I transmigrated into the villain's white moonlight, but the protagonist is my brother.

This year, Lunar New Year's Eve comes early, and the New Year celebrations begin in mid-January.

Winters in the north are cold, with temperatures dropping to minus seven or eight degrees Celsius. You'll freeze if you go outside for even a short while.

The cold air condensed into water droplets, leaving streaks of water on the window.

Some small business owners whose homes are far away have already closed their shops and returned to their hometowns, but bright red couplets and the character "福" (fortune) have been pasted up on their shop fronts.

Red lanterns hung high on the bare tree trunks lining both sides of the street, and there was a faint smell of cooking fires in the air.

I don't know which mischievous child started setting off firecrackers, but they exploded every now and then.

Xie Yan was woken up by the sound of firecrackers.

She rolled over in pain, pulled the blanket over herself, and tried to ignore the continuous, thunderous sound of firecrackers and go back to sleep.

But the sound was so loud it was like an explosion right next to your ear, impossible to ignore.

I got up and glanced at the small alarm clock on the bedside table; it was not yet 6:30 in the morning.

Xie Yan went berserk, writhing in impotent rage, kicking her legs under the covers.

Not going to work or school and they still won't let us sleep in?! !!!

She was already feeling weak and needed rest, and the sudden sound of artillery fire woke her from her sleep, making her heart pound wildly.

Her eardrums were vibrating in sync with her heartbeat.

Xie Yan got up, sat on the bed, and clutched her chest for a long time to catch her breath.

The room was well-heated, and she sat on the edge of the bed in a thin nightgown, feeling no chill at all.

Next to the alarm clock was a thermos, its lid open, slowly releasing steam.

If Xie Yan had woken up a little later, the water temperature would have been just right.

Behind the rising steam is a plain wooden wardrobe with no patterns. The entire bedroom is sparsely decorated and exceptionally simple.

This is Yang Huiyun's bedroom. Xie Yan and Yang Huiyun have been sleeping together these past few days.

Yang Huiyun was worried about Xie Yan sleeping alone, fearing that she might not be able to find out if something happened in the middle of the night.

But Yang Huiyun was no longer in bed at this time.

***

It was still dark at four or five in the morning when Yang Huiyun got up to prepare hot water for Xie Yan, and then quietly went out the door.

She started selling breakfast on the street, selling ordinary steamed buns and porridge.

She's been so busy taking care of Xie Yan lately that she hasn't had time to run her stir-fried rice cake stall. She cooks for Xie Yan every noon and afternoon, and she wishes she could stay by Xie Yan's side every minute.

However, the surgery required money, and even though part of it could be reimbursed, the amount she had to pay herself still put immense pressure on her.

She needs to earn money to treat her daughter's illness.

So, taking advantage of the few hours before Xie Yan woke up in the morning, Yang Huiyun set up a stall to sell steamed buns.

The coldest time of winter is before the sun comes out; Yang Huiyun's hands are frozen red and her finger bones are stiff.

The wind felt like knives scraping my face, with a slight stinging sensation.

This area is a relatively bustling market in the county town. There are quite a few people who come to stock up on goods during the Spring Festival. There are all kinds of stalls, and Yang Huiyun's steamed buns are selling quite well.

The middle-aged man selling fried dough sticks not far away glanced at Yang Huiyun a few more times, frowning and looking dissatisfied.

"How many days has that woman been selling steamed buns here? Did she pay the stall fee before she started selling?"

The man was clearly resentful of the steamed bun stall that had taken away his business, and was even considering reporting her for allegedly not paying.

The woman next to the man was wearing an apron and serving soy milk to a customer. She glanced back and sighed.

"Don't make things difficult for her, she's also a person with a hard life."

The man was doing business in another city and had only returned for the Chinese New Year. Naturally, he didn't know Yang Huiyun. However, the landlady, who had been doing business in this area for many years, had seen Yang Huiyun a few times.

This person used to sell snacks at the entrance of an elementary school and was very popular. But for some reason, he suddenly stopped selling them and started selling breakfast instead. It turned out that his daughter was sick.

If it were just her daughter who was sick, it would be fine, but the woman doesn't have a husband and her daughter can't be left without someone to take care of her, so she has no choice but to come out and sell steamed buns in a tight spot.

A hard life.

They are pitiful people too.

After hearing what the proprietress said, the man pursed his lips and fell silent.

Business was pretty good today, so Yang Huiyun packed up her stall at eight o'clock. She bought a scallion pancake that Xie Yan liked and hurried home.

I got home at 8:30.

Xie Yan had already gotten up and washed up, and was obediently lying on the bed reading a book.

Yang Huiyun felt a chill and, worried that the scallion pancake in her hand would get cold, urged Xie Yan to eat it quickly.

Xie Yan suddenly jumped off the bed and hugged Yang Huiyun's leg.

She tilted her sickly little face up, gazing at Yang Huiyun with her big, smiling eyes, her nose slightly red.

"Thank you for your hard work, Mom."

The voice was as clear and crisp as ever, and very cute.

For some reason, Yang Huiyun's eyes reddened and she almost burst into tears.

"Mom, you're not tired, go ahead and eat."

She smiled and patted Xie Yan's head, then turned away to wipe her tears.

Xie Yan sat on the edge of the bed, eating a warm scallion pancake with her head down, feeling extremely bitter.

She knew perfectly well why Yang Huiyun was so busy, but Xie Yan knew it all too well, yet she was powerless to change it.

Yang Huiyun couldn't bear to part with her, and neither could she.

Seeing that she was upset, the dog-like system even came out to comfort her: "I promised you I wouldn't redirect you prematurely, don't be sad."

The system has accumulated enough energy; they can leave immediately if Xie Yan gives her her consent.

But Xie Yan disagreed, so the system took a more relaxed approach, waiting for her to go to the operating table according to her own destiny and then automatically returning to the storyline.

Xie Yan lowered her head, too lazy to pay attention to the system.

She didn't want to talk to the AI, which had no humanity whatsoever.

After finishing her scallion pancake, Xie Yan composed herself.

Just then, the phone on the bedside table vibrated.

I picked it up and saw it was a text message.

It was actually sent by Shen Yan.

Xie Yan couldn't help but be a little surprised.

Shen Yan can send text messages now? That's amazing!

He can read now?

Click in and take a look.

[Hello.]

puff.

Amused by the simple content of the text message, Xie Yan couldn't help but laugh.

They have indeed learned to read.

But not many people know it.

However, being able to learn pinyin and typing in just a few days, even if it's just typing the most basic "hello", is already quite impressive.

After thinking for a moment, Xie Yan replied with a simple "Hello".

She was afraid that if she replied with something else, Shen Yan wouldn't be able to read.

Soon, the other end of the line called.

The sound from the receiver was a bit distorted, but the clear, cool voice was still easy to recognize.

"Xie Yan, are you up yet?"

"Of course I'm up, otherwise how would I reply to your message?"

"Oh, I'm up too."

A calm voice spouting useless nonsense—this has been Shen Yan's daily routine these past few days.

He doesn't call Xie Yan every day, and the frequency is not high.

But when they do manage to get through on the phone, the conversations are usually rather mundane.

Shen Yan had never had any friends in his previous years, and the concept of "friend" was actually unfamiliar to him.

Xie Yan was his first friend.

Although she was sometimes unreliable and didn't keep her promises, she was truly his first friend.

Shen Yan noticed that the other people around her always gathered in groups and always had so much to say, so she wanted to learn from them.

But after observing for a few days, I found that it was nothing more than talking about what they had done, what I had done, what I wanted to do in the future, and so on.

So Shen Yan put it into practice.

"I can type now," Shen Yan said calmly, without any intention of boasting, simply stating the facts.

Xie Yan raised her voice and showered him with praise, her tone full of surprise and disbelief.

"You can type so quickly! You learn so fast! How are you so amazing! You're practically a little genius!"

Important things to note when raising children: Praising children frequently helps them build self-confidence and grow better.

There was no sound from the other end of the receiver for a while, but Shen Yan was already holding the phone, her lips pursed and her ears turning red.

After a long pause, he said stiffly, "...I will only hit you and your name."

As if to prove it, Xie Yan soon received another text message, which read:

[Hello, Xie Yan.]

Staring at the text message, Xie Yan was stunned for a moment, then chuckled for a long time.

"Dean He said that I can go to school in March, and I will try my best to get first place then."

Xie Yan nodded with satisfaction, lay on the bed with a smile on her face, "Just do your best, don't rush it."

Shen Yan is eight years old now. She will have to start school from the first grade, making her one or two years older than the other children in her class.

However, the other children had all attended kindergarten and had some basic knowledge, while Shen Yan had to learn from scratch, which couldn't be rushed.

They chatted for a while longer before hanging up the phone.

In the dormitory of Xinxin Welfare Home, Shen Yan stood by the window, quietly looking at the small white cell phone in her hand that had fallen silent, before finally putting it in her pocket.

The boy, who had been playing outside for a while, ran back to his dorm to get a drink of water. Despite the cold weather, he was sweating profusely and hadn't even put on a cotton coat.

He gulped down half a glass of water and was about to run outside when he saw Shen Yan and called out to him, "Shen Yan! We're setting off fireworks outside! Dean He bought a lot of fireworks, do you want to play with us?!"

The boy's eyes were sparkling, and he was beaming with excitement; he was clearly having a blast.

But the handsome boy by the window just smiled slightly at him, pointed to his leg, and said that his leg hurt, so he wouldn't go play.

The boy had no choice but to give up and ran off to play again.

The dormitory quieted down, and the sounds of people playing outside seemed far away, not too noisy.

Shen Yan went to the desk, took out her notebook and the comic book, and began to write.

It's crooked and ugly, like a worm crawling.

At best, I could barely recognize what the characters were.

The character “谢” was particularly difficult to write, with many strokes. Shen Yan stared intently at the tip of his pen and traced it out stroke by stroke.

"Xie", "Yan".

“Shen”, “Yan”.