After fleeing the famine, my older sister and I married the brother next door.

The next morning, Chen's mother cooked the frozen glutinous rice balls she had brought back the night before. The plump, white glutinous rice balls rolled in the sweet soup, and she ladled them into bowls. She also gave each of the four eagerly waiting children an extra half spoonful of osmanthus honey.

"Eat slowly, be careful it's hot." Mother Chen watched lovingly as the four little heads of Shitou, Qingqing, Aji, and Afu crowded around the table, clumsily and eagerly scooping up the glutinous rice balls from their bowls with wooden spoons. The children clearly loved this sweet, soft, and chewy treat; their little mouths were bulging, and their lips were still smeared with sugar and sesame filling.

Chen's father, Chen Dashan, and Chen Xiaohe each took a bowl and ate with pickled vegetables, thoroughly enjoying their meal. At the dinner table, Chen Dashan mentioned the new order he received at the lantern festival the previous day.

"Father, Mother, yesterday in the county town, I got another carpentry job. It's for Mr. Qin, who runs a restaurant in town, to make furniture for his son who will be getting married in the fall. He saw the style of Mr. Han's house and thought it was suitable, so he ordered three taels of silver for the job and paid two taels as a deposit."

Mr. Chen swallowed the glutinous rice ball in his mouth, nodded, and asked, "That's good news. Is the furniture for Master Han's house almost finished? Can some of it be delivered before spring planting?"

"The kang cabinet and chest at Master Han's house will get their final coat of tung oil in the next couple of days, and once they're dry, they can be sent over. The remaining dressing table, tables, and chairs can mostly be finished before spring planting, so it won't be a problem. Master Qin's house has plenty of time; they only need them in the fall, so we can finish them after spring planting." Chen Dashan had already planned everything out. "Xiaohe will be in charge of making the doors and windows for the new houses in the village; I'll oversee it for him. All the materials are ready, so it won't be a hassle. We can work on these household chores in turn; we can manage the schedule."

Upon hearing this, Mr. Chen's face lit up with relief: "It's good that you have a plan. Once you've promised someone something, you have to do your best to complete it. Don't delay the construction period, and don't cut corners. We farmers rely on honesty and integrity."

"Don't worry, Father, I know," Chen Dashan solemnly replied.

After breakfast, Chen's father wiped his mouth, stood up, and said, "Alright, let your mother clean up the dishes. Dashan, Xiaohe, come with me to the barren mountain. While there's no wind today, let's burn off the withered grass and shrubs at the foot of the mountain. After the thaw in spring, that place will be flat, so we can clear it out and plant some soybeans first. There's a lot to do this year, so we have to get things done one by one."

The father and his two sons took a machete, a flint and steel, and some dry grass to start a fire, along with water bags, and headed out to the newly purchased barren mountain.

At home, Chen's mother efficiently cleared the dishes, while Su Xiaoyin and Su Xiaoqing took out the leftover fabric scraps they had brought back the night before and sat in the bright light by the entrance to the main room, continuing to make hair ties and patchwork items. These small chores didn't strain their eyes, and they could talk while they worked.

Chen's mother gathered her four children, who were full and crawling around on the kang (a heated brick bed) playing with cloth tigers, inside the bed. She sat on the edge, sewing shoe soles, watching her two daughters-in-law work with nimble needles, feeling a deep sense of peace. She said, "Once these scraps of cloth are finished, we should have enough hair ties and little clothes to last Dashan and the others for a while. Then you two can focus on working on the new large embroidery pattern. I heard you've already drawn up the design?"

Su Xiaoyin tightened the end of a braided double-stranded rope, trimmed it neatly, and nodded in response, "Yes, Mother. The new design is finalized; it's 'The Eight Immortals Celebrating Longevity.' It's a larger scene with more figures than the previous 'Hundred Blessings' design, so it's a new challenge. Xiaoqing and I have discussed that once we finish these odds and ends, we'll focus on embroidery. It'll probably take several months."

"The Eight Immortals celebrating a longevity? What a beautiful meaning!" Mother Chen said with a smile. "If this embroidery is finished, it will definitely be worth more. It's just that it's hard on the eyes, so you all have to be careful not to strain your eyes."

"We know, Mother," Su Xiaoqing replied, skillfully piecing together several pieces of similar-colored fabric to form the base of a small square pillow. "I only embroider for half a day each day, and spend the rest of the time looking after the children, doing housework, and resting my eyes when they get tired."

The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were chatting casually when a slightly hurried female voice suddenly came from outside the courtyard gate: "Auntie Dashan! Are you home?"

Upon hearing the voice, Chen's mother recognized it as Chen Ermu's from next door and quickly put down her shoes to greet him: "Yes, yes! Sister-in-law Ermu, come in and sit down!"

Chen Ermu's wife was a woman in her forties, with a straightforward personality, and she often visited Chen's mother. She hurried into the courtyard, her face showing an expression of someone who had heard big news and was eager to share it.

Chen's mother ushered her into the main room. Su Xiaoyin got up to pour a bowl of hot water, while Su Xiaoqing grabbed a small handful of roasted pine nuts and hazelnuts and placed them on the kang table.

"Oh, no need to bother, I'm neither thirsty nor hungry." Chen Ermu's wife waved her hand, but her eyes were bright and sparkling. She lowered her voice, which was filled with mystery and trepidation, "I just came from the other side of the village. I heard some new news and I couldn't contain it, so I came to tell you! I couldn't get anything out of that blockhead (referring to her husband) at home."

Seeing her like this, Chen's mother knew there must be some important gossip, so she asked, "What's new in the village? I've been at home taking care of the children all day and haven't heard anything."

"This isn't new, it's terrifying!" Chen Ermu's wife slapped her thigh, lowering her voice even further. "Yesterday, wasn't there a Lantern Festival in the county town? It was packed with people. My husband and I even set up a stall to sell local produce for a while, but we came back early and missed the peak crowd. But guess what? I heard something terrible happened afterwards!"

Su Xiaoyin and Su Xiaoqing also stopped what they were doing and looked over curiously.

"What happened?" Chen's mother asked.

"Children are missing!" Chen Ermu's voice was filled with lingering fear. "And not just one! I heard that with so many people at the lantern festival, child traffickers are out committing their evil deeds again! They specifically target children, and... and several of those pretty little girls have also gone missing!"

"What?!" Su Xiaoyin and Su Xiaoqing exclaimed simultaneously, their faces turning pale. They had also been to the lantern festival last night, though they had returned early because they were worried about their children. But just thinking about the crowds...

Chen's mother also gasped: "Really? Da Shan and the others were fine when they came back from the county town last night. I didn't hear anything unusual."

"You left early!" Chen Ermu's wife said confidently. "It happened during the busiest time of the lantern festival, when there were the most people! In the chaos, the child was gone in the blink of an eye! We cried and screamed, but couldn't find her! The news only spread this morning. In our village," she paused, her voice growing heavier, "Chen Duofu's eldest daughter, Xiuya, who was engaged, I heard... she's also missing!"

"Xiu'er?!" Chen's mother suddenly stood up, her voice trembling. "Isn't that girl engaged and supposed to get married this autumn? Such an honest and well-behaved girl! What... what are we going to do! Her parents must be going crazy with worry!"

"They're going crazy with worry!" Chen Ermu's wife sighed. "Before dawn this morning, Brother Duofu hitched up a cart and went to the county town. His wife cried so much at home that she fainted twice. It was such a good marriage, and it was about to happen. Now this has happened. I don't know what the groom's family will think... Sigh, even if they find him, his reputation will be ruined..." She shook her head, and everyone understood what she meant.

"What about the government? Doesn't the government care?" Su Xiaoqing asked urgently.

"Of course they care! I heard even the county magistrate was alarmed and sent his men to search everywhere. But these kidnappers are so slippery, they only target big festivals like these, and once they've got their hands on someone, they just disappear into the crowd. How can they be found so easily?" Chen Ermu's wife sighed. "We can only hope that heaven will have mercy and that the authorities will take it seriously and find the children."