As soon as the door opened, Shen Qingze and Shen Qingyu rushed towards her like two bullets, hugging her tightly around the waist, almost suffocating her.

Meng Zhao lowered his head slightly and said jokingly, "It's only been half a month since I last saw you two, how come you've grown so tall? Before, you were hugging each other's legs, now you're hugging each other's waists."

Shen Qingyu grabbed Meng Zhao's hand, tears streaming down her face. "Sister-in-law, you're finally back! Waaah, why were you gone for so long? You scared me to death!"

Meng Zhao quickly comforted her, "Don't cry, my dear, your sister-in-law is going to earn money."

Shen Qingze also shed tears, but didn't want Meng Zhao to see them. While Meng Zhao was talking, he secretly wiped his tears on her clothes. Meng Zhao was immediately disgusted, not by Shen Qingze's tears, but by her own dirty clothes.

"Hey, Qingze, don't rub yourself all over me. Your sister-in-law is covered in dirt. Look, you've made your face all dirty."

Shen Qingze pouted and said in a tearful voice, "Sister-in-law, I don't want you to go out. You don't need to earn money anymore. Wait for me to grow up and let me earn money for you."

Shen Qingyu nodded, "Sister-in-law, we will definitely make lots and lots of money so you can buy whatever you want."

Meng Zhao was amused by the child's innocent words and said gently, "Okay, then I'll wait and see, and wait for you to take care of me."

After finally calming the two children down, Meng Zhao remembered to ask about the family, "Where is the rest of the family?"

“My mother and the others went to the shop. My second brother is at the county school. My sister and I are at home. Before my mother left, she told me to close the door and not to wander off.”

Meng Zhao nodded and then said, "Your brother Xu Ping and I are all dirty from this trip back. Could you two please boil two pots of water so we can take a bath?"

The two children took on the task and hurried off to fetch water and start a fire. Meng Zhao and the others were not idle either, unloading everything from the mule cart one by one.

After Meng Zhao moved in, he built a simple little room in the yard specifically for taking a bath, and dug a channel so that the bathwater could be drained directly into the vegetable garden in the yard.

After she and Xu Ping took turns tidying up and looked less disheveled, they packed up the gifts for Meng Dashan and Xu Yunrong, had the two children close the door, and then went to Meng's butcher shop together.