When Wen Nuan woke up again, the sky was already turning dark. Everything that could be moved from the house had already been taken away. Only the wide wooden bed she slept on remained; the old cabinets and table were all gone, leaving the room looking empty and desolate.
When Wen Ran saw Wen Nuan awake, she immediately fetched the medicine that had been simmering on the stove and gave it to her.
Wen Nuan took the bowl, drank a mouthful, and immediately recognized the ingredients. The prescription was indeed for her condition, though not very effective. Still, she drank it all down without hesitation.
"Big Sis, we can move now." Wen Ran watched her finish drinking the medicine and, glancing at the cramped firewood shed, felt a little emotional and said softly, "This place can't even hold the firewood rack anymore."
"In the future, you'll definitely live in a big house. A brick house! Warm in winter and cool in summer," she added, trying to comfort her.
Wen Ran's words made the others burst into laughter. "Yeah, a house that actually looks like a house."
Wen Nuan smiled but didn't respond.
Go to that house?She will built her own house; of course, hers would be better.
"Did Nuan eat yet? Grandma's will wrap you up nice and warm." At that moment, Granny Wang came in. Without waiting for Wen Nuan's reply, she gently wrapped her in a patched quilt, placing a cloth hat on her head, revealing only a pair of eyes.
Wen Jiarou came in then too, lifted Wen Nuan up, carried her outside, and laid her on a straw mat in the courtyard. He then took the wooden bed she had slept on and placed it on the mat as well. "Nuan, Ran , let's go. We're moving to our new house!"l
"Okay!" Wen Ran replied cheerfully.
"Nuan, you get in the cart. I'll push you over," Jiarou said.
"No need. I'll just walk over," she waved her hand, striding ahead quickly. She didn't want to fall behind.
Wen Jiarou pushed the cart forward, heading toward the village entrance.
In the corner, Granny Wang wiped her eyes secretly, her heart sinking like a stone.
Wen Nuan glanced at the green brick house.
It was originally Wang's house—a tiled one with brick walls. But because the previous owner needed money for treatment, it was sold to the Zhu family.
Not only the house—she even sold the fields to the Zhus.
Didn't Granny Wang feel pain?
In the future, she would give Mrs.wang an even bigger, better house.
As they were leaving, the upstairs door opened. Mrs Zhu glanced out. "What a coincidence," she thought. "She's leaving just as I came out."
"Better not come here again," Wen Nuan thought silently.
The hut was at the edge of the village and took about fifteen minutes to reach.
The shelter had already been rebuilt into a bamboo house by Wen Jiarou and the local village mens.
The walls were freshly woven with bamboo strips, the roof was covered in thatch, and the floor had been newly cleared of weeds and packed with yellow mud. The air still carried the scent of bamboo and the freshness of earth.
Below the warehouse, they had built a large room on the old straw mat frame.
At this moment, there were several people in the courtyard around Wen Jiarou's age, and two boys were still weaving bamboo strips.
As they approached, the workers paused, some even stood up and greeted them warmly.
Wen Ran saw them and called out cheerfully, "Guangrong Uncle, Quan Uncle, Fu Uncle!"
She repeated the greetings sweetly for each uncle.
Wen Nuan also gave a greeting nod.
A few of them smiled and nodded back, then returned to their work.
All of them were villagers, good at manual labor. Wen Nuan saw each person clearly assigned to their task—one cutting bamboo, one splitting it, two weaving walls, and three making bamboo mats. Everyone was skilled and quick.
Even Wen Ran felt inspired and dashed off to help.
Wen Jiarou carried Wen Nuan into the house, placed her on the wooden bed they had brought over, and said, "Nuan, you sit here. Dad's going to make your bed."
Then he went out, carried over four wooden planks, and nailed them together to form the bed frame. He brought in a few bamboo slats and nailed them into one corner, then added more to form a simple bamboo bed.
He even tied a piece of bamboo across four posts to hang the patched mosquito net. Then he laid the old mattress on top. The whole process took less than half an hour.
Wen Jiarou patted Wen Nuan :"Nuan, just hold on a bit longer. Dinner will be ready soon."
He smiled warmly.
Wen Nuan gave him a small nod.
Wen Jiarou quickly stepped out to help reinforce the courtyard walls.
That night, the sky was completely dark by the time they finished. Everyone was exhausted.
Wu Shi borrowed some rice flour from a neighbor, cooked porridge and steamed buns, and picked some greens from the garden for a simple meal.
Master Wen dropped off a piece of meat, saying he had bought too much and couldn't finish it.
He left without staying long or even giving anyone a chance to talk to him.
Granny Wang helped supplement the meal and insisted on inviting the villagers who helped to join them, worried they hadn't eaten well.
She really hated and loved this man at the same time!
Wang took the meat and gave it to Wu Shi, who used the simple ingredients to make a meal. It was a humble meal made for the villagers who helped build the bamboo house.
When it was time to eat, Wu Shi and her mother-in-law brought the children inside to eat, while Wen Jiarou and a few villagers ate in the courtyard.
Wen Nuan glanced at her own bowl, then looked at the others.
Her bowl of thick porridge had some shredded meat in it—it smelled very fragrant.
The others only had thin porridge, just watery rice soup. You couldn't even spot a single grain of rice in it.
Granny Wang said loudly and cheerfully: "Let's eat!"
Everyone raised their bowls and happily took a sip of hot porridge.
On a plate were three black buns. Wang Shi handed one to Wen Nuan:
"Nuan, take one bun. Luo and Qiao-jie will share one, Chun-ge and Hou-ge can share half each."
They hadn't had buns in a long time. If not for today's house move, Mrs Wu wouldn't have sacrificed precious ingredients to make these for the children.
Wen Nuan took a bun, but didn't eat it.
Wen Chun, a bit older and resembles Wen Jiarou, held her hand and said,
"Grandma, I don't want a bun. Let Nuan eat it."
Wen Nuan's stomach rumbled, and she gulped down the porridge.
"Grandma, I don't want the bun. Let the kids eat it. I'm already full!"
That night, Wen Nuan didn't know if she was full or not, but she definitely overate compared to usual. Nothing was wasted.
"Qiao-jie, wait a moment."
Wen Nuan split her bun into two halves, placing one each into Wen Chun and Wen lou's bowls. Then she took another bowl of thick porridge and gave it to Hou-ge and Qiao-jie, one each.
Just as she was about to distribute another bowl to the other kids, the expressions of several people around her changed!
Wang Shi hurriedly grabbed her hand:
"Nuan, what are you doing?"
Wen Nuan replied calmly:
"It's meat porridge. Let's all eat together."
In their memory, it had been half a year since the whole family had eaten meat.
Let alone meat—who knew how long it had been since they had a proper meal.
"No, Nuan," Wang Shi said, "Your health isn't good, and meat is needed to nourish your body. We've all eaten already. Grandma had hers earlier. If you're thirsty, drink some porridge water instead."
Wu Shi also nodded:
"I already had a bowl of meat porridge while cooking. You should eat more, Nuan!"
The two of them took the porridge that had already been mixed and started replacing it with plain hot porridge.
Wen Nuan handed the half bun back to the children.
Wen Chun put half his bun into Wen Nuan's bowl: "Sister Nuan, don't hold back. I already ate at my uncle's. Eat up!"
Adults need strength to recover, and once you're healthy, everything else will be fine.
Then he put the rest of his bun into Wen Nuan's bowl: "Sister Nuan, second brother also ate at the neighbors'. His belly's full and bulging. You eat too. Once you're full and healthy, second brother can take you up the mountain to dig for bird's nests!"
he even faked a big burp at the end.
Wen Ran and Wen Luo also said they weren't hungry.
Wen Nuan was sick and needed money and medicine. They didn't care how much they ate; as long as their younger sisters were full.
Wen Nuan quietly put down her bowl: "If you're not eating, then neither am I."
She sat there with a firm expression, like she hadn't eaten either, as if she were one of them.
Family: ""
Wen Nuan changed after drinking rice water?
She never used to be so forceful!
No matter how many people tried to persuade her, Wen Nuan insisted she wouldn't eat unless they did. Finally, no one could refuse anymore. In her teary-eyed stare, the others reluctantly ate half a bun, a bowl of porridge.
Only after she saw everyone eat did Wen Nuan finish her own half bowl of meat porridge.