Elena pushed open the unlatched wooden gate. Across the yard, she saw Sofia—hand on the doorframe, head leaning out of the house, ear tilted to listen.

  "Sister Elena! Sister Lucy!"

  Her hearing was too sharp.

  Too bad she stayed indoors all the time. Pale face, messy hair. If her sight was normal, if she groomed herself, if she ran and took in some nutrition like Elena—that small, oval face would be stunning.

  Thinking of this, Elena realized—was it yesterday or today? Lucy had mentioned her face was getting some color. Elena had taken it as a given. She hadn't thought much of it.

  The three siblings were eating. Roan stood up to greet her, but Elena spoke immediately.

  "Sofia gave us vegetables. This is our return gift. Sofia, try it. It’s hot, blow on it first."

  The words fell. A bowl of steaming porridge was out of the basket. Elena placed it steadily on the table in front of Sofia.

  Roan wanted to refuse, but Elena pretended to be angry. She glared at him.

  "This is for Sofia!"

  After she spoke, Elena and Lucy left. Roan looked at the beautifully cooked porridge and remained silent for a few seconds. "It’s fine. Let's eat."

  If it were anything else, Roan would have refused. But Elena called it a return gift. Looking at his sister’s pale, delighted face, he clenched his fist. He stayed silent.

  Although Sofia was blind, if you told her where the bowl and vegetables were, she could eat independently. She sniffed the air, took the spoon from her second brother, scooped some porridge, blew on it gently, and took a bite. Her lips immediately curled up. "So sweet!"

  Marco’s eyes lit up, and he couldn't help but swallow his saliva. Sofia refused to eat alone and insisted on sharing some with her brothers.

  It was indeed very sweet, with the aroma of red dates. Marco ate with great satisfaction but stopped after one small spoonful, refusing to take more. Roan was the same, only tasting a tiny bit. His expression was so serious it didn't look like he was tasting sweetness; it looked like he was being forced to take medicine.

  After the porridge, Marco looked at their own stir-fry with disdain, but he had to eat it.

  Without food, where would the strength to work come from?

  ……

  The busy harvest season had finally come to an end. All the new rice was stored in the air-raid shelter.

  The place smelled of a strange mix of gunpowder and grain. A gray cat lived there to catch mice. Staring at it, Elena remembered her strange rebirth...Finally, they had a break.

  The nearest town to Solana was Beldora. It had a crossroads and a market where people flocked every three days to shop together. Locals called this "going to the fair."

  Elena remembered that five years ago today, she had been dragged to the fair by Sienna, where she met Elias.

  Today, Elena had no intention of meeting that man. She planned to head to the mountain to gather firewood, pick chestnuts, find some wild fruit, or even just some wild vegetables. Once the crowd at the fair thinned out in the afternoon, she would go buy some clay pots.

  Though she could have slept in, Elena still went for her morning run, circling the rice fields, greeting the frogs, and chasing wild rabbits. In the distance, she saw Sienna, Camila, and a few other female soldiers holding hands, waiting for an ox cart to take them to the fair.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Sienna is definitely going to meet Elias, Elena thought with a smirk.

  Beldora Post Office.

  Elias looked like a lost soul as he finished mailing his letter. He looked up at the vast blue sky, his mind in a daze. He had received a letter from home and knew his sister had broken up with her "backer."

  His sister’s breakup was a small matter; the fact that he could no longer return to the city was the real issue.

  Thinking back to the comforting words his family gave him before he left for the countryside, Elias felt a wave of irony. They promised that if he endured for a while, they would definitely arrange a job for him to return. Now, that hope was practically zero.

  Elias’s father was a worker with a bad temper and poor social skills; in the factory, everyone avoided him. For his father to use connections to bring Elias back was harder than climbing to heaven. And his father wasn't just ill-tempered; he was opportunistic. As soon as he heard the sister had hooked up with a wealthy man, he sided with her completely.

  Elias knew his father loved him, but for the sake of profit, Elias could be temporarily tossed aside.

  Elias felt despair. As soon as they arrived in the countryside, they were assigned to harvest and thresh rice. When it got busy, they had to carry loads of grain; if they stumbled and spilled any, they were scolded. It was miserable.

  Elias was the type who couldn't carry anything with his shoulders or lift anything with his hands—he had been pampered at home. He had endured only because of his family's promise to bring him back soon. Now that hope was gone, Elias was falling apart. If the harvest hadn't already ended, he truly felt he would have died in the countryside.

  "What's wrong with him?" Sienna and the others passed by Elias. His dazed, broken expression was truly distressing to look at.

  "I don't know. Should we ask?" someone whispered.

  Since it was a group of girls, they all shook their heads. Too embarrassed. Not appropriate. Elias was a man; he looked lost, but he could still walk. Nothing too bad would happen.

  Sienna didn't even give Elias a second glance. An irrelevant man with no utility was non-existent to her.

  "Sienna’s family is so well-off," someone said enviously.

  "Not only is her family well-off, she’s a great person—so generous. Right, Camila?" an older girl said with a smirk, her thoughts unreadable.

  Camila rolled her eyes, hiding her pride. "You all ate the snacks Sienna’s family sent, so don't be sour. Generosity is one of Sienna’s virtues."

  As she spoke, Camila caught up with Sienna. The people behind her curled their lips. Everyone knew Camila only spoke up for Sienna because Sienna had promised her benefits to keep her in the barracks.

  Still, Sienna’s generosity was a virtue. At least for them, it was a massive plus. They had to keep helping Camila butter up Sienna if they wanted to keep getting snacks.