In the back room of the Zhang family, there is a large, low Kang.

Third Nian was lying weakly on the bed, while Second Nian was lying on the edge of the bed, holding his chin and looking at his sister.

"Second brother, are bad women really afraid?"

"Yes." Er Nian nodded his head affirmatively, "I've seen her scared of mice, but it's funny. Third sister, don't worry, second brother will definitely be able to avenge you."

Sannian lowered her eyelids weakly and shrank back further, "But, will the mouse bite her?"

Er Nian glared at her, "Don't let your kindness go to waste, just bite her to death."

Before San Nian could say anything else, footsteps came from outside.

Today, the vicious stepmother walked very fast, her pace seemed a bit longer than usual. Sannian nervously retracted into the bed and pretended to sleep.

Er Nian rolled his eyes, quickly climbed onto the bed, crossed his legs, sat next to San Nian and pressed down on the quilt.

The door creaked open.

Xin Yi looked at the scene in front of him and was slightly stunned.

Yi Nian is already much thinner than other children of the same age. Unexpectedly, Second Nian and San Nian are even smaller. Especially the youngest, San Nian, is like a kitten that has not been weaned and is almost submerged in the quilt.

This room is the northernmost back room of the Zhang family. It is small, dark, windowless, and airtight. It is worse than the place where the children of Dalang Erlang's family live, and it is even worse than the fourth, fifth and eldest daughter of the Liu family.

.

"Why are you sleeping in this crappy place?"

Xin Yi's tone was slightly angry, not directed at the child, but it made the child instinctively guard against and hate her.

Er Nian retorted: "It's not because of you, a bad woman."

Xin Yi glanced at his angry little face, raised an eyebrow and smiled, "Whatever I ask you, just say it, what nonsense?"

Humph! Er Nian looked at his elder brother and said, "You said it, when dad dies, he will turn into a ghost and come back to take away his footprints. The house we lived in was too big, and we were young and couldn't suppress the ghosts, so we would get sick. Grandma, this

That’s why we were asked to move out.”

"You made my third sister sick."

"..."

Three children sleep on a wooden couch without even a decent thick quilt. In this horrible weather, what else is it if it’s not child abuse?

"Don't believe this trick in the future to coax a child."

Xin Yi stepped forward and touched San Nian's forehead.

"Tell me, where does it hurt?"

Sannian was very afraid of her, her eyes were full of fear and she refused to speak.

Xin Yi bent down and lifted the quilt, wanting to pull Sannian's little hand to check his pulse.

Er Nian moved away a bit and held her breath nervously, expecting the evil stepmother to run away when she saw the mouse...

However, there was silence in the air.

Xin Yi kept lifting the quilt, his face expressionless.

"Who did it?"

Under the quilt was a live mouse in a bamboo cage.

The three children looked at me and I looked at you, but no one said anything. Xin Yi snorted coldly, waved the bamboo cage in front of them, and beat the mouse to death on the spot.

"Ah!" San Nian exclaimed in fright.

First Thought and Second Thought also looked at her with astonishment on their faces.

Xin Yi threw the dead mouse in the corner along with the bamboo cage.

"There is dirt on rats, no wonder they get sick."

She looked at Er Nian again and said, "Whoever gets it back will take it and bury it."

"Huh!" Er Nian said dissatisfiedly: "Who wants to listen to you, ugly woman! Bad woman!"

Xin Yi's expression remained unchanged, "Why don't you listen? Let's see how I deal with you."

Sannian poked his head out of the bed and asked in a low voice: "Why aren't you afraid of mice anymore?"

"Silly boy, I have killed more rats than you have ever seen."

Perhaps Xinyi's appearance was too "gentle", and under her gaze, Ernian reluctantly took the small bamboo cage out to bury the mouse.

Xin Yi sat by the couch, calmly picked up Sannian's little hand and felt her pulse, but his eyes fell on her forehead.

"How did you get the injury on your head?"

San Nian avoided her sight and trembled.

"fight……"

"fight?"

Who is the four-year-old girl fighting with?

Xin Yi felt incredible.

"It's not Third Sister's fault, it was me who fought with Tiedan first." Yi Nian tensed up his little body, not daring to look directly into Xin Yi's eyes, but he spoke confidently.

"It's me. It's none of my business, big brother." Er Nian also rushed in and rushed to answer.

Xin Yi frowned slightly and glanced lightly, "Why are you trying to be a hero in front of me? You feel proud if you lose in a fight, don't you?"

Er Nian said: "Tiedan is already twelve years old, we can't beat him..."

San Nian said: "Tiedan is taller and stronger than my elder brother."

Xin Yi raised his eyebrows and looked at the girl, "You also took action?"

San Nian shrank his neck and said, "I'll bite him."

A little carrot head who is just over four years old dares to bite a twelve-year-old child. He is quite capable.

Xin Yi, look at this, look at that.

"Why are you fighting?"

Both the first and second thoughts bit their lips and remained silent.

Xin Yi was angry for a few seconds and stammered: "Tie Dan said... that my grandma is a broken shoe... that my dad is a bastard... that my brother is a wild child, that they are not the children of dad and mom.

…”

Of course, the "grandmother" in the child's mouth does not refer to Mrs. Zhang, but to Zhang Xun's ex-wife, Zhou Yihuai, the legendary mother-in-law who was elegant, dignified and fit into an IKEA home.

Er Nian was very angry: "Tiedan farts!"

Yi Nian clenched his little fist and said, "I'm going to beat him to death!"

Xin Yi chuckled and patted his two little heads.

"Well said, promising."

The three children looked at her in shock.

Normally, the vicious stepmother would either get angry and curse people or make sarcastic remarks about them. How could she be as kind as she is today?

Xin Yi seemed unable to see their eyes, so she told San Nian to lie down, rubbed her hands together, and gently rubbed her Yingxiang, Shangxing, and Jianjing acupuncture points for a while, then turned around and ordered the two older ones.

"Go, take the quilt from my room and keep it warm for you three sisters."

…

That night, Xinyi lived in chaos.

San Nian thought that what was dripping on the quilt was nosebleeds, which were caused by Tiedan's fist. The little girl might have been frightened and had some fever and night sweats...

But these are small things.

What worries Xin Yi is the child's pulse. According to traditional Chinese medicine, it is small and soft, as if silk-like, which is very unusual.

She fetched water and taught Yi Nian and Er Nian to do physical cooling for the third sister. She also opened the medicine package she brought back from Sun's pharmacy, found Fangfeng, Astragalus and Atractylodes, and brewed it according to the dosage for children.

Then he made a simple "Yupingfeng Powder" decoction, then went to the kitchen to find a few slices of dried ginger, boiled it with licorice, fed San Nian and drank half the bowl, and drank a large bowl himself.

There is nothing we can do, the child is thin, she is also thin, the sequelae of drowning in the river are still there, even with the buff of strength, the body is still very weak...

The Zhang family was mourning, and the other side of the funeral shed was very lively. The cymbals were ringing loudly, and the bells were ringing louder. However, there was no body of Zhang Xun in the fine coffin, only his clothes, and there were not many people in front of the coffin.

People who truly mourned him.

In Xin Yi's eyes, Zhang Xun was just a piece of paper and a "piece of paper". His death did not touch Xin Yi in the slightest.

Therefore, she did not go to Zhang Xun's vigil on the grounds that San Nian was ill.

In the middle of the night, Xin Yi woke up twice from San Nian convulsions. After a lot of trouble, Xin Yi suppressed the child's high fever and leaned against the couch to take a nap.

…

At dawn the next day, Xin Yi entered the city, ignoring Sun Huai's warning.
To be continued...