Qinglong Prefecture, Yao'an County, Luojia Village.

The sky was intensely overcast today, with a bone-piercing cold wind blowing that made the newly erected white flags on the hill behind flutter loudly, and the ashes of the newly burnt gold paper candles danced through the air.

The village chief tightened his rough, thick clothing and looked at the silent boy standing in front of the grave.

The boy had just turned nine.

He was skinny and dressed in patched blue short coat. The wind had made his lips turn slightly purple.

"Minghai, your parents and grandmother have all been buried. Now you are the head of the family. What is your plan for the future?"

The village chief's empty right sleeve was shaking in the wind, "Your two younger brothers are okay, but little Ying's health..."

Minghai stared at the two newly erected graves in front of him with firm eyes, "She is my sister. I will never give up on her."

The village chief wanted to say something, then stopped.

"Let's go. I will accompany you home and check on little Ying along the way."

The two walked down the hill along the small path towards Minghai's home at the end of the village.

The houses in the village were basically thatched huts, and so was Minghai's home.

Just as they were about to arrive home, a sound of something falling to the ground and a cat-like whimper from a little girl suddenly came from inside.

Minghai's face changed drastically, and he quickly ran over.

The wooden door was pulled open from the inside. A tall and sturdy woman walked out, bumping into Minghai head on.

Upon seeing Minghai, the woman frantically hid the bag she had been holding behind her back, but was still spotted by the observant village chief.

"Aunt Chen, what did you take from Minghai's house!?" The village chief shouted, "Hand it over now!"

Inside the house, a little girl of about three or four lay unmoving on the ground.

The little girl's eyes were tightly shut, her face as pale as a sheet. Her small frame was so frail it looked as though it could break in two at any given moment. A lump about the size of an egg was prominent on her forehead.

A sharp pang of pain seized Minghai's heart. He rushed over and scooped up the little girl, anxiously pleading, "Little sister, little sister!"

Seeing the little girl not react at all, Minghai's eyes reddened as he barked at Aunt Chen, "What have you done to my sister!?"

Aunt Chen's gaze was uneasy as she stammered, "I... I just wanted to borrow some rice, Cherry-girl refused and wanted to fight over it, then she fell down..."

With one glance, the village chief saw through her guilt and rebuffed angrily, "You call this 'borrowing'? This is nothing short of robbery!"

"Minghai's parents died on the battlefield, volunteering to cover the retreat of the elite troops of the Qinglong army, their bodies left behind!"

"When Minghai's grandmother received the news, she was overwhelmed with grief and joined her only son and daughter-in-law in death."

"The little grain they have left was charity rice given by the General's mansion, it's all that's left for Minghai and his three siblings to survive the winter, how could you have the heart to steal?!"

"Aunt Chen, have you no conscience?!"

Aunt Chen retorted indignantly, "I just can't stand to see Minghai waste his silver on a girl who's on her deathbed! Look at Cherry-girl. Born seven months premature, when has her medication ever been discontinued?"

"When her parents were alive, they could avidly use the army's salary to provide for her. But now, her parents are dead. Minghai, with his consolation money of ten taels of silver and fifty kilos of fine rice, instead of planning for himself and his two younger brothers, is lavishly splurging on her!"

"The doctor has already said she won't survive this winter, but for ten taels of ginseng, Minghai purchases it without batting an eye!”

“Compared to their wastefulness, it’s better to borrow some rice for my lively boys and girls at home!"

The boisterous voices of the women around made Mingying's headache unbearable.

Who was causing such a ruckus near her ear?

Were they tired of living?

“That's Minghai's business. He is the head of the house right now. How he decides to act is none of your concern." The village head scolded loudly.

He too, had wanted to convince Minghai to give up on Mingying when they were at their parents' grave on the mountain.

Not that he was heartless, rather, Mingying was not expected to live for more than three months. Once she was gone, the ones still alive had to figure out how to continue living.

Ten taels of silver, would be enough for Minghai and his brothers to find a decent master and learn a trade for four to five years.

But the brothers refused to give up on Mingying.

When news of their parents’ death in the war arrived, and the grandmother also passed away, Mingying who was already sickly got shocked and her condition worsened.

Minghai ran overnight to find a doctor in town. The doctor advised them to prepare for her demise. The brothers tearfully begged the doctor to help their sister, to which the doctor sighed, "If you have money to buy ginseng, perhaps she could continue living for another three months."

Without a second word, Minghai took the scarcely warmed-up ten taels of silver and bought half a root of ginseng, managing to save Mingying's life.

Mingying's constitution was weak, she needed to eat fine food that was nutritious. Minghai exchanged the fine rice for pork and eggs, meanwhile he and his two brothers ate wild vegetables and coarse rice.

Seeing that the rice pot at home was about to be empty, Mingying still showed no sign of improvement.

Now it's already winter, which is even harder to endure. Minghai is just nine years old, his two twin brothers, Mingtao and Mingze are not even seven, and Mingying, the sickly child, is four and a half years old. If they run out of things to eat at home, the village chief can't even imagine how Minghai and his three siblings will survive the winter.

"Put the rice back now!" The village chief commanded sternly.

Chen Auntie reluctantly threw the bag of rice on the ground, swearing under her breath as she walked away.

"Minghai, take care of the rice. I believe Chen Auntie has been looking to steal rice from your home for a while now. These past few days, with all the comings and goings due to the funeral at home, she hasn't found an opportunity."

"Today, as soon as the funeral was over, she seized the opportunity to steal. If she didn't succeed this time, I don't think she'll give up. Be careful," warned the village chief.

While the village chief was reprimanding Chen Auntie, Minghai covered Mingying with a quilt in bed. He tried to wake her up, giving her water and pinching her acupuncture point, but she still did not wake up.

Minghai was so anxious, he implored, "Village chief, can you watch over my sister for a moment while I go find the doctor?"

The village chief glanced at the miserable sight of Mingying and, with an expression of reluctance, agreed, "Hurry and go. I'll watch her for you."

Just as Minghai was preparing to leave, the little girl on the bed slowly opened her eyes, a flash of light seeming to pass through her pupils.

As it turned out, the original body had died from the fall earlier, replaced now by Mingying, a modern-time-traveling assassin.