The old lady was of medium build, with some white hair on her temples, and a kind face. She was indeed the grandmother of Zhuo Zhu. Just now, Xia Zhi had discussed their relationship with Zhuo Zhu and learned that his grandmother was of the same generation as Tian Lao Tou and Tian Wang Shi. Because her husband was the fifth in line among the Tian clan in Kao Shan Tun, people in the village generally called her "Wu Nai" or "Wu Sheng".

  Ding Zhu's grandma was getting older and came to deliver food to them. Xia Zhi, Xia Qiao, and Xiao Shu'er all stood up quickly and called out "Wu Yao".

  The old lady happily agreed, and repeatedly praised Xia Zhi for being well-behaved and polite. Then she personally picked some pears from the basket and handed them to the three siblings, saying that they had just been picked from the tree and were clean, so they could eat without worrying.

  "In our poor village, at this time of year, we can only afford to eat these few dates." Granny Zhuo said with a smile, and stuffed the basket into Xia Zhi's arms, letting her hold it and eat slowly.

  The Kaoshan Village has very little arable land, and most families rely on selling the fruits produced by a few trees on the mountain to make a living. Looking at Liang Zhu and his grandmother's attire, it can be seen that their family is not well-off either. And yet, they have almost half a basket of fresh apricots, which should be one of the best and most valuable things in their household right now.

  The summer solstice is moving, and a little embarrassing. In my heart, I think that people are really different. Every time they come, they bring big bags of things for their maternal family and give them money, but Lao Tian never spared any fruit from the trees for them to eat.

  For so many years, they had never eaten fresh fruit from Tian Lao's family. According to Tian Lao and Tian Wang, it was all for sale to make a living, giving it to the children would be a sin, and wouldn't make a living.

  But Xia Zhi knew that Tian Dabao was able to eat fresh fruit.

  Xiatou asked Nai Nai to sit down next to her and brought out some pastries for Nai Nai to eat. Nai Nai said that her teeth were no good, she couldn't eat these things, and besides, she had just eaten at home.

  "This is quite expensive stuff, you've given me a lot." Obviously an old man who is very kind and understands human relationships.

  Ding Zhu's grandmother sat beside Xia Zhi, her eyes carefully sizing up the three siblings. According to her, among the three siblings, Xia Qiao looked the most like the Tian family, while Xia Zhi was even more handsome than Tian had been in his youth.

  "Just look at you three and I know that Lai Di is a lucky girl. In the past..." Granny Zhuo started talking about Tian Shi's childhood.

  Originally, Guan Zhu's grandma and Tian Lao's family lived on the same street, with only one courtyard between them. Guan Zhu's grandma knew almost everything about Tian Lao's family. She had watched Tian grow up.

  "She was a beautiful girl since childhood, that little face, don't even mention how lovely she is. A golden phoenix can fly out of the mountain nest... She looks better than her two older sisters..."

  "Wu Mu, my mother still has two sisters?" Xia Zhi asked, she really hadn't heard Tian Shi mention her own two sisters much, and in all these years they had been interacting with the Tian family, they had never even heard of them coming back to visit relatives.

  "Ah, didn't your mother ever tell you?" Grandma Zhu's face showed a look of surprise.

  Xia Zhi hurriedly laughed and said that they had heard of it: "At that time, I was still young and didn't remember. In the past two years, my mother hasn't mentioned anything about it. Wu Yi, you tell us, what kind of people are my two aunts? Where are they now? Why haven't we seen them come back to visit relatives?" The key is that Tian Lao Tou and Tian Wang Shi have never mentioned anything about the other two daughters here.

  Grandma Tiezhu sighed and looked around again.

  At this time everyone went home for dinner, so there was no one else in front of the temple except for them.

  "Let's just say it, it's nothing much, anyway it's something that everyone knows."

  "Yes, yes, Wu Mu, you tell us too." Xia Zhi hurriedly said. After being with the old lady for a while, Xia Zhi found that she was kind-hearted and also very good at talking, and after getting familiar with her, she could talk even more. It seems that Shuan Zhu's chatty nature should have been inherited from his grandmother.

  Grandma Zhu opened her mouth.

  "There were only two sisters standing in front of your mother. The eldest was called Zhaodi, and the second was called Daodi. They were both several years older than your mother. Your mother wasn't raised by her mother, but by her two elder sisters."

  "Oh," Xia nodded, "I see." In this era, such things were not uncommon. The adults in the family were busy with their own affairs and had many children, so it was impossible to take care of them all, therefore the older ones took care of the younger ones, which was a natural thing to do.

  "Wugou, how many years apart are my mother and my two aunts?" Xia Zhi asked again.

  "Your mother and your eldest aunt differ by ten years, and your second aunt differs by nine years." Grandma Zhuozhu although has aged a bit, but her memory is extremely good, she can still recite the birth date of the Tian family, so naturally she remembers the ages of the Tian siblings very clearly.

  "Ah, so after me, there were no more children between my second aunt and my mother?" Xia Zhi asked again. This age gap seems to be a problem.

  Tian Jia's two aunts were only one year apart, which should be the rhythm of three births in two years. The age difference between the two children was less than two years, and it can be said that they are almost one year old.

  Tian Lao and Tian Wang were obviously both particularly patriarchal, having given birth to two girls in a row at the beginning, they must have been anxious to give birth to a son. Such people, who were also young at that time, would definitely double their efforts to give birth to a son after giving birth to two daughters.

  So, between Tian Jia's second aunt and Tian Shi, there was a blank space of nine years, which is very unreasonable. Unless at that time, either Old Man Tian or Tian Wangshi was ill and temporarily unable to give birth?

  "They're doing well." A faint, indescribable expression flashed across Grandma Zhu's face. She looked around again, then hesitated and glanced at the three siblings of Xia Zhi, as if deliberating whether to speak or not.

  "Wu Mu, just say it. Actually, we also know some things." Xia Zhi hurriedly urged.

  "During those few years between your second aunt and your mother, your grandparents also gave birth to several children, but none of them survived." Only then did Zhuozhu Nainai tell Xia Zhi. After Tian's second aunt, Tian Lao Tou and Tian Wang Shi kept up the rhythm of giving birth to two children every three years in order to quickly have a son.

  As for those children who didn't stay behind, it's not that they all died young either.

  "...all daughters, saying they can't be raised, as soon as they were born, your grandfather threw them into the mountains to feed the wolves." Granny Zhuo said in a low voice, and then let out a deep sigh, "What a sin."

  "But... but they were all thrown into the mountains and fed to wolves?"

  "That's right." Granny Tiezhu nodded in confirmation, "This is something everyone in our village knows. At that time, your fifth uncle was cutting firewood and saw it with his own eyes. There was nothing left to eat, oh dear, it was a disaster, a catastrophe."

  Xia Zhi's face turned a bit pale, she turned her head to look at Xia Qiao and Xiao Shu'er. Xia Qiao and Xiao Shu'er didn't look too good either, Xiao Shu'er even moved closer to Xia Qiao's side.

  It seems these two brothers have never heard of this matter either.

  Xia Zhi didn't want to show too much shock, lest Nai Nai wouldn't tell them anymore. So she forced a calm face, probably not very successfully, and Nai Nai noticed.

  Afraid of arousing Grandma's suspicion, Xia Zhi hastily explained: "Wu Jiu, are there still wolves on the mountain now?" They were frightened by the fact that there were wolves on the mountain, not by the fact that Tian Lao and Tian Wang Shi threw their newborn baby into the mountains to feed the wolves.

  "There are still many of them. You all stay in the house at night and don't go out wandering around. Sometimes the wolves in the mountains have nothing to eat, and they sneak into the village at midnight." Grandma Zhuo immediately instructed.

  Xia Zhi hastily nodded and said she absolutely wouldn't go out tonight.

  "Grandma Wu, is this kind of thing common in our village?" Xia Zhi asked Grandma Shuan Zhu again after a slight pause.

  Dongzhuzi's grandma was stunned for a moment, and then she understood what Xia Zhi was asking. Her face looked very sad. "Our village is poor, relying on the heavens to provide food. Having many daughters is a worry. However, we don't have that custom here."

  Dongzhuzi's grandma told Xia Zhi solemnly that Liangshan Tunzi didn't have the custom of killing newborn girls. This thing, only Lao Tiantou's family had done it, and they did it many times.

  Also because of this matter, the people in the village looked down on Tian Lao and thought his heart was too cruel. People who saw him felt a chill down their spine and didn't want to have close dealings with him anymore.

  Later, Lao Tian and his family simply closed their doors to live a life. On the one hand, it was because of Lao Tian's unique personality, on the other hand, it was also because everyone was very disgusted with him for throwing the living infant girl into the mountain.

  "...At home, we can't make ends meet, but we can think of ways to send her off. Our own flesh and blood, who knows how many generations it took for us to be born? We have to give her a way out. Besides, if the child says she's hungry, adults just need to work a bit harder, everyone saves one mouthful of food, those who don't work can drink thin porridge. Our place is poor, but I've never heard of anyone starving to death."

  Xia Zhi, Xia Qiao and Xiao Shu'er all nodded in agreement, thinking that Duan Zhu's words were extremely reasonable.

  Xia Zhi suddenly had another question. "Wu Mu, then how did my mother survive?"

  Tian Lao and Tian Wangshi gave birth to a child in the Tian family, but still no son. They had already thrown away so many baby girls, why did they suddenly stop throwing them away when they came to the Tian family?

  "Who said they didn't throw her away? The moment you were born, your grandfather took a chamber pot and threw it into the mountains. It was your eldest aunt and second aunt who went into the mountains together and picked up your mother again."

  "Ah, and this matter?" Xia Zhi was surprised.

  "It's absolutely true." Grandma Zhuozhu was a talkative person, and Xia Zhi was a good listener. When she needed to listen carefully, she would do so, and when it was time to ask questions, she would ask them. Once Grandma Zhuozhu opened her mouth, she couldn't stop talking. "In order to bring your mother back, your two aunts were beaten by your grandfather."

  "Your grandfather beat your two aunts and then told them to throw you and your mother back into the mountains. Your two aunts stubbornly refused to answer. Later, your grandfather didn't know what to do, so he just ignored it, saying that the child was left by your two aunts, if they had the ability, they should raise her themselves."

  "And then?" Xia Zhi asked further.

  "Then your aunts took care of you. Your grandma didn't have milk, so your two aunts saved their own food and gave it to you. You were raised on rice porridge and the little bit of food that your aunts saved from their teeth."

  Xia Zhi stared at Xia Qiao and Xiao Shu Er in shock. It turned out that the Tian family had such a background, it was truly unexpected.

  "What happened to my aunts later?" Xia Zhi asked Duan Zhu Niang after digesting Tian Shi's background for a while.

  "Where else can they go? Your grandfather had sent them to the mountains in the far west, those two poor children." Granny Zhuo couldn't help but sigh whenever she mentioned Tianjia's older sisters.

  What is known as the Great Western Mountains is an even more remote and impoverished place than Kao Shan Tun. The mountains of Kao Shan Tun, compared to those of the Great Western Mountains, can only be called small hills.

  Kao Shan Tun is just over ten miles away from the official road, while the mountains in the far west are at least half a month's journey to get out of.

  "When your eldest uncle was to be married, your grandparents had no money. Seeing that your aunts were also of age, they betrothed both of them and used the dowry to marry off your eldest uncle." At the time when Tianjia's eldest uncle got married, Tianjia's two elder sisters were already old spinsters who relied on Mount Shantou for their reputation.

  At that time, it wasn't that no one came to the door to be a matchmaker for the two girls, but they couldn't afford the betrothal gifts that Old Tian demanded. Moreover, Old Tian's plan was that since his own family didn't have much labor power, he would use both daughters as men to do chores.

  Until Tian's father-in-law decided to marry off his daughters, and it was necessary to have silver, Tian Lao only then looked for a family that could give the most betrothal gifts and married off his two daughters one after another.

  "Didn't you hire my mother?" Xia Zhi asked again.

  "Your mother is really beautiful. The betrothal gifts for your aunts would be enough to marry off your eldest uncle's daughter." Grandma Zhu said, "It's also lucky that back then your grandfather didn't spare any expense in marrying your mother, like he did with your eldest and second aunts. If not, they wouldn't have the good life they do today."

  There aren't even these three kids anymore.

  Xia Zhi, Xia Qiao and Xiao Shu Er exchanged a glance, the emotions of the three children were complex, and for a moment they couldn't find suitable words to describe it.

  "At that time, I didn't hire you like your aunts did. Fortunately, your aunts stopped me. They said you look good and can marry into a good family, but still need to pay a dowry."

  According to Grandma Zhu's words, Tian Jia's two elder sisters treated Tian Shi extremely well, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that their kindness was as heavy as a mountain. However, in recent years, Tian Shi rarely mentioned them. Tian Shi wholeheartedly helped his wife's family but never mentioned helping his two sisters.

  Where are Tian Jia's two aunts now and what kind of life are they living?

  Xia Zhi then asked again, "Niangniang (auntie), what about the pillar?"

  "Your great aunt was married off by your great grandfather to a place deep in the mountains of the far west, don't know what it's called, heard that there are only a few months out of the year when it doesn't snow, and people there don't live long. They just took the betrothal gifts and took your great aunt away." After that, all contact between Tianjia Great Aunt and the Tian family was lost.

  "What about my second aunt?"

  (。)