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

Upon arriving at the new house, Chen's mother was the first to get out of the car, opened the gate, and after everyone had come in, she closed the gate and locked it from the inside.

The four children were kept in the yard, looking around curiously. Stone looked up at the main houses and asked, "Mom, is this our new house?"

Su Xiaoyin squatted down and looked at him seriously: "Shitou, we have to be good today and not cause trouble. You can play in the yard or follow behind us, but you can't run around or tell anyone that we have a new house, understand?"

Stone nodded, puffing out his little chest: "I remember! I won't tell anyone!"

Qingqing and Aji nodded in agreement. Afu didn't understand either, but he followed his older siblings' example and nodded his little head like a rattle drum.

Father Chen rolled up his sleeves and began assigning tasks: "You guys clean the three main rooms, I'll clean the east and west wing rooms. We'll finish the kitchen last."

Su Xiaoyin, Su Xiaoqing, and Chen's mother each entered a main room and began to busy themselves.

---

The main room was cluttered with miscellaneous items—old tables and chairs, dusty chests and boxes, and haphazardly arranged fabrics. The three of them first moved the larger items out, and then used brooms to sweep away the cobwebs from the corners and beams.

Su Xiaoyin bent over and rummaged through the clutter under a broken table. Suddenly, her hand touched something hard. She picked it up and saw it was an old purse, dusty and covered in grime.

She dusted herself off and opened her purse—inside was silver, a little over an ounce of loose silver!

"Father! Mother! Xiaoqing! Come quickly!" Su Xiaoyin shouted.

The group quickly ran over. Su Xiaoyin handed them her purse, which was filled with glittering silver coins that shimmered in the sunlight.

Mr. Chen took it and weighed it in his hand: "It's a little over an ounce. It must have been left behind when the government raided our house, but it wasn't discovered."

Chen's mother's eyes lit up: "Then let's look more carefully, maybe there are still some!"

Mr. Chen nodded: "Be careful, don't miss any corner. If you find any more money or anything that might be useful later, put it away."

The group became even more motivated and continued to tidy up.

---

After tidying up the three main rooms, the east and west wing rooms nearing Chen's father's place were also almost done. The group then moved on to the kitchen.

The kitchen wasn't small, but it was incredibly dirty and messy. A thick layer of dust covered the stove, pots and pans were overturned, and junk was piled in the corner. The four of them divided the work: Chen's mother and Su Xiaoyin cleaned the stove, Su Xiaoqing washed the pots and pans, and Chen's father cleaned the corner.

Chen's mother squatted in the corner, rummaging through the pile of junk. Suddenly, she touched a floor tile that felt loose. She pressed it down hard, and a corner of the tile lifted up, revealing a dark hole underneath.

"Old man, come and see!" Chen's mother shouted.

Mr. Chen walked over, squatted down to look inside, and then tapped the floor tiles next to him. He heard a hollow sound underneath. He straightened up and said, "It should be a cellar for storing grain or vegetables. You all stand back, I'll open it and take a look."

He used a pickaxe to pry open the paving stone, and sure enough, there was a hole underneath, pitch black, and he couldn't see how deep it was.

Su Xiaoyin found a kerosene lamp nearby, lit it, and handed it to Chen's father. Chen's father took the lamp and shone it into the cave. A musty smell mixed with the odor of grain wafted up. He waited a while for the smell to dissipate before sticking the lamp inside to examine it carefully.

"Old woman, Xiaoyin, Xiaoqing, come and see!" Father Chen's voice trembled slightly.

The group huddled together and peered down in the lamplight—several large bags and jars were neatly stacked in the cellar.

Mr. Chen handed the lamp to Mrs. Chen and climbed down the ladder. He opened one bag, which contained pure white flour. He opened another, which contained golden cornmeal. There were also several bags of polished rice and brown rice nearby.

"This...this is enough for our family to eat for more than half a year!" Chen's mother exclaimed from above.

Mr. Chen then found some dried mushrooms, dried wood ear fungus, and a few pieces of smoked meat, all wrapped in oil paper and well-preserved. He handed these items over, and Mrs. Chen accepted them with a smile.

Chen's father searched again, but found nothing else, before climbing up.

"There's still some grain in the cellar. Let's keep it for now," Chen's father said, brushing the dust off his clothes. "This cellar is well-hidden; we can use it later."

---

Su Xiaoyin and Su Xiaoqing had already cleaned up the pots and pans. They added firewood to the stove, heated the pot, and began to cook lunch.

Mr. Chen said, "I'll go fetch two buckets of water. There's a well next to the yard; I'll go check it out."

He carried the bucket out of the kitchen. The well was in the southeast corner of the yard. The well platform was made of stone, and next to it was a long bamboo pole with an iron hook attached, which was used to draw water.

Mr. Chen lowered the bucket, filled it with water, and lifted it up. Just as he pulled it up, his hand slipped, the bucket fell to the ground, and water spilled all over the floor.

"Sigh, I'm getting old, my hands aren't steady anymore." Mr. Chen squatted down to tidy up, and suddenly noticed something was wrong with the soil under his feet—where the water had washed away, a piece of what looked like a wooden board was exposed.

A thought struck him. He looked around to make sure no one was watching, picked up a broken piece of wood, and began to dig. He hadn't dug very deep when he unearthed a small box made of wood, which was already somewhat rotten.

When Chen's father opened the box, he found twenty taels of silver neatly stacked inside, along with several pieces of silver jewelry—a pair of silver bracelets, a silver hairpin, and a silver locket.

His hand trembled slightly, so he quickly closed the box and stuffed it into his pocket. He then filled the box back with soil, tamped it down with his feet, and then fetched another bucket of water, carrying it back to the kitchen as if nothing had happened.

---

In the kitchen, the meal was ready. There were multigrain pancakes, pickled vegetables, and a pot of steaming hot vegetable soup, all emitting a wonderful aroma.

Mother Chen led the four children into the largest main room. The floor radiator in this room had been lit by Su Xiaoyin and the others, making it warm and cozy. The four children played on the kang (heated brick bed), chattering and making noise. Mother Chen watched them, her face full of smiles.

"Dinner's ready, let's eat." Su Xiaoyin brought in a bowl.

Mr. Chen said, "You guys eat first, I'll go find Dashan and Xiaohe. Looking at the time, it's about time to close up shop."

He hadn't gone far from the courtyard gate when he saw Chen Dashan driving a mule cart over, with Chen Xiaohe sitting beside him, the two chatting and laughing.

"Dad! Why did you come out?" Chen Dashan jumped out of the car.

Mr. Chen smiled and said, "I was just about to pick you up. Dinner is ready, come in and eat."

---

The family sat around the main room, where the brazier was burning, enjoying a lively lunch. The four children ate with gusto, their mouths greasy. Stone, between bites, said, "Mom, the new house is so nice! Can we come here often?"

Su Xiaoyin patted his head: "Yes, come often in the future."

After dinner, the children were sleepy. Su Xiaoyin and Su Xiaoqing carried them to the kang (a heated brick bed), covered them with quilts, and soon their even breathing could be heard.