The Sisters Came Home

Grandmother Zuo waved her hand and said, "You don't have to be so polite with me. Your parents have helped my family a lot in the past. If you don't accept this, it will affect the relationship between our families, and I will not let that happen. Have a pancake first. I made this early in the morning, and it's still soft. Eat It while it's hot. Poor child, you must be hungry."

Yan Qixun thought about it and agreed. She was famished, so she did not wait any longer. She took a pancake the size of a palm and started to eat it.

Unleavened dough pancakes were not very tasty for Yan Qixun, who had tasted various delicacies of her past life. However, it was the best-refined grain in the countryside, and it had a strong wheat fragrance. The unique aroma of wheat made the hungry Yan Qixun salivate. She wouldn't dare to dislike it.

She was grateful to Grandmother Zuo. As she ate, she smiled and said, "The pancakes you made smell so good." Grandmother Zuo touched her head and said tenderly, "Eat slowly. I'll get a bowl of porridge for you. It will warm your stomach."

Inside the basket was a pot of mixed grain porridge and two clean bowls. The fire did not burn the pots and bowls in her house, but they were all stained with coal ashes, and Yan Qixun did not have time to clean it yet. Grandmother Zuo waited for Yan Qixun to finish the porridge but did not clear the bowls because she knew that Yan Qixun would use it the next few days. 

Grandmother Zuo asked Yan Qixun to lie on the bed and not get down. If she were to fall ill again, it would be severe. Yan Qixun obediently agreed. Grandmother Zuo helped her wrap the quilt before putting on the straw raincoat and leaving the room, "I'll go back first. If there's anything, just shout. I can hear you from my house."

After Grandmother Zuo left the courtyard, Yan Qixun lay on the bed wrapped in the torn quilt and was unwilling to move. The moment she moved, she heard the sound of straw cracking. The sound of the autumn raindrops outside did not seem so pleasant anymore. Instead, it complemented the cool autumn, making Yan Qixun feel even more desolate.

After lying down for a while, she slowly fell asleep. Suddenly, the sound of someone entering the courtyard woke her up. Yan Qixun rubbed her eyes and quickly pushed open the wooden window to look outside. She saw the rain had stopped, and her elder sister and younger sister walked into the courtyard. Both her sisters were walking behind two men.

One of the men in front of them, who was in his fifties and in good spirits, is her great-granduncle's eldest son, Yan Hongyun, her granduncle. Beside him was a young man carrying a heavy bag. He was about fifteen or sixteen years old. He was tall and slim. The young man who was handsome and delicate was her great-granduncle's eldest grandson and her eldest cousin, Yan Lingzhou.

Behind the two men was a slender and beautiful girl, and she had a pair of bright almond-shaped eyes. She was Yan Qixun's elder sister, Yan Lingsu. The other beautiful girl with a frown that looked worried was Yan Qixun's twin sister, Yan Lingyu.

Yan Qixun was an only child in her previous life. Her parents were soldiers, and her mother sacrificed herself on a mission when she was three years old. Her father did not remarry and was too busy with work to take care of her. She was raised by her unreliable uncle, a company's president. 

However, her uncle had married late, only because his current wife accidentally got pregnant when Yan Qixun was fifteen or sixteen years old. At that time, Yan Qixun's cousin was sixteen years younger than her. The age difference was too big, and she felt it was a generation apart. Even though she lived until she was thirty-eight in her past life, Yan Qixun still felt like an adolescent when she reincarnated into this life. She was so busy that she basically lived in the laboratory back then. She did not have much experience in socializing with her little cousin.

How could the memories of a few years in this life be compared to the memories of a few decades in her previous life?

At this moment, when she saw her sisters, she felt that it was pretty magical. Suddenly, all the worries she had before going to bed were thrown out of her mind. She jumped down from the bed happily and ran to the door of the central room to greet her granduncle, "Greetings, Granduncle!"

She greeted her cousin and sisters, "Hello, Brother Lingzhou. Hello, Sister. Hello, Lingyu."

Yan Hongyun shook off the mud on his shoes at the door and entered the house first. When he saw that Yan Qixun was only wearing a thin inner garment, he could not help but frown. He touched her head and asked, "Why are you only wearing an inner garment? I heard from your sister that you fainted yesterday. Are you feeling better now?"

When the fire broke out, she was asleep and choked by the smoke. Her second brother carried her out, so she was only wearing an inner garment at that time. If it were for other people, they would have first snatched some clothes before coming out. It would be so embarrassing leaving the house with just an inner garment.

"I'm fine. I was a little feverish at first, but I feel much better now."

"Go and lie on the bed. If you catch a cold, your mother will be distraught."

Yan Hongyun looked at the situation in the house. He then frowned and urged, "This house hasn't been occupied for a few years, and it's run-down. Why don't you wait for your mother to come back and stay at my house? I'll clean up a room for you and your mother to stay. I'll let your second brother and Brother Zhou sleep in the same room."

There were five of them in the family. How could it be convenient for them to stay in someone else's house?

Before Yan Qixun could answer, her third sister, Yan Lingsu, who had just entered the house after cleaning the soles of her shoes, quickly said, "We will wait for Mother and Second Brother to come back and clean the place."

Yan Hongyun did not force her. He thought that they could discuss it when their mother came back.

On the other side, Yan Lingzhou had already put down the heavy load he was carrying and lifted Yan Qixun to her on the bed in the inner room. He wrapped her in the blanket and scolded her jokingly, "You don't even have a coat to wear, and you still don't want to stay in bed obediently. If you fall sick, you'll feel uncomfortable and cry again. I don't have money to buy candy to coax you."

Carrying her was not harmful, but it was highly insulting. When she was young in her previous life, her father and uncle also liked to carry her like this. Yan Qixun could not help but roll her eyes. However, it was cold, so she obediently sat on the bed.

There was no place to sit in the house. Yan Lingzhou said, "Grandfather, I just packed some food and two blankets over. I don't think they have anything here. Why don't I go back and find two pieces of clothes for Xiao Xun? She can't keep wearing that. Besides, I think we should get some firewood, bowls, chopsticks, oil, and salt."

Yan Hongyun waved his hand. "You have to carry Xiao Xun on your back. Let's go home first. This house is like an ice cave, and Xiao Xun is sick. We can't stay here."

However, Yan Hongyun's house was not spacious either. His three sons were still staying with him, along with his eight grandchildren. The tiny house had nearly twenty people living in it. It would be inconvenient for their family to move there.

"Granduncle, there's no need. I'll make a fire in the house later so that Xiao Xun can be warmer. Also, didn't Brother Lingzhou bring a quilt? My mother will be back in the afternoon. 

"Lingyu and I will take this time to tidy up the house. You don't need to send the firewood either. There's firewood in at least half of the house in the west room. The north room hasn't been burned down, and there's also some firewood stored in it. 

"You don't need to send the oil and salt either. Mother and Second Brother went to town to buy these. Once we tidy up the place, they can live in them. When the weather is clear, clean up the pit so that during winter, the burning pits won't be able to freeze." Yan Lingsu quickly said. 

Seeing that the little girl was adamant about not moving, Yan Hongyun sighed. He knew that the children's father went to the Capital, and they would have to wait until he finished the exam next year before returning. After the fire, the necessities at their home would run out in less than half a year before their father returned. How could their life be easy? He had to help them out a little.

Fortunately, most of the people in the Yan family village were from the same clan. They would not let these children starve and freeze.