Chapter 4

The revelations were too much. Grandpa planted his staff on the ground and told me to rest and stop dwelling on it.

Grandma remained silent. Before leaving, I could not help saying, “Grandpa, Grandma, if you think He Peizhi can replace me and all my younger siblings—if you still choose to indulge him—then pretend I said nothing tonight.”

But I will not let him live, I added silently.

“Within two days, He Peizhi will collapse on the road. He will swallow medicine that harms his own body just to manipulate you.”

I could spare them two more days. By then, the truth would reveal itself.

The night passed peacefully. At dawn everyone packed to depart. He Peizhi kept glancing toward Grandma, with a smiling Bai Yuanqing beside him.

As the family’s only scholar, he had always been treated differently. Even during the famine, he ate three meals a day and received an egg every ten days.

But Grandma would no longer indulge him. He pretended to have forgotten yesterday’s declaration and hovered as though waiting for someone to offer him food.

Afraid Mother would secretly help him, I whispered to Grandma, “I want to make egg broth for our baby brother.”

She stiffened and hesitated, then handed me all the eggs that remained.

Thus the family’s eggs passed into my keeping. I guarded them carefully, for my little brother’s life might depend on them.

“Brother, stop staring at Grandma as if she wronged you. You eat what we eat now: two meals a day, black flatbread and bitter wild greens. Your share is under that tree. Pick it up and let’s go.” I smiled and pointed to a basket.

“Nian Nian, show your elder brother some respect. Xiaochun, carry his luggage,” Mother said, unable to stop herself from defending him.

Hearing was not the same as seeing. Though she knew Bai Yuanqing had engineered Father’s death in my former life, she still hoped her son was innocent.

I ignored her, kicked the basket as I passed, and pulled silent Xiaochun away. “Leave it. Everyone carries their own belongings. Does he think the rest of us are his servants?”

No one cherished sensible Xiaochun, so I, her elder sister, would.

Burdened with the luggage, He Peizhi and the Bai women struggled badly. He pitied the delicate Bai Yuanqing too much to let her help.

I had overestimated him. As darkness fell, Bai Yuanqing’s cry rang through the woods. She ran to Grandpa and Mother, red-eyed, saying He Peizhi was dying.

Grandpa and Grandma looked at me, then at each other. I saw disappointment in their eyes.

By the time I arrived, the village’s old physician was already taking He Peizhi’s pulse. He frowned and said nothing.

“Grandfather, Grandmother—cough, cough—this useless body of mine will never serve you properly. Please take care of yourselves.” He Peizhi coughed between every phrase. My panicked parents softened, the balance in their hearts tipping toward him again.

After one glance at his theatrics, I used my strength to shove Bai Yuanqing down and searched her clothes while pinning her beneath me.

“He Nian, you shameless creature! Let me go!” she cried.

“What’s this?” I held up the paper packet I had found.

She tried to snatch it, but I dodged. “That is mine! You have no right to touch it. Give it back!”

I rose and handed the packet to the old physician. “I imagine this explains Brother’s sudden illness. Miss Bai, this is no scheming inner household. There is no need for such contemptible tricks here.”

When the physician confirmed that He Peizhi had taken medicine to produce his symptoms, with the packet as proof, Mother’s face darkened. She looked at her son as if he were a stranger.