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Tang Niannian absolutely hated it when people said she was all bark and no bite.\n"My heart is a lot harder than my mouth!" she'd snap.\nYet, whenever starving refugees huddled around their stall, she'd groan, "Not this again," even as her hands kept steadily ladling out oversized portions.\nStray cats and dogs would weave between her ankles while she cursed them out, but somehow, every single one of them always trotted away stuffed with meatballs.\nAt the end of another exhausting day, Fan Xiangxiang would tally up the ledger and sigh over the lack of profit.\nNiannian would slam her rag down onto the counter. "I told you we can't keep giving food away! Do you ever listen to me?"\nBut the very next morning, long before the sun came up, she'd be out of bed before her mother, squatting by the stove to stoke the fire. When Xiangxiang woke up and caught her, teasingly asking if she hadn't just threatened to quit, Niannian's face would turn beet red.\n"I... I just couldn't sleep, okay?" she'd grumble.\nWhat she kept to herself was that every night, when she closed her eyes, she still saw that bowl of fish soup. Milky, glistening with broth, and so scalding hot it had brought tears to her eyes.\nShe had been so sure she was dying back then. It was her mother who had bargained with King Yama, buying her life back with a single bowl of soup.\nSo, no matter how much she complained, her hands never stopped working. When hungry refugees showed up, she served them just the same, always sneaking an extra ladle into their bowls.\nAfter scraping their plates clean, the refugees would pat their empty pockets and shoot her nervous, apologetic looks. Whenever she caught them staring, a weird pang of guilt would hit her. She'd quickly look away, pretending to be busy with something else.\n"It's fine, whatever... Getting a hot meal in your belly is what matters. We can worry about the rest later."