Chapter 51

“He Ting, what are you doing?”

Feeling the heat from his body close in the dark, Lu Baiwei, half-awake, was still a bit confused.

She didn’t use much strength to push He Ting away, muttering in a low voice, “I need to take care of Rànran. You go back to your bed.”

She was still half asleep and a bit flustered. In her disarray, her hands instinctively pressed against his chest, causing He Ting’s Adam’s apple to bob, letting out a muffled groan.

He was rolling!

But he rolled into the wrong position.

He ended up above Lu Baiwei, using his hands to pin her flailing arms to the pillow.

“Weiwei, you’re so fierce!”

He Ting’s hot breath brushed against her ear. “You said you were going to punish me for flirting, didn’t you?”

“Wife, I’m waiting for your punishment… Mmm…”

The “mmm” he uttered dragged on in a long, seductive tone.

Lu Baiwei didn’t expect that once he tasted a bit of sweetness, he wouldn’t be satisfied.

There were two kids in the room!

Lu Baiwei was irritated, glaring at him in mock anger and then, in a bit of frustration, bit down hard on his shoulder.

This made his voice become even more hoarse. In the darkness, his eyes shone brightly as he looked at Lu Baiwei so closely, like a wolf stalking its prey.

He lowered his body, ready to take things further, but then, from the bed nearby, came the faint sound of He Yunran crying.

“Mama, don’t go…”

Her soft, childish voice was clear in the dark.

When He Yunqi heard his sister crying, he immediately woke up. Realizing that He Ting wasn’t beside him, he became anxious.

“Uncle, where are you?”

He Yunqi called out, “Sister is crying!”

“She’s having a nightmare. She’s scared.”

Though He Yunqi was only five, he was a responsible older brother.

He cried as he comforted He Yunran, “Don’t be scared, little sister. Big brother is here.”

“If you stop crying, I’ll have little aunt catch snakes for you to eat tomorrow.”

—

“If you stop crying, I’ll ask little aunt to catch snakes for you to eat tomorrow.”

“Okay!”

He Yunran timidly responded, “Brother, I need to pee.”

Lu Baiwei pushed He Ting, using more force this time.

He Ting: “…”

These two little troublemakers.

He felt like he owed them something.

After being pushed by his wife, He Ting had no choice but to get up.

“Don’t wet the bed!”

He got out of bed and went to check on the crying siblings, asking, “Do you need to get up?”

“Yes, Uncle.”

It seemed like Uncle was mad.

Although He Yunqi didn’t fully understand why, he was confused about why he had been sleeping with Uncle and then Uncle suddenly went to find Aunt.

He Yunqi pitifully responded, “Uncle, sister also needs to pee.”

It seemed like the sudden move to the northwest to plant trees, leaving the kids behind, had caused a lot of harm to them.

If it were possible, no parent would want to be separated from their children.

Lu Baiwei believed that He Ting and his wife had made the decision reluctantly, after weighing their options.

Because if the He family had fallen into ruin, they wouldn’t be able to protect anything. Even if little Qi and Ranran were sent to the Xiangyang Brigade by their second uncle, people would know the He family had fallen on hard times, and the two children would be ostracized.

In these times, if your background was bad, people would look down on you.

In her past life, when little Qi and Ranran had been sent to the Xiangyang Brigade, they had suffered a lot of cold looks. Many of the children in the team secretly bullied Qi and Ranran, and Lu Baiwei had witnessed this several times, even helping them once.

This time, she was married to He Ting, and she had a bond with the two children. She would protect them well.

Seeing Ranran crying made Lu Baiwei’s heart ache, so she climbed down from the bed and hugged Ranran, comforting her.

Little Ranran, smelling the fragrance from Lu Baiwei, gradually drifted into a peaceful sleep. This time, lying next to Lu Baiwei, she slept soundly.

Children, after all, cry one moment and laugh the next.

Once they felt safe, they became very happy again.

—

Once they felt safe, they became very happy.

The next morning, Lu Baiwei got up to make porridge. Little Qi and Ranran followed her like two small tails, calling “Auntie” over and over.

“Auntie, what’s cooking in the pot?”

He Yunqi, a small person, tugged at Lu Baiwei’s clothes, standing on tiptoe to peer into the pot.

After two days of Lu Baiwei’s attentive care, Ranran’s fever had gone down.

She was so hungry.

Ranran also squeezed over, tugging at Lu Baiwei’s sleeve, shaking it, “Auntie, snake snake.”

Lu Baiwei: “…”

Wasn’t this little one afraid of snakes?

She had eaten snake meat once and couldn’t stop thinking about it.

This left Lu Baiwei both amused and helpless.

As she kneaded the dough, she explained, “This morning, Auntie is making you some fragrant corn porridge, and I’ll also make you some egg pancakes.”

“How about egg pancakes with some scallion flavor?”

He Yunran loved eggs and nodded enthusiastically, her head bobbing up and down like a chick pecking at grains.

“Eggs are yummy.”

Yesterday, at Tang Jinghe’s house, He Yunqi had tasted the scallion pancakes made by Lu Baiwei’s third aunt, and he thought they were delicious.

Egg pancakes with a scallion flavor must have some fragrant scallions in them, right?

He Yunqi was also quite pleased.

At that moment, he acted all well-behaved, “Auntie, I’ll eat whatever you make. I love everything.”

“Hehe, I’m very easy to please.”

Seeing how the two children got along better with his wife than with him, He Ting felt speechless.

That little brat, He Yunqi, was always trying to get attention in front of Weiwei.

Such an annoying kid!

He Ting thought that ever since He Yunqi arrived at Xiangyang Brigade, his wife had been focusing all her attention on the children.

Thinking back to what happened last night, He Ting had already started to plan on kicking the little rascal out of the room.

—

Thinking about what happened last night, He Ting, the little uncle, had already started to plan on kicking the little rascal out of the room.

He Ting discussed with Lu Baiwei: “Weiwei, the main room outside is now being used as a clinic. It’s a bit too cramped for our family of four to live in one room.”

“I’ll go to the brigade later to ask if we can cut down the bamboo grove next to the house and have someone build another room.”

Lu Baiwei agreed with the idea of building another room.

However, before that, they needed to get another bed.

The bed from the main room had been moved into the inner room, but since the main room had now become a clinic, they needed to replace the bed that He Ting had moved out. Some patients would need to lie down for acupuncture treatments.

Lu Baiwei mentioned the most pressing task.

“My cousin’s partner is a carpenter, and his craftsmanship is quite good. I’m thinking of taking a bike ride over to the neighboring brigade today to ask him to make a new bed.”

“Also, I heard from my third aunt yesterday that my cousin’s family is hatching chicks.”

“I’d like to take this opportunity to go to the neighboring brigade and bring back a couple of chicks to raise.”

Lu Baiwei looked at the two little tails following her: “Xiao Qi and Ranran are growing, and the chicks they raise will eventually lay eggs. They won’t be short of eggs in the future.”

He Ting had no objections about his wife’s plans for the children.

Actually, being jealous of his own nephew and niece was quite childish.

But although He Yunqi was small, he was very clever and knew how to act well-behaved in front of his wife to get her attention.

Losing out to a little one made He Ting feel uneasy.

If the two kids hadn’t come to Xiangyang Brigade, his wife would have focused all her attention on him.

What a pity!

Little did Lu Baiwei know, He Ting, such a grown man, was competing with his nephew and niece.

When it came to the children, Lu Baiwei had arranged everything for He Ting as well.

“I’ll go to the neighboring brigade later, and you can go to the spot where we picked the jue ming flowers last time and dig up a couple of wild jue ming plants to plant in front and behind the house. Now that we have Xiao Qi and Ranran here, we shouldn’t let the kids get bitten by snakes.”