It doesn't matter if your souls are scattered, as long as you die.

Yun Li witnessed everything that happened in the Li family courtyard from outside.

I don't love children who aren't my own.

This family has no relation to Jiazigou. Judging from the ages of the brothers and their parents, Li Chutou was probably a bought child.

The elderly couple, Mr. and Mrs. Li, looked to be over 65 years old, and their son was at most 30.

It's likely that the elderly couple had been married for many years without children, so they bought a boy, and only had their own biological child ten years later.

The purchased hoe became superfluous.

Before this, Li Chutou had started working at the age of three and had not gone to school, which shows that the old couple did not love him much.

They probably only thought about having someone to take care of them in their old age, without considering how successful he would be.

After having a son, they naturally couldn't bear to get rid of the extra hoe, since it could be used as a source of labor.

The meal was already laid out in the main room, and the second son of the Li family came out again and called out to his elder brother.

His attitude was somewhat obsequious.

However, it's understandable why: if the eldest brother's family, the main breadwinner, were to give up, their good days would be over.

Li Chutou patted his eldest daughter, "Take your younger brother and sister inside for dinner."

The eldest daughter, Li Luwei, shook her head. She didn't want to eat. After all, their family's meals consisted of nothing more than a bowl of wild vegetable soup that was a little cleaner than dishwater.

It's better to find wild fruits to eat in the mountains.

With no other option, Li Chutou picked up the youngest child, pulled up his eldest daughter, and then took care of the other two children into the main room.

Perhaps because of the argument, there were more grains of rice in their bowls than usual today.

It looks much better, but compared to my second brother's family, it's not just a fraction of what they're doing.

Li Chutou felt increasingly cold inside, and took a deep breath to coax the children to eat.

Old Man Li naturally saw Li Chutou's expression and subtly glared at his wife.

Eating less means getting hungry faster, so the Li family went to bed before eight o'clock.

There was still light in the room of the elderly couple, and the old man was lecturing his wife.

"Why did you make such a big difference in your dinner tonight?"

"Aren't you afraid that the boss will be completely disheartened?"

Old Lady Li wasn't afraid at all, her expression smug. "Don't worry, that day will never come. That bastard is just a bastard. As long as I give him a little something sweet, he'll be grateful to tears and think that I still love him."

Old Man Li thought back to the past, his eldest son had also complained before, but his wife had always coaxed him back to his senses, and he stopped talking about it.

midnight

Yun Li arrived silently outside Li Chutou's door.

A pebble was thrown in through the broken window, and Li Chutou immediately woke up with a start, shouting, "Who's there!"

Yun Li said softly from under the window, "Li Chutou, if you want to know about your background, come out."

Upon hearing this, Li Chutou paused for three seconds, then opened the door and went out.

By the moonlight, he could see that there was a child outside the window, and he immediately felt that it was absurd.

Yun Li pointed outside the courtyard and walked out. Li Chutou followed without even closing the door.

Actually, Yun Li didn't want to show up himself; he just wanted to leave a note to tell him what happened. Who would have thought that he was illiterate?

Li Chutou followed Yun Li to the open field.

"Who are you, and what about my background that you just mentioned?"

Yun Li had no interest in exchanging pleasantries and went straight to telling him about the replacement of the people in Jiazigou and the recent situation of the Chen family elders.

Upon hearing this, Li Chutou immediately covered his face and squatted down, letting out a sobbing sound.

No wonder he wasn't his mother's favorite; it turns out he really wasn't their biological son.

At this moment, he experienced both pain and relief.

Yun Li took out the forty-odd yuan from the last sale from her spatial storage and handed it to him.

"It's not much money, take it and go to H City to find your biological parents."

Yun Li frowned slightly; the money was still too little.

Li Chutou looked up at the outstretched hand and immediately refused, "No need. I'm already incredibly grateful that you came to tell me your true story. How could I possibly take your money?"

At this moment, he was so shocked by the news of his true identity that he forgot how a child had found his way here.

Yun Li didn't say much, just stuffed the money into his hand and quickly disappeared into the night.

Li Chutou wanted to give chase, but suddenly realized he couldn't see a trace of him, so he gave up.

The next day, after not sleeping all night and thinking about it all night, Li Chutou decided to go find his biological parents.

I learned from the child that his biological parents had no idea that he had been switched.

It was only after an enemy came knocking and killed the fake son that they learned of this.

He had fallen ill from the blow and needed to get back quickly.

Before dawn, Li Chutou went to the children's room and gently shook his eldest daughter awake.

He told his eldest daughter not to work after they left today, but to find a place to hide and wait until everyone had left. He then told her to come back, pack her clothes, and bring her younger siblings to the village entrance to wait for him.

"Father, where are we going?"

Li Luwei's eyes were full of light. In her opinion, even going out to beg for food would be better than staying in this house.

Li Chutou smiled and stroked his daughter's dry, yellow hair, whispering, "Daddy will take you to find your grandparents."

Upon hearing this, Li Luwei was so moved that tears welled up in her eyes.

"Dad, are you saying that our grandparents now aren't our biological grandparents?"

"Yes, they aren't!"

"That's great, that's great..."

Li Luwei covered her mouth and cried uncontrollably.

After giving his instructions, Li Chutou went back to his room, changed into some more presentable clothes, and then went out.

The rest of the Li family didn't find it strange that he went out so early, assuming he was going to work at the dam and didn't pay any attention.

After all, the dam is far away, so we need to leave early.

……

When Mu Qian and his three companions arrived at Jiazigou, they searched everywhere for small animals. But to say they were looking for animals was an understatement; they were specifically catching rats.

Since everyone in Jiazigou disappeared, all the livestock have been taken away and disposed of. There's no one left to ask, except the rats that dig holes everywhere.

In just three hours, the group caught no less than a hundred rats.

Most of these rats were caught in the fields, where, although no one was planting, the seeds left over from last year's harvest had sprouted and produced grain.

This attracted a large number of rats.

There were six baskets filled with mice, each containing more than a dozen.

Sun Tianxiang squatted in front of one of the baskets, peering through the gap at the rats inside trying to escape by biting at the bamboo baskets.

"Don't be anxious. We're not arresting you to kill you, we just want to ask you some questions."

The mice stopped moving, horrified; they had actually understood human speech.

"Chirp chirp chirp..."

Is she a rat spirit who has become a demon? Otherwise, how could we understand her?

"Chirp chirp..."

That's very likely.

"Chirp chirp chirp..."

Amazing! It actually cultivated itself into a human, even more powerful than that weasel.

"Chirp chirp chirp..."

Stop arguing, let's kneel down and hug his legs.

"Chirp chirp..."

Boss, she's outside, how can we hug her?

"Chirp chirp chirp chirp..."

Keep biting! Once you bite a hole, you can go out and hug someone. Humans say that as long as you hug a strong thigh, you'll never have to worry about food or drink.

"Chirp chirp..."

Hey, keep it up, bite now!