As soon as her words fell, Qing Cai immediately chimed in, "Sister Qi, the name you gave me is so lovely. From now on, I'll be called Yan Qing."
Qi Huan smiled and gently patted the double buns on her head, holding her chubby little hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. It felt wonderful.
Leading her into the room, Qi Huan paused. "This is where you'll stay from now on. Tidy up first, and I'll go cook."
"Okay, Sister Qi, you go ahead."
After responding, Yan Qing swept the room clean and then skipped along behind her teacher to fetch bedding and clothes from the Welfare Institute.
It was her first day at home, so Qi Huan carefully selected ingredients, planning to make dishes that children enjoy.
After making savory dishes like sweet and sour ribs, cola chicken wings, and braised spare ribs, she also stir-fried sour and spicy shredded potatoes, braised eggplant with string beans, and more, filling the table.
Yan Qing sniffed the delicious aroma, happily flitting about like a little sparrow, scampering into the kitchen to help carry bowls and chopsticks.
While they ate, Qi Huan also received a notification from the system: "Good deed +3, points +102."
"It seems Shu is still valuable."
Treating an ordinary person to a meal, +1 point.
Treating Li Shuchen to a meal, +100 points.
With this in mind, Qi Huan used her chopsticks to place a rib in Li Shuchen's bowl, rewarding her strongest point-earning tool.
Glancing at the rib in her bowl, Li Shuchen returned a chopstick-full of cabbage to her.
Yan Wu and Yan Qing both looked perplexed, exchanging glances. Wasn't this just wasting time? With the time spent passing food back and forth, they could have finished another bowl of rice.
After the meal, Yan Wu went to wash the dishes.
Yan Qing sat on the eaves, basking in the sun, rubbing her round belly, squinting happily like a little cat.
"Sister Qi, your cooking is so delicious! I couldn't help but have three bowls at lunch, burp~"
A nine-year-old girl ate three bowls of white rice, plus various dishes.
Truly, no small amount.
Worried she might get indigestion, Qi Huan quickly asked, "Would you like some digestive medicine?"
Upon hearing this, Yan Qing hurriedly clutched her belly.
"No, no need!"
"Sister Qi, this is my normal meal portion."
"I often eat three bowls of rice. Then, before the next meal, I'll squat over a toilet, and I can eat another three bowls."
Yan Qing continued, "This morning, I also had three bowls. But Big Brother Yan Wu didn't make enough noodles, so I only planned to have one bowl at first.
Then Sister Tao Su said she didn't have much appetite after waking up, so she poured half a bowl of her noodles into mine.
And the newcomer Zhao Man has an appetite like a little kitten. He only had two bites last night, and two more this morning. I didn't want it to go to waste, so I volunteered to finish his portion..."
Yan Qing prattled on, but Qi Huan's thoughts drifted away.
Zhao Man didn't want to eat?
Perhaps she had pulled him out of the mire, but not his heart.
In her previous life, she had heard that after a disaster, some people might initially appear normal, but slowly develop post-traumatic stress disorder.
An eight-year-old child, losing both parents in a single night to a mudslide, burying all of his relatives - his heart must feel empty.
Sighing quietly, Qi Huan returned to her room and took out some sorghum cakes from her space, unwrapping the sugar paper and rewrapping them in neatly cut oiled paper.
Seeing her about to go out, Yan Qing hurried to follow. As a qualified bodyguard, even if Sister Qi went to the toilet, she would stand guard outside! Not a single fly would be allowed in!
Each lost in their own thoughts, the two made their way to the Welfare Institute. Little Stone and the others were still out delivering food and hadn't returned yet.
Zhao Man sat alone on a small stool, gazing up at the wind-blown leaves on the branches, looking dazed and wooden. Hearing approaching footsteps, he showed no reaction until he saw Qi Huan, his eyes flickering slightly.
Qi Huan smiled warmly at him and handed him a sorghum cake. "When your heart is heavy, have a piece of candy. I hope it can bring you a hint of sweetness."
Numbly accepting it, Zhao Man didn't eat it.
"Are you missing your parents?"
Zhao Man hesitated, then nodded heavily.
Immediately after, a teardrop welled up in his eyes. Then another, and another, until he couldn't hold back his sobs, whimpering like a wounded little animal.
Qi Huan embraced him, gently patting his back.
Once he had vented enough, she released him and handed him a cotton handkerchief.
"Then say your proper goodbyes to them."
Qi Huan stood up, taking his hand and walking him out of the institute gates, away from the shadows beneath the trees.
They first bought incense sticks, paper money, and other ritual offerings. Then she had Yan Wu drive them in a horse-drawn carriage to the valley where the mudslide had occurred.
Following the narrow path trampled by the officials earlier, they soon came upon a patch of blackened, scorched earth. Apart from ashes, there were some unburnt pieces of wood scattered around.
Before burning the offerings, Zhao Man drew a circle on the ground, leaving a gap in the northwest corner - an old custom, leaving an opening for relatives to enter and collect the money.
After drawing the circle, he knelt outside it, using a fire striker to light the candles and paper money, chanting as he burned them: "Father, Mother, come collect your money."
As he chanted, he wiped away tears with the back of his hand. "Father, Mother, let me burn more for you. Will you be able to live better in the underworld then?"
When his parents were alive, they couldn't eat their fill or dress warmly, so he would burn more paper money for them, so they could eat the best food and wear the finest clothes in the afterlife.
Zhao Man's thin shoulders shook as he cried, his face streaked with tears.
His parents must have received the copper money he burned for them, right?
Imagining them living better in the underworld than in the human realm, Zhao Man gradually found solace.
After he finished the ritual, Qi Huan originally wanted to help him collect some soil as a memento, but then reconsidered - she didn't know which ashes belonged to his parents.
What if she accidentally collected the ashes of hardened criminals instead? How disrespectful that would be.
Initially, the bodies of the deceased convicts and civilians were mixed together. After just two nights, the stench began. To prevent an epidemic, the warden ordered that no more identification be done, and the bodies were burned on site. So all the ashes were mingled.
Coming back to her senses, Qi Huan looked up at the sun - it was getting late, so she called Zhao Man to prepare for their return.
On the carriage ride back.
Zhao Man clutched the hem of his clothes, looking slightly uncomfortable as he said, "Sister Qi, thank you for helping me buy paper money and bringing me to pay respects to my parents. And thank you for saving my life back then."
"Actually, before this, I had also received your kindness. When Sister Qi distributed porridge every month at the beginning of the month, my parents would take me to queue up early. Sister Qi's porridge was sticky and sweet, the most delicious thing I've ever eaten."
Enumerating her kindness with sincerity in his eyes, Zhao Man said, "Sister Qi, may I follow you and work for you, to repay your kindness through my actions?"
