The little girl didn’t actually look ten years old, and she wasn’t fourteen either. In fact, she was only twelve. By age calculation, she was indeed in fifth or sixth grade, or simply in the age of graduating to junior high school.

Talking late into the night, Li Yifei suddenly stopped reciting poetry. After asking her age, he brought up the matter from the daytime, which was about her aunt saying she wanted to marry her off. The little girl was silent for a moment, and Li Yifei saw her face suddenly turn sad, her hands clutching her clothes, tears glistening in her eyes. She held back for a while, hiding her tears, and then quietly replied, "I won’t get married. I’m too young. I don’t need someone to support me. I can support myself. When I grow up a little more, I can go to work and earn money to support myself!"

She repeatedly mentioned earning money to support herself, which reminded Li Yifei suddenly of many years ago, when his parents had just passed, how tough those days were. It wasn’t just the sudden emotional emptiness, but also the life struggles...

Before Li Yifei could respond, the little girl said, "Uncle, I’m so sleepy. I have to go to the sea early in the morning. I’ll go to sleep first!"

Li Yifei nodded, and only after watching the little girl fall asleep did he realize she didn’t have a blanket. The only blanket in the house was covering him, while Chen Junxiao had been laying a mat and sleeping in his clothes these past few days.

In darkness but facing the light, Li Yifei felt warmth from Chen Junxiao. Although he wasn’t in a hurry to recover, Li Yifei suddenly wanted to get better as soon as possible, at least to be able to move by himself and not have Chen Junxiao take care of him.

Throughout the night, Li Yifei didn’t sleep much. He was trying to connect with his Dantian, converting the nutrition he consumed into body strength. Of course, this part was not something he could control; it relied on the body’s self-adjustment mechanism.

In the morning, Li Yifei realized that not only did his hands have some strength, but his legs could also move. So after waking up and not seeing Chen Junxiao, Li Yifei propped himself up with his hands on the bed, struggling to move his body, eventually standing on the ground.

He looked down at his trembling legs and shook his head. Being able to stand was already good. He estimated that if he continued to supplement, he would recover significantly by today.

Li Yifei leaned against the wall, slowly moving his legs. With great difficulty, he reached the door and pushed it open. His hands were more dexterous than his legs now. It had been daylight for a while. Li Yifei pushed open the door to see the extremely rudimentary stove. Next to it were a few wooden boards with bowls and chopsticks on them, some wooden and some porcelain, but only four in total, and two metal basins with some firewood inside. The kitchen didn’t even have a door; it opened directly to the outside. Li Yifei labored to step out and saw that this house was actually like a small watchtower built with stones, with cement used to fill the gaps inside, but not outside, old and mottled. Li Yifei walked out, looking at the sunlight. It had been days since he last saw the sun. After taking a few breaths, Li Yifei continued forward. He was now able to stand without support, but attempting to walk still posed the risk of falling.

After adapting for a while, Li Yifei squinted at his surroundings. To the east was a slope several dozen meters high, while the west was relatively flat, with some crops blocking the view, so he couldn’t see too far, but there was a small path leading through.

The sea was to the south, and Li Yifei could already hear the sound of waves, washing again and again. The sun wasn’t hot yet, so Li Yifei didn’t go far, just wandered around the doorstep. He was still wearing the same clothes as before, though the outer garment was gone.

After more than half an hour, Li Yifei saw a small figure appearing on the eastern slope, carrying a small bucket while slowly walking back.

Chen Junxiao had a good haul today. Besides the necessary seawater, the small bucket contained a few larger fish, as well as some crabs and shrimp that didn’t escape in time after the tide receded, and even a small squid.

She also saw Li Yifei and seemed pleasantly surprised because he was standing, indicating his health had improved a lot. So the little girl ran towards him, stopping just before she reached him, panting excitedly and smiling, "Uncle, you can stand and walk now?"

"Yeah, I can walk, just very slowly!"

"It’s okay, you’ll be fine after a few more days of rest!" Chen Junxiao said, putting down the small bucket.

"You had a good catch today." Li Yifei remarked.

"Yes, yes. Today I was lucky, went early, and was the first one there, so I collected quite a bit." Chen Junxiao said proudly.

Li Yifei bent down to look into the small bucket, noticing a few lively fish, and nodded, "Not bad, should be able to sell for some money."

"No, no, I won’t be selling what I’ve found these days. I’ll keep them to eat. Uncle, you’re weak, eat more nutritious food to recover faster."

"Uncle will make it up to you!" Li Yifei accepted the little girl’s goodwill.

"Really, you don’t have to, Uncle! You always say this, it makes me feel embarrassed!" Chen Junxiao said.

Chen Junxiao divided the seafood into two portions, one for lunch and one for dinner. Although the food was still quite monotonous, for Li Yifei, it was already a rare supplement, and for Chen Junxiao, the food these days was much better than what she usually had. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

After another night, the next morning, Chen Junxiao quietly got up, preparing to go to the seaside. Li Yifei also woke up and moved his body; he felt much better than the day before. Walking normally was no longer an issue for him, so Li Yifei suggested going to the seaside with the little girl.

"Sure, but Uncle, is your body really okay?" Chen Junxiao asked worriedly.

Li Yifei patted his chest lightly and said, "Of course, it’s fine. But I walk a bit slower, so you don’t need to wait for me deliberately. I’ll just follow behind."

"Alright, let’s go together!" Chen Junxiao smiled.

One walked ahead, footsteps brisk, humming a tune of dialect slang. The other followed slowly but was already several times faster than yesterday.

The sea was not far away, and when they arrived, no one else was there yet because they came quite early today. The little girl came every day, so she knew where there might be more crabs. Li Yifei walked barefoot on the beach and saw the little girl rushing towards a patch of black rocks. He quickened his pace, for the more they caught, the more they could eat, so it was important to catch more quickly.

Li Yifei noticed that when encountering small crabs, Chen Junxiao wouldn’t catch them. Some were even thrown back into the sea. He nodded silently; he indeed hadn’t eaten any small crabs these past two days.

In the morning, Li Yifei also quite enjoyed this... game. It was a game for him, but survival for Chen Junxiao. Li Yifei even whimsically thought that if he brought the children from home to get up early and come by the seaside to pick things, it would definitely be a good experience. Of course, it was an experience for them, for Chen Junxiao... alas, Li Yifei sighed slightly. Today’s catch was not much; because she had to take care of Li Yifei, and later others came, they didn’t pick much, much less than yesterday, and there were no fish.

Looking at the vast sea, Chen Junxiao gritted her teeth. Li Yifei was recovering faster and faster, needing more food, so she thought it would only be a few days and she should do more!

Back home, Li Yifei sat at the door and watched the crops in the distance rise and fall with the wind. Chen Junxiao went out with a small basket.

"Soon, it’ll be good to return to a normal state, as for True Qi, there’s no hurry, take your time to recover!" Li Yifei hadn’t rushed to cultivate these days, the chance to experience ordinary life was rare, let alone being a cripple.

Chen Junxiao took out some money from her small wallet and bought two slightly larger fish. Although they were bigger, they were only a little over a pound each, costing fifteen yuan. It was more than the little girl’s several days of seaside income. She was very distressed but gritted her teeth, paid the money, and carried the fish home.

One fish each for lunch and dinner, which was naturally a feast for her, while Li Yifei also seized the time to recover.

Thus, after another day, although Li Yifei had not completely recovered, he was already functioning at seventy or eighty percent of a normal person’s capacity. So, in the morning, Li Yifei decided to bring a big catch for the little girl. It was raining today; the house was okay inside, but there were also two leaks. When Chen Junxiao saw Li Yifei get up and prepare to go out, she quickly asked: "Uncle, where are you going?"

"My body has recovered, today you stay home and look after the house, I’ll go to the seaside and take a look; we’ll divide the work." Li Yifei said.

"Ah? No, no, the rain is too heavy today, Uncle, you can’t go out!" Chen Junxiao hurriedly stopped him.

Li Yifei shook his head and said, "Don’t worry, I won’t go into the sea. Besides, look at Uncle now, I can leap and jump, do I look like someone sick? I’m already healthy. I’ll be back in an hour, you stay home and make sure the quilts don’t get wet from the rain!"

Chen Junxiao couldn’t argue with Li Yifei and had to agree. She found a piece of plastic cloth, wanting to cover Li Yifei with it, but he handed it back directly. There were leaks in the house, and if the quilts got wet, they wouldn’t be able to sleep at night, better to cover them with plastic. He then walked shirtless, into the rain.

In the past in the army, enduring the wind and rain, in three-fourty degrees high temperature and minus three-fourty degrees cold, every kind of environment had to be experienced, being drenched was a common occurrence; people are always becoming more pampered. Li Yifei walked quickly, thinking fewer people should be seaside today due to the rain, and so today’s catch should be plentiful, naturally in good spirits.

Of course, Li Yifei hadn’t forgotten about his family. He lost contact for a few days; surely the family was worried, so he must find a way to get in touch in the next few days, not to return immediately but at least to let them know.