Li Xia was afraid of troubling Chen Rou, so she tried to familiarize herself with everything as much as possible.

But it was as if she had suddenly come from the primitive world to civilized society. She was in a complete mess for half a day, including going into the wrong building, not being able to open the door after going upstairs, getting lost and asking around for directions. She finally found her way home and was about to cook herself a bowl of noodles when she forgot how to turn on the gas. She struggled for a long time but still couldn't get it right. By the time Chen Rou arrived, she hadn't eaten yet.

But when Chen Rou asked her how she was doing and whether she was getting used to it, she immediately said that she was doing very well.

There was a TV in the house, which she thought Chen Rou would like to watch. She remembered how to turn it on and it turned on right away. When she went downstairs to buy groceries, she saw apples that were hard to find in Shenzhen at this time of year, so she bought two. Needless to say, the price was outrageous, costing three yuan per apple.

She couldn't bear to eat it herself, so she peeled it, cut it into slices, and fed it to Chen Rou piece by piece when she saw that Chen Rou wouldn't take it.

After watching TV for a while, it was already nine o'clock. Her stomach was growling with hunger. Afraid that Chen Rou would find out something was wrong, she hurriedly ran to the toilet and drank a lot of cold water. Just then, Chen Rou was preparing to stay with Li Xia for the night and needed to take a shower. When she opened the door, the two of them were startled.

Of course, Li Xia was overjoyed to hear that Chen Rou wanted to stay. She had just moved to a new environment.

They were about the same age. Since they had only met once before, they were a little reserved with each other at first. After taking a shower and lying in bed, Li Xia lay on the outside first, but when Chen Rou came, she immediately rolled to the side by the window. When Chen Rou lay down, the blankets were warm and cozy.

Chen Rou's phone kept ringing. She initially thought of turning it off when she saw it was a call from home, but since she had a mission to complete, she was worried that something might happen to Nie Zhao, so she simply turned it off.

Because of Xiao Juanzi, she guessed that Li Xia herself was also an orphan, and that her childhood was probably not very good. So she asked indirectly whether Li Xia had suffered a lot in her childhood.

Before this, Chen Rou's understanding of suffering was limited to the welfare home where resources were scarce. She was unaware of the concepts of living under someone else's roof and the preference for sons over daughters. She only felt that women like Xiao Juanzi and Li Xia had a natural and meticulous care for others.

It just so happens that there's a typhoon these past two days, and it's a bit cold. As we were chatting, Li Xia suddenly said, "If you feel cold, just put your feet on my stomach. My stomach is warm, and I'm a healthy person, so I'm not afraid of the cold."

Chen Rou used to warm each other's blankets when she was little, so she said, "Why don't we warm each other's blankets?"

“I have a really good constitution. I don’t need to be warmed. When I was little, my son Gangzi would often go out to play and would always use my belly to warm his hands and feet when he came back, but I never caught a cold from the cold and I’m not afraid of the cold.” Li Xia said, taking Chen Rou’s hand.

If you go out to play in winter, your hands will definitely be freezing cold when you come back, so you just warm them on other people's stomachs.

Unexpectedly, Li Xia pulled Chen Rou's hand over, and then she noticed that her mother had a slight rib flare, which was basically due to malnutrition during her growth period. She reached out and touched it, and said, "Did you go hungry when you were a child?"

Although she also experienced hunger, she was probably better off than Li Xia, at least she was fully developed.

Speaking of this, Li Xia couldn't help but mention Xiao Juanzi again: "Like Xiao Juanzi, I was an unwanted child in my family. In those days when there was no food, some heartless people would strangle or drown us. If we were lucky enough to survive, our parents would teach us to save food and to repay our debts by selling our dowry when we grew up. I only found out when I married your cousin..."

Thinking of her husband whom she hadn't seen for a long time, Li Xia choked up and said after a long while, "When I was a child, the rice and flour at home, as well as the fish, meat, chicken and duck, were all made by the ladles. When we ate fish, I could only suck the fish bones. Even after I married your cousin, I ate his fish bones. It was he who taught me that men and women are the same, that we should do the same work and eat the same amount."

Born into a rural family that favored sons over daughters, she gradually woke up to reality and broke free from her family of origin because she married a good husband. But Xiao Juanzi was different; in her mind, girls were inherently inferior to boys.

Moreover, bearing and raising children is the natural duty of parents, but Li Xia was once bound to repay a debt of gratitude, and now she is doing the same with Jianmei.

Li Xia used several years' worth of Chen Ke's allowance to subsidize her family, and her daughter also suffered a miscarriage.

She knew that if rural girls like her didn't receive a proper education, they would cause great disasters and troubles to others. So even if it meant being a bad person and saying hurtful things, she would stop Chen Rou and Xiao Juanzi from getting too close.

It's really sad to say. Chen Rou thought she had a hard time when she was a child, but she never expected that her mother had it even harder.

Thinking about how sad her mother would be without her, she snuggled into Li Xia's arms.

They didn't hear it while they were chatting, but now that they've stopped, they realize the phone has been ringing incessantly.

Chen Rou was about to hang up, but seeing that it was the landline in Nie Rong's bedroom, she had no choice but to answer: "Hello, Dad."

After Uncle Ming went upstairs, he told Nie Rong what had happened. Actually, it was Nie Rong who made the call: "I heard you're not coming home tonight?"

Chen Rou said, "A friend came to Hong Kong, and I stayed with her for one night."

Nie Rong was a little worried about her son. After all, this daughter-in-law was worth three people, and unlike Han Yuzhu, she didn't care about Nie Zhao as much as Han Yuzhu did.

But of course he didn't dare to ask any more questions, and only said, "Get some rest, and come back early tomorrow. Ayu and Ajun are waiting for you."

Chen Rou knew best that the guy wasn't waiting for her; he wanted to ask her a few questions about the motorcycle race so he could brag about it to his other friends. She said, "I will, Dad. Goodnight."

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!