Just then, she ran into Auntie Pang walking out with an empty medicine bowl.
She immediately lunged forward and hugged Auntie Pang's leg. Tilting her chubby little face up, she said in a sweet, childish voice, "Auntie, don't cry! Uncle will definitely get better! He'll get promoted too!"
'She wasn't going to let them send her away!'
Hearing this, Auntie Pang gave a bitter smile and gently stroked her head.
She bent down, picked Shanshan up, and said in a low voice, "Silly child, you don't understand adult matters..."
Shanshan blinked her big, sparkling eyes, her little face tilted slightly upward.
"Shanshan really saw it! There's a light on Uncle! It's a little dim, but it's slowly getting stronger! It's going to get brighter and brighter! It's a blessing from the gods that'll protect Uncle and let him live a long life, and later... Auntie will have lots and lots of babies! One, two, three... too many to count!"
Auntie Pang: "!!!"
She subconsciously covered her mouth, her fingers trembling.
'This... this child, how can she be so blunt?'
From inside the room, Yang Dapeng went: "PFFT, COUGH, COUGH, COUGH..."
He had been drinking water from a coarse porcelain bowl and sprayed it everywhere upon hearing her words, drenching the front of his shirt with the murky water.
'Oh my... this little girl, she really dares to say something like that?'
Auntie Pang's face flushed red in an instant.
But looking at Shanshan's completely innocent and guileless expression...
The corner of her mouth couldn't help but twitch, and finally, she let out a "pfft" and burst into laughter.
"Alright, alright, we'll take that good omen from our Shanshan."
Auntie Pang wiped away the tears that had welled up in the corners of her eyes at some point.
She pulled Shanshan into her arms, hugging her small body tightly.
"From now on, you're staying here for good. Don't you dare mention the word 'leave' again, you hear? This family of ours can lack anything, but it can't lack you."
'She'd just think of it as... spending a little more on food in exchange for a glimmer of hope.'
That night, Shanshan slept sprawled out on her back, her little belly puffed up like a rice ball, mumbling incoherently in her sleep.
In her dream, she suddenly smelled a particularly fresh fragrance.
The scent was like...
'That wild grass the Dragon Clan used to strengthen their bodies?'
Back then, the elders said eating it could nourish one's bloodline and enhance one's Spiritual Power.
She followed the scent, pushing aside layers of clouds and soil. The earth in her dream was soft and damp.
She forcefully brushed away the dead leaves and pebbles covering it, and finally saw a few stalks of grass with thin leaves.
"Mmm... Dragon Beard Grass..."
Shanshan smacked her lips, dreaming that she plucked a small handful, put it in her mouth, and chewed it with great relish.
She rolled over in satisfaction, her drool soaking the pillow.
「The next morning, bright and early.」
Just as the sky was beginning to lighten, Shanshan had already slurped down the rice paste Auntie Pang had cooked.
She held the bowl and ate with incredible speed, her cheeks puffing in and out, not leaving a single drop behind.
After putting the bowl down, she ran outside without a word, her little feet going PITTER-PATTER.
Auntie Pang returned from feeding the chickens, carrying an empty food basin in one hand and wiping the sweat from her forehead with the other.
When she entered the house, the little figure who should have been rolling around on the kang bed was gone.
Her heart leaped into her throat. She looked around frantically, calling out, "Shanshan? Shanshan?"
There was no answer.
"Have you seen Shanshan? Where did that kid go?"
Yang Dapeng had just entered after fetching two buckets of water, the carrying pole still resting on his shoulder.
Hearing this, he stopped in his tracks. His brow furrowed deeply, and his expression darkened.
"I haven't seen her... Could it be... the child couldn't get used to it here, thought our family was too poor, was afraid of the hardship, and left on her own?"
He knew what his home was like.
The roof leaked, the dining table rarely saw a speck of oil, and in the freezing winter, they didn't even have a single decent quilt.
'What child would be willing to stay in such a hopeless home...'
Auntie Pang gritted her teeth and forced herself to say, "Impossible! That child is so considerate; she was even massaging my back yesterday! She must have just run off somewhere to play. I'll go find her now! I can't let her wander around outside by herself!"
When the neighbors heard she was looking for the little girl from yesterday, they all started poking their heads out of their houses.
"Did she head west?"
"I just saw a kid in a red belly-band running toward the riverbank!"
"Don't worry, we'll all help look!"
Just then, Cao Daqiang passed by, carrying a medicine hoe on his back, his pant legs rolled up to his knees. It looked like he had just returned from gathering herbs on the mountain.
His eyes were sharp and shrewd. He paused for a moment, about to lower his head and avoid them.
Auntie Pang spotted him in a glance, and her eyes flew wide open.
She stared intently at his medicine basket, her throat tightening. Suddenly, she remembered the words Shanshan had mumbled in her sleep last night.
"Dragon Beard Grass."
And right at that moment, from the corner of the worn-out woven bamboo basket, several slender, green leaf tips were clearly visible...
"Cao Daqiang! What are you doing here? Don't tell me you took her?!"
Hearing this, Cao Daqiang actually laughed.
He slowly took out a cigarette pack, shook one out and stuck it in his mouth, then struck a match to light it and took a deep drag.
"That little wild brat ran off? I knew it. An ungrateful wolf cub. She probably stole something valuable and scrammed! Kids from poor families these days are all thieves."
"Hmph, it would be a blessing if that worthless girl died outside and fed the dogs. It would save rice!"
After speaking, he sneered, threw his cigarette butt to the ground, and ground it out with his foot.
As soon as the words left his mouth, Auntie Pang shuddered, her heart turning cold.
"Cao Daqiang! Has your conscience been eaten by a dog? That's your own daughter! How can you say such things? Aren't you afraid of retribution?!"
Before she could finish her tirade, a clear, childish voice suddenly called out from a distance.
"Auntie! Shanshan's back!"
Everyone turned at once, their gazes simultaneously landing on the small path at the village entrance.
A child came running over, skipping and hopping.
Her face was smudged with black and gray, the tip of her nose was dotted with bits of grass, and her hands were filthy, with dirt caked under her fingernails.
But in her arms, she clutched a few stalks of grass, clumps of dirt still attached to their roots. Their leaves were long, thin, and vividly green.
The moment Auntie Pang saw her, tears instantly streamed down her face.
Ignoring everyone else, she rushed forward and swept Shanshan into a fierce hug.
"My little ancestor! Where did you go? You scared your auntie to death..."
Shanshan was hugged so tightly she could barely breathe, her little face turning bright red, but she didn't forget to hold up the grass in her hands, her eyes sparkling.
"Auntie, look! I found it! This is it! I dug it up from a rock crevice behind the gully! Someone in my dream told me its name is Dragon Beard Grass! If you boil it in water for Uncle to drink, he'll get better! Really!"
She couldn't explain the logic behind it, but she was certain this grass was no ordinary thing!
Cao Daqiang sneered, staring at the few damp stalks of grass with a look of utter disgust.
He scoffed, then deliberately lifted his foot and scraped it against his boot.
"Well now, I thought you'd brought back some kind of treasure, but it's just a few rotten weeds? You can pull up a whole sackful of that stuff from any hillside! You think this can cure that useless husband of yours? That's hilarious!"
He paused, his gaze growing even more sinister, his tone chilling.
"The choice for the promotion will be announced soon, in the next day or two. It's not his turn! The higher-ups already decided. It's me."
He took a step closer and lowered his voice.
"Your man is just a sickly good-for-nothing now, lying in bed waiting to die. And he still wants to climb the ladder? In his dreams! If you know what's good for you, you'll pack your things and get lost. Don't hang around the post being an eyesore. And you'd better keep your head down and mind your own business, or else..."