Chapter 7

After Li Fengbei left the house,

the three little ones sped up their breakfast.

Heads bowed, their little faces buried in their large bowls, they stretched out their tongues to lick the remaining rice grains from the sides of the bowls, leaving not a single one behind.

The eldest finished first.  He expertly slung on a small crossbody bag containing a silver water bottle.

The second child, impatient, seeing the youngest still buried in his bowl, urged him on.

“San Zai, hurry up! We should go to Aunt Li’s.  Big Brother and I are waiting for you.”

“Wuwuwu… Still… eating… I haven’t finished…”

San Zai’s muffled voice came from the bowl. Only after he’d lapped up the last of the thin soup did he finally look satisfied.

His small face finally lifted.

But San Zai’s face was smeared with rice porridge and a few stray grains of rice, a perfect little ragamuffin.

Qiao Anle watched, amused.

She was about to wipe his face, but the eldest was already leading the second and third children out the door in a flurry.

“Tsk tsk, not even a goodbye?  Such ungrateful little ones!  Could it be my steamed buns aren’t enough to win their hearts?”

Qiao Anle watched their three small backs disappear, shaking her head helplessly.

Then,

she quickly cleaned up the bowls and chopsticks, following the three little ones.

An adult’s pace is faster.

Qiao Anle walked slowly, trailing behind the three children.

As she walked, she observed her surroundings.

This was her first real look at this small mountain village.

The Li family’s small house was in the center of the military dependents’ compound.

The neighbors around them were all military personnel who had come to the countryside with Li Fengbei.

Their ranks varied, but they were all hardworking, diligent, and enduring.

At a glance, Qiao Anle saw that the surrounding mud houses looked dilapidated, as if they might collapse at any moment.

Their own simple mud house was the best in the area.

As they walked,

the three children ahead kept looking back, their innocent gazes constantly fixed on Qiao Anle, full of curiosity.

The eldest’s lips were tightly pressed, his small face cold, his brows furrowed in silence.

He looked quite like Li Fengbei.

Serious and rigid.

Like a little adult.

The second child couldn’t hide his feelings. After a few glances, he asked the eldest in confusion,

“Brother, why is Mother following us?  She usually hates going out! She said she hates the sun.”

“Don’t talk! Watch where you’re going, don’t keep looking back.”

The eldest furrowed his small brows. He didn’t know why their mother, who usually hated going out, was following them.

It was as if…

she was deliberately sending them to Aunt Li’s…

The eldest and second children had their suspicions, but the youngest was a carefree little child.

Wearing open-crotch pants and with short legs, he struggled to keep up with his older brothers.

Suddenly, he stopped.

San Zai blinked his bright black eyes, turned around, and raised his arms towards Qiao Anle.

“Mama, San Zai is tired, I want a hug——”

Hiss——

The eldest and second children gasped at San Zai’s action.

They tried to pull him back, one from each side.

“San Zai, are you dreaming?  Mother would never hug you, she’ll only hit you.”

“San Zai, be good. Big Brother will hold your hand.”

“Ah——”

The unbelievable happened.

Qiao Anle strode forward, bent down, and scooped up San Zai, who had his arms raised high.

San Zai’s chubby little bottom settled comfortably on Qiao Anle’s arm.

His small body rested against Qiao Anle’s chest.

Warm, soft, and fragrant.

It was the smell of his mother.

Instinctively, San Zai hugged Qiao Anle’s neck and snuggled against her.

This scene completely stunned the eldest and second children.

Qiao Anle looked down at the eldest and second children and asked with a smile,

“What are you staring at? Why aren’t you walking? Do you want me to carry you too? I’m not your father, I don’t have that much strength, I can’t carry all three of you at once.”

Teasing them like this,

the eldest’s face flushed, and he turned his head away, huffing.

“Humph, I don’t need you to carry me, I’ve grown up, I can walk by myself.”

The second child wanted to say the same thing, but his eyes held envy as he looked at San Zai.

He also wanted a hug from his mother…

A soft, fragrant hug…

…

Soon,

Qiao Anle and the three children reached Aunt Li’s house.

Aunt Li’s husband was a veteran of thirty years.

While her husband was serving, she worked in the fields and raised her children.

They had struggled through the hardest times together.

Later, their children grew up, the army moved south, and they were even given a house in the city.

But the couple still chose to dedicate themselves to construction work, so they came to this small mountain village.

Aunt Li had overworked herself in her younger years, leaving her with health problems that prevented her from doing heavy labor.

Li Fengbei arranged for her to look after the children in the military dependents’ compound,

bringing the children to Aunt Li’s every morning, like a small daycare center, providing care and lunch.

Aunt Li’s work unit was still in the commune, part of the production team, so she earned work points and received monthly rice and oil rations.

She was thrilled to earn money by looking after children.

Because it was a daycare, Aunt Li’s yard had been renovated, making it larger than average houses.  She had also placed wooden toys and rocking horses in the yard.

Outside the yard, besides Qiao Anle and the three children, there were other children and parents from the military dependents’ compound.

Upon seeing Qiao Anle, they widened their eyes in shock.

Some didn’t recognize her.

They asked in confusion, “Who is she? Is she from the village? Why haven’t we seen her before? Why is she carrying Commander Li’s children?”

“You don’t know her? She’s the one Commander Li has been hiding in the house…”

“Ah! She’s Commander Li’s wife, the one who only eats white rice and doesn’t do any work?”

Whispers and gossip continued.

Qiao Anle heard it all, but pretended not to, focusing only on her three children.

She put San Zai down and gently adjusted their clothes.

She treated the eldest and second children the same, caring for them gently.

She instructed them,

“Behave yourselves at Aunt Li’s, listen to Big Brother, don’t cause trouble, but don’t let anyone bully you. I’ll pick you up this afternoon.”

Hearing this, the three children looked surprised again.

In just one day, they were shocked by Qiao Anle’s changes several times.

Hesitantly, the second child asked longingly, “Mama, you… you’ll really come pick us up?”

“Of course.”

Qiao Anle answered firmly.

At the same time,

Qiao Anle held the hands of the eldest, second, and third children.

It seemed ordinary, but she slipped an egg into each of their small hands.

Round, warm, hard-boiled eggs!

“It’s an egg!”

San Zai exclaimed excitedly.

Qiao Anle quickly hushed him, “Shh——”

She instructed, “This egg is for each of you three brothers. Hide it and eat it when you’re hungry.”

The eggs were from Qiao Anle’s spirit treasure space.

With the ten billion supplies in her spirit treasure space, improving her family’s living conditions was easy.

But yesterday’s steamed buns had aroused Li Fengbei’s suspicions.

She couldn’t think of a good way to hide it from Li Fengbei, and she didn’t want to arouse his suspicions.

So she could only secretly give the three children eggs, so they could eat better and get more nutrition.

Before leaving,

Qiao Anle looked at the eldest and winked.

“Eldest, this is our secret, don’t tell your father.”

The eldest, clutching the egg, his small face instantly flushed red, as if… Qiao Anle had seen him tattle on him to Li Fengbei that morning.

…

After sending the three children off, Qiao Anle planned to go to the village commune.

But as she left Aunt Li’s house, she saw four or five women huddled together, whispering and gossiping.

The center of their conversation was Qiao Anle.

“Did you see it? That woman actually went out! I thought I was seeing things!  Is it going to rain blood?”

“Humph, I don’t know how Commander Li married such a wife! He’s so unlucky.”

“I heard she’s a city girl, she’s eaten and used things different from ordinary people since she was little, no wonder she’s so beautiful! Look how white she is… I’ve lived for almost thirty years, and I’ve never seen anyone so white.”

“Cut it out, what good is being pretty? Can it be eaten as steamed buns or bread? Since she came to the village, she hasn’t done anything, she just lies at home eating good food. I saw it with my own eyes, Commander Li does all the housework, even washing and cooking, that woman doesn’t lift a finger.”

“My goodness, what bad karma did Commander Li have? Did he marry a wife or a living Buddha to worship at home?”

“Exactly, she doesn’t work, and she wants to eat and drink well all day. She’s also in the commune’s production team, have you ever seen her do a day’s work?”

“Forget about work, that woman doesn’t even take care of her children! What kind of woman is she! She’s a public nuisance in our military dependents’ compound, she’s embarrassing all the military wives.”

“I don’t know what Commander Li is thinking, how can he tolerate this woman, maybe she has some kind of leverage over him?”

Their voices grew louder, turning into a personal attack on Qiao Anle.

The women were sharp-tongued, adding every kind of accusation against Qiao Anle.

They even went so far as to drag Li Fengbei into it.

They didn’t know that Qiao Anle was standing not far behind them, listening to their conversation clearly.