For some reason, Su Xiaonuan glanced at Xiao Moran a few more times. He was still wearing a white shirt and black pants, but he exuded a different kind of charm.

I've seen him wear similar clothes before, and while they looked good, they didn't have the same aura as before—reserved, composed, yet possessing an indescribable presence.

She noticed a watch on his wrist that gleamed brightly in the sunlight, and thought to herself that he must be doing quite well, otherwise he wouldn't have given her a savings account with a thousand yuan.

However, he didn't button up his shirt cuffs; instead, he rolled up his sleeves and left the top two buttons undone, giving him a somewhat flamboyant and wild look.

The two children wanted to sit next to their mother, so Xiao Moran had to sit in the front passenger seat, but he kept turning around to look at her and the children.

They handed them water bottles, handkerchiefs, fruit, and snacks.

...

Yaleju is an affluent area in the provincial capital. People who buy houses here are all powerful and wealthy. Although the price is only a little over 300 yuan per square meter, a house costs only about 20,000 yuan. In an era when monthly wages were only a few dozen yuan, this was an astronomical figure.

The truck dropped them off at Yaleju.

Xiao Moran carried the luggage, while Su Xiaonuan held the hands of the two children.

"Xiao Moran, you actually live in such a high-end neighborhood, have you struck it rich?" Su Xiaonuan looked around. "The rent here must be very expensive, right?"

"I'm helping my comrade with something, so of course my comrade helped me rent the place." He was afraid that Xiaonuan would think the rent was too expensive, so he had to lie to her.

It's not that he can't afford a house here; he just needs to use the funds for working capital. He wants to expand his business across the country, and his Warm Brand mattresses have already found a market, with orders increasing.

"So you're working for your comrades now?"

"I guess so." Xiao Moran didn't want to tell her so soon. He wanted to wait until he had earned more money and bought a big house here before telling her the truth. After all, she had given him two years.

Following Xiao Moran, we arrived at apartment 302 in building 28 of Yaleju, a two-bedroom, one-living-room apartment.

"Not bad." Su Xiaonuan looked around. "It just lacks a homely feel. Don't you usually cook at home?"

"No." Xiao Moran put the luggage in the master bedroom. "You and your two children can stay in this room, and I'll stay in the one next door."

After saying that, he immediately moved the things from the master bedroom to another room.

It seems he used to live in the master bedroom.

Su Xiaonuan accepted Xiao Moran's arrangement without hesitation, since the two children were his own sons.

He should have vacated the master bedroom for his own son.

As for her, she benefited from having two children.

She loved the balcony in the master bedroom; after tidying up, she stood on it and looked at the city view.

While she was tidying up, Xiao Moran went out and bought a lot of things, and someone even helped deliver them back.

He bought all the seasonings and kitchenware, as well as rice, oil, salt, and plenty of fresh vegetables and fruits. He carried all these things into the living room, sweating profusely.

"My God, why did you buy so much stuff?" Su Xiaonuan came out from the balcony.

"Oh, there's so much food!" DouDou and GuoGuo cheered.

"Now that you're here, I'll come back for dinner every night from now on," Xiao Moran said with a smile. "With you here, I'm in for a treat."

"Xiao Moran, are you kidding me? I'm here to start a business, not to be your cook." She glared at him, dissatisfied. "Tomorrow, I'll visit my parents first, then take DouDou and GuoGuo to kindergarten. After that, I'll look for a shop to open a restaurant. You think I'll cook dinner for you at home? You've got the wrong person, haven't you?"

"It's okay, you go ahead with your work. I'll just come back and cook for you." Xiao Moran chuckled twice. "Then I'll be responsible for coming back early to pick up the kids and for making dinner for you when you get back."

“Okay, then that’s settled. I’ll take them to kindergarten in the morning.” Su Xiaonuan didn’t have high hopes for his cooking skills; as long as the children weren’t hungry, that was fine. “You can look for a suitable kindergarten tomorrow. Dou Dou and Guo Guo are over three years old now; it’s time for them to go to kindergarten.”

"No problem," Xiao Moran readily agreed.

Watching him move things in and out, Su Xiaonuan suddenly felt a sense of security, the kind of security that comes with home.

Just as I was lost in thought, there was a knock on the door.

Su Xiaonuan opened the door, and a man carrying coal briquettes appeared before her.

In those days, there was no natural gas, and even those living in upscale neighborhoods in the provincial capital could only burn coal briquettes.

Looking at the clean cement floor of her home, she simply couldn't find a place to put these black coal briquettes.

Finally, she put all one hundred coal briquettes into the large box on the balcony.

She was an expert at using a wood-fired stove, but these coal briquettes were a bit of a challenge for her.

When they tried to start a fire, they got covered in soot and dirt but still couldn't get it going.

Xiao Moran ran out and bought some charcoal. With the charcoal, the coal briquettes were finally able to be lit.

When buying charcoal, Xiao Moran even asked the shopkeeper how to burn coal briquettes.

So when he came back, he carefully taught Su Xiaonuan, saying that it only needed to be lit once. After that, when the lid of the coal stove was closed, the coal briquettes inside the stove would always be burning. When needed, the bottommost burning briquettes would be taken out, the burning briquettes would be placed at the bottom, and a new briquette would be added on top, and the fire would burn brighter and brighter.

The two of them studied the coal stove for a long time, and the fire really got going. Then they divided the work and made a dinner of two dishes and a soup: stir-fried shredded pork with scallions, stir-fried greens with minced garlic, and tomato and egg soup.

The two dishes were very ordinary, but Xiao Moran kept saying they were delicious, and he ate three bowls of rice in one go.

He's been eating out every day for the past few months and is already tired of it.

After finishing his meal, he volunteered to wash the dishes.

After washing the dishes, he also prepared bath water for Su Xiaonuan and her two children.

The pot for boiling water was a bit small; it took several pots to boil enough water.

Xiao Moran took away all the clothes that Su Xiaonuan and her two children had changed out of.

After Xiao Nuan finished bathing the children and put them on the bed, she went back to do the laundry and found that someone had already done it.

In addition to the balcony in the master bedroom, this house also has a large balcony with a concrete laundry sink.

Xiao Moran was bending over, washing Su Xiaonuan's and the children's clothes.

Su Xiaonuan leaned against the doorframe and said casually, "Keep my clothes, just wash yours and the children's."

Hearing the voice, Xiao Moran turned around and raised an eyebrow at her. "Why are you being so polite with me? Isn't it normal to help you with your laundry?"

After saying that, he deliberately took out her underwear from the sink filled with laundry detergent water. Just as he was about to start washing it, she snatched it away and turned him away.

"I already told you, I wash my own clothes." Su Xiaonuan was a little embarrassed, after all, she had her own underwear.

After saying that, she picked up a basin and put her underwear in it to wash separately, explaining to the man next to her as she washed. "Women's underwear shouldn't be washed with other clothes. Don't you know that? And you're washing clothes here. If your mother saw this, she'd nag you for days."