Auntie Sun looked at the skinny little girl and the fierce determination in her eyes. For a moment, she couldn't find the right words and sighed. She said, "It would be best if you could enroll in the army. Then, I'll ask Qiliang to take care of you. Let me know if you ever need any help, little girl."

"Okay, thank you, Auntie."

Auntie Sun didn't stay for too long. She left after she said all those things.

Gu Yan turned around and entered the westside room. She gathered some wearable clothes, a pair of green rubber shoes, and a pair of white sneakers that were yellowing before stuffing them in her bag.

After she finished doing all those things, she flipped up the mat on the heatable brick bed. There was a squashed small fabric pouch. She opened it, confirming that there was a bit more than fifty yuan inside; she accumulated this money slowly over the years.

Of course, Zhang Lan did not know about this money.

Even Gu Moli, who slept in the same heatable brick bed with Gu Yan, didn't know about it.

Then, Gu Yan went to the kitchen and made herself a big pot of noodle soup. Then, she roasted two sweet potatoes and two potatoes in the fire pit. She waited for them to cool off and wrapped them up in newspaper.

Next, she filled the empty military water bottle with cold water.

Gu Yan organized everything in her backpack, then she hid the backpack in a compartment in the heatable brick bed.

Once she got full and got everything ready, Gu Yan took her basin and splashed water everywhere, especially on the floor in the westside room. Then, she buried herself under her blanket, lied down on the heatable brick bed, and forgot about everything.

Didn't Zhang Lan and others say that she was possessed? Then she was going to show them what being possessed looked like!

But Gu Yan still took out the jade pendant around her neck. She saw the small seedling inside was still wilted and droopy, and she couldn't summon the green light anymore.

Gu Yan was utterly flummoxed.

Zhang Lan didn't come home at noon. She went to Ironsmith Wang's house located on the east end of the village with Matchmaker Madam Li. Ironsmith Wang was in his forties, but he had been married to two women who had both died. He only had a daughter aged sixteen or seventeen, but his daughter was extremely timid; she would run away whenever she encountered someone. Most of the time, she lived at the village head's house with his daughter.

Speaking of which, Ironsmith Wang and the village head were sort of related, or else he wouldn't be able to live at the east end of the village.

Once he understood why Zhang Lan and Matchmaker Madam Li were here, Ironsmith Wang, who was in his forties, glanced at Zhang Lan's voluptuous body and agreed to the proposal.

His body was tall and broad, and he had a full-grown beard along his jaw.

Ironsmith Wang took out a stack of ten yuan bills. There were exactly ten bills. He laughed and said, "This is the betrothal gift for your daughter from me!"

[TL Note: This was a Chinese pre-wedding custom. Before the wedding day, the groom will deliver the betrothal gifts to the bride's family.]

Matchmaker Madam Li's eyes glistened when she saw that money and started drooling.

That was a hundred yuan!

When Zhang Lan worked as a nanny, she made a little more than a hundred yuan every month. But after she swapped the babies, she no longer dared to stay in the Bai Family and found an excuse to return to the village.

Their family wasn't exactly well-off during these years, so when Zhang Lan saw these one hundred yuan, greed emerged from her eyes as well.

While reaching out for the money, she said, "I'm so sorry; I didn't prepare any betrothal gifts for your daughter yet."

Ironsmith Wang touched her hand conveniently. He was very bold, so much that he didn't even try to hide it from Matchmaker Madam Li on the side.

Especially when he saw that Zhang Lan didn't even get mad and glowered at him in a coquettish manner, Ironsmith Wang felt even more tempted.

Just as they were chatting, Gu Dagang returned home first.

He forgot to bring water for his fieldwork at noon, so he thought that he might as well go home for lunch before going back to work in the field in the afternoon.

He stepped inside the yard and saw the pigs in the pigsty oinking from hunger, yet his home was completely quiet.

Gu Dagang's heart skipped a beat, and he entered the house immediately. He saw the floor covered in water and entered the eastside room first. No one was inside the eastside room, so he went to the westside room.

He saw Gu Yan lying in the heatable brick bed. Her eyes were tightly shut, and her face was stark white.

Gu Dagang became worried. "Yan, wake up. What's wrong?"