The Ghost Child I Raised Became a Sunflower - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The barrage of comments streaking through the air flew by so fast it made me dizzy.

From afar, the boy on the ridge between the fields spotted me. As if suddenly filled with strength, he tossed his sickle into the basket on his back and sprinted toward me.

[Oh no, he noticed the passerby sister!]

[The screen’s about to get censored in the next second, isn’t it?!]

What on earth were these people talking about?

I couldn’t let Xiangxiang see them. He would probably get upset.

With that thought, I stepped out to meet him, trying to block those words with my body.

But the words were like air. They scattered for an instant, then gathered right back together.

[What’s this cannon fodder doing? If I were her, I’d run right now. Surviving a little longer is still surviving. Why is she walking right up to her death?]

I frowned.

My younger brother, Li Xiangxiang, had already run up to me.

“Big Sister, go back inside first. The wind’s strong today. Don’t let it chill you again!”

The child only came up to my stomach. His hair had been tousled by the wind the whole way, and his eyes and nose were red from the cold. He didn’t even have time to take off the heavy basket full of pig fodder before he threw himself into my arms.

“Big Sister, did you miss me? How’s your illness?”

He lifted a pair of damp, worried eyes to me.

“Does your head still hurt?”

It seemed he couldn’t see the barrage.

Relieved, I looked down at my little brother’s soft cheeks and couldn’t resist reaching out to pinch them.

Then, smiling, I smoothed his loose black hair back into place.

“I’m fine. Same as always, that’s all. Our Xiangxiang has worked hard.”

I led him back into the house by the hand. There was ginger soup on the table, boiled early and kept hot, spicy enough to drive away the chill of early spring just for him.

Li Xiangxiang obediently set his basket in the back courtyard, then drew water in the yard to wash his hands before returning. He sat across from me with lowered eyes and finished the ginger soup in one go.

His movements were natural and practiced, as if he had done this countless times before.

I watched him the entire time, smiling.

The barrage lagged for a moment.

[What’s going on? Did they get the character wrong?]

[They must have, right? Isn’t the Ghost Child called Yan Shen? There’s no way he’d be called Xiangxiang.]

[I’m going to check what’s going on.]

Tch.

I glanced sideways at the barrage.

Our sweet little darling didn’t even dare kill a chicken. At home, he was so hardworking he could hardly stay still, and he helped me with so much. How could he possibly be some villainous final boss?

The next second, the barrage moved again.

[No mistake. It is him, but his age at his first appearance is wrong.]

[He was only five in the original. Why is he ten now?]

Bang-

I abruptly stood up, knocking over the long bench.