Li Yanzhong held a chestnut: "The chestnuts were coated with sugar and roasted, so the shells were sticky. I peeled them for my wife."

Yu Jingqiu usually declined politely, but this time her gaze lingered on Li Yanzhong's solemn face for a second before she withdrew her hand and said thank you.

"Madam, please don't be so polite with me." Li Yanzhong smiled, his eyes crinkling with a few wrinkles, which softened the seriousness on his face.

Fifteen years of experience in her previous life made Feng Mingshu a light sleeper. The twins' shouting woke her up, and she came out of the bedroom, just in time to see her mother and Uncle Li looking at each other.

If it weren't for those fifteen years in her previous life, Feng Mingshu wouldn't have been able to see the emotions welling up in Uncle Li's eyes. She would have simply assumed that Uncle Li was fulfilling her grandmother's dying wish to take care of her mother and her siblings.

Looking back now, she was really foolish. A man stayed by a woman's side for more than ten years without getting married, helping her manage her company and taking care of her children. How could such affection not have selfish motives?

When the turmoil first broke out in her past life, her mother asked Uncle Li to send her and her two siblings to her philandering father in the port city. Uncle Li knew it would be difficult, but he still agreed without hesitation and sent them away that very night. However, Ming Shu, worried about her sick mother, ran back halfway, but still couldn't save her mother's life... She saw Uncle Li again a year later at the farm's visiting window. Uncle Li's temples were gray and his back was hunched, making her almost unable to recognize him...

Li Yanzhong noticed a gaze upon him, turned his head, and saw the little girl he always doted on in the corridor with red eyes. Surprised, he stepped forward and asked, "Mingshu, are you feeling unwell? Or is there something you want? Uncle Li will buy it for you."

The twins also spotted their older sister and rushed over, chattering excitedly, to express their concern.

Feng Mingshu put her arms around one of them, looked at Uncle Li who looked anxious but had dark hair, and smiled through her tears: "I'm not feeling unwell, and I don't want anything else, I just want Uncle Li to stay and have dinner with us."

Li Yanzhong paused for a moment, then turned to look at Yu Jingqiu.

To avoid gossip among neighbors, even after Mrs. Feng passed away, he would never stay at the Feng family home for more than ten minutes, let alone stay for a meal.