Transmigrated into a seven-year-old child, my fate is in my own hands, not in the heavens.

Fearing she might run into other people, Zhao Lian hurried on, but unexpectedly, when she was almost at the foot of the mountain, she saw Er Laizi and Huang Mazi from the village.

The two men, with shifty eyes, sneaked towards their house.

These two rascals, Erlaizi and Huangmazi, were two old bachelors, probably in their thirties. Because their families were poor and they were lazy and loved to eat, they had never been able to get married.

These two usually liked to do petty theft and other underhanded things. As the saying goes, "One who stays near vermilion gets stained red, and one who stays near ink gets stained black," so no one wanted to be near them.

As the saying goes, birds of a feather flock together, and these two naturally ended up hanging out together.

This scoundrel has two older brothers, both honest and simple, and both of their wives are formidable and sharp-tongued.

These two lazybones have been staying at home for a long time, eating, drinking, and not doing any work, so their two sisters-in-law have rebelled.

They started arguing with their mother-in-law, Cao, and even said that if Erlaizi wasn't separated from them, the two of them would pack their bags and go back to their parents' home.

The Cao couple were honest and hardworking farmers. They had finally managed to get their eldest and second sons married, so how could they let them go?

Because their youngest son was lazy and unmarried, and the eldest and second wives were arguing about dividing the family property, the elderly couple discussed it and decided to send their lazy son away.

But Erlaizi objected, saying that his parents were biased and had helped his older brothers get married.

Erlaizi was thinking that the old couple probably still had some money on hand.

He said he could split the family property, but his wife wasn't married yet and had to stay with the old couple; otherwise, the family couldn't be divided.

The elderly couple had no choice but to follow Erlaizi, which made the eldest and second wives very happy.

Now that the children are grown up and the old couple are getting old, letting them live with Erlaizi will free up their burdens.

Erlaizi was initially pleased, thinking the elderly couple still had some money, but after the family property was divided, he discovered that the couple didn't have much money at all.

Finally, the old couple fell ill and were too old to work in the fields. Their son, Erlaizi, also stopped doing farm work, and the grain ran out.

Finally, the elderly couple had no choice but to go to the first and second wives' families for food. The first and second wives' families gave them some once or twice, but eventually stopped giving them any.

This scoundrel cursed the old couple relentlessly every day, forcing them to work in the fields. One day, the scoundrel's mother went up the mountain to chop firewood and accidentally rolled down the slope, eventually succumbing to her injuries.

The two scoundrels didn't care about anything, and in the end, it was their father who begged his eldest and second sons, and finally the village chief had to intervene, before they were able to bury the old woman.

After his wife passed away, his husband also fell ill and died not long after.

The two rascals were left; as long as one of them was full, the whole family wouldn't go hungry.

Huang Mazi's face was covered in pockmarks from birth. He had two older sisters, the eldest of whom was eight years older than him and the second of whom was five years older than him.

His mother, Liao, gave birth to Huang Mazi when she was in her thirties, and she was overjoyed.

They treated this son like a treasure since he was a child. They only gave him the best food and didn't let him do anything. His parents and two older sisters took care of all the housework.

When my eldest sister was 18, she got married and received a dowry of one tael of silver. A few years later, my second sister also got married and received a dowry of two taels of silver.

The parents originally intended to save this money for Huang Mazi's wedding, but Huang Mazi only ever thought about wanting good food.

He wants to eat meat every few days, so I have no choice but to spend all my money on meat for him.

The two older sisters are already married, and all the housework falls on the parents' shoulders. Huang Mazi was spoiled since childhood and never did any work, which led to his selfishness.

Because they had no meat to eat, Huang Mazi cursed at the old couple all day long. Not only that, Huang Mazi was also a little tyrant in the village, always stealing food from other children.

He doesn't care about anything at home, only knows how to eat and drink, and if things don't go his way, he will curse at his parents at the slightest provocation.

Seeing that Huang Mazi had reached marriageable age, the old couple were anxious to find him a wife.

But his family was poor, and Huang Mazi was not good-looking and had a bad reputation in the surrounding villages, so no one was willing to marry him.

Gradually, Huang Mazi turned 30. People his age had already become parents.

Huang Mazi was old and penniless, and had no relatives, so he began to complain about his parents and even beat them.

The parents of Huang Mazi were heartbroken to see their son turn into such a parasite.

When his family ran out of money to buy meat, Huang Mazi started eyeing his neighbor's chickens and ducks, and began stealing them.

Er Laizi and Wang Mazi were birds of a feather and hit it off immediately, often spending time together.

Anyway, if anything goes missing from anyone's house in the village, it's definitely those two who did it.

During this period, the two of them had little money left. They stole from their own village and even from other villages, but now almost every household had nothing to gain.

In the morning, the two of them overheard He Dong and He Yue'e talking to other children, saying that Zhao Lian had money to buy rice and flour, and even bought big bones, but wouldn't let them eat them, and that even Zhao Feng was beaten.

When Erlaizi and Huangmazi overheard this, they thought it sounded so real that they began to have their eyes on it.

They knew about Zhao Lian. Zhao Lian was just a child. If she really had some silver, rice, or flour, they could try to get some for her.

Knowing that the two had hit it off immediately, they decided to scout the place out. They knew Zhao Lian lived at the end of the village, so they thought they'd come and take a look.

As soon as they turned the corner, Zhao Lian followed closely down the mountain.

Seeing the two of them sneaking towards her house caught Zhao Lian's attention.

Because the only way to get to that house was by that road, and considering that the two of them loved to do petty theft, Zhao Lian couldn't help but become more cautious.

She came down and walked around to the bamboo grove, carefully observing the two of them through the bamboo.

Er Laizi and Wang Mazi walked to the front of the house, glancing back every now and then.

When Zhao Lian left, she didn't close the window. The window was 1.5 meters above the ground, and the two of them walked up and peeked inside.

Finding no one inside, Erlaizi ran to the kitchen window and looked inside again. He didn't find anything of value.

Erlaizi looked at Huangmazi beside him and said, "Brother Mazi, it's even more dilapidated inside than our house. I don't think there's anything there. Plus, there's a little kid. What good stuff could there be?"

Huang Mazi frowned: "We'll only know if we go in or not. He Dong and the others wouldn't lie to us. Didn't you hear him say that they could smell the aroma of pork cracklings?"

He was practically drooling just thinking about pork cracklings. He could almost smell the aroma of pork cracklings wafting from the kitchen.

Er Laizi sniffed the air and suddenly laughed: "Brother Ma Zi, you know what, I think I can actually smell pork cracklings."

Huang Mazi nodded: "I can smell it too."

Erlaizi rubbed his hands together, eager to try: "Shall we break in now?"

Huang Mazi slapped him on the head: "Are you stupid? Trying to break in during the day, what if someone sees us?"

Erlaizi curled his lip: "What's there to be afraid of? There's hardly anyone coming!"

Huang Mazi scolded, "What do you know? People are going up and down the mountain all the time. We'd better be careful!"

"go!"

Huang Mazi hesitated for a moment, then gestured for Er Laizi to leave. He had decided to come back that evening.