Chapter 16: Be Careful, or They Won’t Visit You When You’re Old

Returning home, she arrived just in time for dinner.

“Come wash your hands and eat,” Wang Fengmei called out to her.

“Okay, thanks, Mom.”

Xu Jiaojiao put down the bucket and washed her hands with Erni before going into the kitchen.

Once inside, Xu Jiaojiao pulled Erni to sit beside her.

Sure enough, as soon as the food was served, Yao Hu started clamoring for white porridge.

Xu Jiaojiao had no fondness for such a selfish and self-centered child.

Why should others have to give in to him?

Don’t other people want to eat white porridge?

Seeing Liu Zhaodi about to take away Erni’s porridge, Xu Jiaojiao reached out to stop her.

“Sister-in-law, isn’t this too biased? They say both palms and the back of the hand are flesh; your daughter is also from your womb, isn’t she?”

As soon as Xu Jiaojiao finished speaking, before Liu Zhaodi could say anything, Erni tugged at her clothes under the table.

Turning her head, she met a pair of eyes filled with fear and pleading.

“Why is this dead girl eating so well? She’ll grow up to be someone else’s.”

Liu Zhaodi didn’t care.

In her opinion, only Yao Hu was the one who could support her in old age.

Naturally, she had to take better care of him.

“That’s what you say, but how do you know you can’t rely on your daughter when you’re old? Haven’t you seen the deaf old woman in the team?”

At these words, Liu Zhaodi’s face changed.

The deaf old woman had five sons and one daughter. When she got old, none of her sons could be relied upon.

If it weren’t for her daughter feeding her, she would have died long ago.

Although her daughter hadn’t married well, her son-in-law was an orphan, and he was a kind man, so he directly took her in to care for her.

Who in the team didn’t admire that?

If it weren’t for that daughter, she would have frozen to death last winter.

Even so, she didn’t like her daughter when she was young.

The daughter did all the dirty and tiring work.

“Eat if you can, get out if you can’t.”

Suddenly, Qin Sheng slammed his chopsticks on the table, making a loud “bang.”

Liu Zhaodi flinched involuntarily, shrinking back her hand, not daring to utter a sound.

Yao Hu seemed to sense the change in atmosphere and didn’t dare to make a fuss anymore.

He hung his head and ate his porridge listlessly.

The atmosphere at the table was a bit strange, and Erni was too scared to lift her bowl.

Xu Jiaojiao patted her back, comforting her.

“Eat quickly.”

Erni looked at her father, then at her third aunt, and finally lowered her head and wolfed down her food.

“Jiaojiao is right, both palms and the back of the hand are flesh. Don’t be so excessive, be careful that they won’t come to see you when you’re old.”

Wang Fengmei took a mouthful of porridge and said slowly.

She wasn’t her usual boisterous and fiery self, but everyone present dared not make a sound.

Just then, a familiar footstep came from the doorway.

“Lao San is back? Come and eat,” Wang Fengmei greeted with a smile.

The atmosphere relaxed.

Qin Chao also chimed in, and the children followed suit, calling out to their third uncle to eat.

Only Xu Jiaojiao, as if she hadn’t seen him, ate her meal leisurely.

After a pause, Qin Shuo walked to the only empty seat.

With a natural refrigerator sitting beside her, Xu Jiaojiao couldn’t help but frown.

Suddenly, the pumpkin in her mouth seemed tasteless.

The couple didn’t speak, eating their meal silently.

One ate elegantly, the other ate heartily; it was surprisingly well-matched.

Wang Fengmei nodded in satisfaction and ignored them.

Dinner was simple, still sweet potato porridge, a green vegetable, and a pumpkin.

Even so, this food was better than many families in the team.

After eating an egg and a string of grasshoppers in the afternoon, and then a bowl of porridge, Xu Jiaojiao felt full for the first time since arriving here.

After washing her bowl, she quickly fetched her bucket to bathe, afraid of having to queue up if she was late.

But she had a little shadow following her; wherever she went, the little girl followed.

Even when she was bathing, the girl waited outside the door.

This wasn’t the first time she had been relied upon so wholeheartedly, but Xu Jiaojiao still felt a pang in her heart.

It was as if she saw her younger self.

After taking a bath, seeing the small figure squatting by the wall, Xu Jiaojiao said, “Do you want to take a bath?”

Erni nodded.

“Go get your clothes, Third Aunt will get you water.”

As soon as the little girl heard this, she ran back to the room to get her clothes.

Xu Jiaojiao carried the bucket towards the kitchen.

Before she entered, she met Ding Xiujin, whose face was somewhat complex.

Finally, she said sourly, “You like children so much, why don’t you have one yourself?”

Xu Jiaojiao: …

Forget it, she couldn’t even take care of herself; ten years later, she didn’t know where she would be.

Having a child would be a crime.

“Children aren’t made with a snap of the fingers; I don’t know when they’ll come,”

Xu Jiaojiao said jokingly.

But a wave of sadness surged in her heart.

Thinking of her fate, that she couldn’t control her own life, Xu Jiaojiao felt a little ridiculous.

In this stolen time, she just wanted to let herself go.

She hoped the system wouldn’t come back so soon.

Xu Jiaojiao prayed silently and went into the kitchen to fetch water.

Erni was indeed a mature and sensible child, washing her hair and bathing herself without any help.

The two, one big and one small, washed their hair and sat at the doorway, letting the wind dry their hair.

The courtyard was still bustling.

But these two were in their own world, both integrated into the courtyard and yet isolated from it.

This contradictory sense of detachment made Qin Shuo feel a little uneasy.

He paused, retracted his gaze, and turned back to the room.

After their hair was dry, the sky had completely darkened.

The night sky was full of stars, and even the Milky Way was so clearly visible.

“Erni, look, there’s a shooting star.”

That brilliant light, with its long tail, streaked across the sky.

Xu Jiaojiao was excited.

When she grew up, she would no longer see such a dazzling night sky.

Erni was also excited, and the two sat at the doorway, foolishly waiting for shooting stars to streak across the sky.

Occasionally, when they saw one, they would be incredibly excited.

After watching the shooting stars, they looked for the Big Dipper in the sky.

The gentle evening breeze carried the sound of frogs, and Xu Jiaojiao found that this kind of life was quite pleasant.

When the two returned to their rooms, the whole world seemed to have fallen asleep.

Everywhere was quiet.

Xu Jiaojiao groped her way into the room, having learned from her previous fall.

This time, she was very careful entering the room.

She carefully stepped over the threshold and cautiously groped her way to the bed.

She accidentally kicked a stool, and Xu Jiaojiao couldn’t help but sigh softly.

In the quiet room, this soft sound was particularly clear.

On the bed, the man lying dressed, his gaze accurately found the clumsy figure.

She stumbled towards the bed.

Just as she was about to fall on him, Qin Shuo moved imperceptibly.

Xu Jiaojiao safely reached the bed.

She couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Just as she was about to get into bed, she touched a warm piece of muscle.

Xu Jiaojiao: …