Siheyuan: The Temptation of the Mountains

Lin Ze said, "I'll keep the cakes. Don't tell mom when you get home."

Although the two younger ones didn't understand why, they nodded heavily to show that they understood.

"Whoever leaks the news will never be given any delicious food again!" Lin Ze emphasized.

"Don't worry, big pigeon, I won't tell anyone." Little Lin Sisi seemed to know something, "Mom will give the good ones to grandma's pigeons..."

"Little sister, you can't say this in front of mom!" Lin Hao hurriedly tried to cover Lin Sisi's little mouth, but was stopped by Lin Ze.

"We are not at home now. I will take you to the Jade River and you can tell me everything you know."

The children playing in the Yu River gathered in the upper reaches today, and the lower reaches were very quiet.

"Brother, what do you want us to say?"

Lin Hao asked with some confusion.

"Mom used to go to grandma's house often and bring food rations from home, right?"

Lin Hao first shook his head, then nodded heavily.

Lin Ze asked again, "Mom sent food to grandma's house. Did our dad know about it?"

Lin Hao nodded and shook his head, saying, "I don't know everything, but no matter what we have at home, my mother will give half to my grandmother's family, sometimes more than half."

Lin Ze pinched his brows when he heard this. He knew right away how the original body had starved to death.

Although Yan Bugui is such a stingy person, his four children are all living well.

This Li Xiuzhen is truly a brother-supporting demon, the type that has no remorse for getting her own son involved.

"Our family will live better and better in the future. Do you want our mother to stay like this and continue to give most of the things to grandma's family?" Lin Ze asked again.

Lin Sisi was the first to shake her head. “My uncle and aunt don’t like me. They say I’m a girl…”

Every time Li Xiuzhen went to Lilaoyingzi, she would bring Lin Sisi with her. After so many times, the child could clearly feel other people's likes and dislikes for her.

"I won't let you go over when I'm at home from now on." Lin Ze kissed Lin Sisi's puffy little face, and then rubbed Lin Sisi's fluffy short hair.

Lin Hao was a little hesitant. Like Lin Ze's original incarnation, he was taught that only his maternal family was his closest relatives. He would rather starve than miss out on the half pound of sorghum flour from his uncle's house.

"Brother, I don't like my grandma's house either, but it is my mother's hometown after all..."

Seeing Lin Ze looking at him coldly, Lin Hao swallowed and immediately changed his words, "Brother, tell me, what should we do?"

Lin Ze rubbed Lin Sisi's soft hair and said quietly, "As long as you two are obedient, you can go out with me to eat good food in the future, and we can eat at home as usual."

"Big pigeon, meat buns, great!" Lin Sisi blinked her big eyes and a smile immediately appeared on her sallow little face.

"Brother, I'll listen to you too!"

"Okay, then it's settled." Lin Ze smiled and walked towards home with his younger brother and sister.

After arriving home, Lin Ze handed each of them a piece of cake and told them, "Remember what I said, don't let mom find out."

The two nodded and ran into the house.

In the evening, after Li Xiuzhen came back, she prepared to cook as usual. She opened the rice jar, but found that the original half jar of corn flour was almost empty.

"Why is there so much less corn flour at home?" Li Xiuzhen asked Lin Ze.

Lin Ze pretended to be stupid and said, "I don't know, Mom, could it be that a thief came in?"

Li Xiuzhen looked at him suspiciously, but had no other evidence, so she had to give up.

From that day on, Lin Ze often took his younger brothers and sisters out to find food, buy buns, and go fishing in the park.

While fishing, I made a bonfire, marinated the fish I caught with salt and cumin, and then roasted them for my younger brothers and sisters to enjoy.

Lin Ze sold the fish he caught directly in the park, and the unsold ones were sent to state-owned restaurants.

And ever since Lin Ze stopped bringing food home, the amount of food at home has become less and less.

Li Xiuzhen gradually realized that something was wrong, but she never imagined that it was her own child who was secretly playing tricks.

"You three, why are your appetites getting smaller and smaller? Is it because your mother's cooking is not delicious?" Lin Zhengguo asked puzzled.

Lin Sisi and Lin Hao looked at each other. Lin Hao licked the wild vegetable paste on the edge of the bowl and said, "No, I love it."

Lin Sisi followed suit, "Wo and Erge are full."

Lin Ze was secretly happy that his plan had initially taken effect. In the next few days, he continued to look for various foods with his younger brothers and sisters.

After more than ten days, all the fish he caught were sent to the state-owned restaurant. Occasionally, he would take his younger brothers and sisters to have a full meal in the state-owned restaurant.

All the food in his house, including sweet potatoes and potatoes, had been eaten up.

That evening, Lin Ze walked into the house carrying a fish and saw Li Xiuzhen counting money. He pretended to be surprised and asked, "Mom, where did you get the money? Are you going to buy us something to eat?"

Li Xiuzhen's eyes were a little evasive, and she hesitantly said, "Didn't you buy five new sets of clothes for your family before? This... this is the money from selling old clothes, I give it to... to you..."

"We're out of corn flour at home, Mom must buy some noodles." Lin Hao blinked his big eyes, looking at Li Xiuzhen with anticipation.

Lin Ze sneered in his heart, he knew that Li Xiuzhen was going to secretly sell things at home and use the money to buy things to support her parents' home.

But he didn't expose it. Instead, he said nonchalantly, "Oh, that's it. I caught a fish, so I can have a dish tonight."

At dinner, the family sat together. Lin Ze deliberately passed the fish to Li Xiuzhen and said, "Mom, you've worked hard, eat more."

Li Xiuzhen looked at the fish in the bowl and her expression turned a little ugly.

When she thought back on her behavior, she felt a little guilty and self-reproachful. Her own child was so sensible, but she was always thinking about her parents' home.

"Thank you, Xiaoze." Li Xiuzhen thought about it, but she couldn't correct it so quickly.

Instead, he thought to himself, 'Lin Ze is good at catching fish, but Li Laoyingzi doesn't even have water, how are my two younger brothers going to survive?'

Thinking of this, Li Xiuzhen picked up a large piece of fish meat and put it into Lin Zhengguo's bowl.

"Dad, I want to go back to Li Laoyingzi after dinner. Can you come with me?"

"If you want to go, just go by yourself. Why drag me along?" Lin Zhengguo took a sip of the wine that Lin Ze bought for him last time, and tasted the braised fish with soy sauce and sugar happily.

"I'm like this. Xiaoze bought new clothes for us all. I took the old clothes to the pigeon market to sell them. I was able to buy some sorghum flour. We kept some for ourselves, and I thought the rest..."

Li Xiuzhen swallowed her saliva, not daring to look at the bright eyes of the children. "As for the rest, I want to send it to the children's grandmother's house. I can buy at least 80 kilograms of sorghum flour. I'm afraid I can't carry 50 kilograms. That's why I want to ask you to go with me."