Xiao Xiao didn't say much to her and told her to go home quickly. She walked towards the road up the mountain.
It was already past noon, and there were very few people going up the mountain. Xiao Xiao was walking very fast.
In front of her was a young woman in her twenties who was dressed in thin clothes and had a small child in her arms. She was walking and resting, and was quickly caught up with Xiao Xiao.
"Wow!" Suddenly the little baby started crying. It was so shocking that it jumped down and couldn't help but look over.
The little baby was quite small, skinny, and cried heartbreakingly with its mouth wide open.
"Be good, Niuniu, don't cry, don't cry." The woman looked eager, "When we get to the mountain, I'll make you a paste."
Xiao Xiao glanced at her and couldn't help but said: "Sister-in-law, there is an academy on the mountain. Are you here to visit relatives?"
The young woman saw that she was a little child of eight or nine years old, carrying a baggage, wearing very rich clothes, and walking up the mountain, so she thought she was a girl from a rich family who came to deliver something.
The child was crying loudly, and the young woman coaxed her and said, "Yes, my father is studying in the mountains. We, the two of us, can't live together anymore. Let's come find him."
Xiao Xiao looked at the pitiful look of the child, who looked like she was malnourished, and reminded her, "Sister-in-law, you'd better feed her milk."
The young woman sighed with a grimace, "I can't get enough to eat, so where can I get milk?"
She shook the child, trying to make her quieter, and said as she walked: "Give her a drink at home, but it's not that cheap on the road, so I drank it once."
Xiao Xiao looked at her disheveled face, and although her clothes were clean, they were still patched up. He thought that he had brought snacks with him when he went down the mountain and bought cakes and mutton from the mutton shop. He had specially prepared them for fear of being hungry on the way.
She looked at the sky and saw that it was still early. After teasing the child for a while, she said to the young woman: "Sister-in-law, I have some food. Why don't you go over there and eat some behind the rocks in the lee."
The young woman was very grateful when she heard that, and she didn't care about any humility. She quickly thanked her, and the two of them walked behind a stone. Xiao Xiao took out a big cake wrapped in oilcloth, a few pieces of spiced chicken drumsticks, and two charcoal nuts.
The cakes and chicken drumsticks were still warm, so the young woman took them and ate them hungrily. Xiao Xiao helped her tease the baby. For some reason, the baby stopped crying when he saw her, and even showed a smile. Then he started crying again, thinking
I'm very hungry.
The young woman had no choice but to coax her, then lifted up her clothes, wrapped the baby in a quilt and fed her milk.
Xiao Xiao hurriedly reminded her to slow down, fearing that she would choke, and asked: "What's your father's last name?"
The young woman said vaguely: "My surname is Wen."
The young woman nodded sheepishly, but still couldn't slow down. She hadn't eaten anything since she left home in the morning, and she still had a baby in her arms.
Xiao Xiao was still afraid that she would choke, so he took out another piece of sour plum candy, which she brewed in space, handed it to her and said, "Sister-in-law Wen, please hold it in your mouth first to moisten your throat."
Sister-in-law Wen smiled shyly, took it, thanked her, stuffed it into her mouth, and ate a big cake and a chicken drumstick. She was no longer so hungry. She started feeding the baby again while talking to Xiao Xiao.
Although there was no wind here, it was also very cold. Xiao Xiao saw that she didn't have any scruples. Knowing that she was from a poor family and didn't have so many scruples when going out, she tried to shield her from the wind as much as possible.
Xiao Xiao didn't know what was wrong with her. She wasn't so kind-hearted in her previous life. Since she came here and lived with Aunt Mei and the others for a long time, she felt that her heart had become softer.
