The Comeback of the Cannon-Fodder Supporting Actress

In the distance, Xiao Yuan was walking over, wearing a sleeveless white cloth front-buttoned jacket, with pants made of five sections of coarse cloth, and the pants had patches.

He wore a straw hat, and the shoes on his feet also had holes, with the heel of the right shoe broken and the toe showing through.

Anning looked at Xiao Yuan, swallowed the biscuit in her mouth, and pointed at him, laughing.

Xiao Yuan walked closer, looking at Anning helplessly.

After Anning stopped laughing, Xiao Yuan herded the sheep to the roadside to graze, standing by while watching the sheep and speaking softly to Anning.

”What’s going on with you?” Anning asked Xiao Yuan.

She actually felt quite sorry for Xiao Yuan.

In a previous life, even though Xiao Yuan started out down on his luck, he was still from a noble family; at first, he lived like a young master, even if later his parents passed away, he had an elder brother to look after him.

How could it compare to now, dressed like this—people wouldn’t say anything in the sixties or seventies, but even in the nineties, it’s particularly rare to see someone in the countryside dressed like this.

”There are many children at home.”

Xiao Yuan used a whip to stop a sheep that wanted to run into the fields and damage the crops, explaining softly to Anning, ”I am the second son of the Xiao Family at the village head.”

With this explanation, Anning understood.

Xiao Qun was somewhat of a strange man in Yangjiazhuang.

Most people in Yangjiazhuang had the surname Yang, and the Xiao Family had moved here later, apparently during Grandpa Xiao Qun’s generation.

To say this, the story is quite dramatic.

Grandpa Xiao Qun was a bricklayer who roamed around for work. He came to Yangjiazhuang to work for a landlord’s family, and after finishing the job, he got involved with the landlord’s daughter.

Grandpa Xiao Qun was handsome, reputedly the most good-looking young man within a hundred miles, enough to make the landlord’s daughter crazy about him. She often sneaked into his room at night to sleep with him.

After Grandpa Xiao Qun left, the girl realized she was pregnant.

At that time, pregnancy out of wedlock was a huge scandal. Upon finding out she was pregnant, the landlord took people to find Grandpa Xiao Qun. When they found him, they discovered he had a wife and children; he was a fraud who took advantage of the girl’s affections to swindle money.

Grandpa Xiao Qun’s home was far from Yangjiazhuang, and the landlord, not being a local, couldn’t do much against him except go back empty-handed.

Upon returning, the landlord secretly sent his daughter to live with relatives for a while, telling people she had gotten married somewhere.

Two years later, he claimed his daughter’s husband had died and that her husband’s family could not accommodate her, so he brought his daughter and grandson back home.

Actually, many in the village knew the truth, but since many of them rented land from the landlord, nobody dared to speak ill of him.

The landlord’s grandson was Xiao Qun’s father and also Xiao Yuan’s grandfather.

When Xiao Qun’s father was about ten, Grandpa Xiao Qun came back.

It turned out he had encountered trouble back home resulting in the loss of his wife and son. Hoping to escape the disaster and being aware he had a son here, he came to reunite.

The landlord was so infuriated he nearly beat Grandpa Xiao Qun to death.

But his daughter still missed Grandpa Xiao Qun.

The daughter was a love-struck fool who disregarded everything for love.

The landlord had no choice since it was his only daughter, so he accepted the situation.

Thus, he kept Grandpa Xiao Qun at home and arranged a wedding for his daughter and Grandpa Xiao Qun.

Originally, Xiao Qun’s father had the surname Yang, but later changed it to Xiao.

After returning to Yangjiazhuang and marrying, Grandpa Xiao Qun stayed honest, waited until his son, Xiao Qun was married, and watched over them all until Xiao Qun was born and proved to be a wife-loving man.

Upon liberation, when the landlord was overthrown and his fields were distributed among the villagers, Grandpa Xiao Qun’s mind became active again.

He began reporting his father-in-law and caused unrest.

Eventually, the landlord was enraged to death, and his daughter met a tragic end after being criticized to death.

Because of his reporting and his own background, Grandpa Xiao Qun was not implicated.

Having lived in Yangjiazhuang for many years, and accustomed to life there with his family, he decided to stay permanently without returning to his hometown.

As Xiao Qun’s father grew up and Grandpa Xiao Qun grew old, Xiao Qun’s father resented him for reporting the landlord. When Grandpa Xiao Qun was incapacitated, his son physically and verbally abused him. Grandpa Xiao Qun experienced great suffering till his death.

This caused the Xiao Family to have a bad reputation in Yangjiazhuang.

Because of their messy family history, it was difficult for Xiao Qun to get married. Who from a good family would want to marry into such a family? With roots so rotten, who could say if Xiao Qun wasn’t like his grandfather or father.

Anyway, Xiao Qun married a woman with a bad background when he was nearly thirty.

Xiao Qun’s wife’s family consisted of just a widowed mother raising her. Allegedly from a dishonorable background, rumors of loose moral conduct further sullied their reputation, making it hard to find a husband for her. Later, on learning about Xiao Qun, they arranged an introduction, and the two ended up together.

Neither of them were hardworking, and with negative reputations, villagers avoided interacting with them.

After marriage, they barely got by.

Even with their struggles, it got worse.

Another reason the Xiao Family remained poor was Xiao Qun’s wife’s fertility.

In the first year of marriage, she gave birth to a healthy baby boy, and she continued to have children every three years or so.

In about ten years, she bore seven children, a large and impressive family to parade about, but raising children is costly.

Even if they weren’t enrolled in school, they still needed food and clothing growing up.

They all had mouths to feed.

Over the years, the couple focused on having and raising children, with their situation worsening by the day.

As it stands, while others in Yangjiazhuang have built new homes, and their children attend school, learning literacy at least, and although they might not eat meat regularly, they were at least well-fed.

However, the Xiao Family children hadn’t been to school, simply because they couldn’t afford it.

With so many at the table, they couldn’t even eat enough, seeing harvest deficits year after year.

Only in the past two years, with Xiao Yuan and his siblings growing up, had life at home become somewhat better.

Thinking of the Xiao Family’s hardships, Anning felt even sorrier for Xiao Yuan.

She contemplated how much money she had, planning to secretly buy some fabric to make clothes for Xiao Yuan and perhaps get him a pair of shoes. At the very least, he shouldn’t have to wear such tatters.

Anning thought this over as she handed half a packet of biscuits to Xiao Yuan.

Xiao Yuan accepted the biscuit packet without hesitation, stuffing one in his mouth while storing the rest away.

”I’ll first get familiar with the surroundings and then figure out a way to earn money,”

Xiao Yuan grinned at Anning.

Anning nodded: ”You stay here for now; we’ll discuss it after my college entrance exams.”

From afar, someone was approaching on a bicycle, so Xiao Yuan and Anning quickly parted.

He herded the sheep back while Anning walked ahead, soon seeing Yang Erchou ride by on his bicycle.