Lu Haici heard his mother laugh, which made him so happy.

He continued, “Great-Aunt took me to the countryside, and I saw a big dog chasing a big chicken, so a puppy is definitely stronger than a chick.”

Lin Qingqing listened with curiosity. “Why did Great-Aunt take you to the countryside?”

She thought to herself that Lu Cheng’s aunt lived in the county town… yet it was curious—why was Lu Cheng raised by his aunt?

Lu Cheng had never really shared this with the original host, and she only understood parts of it.

A classmate had mentioned it to her once, and Lu Cheng briefly brought it up before their marriage, but he hadn’t gone into detail.

Lin Qingqing could understand why Lu Cheng hadn’t spoken about it.

If they had been dating in a normal way, he likely would have shared more about his family, but Lu Cheng was being pressured by the original host, so naturally, he wouldn’t want to bring up family matters.

Even so, despite being pressured, he never resented the original host.

On the journey as a military spouse or after arriving at the family compound, he always treated her with respect and care.

“Great-Uncle’s old home is in the countryside,” Lu Haici explained. “But I don’t like going to Great-Uncle’s hometown.”

Lin Qingqing washed his hair and body, then dried him off and helped him into clean clothes. “Why don’t you like going to Great-Uncle’s hometown?”

Fortunately, Lu Haici had plenty of clothes, and they were quite nice too.

“Because the kids there all say I don’t have a dad or mom,” Lu Haici replied, sounding a bit sad for a moment.

But then he proudly added, “But now I have a dad and a mom. When I go back, I’ll tell them.”

The kids he was referring to were relatives of Great-Uncle’s family.

Lin Qingqing felt a pang in her heart.

She could relate to Lu Haici’s feelings because she’d been through similar experiences.

With this thought, she gently reassured him, “Alright, when we go back, let’s tell them that our little Lu Haici has a dad and mom too.”

If at first Lin Qingqing treated him as if he were a preschooler and herself as a teacher, now there was a deeper feeling of empathy.

Lu Haici’s face lit up with a big smile. “Yes!”

Lin Qingqing brought out a banana leaf fan from inside the house, one she’d found while tidying up. “Haici, use this fan to dry your hair while I go take a shower.”

With his short hair already mostly dry from the towel, a little fanning would dry it fully.

“Okay!” Lu Haici loved responding loudly and energetically.

Lin Qingqing ruffled his hair and went off with the water to take a shower.

She showered quickly.

Although the original host had been lazy, she did care about staying clean.

Lin Qingqing was quite diligent about bathing and washing her hair, so her bath took only about thirty minutes.

If this were in modern times, with a shower, she’d be done in under ten minutes.

After their baths, the two sat in the courtyard, using fans to dry their hair.

Eventually, little Lu Haici grew restless, stood behind Lin Qingqing, and enthusiastically began fanning her hair for her.

Next door, Xu Huijuan came out to dump some water and glanced over at the Lu family’s courtyard.

When she saw this scene, she couldn’t help but think, Lin Qingqing is starting to show her true colors—taking advantage of no one watching to make Lu Haici fan her hair for her.

Shaking her head, Xu Huijuan, who was determined in this life to be a good military spouse, a good wife, and a good mother, was resolved not to get close to Lin Qingqing anymore.

But Lu Haici was a pitiful child.

In her previous life, even after Lu Cheng and Lin Qingqing divorced, Lu Haici remained deeply introverted due to the shadows of his childhood.

With this in mind, Xu Huijuan decided to bring up the topic with Lu Cheng when he returned.

After all, the boy was innocent, and if she could help him in some way, she would.

…..

Once Lin Qingqing’s hair was about seventy to eighty percent dry, she and Lu Haici went back inside.

However, she didn’t go to sleep right away.

Tomorrow, she planned to order some furniture from the carpenter, so she decided to sketch out a few designs.

The original owner of this body was not much of a student and didn’t have paper or pens, but thankfully, Lu Haici did.

Though he was only a kindergartner, he had all the necessary school supplies.

So, Lu Haici leaned on the table, watching Lin Qingqing draw.

She only drew three items.

The first was a five-drawer chest for clothes.

Other than large coats and winter jackets, the drawers could hold sweaters, bedsheets, and other items.

She planned to order three five-drawer chests: one each for herself, Lu Haici, and Lu Cheng, so each person’s belongings would be in their own chest.

This would keep things organized and clean.

The second was a shoe cabinet, to be placed at the entrance of the hall.

Slippers could be stored there, preventing outdoor shoes from tracking dirt inside.

The third was a simple two-door wardrobe with a section below for blankets and an upper area for hanging coats and winter jackets.

Since she wouldn’t be leaving the Lu family’s home anytime soon, she thought she might as well get everything organized.

As she sketched, Lu Haici stood quietly by her side.

Once she finished, he was struggling to keep his eyes open, but the little boy was still trying his best to stay awake.

Smiling, Lin Qingqing scooped him up and said, “Let’s go to bed.”

Though this body didn’t have the strength to carry a five-year-old child for long, the short distance from the desk to the bed was manageable.

The next morning…

For someone who was used to staying up late, going to bed around nine or ten last night was quite early.

Plus, she had already slept for an entire day and night the day before, so…

Lin Qingqing woke up early today.

Seeing the little one curled up beside her, she couldn’t help but smile.

How adorable is a child’s sleeping posture?

She carefully got out of bed, remembering from the original host’s memory that this little boy hadn’t been sleeping well recently.

He stayed up later and woke up earlier than the original host each day.

The night before last, he had even stayed up all night by her bedside, worrying about her.

She knew because the towel on her forehead was still damp when she woke up.

So, Lin Qingqing didn’t want to wake him.

She headed to the kitchen and began heating water in a cast-iron pot.

While the water was heating, she placed a bowl on the steamer rack with two potatoes and two eggs inside.

She planned to make mashed potatoes for breakfast.

The potatoes and eggs weren’t placed directly on the rack because the water would boil, and it could make the water dirty if it touched the potatoes’ skins.

She planned to save this boiled water for drinking once it cooled down.

Then she went to wash her face and brush her teeth.

The original host had been pampered since childhood, so she lacked nothing in terms of personal care.

After washing up, Lin Qingqing even used a light layer of the original host’s snow cream.

There weren’t many ingredients for mashed potatoes.

If she were in modern times, she would have used potatoes, eggs, cucumber, carrots, bacon or ham, and salad dressing.

But salad dressing wasn’t available in this era, and although she could make it herself, it was a hassle, and bacon and ham were also unavailable.

So, she stuck to potatoes, eggs, and cucumber.

That was sufficient—potatoes for carbs, eggs for protein and fat, and cucumber for vitamins.

She sliced the cucumber thinly, but her knife skills were just average, so she had to go slowly.

Modern kitchens have so many gadgets, and when she did cooking livestreams, she used various kitchen tools or had her grandmother do the cutting.

Her grandmother was a pro with the knife!

She salted the cucumber slices to marinate them, using a bit more salt than usual since she didn’t have salad dressing. With salad dressing, she would have used less.

When the water boiled, the potatoes and eggs were ready.

Two potatoes and two eggs, just enough for each serving.

She peeled and chopped the potatoes, placing them on a plate and mashing them with a spoon.

Then she chopped the boiled eggs and mixed them with the mashed potatoes.

Finally, she squeezed the excess water out of the salted cucumber slices and added them to the mix, allowing the salty cucumber flavor to blend with the mashed potatoes.

Just as Lin Qingqing finished preparing one serving of mashed potatoes, she heard a child’s loud voice from the living room: “Mom… Mom…”

Lin Qingqing called out, “I’m in the kitchen.”

Soon, she saw Lu Haici running out barefoot.

Because he had just washed his hair the day before, a few tufts were sticking up, making him look adorably silly.

When he saw his mom, Lu Haici let out a sigh of relief.

Upon waking up, he hadn’t seen his mom, who was usually resting due to illness and relying on him to fetch breakfast from the canteen.

This scared him, and his mind went blank for a moment before he immediately got out of bed to look for her.

Now, seeing her making breakfast, he didn’t even bother to put on his shoes; he just flexed his bare toes and stood by the kitchen door, watching her.

Seeing this, Lin Qingqing said, “Go put on your shoes, then go wash up so you can eat breakfast. After breakfast, you need to go to kindergarten.” It had been half a month since he last attended because “Mom was sick.”

“Yes,” he replied, but after a moment, he hesitated and asked, “Mom, can I not go to kindergarten?”

Lin Qingqing asked, “Why don’t you want to go to kindergarten?”

Could it be that he was being bullied?

Thinking about the many posts she’d seen about kindergarten on the Xiaohei app, Lin Qingqing began to worry.

Lu Haici’s birth mother had passed away, and it was possible that some careless adult had mentioned something about it in front of him, and that some ill-mannered children might have remembered it and used it to hurt him.

After all, she herself had once been a victim of such situations.

Lu Haici shook his head and, with a sense of responsibility and affection, said, “Mom’s illness isn’t completely better yet. I want to stay home to take care of Mom.”

If before yesterday, he felt both nervous and hopeful around Lin Qingqing (the original mother), then after yesterday, when she made him food, gave him a bath, and held him while they slept, he felt a newfound sense of attachment and admiration for her.

In his mind, his mom was exactly like this—someone who cooks for him, helps him bathe, and holds him while they sleep.

Lin Qingqing smiled and said, “After a good night’s sleep, I’m already feeling much better, so our little guy doesn’t need to take care of me. If you go to kindergarten and behave well today, I’ll go shopping with Auntie Qin, and if we get some meat, I’ll make you meat buns. If we don’t get any meat, I’ll still make something delicious for you, okay?”

Hearing this, Lu Haici’s eyes lit up. “Okay!”