Xiaolin changed to holding Grandma Liu's hand, as paths less traveled by villagers were overgrown and difficult to navigate. Hui Ning took the lead, clearing small trees with a knife to make a path, but she also kept an eye out for anything they might be able to collect.

    Xiaolin observed that the forest was more lush than the areas outside, which had been cleared by villagers for paths and for daily foraging, leaving it sparse and almost barren. But this part of the forest still had dense, green foliage, promising the possibility of finding something worthwhile to take back.

    The little face looked around for anything edible, but the dense growth made it hard to see. After a while, they came across a small stream, and all three stopped to drink water and refresh themselves.

    "This must be the same stream that flows out towards the village," Grandma Liu remarked, using her wrinkled hands to splash water on her face for a refresh.

    "It must be, come here and wash up quickly, Xiaolin," Hui Ning responded to the elderly woman before beckoning her daughter, who was staring off to the other side of the stream.

    Xiaolin tore her gaze away from the brown tuft she saw peeking out from the bushes and walked over to her mother. Hui Ning pulled her daughter closer and scooped up cool water to moisten her little face, making it damp. The child hurriedly wiped her face with the hem of her shirt and looked back at the same spot. The bushes trembled slightly, but she still couldn't make out what was hidden there.

    'It must be a wild rabbit,' Xiaolin thought to herself while nodding vigorously at her own conclusion.

    Shifting her focus from the bushes, Xiaolin scanned the area further. Not far from the stream, she spotted a large patch of green vines with purple tips spreading across the ground. The familiar plant brought a smile to her face, and she excitedly hopped towards it, pointing out her discovery before turning to call her mother loudly.

    "Mother! There are sweet potatoes over there!"

    Hui Ning, who was looking for a place to rest, turned towards her daughter's voice. She saw her little girl jumping around like a rabbit, pointing towards a spot on the opposite side of the small stream.

    "Where is it? Do you know what sweet potato plants look like?" The slim figure walked towards her daughter, followed by Grandma Liu, who, hearing the word 'sweet potato,' quickly got up, forgetting her fatigue.

    "Father told me about it. It's growing on that side. Mother, let's hurry and dig up the sweet potatoes," the little one shook her mother's hand. She longed for something other than the scant rice porridge with sea fish they usually had. At the very least, sweet potatoes could be easily roasted and eaten.

    "Should we go check it out? Rice has been so expensive lately. If we find a lot of it, it could last us for days," Grandma Liu exclaimed with excitement and joy.

    These days, she and her grandson were struggling with food scarcity. She dared not let him go out to sea like many other men did. Their days were spent foraging in the forest and looking for work in the city, which was increasingly hard to find.

    With the price of rice soaring every day, the little money they had was not enough to buy rice. Finding an alternative to rice would significantly help.

    "Let's try crossing it. The water in the stream is shallow enough,"

     Hui Ning looked at the water level, which seemed to not even reach the knees, and nodded in agreement. A young woman and an elderly woman quickly went back to grab their baskets placed not too far away. Xiaolin was then lifted up by her mother, her feet dangling at her waist, and together, they waded through the water to the other side.

    Once across, Xiaolin was set down on the ground. She ran with her short legs towards the area full of sweet potato vines. The little figure bent down to pull at the vines, her backside sticking out, but she couldn't manage to pull out the roots. Hui Ning and Grandma Liu watched, laughing affectionately at the child's adorable efforts.

    "HUFF HUFF! Why is it so hard to pull out?" Xiaolin stood with hands on her hips, frowning. Despite trying for a long time, she couldn't pull them out.

    "Go sit and wait, darling. Grandma Liu and I will dig them up."

    "Oh, okay," Xiaolin sighed heavily. She looked down at her small hands, feeling a bit disheartened. With such small hands, everything seemed so difficult.

    "Look how much there is. The two of us could be digging for days," Grandma Liu looked around excitedly.

    "Yes. But if my husband and his brother return early today, I might bring them back here to dig for another round. Grandma Liu, would you join us? I'll have my husband help carry your share out," Hui Ning turned and asked kindly, remembering how Grandma Liu had once offered food to her husband and his brother during tough times.

    "That sounds good. I guess I'll have to trouble you all. It will be quite late by the time A-Hao comes back," the elderly woman nodded in agreement, setting her basket down beside her and pulling out a knife.

    "There's some bamboo over there; I'll go cut some to make a simple digging stick. It will be better than using a knife, which could become dull. The soil here seems soft enough, so it shouldn't be too hard to dig," Hui Ning said, noticing a small bamboo grove not far away. Grandma Liu nodded in agreement, and the young woman went to cut a piece of bamboo suitable for hand use, then sat down to craft a simple digging stick for harvesting sweet potatoes.

    "Here you go, let's start digging."

    The two of them sat down to dig up sweet potatoes and filled their baskets with joy. The sweet potatoes were unusually large, unlike wild ones, resembling those well-tended rather than naturally grown.

    Xiaolin glanced at her mother and Grandma Liu, who were diligently digging sweet potatoes, and then wandered off towards the area where she had seen the brown tuft earlier. It wasn't far, and within a few breaths, she reached the spot. The bush was still slightly shaking, so she cautiously approached to investigate, finding a fuzzy brown animal hiding as if it was concealing something.

    "Eh, a calf?" Her eyes widened at the sight of the little calf that seemed to have been born not long ago, but its fur was already dry, suggesting it might be around two to three days old.

    Xiaolin looked around for its mother but found no sign of her, so she stepped closer.

    "Little one, why are you here all alone? And where is your mother?" Xiaolin spoke gently behind the little calf.

    The calf turned to look at the human close to its size, then awkwardly got up, struggling a bit since it had been lying down too long and was still not very stable on its feet, having been born only recently. Moreover, it hadn't drunk any milk for several days and was weak.

    Moo~

    The little calf walked towards the girl, making a soft sound, and affectionately rubbed its head against the little human. It had been hiding here for two days without seeing its mother come to fetch it, and now it was so hungry that it was nearly out of strength.

    Xiaolin looked at the calf's weakened state with sympathy. She raised her head to look around again, but there was still no sign of the mother cow. The calf stood on shaky legs, clearly unstable and probably exhausted from hunger.

    "Oh, little one, are you hungry? Come, there should be a cow with a calf in the village. I'll ask my mother to get some milk for you," she patted the little calf's head sympathetically. The tiny creature seemed to understand her, standing and looking up at the little human with big, pleading eyes, making Xiaolin feel a strong bond with it.

    It must have been separated from its mother. The calf was still fluffy but looked a bit thin. It would be even cuter if it were fatter. She went to pull a small vine to tie around the calf's neck and led it back to where her mother and Grandma Liu were digging up sweet potatoes.

    "These are so big; I won't be able to finish them, haha," Grandma Liu laughed cheerfully as she unearthed a particularly large sweet potato, showing it to Hui Ning.

    "With this size, you'll have to eat it over two meals," Hui Ning laughed along with the elderly woman.

    "Mother," Xiaolin came up behind her mother with the little calf. Hui Ning turned to find her daughter and a calf about the size of a person being led on a leash, looking puzzled.

    "Where did you find this calf? Its mother might come looking for it and attack you, sweetheart."

    Hui Ning quickly got up and walked over to her daughter, looking at the little calf sympathetically. It appeared tired but also wary that its mother might come looking for it. Mother cows, especially wild ones not accustomed to humans, could be quite aggressive.

    "I only saw this little calf hiding in the bushes. It must have been waiting for its mother for several days. Look, it seems very tired and hungry," Xiaolin gently stroked the calf's head, which affectionately nuzzled her shoulder.

    Hui Ning looked worriedly at both the girl and the calf, who gazed back at her with big, pleading eyes. She was still concerned about the mother coming to find it but couldn't help feeling sorry for the little calf, which was thin and covered in long hair, indicating it was only a few days old.

    "Alright, I'm almost done digging up the sweet potatoes. Just wait a bit longer, dear," Hui Ning sighed before nodding in agreement.

    "You're the best, Mother!" The child jumped up and hugged her mother's waist tightly, overjoyed. Hui Ning didn't hug back because her hands were dirty, so she let her daughter hug her to her heart's content.

    "Old Lady Zhang in our village has a cow with a calf. Let's go buy some cow's milk from her for it to drink, Hui Ning. I'll go tell Old Lady Zhang in advance," Grandma Liu added.

    "Thank you, Grandma. Let's hurry up and finish digging then," Hui Ning quickly returned to her digging as the basket was almost full. Grandma Liu, having dug only half a basket because it was too heavy for her to carry, had Xiaolin's mother carry her back across the stream while Grandma Liu helped lead the little calf across.

    Upon returning home, Xiaolin sat watching over the little calf on the porch, while Hui Ning took a smaller basket filled with sweet potatoes to take to Old Lady Zhang and buy some milk. Old Lady Zhang, upon seeing the sole daughter of her actual granddaughter coming to ask for cow's milk, gave it without asking for any money in return, but she had to milk it herself.

    The calf, sensing the smell of milk, hurriedly pushed its nose into the milk jug that Hui Ning was holding in eagerness, obviously starving. Hui Ning then grabbed a small wooden bucket to pour the milk into for the calf to drink, saving the other half for its evening meal.

    "Are you hungry yet, dear? I'll bring out the rice we prepared this morning for you to eat," Hui Ning asked, since they had returned from the forest before noon and hadn't unwrapped the rice yet. Xiaolin nodded, her cheeks wobbling in agreement.

    "Yes, please, Mother," the child eagerly accepted the rice packet and ate deliciously. Even though it was just rice with grilled fish, it was incredibly tasty, thanks to Hui Ning's excellent cooking skills. Before marrying Tang Tianrong, she had worked in a tavern kitchen in the city.

    "Is that father and uncle coming?" the little hand pointed towards the silhouettes of two people pushing a wooden cart coming into view.

    "Yes, it looks like they sold well today since they are returning earlier than usual," Hui Ning responded to her daughter, putting aside the rice packet and standing up to prepare a meal for her husband and his brother, returning early like this, they surely hadn't had their noon meal yet.

    "Father!" Xiaolin called out to her dad as he walked into the yard, her small hand waving eagerly at him while beaming with a wide smile.

    "Are you eating, my child?" Tianrong looked at his little daughter, who had called out with such a clear voice. Just seeing her cheerful little face made all the tiredness from his day's work seem to vanish.

    "Yes, Father, Uncle, come sit here quickly. I will go get some water for you to drink," the little one jumped down from the porch, not too high, and her small figure dashed into the house, soon returning with a small cup filled with boiled water set aside for drinking.

    Tianchen crouched down, curiously watching the unfamiliar little calf that was eagerly drinking milk from the bucket before a small hand offered him a cup of water.

    "Thank you. And where did this one come from?" the young man accepted the cup of water, drank, and then asked.

    "I found it in the forest. It must have been abandoned by its mother," Xiaolin petted the little calf, which was now contentedly full of milk and gratefully nuzzled the young girl.

    “Giggle.”

    "Please eat, my dear. Tianchen, let's rest for a bit, and then I'll take you into the forest. Today, Xiaolin and I found a sweet potato field. If we manage to dig them all up, we could have enough to last us a month," Hui Ning brought out a tray of food for her husband and his brother to eat, placing it on the porch. Tianchen's attention shifted from the calf as he went to sit on the porch.

    "That would be great, considering the price of rice these days. But how did you find it? If there were so many, the villagers would have already harvested them," Tianrong handed a bowl of rice and chopsticks to his brother while engaging in conversation with his wife.

    "It was Xiaolin who suggested we go off the villagers' usual path. But we didn't go deep, and Grandma Liu was with us, too."

    "Is that so? And is Grandma Liu going to dig some more?" Tianrong asked, eating his grilled fish and rice porridge with voracity, while his brother quietly ate beside him, though his hands moved quickly through the food.

    "Yes, she's getting old and couldn't carry much back, so I told her to wait for you guys to help bring more back," Tianrong nodded at his wife's explanation, not objecting. It was common for villagers to assist each other with small tasks.

    "Before you came back, I traded some sweet potatoes for milk for the little calf. Old Lady Zhang said she would buy some if we got a lot, to keep for eating," Hui Ning explained.

    "There's no need for her to pay. After all, that little one will be relying on her cow's milk for months to come. Give her a sackful," Tianrong gestured dismissively, indicating if there were enough sweet potatoes, they could afford to share because they would still need to ask for milk for the little calf anyway.

    "Alright, honey," Hui Ning smiled broadly, grateful to have such a kind and generous husband.