Qin Xiangyang held Qin Xiangnuan in his arms, his body still trembling.
Upon seeing this, the village chief’s wife felt a surge of discomfort, "How can a parent treat their child ? It’s good they separated; I was so afraid, if they didn’t, these two children might have ended up dead at Hu Li’s hands."
"Look at the clothes they’re wearing, so thin without a bit of flesh, who knows what kind of life they had in the Qin family?"
"The days in the Qin family are not that bad. The two children of the Qin family were well-fed and chubby, but these two children, how come..."
With a sigh, the village chief said, "Every family has its own troubles, there’s nothing that can be done. It’s all because Du Ping was unfortunate to have Hu Li."
"But what about these two children?" The village head’s wife touched Qin Xiangnuan’s little head, "They can’t go back to the Qin family anymore, if they really did go back, Hu Li would devour these little ones."
"Indeed," the village chief was also troubled by these issues, "Children without mothers are really pitiful."
"That’s right," the village chief’s wife recalled, "Didn’t Chen Laosan from our village move to the city and said he won’t be coming back? His house has been empty for years now, though it’s a bit old, a cleanup would make it livable, and the fireplace and stove are still there. Originally, whatever Chen Laosan could sell, he sold; what couldn’t be sold stayed there. Our house has a few old pots that we don’t use anymore, but they are still in good condition, let’s give them to the two children."
"Thank you, village chief grandfather, village chief grandmother," Qin Xiangyang choked up a bit, probably realizing that he and his sister at least had a place to live.
"Let’s do this, I’ll go get the keys for you, since nobody is there, you two can live there for now, we’ll talk about the future later." The village chief sighed, then went into the inner room and took out a set of keys, handing them to Qin Xiangyang, "Take these keys, and you can also borrow grandpa’s tricycle."
"Thank you, grandfather, thank you..." Qin Xiangyang could only utter words of gratitude, unable to say anything else.
He took Qin Xiangnuan’s little hand and went to the place where Chen Laosan used to live, which was an adobe house with many broken roof tiles, but it was, at least, a place to shelter from the weather.
Opening the door, inside was a desolate courtyard with a huge parasol tree in the middle. It was winter now, all the leaves had fallen, and the courtyard was covered in leaves, the bare tree stood stark and thick layers of dust had settled everywhere.
There was also a big well in the courtyard, but it was unknown if it still could pump water.
"Don’t move from here, brother will check around first." Qin Xiangyang placed his hands on his sister’s shoulders.
"Okay." Qin Xiangnuan nodded obediently, despite being covered in wounds, she felt it was worth it.
Qin Xiangyang, for some reason, felt a surge of excitement as if there was curiosity and wonder everywhere – perhaps it was because he and his sister finally had a home of their own. He hurriedly ran to the well to try pumping the water.
After several pumps, the initial water was dirty, but after a while, clear and bright water came out, and the water quality was particularly good – it was probably one of the rare sweet water wells in the village.