbage dump.

Due to the severity of their injuries, even with the help of the red bead, Wang Dashan and the other man did not wake up so quickly.

When Xu Zhuzhu arrived home, Zhang He was still waiting with the light on. Her brother was already asleep, nestled in the blankets, his little face flushed from sleep.

Zhang He asked Xu Wenjie why he hadn't returned.

Xu Zhuzhu told her mother everything that had happened at Wang Dashan's house, and also helped her father explain: "Father promised Sister Zhuxiang that he would help keep watch, and he won't be back until tomorrow."

After hearing this, Zhang He nodded and said nothing more, but she kept thinking about it all night, which prevented her from sleeping well.

I got up early in the morning, before dawn, and cooked a pot of porridge, adding lots of carrots and greens.

To everyone's surprise, Xu Wenjie stayed up all night and didn't return until dawn.

When he returned, his eyes were red and swollen, bloodshot, with dark circles under his eyes. He looked exhausted and haggard, clearly having not slept well all night.

Zhang He was startled. She had stayed up all night before fleeing the war, but she had never seen her husband so haggard.

Zhang He felt extremely distressed and quickly ladled out a bowl of the white porridge she had cooked early in the morning, urging Xu Wenjie to eat it while it was still hot before urging him to go and rest.

Xu Wenjie himself didn't feel that he was particularly tired.

He managed to get through it, though his eyes were terribly dry. He really couldn't fall asleep right away.

Xu An casually sat by the fire pit, flipping through the book he was reading, occasionally staring blankly at the healed wound on his hand.

It was at this moment that he suddenly realized he hadn't seen the two children since he returned, and asked curiously, "They usually sleep until noon, why haven't we seen them today? Where did they go?"

Speaking of this, Zhang He felt somewhat helpless.

"Yesterday, An'an and Xiao Mo went to Uncle Deng's house together, right? It just so happened that Uncle Deng had run out of bamboo, so Tuan Yuan said he wanted to help cut some. As a result, the two kids insisted on going too. They even told me about it when they came back last night!"

“I was worried that Uncle Deng would be difficult to take care of, so I didn’t let him go. Who knew that An’an would sneak out early in the morning when I wasn’t paying attention? When Zhu Zhu heard the noise, she also made a fuss about going. When I chased her to the door, I saw Uncle Deng leading Xiao Mo and Tuan Yuan over.”

Zhang He took a breath.

"...They said it was right at the foot of the mountain behind us. The snow has been melting quickly these past two days, and it doesn't seem far to me. With Uncle Deng watching over things and Zhuzhu following along, I wasn't worried about anything happening, so I let them go. Husband, peek over the gate and look towards the mountain. You can still see Zhuzhu's pink cotton-padded jacket!"

She smiled and waved, pointing outside the courtyard as if Xu Zhuzhu and Xu An were right in front of her.

Xu Wenjie glanced in the direction she pointed, but didn't seem worried.

On the contrary, he was very happy. It was best that his two children could find playmates here. They wouldn't have to stay at home all day or run around with him and his wife, losing all their childhood fun.

Seeing that her husband showed no sign of wanting to sleep, Zhang He brought up the matter of Wang Dashan and asked Xu Wenjie what he thought.

When this matter was mentioned, Xu Wenjie's eyes dimmed again. His lips twitched, and after a long while, he said in a hoarse voice, "We'll help as much as we can. We can't help with other things even if we wanted to."

Seeing that her husband was troubled, Zhang He wanted to help him break it off, but Xu Wenjie refused to say anything more, so she was at a loss.

She then said something else to distract Xu Wenjie: "Zhuzhu talked in her sleep last night, muttering that she wanted to eat rice noodles, and her drool covered half of her pillow. This morning she also said that she hadn't seen Grandma Mi in a long time and asked us when we would go to town again."

When talking about his children, Xu Wenjie's eyes are always full of love.

"Market day is in a couple of days. We won't be doing business, but we'll take the two kids out for a stroll and visit Grandma Mi and Grandpa Mi..."

Without thinking, he blurted it out.

Seeing her husband smile, Zhang He naturally didn't refute him, and continued the conversation: "Go see Mr. Wu again. Usually you're busy with business and don't have time to talk to him. It's rare to find someone you can chat with."

Xu Wenjie gave a soft "hmm".

The couple talked for a while longer, and Xu Wenjie felt much more relaxed.

People get sleepy as soon as they relax. Just look at Xu Wenjie, who was talking one second and then squinted and propped his head up as if he was dozing off the next.

Seeing this, Zhang He urged Xu Wenjie to go and rest.

This time, Xu Wenjie didn't refuse. He took off his clothes and lay on the bed for only a moment before snoring began.

Zhang He covered her mouth and laughed. Xu Wenjie was always a proper sleeper and never acted out of character, but today he was snoring.

Thinking this, she couldn't help but feel sorry for Xu Wenjie. She frowned and carefully tucked the blanket around him.

……

Meanwhile, at the foot of the mountain behind Laoya Village, Old Deng and a few others were picking and choosing among the small, dense bamboo groves near the roadside, but they dared not cut down the large bamboo groves on the mountain.

Deng Tuanyuan followed behind Old Man Deng to help, and Xu Zhuzhu and her brother also wanted to join in.

Xu Zhuzhu was carried back by Grandpa Deng, who said with a smile, "Just sit there and play. Don't move around too much. Be a family and watch over your younger siblings."

Deng Tuanyuan nodded, but his hands continued to tidy up the bamboo with great efficiency, which impressed Xu Zhuzhu.

I feel ashamed of myself. I'm in my mid-twenties, yet I'm not as diligent as a seven-year-old. I seem to be slacking off far too much.

But then I thought, it's only been three years, what's the rush?

At this moment, she noticed that Li Xiaomo did not join them, but instead carried the small hoe that he had brought with him from the beginning.

He climbed up to a flat area on the hillside, and soon squatted down to take a stick and poked around the bamboo.

Finally, he stopped at the edge of a slightly raised mound of earth, chuckled, and started digging.

Half a day later, as if he had unearthed some treasure, he laughed loudly and called out to Xu An.

"Little brother An'an, come quick! I've found him."

Xu An ran a few steps and climbed up, while Li Xiaomo, full of pride, pointed to the things in the pit.

He looked like he was saying, "See, I wasn't lying to you."

“Little brother An’an, do you see? Winter comes too.”

Xu An smiled somewhat embarrassedly, scratched his head, and continued to carefully observe the little sharp teeth emerging from the soil: "There are indeed some, I lost."

"what?"

Xu Zhuzhu watched the two people on the slope, engrossed in their own worlds and not answering her. This only fueled her curiosity. She hurriedly started to climb up, asking as she went, "Brother, what did you find?"

Unfortunately, she was bundled up very thickly by her mother today, and being short with short arms and legs, she stepped into the soft mud after only a couple of steps. Just as she was about to slip and fall backward, she quickly grabbed something in front of her.

Unexpectedly, she only managed to grab a blade of grass, which was not sturdy enough to support her weight, and was uprooted in an instant.

Xu Zhuzhu's mind went blank for a moment, and only two words remained.

It’s over.

I'm going to get scolded by her mother when I get home.

Just as she was about to resign herself to her fate and fall to the ground, someone suddenly supported her from behind, and with the help of this support, she managed to stand up.

Xu Zhuzhu calmed herself down and breathed a long sigh of relief. When she turned around, she saw that Deng Tuanyuan, though looking worried, was steadily supporting her lower back with his hands, or rather, her cotton-padded coat.

"Brother Reunion".

Just as she was about to express her gratitude, Deng Tuanyuan frowned and scolded her with a mature expression, "Zhuzhu, be careful. Falling here is no laughing matter."

After saying that, he looked at the two Xu Ans on the slope and helped Xu Zhuzhu up.

"Brother, help me up."

Xu Zhuzhu stretched out her hand and called out to Xu An on the slope. Xu An then realized what was happening and quickly pulled Xu Zhuzhu up. "Why did you come up here, little sister? Just sit down there. I'll be right down."

Who told you to ignore me?

Xu Zhuzhu pouted, clearly dissatisfied. "Brother, you answered me again. I have no choice but to climb up myself."

They excitedly asked what they had found.

Li Xiaomo carried a hoe, his face covered in mud, but he smiled brightly. He explained, "Yesterday, my little brother An'an said there were no bamboo shoots in winter. I said there were, so I came today to dig some up for him. Look, that's a bamboo shoot."

So that's why his brother insisted on sneaking out early in the morning?

Indeed, Xu Zhuzhu knew about winter bamboo shoots.

Xu An lowered his head with some shame. "I've never seen it before, now I know."

Li Xiaomo patted him on the shoulder and said boldly, "What's the big deal? There are plenty of things I haven't seen before. You're from the city, so naturally you wouldn't know these things."

At this moment, Xu Zhuzhu actually thought Li Xiaomo was quite a nice person. "Brother Xiaomo, how did you know that place could be dug up as bamboo shoots?"

“My uncle taught me, but he went to war and I haven’t seen him for several years.”

The boy's voice was filled with sadness.

Xu Zhuzhu fell silent.