Chapter 127: Chapter 127: No Need to Blame Yourself

A loud BANG echoed in her ears. The air filled with the scent of popcorn, and if you sniffed carefully, you could even detect the faint sweetness of saccharin.

The two scents blended perfectly, carried by the heat of the blast and spreading all around.

At the sound of the BANG, the children cheered and jumped for joy, without a trace of fear.

A little boy with a runny nose came forward, gleefully holding open a white flour sack to collect his share of the hot, steaming popcorn.

"Aah—ooh ooh—haha!"

"So hot, so hot!"

The little boy eagerly grabbed a few pieces of popcorn and shoved them into his mouth. They were scalding, but he couldn’t bear to spit them out.

The simple act of making popcorn brought so much life to the village.

An Ning found herself liking this kind of life more and more.

"Sis—it’s our turn!"

An Guoping was a big kid himself, and while he stood out among the crowd of children, he didn’t mind at all.

An Ning stepped forward to stand beside An Guoping. The corn they’d brought was already in the popcorn maker.

"You like it that much?"

An Guoping grinned foolishly at An Ning. "I do. This will last us a long time."

"This was our favorite snack when we were kids."

That was another reason An Guoping loved it.

An Ning smiled without a word. She had no memory of that time.

"It’s almost ready! Almost ready!"

An Guoping tugged on An Ning’s sleeve, and An Ning followed his gaze forward.

When the old man stood up to pop the corn, An Ning instinctively covered her ears. It wasn’t that she was scared, just that they were too close.

"BANG!"

With another loud bang, the corn kernels exploded, turning into plump, round popcorn that tumbled inside the bag.

An Guoping rushed to the other end of the bag, waiting for the old man to open it.

"Sis, try some?"

An Guoping stood to the side, holding the bag of popcorn. He handed a piece to An Ning.

An Ning walked over, took the piece of popcorn, and put it in her mouth.

It wasn’t quite crispy yet, but it had a fragrant sweetness to its soft crunch. Before she could even properly taste the single kernel, it was gone.

’It’s a little addictive, like eating boiled peanuts.’

"It’s good, right? Here you go, Sis."

An Guoping offered her another handful. After An Ning took it, she finally noticed something was off.

The popcorn in her palm was missing the tough hulls from the kernels.

She glanced at An Guoping’s profile. He was meticulously picking the little hulls off each piece of popcorn.

Once they were clean, he happily handed them to An Ning.

As An Ning accepted the popcorn again, a hazy memory surged into her mind.

A younger An Guoping had done the exact same thing.

This was little An Guoping’s way of taking care of the An Ning from before.

An Guoping had always believed it was his fault that An Ning had become the way she was.

"Guoping."

"Hm?"

An Guoping tilted his head with a dopey expression, waiting for An Ning to speak.

An Ning stopped and placed her hand over his, stopping him from peeling the popcorn hulls.

"I’m only going to say this once, so listen carefully."

An Ning’s serious tone made An Guoping sober up as well, the smile vanishing from his face.

"An Guoping, you don’t need to take responsibility for anything that’s happened to me, and you certainly don’t need to feel guilty. You’re my little brother. Just keep being my little brother, and that’s enough."

An Ning patted the back of An Guoping’s hand, nodded at him with a faint smile, and then walked on ahead.

Behind her, An Guoping desperately fought back his tears, but the burning sensation in his nose gave way, and they stubbornly began to flow.

An Guoping shoved a handful of popcorn into his mouth, choking back the cry that threatened to erupt. He threw his head back and chewed with large, forceful bites.

The brother and sister returned home, one walking ahead of the other.

By the time he got home, An Guoping was back to his usual self, handing out popcorn to everyone from the bag.

When he reached An Ning, he pulled a large handful from his own pocket.

"Sis, these are for you."

"I just want to give you the best ones."

An Ning looked at the perfectly de-hulled popcorn in her palm and accepted it with a happy smile. "I love it," she said.

The two siblings exchanged a smile. An Guoping, looking a little embarrassed, scratched his head and turned to leave.

They went through half the bag of popcorn that same day.

It was the kind of thing you’d just grab a handful of whenever you were bored.

You’d munch away until it was gone, and then you’d just grab another handful.

An Ning ate her fair share, too, so she wasn’t very hungry when dinnertime came.

As night fell, many families were discussing the upcoming land distribution, calculating how many people they had and which plots of land were best.

An Sancheng and Lin Cuihua were also talking, but their lines of thought were completely different.

In the west room, An Sancheng lay on the kang, muttering to himself, "If our daughter really decides to take on that mountain, we should sell those things."

"Then sell them."

Lin Cuihua rolled over and said to An Sancheng in the pitch-dark room, "Do you think the baby in our eldest’s wife’s belly will count as a person for the land distribution?"

"What? I doubt it. It’s a headcount. How can you count someone who hasn’t been born yet?"

Displeased, Lin Cuihua kicked An Sancheng. "Nonsense! Of course the baby is going to come out!"

"What a pity. The timing is just off. That’s almost an acre of land we’re talking about."

An Sancheng chuckled in the darkness.

"You’re a funny one. You don’t bat an eye when I talk about selling things to raise money for our daughter, yet you’re upset about this? Isn’t that pile of stuff worth more than the half-acre of land you’re losing?"

"What the hell do you know!"

"That half-acre is land we’re entitled to. We’re only missing out because of a few months, so of course it hurts!"

Lin Cuihua lay flat on her back and stared at the ceiling. "What’s there to feel bad about when it’s for our daughter? All this stuff will be theirs sooner or later anyway. Besides, if it weren’t for our girl, would this family be living the way we are now?"

"I’m telling you, those things should go to An Ning. If the eldest and the others have a problem with it, they can just keep it to themselves."

Lin Cuihua’s tirade made An Sancheng chuckle softly.

"They won’t. Our boys... they won’t."

The couple continued to chat, and eventually, the conversation turned to An Ning’s marriage prospects.

"What kind of man do you think our daughter will look for?"

The topic of An Ning’s marriage made An Sancheng sit up and lean against the wall.

"Let me tell you, neither of us should interfere in this. We should let our daughter find someone on her own."

Lin Cuihua sat up too, facing in An Sancheng’s direction.

"How could that possibly work? How many men has she even met? If he’s no good, I won’t be able to keep my mouth shut."

"That’s not what I mean. I’m saying, let her find someone herself, and once she does, we can vet him. But we shouldn’t get involved with matchmaking or things like that. It’s not that I look down on the men in this village; there just isn’t anyone suitable for her here."

An Sancheng had thought about this long ago. An Ning wasn’t destined to spend her entire life in the village.

Even though she loved farming now, a capable person like her needed to find someone she could talk to on her level.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to build a life together.

After discussing An Ning, the old couple moved on to their second son and Lao San.

Their final conclusion was that they didn’t need to worry about the second son, and they didn’t need to worry about Lao San either.

They were all destined to leave the village; arranging their marriages would only hold them back.

When their conversation ended, both felt a sense of wistful loss.

"They’re all grown up."