Her uncle was nowhere to be seen. He was probably still working in the fields.
"You're back, Gu Jin!"
Gu Jiajie, Gu Jin's elder cousin, slacked off and stopped what he was doing after his mother went into the kitchen. He then saw Gu Jin standing at the doorway.
"Jie," Gu Jin greeted her elder cousin upon hearing his voice.
She brought An Mingji, who was feeling a little nervous, into the courtyard.
Her grandfather who was sitting in the recliner squinted when he saw that she had brought the wild child back home. He took a quick, hard look at Gu Jin before he shifted his eyes away.
Gu Minmin, Gu Jin's younger cousin, heard her brother's voice and stopped playing with the shuttlecock. She stood on the spot, carefully studying Gu Jin and An Mingji.
"Why did you bring him back?" A women's voice rang out, stunning everyone in the courtyard.
The familiar voice belonged to none other than Gu Jin's aunt.
Gu Jin looked back toward the kitchen and saw her aunt, Chen Hong staring at both her and An Mingji with her hands on her fat hips. She did not seem too friendly, especially toward An Mingji.
Having a keen ability to sense people's emotions, An Mingji knew that Gu Jin's aunt did not welcome him. In fact, she was cautious of him, so he hid behind Gu Jin.
His body was still in pain, plus his hungry stomach was growling.
He would have spun around and left had he been in a similar situation with other villagers. But right then, he did not want to let go of Gu Jin's hand.
Gu Jin took a deep breath and looked at her unfriendly aunt with a smile. "Aunt, the village boys bullied An, so I brought him home to care for his wounds."
Hearing what Gu Jin said, Chen Hong began to appear a lot less hostile. Nevertheless, her expression was still not too welcoming toward Gu Jin and An Mingji.
"Send him away after you're done with him. There isn't much left to feed him at home!" Chen Hong narrowed her eyes.
Sensing An Mingji's uneasiness, Gu Jin held his hand more tightly as she smiled at her aunt. "An's injuries are pretty bad. I was thinking about letting him stay for a couple of days."
Chen Hong's expression changed instantly when she heard this. She glared at the wild child behind Gu Jin as if she was going to skin the boy alive.
Before Chen Hong exploded, Gu Jin's grandfather hemmed.
Her aunt glanced at her grandfather, who had just hemmed but had said nothing from the beginning. She pouted as she spun around to go back into the kitchen.
"We are running out of food, yet you bring back a sponge. Don't you realize that we can hardly feed ourselves?" Chen Hong kept babbling as she moved along.
Gu Jiajie and Gu Minmin were used to their mother's attitude. They said nothing and just stared curiously at An Mingji who was hiding behind Gu Jin.
Meanwhile, their grandfather, who was pipe-smoking in a recliner, did not even look at Gu Jin and An Mingji.
Even so, his hemming earlier seemed to mean his approval of Gu Jin's request.
Her grandfather had the final say in the family; Gu Jin's aunt would not dare to say otherwise.
Despite Chen Hong's disapproval, she could do nothing except grumble.
Gu Jin looked at her grandfather regretfully. He had advised her against returning to the city back then, but she had not taken it kindly. Her attitude had been awful.
All she felt was sadness and guilt whenever she recalled what had happened in her past life.
Everything had yet to happen now, and she would not make the same mistake again.
Gu Jin held An Mingji's hand and brought him to her room, which was the first one from the back in the right residence.