Chapter 22: Qin Sui Takes a Rest

A dark, windy, ambiguous night.

Remembering the chaotic night she arrived here, Lin Su didn’t dare to approach; she even took a step back.

Qin Sui’s eyesight was excellent.  Seeing her retreat, his eyes suddenly darkened.

Lin Su didn’t notice and explained, “I just drank too much water and got up to go to the toilet. I heard the sound of water and came to take a look. I definitely wasn’t intentionally peeking at you showering.”

Fearing Qin Sui wouldn’t believe her, she raised the brick in her hand.

Qin Sui put on his clothes without speaking.

Lin Su didn’t say anything either. She turned and left, her steps hurried and disordered.

Listening to her footsteps, Qin Sui’s lips curled into a smile.

Weak but bold, she dared to come and check alone.  Remembering Lin Su holding the brick, the curve of Qin Sui’s lips widened.

With her frail appearance, what could she do with a brick?  Would it be easier for a thief to rob her and hit her with it?

Her safety awareness needed improvement.

…

The sun was high when Lin Su finally woke up.

She hadn’t slept well last night, causing her to wake up late.

There were no children beside her, and it was quiet outside.  The three children must have gone out to play.

Lin Su got up, fetched water, washed her face, and brushed her teeth.  After she was ready, she went out and found Qin Sui was still at home.

Seeing him sitting there using tools to shave wood shavings, Lin Su paused.  When he looked up, she momentarily forgot her embarrassment and asked, “Not busy today?”

“Mm, resting today.”

“What are you doing?”

“Grandma said the steamer is broken, so I’m making one.”

Lin Su was surprised that he could do this.  Looking around and not seeing the three children or Grandma, she asked, “Where are they?”

“Someone called Grandma to pick wild vegetables, and the three of them followed.”

That meant only the two of them were home?

Lin Su fidgeted, feeling uncomfortable.  To find something to do, she quickly took out the mung beans she had brought from home, preparing to make some bean sprouts.

Qin Sui looked up at her.  Seeing her concentrating on picking the mung beans, he lowered his head and continued his work.

The sound of shaving wood shavings was a bit loud. Lin Su’s neck was uncomfortable from lowering her head for too long.  When she raised her head to turn, she looked in the direction of the sound and saw the man bathed in sunlight, radiating a unique glow.

Qin Sui was sweating from working. He rolled up his sleeves to his elbows.  When he exerted force, the veins on his arms and the back of his hands bulged, and beads of sweat slid down his wheat-colored arms, inexplicably sexy and a little suggestive.

It made one’s mouth dry.

Lin Su looked away, secretly complaining that this man only knew how to exude his damn charm, only emitting it without dealing with the aftermath. No wonder so many girls both loved and hated him.

“By the way, I met Zhao Cuifeng,” Qin Sui suddenly said.

Lin Su didn’t look at him. After searching her memory, she remembered who Zhao Cuifeng was. “What did she want?”

“She wanted to exchange houses with us. She said you didn’t agree.”

“Did you agree?” Lin Su asked.

Qin Sui: “No.”

“That’s good.”

Lin Su was afraid Qin Sui, being a good-natured man, would agree to others’ requests.

The two fell silent again.

At this time, Grandma Lin returned with the three children.

Lin Su breathed a sigh of relief.  She really couldn’t adapt to being alone with him.

After returning, Qin Keke first gave Lin Su a wilted flower. Grandma Lin smiled, “He found this flower with great difficulty and held it all the way back. I thought he was going to play with it, but it was for you.”

Lin Su was moved and hugged him, rubbing her face against his.

Qin Keke was now used to being rubbed against his face. It only took a few days for him to go from resisting to accepting it.

Qin Yao wasn’t interested in the warm moment between his stepmother and brother. As soon as he returned, he went straight to his father and stared at what he was holding.

Qin Ni had candy in her mouth, but she was still staring at what Grandma Lin was holding.

Grandma Lin was picking wild vegetables, preparing to make vegetable dumplings.

They only had half a jar of lard left from home; they needed to buy some vegetable oil.

Since they came to the city, they needed to buy everything, and everything cost money.  Money didn’t last long.

Lin Su soaked the mung beans in a basin.  Seeing that the three children were doing nothing, she said, “Don’t you want to go out to play?”

No one answered.

Lin Su didn’t care and went to pick the vegetable leaves that Grandma Lin had picked, chopping them up to feed the chickens.

Because the chickens didn’t run away, they weren’t locked up.  They were digging in the yard.

After feeding the chickens, Lin Su caught sight of something white in the corner. She quickly went over and found it was an egg, and she was overjoyed.

“The hen laid an egg!”

Qin Keke immediately became interested and came to look. Qin Ni also glanced at it because eggs were delicious.

Qin Yao wasn’t interested and continued to stare at his father’s work.

“If you want to eat eggs, you should find vegetable leaves or insects to feed the hen,” Qin Sui said without raising his head.

Qin Yao finally raised his head, glanced at the egg in his stepmother’s hand, saw her cherishing it and showing it to Qin Keke, and then went out with a pout.

Lin Su thought he had gone out to play and didn’t care, but about half an hour later, he returned with a broken cup filled with earthworms.

More than half a cup, wriggling densely.

Lin Su didn’t dare to look and just told him to feed them to the chickens.

Qin Yao didn’t expect her to be afraid of this and quickly fed them to the chickens.

After lunch, Qin Yao took Qin Keke out again. Only Qin Ni stayed home, nibbling on a bun.

She was full, but she simply wanted to eat. Lin Su was afraid she would overeat, so she only gave her half to nibble on.

After finishing the bun, Qin Ni started to daydream.

Fearing she would be alone for too long, which would make her more sensitive and withdrawn, Lin Su said softly, “Go play with your friends, okay?”

Qin Ni looked at her and didn’t listen.

Qin Sui glanced at Qin Ni, “Go play.”

Qin Ni frowned and sat for a while before reluctantly going out.

Lin Su went out to check after a while and saw that Qin Ni didn’t have any friends. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to play with her; she simply ignored them.

The girls were playing jump rope happily, but Qin Ni squatted at the gate like a statue, not speaking, not looking at anyone, only playing with candy wrappers.

She had clearly finished her candy and was still craving more.

This girl really loved to eat.

Lin Su found it both funny and heartbreaking, but she didn’t interfere.  She went into the house and found Qin Sui repairing a table leg.

“Um, shouldn’t Qin Yao and the others be going to school?”

Qin Sui paused, looking up at her.

“I forgot about that.”

No wonder he didn’t see the troublesome children playing outside; they had gone to school today.

Although this place was remote, there was a school, and it wasn’t far from here.

Qin Yao was indeed of school age.

“I’ll take him to school to ask later.”

Hearing that he didn’t mention Qin Ni, Lin Su frowned, “What about Ni Ni?”

“She’s not going,” Qin Sui said in a low voice.

Lin Su thought he was sexist and immediately disagreed, “Ni Ni is also of school age. You let Qin Yao go but not her?”

“That’s not what I meant. Qin Ni’s personality isn’t suitable; going to school would be useless.”

Lin Su still disagreed, “I just think Ni Ni doesn’t like to talk or play with her friends all day.  If this continues, she’ll have problems sooner or later.”

“If she can go to school, firstly, she can learn knowledge, and secondly, if she interacts with people more, it’ll help change her personality.”

“Besides, sending her is better than not sending her. Keeping her at home will only make her more isolated?”

After speaking, seeing Qin Sui staring at her silently, Lin Su felt uneasy, “What? Did I say something wrong?”

Qin Sui curled his lips, “No, you’re a kind stepmother, even more caring than I am as her father. I thank you.”

His gaze was as deep as a wolf’s, fierce, as if he wanted to devour her.  This wasn’t gratitude.

Lin Su complained and turned to leave.

Qin Sui looked at her slender back, not understanding why she suddenly left.

At three o’clock in the afternoon, Qin Sui finished his work and took Qin Yao and Qin Ni to school.

Qin Yao could accept it, but Qin Ni was very resistant, tightly gripping the doorframe.

Qin Sui initially tried to persuade her kindly, but his mouth was dry, and Qin Ni remained silent, her grip on the doorframe even tighter.

His patience exhausted, Qin Sui was about to pull her when Lin Su stopped him.

“I’ll talk to her.”

Qin Sui stopped.

Lin Su came to Qin Ni’s side, crouched down, and looked at her, “Ni Ni, going to school is for your own good. You can’t keep isolating yourself like this. You have to learn to accept the outside world.”

“Besides, you can learn more knowledge at school.  Don’t you like to eat? If you learn to read, you can follow recipes to make all kinds of delicious food.”

“And, I promise you, as long as you go to school, I’ll make whatever you want to eat, okay?”

It has to be said that Lin Su was good at winning people over.

Qin Ni loved to eat; only food could move her.

Sure enough, hearing Lin Su say this, Qin Ni slowly loosened her grip on the doorframe and finally agreed to go with Qin Sui.

As soon as the three of them left, only three people were left at home.

Lin Su found Qin Keke sulking.  The reason was that she had just washed her hair and wanted to wash Qin Keke’s as well, but the child hadn’t heard her. When she went over, he turned his back to her.

Seeing his expression, Lin Su knew he was angry, but why?

This child would be proud when he sulked, and others had to guess. Only Lin Su had the patience; someone else might have ignored him.

Qin Keke was normal when Qin Ni and the others were there.  Could it be that he also wanted to go to school?

Lin Su asked, “Keke, do you want to go to school?”

Qin Keke pursed his lips.

That wasn’t it.

Lin Su asked again, “Do you want to go with your father?”

Qin Keke’s lips pursed even higher.

That wasn’t it either.

Lin Su thought for a while and finally asked uncertainly, “Are you angry because I made delicious food for your sister?”

Qin Keke’s pursed lips relaxed.

She had guessed right.

Lin Su sighed helplessly, “I was trying to coax your sister.  I wouldn’t only give her the delicious food. Besides, if you want to eat something, tell me, and I’ll make it for you too.”

In a place where Lin Su couldn’t see, Qin Keke’s eyes had gathered tears.

He knew that sulking wouldn’t be well-received, but Lin Su was too good to him, so good that he couldn’t help but sulk, testing her tolerance for him.

When he was playing outside, he saw other children sulking with their mothers, and he wanted to do the same. He did it, and Lin Su, as always, tolerated him.

At this moment, Qin Keke felt that Lin Su was a very good stepmother, even better than some biological mothers.

Qin Keke hadn’t experienced much maternal love, so all his feelings towards a mother came from Lin Su, making him dependent on her.

Lin Su waited for a long time without getting an answer from the little guy, Qin Keke.  Just as she was about to ask again, the little guy suddenly stood up and threw himself into her arms. At the same time, a very soft sob sounded in her arms.

Lin Su was slightly stunned, then hugged the little guy, who was extremely insecure, with heartache. She gently rubbed his head with her chin and slowly stroked the back of his head.

“Good boy, don’t cry, I’m here.”