"Jing Hong, you don’t want to die in the Guo Family, do you?"

"Sister-in-law is telling you a way to survive. As long as you bravely step up, you can live."

"Wha... what do you want to do?" Guo Jinghong’s heart pounded erratically, appearing nervous, as she looked at Yuan Chun with suspicion, longing, and caution. "I’ll do the work you assign me conscientiously. Can you... can you stop hitting me?"

Yuan Chun chuckled, "You haven’t provoked me, so why would I hit you? I just feel sorry for you... However, if you want to continue staying in this family, then pretend I never spoke just now."

Yuan Chun turned back, continuing to roast her eggs, chestnuts, and peanuts to eat.

Guo Jinghong swallowed, glanced yearningly at the food in the wooden basin, then shifted her gaze to Yuan Chun’s somewhat indifferent face, stammering, "Sis... sister-in-law, can you... can you really help me escape this family?"

Without lifting her head, Yuan Chun replied, "Actually, it’s very simple. As long as you take the household register to the neighborhood committee and sign up to go to the countryside, you can leave this family. Of course, the premise is that you have the courage."

"In the countryside, although life is a bit tougher, as long as you work hard on the farm, you won’t go hungry. You’ll even have some money to spend, and no one will scold or hit you every day."

"In short, it’s up to you whether you want to go or not."

"Do you want to go to the countryside to farm, support yourself, and live a life without worries about food and clothing, or do you want to stay with the Guo Family, eating less than the chickens, working harder than the oxen, and getting beaten by Guo Xiaotao every day? Oh, by the way, you’re a junior high school graduate, right? I heard you were an excellent student back then, always ranking first in your grade. Now that the college entrance exam has been reinstated, after you go to the countryside, you can still take the college entrance exam. Even if you don’t get into a university, you might pass a technical school exam and change your life."

Upon hearing this, Guo Jinghong’s heart was finally moved.

She bit her lip and asked, "Why... why are you helping me? If I leave, you’ll have to do all the housework by yourself. My mom won’t do any of it."

"Oh, you don’t need to worry about that."

Yuan Chun kindly handed her an egg, "Want it or not? Here’s one for you."

"No, I won’t eat it."

If her mom came back and saw the eggs were gone, she’d definitely throw a fit, and she didn’t dare eat it. Eating it would surely result in a beating from her mom.

She wasn’t as handy as her sister-in-law.

She couldn’t fight her mom.

Guo Jinghong bit her lip firmly, as if making a decision, and dropped the broom she was holding, heading to her parents’ room.

Soon after, she came back with the household register and rushed to the neighborhood committee.

At noon, when the three people who went to work didn’t return home and ate at the cafeteria, Yuan Chun dug out the fragrant roasted sweet potatoes and old hen from the dirt pile, leaving only two sweet potatoes and a handful of roasted chestnuts for Guo Jinghong and Guo Xiaotao. The rest she intended to take into the room to eat by herself.

Seeing the old hen, Guo Xiaotao lunged at it to snatch it.

But Yuan Chun slapped him away, "Still thinking about taking food from my mouth? Keep dreaming, get lost..."

Guo Xiaotao lay on the ground, rolling and throwing a tantrum, crying and shouting that he wanted to eat the chicken.

Having returned after signing up, Guo Jinghong was holding a sweet potato, eating it happily.

In the past, she had to feed Guo Xiaotao first, and only after he was full could she eat, but by then there was usually nothing left on the table.

Every meal she made was portioned by her mom. While her parents ate, no one thought to leave her anything, so she could only drink a few mouthfuls of soup.

Sometimes, when hunger struck at night, she’d sneak a drink of cold water.